Selected Messages Book 2

Chapter 17—Unity and Devotion

[Appeared in Notebook Leaflets,.]

The Lord has appointed His work to go forward in missionary lines in such a way as to extend the knowledge of the truth for these last days. A deception has certainly been on those who ought to have been wide awake to see the great, grand work to be done by the people who bear God's sign as represented in Exodus 31:12-18. 2SM 158.1

The Lord desires faithful stewards to measure the fields to be worked, and then use wisely His means in advancing the work in these fields. God has a people, and a ministry, who are to cooperate with Him.... 2SM 158.2

The Lord will work for His people if they will submit to be worked by the Holy Spirit, not thinking that they must work the Spirit. “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12, 13).... 2SM 158.3

God's ministers have a most solemn, sacred work to do in our world. The end is near. The message of truth must go. As faithful shepherds of the flock, God's servants are to bear a clear, sharp testimony. There is to be no perverting of the truth. Divine grace never leads away from mercy and the love of God. It is the power of Satan that does this. When Christ preached, His message was like a sharp, two-edged sword, piercing the consciences of men and revealing their inmost thoughts. The work that Christ did His faithful messengers will have to do. In simplicity, purity, and the strictest integrity they are to preach the Word. Those who labor in word or doctrine are to be faithful to their charge. They are to watch for souls as they that must give an account. Never are they to clothe a “Thus saith the Lord” with enticing words of man's wisdom. Thus they destroy its living energy, making it weak and powerless, so that it fails to convict of sin. Every word spoken by the direction of the Holy Spirit will be full of the deepest solicitude for the salvation of souls. 2SM 158.4

The minister's acceptance with God depends not on outward show, but on his faithful discharge of duty. Christ's road to exaltation lay through the deepest humiliation. Those who are partakers with Christ in His sufferings, who follow cheerfully in His footsteps, will be partakers with Him in His glory. 2SM 159.1

It has been the continual endeavor of the enemy to introduce into the church persons who assent to much that is truth, but who are not converted. Professed Christians who are false to their trust are channels through whom Satan works. He can use unconverted church members to advance his own ideas and retard the work of God. Their influence is always on the side of wrong. They place criticism and doubt as stumbling blocks in the way of reform. They introduce unbelief because they have closed their eyes to the righteousness of Christ and have not the glory of the Lord as their rearward. 2SM 159.2

Unity is the strength of the church. Satan knows this, and he employs his whole force to bring in dissension. He desires to see a lack of harmony among the members of the church of God. Greater attention should be given to the subject of unity. What is the recipe for the cure of the leprosy of strife and dissension? Obedience to the commandments of God. 2SM 159.3

God has been teaching me that we are not to dwell upon the differences which weaken the church. He prescribes a remedy for strife. By keeping His Sabbath holy we are to show that we are His people. His Word declares the Sabbath to be a sign by which to distinguish the commandment-keeping people. Thus God's people are to preserve among them a knowledge of Him as their Creator. Those who keep the law of God will be one with Him in the great controversy commenced in heaven between Satan and God. Disloyalty to God means contention and strife against the principles of God's law. 2SM 160.1

Everything connected with the cause of God is sacred, and is to be thus regarded by His people. The counsels that have any reference to the cause of God are sacred. Christ gave His life to bring a sinful world to repentance. Those who are imbued with the spirit that dwelt in Christ will work as God's husbandmen in caring for His vineyard. They will not merely work in spots which they may choose. They are to be wise managers and faithful workers, making it their highest aim to fulfill the commission which Christ has given. Just before His ascension the Saviour told His disciples that beginning at Jerusalem they must go to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples; and He added, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).—Manuscript 14, 1901. 2SM 160.2