6:10
A Heavenly Pattern for Our Earthly Life
A Sermon
(No. 1778)
Preached on Wednesday Morning, April 30th, 1884, By
C. H. SPURGEON,
At Exeter-Hall
Being the Annual Sermon of the Baptist Missionary Society.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.'Matthew 6:10.
OUR Father's will shall certainly be done, for the Lord doeth according
to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the
earth.' Let us adoringly consent that it shall be so, desiring no
alteration therein. That will' may cost us dear; yet let it never cross
our wills: let our minds be wholly subjugated to the mind of God. That
will' may bring us bereavement, sickness, and loss; but let us learn to
say, It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.' We should not
only yield to the divine will, but acquiesce in it so as to rejoice in
the tribulation which it ordains. This is a high attainment, but we set
ourselves to reach it. He that taught us this prayer used it himself in
the most unrestricted sense. When the bloody sweat stood on his face,
and all the fear and trembling of a man in anguish were upon him, he
did not dispute the decree of the Father, but bowed his head and cried,
Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.' When we are called to
suffer bereavements personally, or when, as a holy brotherhood, we see
our best men taken away, let us know that it is well, and say most
sincerely, The will of the Lord be done.'
God knows what will best minister to his gracious designs. To us it
seems a sad waste of human life that man after man should go to a
malarious region, and perish in the attempt to save the heathen: but
infinite wisdom may view the matter very differently. We ask why the
Lord does not work a miracle, and cover the heads of his messengers
from the death shaft? No reason is revealed to us, but there is a
reason, for the will of the great Father is the sum of wisdom. Reasons
are not made known to us, else were there no scope for our faith; and
the Lord loves that this noble grace should have ample room and verge
enough. Our God wastes no consecrated life: he has made nothing in
vain: he ordains all things according to the counsel of his will, and
that counsel never errs. Could the Lord endow us with his own
omniscience, we should not only consent to the deaths of his servants,
but should deprecate their longer life. The same would also be true of
our own living or dying. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death
of his saints'; and therefore we are sure that he does not afflict us
by bereavement without a necessity of love. We must still see one
missionary after another cut down in his prime; for there are arguments
with God, as convincing with him as they are obscure to us, which
require that by heroic sacrifice the foundations of the African church
should be laid. Lord, we do not ask thee to explain thy reasons to us.
Thou canst screen us from a great temptation by hiding thyself; for if
even now we sin by asking reasons, we might soon go further, and
provoke thee sorely by contending against thy reasons. He who demands a
reason of God is not in a fit state to receive one. In the case of the
honoured men whom the Lord has removed from us this year, there is
assuredly no loss to the great cause as it is viewed by the eye of God.
See the great stones and costly stones laboriously brought from the
quarry to the edge of the sea! Can it be possible that these are
deliberately thrown into the deep? It swallows them up! Wherefore is so
much labour thrown away? These living stones might surely have been
built into a temple for the Lord; why should the waves of death engulf
them? Yet more are sought for, and still more: will the hungry abyss
never cease to devour? Alas, that so much precious material should be
lost! It is not lost. No, not a stone of it. Thus the Lord layeth the
foundation of his harbour of refuge among the people. Mercy shall be
built up for ever.' In due time massive walls shall rise out of the
deep, and we shall no longer ask the reason for the losses of early
days.
Peace be to the memories of the heroic dead! Men die that the cause may
live. Father, thy will be done.' With this prayer upon our lips let us
bend low in child-like submission to the will of the great Jehovah, and
then gird up our loins anew to dauntless perseverance in our holy
service. Though more should be taken away next year, and the next, yet
we must pray on, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.'
My heart is grieved for the death of beloved hartley, and those noble
men who preceded him to the white man's grave.' I had seen him
especially, for it had been a joy to assist him for three years in
preparing for missionary service. Alas! the preparation led to small
visible results. He left us, he landed, and he died. Surely the Lord
means to make further use of him; if he did not make him a preacher to
the natives, he must intend that he should preach to us. I may say of
each fallen missionary, He being dead yet speaketh.' Faithful unto
death,' they inspire us by their example. Dying without regret in the
cause of such a Master, they remind us of our own indebtedness to him.
