Encourage Your Minister!

Encourage Your Minister!
A SERMON DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 18, 1863, BY THE REV. C.
H. SPURGEON, AT CORNWALL ROAD CHAPEL, BAYSWATER.
"Encourage him." Deuteronomy 1:38.
MOSES could not conduct the people into the promised land. Nor can the
Law bring any man to Heaven. The Law may lead a man out of the Egypt of
his sin, and it may bring him into the wilderness of conviction. There
it may provide him with food and nourish him with some little comfort,
but the Law can never give rest to the spirit into Canaan. Moses can
never conduct the Israel of God. This was left for Joshua, whose name,
you know, is but another form of the name, Jesus. As Joshua, alone,
could drive the Canaanites out of the land, and give a portion to all
the seed of Israel, so Jesus, alone, can give rest unto the heirs of
Heaven.
Moses cannot do it. He may see the promised land, but he can never
enter it. Legal convictions may be accompanied with some desires
towards Divine things, yes, and some apprehensions of their sweetness,
too. But the ultimate enjoyment, the rest which remains for the people
of God, can only come to the Believer through Jesus Christ. See here
the weakness of the Law. It is not able to bring us to our rest. "By
the works of the Law shall no flesh living be justified." Fly then, to
Jesus. For He is the Captain of our salvation, by whom our foes shall
be subdued and our everlasting inheritance secured.
It is not, however, my purpose to explore the mystic truth which is
couched beneath. I confine myself this morning to the moral on the
surface. Joshua was a young man in comparison with Moses. He was about
to undertake the onerous task of commanding a great people. He had,
moreover, the difficult enterprise of leading them into the promised
land, and chasing out the nations which possessed it. The Lord
commanded Moses, therefore, to encourage Joshua, that in the prospect
of great labor he might not be dismayed. This teaches us, I think, that
GOD, EVEN OUR GOD, IS GRACIOUSLY CONSIDERATE OF HIS SERVANTS and would
have them well fitted for high enterprise with good courage.
He does not send them as a tyrant would send a soldier upon an errand
for which he is not capable. Nor does He afterward withhold His succor,
forgetful of the straits to which they may be reduced. But He is very
careful of His servants and will not let one of them perish. He counts
them as the apple of His eye, keeps them at all hours and defends them
from all dangers. Why is this? The Lord our God has strong reasons for
being thus considerate of His servants. Are they not His children? Is
He not their Father? Does He not love them? If all human loves could be
put together, they would scarcely make a drop in a bucket compared with
the oceans of love which God the Father has towards His children.
All mothers' loves, all the loves of friends, of brothers and of
sisters, of husbands and of wives–if all piled together, would be a
molehill, compared with the towering mountain of the Divine love which
God the Father has towards His chosen. We are–and there is no other
figure which sets forth the whole length and breadth of that love–we
are as dear to God as His Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ–
"So dear, so very dear, to God I cannot dearer be;
The love wherewith He loves His Son, such is His love for me."
"As the Father has loved Me, even so have I loved you," said Christ.
Now, none of us would send a child of ours upon a difficult enterprise
without being anxious for his welfare. We would not put him upon a
trial beyond his strength, without, at the same time, guaranteeing to
stand at his side and make his strength equal to his day. Moreover, the
Father Himself is concerned as to His honor in all that they do. If any
servant of God shall fall, then God's name is despised. The daughters
of Philistia would rejoice and the inhabitants of Ekron triumph. "Aha!
Aha," they would say, "so we would have it! God's servants are put to
the rout. Jehovah was not able to give them victory. They trusted in
Him and they were confounded. They rested upon Him and they fell to the
ground."
Think not that the heavenly Father will ever permit this to be said.
Will He ever send forth His servants to let them fall by the hand of
the Adversary? He is too jealous of His great name. His honor is too
much concerned ever to permit this. You feeble ones, to whom God has
given to do or to suffer for His name's sake, rest assured that He has
His eyes upon you now. He cannot leave you, unless He can cease to be
"God over all, blessed forever." He cannot forget you, for His heart of
love can never change, and the relationship which He has towards you
can never be dissolved.
