A Destructive Ministry Also is Necessary

By J. Edwin Orr

      "See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant." (Jeremiah 1:10)

To the preacher who is very much concerned about effectiveness in his type of message, the Prophecy of Jeremiah is a mine of help.

      Some preachers are definitely called to a pastoral kind of preaching. They are adept in delivering a sermon calculated to bring comfort to the bereaved. They know how to put together addresses for the saints. They talk interestingly to children. They are marvelously effective in their sphere---pastoral care of the Church. God's blessing rests upon them. The Church could never get on without them. They are beloved of the people.

      But these men, already used of God, are often envious of other preachers who gain evangelistic success. They try hard to obtain the same results themselves, but try as they will, they cannot set the Thames on fire. They get discouraged.

      Now the first thing that a preacher has to consider is - "What is my sphere?"

      Think of the busy world. How does it get on? Not every electrician is a good gardener. Nor is every farmer a good dentist. Sometimes a man combines two spheres of usefulness in his business and his hobby. But the so-called Jack of all trades is unusual, save when we limit its meaning to a handyman's activities. The world gets on by specialists - those who master their job and are thoroughly effective in it. So also with the work of God. We are all members of one another. One member cannot do without the other.

If you feel that God has given you the precious gift of making a church, full of varied temperaments, thoroughly harmonious, don't despise that gift of God. Your spiritual children will, in future years, rise up to call you blessed. God may not intend you to be a revivalist. But if you feel called to be a revivalist, a man who specializes in the work of curing Church decline, remember that pastoral methods will not always be successful. Something more drastic is required. Just as in medical practice. A dietician can help a man's digestion and benefit more than his stomach thereby. But in cases of pneumonia, better call in a physician. Methods are certainly important. And if you are really trying to be an effective revivalist, I counsel you to consider your methods.

Some iconoclasm is necessary. The first thing that we notice about the call of Jeremiah, is his extreme youthfulness. When God called him, he cried in his great distress : "Ah, Lord God I behold I cannot speak: for I am a child." It is remarkable to find how many revivalists were really young when they were called to be God's mouthpiece in a special way. We think of the disciples...young men, contrary to popular belief based on Italian art. We think of the judges and prophets - Gideon and Samuel, Isaiah and Jeremiah, and many more. We know of Wesley, and Spurgeon, and Moody, and Finney, and Booth, and Hudson Taylor, and Judson, and a host of modern and recent examples.

Why are God's special instruments young, as a rule, and not old as in the known exceptions ? Probably the answer is to be found in the fact that young men are more malleable than old. Most people are converted when young, and the Lord loves to get His man before backsliding or prejudice can spoil him. The fact remains. And God overruled Jeremiah's objections, saying "Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces for I am with thee to deliver thee. Then the Lord touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold I have put my words in thy mouth."

Then follows a thought-provoking form of commission: "See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to Pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant." Of this six-fold commission, four injunctions are destructive: and only the latter two are constructive. "To build and to plant " - surely a great work. But it had to be preceded by a rooting-out and a pulling-down, destruction and demolishing. Surely this sounds drastic! But it was very necessary, as the historical background shows. The Jewish kingdom had become overgrown with weeds, overbuilt with traditional superstructures. They had to go first. Some iconoclasm was necessary. Some destruction was required.

An Illustration: Planting a Garden

Let us look in the garden for a parable. We walked round a beautiful garden which occupied a former piece of waste land. The gardener showed us round. "Those are beautiful roses," we said to him. " I planted them," replied the gardener, with justified pride. "What a beautifully-cut hedge!" we remarked next. "I trimmed that," he said.

At the garden gate, we found an old fellow watching a smoking heap of refuse. "What have you been doing?" "Working at the garden," he said. "Well then, what have you to show for your labour?" "Nothing, Sir," he replied. "Then you cannot have been working!" we told him. "Sir," he asserted " When we came here, this garden was a piece of waste land, overgrown with weeds, full of stones and sand, swampy in one corner, and pretty hopeless all round." We got interested. "Well, sir," he went on, "I broke up the land, and I destroyed the weeds, and dug out the stones, and carted away the sand, and it was my job to drain the swampy corner." We listened with growing appreciation. "I am saying nothing against the other fellow who planted the garden. He did his job well. But where would his planting come in if I hadn't first rooted out and destroyed the weeds?"

