Everyday Usefulness
A sermon
(No. 855)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, FEBRUARY 14, 1869, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"And he brought him to Jesus."- John 1:42.
WE have a most intense desire for the revival of religion in our own
midst and throughout all the Churches of our Lord Jesus. We see that
error is making great advances and we would gladly lift up a banner for
the cause of the Truth of God. We pity the mighty populations among
whom we dwell for they are still godless and Christless and the things
of their peace are hidden from their eyes. Therefore we would gladly
behold the Lord performing miracles of Divine Grace. Our hope is that
the set time to favor Zion is come and we intend to be importunate in
prayer that God will reveal His arm and do great things in these latter
days.
Our eager desire, of which our special services will be the expression,
is a right one. Challenge it who will, it is ours to cultivate and
prove by our zeal for God that the desire is not insincere or
superficial. But, my Brothers and Sisters, it is very possible that in
addition to cultivating a vehement desire for the revival of religion,
we may have been daydreaming and forecasting in our minds a conception
of the form which the Divine visitation shall take. Remembering what we
have heard of former times of refreshing, you expect a repetition of
the same outward signs and look for the Lord to work as He did with
Livingstone at the Kirk of Shotts, or with Jonathan Edwards in New
England, or Whitefield in our own land.
Perhaps you have planned in your mind that God will raise up an
extraordinary preacher whose ministry will attract the multitude, and
while he is preaching, God the Holy Spirit will attend the Word so that
hundreds will be converted under every sermon and other evangelists
will be raised up of a like spirit and from end to end this island
shall hear the Truth and feel its power. Now it may be that God will so
visit us. It may be that such signs and wonders as have frequently
attended revivals may be again witnessed–the Lord may rend the heavens
and come out and make the mountains to fall down at His feet!
But it is just possible that He may select quite another method. His
Holy Spirit may reveal Himself like a mighty river swollen with floods
and sweeping all before its majestic current. But if He so wills, He
may rather unveil His power as the gentle dew which, without
observation, refreshes all the earth! It may happen unto us as unto
Elijah when the fire and the wind passed before him, but the Lord was
not in either of those mighty agencies–He preferred to commune with
His servant in a still, small voice. Perhaps that still, small voice is
to be language of Divine Grace in this congregation. It will be
useless, then, for us to be mapping out the way of the eternal God! It
will be idle for us to be rejecting all the good which He may be
pleased to give us because it does not happen to come in the shape
which we have settled in our own minds to be the proper one.
Idle, did I say? Such prejudice would be wicked to the extreme! It has
very frequently happened that while men have been sketching out
imaginary designs they have missed actual opportunities! They would not
build because they could not erect a palace–they therefore shiver in
the winter's cold. They would not be clothed in homespun, for they
looked for scarlet and fine linen–and before long they were not
content to do a little and therefore did nothing! I want, therefore, to
say, this morning, to every Believer here, it is vain for us to be
praying for an extensive revival of religion and comforting each other
in the hope of it, if, meanwhile, we allow our zeal to effervesce and
sparkle–and then to be dissipated.
Our proper plan is, with the highest expectations and with the greatest
longings, to imitate the woman of whom it is written, "She has done
what she could," by laboring diligently in such holy works as may be
within our reach, according to Solomon's precept, "Whatever your hands
find to do, do it with all your might." While Believers are zealously
doing what God enables them to do, they are in the high road to
abundant success. But if they stand all the day idle, grasping
after wonders, their spiritual need shall come upon them as an armed
man. I have selected the text before us in order that I may speak upon
matters which are practical and efforts within the reach of all. We
shall not speak of the universal triumph of the Gospel, but of its
victory in single hearts. Nor shall we deal with the efforts of an
entire Church, but with the pious fervor of individual disciples.
If the Christian Church were in a proper and healthy state, the members
would be studious of the Word of God and would themselves have so much
of the Spirit of Christ that the only thing they would need in the
great assemblies, over and above worship, would be a short encouraging
and animating word of direction addressed to them, as to well-drilled
and enthusiastic soldiers who need but the word of command and the deed
of valor is straightway performed. So would I speak and so would I have
you hear at this hour.