Beloved, God the Father cares for His children because they are His
children and because His honor is concerned in them. How sweet the
thought–if I fail, God fails–if I succeed, being God's sent servant,
God has all the honor. Could I lean on Him and fail, then to that
degree God's purpose is not fulfilled, God's promise is not kept, God's
Nature is not glorified. Oh, when you can fall back on the name, the
renown, the very Character of God. When you can say, as Moses said upon
the Mount, "What will You do for Your great name?" When you can plead
as Luther did, "Lord, this is no quarrel of mine, it is Yours! You know
You did put me to speak against Your foes and now if You leave me,
where is Your Truth?" When you can plead with God in this way, surely
He will rescue you. You cannot fail when your cause is God's cause.
Nor is the Divine Father, alone, concerned. Is not the Son of God
concerned in the welfare of His Brothers and Sisters? He has bought
them with His blood. That which a man dearly purchases he will highly
prize. If he did not, it would be as much as to confess that he had
paid too costly a sum for what he bought. You are bought with a price.
A price tremendous enough. The King of Glory gave His heart's blood to
redeem poor worms like ourselves, but He will never confess that He
gave too much for us. In love He will esteem the purchase equal to the
price He paid. The love and the price are both infinite.
As He looks upon any one of His people, He says, "There is My
purchase," and He values you not so much for what you are intrinsically
worth as because He sees the drops of His own blood upon you. "There,"
says He, "is the travail of My soul. There is the Divine satisfaction
My Father gives Me for the sufferings I endured." Do you think that
when He thus values His servants He will leave them without His help?
It cannot be. Moreover our blessed Lord has passed through precisely
those very troubles to which He calls His people. "We have not a High
Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities."
"He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
The thorn in your foot pierced His heel before it touched you. The
sorrow which sends the tears gushing from your eyes have first of all
swollen His heart–
"In every pang that rends the heart, The Man of Sorrows had a part."
"In all their affliction He was afflicted and the angel of His Presence
saved them." If you have been widowed, you feel a compassion for those
who are brought into the like state, to which others who have never
passed through it are strangers. Were you ever a fatherless child? I
know you will love orphans. Now our Lord and Master was forsaken of His
Father. "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" He says. He has
gone all the length of human grief, and therefore it is not possible
that He should be inconsiderate concerning any one of His Beloved.
Do you not know, to crown this point, that every Believer is actually a
part of Christ? We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His
bones. Were the poor servants of God at Damascus persecuted? Christ
suffered. "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" To this very day our
Head is in sympathy with us–
"He feels at His heart all our sighs and our groans, For we are most
near Him, His flesh and His bones." Do you think the Head will not care
for the members? Shall I let my finger fester uncared for, until it
needs to be cut away from mortification? Not while my brain can think,
or my tongue can speak. And Jesus, so long as He can see His people and
His tongue can make any intercession, will not let even the meanest
member of His Mystical Body suffer for lack of supplies. Even as God
cared for Joshua, so does Christ care for you this morning, beloved
Member of the Body of Christ.
Is not this sufficient argument–the Father's interest and the Son's?
If not, remember the most blessed Spirit. He dwells in all the people
of God. How can He dwell in them and not be mindful of them? We forget
the sick and the poor because they live in a back street and we do not
pass there. But you could not have poverty pining in your own house,
methinks, without readiness to relieve it. You would not have sickness
lying in your own chamber without showing sympathy. Now our body is the
house of the Holy Spirit. He dwells in the body as in a temple, and do
you think that He will see His people languish for lack of Divine Grace
while He is present with them?
