A WRONG AMBITION

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 107, 22 May 1937, Page 8

A WRONG AMBITION

. GILBERT LAWS.

By REV

They (Jame^ and John) said unto Him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left hand, in Thy glory.'. . . Jesus said unto them: To sit on My right hand and My left hand is not Mine to give, but it shall be given co them for"* whom it. «is prepared. — ,Mark x, 37, 40. What a story this is of those who gave up so much to follow Christ, and who were so sincere in their disciplerihip, and yet fell into the sexious fault of1 selfish and envious ambition. I vvould liike you to notice concerning this story that these selfishly ambitious men were, nevertheless, grounded upon a basis of sincerity. It is that mixture in their character that makes it so difficult for us to understand; but chat, of course, is the problem with us all. The faith of these men was real and sincere. It had lifted their life completely off its old hinges, and it had been fastened on to other pillars. Life for them' had been changed bocause of their acceptance of Christ. They had given up all their chances in business, and it would seem from the Gospels that in the case of James and John their chances in business had not be.en inconsiderable, Now, notice how those two young men were lcd into sclf-soeking through that envious, selfish ambition. We need to go back a little. Poter had made that great declaration concerning Christ 's Saviourliood and Ddvine . Sonship, and you remember Christ s word to him: "Blessed art thou, Shnou BarJona; for flesh and bloodthath not revealed it unto thee, but My Fathor which is in Heaven." Then in the sh'adow of that, Peter is rebuked by Christ. "Get thee behind me, Satan," He says, because in speaking as he did against tho Cross, he was speaking not necording to tho things that wero of God, but the things that wero of men. Now, tho other two thought it was now their chance, and they weie resolved \o take it. They thought it would be a good time in wliieh to get thc vcxed question of prionity scttlcd once and for all. Thev sadlv misunderstood the

nature of the Kingdom; they still had material views about it, though they had heard Christ say: "My Kingdom is not of this world." They wanted poeitions of . authority and adhrmistrative power in that Kingdom when it came. They did not know for whai they were asking. But Jesus teachos them one lesson at a time. Now, James and John got their mother to do tho asking — so another evangelist tells us — and that was a great stroke. You see, Salome, their mother, and Zebedee, their fatber, had made sacritices for the cause, and they thought they worc cntitled to something; and, motherlike, she wanted nothing for horself, but Salome did want something for hor sons. So she was J^lie mouthpieee of their desire, and she made that requcst to Jesus. "Grant that these, my two sons, may sit, tho one on Thy right hand, and the other on the left in Thy Kingdom," she says. ' *■ There is a true ambition, an ambition for service, and there is a wrong ambition, an ambition for ascendaney — for a position above others. A true ambition is that in the end men may see some tangible good done with these lives of ours, "that men may see, and God approve." That is a true ambition that I would recommend to all the servants of Christ. It is a great danger to have to offer to our Lord the kind of service which engages our hearts so little that we are not concern'ed whcllier anything comes of it or not. Tli© fcrue ambition i* that ,

God should be honoured, . and His work carried forward, and our Saviour glori* fied. Now we read that the ten were much displeased with James and John. Of course they were. Who would not be? Were they not all in it together? Who were these two young men that they - should be ready to elimb up on their backs. • Why were they displeased with them for making that request? For this redson, that it was a request that they all wanted to make, cnly ae Dr. Hutlon suggestcd, they had not got their mother witn them Sbmetimes a man will . complain about the ambitions of others; sometimes he will complain about the honours of another man which may have beon uprfeetly well vou.' But when he attributes to another • man the sin of jealousy and pnvy, he is very often just looking into the mirror, and seeing his own face. It is miieh botter to leave the matter for Christ to fleal with. Let us get back to the story again. Gur Lord does not put any ill construction upon this request. It was like Him to make the best of ut. He said, "It is My Father's business to put us all in our order, and in our> place. Do not talk any more about who shall be first and who shall bo last. You liavo got things all wrong. Tliat sort of thing is all right for the worldling. But it shall not be so among you. Don't you understan.I that the only .way in My Kingdom 'ie down; that the only thing that matiere in My Kingdom ie the service- you

ronder? Honour and iervice in My Kingdom fit one another like a glove fits the hand. I am no grand yizier appointing my administrative chiefs by a sheer act of favouritism.' ^So, Jesus left that matter a secret; it will be oue of the delights of the world to come to lind out something about it. What matters in life is not what happens to us, but what happeiis through ua. Think of our Lord. If you measurc Him by -what happened to Him, His life would seem to be a colossal failure. He who set out to establish His Kingdom, aud then to be cruelly put to death at the age of thirty-throc.-But if you nieasure Him by what happened through Him, then. that ghastly Cross becomes the one bright spot in a: dark world, and the one centre of hope for humanity. So with your own lives.. Do not, mcasure your life by what happens to you, by what comes lo you of success, of gain, of applause, of honour. Your life must be measured by what happens through you, by the souls that are blessed, and the people that are won to a new way of life.