DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 24, 1870,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Now it came to pass, as they went, that He entered into a certain
village: and a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house.
And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus 'feet, and
heard His Word. But Martha was cumbered aboutmuch serving, and came to
Him, and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has leftme to serve
alone? Bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said
unto her, 'Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many
things: but one thing is needful: and Mary has chosen that good part,
which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10:38-42.
IT is not an easy thing to maintain the balance of our spiritual life.
No man can be spiritually healthy who does not meditate and commune. No
man, on the other hand, is as he should be unless he is active and
diligent in holy service. David sweetly sang, "He makes me to lie down
in green pastures." There was the contemplative. "He leads me beside
the still waters." There was the active and progressive. The difficulty
is to maintain the two–and to keep each in its relative proportion to
the other. We must not be so active as to neglect communion, nor so
contemplative as to become unpractical.
In the chapter from which our text is taken we have several lessons on
this subject. The seventy disciples returned from their preaching tour
flushed with the joy of success. And our Savior, to refine that joy and
prevent its degenerating into pride, bids them rather rejoice that
their names were written in Heaven. He conducted their contemplations
to the glorious doctrine of election, that grateful thoughts might
sober them after successful work. He bids them consider themselves as
debtors to Divine Grace, which reveals unto babes the mysteries of
God–for He would not allow their new position as workers to make them
forget that they were the chosen of God–and therefore debtors.
Our wise Master next returns to the subject of service, and instructs
them by the memorable parable of the good Samaritan and the wounded
man. And then as if they might vainly imagine philanthropy, as it is
the service of Christ, to be the only service of Christ, and to be the
only thing worth living for, He brings in the two sisters of Bethany.
The Holy Spirit meant thereby to teach us that while we ought to abound
in service, and to do good abundantly to our fellow men, yet we must
not fail in worship, in spiritual reverence, in meek discipleship, and
quiet contemplation. While we are practical, like the
seventy–practical like the Samaritan–practical like Martha, we are,
also, like the Savior, to rejoice in spirit, and say, "Father, I thank
You," and we are also like Mary, to sit down in quietude and nourish
our souls with Divine Truth.
This short narrative, I suppose, might be paraphrased something after
this fashion. Martha and Mary were two most excellent sisters, both
converted, both lovers of Jesus, both loved by Jesus, for we are
expressly told that He loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus. They were
both women of a choice spirit–our savior's selection of their house as
a frequent resort proved that they were an unusually gracious family.
They are persons representative of different forms of excellence, and I
think it altogether wrong to treat Martha as some have done, as if she
had no love for good things, and was nothing better than a mere
worldling. It was not so.
Martha was a most estimable and earnest woman, a true Believer, and an
ardent follower of Jesus whose joy it was to entertain Jesus at the
house of which she was the mistress. When our Lord made His appearance
on this occasion at Bethany, the first thought of Martha was, "Here is
our most noble guest, we must prepare for Him a sumptuous
entertainment." Perhaps she marked our Savior's weariness, or saw some
traces of that exhaustion which made Him look so much older than He
was. And she, therefore, set to work with the utmost diligence to
prepare a feast for Him.
She was careful about many things, and as she went on with her
preparations, fresh matters occurred to ruffle her mind, and she became
worried. And, being somewhat vexed that her sister took matters so
coolly, she begged the Master
to upbraid her. Now Mary had looked upon the occasion from another
point of view. As soon as she saw Jesus come into the house she
thought, "What a privilege have I now to listen eagerly to such a
Teacher, and to treasure up His precious words! He is the Son of God, I
will worship, I will adore, and every word He utters shall be stored in
my memory."
She forgot the needs both of the Master and His followers, for her
faith saw the inner Glory which dwelt within Him. She was so
overpowered with reverence, and so wrapt in devout wonder, that she
became oblivious of all outward things. She had no faults to find with
Martha for being so busy. She did not even think of Martha–she was
altogether taken up with her Lord and with those gracious words which
He was speaking. She had no will, either, to censure or to praise or to
think even of herself. Everything was gone from her but her Lord and
the word which He was uttering.