Their spirits rising to his throne are links between this Society and
the glorified assembly above. Let not our thoughts go downward to their
graves, but rise upward to their thrones. Does not our text point with
a finger of flame from earth to heaven? Do not the dear departed ones
mark a line of light between the two worlds?
If the prayer of our text had not been dictated by the Lord Jesus
himself, we might think it too bold. Can it ever be that this earth, a
mere drop of a bucket, should touch the great sea of life and light
above and not be lost in it? Can it remain earth and yet be made like
to heaven? Will it not lost its individuality in the process? This
earth is subject to vanity, dimmed with ignorance, defiled with sin,
furrowed with sorrow; can holiness dwell in it as in heaven? Our Divine
Instructor would not teach us to pray for impossibilities; he puts such
petitions into our mouths as can be heard and answered. Yet certainly
this is a great prayer; it has the hue of the infinite about it. Can
earth be tuned to the harmonies of heaven? Has not this poor planet
drifted too far away to be reduced to order and made to keep rank with
heaven? Is it not swathed in mist too dense to be removed? Can its
grave-clothes be loosed? Can thy will, O God, be done in earth as it is
in heaven? It can be, and it must be; for a prayer wrought in the soul
by the Holy Spirit is ever the shadow of a coming blessing, and he that
taught us to pray after this manner did not mock us with vain words. It
is a brave prayer, which only heaven-born faith can utter; yet it is
not the offspring of presumption, for presumption never longs for the
will of the Lord to be perfectly performed.
I. May the Holy Spirit be with us, while I first lead you to observe
that THE COMPARISON IS NOT FAR FETCHED. That our present obedience to
God should be like to that of holy ones above is not a strained and
fanatical notion. It is not far-fetched, for earth and heaven were
called into being by the same Creator. The empire of the Maker
comprehends the upper and the lower regions. The heaven, even the
heavens are the Lord's'; and the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness
thereof.' He sustaineth all things by the word of his power both in
heaven above and in the earth beneath. Jesus reigneth both among angels
and men, for he is the Lord of all. If, then, heaven and earth were
created by the same God, and are sustained by the same power, and
governed from the same throne, we believe that the same end will be
subserved by each of them, and that both heaven and earth shall tell
out the glory of God. They are two bells of the same chime, and this is
the music that peals forth from them: The Lord shall reign for ever and
ever. Hallelujah!' If earth were of the devil and heaven were of God,
and two self-existent powers were contending for the mastery, we might
question whether earth would ever be as pure as heaven; but as our ears
have twice heard the divine declaration, Power belongeth unto God,' we
expect to see that power triumphant, and the dragon cast out from earth
as well as heaven. Why should not every part of the great Creator's
handiwork become equally radiant with his glory? He that made can
remake. The curse which fell upon the ground was not eternal; thorns
and thistles pass away. God will bless the earth for Christ's sake even
as once he cursed it for man's sake.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.' It was so once. Perfect
obedience to the heavenly upon this earth will only be a return to the
good old times which ended at the gate of Eden. There was a day when no
gulf was digged between earth and heaven; there was scarce a boundary
line, for the God of heaven walked in Paradise with Adam. All things on
earth were then pure, and true, and happy. It was the garden of the
Lord. Alas, that the trail of the serpent has now defiled everything.
Then earth's morning song was heard in heaven, and heaven's hallelujahs
floated down to earth at eventide. Those who desire to set up the
kingdom of God are not instituting a new order of things; they are
restoring, not inventing. Earth will drop into the old groove again.
The Lord is king: and he has never left the throne. As it was in the
beginning so shall it be yet again. History shall, in the divinest
sense, repeat itself. The temple of the Lord shall be among men, and
the Lord God shall dwell among them. Truth shall spring out of the
earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.'
