Give Yourself Wholly to
Them
by J. C. Ryle, 1859
"Give yourself wholly to them." 1 Timothy 4:15
When the Apostle says, "Give yourself wholly to these
things," he seems to look at the "things" of which he had been speaking in
the preceding verses, beginning with the words, "Set an example for the
believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." We have here
a target set before the ministers of the New Testament, at which we are all
to aim—and of which we must all feel we fall short. Yet it is an old saying,
"He who aims high is the most likely to strike high; and he who shoots at
the moon will shoot further than the man who shoots at the bush."
The Apostle appears to me to suggest that the minister
must be a man of one thing: to use his own words, a "man of God." We hear of
men of business, and men of pleasure, and men of science. The aim of the
minister should be, to be "a man of God;" or to employ a phrase used in some
countries, to be "Jesus Christ's man." This should be the aim which we
should place before us; we should seek to be "every inch the minister of
Jesus Christ." We should aim to be the same men at all times, in all
positions, and places; not on Sunday only, but on week days also; not merely
in the pulpit, but everywhere—in our living rooms, and in the house of the
poor man.
There are those, of whom their congregations have said,
that when they were in the pulpit—they were so good, that never wished
them to come out; and when they went out of the pulpit—they were so bsd,
they never wished them to go in! May God give us all grace to take that
to heart! May we seek so to live, so to preach, so to work, so to give
ourselves wholly to the business of our calling, that this bitter remark may
never be made about us.
Our profession is a very special one. Others have their
seasons of relaxation, when they can completely lay aside their work. This
can never be done by the faithful minister of Jesus Christ. Once put on, his
office must never be put off. At home, abroad, relaxing, going to the sea
side—he must always carry his business with him. A great lawyer could say of
his official robes, "Lie there, Lord Chancellor." Such ought never to be the
mind of the minister of Christ.
There are some things which the high demand of this text
suggests, as needful to be followed after and practiced.
1. First, it demands ENTIRE DEVOTION to the great work to
which we are ordained.
When one was commanded by the Savior to
follow Him, he replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father;" but then
there came that solemn saying, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go
and proclaim the kingdom of God." Still another said, "I will follow you,
Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family;" and to him
there came the remarkable sentence, "No one who puts his hand to the plow
and looks back, is fit for service in the kingdom of God." "Do not greet
anyone on the road," was Christ's charge to the seventy disciples. Surely
these Scriptural expressions teach us, that in all our dealings in our
ministry, we must have a high standard. We must strive to be men of one
thing—that thing being the work of Jesus Christ.
2. Secondly, it demands a thorough separation from the
things of the WORLD.
I hold it to be of the greatest importance
to keep the ministerial office, so far as we can, distinct and separate from
everything that is secular. I trust we shall hear every year of fewer and
fewer ministers of the Gospel who are magistrates, and fewer and fewer
ministers who take part in agricultural meetings, and win prizes for fat
pigs, enormous bulls, and large crops of turnips. There is no apostolical
succession in such occupations.
Nor yet is this all. We should be separated from the
pleasures of the world—as well as from its business. There are
many innocent and indifferent amusements, for which the minister of Christ
ought to have no time. He ought to say, "I have no time for these things! I
am doing a great work—and I cannot come down!"
3. Thirdly, it demands a jealous watchfulness over our
own SOCIAL conduct.
We ought not to be always paying social
functions, and dining out, as others do. It will not do to say, that our
Lord went to a marriage feast, and sat at supper in the Pharisee's house,
and therefore we may do the same. I only reply—Let us go in His spirit, with
His faithfulness and boldness, to say a word in season, and to give the
conversation a profitable turn—and then we may go with safety! Unless we do
this, we should be careful where we go, with whom we sit down, and where we
spend our evenings.
There was a quaint saying of John Wesley to his
ministers, which contains the germ of much truth. "Don't aim at being
thought gentlemen; you have no more to do with being gentlemen, than with
being masters at dancing." Our aim should be not to be regarded as agreeable
persons at the dinner table—but to be known everywhere as faithful,
consistent ministers of Jesus Christ!
4. Fourthly, it demands a diligent redemption of TIME.
We should give attention to reading, every day that we live. We
should strive to bring all our reading to bear on our work. We ought to keep
our eyes open continually, and be ever picking up ideas for our sermons—as
we travel by the way, as we sit by the fireside, as we are standing on the
platform at the railway station. We should be keeping in our mind's eye our
Master's business—observing, noting, looking out, gathering up something
that will throw fresh light on our work, and enable us to put the truth in a
more striking way. He who looks out for something to learn will always be
able to learn something.