Can it be that He will walk in them and see them famish, perceive their
lack and destitution and not supply their wants? Dream not so harshly
of the tender and blessed Spirit, whose name is "the Comforter." Be it
never forgotten that it is His office to supply the wants of God's
people. It is the Holy Spirit's business to see after the saints. "If I
go away," said Jesus, "I will send the Comforter unto you." So long as
they had the personal Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, the disciples
could want for nothing. As long as He had a crust of bread, they had
half.
If He had a place where to lay His head at any time given Him by
charity, they could rest with Him. "Where I am there shall also My
servant be," was Christ's loving rule. When He went away, then they
were left like orphans until the Spirit of God came as another
Comforter, "who should abide with them forever." Do you think that the
Holy Spirit will neglect His office? O you weak and trembling Believer,
do you imagine that God the Holy Spirit will be negligent of His sacred
trust? Can you suppose that He has undertaken what He cannot, or will
not, perform?
Now if it is His business to work in you, to strengthen you, to
illuminate you, to comfort you, do you suppose He has forgotten you?
Why say you, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hid from the Lord
and my judgment is passed over by my God? Have you not known, have you
not heard, that the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the
earth, faints not, neither is weary." You are near to Him. Now His eyes
are upon you. Like as a father pities His children, even so the Lord
pities you. And like as a mother tenderly fondles her suckling, even so
the Lord loves you. The heart of His love is yearning over you, pitying
your sufferings, ready to help you in your distresses. Trust in Him and
He will surely encourage you, and with your fears exchanged for faith,
you shall triumph over every foe, and realize every promise.
Observe well how far the tender consideration of God for His servants
extends! He not only considers their outward state and the absolute
interests of their condition, but He remembers their spirits and loves
to see them of good courage. Some people think it a small thing for a
Believer to be full of doubts and fears, but I do not think so. I
perceive from this text that my Master would not have you entangled
with fears. He would have you without carefulness, without doubt,
without sorrow. He says, "Encourage him"–as much as if He had told
Moses that it was an important thing for His servant Joshua to have his
courage duly sustained.
My Master does not think so lightly of your unbelief as you do. You are
desponding this morning. Well, this is a grievous matter. My Lord loves
not to see your countenance sad. It was a law, you remember, of
Ahasuerus, that no one should come into the king's court dressed in
mourning. But it is not the law of my Master, for you may come mourning
as you are. But still He would have you put off those rags and that
sackcloth, for surely there is much reason to rejoice. Rejoice in the
Lord always! Be of good courage! Wait on the Lord, for He will renew
your strength.
The Christian man must have his spirits sustained in order that he may
glorify the Lord. If his spirits are kept up, he will be able to endure
trial upon trial. He comes to the fire, but it will never kindle upon
him when his faith is firm. He walks through the rivers, but the floods
never overflow him while he can look to his God. The sweetest songs
Believers ever have are those they sing at night. God's people are like
the nightingale–their music is best heard when the sun is gone down.
Oh, how much depends on your spirit being supported! Let the spirit
sink and a little trouble lays like a dead weight upon the soul.
On the other hand, if faith is firm, tons of trouble become light as a
feather. Unless the spirits of God's people are sustained, they will
dishonor their God. They will think harsh things of Him, and perhaps
they will speak harsh things against Him, and so the holy name of God
will not be had in good repute. What a bad example it is! This disease
of doubt and discouragement is an epidemic that soon spreads among the
Lord's flock. One downcast Believer makes twenty sad. This phobia is a
contagious species of madness as soon are men are bitten with it. If
there is one doubt of the promise of God, straightway a whole
congregation will begin to foam with like doubts.
When Paul was in the ship and took bread and ate it in the midst of the
storm, then all the crew were encouraged. But if Paul had been
downcast, then, from the captain to the smallest cabin boy, there would
have been great distress. Oh, be of good courage for the sake of your
Brothers and sisters in Christ. When you would say a hard or bitter
thing, keep it back as David did, lest he should offend against the
generation of God's people. "When I thought to know this, it was too
painful for me." Unless your courage is kept up, Satan will be too much
for you.
