Sermon of the Week: “The Alarum”

By / Sep 22

All who follow Christ for a significant amount of time will battle spiritual drowsiness. Our minds naturally drift to worldly pleasures, and our hearts grow weary as we face life’s trials. In this sermon Spurgeon wants to ring the alarm bell, stirring his listeners to awake from their slumber and praise God with renewed vigor. “Only the wakeful are praiseful,” says Spurgeon.

Why is it imperative for the Christian to stay awake? If Christians become lethargic in their faith, then they will forget to praise God as they ought. They will forget the blessings that He has lavished on them and what He continues to provide. Worse, they might forget Who they worship altogether. Our drifting, prone-to-wandering hearts must be continuously reawakened to  the beauty of the Lord, lest we fall into a spiritual stupor and miss the great opportunity and joy of serving Him.

On a final note, Spurgeon appeals to the one who has not yet given their life to Christ, the unregenerate sinner. He implores them to wake up to their sin and depraved state and place their faith in Christ. Only in Christ can they be saved from the eternal slumber of death and find true life and joy. Only in Christ can they find salvation for their soul.

As Spurgeon calls out for wakefulness in the Christian life, so too, let us ring the alarm bell loud and clear, so that all may hear the Word of God and praise Him to the fullest.

Excerpt

It is bad to awake late, but what shall be said of those who never awake at all? Better late than never: but with many it is to be feared it will be never. I would take down the trumpet and give a blast, or ring the alarm-bell till all the faculties of the sluggard’s manhood are made to bestir themselves, and he cries with new-born determination, “I myself will awake.”


[…]My heart’s desire is that none of us may feel the dreamy influence of this age, which is comparable to the enchanted ground; but that each of us may be watchful, wakeful, vigorous, intense, fervent. Trusting that the Holy Spirit may bless or meditations to our spiritual quickening[…]

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Sermon of the Week: “The Sheep and Their Shepherd”

By / Sep 15

If you were to compare yourself to a creature from the animal kingdom, would you choose a noble, majestic creature, such as the horse or the eagle? Or perhaps one of the strongest, most powerful beasts, like the lion? In John chapter 10, our Lord Jesus likens us to one of the more laughably foolish and feeble beings, the lowly sheep.

But for the Christian, the title of “sheep” does not offend; rather, it consoles and relieves. When Christ is the Shepherd, no one needs to feel insulted to be called a sheep. If we were not shown our own weakness, we would not experience the help and comfort of being shepherded by Christ. Only when we feel the frailty of our condition can we learn to confess our sheepishness and submit to the tender care of the Good Shepherd.

In this 1871 sermon, Spurgeon draws our attention to what it means to be a sheep of Christ’s, the identifying marks of Christ’s sheep, and the privileges that are ours in Christ. His words ring: “Oh, what sweet music there is to us in the name which is given to our Lord Jesus Christ of ‘the good Shepherd’!” Indeed, to the Christian, the voice of the Shepherd is the sweetest sound.

Excerpt:

“My sheep,” says Christ. They are his, or in due time they shall become so, through his capturing them by sacred power. As well by power are we redeemed as by price, for the blood-bought sheep had gone astray even as others. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way,” but, my brethren, the good shepherd has brought many of us back with infinite condescension: with boundless mercy he followed us when we went astray. Oh, what blind slaves we were when we sported with death! We did not know then what his love had ordained for us: it never entered our poor, silly heads that there was a crown for us; we did not know that the Father’s love had settled itself on us, or ever the day-star knew its place. We know it now, and it is he that has taught us; for he followed us over mountains of vanity, through bogs and miry places of foul transgression; tracked our devious footsteps on and on, through youth and manhood, till at last, with mighty grace, he grasped us in his arms and laid us on his shoulder, and is this day carrying us home to the great fold above, rejoicing as he bears all our weight and finds us in all we need. Oh, that blessed work of effectual grace!

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Sermon of the Week: “Messengers Wanted”

By / Sep 8

Who is called to proclaim God’s glorious gospel of grace, and who is the message for? God calls all his people to proclaim the gospel so that those who have not accepted Jesus may hear the good news and put their faith in Him. All Christians are expected to share this message; this task is not solely reserved for those who are called into vocational ministries.

“Here am I; send me,” is the theme of Spurgeon’s sermon. This prayer is simple and honest. There is nothing special about the one raising the petition; they simply offer themselves wholeheartedly to God for the purpose of proclaiming His wonderful message. The Christian knows the gospel and its saving power in their life, and they are eager to share it with those around them in whatever vocation God has placed them.

Those who evangelize hope that some will respond in saving faith to the good news of the gospel, but this should not be the Christian’s main goal. All those who follow God proclaim the good news to bring glory to their Savior who redeemed them from their sins. Their posture should be the same as Spurgeon when he cries to the Lord, “Here am I; send me.”

Excerpt:

We would say to every church member, Come, come, you are not to employ a minister to do your work for you, you are not merely to give your half guinea or whatever it may be to the Missionary Society, and say, “I have done all;” no, but you are to answer this question for yourself, Will you go for God? Do you feel that you are sent by him, not to India, not to Jamaica, not to the South Seas it may be, but into those streets of London, into that court where you live. Will you go among those cottages where you dwell, or down in that street where you reside; will you go for God, feeling that God chose you, and that you chose his work cheerfully, and that now, by the grace of God, while you live and until you die, you will deliver the message of the great salvation which Jesus Christ has provided for the sons of men. Thus have we portrayed the men who are needed.