See, then, that Martha was serving Christ, but so was Mary. Martha
meant to honor Christ, so did Mary. They both agreed in their design,
but they differed in their way of carrying it out. And while Martha's
service is not censured (only her being cumbered comes under the
censure), yet Mary is expressly commended, as having chosen the good
part. And therefore we do Martha no injustice if we show wherein she
came short, and wherein Mary exceeded.
Our first observation will be this–the Martha spirit is very prevalent
in the Church of God just now. In the second place, the Martha spirit
very much injures true service. In the third place, the Mary spirit is
the source of the noble form of consecration.
I. THE MARTHA SPIRIT IS VERY PREVALENT IN THE CHURCH at this
period–prevalent in some quarters to a mischievous degree–and among
us all to a perilous extent. What do we intend by saying that the
Martha spirit is prevalent just now? We mean, first, that there is a
considerable tendency among Christian people, in serving Christ, to aim
at making a fair show in the flesh. Martha wanted to give our Lord
right worthy entertainment which should be a credit to her house and to
her family–and herein she is commendable far above those careless ones
who think anything good enough for Christ.
So also, among professing Christians, there is at this present time a
desire to give to the cause of Christ buildings notable for their
architecture and beauty. We must have no more barns. Our meeting houses
must exhibit our improving taste. If possible, our chapels must be
correctly Gothic or sternly classical in all their details, both
without and within. As to the service, we must cultivate the musical
and the tasteful. We are exhorted not to be barely decent, but to aim
at the sublime and beautiful. Our public worship, it is thought, should
be impressive if not imposing. Care should be taken that the music
should be chaste, the singing conformed to the best rules of the arts,
and the preaching eloquent and attractive.
So everything in connection with Christian labor should be made to
appear generous and noble. By all means the subscription lists must be
kept current. Each denomination must excel the other in the amount of
its annual funds– surely everything done for Christ ought to be done
in the best possible style. Now in all this there is much that is good,
much that is really intended to honor the Lord, so we see no room to
censure–but yet we will show you a more excellent way. These things
you may do, but there are higher things which you must do, or suffer
loss.
Brethren, there is something better to be studied than the outward, for
though this may be aimed at with a single eye to God's Glory–and we
judge no man–yet we fear the tendency is to imagine that mere
externals are precious in the Master's sight. I know He counts it a
very small matter whether your House of Prayer is a cathedral or a
barn. To the Savior it is small concern whether you have organs or
whether you have none–whether you sing after the choicest rules of
psalmody or not. He looks at your hearts, and if these ascend to Him.
He accepts the praise. As for those thousands of pounds annually
contributed, He estimates them not by the weights of the merchant, but
after the balances of the sanctuary.
Your love expressed in your gifts He values, but what are the mere
silver and gold to Him? Funds, and encouraging accounts, and
well-arranged machineries are well if they exist as the outgrowth of
fervent love–but if they are the end-all, and the be-all–you miss the
mark. Jesus would be better pleased with a grain of love than a heap of
ostentatious service. The Martha spirit shows itself in the censuring
of those persons who are careful about Christ's Word, who stand up for
the doctrines of the Gospel, who desire to maintain the Ordinances as
they were delivered unto them, and who are scrupulous and thoughtful,
and careful concerning the Truth as it is in Jesus.
In newspapers, on platforms, and in common talk, you frequently hear
earnest disciples of Jesus and consistent Believers in His doctrines
snubbed and denounced as unpractical. Theological questions are scouted
as mere impertinences. Go in for Ragged schools, certainly. Reclaim the
Arabs of the street, by all manner of means. Pass a compulsory educa-
tion bill, certainly. Soup kitchens, free dinners–all excellent. We
can all join in these. But never mention creeds and doctrines. Why,
Man, you cannot be aware of the enlightenment of our times! What
importance can now be attached to mere biblical dogmas and ordinances?
Why contend as to whether Baptism shall be performed upon a babe or
upon a Believer, whether it shall be by sprinkling or by immersion?