Coming then, to the subject. Andrew was converted by Christ to become
His disciple. Immediately he sets to work to recruit the little army by
discipling others. He finds his brother, Peter, and he brings him to
Jesus.
I. First, I shall call your attention, this morning, to THE MISSIONARY
DISCIPLE. Andrew is the picture of what all disciples of Christ should
be! To begin, then. This first successful Christian missionary was
himself a sincere follower of Jesus. Is it necessary to make that
observation? No, rather, will it ever be needless while so many make a
profession of a faith which they do not possess? While so many will
wantonly thrust themselves into the offices of Christ's Church, having
no concern for the Glory of His kingdom and no part or lot in it, it
will always be necessary to repeat that warning, "Unto the wicked, God
says, What have you to do to declare My statutes?"
Men who have never seen the beauties of Emmanuel are not fit persons to
describe them to others. An experimental acquaintance with vital
godliness is the first necessity for a useful worker for Jesus. That
preacher is accursed who knows not Christ for himself! God may, in
infinite sovereignty, make him the means of blessing to others, but
every moment that he tarries in the pulpit he is an impostor! Every
time he preaches he is a mocker of God and woe unto him when his Master
calls him to his dread account! You unconverted young people who enter
upon the work of Sunday school instruction and so undertake to teach
others what you do not know yourselves, place yourselves in a position
of unusual solemnity and of extraordinary peril! I say, "of
extraordinary peril," because you do, by the fact of being a teacher,
profess to know and will be judged by your profession–and, I fear,
condemned out of your own mouths!
You know only the theory of religion and of what use is that while you
are strangers to its power? How can you lead others along a way which
you yourself refuse to tread? Besides, I have noticed that persons who
become active in Church work before they have first believed in Christ
are very apt to remain without faith, resting content with the general
repute which they have gained. O dear Friends, beware of this! In this
day hypocrisy is so common and self-deceit is so easy that I would not
have you place yourselves where those vices become almost inevitable.
If a man voluntarily puts himself where it is taken for granted that he
is godly, his next step will be to mimic godliness and by-and-by he
will flatter himself into the belief that he really possesses that
which he so successfully imitates.
Beware, dear Hearers, of a religion which is not true–it is worse than
none! Beware of a form of godliness which is not supported by the
fervor of your heart and soul. This age of shams presents but few
instances to self-examination, therefore am I the more earnest that
every one of us, before he shall seek to bring others to Christ, should
deliberately ask himself, "Am I a follower of Christ myself? Am I
washed in His blood? Am I renewed by His Spirit?" If not, my first
business is not in the pulpit, but on my knees in prayer! My first
occupation should not be in the Sunday school class, but in my closet,
confessing my sin and seeking pardon through the atoning Sacrifice!
Andrew was earnest for the souls of others, though he was but a young
convert. So far as I can gather, he appears to have beheld Jesus as the
Lamb of God one day and to have sought after his brother, Peter, the
next. Far be it from us to forbid you who but yesterday found joy and
peace, to exert your new-born zeal and youthful ardor! No, my Brothers
and Sisters, delay not, but make haste to spread abroad the Good News
which is now so fresh and so full of joy to you! It is right that the
advanced and the experienced should be left to deal with the captious
and the skeptical, but you, even you, young as you are, may find some
with whom you can cope–some brother like Simon Peter, some sister dear
to you who will listen to your unvarnished tale and believe in your
simple testimony. Though you are but young in Divine Grace and but
little instructed, begin the work of soul-winning, and–
"Tell to sinners round What a dear Savior you have found!"
If the religion of Jesus Christ consisted in abstruse doctrines, hard
to be understood. If the saving Truths of Christianity were
metaphysical points, difficult to handle–then a matured judgment would
be needed in every worker for God and it would be prudent to say to the
young convert, "Hold back till you are instructed." But, since that
which saves souls is as simple as A, B, C. Since it is nothing but
this, "He that believes and is baptized, shall be saved," he that
trusts the merits of Christ shall be saved! You who have trusted Him
know that He saved you and you know that He will save others! And I
charge you before God, tell it, tell it right and left, but especially
tell it to your own kinsfolk and acquaintances that they, also, may
find eternal life!