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.' It will be so at the
last. I shall not venture far into prophecy. Some brethren are quite at
home where I should lose myself. I have scarcely yet been able to get
out of the gospels and the epistles; and that deep book of Revelation,
with its waters to swim in, I must leave to better instructed minds.
Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of that book;'
to that blessing I would aspire, but I cannot yet make claim to
interpret it. This much, however, seems plain,'there is to be a new
heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.' This creation,
which now groaneth and travaileth in pain,' in sympathy with man, is to
be brought forth from its bondage into the glorious liberty of the
children of God. Blessed be the Lord Jesus, when he brought his people
out of their bondage, he did not redeem their spirits only, but their
bodies also: hence their material part is the Lord's as well as their
spiritual nature, and hence again this very earth which we inhabit
shall be uplifted in connection with us. The creation itself shall be
delivered. Materialism, out of which there has been once made a vesture
for the Godhead in the person of Christ, shall become a fit temple for
the Lord of hosts. The New Jerusalem shall come down from God out of
heaven, prepared as a bride is prepared for her husband. We are sure of
this. Therefore unto this consummation let us strive mightily, praying
evermore, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.'
Meanwhile, remember also that there is an analogy between earth and
heaven, so that the one is the type of the other. You could not
describe heaven except by borrowing the things of earth to symbolize
it; and this shows that there is a real likeness between them. What is
heaven? It is Paradise, or a garden. Walk amid your fragrant flowers
and think of heaven's bed of spices. Heaven is a kingdom: thrones, and
crowns, and palms are the earthly emblems of the heavenlies. Heaven is
a city; and there, again, you fetch your metaphor from the
dwelling-places of men. It is a place of many mansions'the homes of the
glorified. Houses are of earth, yet is God our dwelling-place. Heaven
is a wedding-feast; and even such is this present dispensation. The
tables are spread here as well as there; and it is our privilege to go
forth and bring in the hedge-birds and the highwaymen, that the
banqueting-hall may be filled. While the saints above eat bread in the
marriage supper of the Lamb, we do the like below in another sense.
Between earth and heaven there is but a thin partition. The home
country is much nearer than we think. I question if the land that is
very far off' be a true name for heaven. Was it not an extended kingdom
on earth which was intended by the prophet rather than the celestial
home? Heaven is by no means the far country, for it is the Father's
house. Are we not taught to say, Our Father which art in heaven'? Where
the Father is the true spirit of adoption counts itself near. Our Lord
would have us mingle heaven with earth by naming it twice in this short
prayer. See how he makes us familiar with heaven by mentioning it next
to our usual food, making the next petition to be, Give us this day our
daily bread.' This does not look as if it should be thought of as a
remote region. Heaven, is at any rate, so near that in a moment we can
speak with him that is King of the place, and he will answer to our
call. Yea, before the clock shall tick again you and I may be there.
Can that be a far-off country which we can reach so soon? Oh, brothers,
we are within hearing of the shining ones; we are well-nigh home. A
little while and we shall see our Lord. Perhaps another day's march
will bring us within the city gate. And what if another fifty years of
life on earth should remain, what is it but the twinkling of an eye?
Clear enough is it that the comparison between the obedience of earth
and that of heaven is not far-fetched. If heaven and heaven's God be,
in truth, so near to us, our Lord has set before us a homely model
taken from our heavenly dwelling-place. The petition only means'let all
the children of the one Father be alike in doing his will.
II. Secondly, THIS COMPARISON IS EMINENTLY INSTRUCTIVE. Does it not
teach us that what we do for God is not everything, but how we do it is
also to be considered? The Lord Jesus Christ would not only have us do
the Father's will, but do it after a certain model. And what an
elevated model it is! Yet is it none too elevated, for we would not
wish to render to our heavenly Father service of an inferior kind. If
none of us dare say that we are perfect, we are yet resolved that we
will never rest until we are. If none of us dare hope that even our
holy things are without a flaw, yet none of us will be satisfied while
a spot remains upon them. We would give to our God the utmost
conceivable glory. Let the mark be as high as possible. If we do not as
yet reach it, we will aim higher and yet higher. We do not desire that
our pattern should be lowered, but that our imitation should be raised.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.' Mark the words be
done,' for they touch a vital point of the text. God's will is done in
heaven. How very practical! On earth his will is often forgotten, and
his rule ignored. In the church of the present age there is a desire to
be doing something for God, but few enquire what he wills them to do.
