“My People Pray for Me”: How Spurgeon Asked His Church to Pray for Him

By / Oct 3

“Brothers, pray for us.” So Paul wrote to the churches (Eph. 6:19, Col. 4:3, 1 Thess. 5:25, 2 Thess. 3:1). Though he was an apostle, he knew that he needed the prayers of the saints for his perseverance and the spread of the gospel. Likewise, all ministers today need the prayers of their people. This was a constant theme of Spurgeon’s ministry. Once, when asked by a group of American visitors about the secret of his success, he responded, “My people pray for me.”[1]

But how were the members of the Metropolitan Tabernacle to pray for their pastor? During a prayer meeting in 1881, Spurgeon gave these three ways they could be praying for him, “There are two or three matters for which I desire to ask your earnest prayers just now.”

Pray for the salvation of the lost

Spurgeon feared that his many absences due to illness would drive away visitors, but the opposite had happened. People came to prize his preaching even more so that the Tabernacle was filled with visitors every time he preached. Spurgeon saw this as God’s kind providence, and he urged his people to pray that he would be enabled to preach with power and that the Spirit would save thousands.

Do pray for a very large blessing on the congregation here. In the early summer weeks I thought that this house was not so full as usual, and I was greatly troubled about it; but the fact was that the major part of our friends had taken their holidays early. Of late the crowds have exceeded those of past years, and we are all amazed at the attendance at the prayer-meeting and the lecture. The sickness of the minister, no doubt, tended to make the public fearful of not hearing him, and his continued health has reassured them, so that now our great building will not hold all who come. We have the people to our heart’s content; do you wonder that I tremble lest the opportunity should be lost in any measure ? Do pray that I may preach with power. Plead with the Holy Ghost to convert these eager thousands. Persons of all nations, ranks, ages, and religions come hither. I beseech you, agonize in prayer that they may be saved. Let it not be true, in their case, that we have not because we ask not.

Pray for financial provision for the ministries of the church

The financial needs of the Pastors’ College and the Stockwell Orphanage constantly weighed on Spurgeon. The college represented the Tabernacle’s pastoral training, church planting, and missionary sending efforts. And the orphanage was a cooperative effort among evangelicals, led by Spurgeon, to care for orphans in London. The livelihood and future of these hundreds of young men and orphans rested on Spurgeon’s shoulders. But he did not bear this burden alone. Through the prayers of his people, they bore the load with him, and they brought all their needs to Jehovah Jireh.

Again, all through the summer weather, when friends go out into the country, and to the seaside, they generally forget to send any subscriptions for the Orphanage, College, and other enterprises. This is often a trial of my faith. I see the waters ebbing out, and at times the tops of the rocks are left bare, and I can see the weeds and the mud, and I do not enjoy the sight at all; I had rather see a good depth of sailing water for the fleet of charity. I bless God we have never come into actual debt, but I have wished that there was a little more regularity in the giving. Soon we shall have as many girls as boys in the Orphanage, and I say to myself, “I do not see any more people taking a share in the work,” and the question arises, “However will you keep them?” I do not know, but God does, and there I leave it, believing that he will find the means. It is not like him to cast away any good work that is undertaken for his sake; but still I beg you to pray about it, lest it should be true that we have not because we ask not. I do not speak thus because I have any unbelieving anxiety, but because the Lord has said, “For this will be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.” The College and the Colportage are as much in need of help as the Orphanage, and they are equally useful agencies: I beg you to commend them all to the Most High, for whose glory they exist. By one or by another, by the living or by the dead, by the rich or by the poor, the Lord will provide; but I beg you to join with me in my prayer for these institutions— “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Pray for strength for the pastor to lead and care for the church

As important as the salvation of the lost and the ministries of the church are, Spurgeon never lost sight of his primary calling: to shepherd the huge congregation of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. As a pastor, Spurgeon bore the responsibility not only of preaching, but of membership interviews, church discipline cases, elders’ meetings, equipping new elders and deacons, pastoral visitation, leading prayer meetings and members’ meetings, and much, much more. Additionally, other pastors and churches looked to Spurgeon for leadership and guidance as they faced various challenges. He often felt crushed under the load. No man could do this work on his own strength. He needed the prayers of his people.

