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SUBJECT: 01a De 1:38 Encourage Your Minis
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Delivered on Sunday Morning, October 18th, 1863, by the
Rev. C. H. SPURGEON,
At Cornwall Road Chapel, Bayswater
MOSES COULD NOT CONDUCT the people into the promised land. Nor can the law bring any man to heaven. The law may lead a man out of the Egypt of his sin, and it may bring him into the wilderness of conviction; there it may provide him with food, and nourish him with some little comfort, but the law can never give rest to the spirit. Into Canaan Moses can never conduct the Israel of God. This was left for Joshua, whose name, you know, is but another form of the name Jesus. As Joshua alone could drive the Canaanites out of the land, and give a portion to all the seed of Israel, so Jesus alone can give rest unto the heirs of heaven. Moses cannot do it. He may see the promised land, but he can never enter it. Legal convictions may be accompanied with some desires towards divine things, ay, and some apprehensions of their sweetness too; but the ultimate enjoyment, the rest which remaineth for the people of God, can only come to the believer through Jesus Christ. See here the weakness of the law. It is not able to bring us to our rest. "By the works of the law shall no flesh living be justified." Fly then, to Jesus; for he is the Captain of our salvation, by whom our foes shall be subdued, and our everlasting inheritance secured.
Nor is the Divine Father alone concerned. Is not the Son of God concerned in the welfare of his brethren? He hath bought them with his blood. That which a man dearly purchases he will highly prize. If he did not, it would be as much as to confess that he had paid too costly a sum for what he bought. Ye are bought with a price. A price it was tremendous enough; the King of Glory gave his heart's blood to redeem poor worms like ourselves, but he will never confess that he gave too much for us. In love he will esteem the purchase equal to the price he paid. The love and the price are both infinite. As he looks upon any one of his people, he says, "There is my purchase," and he values you not so much for what you are intrinsically worth, as because he sees the drops of his own blood upon you. "There," says he is the travail of my soul; there is the divine satisfaction my Father gives me for the sufferings I endured." Think you that when he thus values his servants he will leave them without his help? It cannot be. Moreover our blessed Lord has passed through precisely those very troubles to which he calls his people. "We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." "He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." The thorn in your foot pierced his heel before it touched you. The sorrow which sends the tears gushing from your eye has first of all swollen his heart.
The Man of Sorrows had a part."
"In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them." If you have been widowed yourself you feel a compassion for those who are brought into the like state, to which others who have never passed through it are strangers. Were you ever a fatherless child, I know you will love orphans. Now our Lord and Master was forsaken of his Father. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" saith he. He hath gone all the length of human grief, and therefore it is not possible that he should be inconsiderate concerning any one of his beloved.
Do you think the Head will not care for the members? Shall I let my finger fester uncared for, until it needs to be cut away from mortification? Not while my brain can think, or my tongue can speak. And Jesus, so long as he can see his people, and his tongue can make any intercession, will not let even the meanest member of his mystical body suffer for lack of supplies. Even as God cared for Joshua, so doth Christ care for you this morning, beloved member of the body of Christ.
Observe well how far the tender consideration of God for his servants extends! He not only considers their outward state, and the absolute interests of their condition, but he remembers their spirits, and loves to see them of good courage. Some people think it a small thing for a believer to be full of doubts and fears, but I do not think so. I perceive from this text that my Master would not have you entangled with fears. He would have you without carefulness, without doubt, without sorrow; he says, "Encourage him"—as much as if he had told Moses that it was an important thing for his servant Joshua to have his courage duly sustained. My Master does not think so lightly of your unbelief as you do. You are desponding this morning; well, this is a grievous matter. My Lord loveth not to see your countenance sad. It was a law, you remember, of Ahasuerus, that no one should come into the king's court dressed in mourning; but it is not the law of my Master, for you may come mourning as you are; but still he would have you put off those rags and that sackcloth, for surely there is much reason to rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. Be of good courage; wait on the Lord, for he will renew your strength.