Andrew was a disciple, a new disciple and I may add, a commonplace
disciple, a man of average capacity. He was not at all the brilliant
character that Simon Peter, his brother, turned out to be. Throughout
the life of Jesus Christ Andrew's name occurs, but no notable incident
is connected with it. Though in later life he, no doubt, became a most
useful Apostle, and according to tradition, sealed his life's ministry
by death upon a cross, yet at the first Andrew was, as to talent, an
ordinary Believer–one of that common standard and nothing remarkable.
Yet Andrew became a useful minister and thus it is clear that servants
of Jesus Christ are not to excuse themselves from endeavoring to extend
the boundaries of His kingdom by saying, "I have no remarkable talent,
or singular ability."
I very much disagree with those who decry ministers of slender gifts,
sneering at them, as though they ought not to occupy the pulpit at all.
Are we, after all, Brethren, as servants of God, to be measured by mere
oratorical ability? Is this after the fashion of Paul, when he
renounced the wisdom of words lest the faith of the disciples should
stand in the wisdom of man and not in the power of God? If you could
blot out from the Christian Church all the minor stars and leave
nothing but those of the first magnitude, the darkness of this poor
world would be increased sevenfold! How often the eminent preachers,
which are the Church's delight, are brought into the Church by those of
less degree, even as Simon Peter was converted by Andrew!
Who shall tell what might have become of Simon Peter if it had not been
for Andrew? Who shall say that the Church would ever have possessed a
Peter if she had closed the mouth of Andrew? And who shall put their
finger upon the brother or sister of inferior talent and say, "These
must hold their peace"? No, Brother, if you have but one talent, the
more zealously use it! God will require it of you–let not your
Brethren hold you back from putting it out to interest. If you are but
as a glowworm's, lamp, hide not your light, for there is an eye
predestinated to see by your light, a heart ordained to find comfort by
your faint gleam. Shine, and may the Lord accept you!
I am saying all this in this way that I may come to the conclusion that
every single professor of the faith of Christ is bound to do something
for the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom. I would that all the
members of this Church, whatever their talents were, would be like
Andrew in promptness. He is no sooner a convert than he is a
missionary! He is no sooner taught than he begins to teach! I would
have them like Andrew, persevering, as well as prompt. He first finds
Peter–that is his first success–but how many afterwards he found, who
shall tell? Throughout a long life of usefulness it is probable that
Andrew brought many stray sheep to the Redeemer's fold, yet certainly
that first one would be among the dearest to his heart.
"He first finds Peter"–he was the spiritual father of many sons, but
he rejoiced most that he was the father of his own brother Peter–his
brother in the flesh, but his son in Christ Jesus! Could it be possible
for me to come to every one of you personally and grasp you by the
hand, I would with most affectionate earnestness–yes, even with
tears–pray that you, by Him to whom you owe your souls, would awake
and render personal service to the Lover of your souls! Make no excuse,
for no excuse can be valid from those who are bought with so great a
price! Your business, you will tell me, requires so much of your
thoughts–I know it does–then use your business in such a way as to
serve God in it.
Still there must be some scraps of time which you could devote to holy
service. There must be some opportunities for directly aiming at
conversions. I charge you to avail yourselves of such occasions lest
they be laid to your door. To some of you the excuse of "business"
would not apply, for you have seasons of leisure. Oh, I beseech you,
let not that leisure be driveled away in frivolities, in mere talk, in
sleep and self-indulgence! Let not time slip away in vain persuasions
that you can do nothing, but now, like Andrew, hasten at once to serve
Jesus! If you can reach but one individual, let him not remain
unsought. Time is hastening and men are perishing! The world is growing
old in sin! Superstition and idolatry root themselves into the very
soil of human nature!