Greatly do I need your prayer for the work and ministry of this huge church. What a load rests upon me ! Here are about 5,500 of you, and with all the help I have, I find I have enough upon me to crush me unless heaven sustains me. My brother and the elders do for me what the elders in the wilderness church did for Moses, else should I utterly faint; but the more difficult cases, and the general leadership, make up a burden which none can carry unless the Lord gives strength. I loathe to speak thus about myself, and yet I must, for there is need. Beside all this, there cometh upon me the care of many another church, and of all sorts of works for our Lord. There, you do not know all, but you may guess; if you love me, if you love my Master, I implore you, pray for me. A good old man prayed before I came to London that I might always be delivered from the bleating of the sheep. I did not understand what he meant; but I know now when hour by hour all sorts of petitions, complaints, bemoanings, and hard questions come to me. The bleating of the sheep is not the most helpful sound in the world, especially when I am trying to get the food ready for the thousands here, there, and everywhere, who look for it to come to them regularly, week by week. Sometimes I become so perplexed that I sink in heart, and dream that it were better for me never to have been born than to have been called to bear all this multitude upon my heart. Especially do I feel this when I cannot help the people who come to me, and yet they look that I should do impossibilities. Moreover, it is not easy to give wise advice in such complicated affairs as those which came before me, and I hope I shall never be content without using my best judgment at all times. Frequently I can do nothing but bring the cases before God in prayer, and bear them as a burden on my heart. These burdens are apt to press very hard on a sympathizing heart, and cause a wear and tear which tell upon a man. I only say this because I want more and more the sympathy of God’s people, and perhaps I may not have even this if I ask not for it.

Conclusion

Spurgeon concluded with these words,

If you put me in so difficult a position you must uphold me by your prayers. If I have been useful to you in any measure, pray for me; it is the greatest kindness you can do me.

Pastor, do you ask your people to pray for you? Do they know that you need their prayers? If the apostle Paul needed the prayers of the saints, how much more do you! The ministry of the church cannot be borne alone by the pastor, or even by the elders, but must be carried by the entire church in prayer. Lead your people in this, so that if anyone asks you for the secret of your success, you can joyfully say, “My people pray for me.”

[1] Hayden, Highlights, 49.



Sermon of the Week: “The Still Small Voice”

By / Sep 29

“What are you doing here, Elijah?” God asked as the prophet huddled in a mountainside cave. Burdened, beaten, and broken, Elijah was at the lowest point of his life. He had just witnessed a spectacular display of God’s power. However, this exhibition did not spark the reformation Elijah was anticipating. Instead of a great awakening, the prophet receives a death sentence.

As Elijah cowers in the cave, fearing for his life, the Lord comes to meet him. God did not appear however, in a fire, wind, or earthquake but in a still small voice, and it is this voice that is the focus of Spurgeon’s message.

It is not the howling winds, the roaring fires, or the thunderous earthquakes that made Elijah hide his face, but the still small voice of God. This unobtrusive whisper, Spurgeon says, is generally God’s means of bringing a soul to conversion. The Holy Spirit speaks not with fireworks, but with a quiet, internal call. This call is what leads us to believe the gospel.

Spurgeon recognizes that it is through the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit working in believers’ consciences that they grow in holiness. Often growth in godliness does not happen in dazzling explosions but through the patient, persistent power of the Spirit. Just as Elijah was convicted in his exposure to the living God, so we as believers are brought to conviction and repentance of our sin as the Holy Spirit, over time, opens our eyes to behold our Creator.

As we go out and share the gospel, we must remember that it is not by our might or skill that the lost are converted. No, salvation in Christ comes only through the “voice of gentle silence,” the still small voice of God.

Excerpt:

We must know this— that God will work by what means he pleases, and next that all means are useless apart from him. All wind, all fire, all earthquake, all power and grandeur, fail unless the still small voice be there and God be in it. The church has had this dinned into her ears, and doctrinally she believes it, but, alas, she practically goes forth and behaves as if the opposite theory were true. She looks for divine results to human causes, and is, therefore, full often deceived. Too much is her dependence fixed upon an arm of flesh, and while this is so we cannot expect to see the bare arm of the Eternal displayed in the midst of our camps.[…]
The Lord would have us know that he works rather by our weakness than by our strength, and often makes most use of us when in our own judgment we have displayed nothing but our feebleness.

Read the rest of the sermon here.



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.