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Sermon of the Week: “The Best Beloved”

By / Sep 3

Jesus is altogether lovely. That is the beautiful truth that Spurgeon wants his listeners to meditate on in this sermon to the Metropolitan Tabernacle. The infinite beauty of Jesus is not only found in His actions — His life, death, and resurrection — but in His character and nature as well. Spurgeon invites his hearers to find their satisfaction in not only what Jesus has done for them on the cross with His atoning death, but to find satisfaction in Jesus Himself. His perfection, grace, justice, and love each store a bounty of beauty to contemplate. All that He is, is more lovely to ponder than the collective thought of the world’s imagination.

Spurgeon declared that Christ’s loveliness will never run dry and believers will meditate on who He is for all of eternity. When believers meet Jesus face to face on that glorious day of His return, they will see true beauty in all its fullness. They will fulfill what David longed to do when he wrote: One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple (Psalm 27:4; ESV).

Excerpt:

Christ is so lovely that all you can desire of loveliness is in him; and even if you were to sit down and task your imagination and burden your understanding to contrive, to invent, to fashion the ideal of something that should be inimitable— ay (to utter a paradox) if you could labour to conceive something which should be inconceivably lovely, yet still you would not reach to the perfection of Christ Jesus. He is above, not only all we think, but all we dream of.
Do you all believe this? Dear hearers, do you think of Jesus in this fashion? We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen. But no man among you will receive our witness until he can say, ‘I also have seen him, and having seen him, I set to my seal that he is altogether lovely.’

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Dealing with the Praise of Men

By / Aug 21

Charles Spurgeon’s popularity as a young preacher was unmatched. The congregation at the New Park Street Chapel in London in the winter of 1853 was only a few dozen. But thanks to the young preacher, they outgrew the 1,000-seat chapel in less than a year. And the crowds kept growing. They would eventually outgrow the 3,000-seat Exeter Hall and eventually fill the 10,000-seat Surrey Gardens Music Hall. His weekly sermons would begin to be published in 1855, and they would continue to be sold throughout the English-speaking world for the next 63 years. In 1861, the magnificent Metropolitan Tabernacle would be built, a building that housed the largest congregation in evangelicalism.

To be sure, with so much success, Spurgeon attracted constant criticism. But more dangerous, in his view, was the praise of men. Writing to a friend in 1855, Spurgeon confessed, “My pride is so infernal that there is not a man on earth who can hold it in… Sometimes, I get such a view of my own insignificance that I call myself all the fools in the world for even letting pride pass my door without frowning at him.” The popularity he experienced meant that he had to be on constant guard against pride. This was a battle that he fought throughout his 40 years of pastoral ministry.

As a seasoned pastor, Spurgeon wrote an article in 1880 warning aspiring preachers of the pitfall of becoming dependent on human praise: “The youthful worker is very apt to be exalted should he receive a little praise, and there are many injudicious persons who are ready to lavish eulogiums upon any young beginner who seems to be at all promising.”[1]

Whether a “youthful worker” or a seasoned pastor, we all deal with the fear of man, that is, a wrong desire for human approval, even above God’s approval. So what advice would Spurgeon have for us in dealing with the praise of men? He would have us keep in mind four warnings:

The praise of men is fickle

First, Spurgeon would say, flattery is fickle. Those who use flattery are often using it for some personal advantage, and when that motive is gone, the flattery may soon change to nothing at all. So why build your hopes on something so empty?

When a man with a loud mouth praises me, I have good reason to be wary in my dealings with him. The boa-constrictor first covers its victim with saliva, and then swallows him; and we have known serpents, of both sexes do the same with young preachers. Beware of the net of the flatterer, and the bait of the maker of compliments. Human opinion is so changeable, and even while it lasts it is of so mixed a character, that it is virtually worth nothing at all. We all remember how the men of Lystra first offered to worship Paul, and then within an hour began to stone him. Who cares to run for a crown which melts as soon as it wreathes the winner’s brow? The flash of a wave, or the gleam of a meteor, is not more fleeting than popular applause.

The praise of men weakens our ability to handle criticism

To build your sense of security and confidence on the praise of men is to make yourself more vulnerable to the criticisms of men. If we love the praise of men, we will not be able to withstand the attacks of our critics.

Another consideration is suggested by experience, namely, that praise is exceedingly weakening. If we allow ourselves to feel its soft and pleasant influence, it lays us open to feel the caustic and painful effects of censure. After a judge had passed sentence upon a certain prisoner, the foreman of the jury that had convicted him began to compliment his lordship upon the remarks which he had made, and the term of imprisonment which he had awarded, but the judge at once stopped him, knowing well that if he had allowed himself to be praised by one jury, he would be liable to be blamed by another. If we are pervious to one influence, we shall be subject to its opposite. We are quite sure to be slandered and abused, and it is well, therefore, for us to have a somewhat thick skin, but if we listen to commendation, it makes us tender, and deprives us of that which might have been like armor to the soul. If we allow ourselves to be charmed by the tinklings of flattery, we shall be alarmed by the harsh notes of detraction. We must either be proof against both influences, or against neither.

