Street Meeting Thirty Ninth

And he summoned ten of his slaves, gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’ 

Luke 19:13

This restless human longing to be the greatest, to be more, to stand first, to shine brightest, and to secure the chief seats at the right and left of the Lord—what is it all but human pride, carnal ambition, and vanity of our fallen nature? The trouble is not merely that men drive themselves to achieve great works. It is that their corrupt nature burns to occupy a place of distinction—to possess what belongs to God alone.

Am I now trying to gain the approval of people, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ!
Galatians 1:10

Greatness is never ascribed by God to fragile clay; of pride only do men seek to crown himself. Ever since the dawn of creation in the Garden, our poor souls have lusted to be as gods, claiming to know good and evil for ourselves. Yet, to entrust such high knowledge to a creature possessing a twisted, unregenerate heart is a sorrowful tragedy indeed! Everything good and holy that our fallen hands touch, we straightway pollute and spoil. No, greatness belongs solely to God, and thus the true fulfillment of man—created by His sovereign hand—can begin and end in none other than God Himself.

The work of our heavenly Father with us may appear slow to the eyes of learned men; yet to us, His promises remain sure. We aspire not after large numbers or outward show, but rather after true, living fruitfulness in the Spirit! Care nothing to be known of men, to be acknowledged of men, to be commended by men, neither be recorded in the registries of men, but we rejoice that our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and we are enabled to remain faithful to the Savior.

All my former inclinations toward outer churchly forms, reeking of the pride of men, have now completely withered away. By God’s grace, my whole heart now rests upon a single, holy purpose: the nurturing and quickening of the saints unto active, humble usefulness, and above all, that tender, fervent charity which is the true mark of Christ’s disciples.

The things of the past have lost all their sweetness and power over me. I look not behind at what might have been, but fix my gaze solely upon the blessed path laid before me—the quiet joy of bringing pleasure to the heart of my Jesus! I seek no longer merely to perform outward good deeds, but to be a living offering to the pleasure of my Lord, that He may see in us, as His redeemed, the precious reward of His sufferings and cross. Let the world run after human honor and earthly approval; as for me, my quiet reward is already resting safely in my Savior’s bosom!

Whenever I listen to the simple, heaven-sent supplications of the brethren, my spirit is deeply moved, for their breath breathes nothing of self, but everything of the glorious majesty of God and our helpless, utter reliance upon His daily mercy. Where in this wretched world can we ever hope to learn the true, hidden language of Christ’s heart, save as it is imparted to our yearning spirits by the Holy Spirit Himself? It is God alone who implants within us the very cries He binds Himself to answer. Oh, what divine glory shines upon this truth: that we may approach the Throne, ask whatsoever in His glorious name, and be denied nothing. In Christ, all is yea, never nay.

What greater thing can a desperate soul cry out for before the Throne, than to demand the very Spirit of Christ Himself? O that He would break in upon us and teach us how to truly pray! That He would tear away our coldness and impart a heart of flesh, a clean heart, and holy, burning desires! We can ask nothing higher of God, and God Himself has no greater gift in all His heavenly storehouses to bestow upon us than Christ!

Never have we laid our necessities before the eyes of men, but have carried them straight to God alone in prayer—and He, by His Spirit, moves upon His saints, though a small handful in number, to sustain His own work. God Himself guards His cause. He preserves it against the world, carefully feeding and cleansing it with the daily washing of His Word in the church's family worship. Yet, more than this—He has granted us the quiet, overwhelming joy of beholding His very hand at work, comforting our souls into ever deeper, sweeter dependence upon Him.

For the work of God, we reject all carnal strength and desire only the consuming fire of the Holy Ghost. Our very souls bear witness to the absolute truth of Holy Writ, that He alone hath enabled us to stand as servants of a new covenant—not tied to the dead, killing letter, but fueled by the living Spirit. Away with dead formality, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit alone giveth life (2 Cor 3:6). And in another place, where the Baptizer speaks of the mighty Savior who was to come after him, who should baptize us with the Holy Ghost and with fire (Matthew 3:11). 

I tell you, no true fire ever failed to command the eyes and hearts of men. When men see fire break out, they cannot remain indifferent—they are driven toward it. But where there is no heavenly fire, where souls are frozen in dead formality, men return to their own carnal business, care nothing for the things of God, and perish in their ease.

How? How in the name of God can a congregation be alive when dead men preach unto them? It is impossible! Just as the God of glory abandoned His tabernacle of old when the heart of Israel’s religion died and lived far apart from their proud professions, so too the letter of Scripture by itself can impart no life to the soul. Far be it from us to lay any fault with God’s infallible Word. The deficiency is not in the Holy Writ, but in the arrogant assumption that its mere intellectual dissection can ever impart life to a dead soul. Satan himself knows the Scripture well yet remains a fallen demon. To trust in a mere head-knowledge of the Word, while the heart remains unbroken and unquickened by the Spirit of God, is a delusion from the pit that slays thousands of religious professors.