My experience teaches me that the cowardly old Tempter always comes
upon us when we are in our worst state. If he would but meet me
sometimes, I could drive him as chaff before the wind. But he will
always meet me when an attack of bile, or some domestic trouble, or ill
tidings in the camp hinder my cheerfulness. Then, sure enough, in some
dark, narrow lane stands the arch-enemy, with his sword drawn and he
swears he will spill the blood of my soul. But just let the heart be
right, let the spirit be joyful in God my Savior and the joy of the
Lord shall be your strength and no fiend of Hell shall make headway
against you.
Besides, labor is light to a man of cheerful spirit! You can work all
day and almost all night when the spirits are right–but once let the
heart sink and your soul lack encouragement–and then you grow weary
and cry, "Would God it were evening and the shadows were drawn out,
that we might rest from our toil." Success waits upon cheerfulness. The
man who toils rejoicing in his God, believing with all his heart, has
success guaranteed. He who sows in hope shall reap in joy. He who
trusts in the Lord and laughs at impossibilities, shall soon find that
there are no impossibilities to laugh at! To the man who is confident
in Jehovah, all things are possible. It is thus of paramount importance
that the spirits of the Christian should be constantly kept up. God so
considers it. Thus says the Lord, "Encourage him." Make the good man's
heart glad. Make the Believer sing with joy. "Encourage him."
II. Secondly, we remark that GOD USES HIS OWN PEOPLE TO ENCOURAGE ONE
ANOTHER. He did not say to the angel, "Gabriel, there is My servant
Joshua, about to take the people into Canaan–fly down and encourage
him." God never works needless miracles. If His purposes can be
accomplished by ordinary means, He will certainly accomplish them
without using miraculous energy. Gabriel would have not been half so
well fitted for the work as Moses. A Brother's sympathy is more
precious than an angel's embassy.
The angel, swift of wing, had better known the Master's bidding than
the people's temper. An angel had never experienced the hardness of the
road, nor seen the fiery serpents. Nor had he led the stiff-necked
multitude in the wilderness. Moses felt it all. For my part, I am glad
to think that God does His work by man. It gives us such a bond of
brotherhood. We must be dependent on one another. We need condolence in
our grief. And we invite companionship in our joys. So, being mutually
dependent on one another's countenance and counsel, we are fused more
completely into one mass and made more thoroughly one family.
To whom, then, should this work of encouraging the people be committed?
Surely the elders should do it. Those of riper years than their
fellows. I know some aged persons, who whenever they see a young
Christian, make it a point to inform him of all the difficulties and
perils of the road. Like Mistrust and Timorous, they have always a
doleful story to tell about the way to Heaven. This was the old style
of Christian in many of our Churches.
For my part, I think that the aged Christian is better employed in
looking after the lambs of the flock and trying to carry them in their
bosoms. Talk cheerily to the young and anxious enquirer. Lovingly try
to remove stumbling blocks out of his way. When you find a spark of
Divine Grace in the heart, kneel down and blow it into a flame. Leave
the young Believer to discover the roughness of the road by degrees.
Tell him of the strength which dwells in God, of the sureness of the
promise, of the delightfulness of fellowship with Jesus, of the charms
of communion with Christ. Entice the young Christian on as good mothers
teach their children to walk by holding out here a sweet, and there
some tempting thing, that they may put their trembling feet one after
the other and at last know how to walk.
I would that every Church had many of these aged Brothers and Sisters,
fathers and mothers in Israel, who take this for their motto whenever
they see a young Christian,–"Encourage him." I know of nothing more
inspiriting than to hear the experience of a gray-headed saint. I have
found much spiritual comfort in sitting at the feet of my venerable
grandfather, more than eighty years of age. The last time I saw him, I
said to him, "I suppose you have had many trials, Grandfather?" He
said, "I have not had too many and the most of what I have had, I have
made myself."
