MINISTRY FROM THE PAST
A selection of older ministry re-published in Things New and Old.
THE REGIONS BEYOND
“...to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you” ( 2 Corinthians 10:16)
These words, while they set forth the large-heartedness of the apostle Paul, also provide a fine model to the evangelist in every age. The gospel is a traveller and the preacher of the gospel must be a traveller likewise. The divinely-qualified and divinely-sent evangelist will fix his eye upon “the world”. He will embrace the whole human family. From house to house, from street to street, from city to city, from kingdom to kingdom, from pole to pole. Such is the range of the “good news” and the publisher thereof. “The regions beyond” must ever be the grand gospel motto.
No sooner has the gospel lamp cast its cheering beams over a district, than the bearer of that lamp must think of the regions beyond. Thus the work goes on. Thus the mighty tide of grace rolls, in enlightening and saving power over a dark world which lies in the “region of the shadow of death.”
Christian reader, are you thinking of “the regions beyond you”? This expression may, in your case, mean the next house, the next street, the next village, the next city, or the next continent. The application is for your own heart to ponder: but are you thinking of “the regions beyond you”? I do not want you to abandon your present post at all; or, at least, not until you are fully persuaded that your work, at that post, is done. But, remember, the gospel plough should never stand still. “Onward” is the motto of every true evangelist. Let the shepherds abide by the flocks; but let the evangelists betake themselves hither and thither, to gather the sheep. Let them sound the gospel trump far and wide to gather together the elect of God. This is the design of the gospel. This should be the object of the evangelist, as he sighs over “the regions beyond”.
When Caesar beheld from the coast of Gaul, the white cliffs of Britain, he earnestly longed to carry his arms thither. The evangelist, on the other hand, whose heart beats in unison with the heart of Jesus, as he casts his eye over the map of the world, longs to carry the gospel of peace to “the regions beyond”.
It would, I believe, be a profitable question for many of us to put to ourselves as to how far are we discharging our holy responsibilities to “the regions beyond”? I believe the Christian who is not cultivating and manifesting an evangelistic spirit is in a truly deplorable condition. I believe, too, that a local company which is not cultivating and manifesting an evangelical spirit is in a dead state. One of the truest marks of spiritual growth and prosperity, whether in an individual or in a church, is earnest anxiety after the conversion of souls. It is hard to believe that “the word of Christ” is “dwelling richly” in any one who is not making some effort to impart that word to his fellow sinners.
It does not matter what the amount of effort is; it may be to speak a few words to a friend, to give a tract, to write a note, to breath a prayer, but one thing is certain, that a healthy, vigorous Christian will be an evangelistic Christian — a teller of the good news — one whose sympathies, desires and energies are ever going forth towards “the regions beyond”. ‘I must preach the gospel to other cities also: for therefore am I sent’. Such was the language of the great Evangelist.
It is very doubtful whether many of the servants of Christ have not erred in allowing themselves, through one influence and another, to become too much localised — too much tied to one place. They have dropped into routine work — into a round of stated preaching in the same place, and in many cases, have paralysed themselves and paralysed their hearers also. I speak now not of the labours of the pastor, the elder, or the teacher, which must be carried on in the midst of those who are the proper subject of such labours. I refer more particularly to the evangelist. Such a one should never suffer himself to be localised. The world is his sphere — “the regions beyond”, his motto — to gather out God’s elect, his object — the current of the Spirit, his line of direction. If the reader should be one whom God has fitted and called to be an evangelist, let him remember these four things—the sphere, the motto, the object, and the line of direction, which all must adopt if they would prove fruitful labourers in the gospel field.
Finally, whether the reader be an evangelist or not, I would earnestly entreat all to examine for themselves how far they are seeking to further the gospel of Christ. We must not stand idle. Time is short! Eternity is rapidly posting on! The Master is most worthy! Souls are most precious! The season for the work will soon close! Let us then, in the name of the Lord, be up and doing. And when we have done what we can in the regions around, let us carry the precious seed into “the regions beyond”.
Charles H. Mackintosh
1820-1896
It may interest our readers to know that C. H. Mackintosh edited a
magazine called “Things New and Old” from 1858 to 1890. The
above article was taken from Vol 2 page 75 and was written in 1859.