What matters the Law of Christ in such a case?
These things would do for the schoolmen of the Dark Ages to fight
about, but what can be the importance of such trifles in this highly
enlightened nineteenth century? Yes, that is the exaggeration of
Martha. Mary, treasuring up every word of Christ, Mary counting each
syllable a pearl, is reckoned to be unpractical, if not altogether
idle. That spirit, I fear, is growing in these times, and needs to be
checked. After all, there is Truth and there is error, and charitable
talk cannot alter the fact. To know and to love the Gospel is no mean
thing. Obedience to Jesus, and anxiety to learn His will so as to
please Him in all things are not secondary matters.
Contemplation, worship, and growth in Grace are not unimportant. I
trust we shall not give way to the spirit which despises our Lord's
teaching, for if we do–in prizing the fruit and despising the root–we
shall lose the fruit and the root, too. In forgetting the great
well-spring of holy activity, namely, personal piety, we shall miss the
streams, also. From the sincerity of faith and the fervor of love
practical Christianity must arise. And if the food that faith and love
feed upon is withdrawn. If sitting at the feet of Jesus is regarded as
of secondary consequence, then both strength and will to serve the Lord
will decline.
I dread much the spirit which would tamper with the Truth of God for
the sake of united action, or for any object under Heaven–the
latitudinarian spirit, which sneers at creeds and dogmas. Truth is no
trifle. Our fathers did not think so, when, at the stake they gave
themselves to death, or on the brown heather of Scotland fell beneath
the swords of Claverhouse's dragoons for truths which nowadays men
count unimportant, but which, being truths, were to them so vital that
they would sooner die than suffer them to be dishonored. O for the same
uncompromising love of the Truth! Would to God we could be both active
and studious, and both learn with Mary and work with Martha!
The Martha spirit crops up in our reckoning so many things necessary.
Martha believed that to entertain Christ there must be many things
prepared. As to leaving one of those things out–it could not be. Our
Lord would have been satisfied enough with the simplest fare–a piece
of fish or of a honeycomb would well have contented Him. But no,
according to Martha's judgment there must be this, and there must be
that. So is it with many good people now. They have their ideas of
excellence, and if these cannot be realized they despair of doing
anything acceptable for Christ.
I believe an educated ministry to be desirable, but none the less do I
deplore the spirit which considers it to be essential. In the presence
of the fishermen of Galilee we dare not subscribe to the necessity
which with some is beyond doubt. You must not, according to the talk of
some, allow these earnest young people to set about preaching, and your
converted coal miners and fiddlers should be stopped at once. The Holy
Spirit has in all ages worked by men of His own choosing. But some
Churches today would not let Him if they could help it. Their pulpits
are closed against the most holy and useful preachers if they have not
those many things with which the Church nowadays cumbers her ministers
and herself.
Then, my Brethren, to carry on a good work it is thought needful to
have a Society and large funds. I also approve of the Society and the
funds. I only regret that they should be so viewed as prime necessaries
that few will stir without them. The idea of sending out a missionary
with a few pounds in his hands as in the day's of Carey, is set down in
many quarters as absurd. How can you save souls without a committee?
How can London be evangelized till you have raised at least a million
of money? Can you hope to see men converted without an annual meeting
in Exeter Hall? You must have a secretary–there is no moving an inch
till he is elected.
And know you not that without a committee you can do nothing? All these
and a thousand things, which time fails me to mention, are now deemed
to be necessary for the service of Jesus. It is such that a
true-hearted soul who could do much for his Lord scarcely dares to move
till he has put on Paul's armor of human patronage. O for Apostolic
simplicity, going everywhere preaching the Word, and consecrating the
labor of every Believer to soul-winning. To bring us back to first
principles, "one thing is needful," and if by sitting at Jesus' feet we
can find that one thing, it will stand us in better place than all the
thousand things which custom now demands.
To catch the Spirit of Christ, to be filled with Himself–this will
equip us for godly labor as nothing else can. May all Christians yet
come to put this one thing first and foremost, and count the power of
deep piety to be the one essential
qualification for holy work. The censurable quality in the Martha
spirit appears in the satisfaction which many feel with more activity.
