Veritas Aequitas

I Cor 9: 19-27: “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To 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. To 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. 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. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

I have a question to pose to any church, any pastor, any Christian: what are you saying about Christ, the Gospel, and your walk if you never change your practices?

Are you saying, “I’ve arrived, I don’t need to change”?

Are you saying, “I’m better than everyone else, therefore they need to catch up to me before I advance”?

Are you saying, “I don’t care about ‘advancing’, I’m satisfied with my progress”?

Or are you saying, “I am who I am, and I don’t have to change”?

I am not an advocate of change for the sake of change.

I am not an advocate of change if means compromising Truth.

I will advocate EVERY change that BETTERS myself towards God, and that brings more people to His Gospel.

What does it say about a pastor, church, or individual Christian if they refuse to change to society, when that change does not affect their walk with God? What does it say about a pastor, church, or individual Christian when they won’t listen to others who have Truth to convey, or who have received insights into God’s Holy Word that they haven’t yet?

Does it say that they are stubborn, and won’t hear what others have to say, won’t take the time to see if what they’re saying is out of line with the Bible, won’t come out of their ‘comfort zone’ because somebody else might know something they don’t?

Does it say that they’re staying with what they’ve become accustomed to that is in line with the Bible, but that they won’t move away from that ‘safe zone’ because they’re afraid they might do something wrong in the process?

Or does it say that they are stagnating in their walk and no longer advancing along their Christian walk? That they’re happy enough with where they’ve gotten to; that they don’t need to get any further along their walk because they’re getting into heaven from where they are – and, after all, isn’t being “a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord” better than a thousand days elsewhere? After all, why get any further into God’s kingdom than I have to, because the world is fun? Why become a “choice servant of the Lord” if I can just be a servant?

The only belief system that must be right is that held by atheists.

It’s the only logical conclusion to draw from the available evidence: they are among the most vocal, most argumentative, most defensive, most worried group of people on the planet.

If I, a Christian, am wrong about the existence God, what have I lost? Time on Sundays, time reading the Bible, time trying to convert my friends… but only time. If a Muslim is wrong about the existence of Allah all he has lost is time. If the Jew, Hindu, animist, Mormon, etc are all wrong about the existence of any god they’ve only wasted time.

But if an atheist is wrong about the non-existence of any God, he’s in for a heap of hurt: eternal damnation, Hell, reincarnation as a rat, etc.

For the sake of the atheists in the world, I could pray there is no God. Of course, I don’t know who I’d pray to. But for the sake of those who believe there is no God – of any kind – I could hope they’re right, and that I’ve just been wasting thousands of hours of my life I could better spend on me.

I am convinced there is a God, though, so the only logical course of action I can take is to try convince others. After all, if I’m wrong, I just spent a bunch of time doing something that doesn’t matter.

But if I’m right…

We’re worried about peoples’ feelings – and not about being honest and faithful to their souls. We all act like we’re following Paul’s directive: “in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” And we all forget the first half of that verse: “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit”.

We live in a false humility when we are afraid to speak to one another honestly. “Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father. Treat younger men like brothers, older women like mothers, younger women like sisters, in all purity.” As Christians, we are a family – we are God’s adopted sons and daughters. In almost every physical family I’ve ever seen, there is a dynamic of communication and honesty that is sadly lacking in the church of God.

The public face of American society has become one full of political correctness – make sure you never say anything that might be offensive, and spend massive amounts of effort in qualifying what you are about to say so that no one could possibly misunderstand what you are trying to say. Though Paul was writing to a fellow minister of the Gospel, we would all do well to heed his words to Timothy: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus … preach the word; … reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” It is the duty of every Christian to be watchful of his brother: unlike Cain, we may not come to God and say, “am I my brother’s keeper?” As members of the body of Christ, we must be concerned for every other member of that body – just like parents worry about their children and we are concerned that not only our hands, but also our ears and feet are healthy, we must be concerned for the other members of the church.

Jesus told us to “be innocent as doves but wise as serpents”. It is a false humility – indeed a failing of the command of Christ – to ‘only’ be “innocent as doves”. It is part and parcel of that command to likewise be “wise as serpents”.