      Both men's labour was necessary, but the rooting-out and destruction of weeds preceded the planting of flowers and shrubs.

Another Illustration: Demolition and Construction

      Again, let us walk around one of London's congested areas. A huge block of up-to-date, working-class flats catches our eye. A nicely dressed gentleman offers to show us around and explain things. We are amazed with the modernity of these flats. "I wonder who built these flats?" we ask. Our guide smiles. "As a matter of fact, I'm the building contractor who put every brick and stone in place..." "Sir," we tell him, you have raised a monument to your own skill." "But," he tells us,"I didn't do everything. There was another contractor, and his job was to pull down and throw down the slums that used to be here. And without his good work of clearing the ground, I could never have built this block of flats here."

The Ministry Of The Unnoticed

By Oswald Chambers       'Blessed are the poor in spirit.'       Matthew 5:3 The New Testament notices things which from our standards do not seem to count. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," literally - Blessed are the paupers - an exceedingly commonplace thing! The preaching of to-day is apt to emphasize strength of will, beauty of character - the things that are easily noticed. The phrase we bear so often, Decide for Christ, is an emphasis on something Our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him - a very different thing. At the basis of Jesus Christ's Kingdom is the unaffected loveliness of the commonplace. The thing I am blessed in is my poverty. If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, then Jesus says - Blessed are you, because it is through this poverty that I enter His Kingdom. I cannot enter His Kingdom as a good man or woman, I can only enter it as a complete pauper.       The true character of the loveliness that tells for God is always unconscious. Conscious influence is priggish and un-Christian. If I say - I wonder if I am of any use - I instantly lose the bloom of the touch of the Lord. "He that believeth in me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water." If I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.       Which are the people who have influenced us most? Not the ones who thought they did, but those who had not the remotest notion that they were influencing us. In the Christian life the implicit is never conscious, if it is conscious it ceases to have this unaffected loveliness which is the characteristic of the touch of Jesus. We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.

One wrong step—and down we go!

One wrong step—and down we go!
(Charles Spurgeon)

"How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life!" Matthew 7:14

In some sense, the path to heaven is very safe—but in other respects, there is no road so dangerous! It is beset with difficulties.One wrong step—and down we go! And how easy it is to take that treacherous step—if grace is absent! 

What a slippery path is that—which some of us have to tread! How many times have we to exclaim with the Psalmist, "But as for me, my feet were slipping—and I was almost gone!"

If we were strong, sure-footed mountaineers, this would not matter so much; but in ourselves, how weak we are! 

Even in the best roads—we soon falter! 

In the smoothest paths—we quickly stumble! 

These feeble knees of ours—can scarcely support our tottering weight! 

A straw may trip us up—and a pebble can wound us! 

We are mere infants, tremblingly taking our first steps in the walk of faith. Our heavenly Father holds us by the arms—or we would soon tumble down!

Oh, if we are kept from falling, how must we bless the patience, power and wisdom of God—who watches over us moment by moment—and day by day! Think—
  how prone we are to sin,
  how apt to choose dangerous paths,
  how strong our tendency to cast ourselves down
—and these reflections will make us sing more sweetly than we have ever done, "Glory to Him, who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy!" Jude 24

We have many foes—who try to push us down, and destroy us! 

The road is rough—and we are weak! 

But in addition to this, enemies lurk in ambush, who rush out when we least expect them, and labor to trip us up, or hurl us down the nearest deadly precipice!

Only an Almighty arm can preserve us from these unseen foes, who are seeking to destroy us at every step! Such an arm is engaged for our defense. He is faithful, who has promised, and He is able to keep us from falling, so that with a deep sense of our utter weakness, we may cherish a firm belief in our perfect safety!

Judas the preacher!

Judas the preacher!