When, when will the Church become intent upon putting down her Master's
foes? Possessing such little strength, we cannot afford to waste a jot
of it. With such awful demands upon us we cannot afford to trifle. O
that I had the power to stir the heart and soul of all my fellow
Christians by a description of this huge city wallowing in iniquity–by
a picture of the graveyards and cemeteries fattening on innumerable
corpses–by a portrayal of that lake of fire to which multitudes yearly
descend! Surely sin, the grave, and Hell are themes which might create
a tingling even in the dull cold ear of Death! O that I could set
before you the Redeemer upon the Cross dying to ransom souls! O that I
could depict the Heaven which sinners lose and their remorse when they
shall find themselves excluded!
I wish I could even set before you in vivid light the cases of your own
sons and daughters, the spiritual condition of your own brothers and
sisters without Christ and therefore without hope! Unrenewed and
therefore "heirs of wrath even as others"! Then might I expect to move
each Believer here to an immediate effort to pluck men as brands from
the burning.
II. Having described the missionary disciple, we shall now speak
briefly in the second place upon a GREAT OBJECT. The great object of
Andrew seems to have been to bring Peter to Jesus. This, too, should be
the aim of every renewed heart–to bring our friends to Jesus–not to
convert them to a party. There are certain unbrotherly sectarians,
called "Brethren," who compass sea and trod land to make proselytes
from other Christian Churches. These are not merchants seeking goodly
pearls in a legitimate fashion, but pirates who live by plunder. They
must not excite our wrath so much as our pity, though it is difficult
not to mingle with it something of disgust.
While this world remains as wicked as it is, we need not be spending
our strength as Christian denominations in attacking one another–it
will be better for us to go and fight with the Canaanites than with
rival tribes which should be one united Israel! I should reckon it to
be a burning disgrace if it could be said, "The large Church under that
man's pastoral care is composed of members whom he has stolen away from
other Christian Churches." No, but I value beyond all price the
godless, the careless who are brought out from the world into communion
with Christ! These are true prizes–not stealthily removed from
friendly shores–but captured at the edge of the sword from an enemy's
dominions!
We welcome Brethren from other Churches if, in the Providence of God
they are drifted to our shores, but we would never hang out the
wrecker's beacon to dash other Churches in pieces in order to enrich
ourselves with the wreck! Far rather would we be looking after
perishing souls than cajoling unstable ones from their present place of
worship. To recruit one regiment from another is no real strengthening
of the army–to bring in fresh men should be the aim of all.
Furthermore, the object of the soul-winner is not to bring men to a
merely outward religiousness. Little will you have done for a man if
you merely make the Sabbath-breaker into a Sabbath-keeper and leave him
a self-righteous Pharisee. Little will you have done for him if you
persuade him, having been prayerless, to be a mere user of a form of
prayer, his heart not being in it.
You do but change the form of sin in which the man lives–you prevent
him being drowned in the salt water, but you throw him into the fresh.
You take one poison from him, but you expose him to another. The fact
is, if you would do real service to Christ, your prayer and your zeal
must follow the person who has become the object of your attention till
you bring him absolutely to close with Divine Grace and lay hold on
Jesus Christ and accept eternal life as it is found in the atoning
Sacrifice! Anything short of this may have its usefulness for this
world, but must be useless for the world to come. To bring men to
Jesus–O, be this your aim and desire!–not to bring them to Baptism,
nor to the Meeting House, nor to adopt our form of worship, but to
bring them to His dear feet who alone can say, "Go in peace. Your sins
which are many are all forgiven you."
Brothers and Sisters, as we believe Jesus to be the very center of the
Christian religion, he who gets not to Christ gets not to true
godliness at all. Some are quite satisfied if they get to the priest
and obtain his absolution. They are fine if they get the "sacraments"
and eat bread in the church–if they get to prayers and pass through a
religious routine–but we know that all this is less than nothing and
vanity unless the heart draws near to Jesus. Unless the soul accepts
Jesus as God's appointed Sin-Offering and rests alone in Him, it walks
in a vain show and disquiets itself in vain. Come then, Brethren, nerve
yourselves to this point, that from this day forth let your one
ambition be in dealing with your fellow men, to bring them to Jesus
Christ Himself! Be it determined in your spirit that you will never
cease to labor for them till you have reason to believe that they are
trusting in Jesus, loving Jesus, serving Jesus and united to Jesus in
the hope that they shall be conformed to the image of Jesus and dwell
with Him, world without end.