Why, the very Mohammedans read the Scriptures all day long merely to cavil and find fault, leaving their hearts as hard and unchanged as ever. They are like the body of Adam before the breath of Life was imparted—a mere clay corpse. Except Almighty God breathes His sovereign power into His own Word, it will never, become living sustenance even to those, like Herod (Mark 6:20), whose hearts are sincerely given to hear it.

A powerless, formal professor of religion is a sad spectacle, for which a needy world has no use. The true life of a Christian is a life of divine power, for Christ Himself dwells within the heart, and walks in his person. It can never be a quiet, comfortable religion of ease, but a soul burning to declare the wonderful works of God. It is not a path of timidity or human fear, but a life filled with a holy, loving jealousy for the sacred name of Christ. It consists not in merely filling a pew week after week, but in a daily, quiet dying to self in joyful obedience to the Savior’s great commission.

But the people who know their God will act valiantly.

Daniel 11:32

Satan minds not those sleepy professors who do his work for him, happy in their theological prowess; no, the enemy aims his deadly arrows only at the advancing soldiers of the cross.

Power is never given to the sluggard—it falls upon the prophet only when he steps forward and opens his mouth in faith. Courage is not known until the sword is drawn in battle, and true spiritual experience is forged only in the furnace of obedience. The Father takes no pleasure in the hypocritical son who gives fair words, saying, ‘I will go,’ but moves not an inch. His pleasure abides with the son who, though he at first rebelled, was broken in spirit and went. Holy Writ cuts through all our religious pretensions when it commands: ‘Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.’(James 1:22) If the light we know regarding God does not drive us into relentless action for God, we have embraced a dead delusion, and have deceived ourselves.

How can wretched, destitute beggars know where bread is to be found, if no herald cries out to them that there is bread, and points them to the Living Bread? What cruelty, what wickedness for a beggar who has received bread to hoard it to himself while others perish in their rags. Such a professor is a useless, extinguished candle. He is a cloud without rain—a dead, mute theologian whose tongue is tied by carnal ease. He bears the name of Christ, yet lives in total, powerless condemnation.

Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king's household.” So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city.
2 Kings 7:9-10.

To follow Christ is no mere outward morality, nor is it the idle chanting of religious phrases that, we do all for God’s glory! To be a true Christian is to be bound in heart-union, wedded in the spirit, to Jesus Christ. The consummation of all human history is that great marriage supper in heaven between Christ and His pure, unspotted Bride. But even now, before that day breaks, the Bride’s heart is already slain by His love—captured, captivated, and indelibly knit to Him! She cannot and will not mingle with the world or prostitute her affections to other lords. She keeps herself pure for Him. She reserves herself wholly for her Groom. In this dark wilderness, her heart groans daily for the glorious return of Him who promised to take her to Himself, that where He is, there she shall be with Him forever (John 14:3). Let the soul the Bride rejoice—for the Almighty Father, who loves the Son, loves with that very same divine flame the Bride of His Son.

The true Church is not a mixed multitude of religious men, but a holy assembly of redeemed souls. Souls bought by blood in days gone by, whose single drive is to shout forth the wonders of the Lord so that He may conquer and redeem others after them! How shall perishing souls hear if no voice cries out to them? (Romans 10:14) 

Fallen man is a wretched, selfish coward. Until his blind eyes are opened to behold the blazing, matchless beauty of Christ, he remains a silent, timid coward. But no soul conceals its true riches. If Christ is a man’s supreme treasure, he is compelled to hold Him forth before all mankind. The coward keeps his mouth closed for one reason alone—he has no Christ to speak of. No creature can impart that which he does not have. Christ is worthy, therefore, this life must be spent for Him. The life must be spent, therefore, the servant of God must act. The servant must act, yet the power and the increase belong to God, and to God alone.

Yet let us remember that all we possess in Christ is no achievement of our flesh, but a gift poured out from above. There is no room for human boasting here—nothing remains for us but to fall in awe before such unsearchable goodness, such divine beauty.

Here I will use plainness of speech.
We should not want to be great. We want Christ to be seen as great. We believe that a life truly captured by Christ cannot remain content with doing nothing.

A dear brother recently laid open his heart, mourning over a worldly career now broken and undone. Ah, dear soul, what is an earthly career to one who belongs to the Lamb? His former companions may now possess high offices, earthly riches, and flattering titles, leaving him to feel cast aside and forgotten. But can a child of God ever be truly behind?

If God has called you to preach, do not stoop to be a king.
Phillip Brooks

Alas! They have received their poor reward, but he possesses the priceless, eternal treasure—Christ Himself! They may be recognized by earthly masters, but he is known and cherished by the heavenly Lord of lords! Human favor may surround them, but the Almighty God abides in him and with him! Tell me, then, who is truly left behind? The man who clings to a fleeting world that will one day pass away, or the man who is at peace with God through Christ, fully expectant of an eternal, uninterrupted life with God?

Jesus said, Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. Many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Mark 10:29-31