Besides, labor is light to a man of cheerful spirit! You can work all day and almost all night, when the spirits are right, but once let the heart sink and your soul lack encouragement, and then you grow weary, and cry, "Would God it were evening, and the shadows were drawn out, that we might rest from our toil." Success waits upon cheerfulness. The man who toils, rejoicing in his God, believing with all his heart, has success guaranteed. He who sows in hope shall reap in joy. He who trusts in the Lord and laughs at impossibilities, shall soon find that there are no impossibilities to laugh at, for to the man who is confident in Jehovah, all things are possible. It is thus of paramount importance that the spirits of the Christian should be constantly kept up. God so considers it. Thus saith the Lord, "Encourage him"—"Make the good man's heart glad; make the believer sing with joy; encourage him."
To whom, then, should this work of encouraging the people be committed? Surely the elders should do it; those of riper years than their fellows. I know some aged persons, who whenever they see a young Christian, make it a point to inform him of all the difficulties and perils of the road. Like Mistrust and Timorous, they have always a doleful story to tell about the way to heaven. This was the old style of Christian in many of our Churches. For my part, I think that the aged Christian is better employed in looking after the lambs of the flock and trying to carry them in his bosom. Talk cheerily to the young and anxious enquirer, lovingly try to remove stumbling-blocks out of his way. When you find a spark of grace in the heart, kneel down and blow it into a flame. Leave the young believer to discover the roughness of the road by degrees. Tell him of the strength which dwells in God, of the sureness of the promise, of the delightfulness of fellowship with Jesus, of the charms of communion with Christ. Entice the young Christian on, as good mothers teach their children to walk by holding out here a sweetmeat and there some tempting thing that they may put their trembling feet one before the other, and at last know how to walk. I would that every Church had many of these aged brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers in Israel, who take this for their motto whenever they see a young Christian,—"Encourage him." I know of nothing more inspiriting than to hear the experience of a gray-headed saint. I have found much spiritual comfort in sitting at the feet of my venerable grandfather, more than eighty years of age. The last time I saw him I said to him, "I suppose you have had many trials, grandfather?" He said, "I have not had too many, and the most of what I have had, I have made myself." "And do you think that God will ever leave his people?" "No," said he, "for if he would leave one of them he would have left me, but he is a faithful God, and I have proved him, for I have known his love more than seventy years, and yet he has been faithful to me. Not one good thing hath failed of all that the Lord God hath promised." Why, it comes home to the hearts of us young people and makes us feel that we have found something which it is safe to depend upon when those who have gone through the valley can bear such a word of testimony as this. Do not let a word of peevishness come out of thy mouth, my aged brother; let no syllable of complaining escape thee, my sister. Let thy mouth be filled with thy Lord's praise, and with his honor all the day, and so thou wilt encourage others.
Nor can I doubt that the happier sort of Christians ought always to be engaged in comforting the mournful and sorrowing. You know whom I mean; their eyes always sparkle; wherever they go they carry lamps bright with animation, sunshine gleams in their faces, they live in the light of God's countenance. We have some of a more sombre countenance, good people too; they always see the black side of affairs. Now, you who are happy, try to encourage those that are downcast. Oh, dear friends, I am afraid we neglect this duty, many of us. You will say, "How can I perform it?" Speak a kind word always; find out those who are weary and give them a word of consolation. Even a smile from your face may do them good. Do not avoid them because they are melancholy, but rather pursue them. Hunt them out, do not let them be quiet in their nest of thorns, but if the Lord has given it to you to soar aloft into the clear blue ether, try to carry your friend with you, and lift him above the clouds. Suppose your house is on a hill, and he lives down in the marsh, ask him to climb the hill and stay with you. Perhaps you have the keys of the promise, use the key and open the door for him. It is just possible that you may live in the upper storeys where you can see further and behold more of the blessed land. Ask him to come up from his cellar and walk on the roof of your palace, and scan the prospect through your telescope, "Encourage him."