But some will say, "We can very clearly understand how Andrew brought
Peter to the Lord, because Jesus was here among men and they could walk
together till they found Him." Yes, but Jesus is not dead and it is a
mistake to suppose that He is not readily to be reached. Prayer is a
messenger that can find Jesus at any hour. Jesus is gone up on high as
to His body, but His spiritual Presence remains with us. And the Holy
Spirit, as the Head of this dispensation, is always near at hand to
every Believer. Intercede, then, for your friends! Plead with Christ on
their account! Mention their names in your constant prayers! Set apart
special times in which you plead with God for them. Let your dear
sister's case ring in the ears of the Mediator. Let your dear child's
name be repeated again and again in your intercessions.
As Abraham pleaded for Ishmael, so let your cry come up for those who
are round about you, that the Lord would be pleased to visit them in
His mercy. Intercession is a true bringing of souls to Christ and this
means will prevail when you are shut out from employing any other. If
your dear ones are in Australia, in some settler's hut where even a
letter cannot reach them, prayer can find them out! No ocean can be too
wide for prayer to span, no distance too great for prayer to travel.
Far off as they are, you can take them up in the arms of believing
prayer and bear them to Jesus and say, "Master, have mercy upon them."
Here is a valuable weapon for those who cannot preach or teach–they
can wield the sword of all-prayer. When hearts are too hard for sermons
and good advice is rejected, it still remains to love to be allowed to
plead with God for its wayward one. Tears and weeping are prevalent at
the Mercy Seat and if we prevail there, the Lord will be sure to
manifest His prevailing Grace in obdurate spirits.
To bring men to Jesus you can adopt the next means, with most of them,
namely, that of instructing them, or putting them in the way of being
informed concerning the Gospel. It is a very wonderful thing that
while, to us, the light of the Gospel is so abundant, it should be so
very partially distributed in this country. When I have expounded my
own hope in Christ to two or three in a railway carriage, I have found
myself telling my listeners perfect novelties! I have seen the look of
astonishment upon the face of many an intelligent Englishman when I
have explained the doctrine of the substitutionary Sacrifice of Christ.
I have even met with persons who have attended their parish Church from
their youth up who were totally ignorant of the simple truth of
justification by faith!
Yes, and I have known some who have been to dissenting places of
worship who do not seem to have laid hold of the fundamental Truth of
God that no man is saved by his own doings, but that salvation is
procured by faith in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. This
nation is steeped up to the throat in self-righteous doctrine, and the
Protestantism of Martin Luther is very generally unknown. The Truth is
held by as many as God's Grace has called, but the great outlying world
still talk of doing your best and then hoping in God's mercy–of legal
self-confidence, and I know not what beside–while the master doctrine
that he who believes in Jesus is saved by Jesus' finished work, is
sneered at as enthusiasm, or attacked as leading to licentiousness.
Proclaim it, then! Proclaim it on all sides! Take care that none under
your influence shall be left in ignorance of it! I can bear personal
witness that the statement of the Gospel has often proved, in God's
hand, enough to lead a soul into immediate peace. Not many months ago I
met with a lady holding sentiments of almost undiluted popery and in
conversing with her I was delighted to see how interesting and
attractive a thing the Gospel was to her. She complained that she
enjoyed no peace of mind as the result of her religion and never seemed
to have done enough. She had a high idea of priestly absolution, but it
had evidently been quite unable to yield repose to her spirit. Death
was feared. God was terrible–even Christ an object of awe rather than
love.
When I told her that whoever believes on Jesus is perfectly forgiven
and that I knew I was forgiven–that I was as sure of it as of my own
existence–that I feared neither to live nor to die, for it would be
the same to me, because God had given me eternal life in His Son–I saw
that a new set of thoughts were astonishing her mind! She said, "If I
could believe that, I should be the happiest person in the world." I
did not deny the inference, but claimed to have proved its truth and I
have reason to believe that the little simple talk we had has not been
forgotten. You cannot tell how many may be in bondage for lack of the
simplest possible instruction upon the plainest Truths of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ!
