Rev M Mloyi
I feel very much being honoured to speak to you here today. When considering your hearty invitation, I thought so deeply about it. Who am I but a worm? Can I speak to such an august gathering? The words I found in Isaiah 41:10 strengthened me while I was afraid: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness”.
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland has an extensive mission work in Africa. Its existence in Zimbabwe goes as far back as 1904; it has expanded greatly though it began on a small scale. Its main purpose is to preach the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. Schools and hospitals were also opened – as handmaids of the gospel. The cry of the Mission for funding was, in God’s providence, met by Mbuma Zending. We thank you even today for your generosity to the Mission and your interest in keeping it going. Your effort and goodwill are highly appreciated. The words of the Apostle in Acts 20:35 are fitting: “To remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive”. We have to thank you for your wonderful support of the Mission – in particular, financially. There are many constraints that handicap us as we desire to bring more primary schools under the Mission and to finish existing projects. All in all, the gospel unites us in Christ’s love.
I will now consider this wonderful love of Christ described in Ephesians 3:17-18. In this portion of God’s Word, the Apostle Paul prays for the Ephesians, having a sincere desire for them to increase in knowledge. He prays for them to have an experimental knowledge of Christ’s love, because it is not known by nature. By the grace of God, a sinner comes to an understanding of spiritual things revealed to him in the Word of God and applied
1An address given on Mbuma Zending’s mission day this year in the Netherlands.
by the Spirit of grace. This love is manifested in the gospel: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn 3:16). The mercy of God towards sinners is thus revealed. This then becomes an experimental knowledge if a sinner comes to a saving knowledge of Christ.
- The wonder of faith. Since the Fall, man has been in a state of sin and misery. When a sinner is convinced of his sin and guilt, he bemoans and loathes his condition. By the grace of God he is enabled to confess his sins and he seeks for forgiveness through the blood of Christ. He is given faith to embrace Christ in his soul. It is then that, by this grace of faith, Christ dwells in the heart of the sinner. He is said to dwell in their hearts as He is always present with them by His gracious influences and operations. It is the work of faith in a living soul to open the door and receive Christ, when the sinner submits to Him. By faith we are united to Christ and have an interest in Him. By faith also we are rooted and grounded in the love of Christ.
The true children of God have an earnest love for Christ. It is not like the affection of Ephraim and Judah which is spoken of in Hosea 6:4: “Your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away”. God’s children are enabled to love Him because He first loved them. And how desirable is it to have a settled sense of the love of God to our souls, so as to be able to say with the Apostle at all times: He “loved me”.
- The dimensions of redeeming love. The redeemed of the Lord are filled with saving knowledge and so grow from strength to strength. By the light of the Spirit of grace they experience the redeeming love of Christ at work in their lives. This is how God deals with His people, opening their understanding to receive spiritual things. The Apostle, once a persecutor, became a changed man and experienced the redeeming love of Christ. By enumerating these dimensions of length and breadth and depth and height, the Apostle designed to signify the unsearchable greatness of the love of Christ. By its breadth we may understand that it extends to all nations and ranks of men; it has no limits.
By its length, we may understand that it continues from everlasting to everlasting. So shall the Church of Christ be in the world. In Genesis 4:26 we are told: “Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord”. So it shall be till time shall be no more. The love of Christ shall be manifested to all generations. Thus, because the love of Christ shall continue to be manifested, the Church shall continue to exist in all ages.
By the depth of the redeeming love of Christ, we may understand that it stoops to the lowest condition, to relieve and save those who have sunk into the depths of sin and misery. The Psalmist thus records his experience: “He
brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings” (Ps 40:2).
By its height, we may understand that it entitles believers to heavenly happiness and raises them up to glory. The Lord’s people are justified by faith; they are accepted as righteous in the sight of God; they are adopted into God’s family as dear children, as heirs of the heavenly inheritance; they are sanctified, dying more and more unto sin and growing in righteousness; and they shall be glorified when they depart from this world, being made perfect in holiness. It is the earnest desire of preachers of the gospel, even in Africa, that the light of the gospel should shine and the darkness be driven away and that sinners should thus see the unsearchable riches of Christ in the gospel.