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The Tenderness of the Shepherd, July 25
And when he has found [the sheep], he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Luke 15:5
, RSV.
In the commission to His disciples, Christ not only outlined their work, but gave
them their message. Teach the people, He said, “to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you.” The disciples were to teach what Christ had taught. That
which He had spoken, not only in person, but through all the prophets and teachers
of the Old Testament, is here included. Human teaching is shut out. There is no
place for tradition, for man’s theories and conclusions, or for church legislation. No
laws ordained by ecclesiastical authority are included in the commission. None of
these are Christ’s servants to teach. “The law and the prophets,” with the record of
His own words and deeds, are the treasure committed to the disciples to be given to
the world. Christ’s name is their watchword, their badge of distinction, their bond
of union, the authority for their course of action, and the source of their success.
Nothing that does not bear His superscription is to be recognized in His kingdom.
The gospel is to be presented, not as a lifeless theory, but as a living force to
change the life. God desires that the receivers of His grace shall be witnesses to
its power. Those whose course has been most offensive to Him He freely accepts;
when they repent, He imparts to them His divine Spirit, places them in the highest
positions of trust, and sends them forth into the camp of the disloyal to proclaim
His boundless mercy. He would have His servants bear testimony to the fact that
through His grace men may possess Christlikeness of character, and may rejoice in
the assurance of His great love. He would have us bear testimony to the fact that He
cannot be satisfied until the human race are reclaimed and reinstated in their holy
privileges as His sons and daughters.
In Christ is the tenderness of the shepherd, the affection of the parent, and the
matchless grace of the compassionate Saviour. His blessings He presents in the most
alluring terms. He is not content merely to announce these blessings; He presents
them in the most attractive way, to excite a desire to possess them. So His servants
are to present the riches of the glory of the unspeakable Gift. The wonderful love of
Christ will melt and subdue hearts, when the mere reiteration of doctrines would
accomplish nothing.... Christ is sitting for His portrait in every disciple. Every one
God has predestinated to be “conformed to the image of his Son” (
Romans 8:29
).
In every one Christ’s long-suffering love, His holiness, meekness, mercy, and truth
are to be manifested to the world (
The Desire of Ages, 826, 827
).
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