Many things are done for the evangelizing of the people which were
never commanded by the great Head of the Church, and cannot be approved
of by him. Can we expect that he will accept or bless that which he has
never commanded? Will-worship is as sin in his sight. We are to do his
will in the first place, and then to expect a blessing upon the doing
of that will. My brethren, I am afraid that Christ's will on earth is
very much more discussed than done. I have heard of brethren spending
days in disputing upon a precept which their dispute was breaking. In
heaven they have no disputes, but they do the will of God without
discord. We are best employed when we are actually doing something for
this fallen world, and for the glory of our Lord. Thy will be done': we
must come to actual works of faith and labours of love. Too often we
are satisfied with having approved of that will, or with having spoken
of it in words of commendation. But we must not stay in thought,
resolve, or word; the prayer is practical and business-like, Thy will
be done in earth, as it is in heaven.' An idle man stretched himself on
his bed when the sun had risen high in heaven, and as he rolled over,
he muttered to himself that he wished this were hard work, for he could
do any quantity of it with pleasure. Many might wish that to think and
to speak were to do the will of God; for them they would have effected
it very thoroughly. Up yonder there is no playing with sacred things:
they do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Would
God his will were not alone preached and sung below, but actually done
as it is in heaven.
In heaven the will of God is done in spirit, for they are spirits
there. It is done in truth with undivided heart, and unquestioned
desire. On earth, too often, it is done and yet not done; for a dull
formality mocks real obedience. Here obedience often shades off into
dreary routine. We sing with the lips, but our hearts are silent. We
pray as if the mere utterance of words were prayer. We sometimes preach
living truth with dead lips. It must no longer be so. Would God we had
the fire and fervour of those burning ones who behold the face of God.
We pray in that sense, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.'
I hope there is a revival of spiritual life among us, and that, to a
large extent, our brotherhood is instinct with fervour; but there is
room for far more zeal. Ye that know how to pray, go down upon your
knees, and with the warm breath of prayer arouse the spark of spiritual
life until it becomes a flame. With all the powers of our innermost
being, with the whole life of God within us, let us be stirred up to do
the will of the Lord on earth as it is done in heaven.
In heaven they do God's will constantly, without failure. Would God it
could be so here! We are aroused to-day, but we fall asleep tomorrow.
We are diligent for one hour, but sluggish the next. This must not be,
dear friends. We must be steadfast, unmovable'always abounding in the
work of the Lord. We need to pray for sacred perseverance, that we may
imitate the days of heaven upon the earth by doing the Lord's will
without a break.
They do God's will in heaven universally, without making a selection.
Here men pick and choose'take this commandment to be obeyed, and lay
that commandment by as non-essential. We are, I fear, all tinctured,
more or less, with this odious gall. A certain part of obedience is
hard, and therefore we try to forget it. It must no longer be so; but
whatsoever Jesus saith unto us we must do. Partial obedience is actual
disobedience. The loyal subject respects the whole law. If anything be
the will of the Lord, we have no choice in the matter, the choice is
made by our Lord. Let us pray that we may neither misunderstand the
Lord's will, nor forget it, nor violate it. Perhaps we are, as a
company of believers, ignorantly omitting a part of the Lord's will,
and this may have been hindering our work these many years; possibly
there is something written by the pen of inspiration which we have not
read, or something read that we have not practised; and this may hold
back the arm of the Lord from working. We should often make diligent
search, and go through our churches to see wherein we differ from the
divine pattern. Some goodly Babylonish garment or wedge of gold may be
as an accursed thing in the camp, bringing disaster to the Lord's
armies. Let us not neglect anything which our God commands lest he
withhold his blessing.
