Dealing with the Dead

C.H. Spurgeon is known as the "prince of preachers," but it is not only his brilliant preaching and writing ministry which impresses me.  Like Dwight L. Moody, Spurgeon had an intense passion to bring children to faith in Jesus Christ.  He did not relish time in his lofty pulpit preaching to thousands more than dropping to a knee to speak face to face with one small child.  We cannot ask him today, but I imagine he would find greater delight in privately ministering to a little one in Christ's name than receive a public commendation from the Queen of England.  Today I read an address to the Sunday School teacher's union by Spurgeon in March 1867 at a prayer breakfast titled, "How to Raise the Dead."  Here is a link for you to read it yourself.

Spurgeon made it clear Sunday School teachers have a sober duty and calling to bring children to faith in Christ.  It is not a session of upstanding moral guidance or just to mind children whilst the "real" ministry is happening in the sanctuary:  Sunday School teachers lead the charge to win souls for the kingdom of God.  Using the case of Elisha bringing the dead son of the Shunammite woman back to life through the power of God, Spurgeon explained:

"The position of Elisha in this case is exactly your position, brethren, in relation to your work for Christ.  Elisha had to deal with a dead child.  It is true that, in his instance, it was natural death; but the death with which you have to come in contact is not the less real death because it is spiritual.  The boys and girls in your classes are as surely as grown-up people, "dead in trespasses and sins."  May none of you fail fully to realise the state in which all human beings are naturally found.  Unless you have a very clear sense of the utter ruin and spiritual death of your children, you will be incapable of being made a blessing to them.  Go to them, I pray you, not as to sleepers whom you can by your own power awaken from their slumber, but as to spiritual corpses who can only be quickened by a power divine.  Elisha's great object was not to cleanse the dead body, or embalm it with spices, or wrap it in fine linen, or place it in an appropriate posture, and then leave it still a corpse:  he aimed at nothing less than the restoration of the child to life.  Beloved teachers, may you never be content with aiming at secondary benefits, or even with realising them; may you strive for the grandest of all ends, the salvation of immortal souls.  Your business is not merely to teach the children in your classes to read the Bible, not barely to inculcate the duties of morality, nor even to instruct them in the mere letter of the gospel, but your high calling is to be the means, in the hands of God, of bringing life from heaven to dead souls." (Spurgeon, C. H. C.H. Spurgeon's works as published in his monthly magazine The Sword and the Trowel. Vol. 1. Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications, 1975. Print. pg. 100)

Spurgeon concluded the address with these searching thoughts:

"Ah!  My friend, may God in his mercy give you life, for how else can you expect to be the means of quickening others?  If Elisha had been a corpse himself it would have been a hopeless task to expect life to be communicated through placing one corpse upon another.  It is vain for that little class of dead souls to gather around another dead soul such as you are.  A dead mother frostbitten and cold cannot cherish her little one.  What warmth, what comfort can come to those who shiver before an empty grate?  And such are you.  May you have a work of grace in your own soul first, and then may the blessed and Eternal Spirit, who alone can quicken souls, make you to be the means of quickening many to the glory of his grace." (ibid. pg. 108)

Many people face teaching children with great trepidation often because of perceive personal weakness and insufficiency.  It would be atrocious to refuse to obey God's call to minister to children because of unbelief or sloth.  Are any sufficient for these things?  Aren't the things God has called us all to do utterly impossible for us, to bring a dead soul to life?  Yet what is impossible with men is easily accomplished by God in His time.  May God strip us of our self-confidence so we might seek Him earnestly and in weakness be made fruitful by the Holy Spirit.  Once we are quickened by the Holy Spirit who fills us in power, then we by His grace can bring His saving life to others.  Let us not be content to wax warm when we can be fanned into flame as a living sacrifice unto our LORD.

God's Friend

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. ¹⁴  You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."

John 15:13-15

It is a common lament for people to feel they have no real friends.  This despairing feeling may arise when people do not rise to our expectations of what friends should be.  This overwhelming sense of friendlessness should never mark the life of a Christian, for Jesus has chosen us to be His friends.  Jesus called His disciples friends and demonstrated the reality of this through revelation from God.  He demonstrated His love through laying down His life on Calvary.  The big question is not if God is friendly towards us but are we truly His friends?  He has offered us unfailing friendship, but have we demonstrated we are His friends by obedience?

Abraham was a man scripture describes as a "friend of God."  His obedience of God's commands - not a profession of faith or theological system of belief - revealed him to be a friend of God.  James 2:21-23 said, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? ²²  Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? ²³  And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God."  Abraham showed genuine faith by his obedience to God.  Humans are good at being friendly to people we hardly know.  God has extended friendship to all, but if we will be His friend we must obey Him.  Those who are friends of God will receive additional revelations of God, for He speaks to His friends freely - even face to face.

Obedience to God's commands is a critical part of following Jesus as His disciple.  Matthew 28:18-20 reads, "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen."  Jesus did not merely command those He commissioned to teach others all things He said but to teach "them to observe all things that I have commanded you."  As disciples of Jesus we are to do more than aim at teaching information but to live obediently whilst exhorting people to live in obedience to Christ's commands.  Once we are born again through faith in Jesus, we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to understand and live according to God's will, to love one another as He loves us.

