The following paragraph is an excerpt from a 5 chapter book by Brother Sparks entitled “The Essential Newness of the New Creation”. This particular paragraph is from the 5th chapter called “The Cross and Total Abandonment to the Lord”. This book in it’s entirety can be read by clicking HERE.
I wanted to post this particular paragraph because of where the Lord has had my heart for the last several months as it relates to seeking fulfillment in the world. The bottom line is that there is none to be found, this is a bankrupt creation that has nothing more than empty promises to offer, at least in that regard. This paragraph, at minimum, begs the question from our hearts “What to we expect from the world?” If we truly desire to walk in the Lords way and be found in Him, what do we anticipate the the worlds reaction to be as we turn our hearts to God and necessarily turn our back to the world? We should all ask the Lord to settle the cost of being one of His sooner rather than later.
“…Another aspect of Paul’s readiness was that he had counted the cost. This, like the former question was settled once for all. Paul had sat down and faced it out. He had weighed it all up. He had said to himself: ‘Now, I have a name for being such-and-such a man. I have a reputation, I have a position, and I have influence. I am known to have taken the line which I have taken without any reservation at all. Having taken that line in the manner that I have, I have gained a position. That position represents a great deal. I know quite well what all my friends, and all the people who, from my present standpoint, are most worth considering, think about the other line of things, of that course which lies before me now. I know what they think. I know their attitude. I know how they treat people who go that way. I know quite well that it will cost everything. It means reputation, position, influence, all gone, and, more than that, that those who are now for me, who have been on my side so strongly, will become my bitterest foes. I know that it may involve my being cast out of public life and out of domestic life. I know quite well that what they did to Jesus of Nazareth they will not hesitate to do to me, but my life goes with this.’ He had weighed it all up from every standpoint, put it all in the balances, and settled it once for all. ‘If I take this course, I have nothing to expect from this world but complete antagonism. From all my friends I have nothing to expect but the loss of all things.’ That is how Paul put it. He had settled the cost, so that later on, when things began to work out as he had anticipated, he was not stumbled in his course. He did not come to a standstill in order to go over the whole matter again. He went on. All those matters had been dealt with, and were behind him. So often we are arrested because we come up against the cost of things, the price to be paid, and we find that we are not ready for that. “I am ready to die…”; “I am ready to preach…”; “I am ready to go…”; “I am already being offered, and the last drops of my sacrifice are falling.” (That is the literal translation of the words to Timothy.) Paul pictures himself as a drink-offering being poured out for his Christ. That is abandonment to Christ. That is passion for Christ’s interests. That is the meaning of the Cross – “henceforth… unto him…” Dead to self, and all else”
“I am aware that this is nothing more than an appeal to your hearts. There is not a great deal of profound teaching here, but I feel this is what is needed: a people of this sort who really do and can say, with a true, conforming background: “The love of Christ constraineth”! No longer unto ourselves, but unto Him! “We are ambassadors… of Christ…!” Those who stay at home, and continue in business and in the home life should not be any the less ambassadors than those who go abroad. There ought to be in us the spirit of: “I am ready to preach…”, “I am ready to go…”, “I am ready to die…” ‘I am ready in this full sense of readiness, with the result that everything is held so loosely that it will not be able to keep me back from serving the Lord’s interests.’ Everything is regarded solely in the light of how it can serve the Lord, and if it cannot serve the Lord, then we have no personal interest in it. If we are obliged to be in any given thing as in this world, well and good, but our hearts are not in that for any personal interests at all. Our hearts will only have to be in it in so far as it is our duty. We will do what is our duty with all our might, but the connection must serve the interests of the Lord Jesus up to the hilt, as far as that is possible. That is the attitude toward life which is called for. It is possible that this spirit, this element, this real concern and passion for the Lord, may have dropped out of the lives of many.”
“Ambassadors are not ambassadors because they have been appointed, but because “the love of Christ constraineth”. We are not ambassadors of churches, congregations or assemblies; we are ambassadors of Christ. The Lord write this in our hearts.”
