Work to Be Done!
In 1866 J. C. Ryle published a small tract titled Work to be Done! In those pages, Ryle chose what some might consider to be an unusual starting point for missions – the Old Testament. Citing God’s word from Joshua 13:1, "There remains yet much land to be possessed,” Ryle connects Israel’s inheritance of the Promised Land to the church’s inheritance of the nations on behalf of Christ.
After giving thanks for the progress already made in reaching the unreached, and outlining the inheritance yet to be claimed for Christ, Ryle concluded with a call for the church to obey that is incisive in its practical simplicity. It’s here that rooting his plea in the Old Testament proves to be anything but arbitrary. Beyond illustrating the significance of the connective tissue shared by the Old and New Testaments, Israel’s inheritance of the land God promised reminds us of the life and death urgency that animates Christ’s call for His Church to “Go.”
The last thing I will say is this, there is wanting among us more of a working spirit.
I mean just simply what I say. We want more vigorous working to advance the cause of missions – more active, business-like exertion to set forward its prosperity.
The way to advance any cause is to keep it continually in mind, to be always thinking of it, always speaking of it, always trying to bring it under the notice of others, always endeavouring to keep it before their eyes. We want to have this done for the missionary cause.
The heathen perish day by day. Nothing but the gospel can save them. Every person who is in earnest about his own soul should look on missions as his own affair as much as his minister’s, and should consider “what can I do to help them.” All can do something. Print that in your mind. One single man, one woman, can practice immense results if they take up a subject, and are resolved to press on and never give it up. One man, almost alone, upset the slave trade. One man purified the prisons of the world. It is wonderful to observe what one can do, if he is resolved to do something and stick to it. Ways and means open up when the mind is bent on an object. People become ingenious in finding modes of action when their hearts and affections are engaged. I wish that it were so with many in the matter of missions!
When you have given all you can, try and fill your mind with the subject and set to work upon others. Ask others to give. There are fountains of wealth in this land from which not one drop has flowed yet to the treasury of God. There are mines of wealth from which not a sixpence was ever extracted for Christ’s cause. Tell others about missions. Write to your friends and relations about them. Bring forward the subject in conversation. You never need be ashamed of it. Christ and His Apostles were missionaries, and that is sufficient answer to the tongue of scorn.
Reader, the state of the world demands more exertion, from all professing Christians. The latter days of the earth are fallen upon us. The nations are shaking, and thrones and principalities are being cast down. The kingdom draws near which can never be shaken. The King Himself cannot be far off. The Judge stands at the door. The night comes when no man can work. God seems to be crying out in His wonderful providences—“Who is on the Lord’s side?” Oh, let us each say, “I am!”
The state of the heathen demands it. North and south, east and west, souls are perishing for lack of knowledge. Sin is reigning, and Satan carrying men captive at his will. If we are not infidels, if we are not sham Christians, if we are really in earnest in our religion, let us have pity on them, and send to help them.
The life and prosperity of the Church demand it. Why has God dealt so graciously with us? Why has He spared us so long? Simply to prove us, simply to try whether we will occupy our right position and stand in the forefront, as we ought to do, in the day of battle. Depend on it, our Church is on her trial. If she does not rise to the requirements of the times, her lampstand will be taken away. God can fulfill His purposes without us. If we are not ready to do His work He will choose other instruments, and cast us aside. Oh, let us take heed, lest we be weighed in the balances and found wanting!
Above all, the well-being of our own souls demands it. We little know how much depends on working for God in the matter of our spiritual comfort. Exercise is the secret of a healthy body, and active working for God one secret of a healthy soul. This is the path in which God will meet us, and give us more peace and strength. “He that waters others shall be watered himself.”
Reader, above all remember that the time is short. Make haste, make haste, if you ever mean to come to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Make haste, lest you be too late. In heaven there will be no ignorance and no darkness, no heathen to be converted, no sinners to be brought to God. Now is the only time for doing good. The way to do a thing is to do it. Begin at once. There is much land to be possessed and much work to be done!