To counteract this effect, Spurgeon would encourage you to listen to your critics. Just as you have to be discerning when listening to your critics, so you have to be discerning when listening to the praise of men. Hearing both sides will help you avoid becoming imbalanced in your view of yourself.

The victim of unwise compliments has only to walk into another room, and hear how roundly certain persons are abusing him, and he will find it a very useful tonic. It is never summer all over the world at one time, and no public person is being everywhere esteemed. Probably, it is well for the interests of truth that excesses in judgment are relieved by their opposites.

The praise of men enslaves us to human opinion

Ironically, those who live for the praise of men will actually find themselves despised by men. These will be men without conviction or direction but blown about by every wind of human opinion.  Such men will be of no help to others.

A man who becomes dependent upon the opinions of others lays himself open to contempt. It is impossible to think highly of a person who fishes for compliments. To value esteem so much as to go out of our way after it is the surest possible way to lose it.

The only freedom from our bondage to the fear of man is a proper fear of God; in other words, so living for the approval of God that the opinions of men seem small and insignificant in comparison. Especially for ministers, apart from a biblical fear of God, we will not carry out our ministries faithfully.

When we consider how unevenly the human hand holds the balances, we may feel but small concern when we are weighed by our fellow-men. If we consider how infinitely precious is the divine regard, we shall live to gain it, and so shall rise above all slavish consideration of the opinions of our fellows. What said the wise apostle Paul? “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 4:3, 4.)

The praise of men never satisfies

Finally, Spurgeon would warn you that human praise can never satisfy.

Individuals there are abroad who can suck in any measure of praise, and retain a large receptiveness for more: they take to it, and thrive in it, like fish in water. You may choke a dog with pudding, but you could never satiate, nor even satisfy, these people with praise.

The reason human praise can never satisfy is because our hearts were meant to be filled with something far greater, namely the love of God. So find your satisfaction there, and be freed from your addiction to the praise of men.

[1] All quotes taken from C. H. Spurgeon, “Praise of Men,” The Sword and the Trowel, 1880 (London: Passmore & Alabaster), 217-218.



How Do We Serve God In Our Own Generation?

By / Jul 15

The years after the Downgrade Controversy were difficult for Spurgeon. His mother passed away in May of 1888. Spurgeon gave the funeral address. The controversy took a physical and emotional toll on him, and he found himself seriously ill, and sometimes bedridden, for months. His deacons urged him to restrict his outside speaking engagements so that he might rest. 1890 experienced unusually cold weather, making recovery difficult. In October 1890, another blow came. Deacon William Olney went home to be with the Lord. The Olney family had been instrumental in bringing Spurgeon to the New Park Street Chapel, and William Olney had served alongside him for over three decades. In Spurgeon’s ministry, in trials, in sickness, Olney had been a constant source of support and comfort. Now, amid dark days, Spurgeon found himself without his “right hand man.”

On the Sunday evening after Olney’s death, Spurgeon preached on Acts 13:36, “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.” He asked the question, “What is it to serve our own generation?” As Spurgeon reflected on the death of a faithful servant, he was challenged once again to consider his own service, even amid all his trials:

This is a question which ought to interest us all very deeply. We live in the midst of our own generation, and seeing that we are part of it, we should serve it, that the generation in which our children shall live may be better than our own. Though our citizenship is in heaven, yet as we live on earth, we should seek to serve our generation while we pass as pilgrims to the better country.

How do we serve our own generation? Spurgeon gave seven answers, two negative, five positive:

Don’t be a slave to your generation

I note, first, that it is not to be a slave to it. It is not to drop into the habits, customs, and ideas of the generation in which we live. People talk nowadays about Zeitgeist, a German expression which need frighten nobody; and one of the papers says, “Spurgeon does not know whether there is such a thing.” Well, whether he knows anything about Zeitgeist or not, he is not to serve this generation by yielding to any of its notions or ideas which are contrary to the Word of the Lord. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not only for one generation, it is for all generations. It is the faith which needed to be only “once for all delivered to the saints”; it was given stereotyped as it always is to be. It cannot change because it has been given of God, and is therefore perfect; to change it would be to make it imperfect. It cannot change because it has been given to answer for ever the same purpose, namely, to save sinners from going down to the pit, and to fit them for going to heaven. That man serves his generation best who is not caught by every new current of opinion, but stands firmly by the truth of God, which is a solid, immovable rock. But to serve our own generation in the sense of being a slave to it, its vassal, and its valet—let those who care to do so go into such bondage and slavery if they will. Do you know what such a course involves? If any young man here shall begin to preach the doctrine and the thought of the age, within the next ten years, perhaps within the next ten months, he will have to eat his own words, and begin his work all over again. When he has got into the new style, and is beginning to serve the present world, he will within a short time have to contradict himself again, for this age, like every other, is “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” But if you begin with God’s Word, and pray God the Holy Ghost to reveal it to you till you really know it, then, if you are spared to teach for the next fifty years, your testimony at the close will not contradict your testimony at the beginning. You will ripen in experience; you will expand in your apprehension of the truth; you will become more clear in your utterance; but it will be the same truth all along. Is it not a grand thing to build up, from the beginning of life to the end of it, the same gospel? But to set up opinions to knock them down again, as though they were ninepins, is a poor business for any servant of Christ. David did not, in that way serve his own generation; he was the master of his age, and not its slave. I would urge every Christian man to rise to his true dignity, and be a blessing to those amongst whom he lives, as David was. Christ “hath made us kings and priests unto God his Father”; it is not meet that we should cringe before the spirit of the age, or lick the dust whereon “advanced thinkers” have chosen to tread. Beloved, see to this; and learn the distinction between serving your own generation and being a slave to it.