In writing to the Galatians, Paul certainly didn’t hold back when he says, “even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” Or when he called Peter to the floor for hypocrisy: “when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?'”

The modern church has mostly lost this level of confidence and fearlessness to confront others when they are wrong.

I pray that if I have written or said anything amiss, that it would be forgotten and that I would be corrected. What I have written and said that is NOT wrong, though, needs to be taken to heart. On matters of opinion, I am happy to discuss, debate, and argue. But on matters of truth – there is no discussion. Truth cannot be argued with.

Indeed, “let God be true and every man a liar”: God’s Word as recorded in the Bible is unalterable and perfect. The modern church needs to come back to this and not be afraid of rumpling a couple feathers to present the Truth, to correct error, or to rebuke sin. Far better if a couple of your feathers are rumpled, but you finish the race of the Christian life and enter Heaven than if you’re molly-coddled and end up in Hell.

What is the chief end of man?

Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

What is God?

God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.

If you have ever read the Westminster Shorter Catechism, you, no doubt, are familiar with these two questions, and their answers. Indeed, they are the 1st and 4th questions of that document, respectively.

Great. So, as mankind, our job is to glorify and enjoy this eternal, unchangeable, infinite, spirit that calls Himself God.

‘Unchangeable’ is pretty straightforward: it is immutable, permanent, unyielding, unwavering, unalterable, and unfaltering. ‘Spirit’ is also a relatively simple concept to understand: noncorporeal, ethereal, invisible. But what does ‘infinite’ mean? What does ‘eternal’ mean?

Eternal, quite simply means having no end point in time. And likewise, infinite means that there are no boundaries upon its existence. There is no measurable height, length, width, depth, or breadth. But, as creatures who exist in both time and space, the concept of eternality and infinity are difficult – at best – to understand: we, by definition, are finite. According to the Bible, men’s souls will exist onward into eternity, but as an individual human, we have a definite start point. The Bible also states that God existed before time (from eternity past) and will exist forever (to eternity future).

The God that Christians worship, then, has no boundaries upon His existence, in time or space. And, if He has no boundaries in time or space, then certainly He could have no boundaries upon His power or abilities.

As good, and wonderful, and awesome, and amazing as all that is, humans can’t understand it. I don’t claim to have some higher understanding of God’s infiniteness or His eternality than can be gained from His Holy Word. But I think that I might have a helpful construct in forming a [limited] understanding of His most unfathomable attributes.

Infinity is a concept that has many useful applications in our world and our minds. For example, from grade-school geometry, you recall that rays have a start point, but no end point. Lines, likewise, have no start or end. However, they have no start or end in only one dimension. “Lines”, as such, by definition cannot exist in two dimensions. Basic geometrical figures, such as triangles, quadrilaterals, hexagons, circles, etc may all exist in two dimensions, but a line, per se, cannot. The math adage pops to mind: “two points define a line; three points define a plane”.

A plane is an object which has a set up defining points, most typically represented by three X,Y,Z coordinates sets. And once those three points have been defined, the plane extends across all points in “straight lines” away from those points.

However, again by definition, a plane cannot exist in three dimensions: it has no “bottom” (or “top”). So, though like the line it is infinite, it can’t exist in the world in which we live: we live in a polydimensional world. This life is made up of height, depth, width, length, and time. We can comprehend the infinite natures of planes and lines because we exist in a dimension above them.

Perhaps some of you have read the book Flatland. In it, Edwin Abbott follows the life and times of a square that lives in a land wherein there is no height. Everything is just flat – there are lengths and widths, but no height. As the tale wends its way through, a sphere appears in Flatland, and whisks the square off to see Lineland and Pointland, and then takes him higher into the world of three dimensions wherein the sphere resides. As established earlier, a square can’t exist in three dimensions. Of course, a sphere can’t exist, as such, in 2 dimensions. A sphere has a center point as defined by an X,Y,Z coordinate, and a radius: a way of establishing how far away from that center point, in all directions, the sphere extends. So, when the sphere appears in Flatland, he is visible as a constantly morphing circle, based on how much of himself he has “dipped” into the land.