To have done so much preaching, or so much Sunday school teaching. To
have distributed so many tracts, to have made so many calls by our
missionaries–all this seems to be looked at as end rather than means.
If there is so much effort put forth, so much work is done–is it not
enough?
Our reply is, it is not enough. It is nothing without the Divine
blessing. Brethren, where mere work is prized, and the inner life
forgotten, prayer comes to be at a discount. The committee is attended,
but the Prayer Meeting forsaken. The gathering together for
supplication is counted little compared with the collecting of
subscriptions. The opening prayer at public meetings is regarded as a
very proper thing. But there are those who regard it as a mere
formality, which might be very well laid aside, and, therefore,
invariably come in after prayer is over. It will be an evil day for us
when we trust in the willing and the running, and practically attempt
to do without the Holy Spirit.
This lofty estimate of mere activity for its own sake throws the
acceptance of our work into the shade. The Martha spirit says, if the
work is done, is not that all? The Mary spirit asks whether Jesus is
well-pleased or not. All must be done in His name and by His Spirit, or
nothing is done. Restless service, which sits not at His feet, is but
the clattering of a mill which turns without, grinding corn. It is but
an elaborate method of doing nothing. I do not want less activity–how
earnestly do I press you to it almost every Sunday. But I do pray that
we may feel that all our strength lies in God and that we can only be
strong as we are accepted of Christ. And we can only be accepted in
Christ as we wait upon Him in prayer, trust Him, and live upon Him.
You may compass sea and land to make your proselytes, but if you have
not the Spirit of Christ you are none of His. You may rise up early and
sit up late, and eat the bread of sorrows, but unless you trust in the
Lord your God, you shall not prosper. The joy of the Lord is your
strength. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
Without Christ you can do nothing. Has He not told you, "He that abides
in Me, and I in Him, the same brings forth much fruit"? Was it not
written of old, "I am like a green fir tree: from Me is your fruit
found"?
Once more, Martha's spirit is predominant in the Church of God to a
considerable extent, now, in the evident respect which is paid to the
manifest–and the small regard which is given to the secret. All
regenerated persons ought to be workers for God and with God–but let
the working never swamp the believing–never let the servant be more
prominent than the Son! Never, because you conduct a class, or are
chief man at a village station, forget that you are a sinner saved by
Grace and have need, still, to be looking to the Crucified, and finding
all your life in Him. You lose your strength as a worker if you forget
your dependence as a Believer.
To labor for Christ is a pleasant thing, but beware of doing it
mechanically. And this you can only prevent by diligently cultivating
personal communion with Christ. My Brother, it may be you will
undertake so much service that your time will be occupied and you will
have no space for prayer and reading the Word. The half-hour in the
morning for prayer will be cut short, and the time allotted for
communion with God in the evening will be gradually entrenched upon by
this engagement and the other occupation–and when this is the case I
tremble for you. You are killing the steed by spurring it and denying
it food. You are undermining your house by drawing out the stones from
the foundation to pile them at the top.
You are doing your soul serious mischief if you put the whole of your
strength into that part of your life which is visible to men, and
forget that portion of your life which is secret between you and your
God. To gather up all in one, I fear there is a great deal among us of
religious activity of a very inferior sort. It concerns itself with the
external of service. It worries itself with merely human efforts and it
attempts, in its own strength, to achieve Divine results. The real
working which God will accept is that which goes hand in hand with a
patient waiting upon Christ–with heart searching, with supplication,
with communion–with a childlike dependence upon Jesus. With a firm
adhesion to His Truth, with an intense love to His Person, and an
abiding in Him at all seasons. May we have more of such things!
Martha's spirit, though excellent in itself, so far as it goes, must
not overshadow Mary's quiet, deep-seated piety, or evil will come
of it.