Don’t flee from your generation

In the next place, in seeking to answer the question, “What is it to serve our own generation? I would say, it is not to fly from it. If any man says, “The world is so bad, that I will avoid coming into contact with it altogether; even the teaching of Christianity has become so diluted, and is so thoroughly on the Down-grade, that I will have nothing to do with it,” he is certainly not serving his own generation. If he shall shut himself up, like a hermit, in his cave, and leave the world to go to ruin as it may, he will not be like David, for he served his own generation before he fell asleep. She that goes into a nunnery, and he that enters a monastery are like soldiers who run away, and hide among the baggage. You must not do anything of the sort. Come forward and fight evil, and triumph over it, whether it be evil of doctrine, evil of practice, or evil of any other kind. Be bold for Christ; bear your witness, and be not ashamed. If you do not take your stand in this way, it can never truly be said of you that you served your generation. Instead of that, the truth will be that you allowed your generation to make a coward of you, or, to muzzle you like a dog, and to send you out, into the streets neither to bark nor to bite, nor to do anything by which you might prove that there is a soul within you.

Perform the common duties of life

If we ask again, What is it to serve our generation? I answer, it is to perform the common duties of life, as David did. David was the son of a farmer, a sheep-owner, and he took first of all to the keeping of the sheep. Many young men do not like to do the common work of their own father’s business. You do not want to drudge, you say, you want to be a king. Well, there are not many openings in that line of business; and I shall not recommend anyone to be eager to enter them if there were. “Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not.” Before David swayed the scepter, he grasped the shepherd’s crook. He that at home cannot or will not undertake ordinary duties, will not be likely to serve his age. The girl who dreams about the foreign missionary field, but cannot darn her brother’s stockings, will not be of service either at home or abroad. Do the commonplace things, the ordinary things that come in your way, and you will begin to serve your generation, as David served his.

Be ready for opportunities to serve God

But serving our generation means more than this. It is to be ready for the occasion when it comes. In the midst of the routine of daily life, we should, by diligence in duty, prepare for whatever may be our future opportunity, waiting patiently until it comes. Look at David’s occasion of becoming famous. He never sought it. He did not go up and down among his sheep, sighing and crying, “Oh, that I could get away from this dull business of looking after these flocks! My brothers have gone to the camp; they will get on as soldiers; but here am I, buried among these rocks, too looks after these poor beasts.” He was wiser than that; he quietly waited God’s time. That is always a wise thing to do. If you are to serve God, wait till he calls you to do his work; he knows where to find you when he wants you; you need not advertise yourself to his omniscience. At length the set time came for David. On a certain day, his father bade him go to his brethren, and take them some corn and some loaves, with cheeses for their captain; and he reached the camp just at the time when the giant Goliath was stalking forth, and defying all the armies of Israel to meet him. Now is David’s time, and the young man is ready for it. If he had lost the opportunity he might have remained a shepherd all the rest of his days. He tells Saul how he slew both the lion and the bear, and prophesies that the uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he had defied the armies of the living God. Disdaining Saul’s armor, he takes his sling, and his five smooth stones out of the brook, and soon he comes back with the gory head of the giant in his hand. If you want to serve the church and serve the age, beloved friend, be wide awake when the occasion comes. Jump into the saddle when the horse is at your door; and God will bless you if you are on the look-out for opportunities of serving him.

Maintain true religion

What is it, again to serve our generation? It is to maintain true religion. This David did. He had grave faults in his later life, which we will not extenuate; but he never swerved from his allegiance to Jehovah the true God. No word or action of his ever sanctioned anything like idolatry, or turning aside from the worship of Jehovah, the God of Israel. He bore a noble witness to his Lord. He said, “I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed;” and we may be sure that he was as good as his word, and that when he met with foreign potentates, he vindicated the living God before them. The whole set and current of his life, with the exception of his terrible fall, was to the glory of God in whom he trusted, and to the praise of that God who had delivered him. We, too, shall truly serve those amongst whom we dwell by maintaining true religion. Had ten righteous men been found in Sodom, it would have been spared, and the world today only escapes the righteous judgment of God because of the presence in it of those who fear him, and tremble at his word. The spread of “pure and undefiled religion” is a certain way to serve those around us. To help true religion, David wrote many Psalms, which were sung all over the land of Israel. A wonderful collection of poems they are; there is none like them under heaven. Not even a Milton, with all his mighty soarings, can equal David in the height of his adoration of God, and the depth of his experience. That man does no mean service for his time who gives the people new songs which they can sing unto their God. While none can equal the inspired psalms of the Hebrew king, which must ever form the choicest praise-book of the church, other men may, in lesser degree serve their own generation, by the will of God, in a similar way, and be blessed in the deed.

