O may His love, immortal flame, tune every heart and tongue.
—Anne Steel
Each of the hymns in this morning’s service elaborates on some aspect of the call for the Christian to be witnesses for the Gospel “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In the opening and closing hymns, All Hail The Power Of Jesus’ Name and Ye Servants Of God, we catch a glimpse of the future reality of “every kindred, every tribe” falling in worship to their King, and we encourage each other to contribute to this work’s realization (“Ye servants of God, your master proclaim and publish abroad His wonderful name”). The Lord calls, “together let My saints unto Me gathered be” (The Mighty God, The Lord—Psalm 50), and His mercy welcomes the sinner, since His love “is broader than the measure of our mind” (There’s A Wideness In God’s Mercy). The work of evangelism is both near and far: we send His “victorious Word abroad” to the nations and the strangers (How Sweet And Awful Is The Place), and we preach to our own children that “our God forever shall abide and He, till death, will be our guide” (Within Your Temple Lord—Psalm 48). I pray that these psalms and hymns encourage us to follow Paul’s example in 1 Corinthians, sharing with our friends and neighbors the blessings of the Good News.
—Henry C. Haffner
Key Words: Servant, Win, All, Save, Athlete, Run, Prize, Imperishable
Keystone Verse: To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. (1 Corinthians 9:22)
1 Corinthians 9:19-27
19For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27But I pummel my body and make it a slave, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.