His will is done in heaven instantly, and without hesitation. We, I
fear, are given to delays. We plead that we must look the thing round
about. Second thoughts are best,' we say, whereas the first thoughts of
eager love are the prime production of our being. I would that we were
obedient at all hazard, for therein lies the truest safety. Oh, to do
what God bids us, as God bids us, on the spot, and at the moment! It is
not ours to debate, but to perform. Let us dedicate ourselves as
perfectly as Esther consecrated herself when she espoused the cause of
her people, and said, If I perish, I perish.' We must not consult with
flesh and blood, or make a reserve for our own selfishness, but at once
most vigorously follow the divine command.
Let us pray the Lord that we may do his will on earth as it is done in
heaven; that is, joyfully, without the slightest weariness. When our
hearts are right, it is a glad thing to serve God, though it be only to
unloose the latchets of our Master's shoes. To be employed by Jesus in
service which will bring us no repute, but much reproach, should be our
delight. If we were altogether as we should be, sorrow for Christ's
sake would be joy: ay, we should have joy right along, in dark nights
as well as in bright days. Even as they are glad in heaven, with a
felicity born of the presence of the Lord, so should we be glad, and
find our strength in the joy of the Lord.
In heaven the will of the Lord is done right humbly. There perfect
purity is set in a frame of lowliness. Too often we fall into
self-gratulation, and it defiles our best deeds. We whisper to
ourselves, I did that very well.' We flatter ourselves that there was
no self in our conduct, but while we are laying that flattering unction
to our souls, we are lying, as our self-contentment proves. God might
have allowed us to do ten times as much, had he not known that it would
not be safe. He cannot set us upon the pinnacle, because our heads are
weak, and we grow dizzy with pride. We must not be permitted to be
rulers over many things, for we should become tyrants if we had the
opportunity. Brother, pray the Lord to keep thee low at his feet, for
in no other place canst thou be largely used of him.
The comparison being thus instructive, I pray that we may be the better
for our meditation upon it. I do not find it an easy thing even to
describe the model; but if we essay to copy it: this is the work; this
is the difficulty.' Unless we are girded with the divine strength we
shall never do the will of God as it is done in heaven. Here is a
greater labour than those of Hercules, bringing with it victories
nobler than those of Alexander. To this the unaided wisdom of Solomon
could not attain; the Holy Ghost must transform us, and lead the
earthly in us captive to the heavenly.
III. Thirdly, I beg you to notice, dear friends, that THIS COMPARISON
of holy service on earth to that which is in heaven, IS BASED UPON
FACTS. The facts will both comfort and stimulate us. Two places are
mentioned in the text which seems very dissimilar, and yet the likeness
exceeds the unlikeness'earth and heaven.
Why should not saints do the will of the Lord on earth as their
brethren do it in heaven? What is heaven but the Father's house,
wherein there are many mansions? Do we not abide in that house even
now? The Psalmist said, Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they
will be still praising thee.' Have we not often said of our Bethels,
This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of
heaven'? The spirit of adoption causes us to be at home with God even
while we sojourn here below. Let us therefore do the will of God at
once.
We have the same fare on earth as the saints in heaven, for the Lamb in
the midst of the throne doth feed them:' he is the Shepherd of his
flock below, and daily feeds us upon himself. His flesh is meat indeed,
his blood is drink indeed. Whence come the refreshing draughts of the
immortals? The Lamb doth lead them to living fountains of waters; and
doth he not even here below say to us, If any man thirst, let him come
unto me, and drink'? The same river of the water of life which makes
glad the city of our God above, also waters the garden of the Lord
below.