People are happy with revelation without relationship.  They seek advice - even paying for it - to have insight into what is their best course of action.  God, on the other hand, reveals Himself so we might have a growing relationship with Him.  He puts Himself willingly in the vulnerable position of being rejected, though He will never reject one who comes to Him in faith.  The truth is, if we don't obey God, we won't grow.  The old song begins, "What a friend we have in Jesus..." and we will only begin to give this relationship the appreciation and attention it warrants when we are His friends through obedience.  Would God count you among His friends?

"Set It and Forget It!"

If you lived in the United States in the '90s and had a television, undoubtedly you were exposed to Ron Popeil selling his wares.  I remember how many times I saw him bustle through a kitchen in an apron demonstrating Ronco products.  Countless times during his pitches the famous inventor and pitchman repeated with an enthusiastic studio audience, "Set it and forget it!"  This memorable and simple phrase tapped into a desire which appeals to many people.  The selling point of the "Showtime Rotisserie" is how it produced consistent quality results with minimal effort.  People had better things to do than fiddle with timers and temperature controls, and the idea of setting and forgetting sounded great.  We all have enough to remember and worry about, right?  One issue Ron's clever catchphrase didn't address was how to remember to "set it" in the first place!

What is the typical human response when we can't forget about something?  We obsess over the thing.  We worry and lose sleep.  How we would love to just "Set it and forget it!" so our troubles would be over with minimal work and effort!  The truth may very well be the only thing you can "set and forget" is a rotisserie roast, chicken, or leg of lamb.  Something as simple as keeping the lawn green and weed-free can weigh upon a mind, and how much more do issues which arise from relationships or hurts from the past!  You cannot "set and forget" a marriage, parenting, home or car maintenance, or concerning following Jesus.  It is impossible for us to forget bad things which have happened or things people have said to us or about us.  At the same time we must progress through those things, for it we "set" on them our minds will be fixed on them.  Life is full of labour, and daily working out our salvation practically is what God has called us to do.  Jesus forbid His disciples to worry, something which comes as natural for humans as drawing breath.

Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14, "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Paul did not forget his past, but it no longer defined him.  He did not continually grieve his failures or take pride in his apparent success.  Like a chef carefully monitors the temperature of an oven, wok, or range, so Paul kept his attention dialed in on Jesus Christ and his call to follow.  Similar to a rotisserie oven Paul basically did one thing:  he pressed on with his life committed to Jesus Christ.  An upward call involves climbing and hard work, but God would be faithful to enable Paul to run with endurance the race set before him.  Through the Holy Spirit we are able to keep casting our cares upon Jesus because He cares for us.

"Set it and forget it!" may work for rotisserie chicken, but not for followers of Jesus Christ.  We are called to remember and proclaim the love of Jesus Christ demonstrated on the cross until He comes back.  We are to forget the things which are behind and reach forward to those things which are ahead, even if we do so with trepidation.  All the better for us if we do so with fear and trembling, for then we will be reminded to trust God with each step we take.  Praise the LORD, for He does not forget us!

For or Against You?

"And Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me."

Genesis 42:36

After prayer this morning God spoke to me through His Word.  Whilst praying over problems and trials people are facing, there was a temptation to despair.  But immediately I thought better of it, for what is a problem in light of God's goodness and power?  Even if the whole world was against me and the forces of demonic evil unleashed with only me in those satanic sights, God remains good and in control!  Like Paul boldly said from experience after facing death every day, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) The very things Satan would employ to bring us to despair are the very things God can use to bring joy and salvation.

Don't believe me?  Jacob's response to his sons is a perfect demonstration of the reality God uses all things for the ultimate good of those who love Him and are the called according to His purposes.  Jacob had been told and was convinced his beloved son Joseph had died at 17 years old whilst on an errand for his dad.  After a famine overspread the land, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy food.  His sons returned without Simeon who had been arrested because the harsh ruler of Egypt suspected them to be spies.  To prove their innocence the ruler demanded their youngest brother be brought back to Egypt, and only then would Simeon be released.  Jacob was overwhelmed with the situation and felt like everything was against him.  It was a lose-lose situation for a father still grieving the death of Joseph to hear Simeon was in prison and to free him he must part with Benjamin!

What Jacob didn't know was Joseph was not actually dead but was the harsh Egyptian ruler!  Instead of killing Jacob years earlier, his jealous brothers sold Joseph to slave traders who were heading to Egypt.  God miraculously brought Joseph out of prison at the age of 30 and promoted him to second in command in Egypt.  The Spirit of God gave Joseph wisdom to interpret dreams which foretold of a great famine and provided guidance on how to survive the famine.  Jacob wasn't seeing the situation clearly at all.  He accused his sons of bereaving him, but the reality was God sovereignly sent Joseph in Egypt to save countless lives - even the life of Jacob himself and his family.  Joseph acknowledged this before his brothers in Genesis 45:7:  "And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance."  The children Jacob loved dearly would only survive because of the very thing Jacob would have carried grieving to his grave.  Think about this.  The things Jacob believed were against him actually all were God's providence working for him and the salvation of nations.  A day came when they would all be joyfully reunited.

Could it be the very things you lament as being "against you" are working for your own salvation?  Instead of blaming God, accusing others of wrong, or stacking up all which appears to be against us in a pile that reaches to heaven, how much better is it for us to turn our gaze heavenward to our great God who loves us and will indeed work all miraculously for good? (Romans 8:28) The world may indeed be against you, but isn't God greater than the world?  Though Christ we can conquer even that which kills us.  Romans 8:35-39 says, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶  As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." ³⁷  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹  nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."