"And do you think that God will ever leave His people?" I asked. "No,"
he said, "for if He would leave one of them, He would have left me. But
He is a faithful God, and I have proved Him, for I have known His love
more than seventy years, and yet He has been faithful to me. Not one
good thing has failed of all that the Lord God has promised." Why, it
comes home to the hearts of us young people and makes us feel that we
have found something which it is safe to depend upon when those who
have gone through the valley can bear such a word of testimony as this!
Do not let a word of peevishness come out of your mouth, my aged
Brothers and Sisters. Let no syllable of complaining ever escape you.
Let your mouth be filled with your Lord's praises and with His honor
all the day and so you will encourage others.
Not the aged only, but the wise in the family should be comforters. All
Believers are not equal in knowledge. Some are quick of apprehension in
the ways of the Lord. They rapidly acquire doctrinal knowledge. And
experimental knowledge comes to them with a brighter light than it does
to duller intellects. There are in all our Churches those who never
will be doctors of divinity. Though they know right well that they are
sinners and that Christ saves them, and so their acceptance is secured,
if you talk to them about the mysteries of the Gospel they will soon
get into depths where they lose their footing, for they have not
learned to swim.
Perhaps they will never be able to understand, or at least to
appreciate, the doctrine of election. Now, wiser men should not keep
their knowledge to themselves. Above all they should not use it to
criticize. I could tell of men who carry knowledge like a sword. They
listen to the sermon and when they meet some friend who gained a little
good from it, they will cavil. They say, "Oh, the first or the third
point I did not think quite sound." They will be sure to have something
to say that will knock the bread from the mouths of those who are
willing to eat. They are more knowing than wise.
Moses was wise in doctrinal knowledge. With what consummate wisdom he
addressed Joshua. "Be strong and of a good courage–for you must go
with this people unto the land which the Lord has sworn unto their
fathers to give them. And you shall cause them to inherit it. And the
Lord, He it is that does go before you. He will be with you. He will
not fail you, neither forsake you–fear not, neither be dismayed." Oh
you that have searched the Scriptures through and know its
promises–you that have been among these beds of spices and whose
garments smell of frankincense, be sure to quote the promises of God to
trembling hearts, and especially to those engaged in arduous labor for
the Master.
Comfort them. Repeat the doctrine of God's faithfulness. Say to them,
"He will be with you. He will not fail you, neither forsake you–fear
not, neither be dismayed." Oh that the wise-hearted in the Lord's
family would be thus employed at all times!
Nor can I doubt that the happier sort of Christians ought always to be
engaged in comforting the mournful and sorrowing. You know whom I mean.
Their eyes always sparkle! Wherever they go they carry lamps bright
with animation. Sunshine gleams in their faces. They live in the light
of God's Countenance. We have some of a more somber countenance, good
people, too. They always see the black side of affairs. Now, you who
are happy, try to encourage those that are downcast. Oh, dear Friends,
I am afraid we neglect this duty, many of us.
You will say, "How can I perform it?" Speak a kind word always. Find
out those who are weary and give them a word of consolation. Even a
smile from your face may do them good. Do not avoid them because they
are melancholy, but rather pursue them. Hunt them out. Do not let them
be quiet in their nest of thorns. If the Lord has given it to you to
soar aloft into the clear blue ether, try to carry your friend with you
and lift him above the clouds. Suppose your house is on a hill and he
lives down in the marsh, ask him to climb the hill and stay with you.
Perhaps you have the keys of the promise. Use the key and open the door
for him. It is just possible that you may live in the upper story where
you can see further and behold more of the blessed land. Ask him to
come up from his cellar and walk on the roof of your palace and scan
the prospect through your telescope, "Encourage him."
Let the Brother of low degree be likewise encouraged by these who are
rich among you. You may frequently breathe comfort into a desponding
spirit by seasonable help. The destitute will think himself rich upon
your leavings. Perhaps your poor Brother thinks you look down upon him
because you are better off than he is–try to prevent his thinking so.