Many, too, may be brought to Christ through your example. Believe me,
there is no preaching in this world like the preaching of a holy life!
It shames me, sometimes, and weakens me in my testimony for my Master,
when I stand here and recollect that some professors of religion are a
disgrace not only to their religion, but even to common morality. It
makes me feel as though I must speak with bated breath and trembling
knees when I remember the damnable hypocrisy of those
who thrust themselves into the Church of God and by their abominable
sins bring disgrace upon the cause of God and eternal destruction upon
themselves!
In proportion as a Church is holy, in that proportion will its
testimony for Christ be powerful. Oh, were the saints immaculate, our
testimony would be like fire among the stubble! Like the flaming
firebrand in the midst of the sheaves of corn! Were the saints of God
less like the world, more disinterested, more prayerful, more godlike,
the tramp of the armies of Zion would shake the nations and the day of
the victory of Christ would surely dawn! Freely might the Church barter
her most golden-mouthed preacher if she received in exchange men of
Apostolic life! I would be content that the pulpit should be empty if
all the members of the Church would preach Jesus by their patience in
suffering, by their endurance in temptation, by exhibiting in the
household those Graces which adorn the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Oh, so live, I pray you, in God's fear and by the Spirit's power, that
they who see you may ask, "From where has this man this holiness?" and
may follow you till they are led by you to Jesus Christ to learn the
secret by which men live unto God! You can bring men to Jesus by your
example, then. And once again, let me say, before I close this point,
our object should be to bring men to Jesus–having tried intercession
and instruction and example–by occasionally, as time and opportunity
may serve us, giving a word of importunate entreaty. Half-a-dozen words
from a tender mother to a boy who is just leaving home for an
apprenticeship, may drop like gentle dew from Heaven upon you. A few
sentences from a kind and prudent father given to the daughter, still
unconverted, as she enters upon her married life, and to her husband,
kindly and affectionately put, may make that household forever a house
for God.
A kind word dropped by a brother to a sister. A little letter written
from a sister to her brother, though it should be only a line or two,
may be God's arrow of Divine Grace. I have known even such little
things as a tear or an anxious glance work wonders. You perhaps may
have heard the story of Mr. Whitefield, who made it his wish wherever
he stayed to talk to the members of the household about their
souls–with each one personally. But stopping at a certain house of a
Colonel, who was all that could be wished except a Christian, he was so
pleased with the hospitality he received and so charmed with the
general character of the good Colonel and his wife and daughters, that
he did not like to speak to them about a decision as he would have done
if they had been less amiable characters.
He had stopped with them for a week and during the last night, the
Spirit of God visited him so that he could not sleep. "These people,"
he said, "have been very kind to me and I have not been faithful to
them. I must do it before I go. I must tell them that whatever good
thing they have, if they do not believe in Jesus they are lost." He
arose and prayed. After praying he still felt contention in his spirit.
His old nature said, "I cannot do it," but the Holy Spirit seemed to
say, "Leave them not without warning." At last he thought of a device
and prayed God to accept it. He wrote upon a diamond-shaped pane of
glass in the window with his ring these words:–"One thing you lack."
He could not bring himself to speak to them, but went his way with many
a prayer for their conversion. He had no sooner gone than the good
woman of the house, who was a great admirer of his, said, "I will go up
to his room–I want to look at the very place where the man of God has
been." She went up and noticed on the window pane those words, "One
thing you lack." It struck her with conviction in a moment. "Ah," she
said, "I thought he did not care much about us, for I knew he always
pleaded with those with whom he stopped and when I found that he did
not do so with us, I thought we had vexed him, but I see how it was–he
was too tender in mind to speak to us."
She called her daughters up. "Look there, girls," she said, "see what
Mr. Whitefield has written on the window, 'One thing you lack.' Call up
your father." And the father came up and read that, too, "One thing you
lack," and around the bed where the man of God had slept they all knelt
down and sought that God would give them the one thing they lacked. And
before they left that chamber they had found that one thing and the
whole household rejoiced in Jesus! It is not long ago that I met with a
friend, one of whose Church members preserves that very pane of glass
in her family as an heirloom.