Continue serving all your life

To serve our own generation is not a single action, done at once, and over for ever; it is to continue to serve all our life. Notice well that David served “his own generation”; not only a part of it, but the whole of it. He began to serve God, and he kept on serving God. How many young men have I seen who were going to do wonders! Ah, me! They were as proud of the intention as though they had already done the deed. They took a front seat, and they seemed to think that everybody ought to admire them because of what they were going to do; but they were so pleased with the project that they never carried it out. They thought that they might meet with some mishap if they really attempted to do the thing, and the project was so beautiful that they preserved it under a glass shade, and there it is now. Nothing has been accomplished; nothing has been done, though much has been thought of. This is folly. Some, too, begin well, and they serve their God earnestly for a time, but on a sudden their service stops. One cannot quite tell how it happens, but we never hear of them afterwards. Men, as far as I know them, are wonderfully like horses. You get a horse, and you think, “This is a first-rate animal,” and so it is. It goes well for a while, but on a sudden it drops lame, and you have to get another. So it is with church-members. I notice that, every now and then, they get a singular lameness. To very many we have to say, even as Paul said to the Galatians, “Ye did run well; who did hinder you, that ye should not obey the truth?” But David continually served God to the end of his life. May we all, by divine grace, thus serve our whole generation, too!

Prepare for those who will come after you

Yet more is included in this faithful serving of our generation. It is to prepare for those who are to come after us. David served his generation to the very end by providing for the next generation. He was not permitted to build the temple; but he stored up a great mass of gold and silver to enable his son Solomon to carry out his noble design, and build a house for God. This is real service; to begin to serve God in early youth; to keep on till old age shall come; and even then to say, “I cannot expect to serve the Lord much longer, but I will prepare the way as far as I can for those who will come after me.” Many years ago, Dr. Rippon, the minister of this church, which then worshipped in New Park Street, was wont to prophesy about his successor. When he was very old, after having been pastor for more than sixty years, it is in the memory of some still living that he was accustomed to pray for the minister who should come after him. The old man was looked forward to one who should come and carry on the work after he was obliged to leave it. So must you and I do. We must be looking ahead as far as ever we can, not with unbelieving anxiety or unholy curiosity; but after the fashion in which David prepared abundantly before his death. If we cannot find a successor to enter upon our service when we have to leave it, yet let us do all we can to make his work the easier when he comes to it.

Conclusion

In less than two years, on January 31, 1892, Spurgeon’s fight would also end, and he would join Olney in the Celestial City. At Susannah’s request, this sermon was published on February 14, 1892, with the title, “His Own Funeral Sermon.” This sermon was a tribute to William Olney, but in many ways, it is a fitting tribute to all faithful servants who serve God in their own generation.

When the trumpet shall sound, this corruptible shall put on incorruption, those who sleep in Christ shall awake in resurrection splendor, and together we shall serve our Lord day and night in his temple for ever. Meanwhile, serve you own generation by the will of God.

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Six Ways to Improve Your Church’s Prayer Meeting

By / Jun 30

During the first seven years of his ministry, Spurgeon saw a remarkable revival spring up under his ministry. Thousands attended his services, and hundreds made professions of faith and joined the church. But amid all the excitement, how did Spurgeon know that this was a genuine work of the Spirit and not just the product of some strange enthusiasm? One encouraging sign was that the weekly church-wide prayer meeting was regularly attended by 1,000 to 1,200 people. It’s one thing to draw people to draw a large crowd on a Sunday morning. It’s an entirely different matter to convince people to come out and pray on a Monday night. These new members were not only interested in Spurgeon’s preaching. They were growing earnest in prayer.

As the pastor, Spurgeon knew that he had a responsibility to make those prayer meetings engaging and edifying. Having led these large prayer meetings for seven years, he shared in 1861 these six ways to improve your church’s prayer meeting. As you consider your own context, how might you apply the wisdom of his experience?

1) Teach and model the importance of prayer

Let the minister himself set a very high value upon this means of grace; let him frequently speak of it as being dear to his own heart; let him prove his words by throwing all his vigour into it, being absent as seldom as possible, and doing all in his power to give an interest to the meeting. If our pastors set the ill example of coming in late, of frequently staying away, or conducting the engagements in a drowsy formal way, we shall soon see our people despising the exercise and forsaking the assembling of themselves together. A warm-hearted address of ten minutes, with a few lively words interposed between the prayers, will do much, with God’s blessing, to foster a love to the prayer-meeting.