We see in shadows. The shadow of a three-dimensional object is two-dimensional. If you don’t believe me, go stand in front of a light near a wall: your shadow has no depth: it’s flat. It has width and height, but no depth. (If it did, you would be able to grab it and move it, as it would exist in “our” dimensions.) The shadow of a two-dimensional object is a line or line segment – it has one dimension: length. Likewise, the shadow of a line is a point. It has no dimensions: just a point.

Because we exist in three dimensions, we can see the inards of two-dimensional objects. In Flatland, when the sphere descends into the square’s realm, he claims to be able to see the square’s “guts”. And when the square is raised from Flatland into the sphere’s world, he can now see the guts and inards of all of the inhabitant of his home world or Flatland.

In Flatland, you can touch and manipulate other two dimensional objects, because you are a two-dimensional “person”. This is rational since we can touch and manipulate other three-dimensional objects in our lives. But near the end of the book there is an interesting line of reasoning exposed by the square that the sphere has chosen to enlighten: certainly, if there is Pointland, and there is Lineland, and Flatland, and the world in which the sphere lives, must there not be a land in which you could “see the inards” of spheres, because you would exist in a higher dimension. And, carrying that logic to its reasonable conclusion, there is a land of five dimensions, six, seven, all the way through the Nth dimension.

Perhaps God is infinite to us, and to all who interact with Him, because He exists above the dimensions we can experience. If a planar projection is the shadow of a three-dimensional object, could it be that we, as three-dimensional objects, are projections or shadows of the fourth dimension in which we exist, that of time? And perhaps, since God created time for us, He exists in a realm above that of time. Certainly, if He has existed – eternally – since before time began, and will continue to exists eternally into the future, He can’t be bound by time (which would be irrational since He made it: you can’t really be bound by something you create).

I propose that God can exist in infinitely many directions, with infinite power in each of those directions, and perfect control in each of those directions precisely because he is above time – he is outside of our existence, looking-in and down upon us as we do upon those geometric representations we call shapes and lines and points.

…it’s what I’m for.

I’ve decided that denominations are a good thing – mostly. When they directly describe a confessional or creedal standpoint, they’re great. However, when they become a point to divide Christians over, they’re bad. Very bad.

I’m a baptist because I believe that only true believers in Christ should be baptised. I’m reformed because I believe that the entire point of being a Christian is to become more like Christ – to be reformed to His perfect mold. And I’m independent because I think a better association for churches is for them to be autonomous units fighting Satan in this world; they can (and should, maybe even must) work towards that goal in a combined fashion, and should (perhaps must) build relationships and fellowship with other Christians in other churches in both their own and other areas of the world.

Any time I can join another Christian in doing good or promoting the gospel, I will try my best to do so. Where we do not disagree on fundamental issues of doctrine and belief, I will try to both learn from them and show them my views as backed-up by the Bible. When they are promoting a heresy, I will do my best to call them to the floor, and show them their error – and if they won’t listen to words of Christ and the rest of the Holy Bible, I will do my best to ignore them and stop fighting – I’ll let the Holy Spirit do His work in them, if He wills. But when our disagreements are on trivial, non-moral (or non-primary) issues, I will work with them to reach the lost, and to grow in my walk with Christ.

Drawing lines of battle over whether or not I’ll even speak to you because you’re a Presbyterian and I’m a Baptist, or you’re a Southern Baptist and not Reformed – that’s just idiotic. We’re in this fight together. Where we can’t reach agreement, I will attempt to pass peacefully by. But in those vast swaths where we do agree, that denominational title hanging over our heads just gets in the way of fellowshipping and accomplishing Christ’s work on earth.

It seems that everything I decide to write about here involves prayer. That’s a good thing, though. Since prayer is the means God has given us to communicate with Him, it’s profitable to consider it frequently.