III. I advance to THE OBJECT that is uppermost in my mind. It struck me some six weeks ago that I might say a few things to my brother's congregation which he might not like to say himself, and that as this was a new enterprise—and I am sure all our hearts anxiously desire it the very richest success—I might possibly take the liberty of saying a few things to you, the congregation clustering around this pulpit, which may be useful in the future of the Church. I shall speak of him as a stranger, as I should speak of any other young man anxious to build up a Church and glorify his Master. I believe there is a special occasion for the exercise of this duty of encouraging one another in the case of the minister and Church in this place. It is a fresh enterprise surrounded with peculiar difficulties, and demanding special labor. "Why," say you, "should a minister need encouraging? We have plenty of troubles all the week long, with our losses here, and crosses there, we want encouragements, but surely ministers do not." Ah! if you want to have a refutation of that idea you had better come into this pulpit, and occupy it a little time. If you would like to exchange, I would truly say that so far as the pleasure of my voice is concerned, apart from the spiritual joy my Lord gives me, I would change places with a crossing-sweeper, or a man who breaks stones on the road. Let a man carry out the office of a Christian minister aright, and he will never have any rest. "God help," says Richard Baxter, "the man who thinks the minister's an easy life." Why, he works not only all day, but in his sleep you will find him weeping for his congregation, starting in his sleep with his eyes filled with tears, as if he had the weight of his congregation's sins resting on his heart, and could not bear the load. I would not be that man in the ministry who does not feel himself so fearfully responsible, that if he could escape from the ministry by going with Jonah into the depths of the sea, he would cheerfully do it; for if a minister is what he should be, there is such a weight of solemn concern, such a sound of trembling in his ears, that he would choose any profession or any work, however arduous, sooner than the preacher's post. "If the watchman warn them not they shall perish, but their blood will I require at the watchman's hands." To sit down and spell over the question—"Am I free of his blood?" is terrible. I have sometimes thought I must have a day or two of rest, but I frankly confess that rest is very little rest to me, for I think I hear the cries of perishing souls, the wailings of spirits going down to hell, who chide me thus: "Preacher, can you rest? Minister, can you be silent? Ambassador of Jesus can you cast aside the robes of your office? Up! and to your work again." As Mr. Whitfield said, when he thought of the ministry, and what was concerned in it, he wanted to stand on the top of every hackney coach in London and preach the gospel as he rode along. It is a work so solemn that if you do not encourage your minister, your minister will probably sink down in despair. Remember that the man himself needs encouragement, because he is weak. Who is sufficient for these things? To serve in any part of the spiritual army is dangerous, but to be a captain is to be doubly exposed. The most of the shots are aimed at the officers. If Satan can find a flaw in our character, then it will be, "Publish it, publish it, publish it!" If he can lead us to keep back a doctrine or go amiss in practice, or wander in experience, he is glad enough. How delighted is the devil to break the vessels of mercy. Pray for the poor man, whom you expose to perish, if you do not preserve him by supplication. If there were a ship at sea stranded and broken on the rocks, and some one volunteered to carry a rope to the sinking crew, you, standing on the shore, could do no more, methinks you could not do less, than cry, "O God! help him to bear the rope to that wrecked ship." Pray for the minister and encourage him, for there are plenty to discourage him. There are always carping spirits abroad who will remind him of any fault; he will be afflicted by those dastards who will not dare to sign their names to a letter, but send it to him anonymously; and then there is the devil, who, the moment the man has got out of the pulpit, will say, "There is a poor sermon! You will never dare to preach again." After he has been preaching for weeks there will come a suggestion, "You are not in your proper sphere of labor." There are all sorts of discouragements to be met with. Professing Christians will backslide. Those who do remain will often be inconsistent, and he will be sighing and crying in his closet, while you, perhaps, are thanking God that your souls have been fed under him. Encourage your minister, I pray you, wherever you attend—encourage him for your own sake. A discouraged minister is a serious burden upon the congregation. When the fountain gets out of order, you cannot expect to find water at any of the taps; and if the minister be not right, it is something like a steam engine in a great manufactory—everybody's loom is idle when the motive-power is out of order. See that he is resting upon God and receiving his divine power, and you will all know, each Sabbath day, the benefit of it. This is the least thing you can do. There are many other things which may cause you expense, effort, time, but to encourage the minister is so easy, so simple a matter, that I may well press upon you to do it.