If God has blessed you with a good position in Providence, be ready to
encourage those that are poor and needy. Oh, if all these things I have
been counseling should be put in practice, what a vast amount of
happiness, by God's Grace, would be created! Our Churches would be more
like families.
I do not like people to come into a place of worship like so many
icebergs floating out to sea and wishing to avoid each other. I like to
see all distinctions broken down, except the distinctions of superior
Grace and those only observed because one Brother has cast in more to
the common treasury of the Church of spiritual riches than another can
do. I like those who fear the Lord to speak often to one another. We
are getting into a bad state when they who fear the Lord speak often
against one another. I believe that this one practice of encouraging
each other might restore to the Churches that holy fraternity and
blessed love which once distinguished them.
I am sure this would enrich you all. It is by commerce that countries
grow rich. France sends her exports to England and England repays her
with abundance. The labor of the humble and the skill and enterprise of
the lofty contribute to the great commonwealth. An exchange of thought
tends to help. A stream of holy wealth would flow through our Churches
if each one would seek the other out with this aim of holy
encouragement. How many a good thing is strangled in birth! How many a
good enterprise is dashed to pieces on the shoals before it gets out to
sea.
Encourage that loving-hearted Sister who thinks that she might at least
take an infant-class in the Sunday school. Encourage that aged woman
who has but little talent, but who yet might go from house to house to
attend the sick. Encourage that poor struggling tradesman who would do
something for the Master if he could by any means be delivered from the
constant cares which harass him. Encourage every soul that has a spark
of Divine Grace in it. Labor to help others and you shall find a most
gracious return in your own soul. God encourages you. Christ encourages
you as He points to the Heaven He has won for you. The Spirit
encourages you as He works in you to will and to do of His own will and
pleasure. Do you then act the Divine part and go forth to encourage
others, according to the motto, "Encourage him."
III. I advance to THE OBJECT that is uppermost in my mind. It struck me
some six weeks ago that I might say a few things to my Brother's
congregation which he might not like to say himself. And that as his
was a new enterprise–and I am sure all our hearts anxiously desire it
the very richest success–I might possibly take the liberty of saying a
few things to you, the congregation clustering around this pulpit,
which may be useful in the future of the Church. I shall speak of him
as a stranger, as I should speak of any other young man anxious to
build up a Church and glorify his Master.
I believe there is a special occasion for the exercise of this duty of
encouraging one another in the case of the minister and Church in this
place. It is a fresh enterprise surrounded with peculiar difficulties
and demanding special labor. "Why," you say, "should a minister need
encouraging? We have plenty of troubles all the week long with our
losses here and crosses there. We want encouragements, but surely
ministers do not." Ah, if you want to have a refutation of that idea
you had better come into this pulpit and occupy it a little time. If
you would like to exchange, I would truly say that so far as the
pleasure of my voice is concerned, apart from the spiritual joy my Lord
gives me, I would change places with a crossing-sweeper, or a man who
breaks stones on the road.
Let a man carry out the office of a Christian minister aright and he
will never have any rest. "God help," says Richard Baxter, "the man who
thinks the minister has an easy life." Why, he works not only all day,
but in his sleep you will find him weeping for his
congregation–starting in his sleep with his eyes filled with tears, as
if he had the weight of his congregation's sins resting on his heart
and could not bear the load. I would not be that man in the ministry
who does not feel himself so fearfully responsible that if he could
escape from the ministry by going with Jonah into the depths of the
sea, he would cheerfully do it.
For if a minister is what he should be, there is such a weight of
solemn concern, such a sound of trembling in his ears that he would
choose any profession or any work, however arduous, sooner than the
preacher's post. "If the watchman warn them not they shall perish, but
their blood will I require at the watchman's hands." To sit down and
ponder over the question–"Am I free of his blood?" is terrible. I have
sometimes thought I must have a day or two of rest, but I frankly
confess that rest is very little rest to me, for I think I hear the
cries of perishing souls, the wailings of spirits going down to Hell,
who chide me thus–"Preacher, can you rest? Minister, can you be
silent? Ambassador of Jesus, can you cast aside the robes of your
office? Up! And to your work again."