Brethren, we are in the same company below as they enjoy above. Up
there they are with Christ, and here he is with us, for he hath
said'Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.' There is
a difference as to the brightness of his presence; but not as to the
reality of it. Thus you see we are partakers of the same privileges as
the shining ones within the city gates. The church below is a chamber
of the one great house, and the partition which separates it from the
church above is a mere veil, of inconceivable thinness. Wherefore
should we not do the Lord's will on earth as it is done in heaven?
But heaven is a place of peace,' says one; there they rest from their
labours.' Beloved, our estate here is not without its peace and rest.
Alas,' cries one, I find it far otherwise.' I know it. But whence come
wars and fightings but of our fretfulness and unbelief? We which have
believed do enter into rest.' That is not in all respects a fair
allegory which represents us as crossing the Jordan of death to enter
into Canaan. No, my brethren, believers are in Canaan now; how else
could we say that the Canaanite is still in the land? We have entered
upon the promised heritage, and we are warring for the full possession
of it. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I for one
do not feel like a lone dove flying over waters dark, seeking rest for
the sole of her foot. No, I have found my Noah: Jesus has given me
rest. There is a difference between the best estate of earth and the
glory of heaven, but the rest which every soul may have that learns to
conquer its will, is most deep and real. Brethren, having rest already,
and being participators of the joy of the Lord, why should we not serve
God on earth as they do in heaven?
But we have not their victory,' cries one, for they are more than
conquerors.' Yes, and our warfare is accomplished.' We have prophetic
testimony to that fact. Moreover, This is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith.' In the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord giveth us
the victory, and maketh us to triumph in every place. We are warring;
but we are of good cheer, for Jesus has overcome the world, and we also
overcome by his blood. Ever is this our war-cry, Victory! Victory!' The
Lord will tread Satan under our feet shortly. Why should we not do the
Lord's will on earth as it is done in heaven?
Heaven is the place of fellowship with God, and this is a blessed
feature in its joy; but in this we are now participators, for Truly our
fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.' The
fellowship of the Holy Ghost is with us all; it is our joy and our
delight. Having communion with the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, we are uplifted and sanctified, and it is becoming that by us
the will of the Lord should be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Up there,' says a brother, they are all accepted, but here we are in a
state of probation.' Did you read that in the Bible? for I never did. A
believer is in no state of probation; he has passed from death unto
life, and shall never come into condemnation. We are already accepted
in the Beloved,' and that acceptance is so given as never to be
reversed. The Redeemer brought us up out of the horrible pit of
probation, and he has set our feet on the rock of salvation, and there
he has established our goings. The righteous shall hold on his way, and
he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger.' Wherefore
should we not, as the accepted of the Lord, do his will on earth as it
is in heaven?
Ay,' saith one, but heaven is the place of perfect service; for his
servants shall serve him.' But is not this the place, in some respects,
of a more extensive service still? Are there not many things which
perfect saints above and holy angels cannot do? If we had choice of a
sphere in which we could serve God with widest range, we should choose
not heaven but earth. There are no slums and over-crowded rooms in
heaven to which we can go with help, but there are plenty of them here.
There are no jungles and regions of malaria where missionaries may
prove their unreserved consecration by preaching the gospel at the
expense of their lives. In some respects this world has a preference
beyond the heavenly state as to the extent of doing the will of God.
Oh, that we were better men, and then the saints above might almost
envy us! If we did but live as we should live, we might make Gabriel
stoop from his throne and cry, I wish I were a man!' It is ours to lead
the van in daily conflict with sin and Satan, and at the same time ours
to bring up the rear, battling with the pursuing foe. God help us,
since we are honoured with so rare a sphere, to do his will on earth as
it is done in heaven.
