“As soon as we cease to bleed we cease to bless”—(Jowett).
We came across this striking sentence lately, and it set us thinking. The thought contained in it is indeed arresting. What does our service for the Lord COST us? The most of us, alas! only yield a very languid interest in the Lord’s interests. We sit in our comfortable easy chairs by glowing fires, we give what we can spare and never miss, we congratulate ourselves that we are doing our duty; but is this really so? Does our service cost us anything? Do we bleed? Are we really a blessing?
Chemists have discovered the exact properties of milk. They have collected these properties in right proportion and brought them together scientifically. They have produced synthetic milk. It looks like milk. It tastes like milk. But if babies were fed on it, they would die. It lacks the mysterious vitamins that only living nature can produce. Thus it was with the apostolic church at Ephesus in the year A.D. 96. The Lord could address them, “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience” (Rev. 11:2). But note the spring of this service was wanting. Spiritual vitamins were conspicuous by their absence. The Lord had to say, “I have… against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (v. 4).
See how the spring was present in the young Thessalonica church in A.D. 54. The Apostle Paul could write, “Remembering without ceasing your work of FAITH, and labour of LOVE, and patience of HOPE in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father” (1 Thess. 1:3).
With the Ephesians there were the works, but it is not said they were works of FAITH; there was labour, but it is not said to be labour of LOVE; there was patience, but it is not said to be patience of HOPE. The Ephesian assembly came behind in no gift. It was not want of correct teaching. It was want of that something that cannot be gained by our mere intelligence, that something that can best be described as spiritual vitamins.
It is only as we are really in touch with the Lord that we shall know what the sentence at the head of this paper implies. The young, little gifted Thessalonica assembly had it. The gifted Ephesian church lacked it. May we not just here ask ourselves honest questions as to where we are in such matters?
There is a world of meaning in the sentence that heads this article. But, as in all else, we have the Lord Jesus Christ as the supreme Example for us. “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). It is true that the death of the Lord Jesus has an element, nay the chief element in it, that renders it perfectly unique. His was an ATONING death. In this His death stands alone. Nevertheless, He died, not only as a Saviour, but as an example of devotedness to the will of God, even to the giving up of His precious life, and as an example of devotedness He has left us an example to follow, even in His steps.
So when we read the sentence that heads this article, our thoughts went to that scene of long ago, outside the gate of Jerusalem. We read,
“One of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:34). That this is of the greatest interest is seen in the solemn asseveration of the inspired writer as eyewitness, “And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knows that he says true, that ye might believe” (v. 35).
Was there ever such bleeding? Was there ever such bleeding?
Was there ever such blessing? To arrive at that point, there was the veiling of the Godhead glory. Jesus was never less than the mighty God, but He took upon Himself the form of a bondslave, and veiled His glory: wondrous, marvellous, gracious stoop!
The Word become flesh was the Son of Man with rights to the whole creation. Yet He had not where to lay His head. He said of Himself, “The foxes have holes, and the birds have nests; but the Son of Man has not where to lay His head” (Matt. 8:20). Creatures of His hand, members of the lower creation, they had their lairs and their nests, but He, the Lord of them all, was homeless.
All this, His going about doing good, the virtue flowing out of Him at the touch of need and of faith, led directly to the cross. There abandoned to Divine wrath, so that God’s love could express itself through a righteous channel, the Lord of glory endured the cross. His precious life was given, He gave Himself, and the bleeding from His side was the proof of it. Was there ever such bleeding? Was there ever such blessing?
Lift up your eyes and behold the answer! The seer, John, could write, “I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white garments, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9-10).
There stretched in vision in interminable ranks is seen a number baffling the powers of human census, a multitude that no man can number. There is a multitude that no man can number, who have been blessed of the Lord. Was there ever such bleeding? Was there ever such blessing? In this lies the mighty power of the gospel, the power to melt the stubborn heart, and to bend the stubborn knee at the feet of Him, who thus expressed divine love to the uttermost.
Let His example fill our minds and hearts, ever remembering the atoning character of that death, which we cannot share, but remembering that in suffering He left us an example to follow in His steps.
There is such a thing as bleeding to be a blessing. Call to mind the greatest servants of Christ, and you will invariably find that they bled to bless; in other words they sacrificed themselves to serve. It is sacrifice that serves—the sacrifice it may be of time, money, position, comforts, health, even of life itself in order that blessing may come to others.
Examples by the thousand rise up before the mind. There are Christian men and women who have given up brilliant prospects in this world, who have given up home ties, social amenities, spiritual advantages, in many cases life itself in order to carry the gospel to men. They bleed in order to bless, they sacrifice themselves in order to serve.
Take a Bible example. Look at the Apostle Paul. He turned his back upon brilliant prospects. As a young man he was found in a leading place in the Jewish circle. Yet the things he once counted as gain he counted as loss, even as dung, that he might win Christ.
See how he suffered and endured that be might carry the gospel to the perishing. Necessity was laid upon him, the gospel must be preached whatever the trials or dangers in so doing. Read down the list of the things he endured. It is easily done, but sit down, and try to imagine a tithe of what it meant, and then ask yourself the question, Do I bleed to bless?
“In labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft, of the Jews five tunes received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep, in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, an fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (1 Cor. 11:23-27).
What a list! The magnitude of it, the dangers he braved, the privations he endured are astounding! What was the mighty motive power that led to this? Surely it was the great Example of his Lord and Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was Himself as a peerless Object of his soul One to whom he owed everything, One, who in the revelation of His person, captivated his soul.