When they had assuredly gathered that the Lord had called them,
'immediately'--there is great virtue in that one word--'we endeavoured
to go into Macedonia.' Delayed obedience is the brother--and, if I may
mingle metaphors, sometimes the father--of disobedience. It sometimes
means simple feebleness of conviction, indolence, and a general lack of
fervour. It means very often a reluctance to do the duty that lies
plainly before us. And, dear brethren, as I have said about the former
lesson, so I say about this. The homely virtue, which we all know to be
indispensable to success in common daily life and commercial
undertakings, is no less indispensable to all vigour of Christian life
and to all nobleness of Christian service. We have no hours to waste;
the time is short. In the harvest-field, especially when it is getting
near the end of the week, and the Sunday is at hand, there are little
leisure and little tolerance of slow workers. And for us the fields are
white, the labourers are few, the Lord of the harvest is imperative,
the sun is hurrying to the west, and the sickles will have to be laid
down before long. So, '_immediately_ we endeavoured.'
Delayed duty is present discomfort. As long as a man has a conscience,
so long will he be restless and uneasy until he has, as the Quakers
say, 'cleared himself of his burden,' and done what he knows that he
ought to do, and got done with it. Delayed obedience means wasted
possibilities of service, and so is ever to be avoided. The more
disagreeable anything is which is plainly a duty, the more reason there
is for doing it right away. 'I made haste, and delayed not, but made
haste to keep Thy commandments.'
Did you ever count how many '_straightways_' there are in the first
chapter of Mark's Gospel? If you have not, will you do it when you go
home; and notice how they come in? In the story of Christ's opening
ministry every fresh incident is tacked on to the one before it, in
that chapter, by that same word 'straightway.' 'Straightway' He does
that; 'anon' He does this; 'immediately' He does the other thing. All
is one continuous stream of acts of service. The Gospel of Mark is the
Gospel of the servant, and it sets forth the pattern to which all
Christian service ought to be conformed.
So if we take Jesus Christ for our Example, unhasting and unresting in
the work of the Lord, we shall let no moment pass burdened with
undischarged duty; and we shall find that all the moments are few
enough for the discharge of the duties incumbent upon us.
III. So, lastly, careful consideration and unhesitating obedience lead
to a Straight Course.
Well, it is not so always, but it is so generally. There is a wonderful
power in diligent doing of God's known will to smooth away difficulties
and avoid troubles. I do not, of course, mean that a man who thus
lives, patiently ascertaining and then promptly doing what God would
have him do, has any miraculous exemption from the ordinary sorrows and
trials of life. But sure I am that a very, very large proportion of all
the hindrances and disappointments, storms and quicksands, calms which
prevent progress and headwinds that beat in our faces, are directly the
products of our negligence in one or other of these two respects, and
that although by no means absolutely, yet to an extent that we should
not believe if we had not the experience of it, the wish to do God's
will and the doing of it with our might when we know what it is have a
talismanic power in calming the seas and bringing us to the desired
haven.
But though this is not always absolutely true in regard of outward
things, it is, without exception or limitation, true in regard of the
inward life. For if my supreme will is to do God's will then nothing
which is His will, and comes to me because it is can be a hindrance in
my doing that.
As an old proverb says, 'Travelling merchants can never be out of their
road.' And a Christian man whose path is simple obedience to the will
of God can never be turned from that path by whatever hindrances may
affect his outward life. So, in deepest truth, there is always a calm
voyage for the men whose eyes are open to discern, and whose hands are
swift to fulfil, the commandments of their Father in heaven. For them
all winds blow them to their port; for them 'all things work together
for good'; with them God's servants who hearken to the voice of His
commandments, and are His ministers to do His pleasure, can never be
other than in amity and alliance. He who is God's servant is the
world's master. 'All things are yours if ye are Christ's.'
So, brethren, careful study of providences and visions, of hindrances
and stimulus, careful setting of our lives side by side with the
Master's, and a swift delight in doing the will of the Lord, will
secure for us, in inmost truth, a prosperous voyage, till all storms
are hushed, 'and they are glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth
them to their desired haven.'