Now, if you cannot admonish and warn in one way, do it in another! But
take care to clear your soul of the blood of your relatives and
friends, so that it may never crimson your garments and accuse you
before God's bar. So live and so speak and teach, by some means or
other, that you shall have been faithful to God and faithful to the
souls of men.
III. I must now take you to a third point. We have had the missionary
disciple and his great object. We have now, thirdly, HIS WISE METHODS.
I have touched upon this subject already, but I could not help it.
Andrew, being zealous, was wise. Earnestness often gives prudence and
puts a man in the possession of tact, if not of talent. Andrew used
what
ability he had. If he had been as some young men are of my
acquaintance, he would have said, "I would like to serve God. How I
would like to preach! And I would require a large congregation."
Well, there is a pulpit on every street in London–there is a most wide
and effectual door for preaching in this great city of ours beneath
God's blue sky. But this young zealot would rather prefer an easier
berth than the open air, and, because he is not invited to the largest
pulpits, does nothing. How much better it would be if, like Andrew, he
began to use the ability he had among those who are accessible to him,
and from there stepped to something else and from that to something
else, advancing year by year!
Sirs, if Andrew had not been the means of converting his brother, the
probabilities are that he never would have been an Apostle. Christ had
some reason in the choice of His Apostles to their office and perhaps
the ground of His choice of Andrew as an Apostle was this–"He is an
earnest man, he brought me Simon Peter. He is always speaking privately
to individuals. I will make an Apostle of him." Now, you young men, if
you become diligent in tract distribution, diligent in the Sunday
school, you are likely men to be made into ministers. But if you stop
and do nothing until you can do everything, you will remain useless–an
impediment to the Church instead of being a help to her!
Dear Sisters in Jesus Christ, you must, none of you, dream that you are
in a position in which you can do nothing at all. That is such a
mistake in Providence as God cannot commit. You must have some talent
entrusted to you and something given you to do which no one else can
do. Out of this whole structure of the human body, every little muscle,
every single cell has its own secretion and its own work. And though
some physicians have said this and that organ might be spared, I
believe that there is not a single thread in the whole embroidery of
human nature that could well be spared– the whole of the fabric is
required.
So in the mystical body, the Church, the least member is necessary. The
most uncomely member of the Christian Church is necessary for its
growth. Find out, then, what your sphere is and occupy it! Ask God to
tell you what is your niche and stand in it, occupying the place till
Jesus Christ shall come and give you your reward! Use what ability you
have and use it at once! Andrew proved his wisdom in that he set great
store by a single soul. He bent all his efforts at first upon one man.
Afterwards, Andrew, through the Holy Spirit, was made useful to scores,
but he began with one. What a task for the mathematician, to value one
soul! One soul sets all Heaven's bells ringing by its repentance. One
sinner that repents makes angels rejoice! What if you spend a whole
life pleading and laboring for the conversion of that one child? If you
win that pearl it shall pay you your life's worth. Be not, therefore,
dull and discouraged because your class declines in numbers, or because
the mass of those with whom you labor reject your testimony.
If a man could earn but one in a day he might be satisfied. "One what?"
asks one. I meant not one penny, but 1,000 pounds. "Ah," you say, "that
would be an immense reward." So if you earn but one soul you must
reckon what that one is–it is one for numeration, but for value it
exceeds all that earth could show. What would it profit a man if he
gained the whole world and lost his soul? And what loss would it be to
you, dear Brother, if you did lose all the world and gained your soul
and God made you useful in the gaining of the souls of others? Be
content and labor in your sphere, even if it is small, and you will be
wise.
You may imitate Andrew in not going far afield to do good. Many
Christians do all the good they can five miles off from their own
house, when the time they take to go there and back might be well spent
in the vineyard at home. I do not think it would be a wise regulation
of the parochial authorities if they required the inhabitants of St.