II. Secondly, we observe that THE MARTHA SPIRIT INJURES TRUE SERVICE.
Service may be true, and yet
somewhat marred upon the wheel. Give your attention not so much to what
I say, as to the bearing of it upon yourselves. It may be that you will
find, as we speak, that you have been verily guilty touching these
things. The Martha spirit brings the least welcome offering to Christ.
It is welcome, but it is the least welcome.
Our Lord Jesus, when on earth, was more satisfied by conversing to a
poor Samaritan woman than He would have been by the best meat and
drink. In carrying on His spiritual work He had meat to eat that His
disciples knew not of. Evermore His spiritual Nature was predominant
over His physical Nature, and those persons who brought Him spiritual
gifts brought Him the gifts which He preferred. Here, then, was
Martha's dish of well-cooked meat, but there was Mary's gift of a
humble obedient heart. Here was Martha decking the table, but there was
Mary submitting her judgment to the Lord, and looking up with wondering
eyes as she heard His matchless speech.
Mary was bringing to Jesus the better offering. With Martha, He would,
in His condescension, be pleased. But in Mary He found satisfaction.
Martha's service He accepted benevolently, but Mary's worship He
accepted with complacency. Now, Brothers and Sisters, all that you can
give to Christ in any shape or form will not be so dear to Him as the
offering of your fervent love, the clinging of your humble faith, the
reverence of your adoring souls. Do not, I pray you, neglect the
spiritual for the sake of the external, or else you will be throwing
away gold to gather iron to yourself. You will be pulling down the
palaces of marble that you may build for yourselves hovels of clay.
Martha's spirit has this mischief about it, also, that it brings self
too much to remembrance. We would not severely judge Martha, but we
conceive that in some measure she aimed at making the service a credit
to herself as the mistress of the house. At any rate, self came up when
she began to grow weary, and complained that she was left to serve
alone. We also want our work to show well as our work. We like those
who see it to commend it, and if none commend it, we feel that we are
treated badly, and are left to work alone. Now, to the extent in which
I think of myself in my service I spoil it. Self must sink, and Christ
be All in All. John the Baptist's saying must be our motto, "He must
increase, I must decrease." For Jesus' shoelace we are not worthy to
unloose. Too much work and too little fellowship will always bring self
into prominence. Self must be prayed down, and fellowship with Jesus
must keep it down.
Martha seemed to fancy that what she was doing was necessary for
Christ. She was cumbered about much serving because she thought it
necessary that there should be a noble entertainment for the Lord. We
are still too apt to think that Jesus wants our work, and that He
cannot do without us. The preacher enquires what would become of the
Church if he were removed! The deacon is suspicions that if he were
taken away there would be a great gap left in the leadership of the
Church. The teacher of a class feels that those children would never be
converted, Christ would miss of the travail of His soul but for him.
Ah, but a fly on St. Paul's Cathedral might as well imagine that all
the traffic at his feet was regulated by his presence, and would cease,
should he be removed. I love you to think that Christ will do much work
by you, and to attach as much weight as you can to your
responsibilities, but as to Jesus needing us–the thing is
preposterous! Mary is much wiser when she feels, "He desires me to
receive His words, and yield Him my love. I would gladly give Him meat,
but He will see to that. He is the Master of all things, and can do
without me or Martha. I need Him far more than He can need
me."
We spoil our service when we overestimate its importance, for this
leads us into loftiness and pride. Martha, under the influence of this
high temper, came to complain of her sister, and to complain of her
Lord, too, as if He were excusing her idleness. "Do You not care that
my sister has left me to serve alone?" How it spoils what we do for
Christ when we go about it with a haughty spirit! When we feel, "I can
do this, and it is grand to do that"–am I not somewhat better than
others? "Must not my Master think well of me?" The humble worker wins
the day. God accepts the man who feels his nothingness, and out of the
depths cries to Him.
But the great ones He will put down from their seat, and send the rich
ones away empty. Activity, if not balanced by devotion, tends to puff
us up and so to prevent acceptance with God. Martha also fell into an
unbelieving vexation. Her idea of what was necessary to be done was so
great that she found she could not attain to it. There must be this
side dish, and there must be that principal meat. There must be this
meat and that wine, it must be cooked just so many minutes. This must
be done to a turn, and so on, and so on, and so on, and so on.