2) Promote participation by encouraging shorter prayers

Let the brethren labour after brevity. If each person will offer the petition most laid upon his heart by the Holy Spirit, and then make room for another, the evening will be far more profitable, and the prayers incomparably more fervent than if each brother ran round the whole circle of petition without dwelling upon any one point. Compare the subjects of prayer to so many nails; it will be better for a petitioner to drive one nail home with repeated blows, than to deal one ineffectual tap to them one after another. Let as many as possible take part in the utterance of the Church’s desires; the change of voice will prevent weariness, and the variety of subjects will excite attention. Better to have six pleading earnestly, than two drowsily; far better for the whole meeting that the many wants should be represented experimentally by many intercessors, than formally by two or three. As a general rule, meetings in which no prayer exceeds ten minutes, and the most are under five, will exhibit the most fervour and life; in fact, length is a deathblow to earnestness, and brevity is an assistant to zeal. When we have had ten prayers in the hour, varied with the singing of single verses, we have far oftener been in the Spirit, than when only four persons have engaged. This is an observation confirmed by the opinion of our fellow-worshippers; it might not hold good in all cases, but it is so with us, and therefore we thus witness.

3) Involve younger believers

Persuade all the brethren to engage. If the younger and less instructed members shrink from the privilege, tell them that they are not to speak to man but to God. Assure them that it does us all good to hear their groans and ineffectual attempts at utterance. For our own part, a few breakdowns generally come very sweetly home, and awakening our sympathies, constrain us to aid the brother by our more earnest wrestlings. It gives a reality and life to the whole matter, to hear those trembling lips utter thanks for new life just received, and to hear that choking voice confessing the sin from which it has just escaped. The cries of the lambs must mingle with the bleating of the sheep, or the flock will lack much of its natural music. As Mr. Beecher well says, “humble prayers, timid prayers, half-inaudible prayers, the utterances of uncultured lips, may cut a poor figure as lecture-room literature. But are they to be scornfully disdained? If a child may not talk at all till it can speak fluent English, will it ever learn to speak well? There should be a process of education going on continually, by which all the members of the church shall be able to contribute of their experiences and gifts; and in such a course of development, the first hesitating, stumbling, ungrammatical prayer of a confused Christian may be worth more to the Church than the best prayer of the most eloquent pastor.” Every man feeling that he is to take part in the meeting at some time or other, will become at once interested, and from interest may advance to love. Some of those who have now the best gifts, had few enough when they began.

4) Encourage attendants to share prayer requests

Encourage the attendants to send in special requests for prayer as often as they feel constrained to do so. Those little scraps of paper, in themselves most truly prayers, may be used as kindling to the fire in the whole assembly.

(Note: Spurgeon allowed members to submit prayer requests, but he also filtered these requests according to the theme of the prayer meeting; see point 6.)

5) Prioritize praying

Suffer neither hymn, nor chapter, nor address to supplant prayer. We remember bearing seven verses of a hymn, ending in “he hates to put away,” until we lost all relish for the service, and have hardly been reconciled to the hymn ever since. Remember that we meet for prayer, and let it be prayer; and oh! that it may be that genuine, familiar converse with God which shall drive out the formality and pomposity which mar so much our public supplications.

(Avoid) mistaking preaching for prayer. The friends who were reputed to be “gifted,” indulged themselves in public prayer with a review of their own experience, a recapitulation of their creed, an occasional running commentary upon a chapter or psalm, or even a criticism upon the pastor and his sermons. It was too often quite forgotten that the brother was addressing the Divine majesty, before whose wisdom a display of our knowledge is impertinence, and before whose glory an attempt at swelling words and pompous periods is little short of profanity; the harangue was evidently intended for man rather than God, and on some occasions did not contain a single petition from beginning to end. We hope that in our own time good men are leaving this unhallowed practice, and are beginning to see that sermons and doctrinal disquisitions are miserable substitutes for earnest wrestling prayers, when our place is the mercy-seat and our engagement is intercession.

6) Maintain a unified theme

It is not at all amiss to let two or even three competent brethren succeed each other without a pause, but this must be done judiciously; and if one of the three should become prolix, let the pause come in as soon as he is done. Sing only one verse, or at the most two, between the prayers, and let those be such as shall not distract the mind from the subject by being alien from the spirit of the meeting. Why need to sing about the temptations of Satan just after an earnest prayer for the conversion of sinners? and when a brother has just had joyous fellowship with Christ in intercession, why drag him down by singing, “‘Tis a point I long to know”?



Prayer and Simplicity

By / May 27

A. T. Pierson, the American Presbyterian evangelist, had the responsibility of preaching at the Metropolitan Tabernacle during the fall and winter of 1891-1892, while C. H. Spurgeon recovered from his illness.[1] During those months, Pierson had a front-row seat to the ministry at the largest church in evangelicalism with a membership of over 5,300. As he preached and assisted the elders in day-to-day pastoral work, two things stood out to him about the Tabernacle’s philosophy of ministry: prayer and simplicity.

Writing in his magazine in January 1892, The Missionary Review of the World, Pierson shared these observations:

Prayer

This Metropolitan Tabernacle is a house of prayer most emphatically. Here are numerous rooms, under and around the great audience-room, where for almost forty years, this one servant of God has held forth the Word of Life; and in these rooms prayer is almost ceaselessly going up. When one meeting is not in progress, another is. This is a hive of bees, where there are comparatively few drones. There are prayer-meetings before preaching, and others after preaching; Evangelistic Associations, Zenana Societies, and all sorts of work for God find hero a centre, and all are consecrated by prayer. Before I go upon the platform to address these thousands, the officers of this great church meet me and each other for prayer as to the service; and one feels upborne on these strong arms of prayer while preaching. No marvel that Mr. Spurgeon’s ministry has been so blessed. He himself attributes it mainly to the prevailing prayers of his people. Why may not the whole Church of God learn something from the Metropolitan Tabernacle of London as to the power of simple gospel preaching backed by believing supplication?

