An All-Round Ministry
God imparts His message to those who are in a complete subordination to Him. It is evident that many have renounced that holy reverence for Scripture which is indicated by such an expression as “trembleth at My Word.” They rather trifle than tremble. The Word is not their teacher, but they are its critics. With many, the Word of the Lord is no longer enthroned in the place of honor, but is treated as a football, to be kicked about as they please; and the apostles especially, are treated as if Paul, James, and John are men with whom modern wise men are on terms of something more than equality. They pass the books of Scripture under their rod, and judge the Spirit of God Himself. The Lord cannot work by a creature that is in revolt against Him. We must manifest the spirit of reverence, or we shall not be as little children, nor enter the kingdom of heaven.
When some men come to die, the religion which they have themselves thought out and invented will yield them no more confidence than the religion of the Roman Catholic sculptor who, on his death-bed, was visited by his priest. The priest said, “You are now departing out of this life;’,’ and, holding up a beautiful crucifix, he cried, “Behold your God, who died for you.” “Alas!” said the sculptor, “I made it.” There was no comfort for him in the work of his own hands; and there will be no comfort in a religion of one’s own devising. That which was created in the brain cannot yield comfort to the heart. The man will sorrowfully say, “Yes, that is my own idea; but what does God say?” Brethren, I believe in that which I could not have invented. I believe that which compels me to adore, and I thank God for a Rock that is higher than I am. If it were not higher than I am, it would be no shelter for me.
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Better risk the dangers of a tornado of religious excitement than see the air grow stagnant with a dead formality. It is far better for people to be too hot than to be lukewarm. “I would thou wert cold or hot” is Christ’s word still, and it applies to preachers as well as to others. When a man is freezingly cold in the things of Christ, we know where he is; and if another is red hot, or even at a white heat, and is thought to be too enthusiastic, we know where he is; but when a preacher preaches in such a way that, at the close of his sermon, you say, “This is neither cold nor hot,” you go away feeling that you have had enough, or even too much of it. You could almost wish to have been made angry rather than to have been lulled by such discoursing. A lukewarm sermon sickens every healthy mind.
But let us test ourselves, our Lord holds the true thermometer in His hands, what does He say of us. How is it with you? Do you say, “Well, I am not the warmest of all, but then I am not the coldest of all”? Then I have a suspicion as to your temperature; but I leave the matter to your own judgment, only remarking that I have never yet met with fire that is moderately hot. The fire with which I have been acquainted has been such that I have never given it my hand without remembering its warm embrace. Fire has never yet learned moderation. I am told that it is wrong to go to extremes, and upon that ground fire is certainly guilty; for it is not only intensely hot, but it has a tendency to consume and destroy without limit.
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“Do not make too many heads to your sermons, lest you may not be able to find ears for them all!” Indeed having the ears already to hand many a preacher by his long sword of intolerable prolixity wantonly repeats the offense of Peter upon the servant of the high priest!
The Lord would not have told Peter to put up his sword if it had been the sword of the Spirit that He had been wielding. The sword of the Spirit lays open the heart while the sword of the flesh only cuts off ears. Now there has been a long succession of Petrine apostles, valiant swordsmen whose principal trophies are severed ears and not converted hearts; who have preached with such two-edged severity as to alienate their hearers when they should have won them. The Lord has not called us to this, we are not theological gladiators, to win applause from the crowd by our skill in cutting and slashing. We are God’s witnesses, not His logicians sent to argue men into the kingdom of God. We are not God’s debaters, sent to discuss theology with men, and to convince them of the truth of Christianity. On the contrary we as Christ’s servants are simply to bear witness year in and year out, using the Word of God and not our own. Our success will not depend on our acuteness, or our eloquence, or our skill, but on God’s Spirit, that accompanies and energizes the word. It takes a strong muscle to throw a handball so that it shall strike a hard blow; but a child can fire a rifle-ball effectually since the propelling power is in the powder and not in the muscle. So it takes a strong man to use an argument effectively, but a babe in Christ can use a text of Scripture with prevailing force, since it is “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,” that the text is impelled.
Be more careful to prepare yourself than your sermon.
Feet shod, not with the preparation of the gospel of peace, but with conjecture, tracking an experiment or running in some unexplored “perhaps” — these can leave no path for sin-blinded and truant souls to walk in.
To electrify a hearer is one thing, to bring him prostrate at the feet of Jesus, quite another.
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Answers to Correspondents. — Replies to letters from J.N.P. and W.W. will (D.V.) be printed in next issue.