As Mr. Whitfield said, when he thought of the ministry and what was
concerned in it, he wanted to stand on the top of every hackney coach
in London and preach the Gospel as he rode along. It is a work so
solemn that if you do not encourage your minister, your minister will
probably sink down in despair. Remember that the man, himself, needs
encouragement, because he is weak. Who is sufficient for these things?
To serve in any part of the spiritual army is dangerous, but to be a
captain is to be doubly exposed. The most of the shots are aimed at the
officers. If Satan can find a flaw in our character, then it will be,
"Publish it, publish it, publish it!" If he can lend us to keep back a
doctrine or go amiss in practice, or wander in experience, he is glad
enough.
How delighted is the devil to break the vessels of mercy. Pray for the
poor minister, whom you expose to perish, if you do not preserve him by
supplication. If there were a ship at sea stranded and broken on the
rocks and someone volunteered to carry a rope to the sinking crew, you,
standing on the shore, could do no more–methinks you could not do
less–than cry, "O God! Help him to bear the rope to that wrecked
ship." Pray for the minister and encourage him, for there are plenty to
discourage him. There are always carping spirits abroad who will remind
him of any fault. He will be afflicted by those cowards who will not
dare to sign their names to a letter, but send it to him anonymously.
And then there is the devil, who, the moment the man has got out of the
pulpit, will say, "There is a poor sermon! You will never dare to
preach it again." After he has been preaching for weeks there will come
a suggestion, "You are not in your proper sphere of labor." There are
all sorts of discouragements to be met with. Professing Christians will
backslide. Those who do remain will often be inconsistent, and he will
be sighing and crying in his closet, while you, perhaps, are thanking
God that your souls have been fed under him.
Encourage your minister, I pray you, wherever you attend–encourage him
for your own sakes. A discouraged minister is a serious burden upon the
congregation. When the fountain gets out of order, you cannot expect to
find water at any of the taps. And if the minister is not right, it is
something like a steam engine in a great factory–everybody's loom is
idle when the power is out of order.
See that he is resting upon God and receiving His Divine power and you
will all know, each Sunday, the benefit of it. This is the least thing
you can do. There are many other things which may cause you expense,
effort, time–but to encourage your minister is so easy, so simple a
matter, that I may well press upon you to do it.
Perhaps you will say, "Well, if it is so simple and easy, tell us, who
are expecting to settle down in this place, how we can encourage the
minister here." Well, you can do it in several ways. You can encourage
him by very constant attendance. By the way, looking round here, I
think I know some of the persons present who belong to neighboring
Chapels.
What business have you here? Why did you leave your own minister? If I
see one come into my place from the congregation of another Brother in
the ministry, I would like just to give him a flea in his ear such as
he may never forget. What business have you to leave your minister? If
everyone were to do so, how discouraged the poor man would be! Just
because somebody happens to come into this neighborhood, you will be
leaving your seats?
A compliment to me, you say. I thank you for it. But now, in return,
let me give you this advice–these who are going from place to place
are of no use to anybody. But those are the truly useful men who, when
the servants of God are in their places, keep to theirs and let
everybody see that whoever discourages the minister, they will not, for
they appreciate his ministry.
Again, let me say by often being present at the Prayer Meetings you can
encourage the minister. You can always tell how a Church is getting on
by the Prayer Meetings. I will almost prophecy the kind of sermon on
the Sunday from the sort of Prayer Meeting on the Monday. If many come
up to the House of God and they are earnest, the pastor will get a
blessing from on High. It cannot but be, for God opens the windows of
Heaven to believing prayer. Never fail to plead for your pastor in your
closet.