(William Secker, "The Consistent Christian" 1660)

"If you know these things—you are blessed if you do them." John 13:17

To obey the truth, and not to know it—is impossible.
To know the truth, and not obey it—is unprofitable.

For, "Not everyone who says unto me, 'Lord, Lord' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven—but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven." Saving knowledge is not as the light of the moon—to sleep by; but as the light of the sun—to work by. It is not a loiterer in the market-place—but a laborer in the vineyard.

A man may be a great scholar—and yet be a great sinner. Judas the traitor—was Judas the preacher! The snake which has a pearl in its head—has poison in its body! The tree of knowledge has often been planted, and flourished—where the tree of life never grew! All abilities and gifts—without grace and holiness—are but like Uriah's letters, which were the death warrants of those who carried them!

Mere head knowledge will be as unhelpful to the soul, in the judgment day—as a painted fire is unhelpful to the frozen body, in a cold day. Theoretical knowledge may make the head giddy—but it will never make the heart holy. How many professors are there, who have light enough to know what should be done—but have not love enough to do what they know! Give me the Christian who perfectly sees the way he should go—and readily goes the way he sees!

That is barren ground—which brings forth no fruit. "To him who knows to do good, and does it not—to him it is sin." The sins of ignorance are most numerous—but the sins of knowledge are most dangerous! That sinner's darkness will be the greatest in hell—whose light was the clearest on earth!

There are many who set a crown of glory upon the head of Christ by a good profession, and yet put a crown of thorns upon his head by an evil conversation. By the words of our mouth—we may affect to adore religion; but it is by the works of our lives—that we adorn religion.

As trees without fruits are unprofitable—so knowledge without good works is abominable! Leah and Rachel are fit emblems of knowledge and obedience. Knowledge, like Rachel—is beautiful. But obedience, like Leah—is fruitful.

"Jesus gave him no answer." John 19:9

Miller's Year Book—a Year's Daily Readings

J. R. Miller, 1895

"Jesus gave him no answer." John 19:9

The silences of Jesus are as significant as his words. He was silent before Pilate. He understood the governor's miserable insincerity. Pilate had had opportunity enough to do the right thing—but he had thrown away his chance. Now Jesus would answer no more of his questions. It was not worth while.

One lesson we get from this silence of Jesus is, that if we reject his offers of grace over and over—the time may come, will come, when he will be silent to us. And of all calamities that can possibly ever come to any man, no other could be so great as that Christ should be silent to his prayers, turning his back and answering no more when he calls.

Another lesson from Christ's example is, that there come times in every life when silence is better than speech. Ofttimes to words of reviling or insult, silence is the only true answer. To many of the assaults made by sceptics on our religion, it is better that we remain silent. There is a time to speak boldly in the presence of Christ's enemies; but there also are times when we should keep silence, attempting no answer.

Spiritual poverty

RICHES of J. C. PHILPOT

(Choice devotional selections
 from the works of J. C. Philpot)

"Blessed are the poor in spirit." Matthew 5:3

Spiritual poverty is a miserable feeling of soul-emptiness before God, an inward sinking sensation that there is nothing in our hearts spiritually good, nothing which can deliver us from the justly merited wrath of God, or save us from the lowest hell. To be poor in spirit, then, is to have this wretched emptiness of spirit, this nakedness and destitution of soul before God. He who has never thus known what it is to groan before the Lord with breakings forth of heart as a needy, naked wretch—he who has never felt his miserable destitution and emptiness before the eyes of a heart-searching God—has not yet experienced what it is to be spiritually poor.

Obedience that Pleases Christ

Obedience that Pleases Christ

J. R. Miller, 1905

It is not enough to begin; the test of a true life is in its perseverance unto the end. A good beginning is important. The trouble with many people is—that they do not begin at all. They listen, ponder, dream, and resolve—but never take the first step. That is the way thousands of men, with splendid possibilities, fail to make anything of their life, miss their chance. Nothing is more important than promptness in doing the duty that comes to one's hand. Not to do it at the moment—is to lose the opportunity of doing it at all.

