I do not dwell upon it at any length, because in its original form it
applies especially to the Apostolic office. But the general principles
which underlie this threefold charge, to feed and to tend both 'the
sheep' and 'the lambs,' may be put in a form that applies to each of
us, and it is this--the best token of a Christian's love to Jesus
Christ is his service of man for Christ's sake. 'Lovest thou Me?' 'Yea!
Lord.' Thou hast _said_; go and _do_, 'Feed My lambs; feed My sheep.'
We need the profession of words; we need, as Peter himself enjoined at
a subsequent time, to be ready to 'give to every man that asketh us a
reason of the hope,' and an acknowledgment of the love, that are in us.
But if you want men to believe in your love, however Jesus Christ may
know it, go and work in the Master's vineyard. The service of man is
the garb of the love of God. 'He that loveth God will love his brother
also.' Do not confine that thought of service, and feeding, and
tending, to what we call evangelistic and religious work. That is one
of its forms, but it is only one of them. Everything in which Christian
men can serve their fellows is to be taken by them as their worship of
their Lord, and is taken by the world as the convincing proof of the
reality of their love.
Love to Jesus Christ is the qualification for all such service. If we
are knit to Him by true affection, which is based upon our
consciousness of our own falls and evils, and our reception of His
forgiving mercy, then we shall have the qualities that fit us, and the
impulse that drives us, to serve and help our fellows. I do not
say--God forbid!--that there is no philanthropy apart from Christian
faith, but I do say that, on the wide scale, and in the long run, they
who are knit to Jesus Christ by love will be those who render the
greatest help to all that are 'afflicted in mind, body, or estate'; and
that the true basis and qualification for efficient service of our
fellows is the utter surrender of our hearts to Him who is the Fountain
of love, and from whom comes all our power to live in the world, as the
images and embodiments of the love which has saved us that we might
help to save others.
Brethren! let us all ask ourselves Christ's question to the denier. Let
us look our past evils full in the face, that we may learn to hate
them, and that we may learn more the width and the sweep of the power
of His pardoning mercy. God grant that we may all be able to say, 'Thou
knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee!'