Oh, dear Friends, when you mention a father's name and a child's name,
let the minister's name come forth, too. Give him a large share in your
heart, and both in private and public prayer, encourage him. Encourage
him, again, by letting him know if you have received any good. Oh, if
there should come into this House of Prayer a sinner needing a Savior
and not knowing the way, and my Brother's words shall point him to the
Savior's Cross. If he should be the means of showing you what faith
means and of leading you to believe in Him who has reconciled us unto
God by His death, do not conceal the good news–come and tell it!
The best way to do it will be by proposing to be united with the Church
in fellowship. Our Church Meeting nights, when we receive fresh
candidates into fellowship, are the harvest nights in the Christian
ministry. Then we see how God's cause prospers in our hand. But if many
in the Church who have been converted fail to let the minister know it
and hold back, how is the poor man to be comforted?
I know I address some here–God's people–who have never made a
profession. Suppose all God's people did as you do? And they have as
much right to do it as you have. How, I ask you, would the ministry
itself be maintained? How could ministers' hearts be kept from
breaking, if they never knew of any conversions? Make haste! Do not put
it off! Delay not to keep God's commandments, but come forward at once
and be baptized, and acknowledge what God has done for your soul.
Again, you can all encourage the minister by the consistency of your
lives. I do not know when I ever felt more gratified than on one
occasion, when sitting at a Church Meeting, having to report the death
of a young Brother who was in the service of an eminent employer, a
little note came from him to say, "My servant, Edward_, is dead. I send
you word at once, that you may send me another young man. For if your
members are such as he was, I never wish to have better servants around
me."
I read the letter at the Church Meeting and another was soon found. It
is a cheering thing for the Christian minister to know that his
converts are held in repute. Of another member of my Church an ungodly
employer said, "I do not think anything of him. He is of no use to
anybody. He cannot tell a lie!" Oh, that is the honor which a Christian
minister longs and pants after, to have consistent followers, to have
those listening to him who will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
Gather round my Brother, all of you, and encourage him, by earnestly
aiding and abetting him in every good word and work. There is a
neighborhood here, I am told, requiring evangelization. Here we have,
side-by-side, poverty and riches. Shall not yonder wretched potteries
be the better for the building of this House of Prayer? I am sure my
friend, Sir Morton Peto, would think he had wasted his money if it were
merely for the gathering of a congregation and not for improving the
neighborhood.
We build our Houses of Prayer always with a view to the people round
about. We believe it is like opening a well in the wilderness, or an
oasis in the desert, or placing a drinking fountain where thirsty souls
may drink. It is introducing a new physician into the neighborhood to
attend to the diseases and sickness of souls. Oh, how my heart yearns
after the success of this house–not only because the minister is my
blood brother, and also my Brother in Christ, but because he is a
valiant soldier of Christ.
To preach the Truth of God he has not hesitated to make himself a
multitude of enemies elsewhere and will not be ashamed to do the same
here, if the same case should occur. I honor him because he has honored
my Master. And I expect that you will get from him the Truth, the whole
Truth and nothing but the Truth–so far as God has taught it to him. I
know he is ready to lay down his own neck for the conversion of souls.
I know his earnestness to do anything for the conversion of sinners.
And if you do not encourage him, you will bring down upon your head
every curse of those who reject the Prophet of God. But encouraging
him, you will see a Church flocking around him which shall last long
after our time. It shall be a perennial stream of benediction to ages
yet unborn, until Christ Himself shall come and consummate the kingdom,
by reigning Himself in Person among the sons of men. May the Lord grant
His blessing!
Some of you cannot encourage the minister. You can encourage no one,
for you are not born again yourselves. Oh, if you have not passed from
death unto life, the first thing that can encourage him is to begin to
think about your own state. Where are you? What are you? Out of God,
out of Christ, out of safety? You will be out of life and out of
Heaven–shut in the pit forever, except you repent. Oh, you will
encourage the preacher, if the Lord leads you, to consider your ways
and turn from sin and from self-righteousness, too. Look to the
Almighty Savior, able to save unto the uttermost all among you who
shall trust Him. May the Lord add a blessing, for Christ's sake. Amen.