My consideration today is on what God will do in extreme situations by dispatching His angels to our aid. The first example I want to cite is that of King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 19 where Sennacherib, king of Assyria, has come up to Israel. Hezekiah is desperate for God’s intervention and prays thusly: “O LORD the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone.” [15-19]

Hezekiah knew that Israel was the specially-chosen nation that God had set aside for Himself, and he also knew that Sennacherib was a ruthless, cruel, merciless conqueror. God knew this, too, and didn’t need to be reminded of this fact, but He had to hear it from Hezekiah to have public witness that Hezekiah knew who God was, and what role he was playing in His nation.

God’s verbal response has been saved for us, as He spoke through Isaiah: “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD.” [32-33]

Now, if God had just stopped there, I am positive Hezekiah would have been thrilled to bits. But God had more to say: “For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.” [34]

How exciting must this prospect have been for Hezekiah?! God told Hezekiah not only to not worry about the Assyrian army, but that He Himself would defend Zion, Jerusalem, His Holy City! Now there’s an answer to prayer we don’t typically expect: not only does God answer Hezekiah in the affirmative, He answers him with a specific promise to take all of the responsibility of the defense of the city upon Himself – He wasn’t going to use the means of Israel’s armies, as He often had in the past. No, God decided to handle this one Himself – no earthly means are necessary here.

God had already determined that Sennacherib’s reign was to end soon, and his reign of conquering terror was now over. The first part of God’s verbal response to Hezekiah is recorded in verses 21b-28, where God unlooses a harsh string of curses against Sennacherib, mocking him and his presumed continued conquests of weak nations.

God’s judgment of Sennacherib was both incredibly swift, and incredibly frightening. But from it we can derive comfort in God’s ways. Verse 35 explains in a very short sentence what God did to the Assyrian army: “And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians.” Wow: one angel, in one night, single-handedly wiped-out 185,000 of the toughest, meanest, strongest men ever to be assembled into an army. One hundred eighty-five thousand men following Sennacherib on his incredible string of successive victories. One hundred eighty-five thousand men reveling in their king’s cruelty when vanquishing the next nation in his path. One hundred eighty-five thousand men sent in a few hours to eternal judgment for their sins.

The second example I want to cite is in the book of Exodus, and the record of the final plague brought upon Egypt. God promises to eliminate every first-born in all the land of Egypt, except for the first-borns found in houses marked with the blood of the Passover lamb. Exodus 12:12-13;23 records this thusly: “For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt…For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.” For the Israelites, that night was going to be one of eager anticipation of their coming emancipation. For the Egyptians, it was to be a night of never-before-heard mourning, even howling to their gods for the calamity God was to bring upon them.

God brought a destroyer upon the entire population of Egypt, from animals to servants, citizens to the Pharaoh’s house itself. The Egyptians weren’t made privy to the means of salvation, and were punished. We are never told how large the nation of Egypt was, but we do know that they were about the same size as the Israelites living in their midst. When Israel was finally chased out of the land by the Egyptians, we are told there were about 600,000 men above the age of 20. If we presume that all of them were married, there were about 1,200,000 adults in the nation of Israel at the time of the Passover – plus children. Since the Egyptians numbered about the same, it is not out of line to think there were about 2,000,000 people in Egypt. Presuming 10% of them were first-born, that means that 200,000 people were killed in Egypt by God’s destroyer in one night – along with all the first-born livestock.

In one night two hundred thousand souls were ushered off into eternity by God’s destroyer – punished for not just their own sins, but also for Pharaoh’s refusal to let Israel leave his country. That’s a very busy night for any being – it’s hundreds of people per second that God had killed by His destroyer.

The amazing thing about all of this to me is that that self-same God is on the side of His chosen people today. I don’t know if He still answers prayer by sending angels directly to comfort His people, or to exact His judgment on evil doers, but I do know that He can. Imagine what would happen if God sent His angel, His destroyer to eliminate the terror camps of Islamists. I know that’s not what we typically think to pray for in the New Covenant in Christ’s blood, we think to pray for salvation for those people – that they would stop shedding blood, that they would come to know God’s free gift of grace in His Son Christ Jesus, and leave their evil ways behind them. But I think it’s time for Christians to start praying that if God won’t pour out His grace and mercy on those people, that He instead pour out judgment. I think it is unwise to pray just for the destruction of God’s enemies since we no longer live in a specially-separated, geographical nation for His glory like David did when penning some of the Psalms, but praying for peace doesn’t mean we pray for pacifism. Peacemaking is one of the lofty callings of the Christian. And sometimes peacemaking can only come after violence.