Simplicity

Referring to this great church, one cannot forget also its divine mission as a standing protest against the secularizing of the house of God by the attractions of worldly art and aestheticism. Here is nothing to divert the mind from the simplicity of worship and the gospel; no attempt at elaborate architecture, furniture, garniture. A precentor leads congregational song without even the help of a comet; prayer, and praise, and the reading of the Word of God, with plain putting of gospel truth—these have been Mr. Spurgeon’s lifelong ‘means of grace’, and weapons of war. And yet this remains to-day the largest congregation in the world, even when a stranger attempts to fill the place left vacant by the pastor’s withdrawal to a place of rest and recuperation.

Exhortation

This lesson has, in my opinion, a bearing on all work for Christ, at home and abroad. Our reliance is too much on the charms of this world, in drawing souls to the gospel and to the Saviour. The Holy Spirit will not tolerate our idols. If we will have artistic and secular type of music, substituting unsanctified art for simple praise; if we will have elaborate ritual in place of simple, believing prayer; if we will have eloquent lectures in place of simple, earnest, gospel preaching, we must not wonder if no shekinah fires burn in our sanctuaries. If Ahaz is allowed to displace God’s plain altar by the carved, idolatrous altar from Damascus, we need not be surprised if God withdraws his power. Perhaps the reason why the work of God abroad shows more signs of his presence and power than our sanctuary services at home is in part this, that our foreign mission work has never been embarrassed as yet by those elaborate attempts at aesthetic attraction which turn many of our home churches into concert-halls and lecture saloons and costly club-houses. May God grant us to learn, once for all, that nothing in our mission work can make up for Holy Spirit power, and that Holy Spirit power itself makes up for the lack of all else!  If the angel troubles the pool, there is healing in the waters; but if God’s angel comes not down, all the doctors in Jerusalem, with all the drugs in creation, cannot impart healing virtue.

Let us pray! Oh, for a new spirit of prayer to God! Oh, for a whole Church on its face before the throne, with mighty pleading for a blessing as widespread as the race of man, and as deep-reaching as man’s depravity and degradation, guilt and need! Let the year now opening be—whatever else it may not be—a year of prayer; so shall it be a year of praise also, a new year of missions, introducing a new century of mission triumph and glory to God!

[1] The plan was for Spurgeon to return to London by February 1892 but this never happened. He died in Menton, France on January 31, 1892.



Patrick, the First Missionary of the Pastors’ College Missionary Association

By / May 20

The Downgrade Controversy in the latter part of the 19th century was the most significant conflict of C. H. Spurgeon’s ministry, changing the course of British evangelicalism into the following century. But while those events were going on, there was a growing zeal in the Pastors’ College among the students for missions. Sometime in the early 1880’s, they established the Pastors’ College Missionary Association, and their minute books reside here in the Spurgeon Library.

Though the Downgrade Controversy was deeply discouraging, one of its effects was that those who sided with Spurgeon redirected their giving from the Baptist Union to the Pastors’ College. And now, in the fall of 1888, there was an opportunity for the Pastors’ College Missionary Association to begin supporting their own missionaries. Up to this point, the Pastors’ College had sent students to the mission field through other agencies, like the Baptist Missionary Society or Hudson Taylor’s China Inland Mission. However, in December 1888, they would send out their first fully supported missionary, N. H. Patrick, to North Africa.

Here are the notes from his commissioning service on Dec. 10, 1888:

Although a most foggy and unpleasant evening, the Lecture Hall of the Tabernacle was crowded on Monday evening Dec. 10th on the occasion of the departure of Brethren, Clark, Roger, and Patrick for the foreign field, the two former for the Congo, and the latter for North Africa… the chair was occupied by Mr. W. Olney who spoke some suitable and encouraging words to the impending missionaries, who each in turn delivered a most earnest and enthusiastic address. Several prayers were offered by the students and others present and in concluding, the Chairman presented each of the brethren with a copy of the Presidents’ new work, “The Cheque Book of Faith.”

There was no major fanfare. Not much is reported about this in the newspapers. Spurgeon himself was sick and recovering in Mentone, so he couldn’t attend. However, here you have the first supported missionary sent out by a newly established missionary association.

Though Spurgeon could not attend, he wrote a letter to Patrick, dated December 14, 1888.