And now time flies and she fears yonder guest has been slighted. That
servant is not back from the market. Many things go wrong when you are
most anxious to have them right. You good housewives who may have had
large parties to prepare for, know what these cares mean, I dare say.
And something of the sort troubled Martha so that she became fretful
and unbelieving. She had a work to do beyond her strength, as she
thought, and her faith failed her, and her unbelief went petulantly to
complain to her Lord. Have we never erred in the same way? We must have
that Sunday school excel-
lently conducted, that morning Prayer Meeting must be improved, that
Bible class must be revived, our morning sermon must be a telling one,
and so on!
The preacher here speaks of himself, for he sometimes feels that there
is too much responsibility laid upon his shoulders, and he is very apt
in reviewing his great field of labor to grow desponding in spirit. But
when the preacher confessed that he spoke of himself, he only did so
because he represents his fellow workers, and you also grow faint and
doubtful. Alas, in such a case the enjoyment of service evaporates, the
fretfulness which pines over details spoils the whole, and the worker
becomes a mere drudge and scullion instead of an angel who does God's
commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word.
Instead of glowing and burning like seraphs, our chariot wheels are
taken off by our anxiety, and we drag heavily. Faith it is that secures
acceptance, but when unbelief comes in, the work falls flat to the
ground. At such times when the man or the Church shall become subject
to the Martha spirit, the voluntary principle falls a little into
disrepute. I believe the voluntary principle is the worst thing in all
the world to work where there is no Divine Grace. But where there is
Grace it is the one principle that God accepts.
Now, Martha would have Mary made to serve Christ. What right has she to
be sitting down there? Whether she likes it or not, she must get up and
wait like her sister. Martha's voluntary desire to do much leads her to
think that Mary, if she has not quite such a voluntary love for the
work, must be driven to it–must have a sharp word from Christ about
it. So it is with us. We are so willing to contribute to the Lord's
work that we wish we had ten thousand times as much to give. Our heart
is warm within us, and we feel we would make no reserve–and then are
so grieved with others because they give so very little that we wish we
could compel them to give!
And so we would put their cankered money into the same treasury with
the bright freewill offerings of the saints, as if the Lord would
receive such beggarly pittances squeezed out by force in the same
manner as He accepts the voluntary gifts of His people! It were wiser
if we left those unwilling contributions to rust in the pockets of
their owners. For in the long run I believe they do not help the
cause–only that which is given out of a generous spirit, and out of
love to Christ–will come up accepted before Him. Too readily do we get
away from the free spirit when we get away from the right spirit. The
fact is, the Martha spirit spoils all, because it gets us away from the
inner soul of service, as I have said before, to the mere husks of
service.
We cease to do work as to the Lord, we labor too much for the service's
sake. The main thing in our minds is the service, and not the Master.
We are cumbered, and He is forgotten. Thus have I indicated as briefly
as I could, some of the weaknesses of the Martha spirit.
III. Now for THE MARY SPIRIT. I have to show you that it is capable of
producing the noble form of consecration to Christ. Its noble results
will not come just yet. Martha's fruits ripen very quickly, Mary's take
time. When Lazarus was dead, you will remember Martha ran to meet
Christ, but Mary sat still in the house. Martha wanted her own time,
Mary could take Christ's time. So after awhile, just before our Lord's
death, we find that Mary did a grand thing–she did what Martha never
thought of doing–she brought forth a box of precious ointment and
poured it on the Lord's head, and anointed Him with ointment.
While she was sitting at Christ's feet, she was forming and filling the
springs of action. You are not losing time while you are feeding the
soul. While by contemplation you are getting purpose strengthened and
motive purified, you are rightly using time. When the man becomes
intense, when he gets within him principles vital, fervent,
energetic–then when the season for work comes he will work with a
power and a result which empty people can never attain–however busy
they may be. If the stream flows at once, as soon as ever there is a
shower, it must be little better than a trickling rivulet. But if the
current stream is dammed up, so that for awhile nothing pours down the
river bed, you will, in due time, when the waters have gathered
strength, witness a torrent before which nothing can stand.