I pray that God would do a mighty act for His name in the earth – and whether that mighty act is a mass conversion and salvation of Islamist terrorists, or whether that act is a single night in which His destroying angel is sent out to rid the world of them, I pray that He will receive the glory for it.

There is coming a day in which every evil doer will be eternally punished, damned to Hell. That same day will prove to be the initial glory of God’s chosen people when we no longer have to deal with sin and temptation and evil and distress and fear. When Christ returns to purge the world of all its evil, those left who have not bowed their knee willingly to His authority will be on their faces in fear – knowing they are going to be burning for eternity in a fire that was designed to punish fallen angels. I can’t imagine the horror that will be, and I hope you bow before the Lord Jesus willingly as I have before it is too late.

His destroyer is prepared for the final coming in judgment of the world. I’m claiming Christ’s sacrifice to protect me just like the Israelites claimed the blood of their lambs spread on their door posts and lintels. And I’m looking forward to the day when I awake, as Hezekiah and the inhabitant of Jerusalem did, to see every enemy gone – dead and no longer a threat to me.

I wrote a short series a few months ago about the importance of prayer (1 2 3). Today I am building on that.

Just this weekend my church in Mebane hosted Pr Brian Borgman from Minden Nevada who spoke in all three of our services on “The Church Getting Her Hands Dirty”.

Something that jumped out at me from the evening message was Acts 20:24 “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” Paul flat-out told the elders in Ephesus during his last hours with them on this earth before going on to other ministries that he selflessly proclaimed the gospel to them, and, by implication, they were to do the same.

Not all Christians are called to be elders but all are called to proclaim salvation through Jesus Christ. Matthew 28:18-19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The so-called ‘Great Commission’ was not merely given to the 11 disciples on the mountain with Jesus before he ascended into heaven. If it were, they failed miserably. But because they went out and shared the gospel with any who would listen, I’m here today able to claim Christ as my savior.

Interestingly, God seems to like to do things for His servants when they ask for others – Job 42:10a “And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends.” Too often, I suspect, we focus most or all of our energy expended in prayer on ourselves. This is especially true in affluent America, where I live. What time we do spend praying is generally spent asking God for stuff for ourselves. Of course it is right to want to talk to our Heavenly Father and make requests of Him, but Christians are just as prone to selfishness as the unsaved – perhaps more so.

Before we were saved, all of our energy was spent on ourselves. Unfortunately, after many of us have been saved, we continue to focus energy on ourselves. But now we ask for God’s help in getting what we want. We think of God as our personal Genie (“PHENOMINAL COSMIC POWER!!!! Itty bitty living space!” [Aladdin]) merely around to do what we ask.

I hate to break it to you, but God’s not in the business of making our dreams come true. He’s in the business of making Himself known in the earth, and garnering men, women, and children to Him who will take the time to praise Him as He is due.

God does answer prayer. He answers every prayer we ever pray. Sometimes He answers “No”, sometimes “Yes”, and sometimes “Not yet – you’re not praying hard enough”. But focusing our prayers on ourselves will most likely not accomplish much in the grand scheme of things, and maybe not much – or even anything – in our own personal experience. But when we flip our focus off ourselves and onto others – in the church, our neighborhood, at work, at school, relatives, the cashier at the corner drug store – those we have some form of interaction with regularly, or that we want to have interaction with, God tends to start doing some pretty cool things.

Want to grow closer to God and His word? Ask God for someone to witness to. More often than not in both personal experience and from observation, God will plop somebody in front of us shortly after asking. Maybe it’s the coffee shop girl who pops out with a “why don’t you ever come here on Sunday”, or maybe it’ll be a professor who makes a comment inviting a response from the Bible, or maybe it’ll be that panhandler near your favorite restaurant. It’s not up to us to make them listen or believe, but it is up to us to tell them about Jesus’ work on the cross.