Ay,' say you, but heaven is the place of overflowing joy.' Yes, and
have you no joy even now? A saint who lives near to God is so truly
blessed that he will not be much astonished when he enters heaven. he
will be surprised to behold its glories more clearly; but he will have
the same reason for delight as he possesses to-day. We live below the
same life which we shall live above, for we are quickened by the same
Spirit, are looking to the same Lord, and rejoicing in the same
security. Joy! Do you not know it? Your Lord says, That my joy might
remain in you, and that your joy might be full.' You will be larger
vessels in heaven, but you will not be fuller; you will be brighter,
doubtless, but you will not be cleaner than you are when the Lord has
washed you and made you white in his own blood. Do not be impatient to
go to heaven. Nay, do not have a wish about it. Set very loose by the
things of earth; yet count it a great privilege to have a long life in
which to serve the Lord on earth. Our mortal life is but a brief
interval between the two eternities, and if we judged unselfishly, and
saw the needs of earth, we might almost say, Give us back the
antediluvian periods of human life, that through a chiliad we might
serve the Lord in suffering and in reproach, as we cannot do in glory.'
This life is the vestibule of glory. Array yourselves in the
righteousness of Jesus Christ, for this is the court-dress of earth and
heaven. Manifest at once the spirit of saints, or else you will never
abide with them. Now begin the song which your lips shall carol in
Paradise, or else you will never be admitted to the heavenly choirs;
none can unite in the music but those who have rehearsed it here below.
IV. Lastly, THIS COMPARISON, which I feel I can so feebly bring out, of
doing the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven, OUGHT TO BE
BORNE OUT BY HOLY DEEDS. Here is the urgency of the missionary
enterprise. God's will can never be intelligently done where it is not
known; therefore, in the first place, it becomes us as followers of
Jesus to see to it that the will of the Lord is made known by heralds
of peace sent forth from among us. Why has it not been already
published in every land? We cannot blame the great Father, nor impute
the fault to the Lord Jesus. The Spirit of the Lord is not straitened,
nor the mercy of God restrained. Is it not probably true that the
selfishness of Christians is the main reason for the slow progress of
Christianity? If Christianity is never to spread in the world at a more
speedy rate than the present, it will not even keep pace with the
growth of the population. If we are going to give to Christ's kingdom
no larger a percentage than we have usually given, I suppose it will
require about an eternity-and-a-half to convert the world; or, in other
words, it will never be done. The progress made is so slow, that it
threatens to be like that of the crab, which is always described in the
fable as going backward. What do we give, brethren? What do we do? A
friend exhorts me to say that the Baptist Missionary Society ought to
raise a million a-year. I have my doubts about that; but he proposes
that we should, at least, try to do so for one year. There is nothing
like having a high mark to aim at. A million a-year seems hugely too
much by the general consent of you all, and yet I am not sure. What
amount of property is now held by Baptists? The probable estimate of
money now in the hands of baptized believers in the United Kingdom
might make us ashamed that a million is not put down at once. Far more
than that is spent by a similar number of Englishmen upon strong drink.
We do not know how much wealth lies in the custody of God's stewards;
and some of them are not likely to let us know until we read it in the
paper, and then we shall discover that they died worth so many hundreds
of thousands. The world counts men to be worth what they hoard; but in
truth they were not worth much, or else they could not have retained so
much from the work of the Lord when it was needed for the spread of the
gospel. As a denomination we are improving a little. We are improving a
little. I was obliged to repeat that sentence, and place the emphasis
in the right place. We may not congratulate ourselves: considerable
room for improvement yet remains: the income of the Society might be
doubled and no one oppressed in the process. It is not for us to say,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven: but, Lord. Thou hast many
ways and means of accomplishing that will; I pray thee do it, but let
me not be asked to help on the work.' No, when I utter this prayer, if
I am sincere I shall be searching my stores to see what I can give to
make known the truth. I shall be enquiring whether I cannot personally
speak the saving word. I shall not decline to give because the times
are very hard, neither shall I fail to speak because I am of a retiring
disposition. An opportunity is a golden gift. Now, do not offer the
prayer of the text if you do not mean it. Better omit the petition than
play the hypocrite with it. You who fail to support missions when it is
in your power to do so should never say, Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done,' but leave out that petition for fear of mocking God.
