Useful To God

if a man is looking for a girder for a bridge, he realizes that it is not last year’s growth that is going to make the girder. It is the formation of several years’ growth. Anyone that runs the cross-cut saw through a tree will see a lot of rings where the cut has been made. The distance between one ring and another shows the year’s growth. The distance between some of the rings will show that one year’s growth has been very good. There is quite a space between one ring and another. 

In other cases there is just a small space between the rings showing that the tree has had a hard year, has stood the drought, has passed through the difficult times. If we are going to achieve anything in being a help to God’s work, we should be willing to take the bright and dark days; the sunny days, cloudy, hard, soft days, because it will all be known.

Saul of Tarsus preached the Gospel in such a way that religious people did not like him. Some of the people saw that he was a valuable and useful man and very necessary for the family and fold of God. It is good to be a people like that. There are several words used in the Scripture about people: ‘loved’, ‘beloved’ and ‘dearly beloved’. Would not you like to be the last mentioned? It was not only ‘loved’. For some it was ‘beloved’. Let us aim at being the best that God would have us to be, not slack, but seeking to be a help in the family of God, like Peter.

The Lord did not ask Peter to do something hard or difficult in the beginning. Christ was standing by the Sea of Galilee. He was pressed upon by the crowd and He felt He would like a vantage point from which to speak and see how it was affecting those who were listening. He got into Simon Peter’s boat. Then He asked Peter to thrust out a little from the land. Peter willingly did that, and then Jesus sat down and spoke to the people.

Then after He had finished speaking He wished to reward Peter. He said, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught.” Peter may have thought, “My Master is a carpenter. He knows straight from crooked grained wood, but He has never been a fisherman.” At least Peter thought so. He had pushed out a little from the land and then he launched out. “Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.” “Although it seems that you do not know about fishing I will do as you say.” And when they had done this they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net broke. When Peter saw it he fell down at Jesus’ knees and he said, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

He had put his own ideas before the Lord’s but he came to the place where he said, “I am a sinful man...” That was the kind of beginning Peter had. We know how helpful he became, a man that was one God could depend upon to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, the one that Cornelius heard. There is the beginning of a useful life.

Then you might think of the beginning of Paul’s life. Paul in writing to Philemon says, “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ...” Paul speaks of himself as a prisoner. You can read in the paper about a prisoner being arrested and sometimes you will see the word ‘apprehended’. Paul apprehended the truth. He did not see how much he was hemmed in naturally, but he found that being a prisoner brought him to know God in a way he could not otherwise get to know Him. Jesus said to His disciples, “Ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake.” Paul was brought into contact with men such as Felix and King Agrippa, and he was able to preach the Gospel to them.

If we want to be a prisoner who will be brought before governors and kings, then let us take the steps that Paul took. Paul was a hard-working man as far as the Gospel was concerned. He labored more abundantly than them all. He was a true laborer in the things of God. God saw that he needed a little rest and he gave it in this way, by sending him to gaol [jail ?]. In that gaol he had time to think and he got the paper and ink and he wrote letters. I think he wrote thirteen epistles. Some of them would never have been written if God had not given him the quiet time in gaol. He made the most of his opportunity. I am speaking to myself as well as to others when I say that sometimes you might get to the place where you would think, “There is no hope of doing anything here.” There is always the hope of doing something where you are found. Try to do the right thing.

Paul wrote these epistles in quietness. He was a man that was on the lookout for opportunities. A servant of Philemon’s had run away from him and it is nice to think of what he did. He searched to see if he could get in touch with Paul. Onesimus came to see Paul and talked to him and Paul said, “Well, here I am hemmed in in many ways, hindered in many ways, but here is a chance for me to preach the Gospel. Onesimus heard it and God set His seal and he became a child of God and was useful in taking the epistle back to Philemon.

It speaks in the beginning of this epistle, “Grace to you and peace...,” It is nice to think of the little group of people that were here. A man and his wife had the church in their home, seeking to do what they could. It is nice to think of grace. Paul gave God the chance of giving him grace and help. He was given grace to help in time of need. Because God saw him willing  to do what he could, He helped him.

I remember once when I was a boy I had a desire to do a little paving, and I got the stones together and sand and I smoothed off where I was going to place these stones. I put the stones down on this prepared part and began to put the sand between them. I did not know that my father was looking over my shoulder and he was pleased at the attempt I was making and said, “Tom, I will show you how to do it better.” Wouldn’t it be good for God to look on and see us making an attempt, then He would come and help us along the way. We would want to have it in our hearts to be an attempter to carry out the will and mind of God. God will give grace and help to the attempters. “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

A very sweet thought came to me many years ago in the city of Dublin. It was “our Father”.  It appealed to me in this way, that “our Father” means a father of a large family, and some of those in that family are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, Joseph, Peter, James and John. I felt what God has been to Paul and Abraham, He will be to me. When Lydia heard Paul, her heart was touched and she attended to those things that were spoken by Paul. She asked Paul to come to her home. She was useful in giving her home to the servants of God and in helping the Gospel that way.

You can think of many places in the Scriptures where it says, “Our Father”. Peter’s God is my God and your God too. Lydia’s and Aquila’s and Priscilla’s Father is your Father. This should feed your heart and encourage you to think, “Well, I belong to a real family. I belong to a great family and I will seek to be a help in that family.” There was a dear old lady in the Old Country where we went to preach the Gospel. She and her husband got out of their own bed for us. I felt glad and satisfied to be in that home. Sometimes I would go out to visit and one day she said to me, “You would be no credit to the home if you went out like that.” She took my hat and cleaned it and gave it back to me. Both those people were faithful to the end and died in a fellowship meeting. That is this great family that we belong to.

I remember a boy went for a job. They gave him a job cleaning out carriages. He was inclined to think it was a very humble job but then he said, “I belong to the company anyway.” He was situated at the bottom of the ladder. Perhaps you have just started; you have yielded to God and He is satisfied, and will help you and you can remember that, “I belong to the company anyway.” It is nice to be in this fellowship. I also remember about a willing lad, employed in an office. The man who was the head of the place dropped a paper on the way up. He did it for a purpose. All the other boys came up and passed by that paper, but this boy stooped and picked it up and went to the boss and said, “I found this on the way up. It may be of some use.” The man gave him a place in the business and he rose higher. It is nice to be people that will put their best into it. It is good to be a people that will keep your eyes open for chances and opportunities.

The little maid that waited on Naaman’s wife had a chance and opportunity. She felt that the prophet of God, Elisha, could heal Naaman of leprosy. He did get the healing that he needed and that man became useful. It is nice to be the person that will do the little thing that may sometimes start the ball rolling. That servant girl did the little thing that brought her master into the place where he could get help. It is nice to be an attempter. It is nice to do the little you can do.

I would like to say the same thing to myself. When God gives me opportunities, I would like to make the most of them. When you get opportunities, you should make the most of them also. Be a people that will do the little they can do and leave the rest to God. You will find the Lord will bless you and comfort your heart. ~ ~ ~