It has been said that people do nothing if it will not benefit them in some way. I happen to agree. The benefit Christians should be looking for from their actions, however, shouldn’t primarily found in this life. Jesus told us that some of His servants would bear fruit 100 fold, some 60, and some 30.

But the only way any of us can bear any fruit is to try. Spreading Christ’s message doesn’t just come from speaking – it comes from our lifestyle, too. But in order to have the opportunity to speak we need to get out of ourselves just a little, and get selfish in a good way.

It’s easy to get comfortable in our church, and our clique in the church, and among our closest circle of friends. But those folks probably aren’t the ones that need to be witnessed to so much. They’ll be watching us to make sure we keep following what we claim to believe in our lives, but it’s the unchurched, the unsaved that need to be witnessed to.

Such witnessing can be done through physical acts of kindness like going on a medical mission trip to some third world country. Or going to storm-ravaged regions and helping clear debris and getting people back on their feet after disasters like hurricanes. Trips and efforts like that are great. But I would put money down that you don’t need to traverse more than a couple miles (unless you live in Podunk Wyoming, where you nearest neighbor is 65 miles away) to find people who could use help, real, physical help in your own community.

Where I grew up in upstate New York, there were (and are) scads of people who could use some real physical help. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t help very many people outside my comfort rings when I lived there, and that I have only done so in small ways since moving to North Carolina three years ago.

I’d wager that just in the apartment complex I live in there are folks who could use some kind of help, but I haven’t found them. A few months ago I schlepped a small end table inside for an elderly neighbor who has trouble with her wrists. It took less than 2 minutes of my time, and saved her several hours of waiting for her son to come by and get it out of her car for her. In the very brief conversation I had with her, I found out that goes to a Presbyterian church in the area, and never would’ve found that out (probably wouldn’t have met her, either) if I hadn’t noticed her struggling with the end table on my way to work that morning.

It doesn’t take much for people to notice that you’re willing to expend a little effort to help them. Helping my neighbor with her table didn’t cost me anything more than a couple minutes, but we’ve been promised that in as much as we help the least of Christ’s brethren, we’re helping Him. So moving her table was a selfish act – I wanted to get noticed by God.

Some people need more motivation than just being told that they should do something. Jesus gave us that motivation when He described the separation of the sheep and the goats on the last day.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” [Matthew 25:31-46]

We’ve been given the best possible motivation to be Good Selfish Christians: we will be rewarded in Christ’s kingdom when He returns. And we’ve been given the best possible motivation to not be lazy: eternal punishment for those who merely claim to be Christ’s followers, but do nothing about it – those who want to use God as a backup plan in case He really exists and not those who are trusting only in Him.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon is famous for being a Baptist preacher in the 19th century (1834-92). But more interesting than his career of regularly preaching to 10,000+ congregants is how he lived his life outside of ‘merely’ preaching the Bible.

Charles was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England on 19 June 1834 as both the son and the grandson of independent preachers. The first of 17 children (9 of whom died in infancy), Charles came from a large family, but was under the care of his grandfather for several years as a youth. Though trained in the Bible by his grandfather and father, Charles didn’t truly understand the gospel and find Christ until he was nearly 16 years old. He claimed, “that I never would have been saved if I could have helped it. As long as ever I could, I rebelled, and revolted, and struggled against God. When He would have me pray, I would not pray, and when He would have me listen to the sound of the ministry, I would not. And when I heard, and the tear rolled down my cheek, I wiped it away and defied Him to melt my soul. But long before I began with Christ, He began with me.” [bio ch 2]

His parents and grandparents – but especially his mother – prayed for him for many years while seeing him continuing to rebel against God and do the opposite of what was required by God for salvation. His self-beratement for knowing God’s law and will, and yet also knowing he didn’t measure up, and never would, took a toll on him as a teenager. The majority of the preaching and teaching he heard was accurate and faithful to the Bible, but young Charles never heard the pleas of God as recorded in the scriptures and proclaimed by the preacher to believe and repent of his sins for God had provided a just means for his salvation.