Again, let me say by often being present at the prayer-meeting you can encourage the minister. You can always tell how a Church is getting on by the prayer-meetings. I will almost prophecy the kind of sermon on the Sabbath, from the sort of prayer-meeting on the Monday. If many come up to the house of God, and they are earnest, the pastor will get a blessing from on high; it cannot but be, for God opens the windows of heaven to believing prayer. Never fail to plead for your pastor in your closet. Oh, dear friends, when you mention a father's name, and a child's name, let the minister's name come forth too. Give him a large share in your heart, and both in private and public prayer, encourage him. Encourage him, again, by letting him know if you have received any good. Oh, if there should come into this house of prayer a sinner needing a Savior, and not knowing the way, and my brother's words shall point him to the Savior's cross; if he should be the means of showing you what faith means, and of leading you to believe in him who hath reconciled us unto God by his death, do not conceal the good news—come and tell it. The best way to do it will be by proposing to be united with the Church in fellowship. Our Church meeting-nights, when we receive fresh candidates into fellowship, are the harvest nights in the Christian ministry. Then we see how God's cause prospers in our hand. But if many in the Church who have been converted fail to let the minister know it, and hold back, how is the poor man to be comforted? I know I address some here—God's people—who have never made a profession. Suppose all God's people did as you do—and they have as much right to do it as you have—how, I ask you, would the ministry itself be maintained? How could ministers' hearts be kept from breaking, if they never knew of any conversion? Make haste. Do not put it off. Delay not to keep God's commandments, but come forward at once, and acknowledge what God has done for your soul.
Gather round my brother, all of you, and encourage him, by earnestly aiding and abetting him in every good word and work. There is a neighbourbood here, I am told, requiring evangelization. Here we have, side-by-side, poverty and riches. Shall not yonder wretched potteries be the better for the building of this house of prayer. I am sure my friend Sir Morton Peto would think he had wasted his money, if it were merely for the gathering of a congregation, and not for improving the neighborhood. We build our houses of prayer always with a view to the people round about. We believe it is like opening a well in the wilderness, or a caravansary or oasis in the desert, or placing a drinking-fountain where thirsty souls may drink. It is introducing a new physician into the neighborhood to attend to the diseases and sickness of souls. Oh, how my heart yearns after the success of this house—not only because the minister is my brother, but because he is a valiant soldier of Christ. To preach the truth he has not hesitated to make himself a multitude of enemies elsewhere, and will not be ashamed to do the same here, if the same case should occur. I honor him, because he has honored my Master; and I expect that you will get from him the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth—so far as God has taught it to him. I know he is ready to lay down his own neck for the conversion of souls. I know his earnestness to do anything for the conversion of sinners. And if you do not encourage him, you will bring down upon your head every curse of those who reject the prophet of God, but encouraging him, you will see a Church flocking around him which shall last long after our time, which shall be a perennial stream of benediction to ages yet unborn, until Christ himself shall come and consummate the kingdom, by reigning himself in person among the sons of men. May the Lord grant his blessing!
"TYPE=PICT;ALT= "Some of you cannot encourage the minister. You can encourage no one, for you are not born again yourselves. Oh, if you have not passed from death unto life, the first thing that can encourage him is to begin to think about your own state. Where are you? What are you? Out of God, out of Christ, out of safety? You will be out of life and out of heaven—shut in the pit for ever, except you repent. Oh, you will encourage the preacher, if the Lord lead you to consider your ways and turn from sin and from self-righteousness too, and look to the Almighty Savior, able to save unto the uttermost all among you who shall trust him. May the Lord add a blessing, for Christ's sake. Amen.