Mary was filling up the fountain head. She was listening and learning,
feeding, edifying, loving, and growing strong. The engine of her soul
was getting its steam ready, and when all was right, her action was
prompt and forcible. Meanwhile, the manner of her action was being
refined. Martha's actions were good, but, if I may use the word, they
were commonplace. She must make a great feed for the Lord Jesus, just
as for any earthly friend. The spiritual nature of Christ she had
forgotten, she was providing nothing for it. But Mary's estimate of
Christ was of a truer order. She looked at Him as a Priest. She viewed
Him as a Prophet. She adored Him as a King.
She had heard Him speak about dying, and had listened to His testimony
about suffering, and dimly guessing what it meant, she prepared the
precious spikenard that before the dying should come she might anoint
Him. The woman's deed was full of meaning and of instruction. It was,
indeed, an embodied poem. The odor that filled the house was the
perfume of love and elevated thought. She became refined in her actions
by the process of musing and learning. Those who think not, who
meditate not, who commune not with Christ, will do commonplace things
very well. But they will never rise to the majesty of a spiritual
conception, or carry out a heart-suggested work for Christ.
That sitting of Mary was also creating originality of art. I tried, two
Sundays ago, to enforce upon you the duty of originality of service as
the right thing–that as we wandered, everyone in his own way, we
should each serve God in his own way, according to our peculiar
adaptation and circumstances. Now this blessed woman did so. Martha is
in a hurry to be doing something–she does what any other admirer of
Jesus would do–she prepares meat and a festival. But Mary does what
but one or two besides herself would think of–she anoints Him–and is
honored in the deed.
She struck out a spark of light from herself as her own thought, and
she cherished that spark till it became a flaming act. I would that in
the Church of God we had many Sisters at Jesus' feet who at last would
start up under an inspiration and say, "I have thought of something
that will bring glory to God which the Church has not heard of before.
And this will I put in practice, that there may be a fresh gem in my
Redeemer's crown." This sitting at the Master's feet guaranteed the
real spirituality of what she did. Did you notice when I read what the
Master said concerning the pouring of the ointment upon Him, "She has
kept this for My burial"?
He praised her for keeping it, as well as for giving it. I suppose that
for months she had set apart that particular ointment, and held it in
reserve. Much of the sweetest aroma of a holy work lies in its being
thought over and brought out with deliberation. There are works to be
done at once and straightway. But there are some other works to be
weighed and considered. What shall I do to praise my Savior? There is a
cherished scheme, there is a plan, the details of which shall be prayed
out, and every single part of it sculptured in the imagination and
realized in the heart. And then the soul shall wait, delighting herself
in prospect of the deed, until the dear purpose may be translated into
fact.
It is well to wait, expectantly saying, "Yes, the set time will come. I
shall be able to do the deed. I shall not go down to my grave
altogether without having been serviceable. It is not yet the time, it
is not yet the appropriate season, and I am not quite ready for it
myself. But I will add Grace to Grace and virtue to virtue, and I will
add self-denial to self-denial, till I am fit to accomplish the one
chosen work." So the Savior praised Mary that she had kept this–kept
it till the fit moment came before His burial. And then, but not till
then, she had poured out and revealed her love. Yes, it is not your
thoughtless service, performed while your souls are half asleep–it is
that which you do for Christ with eyes that overflow–with hearts that
swell with emotion. It is this that Jesus accepts.
May we have more of such service, as we shall have if we have more of
sitting at His feet. Christ accepted her. He said she had chosen the
good part which should not be taken from her. And if our work is
spiritual, intense, fervent, thoughtful. If it springs out of
fellowship. If it is the outgushing of deep principles, of inward
beliefs, of solemn gratitude–then our piety shall never be taken from
us–it will be an enduring thing. It will not be like the mere
activities of Martha– things that come and go.