It was the 6th of January, in the middle of a snow storm when Charles meandered into Primitive Methodist Chapel. The preacher was not the ordinary one, and there where only a handful of souls who had come out for the service that morning. The text was “‘Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.’ Even though the preacher did not pronounce all his words correctly, there was a gleam of hope in them for the seeker in the side pew.” [bio ch 2] The preacher, having noted Charles’ visit, noted him specifically and told him what his problem was. He was miserable because he wasn’t looking to the right man: “Young man, look to Jesus Christ! Look! Look! Look! You have nothin’ to do but to look and live.” [bio ch 2]

From that moment, when Charles saw the way of salvation, the truth of Christ, and the life possible through Him, he was Christ’s.

His entire life-course had been altered: no longer was he a sin-tormented adolescent, but a new creature in Christ, pushing himself to carry that call to the lost. He began preaching ‘for real’ the week after his baptism as a Sunday school teacher, and continued to proclaim his savior until his death 41 years later. His early ministry encompassed the distribution of tracts, and engaging on a personal level those who would talk to him.

Charles, who became widely known for his magnificent illustrations, was nonetheless always in earnest about his topic. He served his Lord and Master daily, hourly, with everyone he met. His was not a privatized or compartmentalized faith – it was on public display for all to see. And the public did certainly see him. After being converted in 1850, Charles became a pastor just 2 years later, and just a year after preaching his first ‘official’ sermon. [wik]

At age 20, just 4 years after his conversion, he was called to pastor the New Park Street Chapel in Southwark. Outgrowing their building shortly after his arrival, they moved to Exeter Hall, and then to Surrey Hall wherein Charles would routinely preach to crowds of more than 10,000 people. This God-granted and -sparked growth happened within 2 years of his arrival in Southwark. The church moved in 1861 to the Metropolitan Tabernacle, where Charles did more than just preach. He wrote, taught aspiring pastors, and began an orphanage.

In his lifetime, Charles published 49 works, including commentaries, sayings, anecdotes, illustrations, and devotions. [wik] He married a young Christian woman in 1856, and had twin boys – both of whom were converted to Christianity under his ministry. Among his most famous published works are Morning and Evening – a devotional, and The Treasury of David – a treatment of the Psalms. In the 1860’s he was known to preach a great deal: “it was no uncommon thing for the young preacher, in the exuberance of his early days, to preach ten to twelve times a week. He was in demand in all parts of London and the home counties.” [bio ch 3]

He preached all through Great Britain, and visited Ireland and France several times. On each of his trips, whether officially in a church service setting, or just on an interpersonal basis, Charles exuded the gospel message he so dearly loved. His service to Christ’s kingdom extended wherever he was, and perhaps no more famous preacher has lived.

While he was by conviction a Calvinistic Baptist, he was not strictly bound to a denomination, and would preach in any church that would have him – including St Peter’s Cathedral. From chapter 3 of his biography:

Preaching in Leeds for the Baptist Union in a Methodist Chapel on a memorable occasion, he read the tenth chapter of Romans. Pausing at the thirteenth verse, he remarked, “Dear me! How wonderfully like John Wesley the apostle talked! ‘Whosoever shall call.’ Whosoever. Why, that is a Methodist word, is it not?”

“Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!” came the responses.

“Yes, dear brothers,” the preacher added, “but read the ninth chapter of the epistle, and see how wonderfully like John Calvin he talked – “That the purpose of God according to election might stand.'” Smiles on the faces of those that had before been silent were the only response to this utterance. “The fact is,” continued the preacher, “that the whole of truth is neither here nor there, neither in this system nor in that, neither with this man nor that. Be it ours to know what is scriptural in all systems and to receive it.”

He tried to proclaim the full counsel of God, and whether or not that ‘fit’ with a given denomination’s creeds was not his problem – if it were in the Bible, he proclaimed it. This caused some consternation to his hearers who didn’t necessarily fully agree with certain aspects of Christian doctrine, but Charles’ view was that if God said it, and it was recorded for us in His Word, that it should be taught and expounded.

