Gem Thought
Christ’s followers have been redeemed for service. Our Lord teaches that the true object of life is
ministry. Christ Himself was a worker, and to all His followers He gives the law of service—service to
God and to their fellow men. Here Christ has presented to the world a higher conception of life than
they had ever known. By living to minister for others, man is brought into connection with Christ. The
law of service becomes the connecting link which binds us to God and to our fellow men.
To His servants Christ commits “His goods,”—something to be put to use for Him. He gives “to
every man his work.” Each has his place in the eternal plan of heaven. Each is to work in cooperation
with Christ for the salvation of souls. Not more surely is the place prepared for us in the heavenly
mansions than is the special place designated on earth where we are to work for God.—Christ’s Object
Lessons, 326, 327.
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Chapter Six—Our Example in Welfare Ministry
Christ Stands Before Us as the Great Pattern.—Make Christ’s work your example. Constantly
He went about doing good—feeding the hungry and healing the sick. No one who came to Him for
sympathy was disappointed. The commander of the heavenly courts, He was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and His lifework is an example of the work we are to do. His tender, pitying love rebukes
our selfishness and heartlessness.—Manuscripts 55, 1901.
Christ stood at the head of humanity in the garb of humanity. So full of sympathy and love was
His attitude that the poorest was not afraid to come to Him. He was kind to all, easily approached by
the most lowly. He went from house to house, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, comforting the
mourners, soothing the afflicted, speaking peace to the distressed.... He was willing to humble Himself,
to deny Himself. He did not seek to distinguish Himself. He was the servant of all. It was His meat and
drink to be a comfort and a consolation to others, to gladden the sad and heavy-laden one with whom
He daily came in contact.
Christ stands before us as a pattern Man, the great Medical Missionary—an example for all who
should come after. His love, pure and holy, blessed all who came within the sphere of its influence. His
character
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was absolutely perfect, free from the slightest stain of sin. He came as an expression of the perfect love
of God, not to crush, not to judge and condemn, but to heal every weak, defective character, to save
men and women from Satan’s power. He is the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of the human race.
He gives to all the invitation, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find
rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
What, then, is the example that we are to set to the world? We are to do the same work that the
great Medical Missionary undertook in our behalf. We are to follow the path of self-sacrifice trodden
by Christ.—Special Testimonies, series B, no. 8, pp. 31, 32.
Christ Moved With Compassion.—When Christ saw the multitudes that gathered about Him, “He
was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having
no shepherd.” Christ saw the sickness, the sorrow, the want and degradation of the multitudes that
thronged His steps. To Him were presented the needs and woes of humanity throughout the world.
Among the high and the low, the most honored and the most degraded, He beheld souls who were
longing for the very blessings He had come to bring....
Today the same needs exist. The world is in need of workers who will labor as Christ did for the
suffering and the sinful. There is indeed a multitude to be reached. The world is full of sickness,
suffering, distress, and sin. It is full of those who need to be ministered unto—the weak, the helpless,
the ignorant, the degraded.—Testimonies for the Church 6:254.
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The Model We Should Copy.—The true missionary spirit is the spirit of Christ. The world’s
Redeemer was the great model missionary. Many of His followers have labored earnestly and
unselfishly in the cause of human salvation; but no man’s labor can bear comparison with the
self-denial, the sacrifice, the benevolence, of our Exemplar.
The love which Christ has evinced for us is without a parallel. How earnestly He labored! How
often was He alone in fervent prayer, on the mountainside or in the retirement of the garden, pouring
out His supplications with strong crying and tears. How perseveringly He urged His petitions in behalf
of sinners! Even on the cross He forgot His own sufferings in His deep love for those whom He came to
save. How cold our love, how feeble our interest, when compared with the love and interest manifested
by our Saviour! Jesus gave Himself to redeem our race, and yet how ready are we to excuse ourselves
from giving all that we have for Jesus. Our Saviour submitted to wearing labor, ignominy, and suffering.
He was repulsed, mocked, derided, while engaged in the great work which He came to earth to do.
Do you, my brethren and sisters, inquire: What model shall we copy? I do not point you to great
and good men, but to the world’s Redeemer. If we would have the true missionary spirit, we must
be imbued with the love of Christ; we must look to the Author and Finisher of our faith, study His
character, cultivate His spirit of meekness and humility, and walk in His footsteps.
Many suppose that the missionary spirit, the qualification for missionary work, is a special gift or
endowment bestowed upon the ministers and a few members of the church and that all others are to be
mere spectators.
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Never was there a greater mistake. Every true Christian will possess a missionary spirit, for to be a
Christian is to be Christlike. No man liveth to himself, and “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he
is none of His.” Everyone who has tasted of the powers of the world to come, whether he be young or
old, learned or unlearned, will be stirred with the spirit which actuated Christ. The very first impulse
of the renewed heart is to bring others also to the Savior. Those who do not possess this desire give
evidence that they have lost their first love; they should closely examine their own hearts in the light of
God’s Word, and earnestly seek a fresh baptism of the Spirit of Christ; they should pray for a deeper
comprehension of that wondrous love which Jesus manifested for us in leaving the realms of glory and
coming to a fallen world to save the perishing.—Testimonies for the Church 5:385, 386.
Christ’s Interpretation of the Gospel.—The divine commission needs no reform. Christ’s way of
presenting truth cannot be improved upon. The Saviour gave the disciples practical lessons, teaching
them how to work in such a way as to make souls glad in the truth. He sympathized with the weary, the
heavy laden, the oppressed. He fed the hungry and healed the sick. Constantly He went about doing
good. By the good He accomplished, by His loving words and kindly deeds, He interpreted the gospel
to men.
Brief as was the period of His public ministry, He accomplished the work He came to do. How
impressive were the truths He taught! How complete His lifework! What spiritual food He daily
imparted as He presented the bread of life to thousands of hungry souls! His life was a living ministry
of the word. He promised nothing that He did not perform.
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The words of life were presented in such simplicity that a child could understand them. Men,
women, and children were so impressed with His manner of explaining the Scriptures that they would
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catch the very intonation of His voice, place the same emphasis on their word