But it is not enough to begin. The paths of life are marked at every step with unfinished work. It isperseverance which alone wins the prize. Jesus said to certain people who had believed on Him, "If you abide in My word, then are you truly My disciples." To abide in Christ's word—is to be always faithful to it. The one great duty of discipleship is obedience. The word abide has the thought of home in it, and suggests also a willing and loving obedience, hearty, trustful, joyous.

Jesus said of His own obedience, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me." Obedience was bread, life, to Him. We must abide in Christ's word. It may sometimes cost us a great deal to obey—it would be much easier to listen to the voice of ease or self-indulgence. But the question of ease or selfish inclination must never be considered. The only question is: "What is the Master's plan for my life?"

The highest and noblest success possible to any life—is its realization of the divine purpose for it. Whatever else we may do, whatever great thing, whatever praise we may win from men for our fine attainments and our splendid achievements, if we miss filling the place God made us to fill, and doing the work God made us to do—we have missed the true glory of our life. The most triumphant word anyone can say at the end of his life is, "I have accomplished the work which You gave Me to do."

It is most important, therefore, that we find the will of God for our life—and accept it sweetly and gladly. There are those who are always at odds with their circumstances. The people they have to live with or work with—are uncongenial and disagreeable. The conditions in which they find themselves are uncomfortable and distasteful. So they chafe and fret and are full of discontent. All this unhappiness could be cured—if they would accept their circumstances and get their own spirit in proper accord with the will of God.

When Paul could say, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances," he had found the secret of sweet and joyous living. You cannot change the people about you and make them agreeable to live with; but you can learn to keep sweet yourself, however irritating others may be!

You may not have power to make your surroundings pleasant and congenial—but you can bring your own mind and heart into such patience, such cheerfulness, such self-control, such peace—that in whatever circumstances you are in, you shall be content. "I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need." Philippians 4:12

Many people are unhappy because they cannot do the large and fine things which they see some other people doing. But we should remember that the things that God has given us to do, however small they may be—are really the greatest things we can possibly do. Self-surrender to God, though our fondest ambition is laid down—is in God's sight really the noblest thing we can do with our life. Because we cannot achieve the great things it is in our heart to do, our life need not therefore be a failure; the folding of our hands in trust and resignation, may be a greater act in God's sight, and a greater blessing to the world—than the finest work those hands might have done.

At least, if we would reach the highest and best possibilities of Christian discipleship, we must put ourselves in full harmony with the will of God for us. We must be content to let God use us how andwhere He will, and to do what He would have us do. Many people make almost nothing of their lives, do little that is worthy or beautiful, because they are not willing to do the plain, lowly things that are ever waiting close to their hands—but strive always to find great and conspicuous things to do—so as to get praise of men. If you would leave behind you when you die, a beautiful story of good done, things which have made the air sweeter, and the world better and happier—do what the Master wants you to do!

If we would make our discipleship what we should make it—we must keep SELF out of it. We cannot live for ourselves—and live for Christ. Then we must also learn the lesson of love for others. Self-seeking is nowhere else so unseemly, so unlovely—as it is in Christian life and Christian work.

With Christian work it is true, that only a godly man can do it well. If we would reach the great possibilities of discipleship, we must seek purity of motive, holiness of life, devotion to lofty ideals, and self-forgetfulness in striving for worthy ends.

We must be godly—if we would do good. We must realize the Christ in our own life—before we can show others the glory and the beauty of the Christ. Then if we would fulfill our discipleship, we must concentrate all our energy and strength upon it. We must make it the first thing in our life to be Christians. That is what Paul meant of himself when he said, "To me to live is Christ," or when he said again, "This one thing I do—I press toward the goal." He did a great many things—but in them all he was living Christ, and reaching toward the goal of perfection. We can do this in the surest way by giving Christ our days one by one, as they come.

A business man when asked the secret of his success in doing things so well, replied, "I do not know, unless it is that whatever I am doing any moment, however small a thing it may seem to be—I bring all my mind and heart and strength to it." The poet bids us, if we write but one line—to make thatsublime. Let us learn to bring all the strength of our life—to the smallest details of our duty. Let us make the moments beautiful, and then the hours will be radiant and the days glorious!