He held that faith in Christ’s atoning work on the cross to reconcile us to God was a fiercely personal faith. Simultaneously, he understood that such a personal conviction and faith can not be lived-out merely by one’s self – it must be lived in public. Christ did not call us to separate ourselves from the world by removing to some monastery. He called us to be separate in heart and affection, but to live in the world and try to bring those we come into contact with to faith in Him.

Eph 4:11-12 “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ”. Charles was an exemplar for the ministry. Perhaps no other preacher in the history of the church had the impact he did on both his and future generations. To this day, pastors of many denominations look to Spurgeon as a model for preaching, passion, and patience. Charles was not afraid to preach bluntly to his congregation – to make them sit up and pay attention to their plight as unbelievers, or their reward as believers. His impassioned pleas for repentance are famous. And his eagerness to share his faith over and over and over again with the lost is astounding.

His self-effacing claim was that “he had no wish to speak to ten thousand people; his only ambition was to do the will of God.” [bio ch 3] I think it is fortunate for the rest of us that God’s will seems to have been for him to preach to thousands, and write to millions. Charles’ life has been studied, reviewed, and used as an encouragement to churches, Christians, and the lost around the world for over a century.

He proclaimed what, at the time, were unpopular political views, especially with regards to slavery, war, and the opium trade. But for each he would start with the Bible, study out the issue, and exegete the verses therein. He didn’t attempt any runs for political office, start any protests, or encourage marches. He just tried to follow God’s word where ever it led.

Charles’ calling was to teach others, to share the gospel, to prepare men and women for service in the kingdom of God. How he found time to lecture for hours several days a week, run an orphanage, raise two children, keep a wife, and pastor a church I don’t know. But God gave him the ability, for which the world has benefited much since.

George Whitefield once said, “We are immortal till our work is done.” Charles Spurgeon’s immediate work ended in 1892, and “like John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Jeremy Taylor, George Whitefield and William Tyndale, Spurgeon was fifty-seven when he died, but he was not young, for he began early and he had laboured long, and departed full of days and of grace.” [bio ch 19] He has lived-on in his published works, and the memories of those who heard him.

I think if more Christians took their faith and Savior seriously, myriad more ‘Charles Haddon Spurgeons’ would appear. He didn’t set out to become famous. His goal wasn’t world renown. He was merely looking to share his faith and love of Christ with others.

It is staggering to think of what he accomplished in such a short time. It is humbling to realize I am already almost 10 years older than he was when he was converted and began preaching. But more amazing is that God has used a man from a pretty small town, in a small country, during a time of formalism and disinterest in God, Christ, and church to bring so many to Himself. I pray that I will be used for the furtherance of Christ’s kingdom here on earth in some measure. All Christians may not be Spurgeon, but we can all share our faith with those we meet like he did.

Works Cited:

[wik] | [spu] | [bio] | [ccs] | [enc]

Prayer is lots of things to the Christian. It’s our communication line to God. It’s our way of providing support to other Christians. It’s also what some have called the ‘weapon of last resort’.

Christ has called us to pray for our enemies. He rebuked His disciples for wanting to call down fire on folks who weren’t ‘with them’ but were still proclaiming Jesus as Messiah. We have the example of Paul and Silas in jail where God caused an earthquake to open their bonds while they were singing and praying to Him.

Shifting to the Old Testament, we have the record of Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal with his ardent prayer to God to display Himself as the true God of Israel rather than Baal. Elijah’s prayer that it would not rain in Israel for a long time, and then his prayers that it would rain again showcased God’s judgement and blessing to the evil king of Israel Ahab.

As New Testament believers in Christ, we have been promised the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We have also been promised that whatever we pray for in Christ’s name, and for His glory, will be accomplished. Elisha prayed for his servant to see those who were ready to defend him against the Syrians. When he had done this, God opened his servant’s eyes to see the mountains covered in horses and chariots of fire.

When is the last time you prayed for your eyes to be opened to the spiritual realities around you? I know it’s been too long for me. God has placed us in the world to accomplish evangelism. I think we spend too much time coming up with reasons to not do anything for God that we lose sight of the possibilities set in front of us. What might God do if we all started praying for God to open our eyes to opportunities to witness, do good, and repel the attacks of our ‘Syrians’?