I have thus worked out my text. I shall utter but two or three words
upon the general applications of it. I shall apply it to three or four
things very briefly. Brethren, I believe in our Nonconformity. I
believe if ever England wanted Nonconformists it is now. But there is a
tendency to make Nonconformity become a thing of externals, dealing
with State and Church and politics. The political relations of
Nonconformists–I believe in their value–I would not have a man less
earnest upon them. But I am always fearful lest we should forget that
Nonconformity is nothing if it is not spiritual– and that the moment
we, as Dissenters, become merely political or formal–it is all over
with us.
Our strength is at the Master's feet, and I am afraid for our
Nonconformity if it lives elsewhere. I mark so much conformity to the
world, so much laxity of rule, so much love of novel opinions, that I
tremble. I wish we could go back to Puritanism. We are getting too lax.
There is too much worldliness and carnality among us. There is little
fear of our being censured, even by the world, for being too
Particular. I am afraid we are too much like the world for the world to
hate us. As I pray that Nonconformity may always prevail in England, so
I earnestly pray that she may stand because she abides near to Christ,
holds His Truth, prizes His Word, and lives upon Himself.
Now the like is true of missions. Apply the principle there. God bless
missions. Our prayer goes up for them as warmly as for our soul's
salvation. But the strength of missions must lie not so much in
arrangements, in committees, in money, in men–as in waiting upon the
Christ of God. We shall not do any more with a hundred thousand pounds
than with a single thousand, unless we get more Divine Grace. We shall
not have more souls won with fifty missionaries than with five, unless
we get ten times the amount of power from the right hand of the Most
High. The waking up in missions needs to begin in our Prayer Meetings,
and in our Churches. In our personal wrestlings with God for the
conversion of the heathen must lie the main strength of the workers
that go out to do the deed. Let us remember this–Mary shall yet pour
the box of ointment upon the head of the Anointed–Martha cannot do it.
The same thing is true in revivals. Persons will talk about getting up
a revival–of all things I do believe one of the most detestable of
transactions. "If you want a revival of religion," it is said, "you,
must get Mr. So-and-So to preach"–with him I suppose is the residue of
the Spirit. Oh, but if you want a revival, you must adopt the methods
so long in vogue, and so well known as connected with such-and-such a
revival! I suppose the Spirit of God is no more a free Spirit, then, as
He used to be in the olden times. And whereas of old He breathed where
He wished, you fancy your methods and plans can control Him. It is not
so. It is not so in any degree.
The way to get the revival is to begin at the Master's feet! You must
go there with Mary and afterwards you may work with Martha. When every
Christian's heart is acting right by feeding on Christ's Word and
drinking in Christ's Spirit, then will the revival come. When we had
the long drought, some farmers watered their grass, but found it did
but very little good. An Irish gentleman remarked in my hearing that he
had always noticed that when it rained there were clouds about, and so
all the air was in right order for the descent of rain.
We have noticed the same, and it so happens that the clouds and general
constitution of the atmosphere have much to do with the value of
moisture for the herbs. It is no good watering them in the sun, the
circumstances do not benefit them. So with revivals. Certain things
done under certain circumstances become abundantly useful, but if you
have not similar circumstances, you may use the same machinery, but
mischief instead of good will follow. Begin yourself with the Master,
and then go outward to His service, but plans of action must be
secondary.
So too, lastly, if you want to serve God, as I trust you do, I charge
you first be careful of your own souls. Do not begin with learning how
to preach, or how to teach, or how to do this and that. Dear Friend,
get the strength within your own soul, and then even if you do not know
how to use it scientifically, yet you will do much. The first thing is
to get the heart warmed! Stir up your manhood! Brace up all your
faculties! Get the Christ within you–ask the everlasting God to come
upon you! Get Him to inspire you–and then if your methods should not
be according to the methods of others it will not matter. Or if they
should, neither will it be of consequence,
Having the Power of the Holy Spirit, you will accomplish the results.
But if you go about to perform the work before you have the strength
from on High, you shall utterly fail. Better things we hope of you. God
send them. Amen.
__________________________________________________________________
A New Song For New Hearts