Dear Mr. Patrick,

I rejoice that the way is cleared for you going to North Africa. As a brother looking to our own funds for support, you are the first representative of the Foreign Mission of the College, and I am the more earnest that you should lead the way gloriously. I am sure from your personal character, and from your course in College that I may place unlimited confidence in you; and far more is my confidence in the Lord whom you and I unitedly serve with our whole hearts. HE will help you to play the man. A blend of zeal, patience, and wisdom will be needed in a mission so new, dealing with such a peculiar people. You believe that the gospel will meet the need of any creature in the form of man, whether Jew or Gentile, Mahometan or heathen. You will keep wholly and only to the cross. There hangs our hope, as well as the hope of those to whom we go. Hammer away with the old gospel; and let those who like it use the miserable wooden mallet of mere reason. The Lord will be with you. Take special care to be much with HIM. Without the means of grace, in a lone land, as you will probably be ere long, “give attention to reading” the one and only Book, and be often carried away to heaven on the wings of prayer and meditation.

Write us often that you may keep up the interest of the brethren, and of my constituency in the glorious work. Be of good courage while you are dumb in the language of the people, and feel the fire burning within, with the power to let its heat warm the people. Carry your daily worries to your Master and they will not be worries. Aspire to be another “Patrick,” – the apostle of North Africa, as he was of Ireland.

On your head may the Holy Spirit pour of the anointing oil, and may you often be constrained to sing as I do,

“O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be.”

God himself bless you.

Yours in Christ Jesus,

C. H. Spurgeon

We see so much of Spurgeon’s approach to foreign missions in this letter – remain grounded in the “old gospel;” be earnest in preaching and evangelism; be “much with” God in Bible-reading and prayer, especially when you don’t have Christian fellowship around; stay in touch with your supporters; and never forget to marvel at God’s grace.

Patrick left in December 1888 and landed in Tangier to work among the Muslim population. It appears that he was able to have a fruitful ministry, as evidenced by the fact that his converts were willing to be persecuted for their faith. In the October 1889 issue of The Sword and the Trowel, he shared some of the stories of conversions that he had seen just in the few months he had been there.

F. P. F was my servant for some months. He was only twenty, but gave evidence of true conversion. He slept at home, but was so persecuted there that he could find no opportunity for quiet prayer; but every morning he knelt down in the kitchen, where the day’s workwas to be done, seeking strength for that work. He earnestly desired his mother’s conversion, and prayed for it without ceasing. She, however, was extremely bitter with her son, and endeavoured to get him sent into the Spanish army, but failed. The home became almost unbearable to him. About three weeks ago he received orders to join the Spanish navy. He came to say good-bye. Rising from our knees, I begged him to be faithful to Christ. Tears were in his eyes, but he replied firmly,” God helping me, I will, sir. I will tell everybody the truth about Jesus.” May God keep him faithful!

…

Our converts have been much persecuted. For following Christ, men have been turned out of their homes. Others have been reviled, beaten, or excommunicated ; while others, again, have been deserted by their friends, and dismissed by their employers.

Some of our enemies had threatened and warned them to leave our meetings; but finding this of no avail, attacked them from the other side.

…

We look forward with confidence for great blessing here. We have large premises, good health, and over and above all else, the everlasting gospel. This is what Tangier needs, and the people are beginning to feel this to be the case. Pray for us!

The work of the Pastors’ College Missionary Association is a minor footnote in history. Spurgeon would die in a few years, and it would not go on to become a significant missionary sending agency. But in this brief period of time, for these few converts in North Africa, the work of the PCMA made an eternal difference in their lives. Only eternity will reveal the true fruit of that work.

The story of N. H. Patrick reminds us that even amid the fiercest controversies, the gospel continues to go forth. These stories may not grab the headlines. Many of these figures are lost to history. But in all ages, at all times, Christ is building His church. In this, we can rejoice and have hope to persevere in faithfulness, wherever the Lord has placed us.



Sermon Of The Week: “The Great Mystery of Godliness”

By / May 13

What is the great mystery of the Christian religion that Paul speaks of in 1 Timothy? What is that reality which infuses wonder in our everyday lives? It is that God, though the Creator and Sustainer of all things, became man. In short, it is the incarnation of Christ. “My brethren, if you will carefully consider it, this is one of the most extraordinary doctrines that was ever declared inhuman hearing, for were it not well attested, it would be absolutely incredible that the infinite God who filleth all things, who was and is, and is to come, the Almighty, the Omniscient, and the Omnipresent, actually condescended to veil himself in the garments of our inferior clay.”

Spurgeon helps us marvel at the greatness of the incarnation by delving into the reality of Christ’s humanity. Christ is not merely a lofty doctrine of the Christian faith, but He is the foundation of our salvation. Through His incarnation, salvation is made possible for humanity. Spurgeon brings the great mystery of our faith to light as He expounds upon Christ being made incarnate, seen by angels, and “believed on in the world.”

Excerpt:

If this be a great gospel, then how important it is for us to receive it. If the gospel were a laborious system of ethics, there are many in this house who never could be saved, for they could not understand it; but since it is so simple, why do men refuse it? “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” O will you not lay hold upon that truth? I do pray the Spirit of God to take off your minds from all philosophies and mysteries, that you may come to Jesus only. Trust in Christ and you are saved.. Receive this simple truth. God calls it great; angels think it great; the Holy Spirit attests it to be great; we who preach it feel it to be great; they who receive it acknowledge it to be great; Christ in glory bears witness that it is great; O accept this great salvation! May the Spirit lead you to believe in the great Saviour of great sinners.

Read the rest of the sermon here.