Having suggested these things, I will next proceed to
ask, What will be the CONSEQUENCE of our giving ourselves wholly to these
things? Remember, we shall not receive the praise of men. We shall be
thought extreme, and ascetic, and over-righteous. Those who want to serve
God and serve money at the same time, will think our standard too high, our
practice too stringent. They will say, that we are going too far and too
fast for a world such as that in which we live. May we never care what men
say of us, so long as we walk in the light of God's Word! May we strive and
pray to be wholly independent of, and indifferent to man's opinion, so long
as we please God! May we remember the woe pronounced by our Master, when He
said, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you," and the words of Paul,
"If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
Though by "giving ourselves wholly to these things" we
shall not win the praise of men—we shall attain the far more
important end of usefulness to souls. I completely acknowledge the
doctrine of the sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners. I
acknowledge that those who preach best, and live nearest to God, have not
always been honored in their lives to the saving of many souls. But still,
the man who is most entirely and wholly Jesus Christ's man—a man of one
thing, who lives Sunday and weekday, everywhere, at home and abroad, as a
man whose single endeavor is to give himself to the work of Jesus
Christ—this is the man, this is the minister, who will generally, in the
long run, do the most good.
The case of Mr. Simeon will apply here. You all know how
he was persecuted when he began to testify for Christ, in Cambridge. You
know how many there were who would not speak to him, how the finger of scorn
was pointed at him continually. But we know how he went on persevering in
the work, and how, when he died, all Cambridge came forth to give him honor,
and how heads of houses, and fellows of colleges, and men who had scoffed at
him while he lived, honored him at his death. They testified, that the life
he had lived had had its effect, and that they had seen and known that God
was with him.
I once saw in Dundee one who had known much of that godly
man, Robert Murray McCheyne. She told me that those who read his letters and
sermons had a very faint idea of what he was. She said to me, "If you have
read all his works, you just know nothing at all about him. You must have
seen the man, and heard him, and known him, and have been in company with
him—to know what a man of God he was."
Furthermore, giving ourselves wholly to these things will
bring happiness and peace to our consciences. I speak now among friends, and
not among worldly people, where I should need to fence and guard and explain
what I mean. I shall not be suspected of holding justification by works by
those I see before me. I speak of such a clear conscience as the Apostle
refers to. We trust we have a "clear conscience" (Hebrews 13:18). To have
this clear conscience is clearly bound up with high aims, high motives, a
high standard of ministerial life, and practice. I am quite sure, that the
more we give ourselves wholly to the work of the ministry, the more inward
happiness, the greater sense of the light of God's countenance, are we
likely to enjoy.
The subject is a deeply humbling one. Who does not feel,
"My weakness, my weakness! my unprofitableness! How far short I come of this
high standard?" What reason have we, having received mercy, not to faint!
What reason have we, having been spared by God's great patience, to abound
in the work of the Lord, and to give ourselves wholly to our business! The
great secret is—to be always looking to Jesus, and living a life of close
communion with Him!
At Cambridge, the other day, I saw a picture of Henry
Martyn, bequeathed by Mr. Simeon to the public library. A friend informed me
that that picture used to hang in Mr. Simeon's room, and that when he was
disposed to trifle in the work of the ministry, he used to stand before it
and say, "It seems to say to me, Charles Simeon, don't trifle, don't trifle;
Charles Simeon, remember whose you are, and whom you serve." And then the
worthy man, in his own strange way, would bow respectfully, and say, "I will
not trifle, I will not trifle; I will not forget."
May we, in conclusion, look to a far higher pattern than
any man—Martyn, McCheyne, or any other. May we look to the Great Chief
Shepherd, the great pattern, in whose steps we are to walk! May we abide in
Him, and never trifle! May we hold on our way, looking to Jesus, keeping
clear of the world, its pleasures, and its follies—caring nothing for the
world's frowns, and not much moved by the world's smiles—looking forward to
that day when the Great Shepherd shall give to all who have done His work,
and preached His Gospel, a crown of glory that does not fade away! The more
we have the mind of Christ, the more we shall understand what it is to "give
ourselves wholly to these things."