Mary, Newington, to remove the snow from the pavement of St. Pancras
and the inhabitants of St. Pancras to keep the pavement of St. Mary,
Newington, clean. It is best and most convenient that each householder
should sweep before his own door–and so it is our duty, as Believers,
to do all the good we can in the place where God has been pleased to
locate us and especially in our own households.
If every man has a claim upon me, much more my own offspring. If every
woman has some demand upon me as to her soul, so far as my ability
goes, much more such as are of my own flesh and blood. Piety must begin
at home as well as charity. Conversion should begin with those who are
nearest to us in ties of relationship. Brothers and Sisters, during
this month I stir you up–not to be attempting missionary labors for
India, not to be casting eyes of pity across to Africa, not to be
occupied so much with tears for popish and heathen lands–as for your
own children, your own flesh and blood, your own neighbors, your own
acquaintances. Lift up your cry to Heaven for them and then afterwards
you shall preach among the nations!
Andrew goes to Cappadocia in his later life, but he begins with his
brother. And you shall labor where you please in years to come, but
first of all your own household! First of all those who are under your
own shadow must receive your guardian care. Be wise in this thing. Use
the ability you have and use it among those who are near at hand.
Perhaps somebody will be saying, "How did Andrew persuade Simon Peter
to come to Christ"? Two or three minutes may be spent in answering that
enquiry. He did so, first, by narrating his own personal experience. He
said, "We have found the Messiah."
What you have experienced of Christ tell to others. He did so next by
intelligently explaining to him what it was he had found. He did not
say he had found someone who had impressed him, but he knew not who He
was. He told him he had found Messiah, that is, Christ. Be clear in
your knowledge of the Gospel and your experience of it and then tell
the Good News to those whose soul you seek. Andrew had power over Peter
because of his own decided conviction. He did not say, "I hope I have
found Christ," but, "I have found Him." He was sure of that! Get full
assurance of your own salvation. There is no weapon like it. He that
speaks doubtingly of what he would convince another, asks that other to
doubt his testimony. Be positive in your experience and your assurance,
for this will help you.
Andrew had power over Peter because he put the good news before him in
an earnest fashion. He did not say to him, as though it were a
commonplace fact, "The Messiah has come," but no, he communicated it to
him as the most weighty of all messages with becoming tones and
gestures, I doubt not, "We have found the Messiah, which is called
Christ!"
Now then, Brothers and Sisters, to your own kinsfolk tell your belief,
your enjoyments, and your assurance! Tell all judiciously, with
assurance of the truth of it, and who can tell whether God may not
bless your work?
IV. My time is past. I meant to have spoken of THE SWEET REWARD Andrew
had. His reward being that he won a soul–won his brother's soul–won
such a treasure! He won no other than that Simon who at the first cast
of the Gospel net, when Christ had made him a soul-fisherman, caught
3,000 souls at a single haul! Peter, a very prince in the Christian
Church! One of the mightiest of the servants of the Lord, in all his
later usefulness, would be a comfort to Andrew. I should not wonder but
what Andrew would say in days of doubt and fear, "Blessed be God that
He has made Peter so useful! Blessed be God that ever I spoke to Peter!
What I cannot do, Peter will help to do. And while I sit down in my
helplessness, I can feel thankful that my dear brother, Peter, is
honored in bringing souls to Christ."
In this house today there may sit an unconverted Whitefield! In your
class this afternoon there may be an unsaved John Wesley, a Calvin, and
a Luther–mute and inglorious–yet who is to be called, by God's Grace,
through you. Your fingers may yet wake to ecstasy the living heart that
up till now has not been tuned to the praise of Christ! You may kindle
the fire which shall light up a sacred sacrifice of a consecrated life
to Christ! Only be up and doing for the Lord Jesus! Be importunate and
prayerful! Be zealous and self-sacrificing. Unite with us, during this
month, in your daily prayers!
Constantly, while in business, let your hearts go up for the blessing,
and I make no doubt of it, that, when we have proved our God by prayer,
He will pour us down such a blessing that we shall not have room to
receive it! The Lord make it so, for His name's sake. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–John 1:19-51.