Our text, dear friends, leads me to say that as God's will must be
known that it may be done, it must be God's will that we should make it
known; because God is love, and the law under which he has placed us is
that we love. What love of God dwelleth in that man who denies to a
benighted heathen that light without which he will be lost? Love is a
grand word to talk of, but it is nobler as a principle to be obeyed.
Can there be love of God in that man's heart who will not help to send
the gospel to those who are without it? We want to bless the world; we
have a thousand schemes by which to bless it, but if ever God's will is
done in earth as it is done in heaven it will be an unmixed and
comprehensive blessing. Join the Peace Society by all means, and be
forgiving and peaceable yourself; but there is no way of establishing
peace on the earth except by God's will being done in it, and that can
only be done through the renewing of men's hearts by the gospel of
Jesus Christ. By all manner of means let us endeavour so to control
politics, as Christian men, that oppression shall not remain in the
earth; but, after all, there will be oppression unless the gospel is
spread. This is the one balm for all earth's wounds. They will bleed
still until the Christ shall come to bind them up. Oh, let us then,
since this is the best thing that can be, show our love to God and man
by spreading his saving truth.
The text says, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.' Suppose
any one of you had come from heaven. It is but a supposition; but let
it stand for a minute: suppose that a man here has come fresh from
heaven. Some would be curious to see what his bodily form would be
like. They would expect to be dazzled by the radiance of his
countenance. However, we will let that pass. We want to see how he
would live. Coming newly from heaven, how would he act? Oh, sirs, if he
came here to do the same as all men do on earth, only after a heavenly
sort, what a father he would be, what a husband, what a brother, what a
friend! I would sit down and let him preach this morning, most
assuredly; and when he had done preaching, I would go home with him,
and have a chat. I should be very careful to observe what he would do
with his substance. His first thought would be, if he had a shilling,
to lay it out for God's glory. But,' says one, I have to go to shop
with my shilling.' Be it so, but when you go say, Oh! Lord, help me to
lay it out to thy glory.' There should be as much piety in buying your
necessaries as in going to a place of worship. I do not think this man
coming fresh from heaven would say, I must have this luxury; I must
have this goodly raiment; I must have this grand house.' But he would
say, How much can I save for the God of heaven? How much can I invest
in the country I came from?' I am sure he would be pinching and
screwing to save money to serve God with; and he himself, as he went
about the streets, and mingled with ungodly men and women, would be
sure to find out ways of getting at their consciences and hearts; he
would be always trying to bring others to the felicity he had enjoyed.
Think that over, and live soso as he did who really did come down from
heaven. For after all, the best rule of life is, what would Jesus do if
he were here to-day, and the world still lying in the wicked one? If
Jesus were in your business, if he had your money, how would he spend
it? For that is how you ought to spend it. Now think, my brother, you
will be in heaven very soon. Since last year a great number have gone
home: before next year many more will have ascended to glory. Sitting
up in those celestial seats, how shall we wish that we had lived below?
It will not give any man in heaven even a moment's joy to think that he
gratified himself while here. It will give him no reflections suitable
to the place to remember how much he amassed, how much he left behind
to be quarrelled over after he was gone; he will say to himself, I wish
I had saved more of my capital by sending it on before me, for what I
saved on earth was lost, but what I spent for God was really laid up
where thieves do not break through and steal.'
Oh, brothers, let us live as we shall wish we had lived when life is
over; let us fashion a life which will bear the light eternal. Is it
life to live otherwise? Is it not a sort of fainting fit, a coma, out
of which life may not quite have gone, but all that is worth calling
life has oozed away? Unless we are striving mightily to honour Jesus,
and bring home his banished, we are dead while we live. Let us aim at a
life which will outlast the fires which shall try every man's work.
If I may have moved any person here to resolve, I will so live,' I have
not spoken in vain. I have at least stirred myself with the intense
desire to cast off the mere outsides and husks of life, and to ripen
the real kernel of my being. Thy will by me be done on earth, as yet,
my Lord, I hope to do it in the skies. May I begin here a life worthy
to be perpetuated in eternity. God bless you, for Christ's sake. Amen.