You havefour girls; Mary does the work of the rest--such help is not good. All help is dangerous for any of us when there is absence of mutuality. I am not allowed to think of myself as in one of those boat excursions, where some sit idle at the stern while some one else rows. There is nothing healthy or wholesome unless we work together.
I. We must not hinder. What a dreadful thing it is to read concerning the Pharisees, that they not only did not enter in themselves, but hindered those that were entering in. That may be done by ill-temper and by indifference.
II. Nerve yourself to triumph over hindrances. The river comes leaping on. Well, you say you cannot get over that rock, it is so high! “Oh! yes,” the river says, “I am going round that side.” Your life and mine ought to mean conquest.
III. It is pleasant to help. But when you are “helping together “ then the critics come. Look at Nehemiah’s work. These are the things that test your strength! Go on with the work, helping together!
IV. Note the variety of work. There is a great deal to be said for the numerous ways in which we may help.
V. This “helping together” will be rewarded in ways we little think of.
VI. The influence of work upon the worker. We are all disciplined by it. (W. M. Statham.)
Christians’ prayers the minister’s help
I. The objects at which Christian ministers aim.
1. The destruction of the empire of Satan.
2. To restore order and happiness to the world.
3. To bring glory to Christ.
4. To prepare souls for heaven.
II. The influence which your prayers will have on their attainment. They will--
1. Awaken the attention of beholders.
2. Honour the Holy Spirit, who is the great agent in the success of the gospel.
3. Prepare the Church for its safe enjoyment of prosperity.
4. Fall in with the will of God, as made known to us in His Word.
III. The motives which should engage you to the performance of thisduty.
1. It will tend to your own good.
2. There will be the use of other means to secure the good of the Church. He who prays as he ought will endeavour to live as he prays.
3. The great Lord of the Church hath set the example of prayer.
4. The Divine approbation it will surely receive. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
The power of prayer and the pleasure of praise
Although our apostle thus acknowledged God’s hand alone in his deliverance, yet he did not undervalue the second causes. Having first praised the God of all comfort, he now remembers with gratitude the earnest prayers of the many loving intercessors. Let us--
I. Acknowledge the power of united prayer.
1. God has been pleased to command us to pray, for prayer--
(1) Glorifies God, by putting man in the humblest posture of worship.
(2) Teaches us our unworthiness, which is no small blessing to such proud beings aswe are. While it is an application to Divine wealth, it is a confession of human emptiness.
(3) Apart from the answer which it brings, a great benefit to the Christian. As the runner gains strength for the race by daily exercise, so for the great race of life we acquire energy by the hallowed labour of prayer.
2. As many mercies are conveyed from heaven in the ship of prayer, so there are many choice and special favours which can only be brought to us by the fleets of united prayer. Many are the good things which God will give to His Elijahs and Daniels, but if two of you agree, etc., there is no limit to God’s bountiful answers. Peter might never have been brought out of prison if it had not been that prayer was made without ceasing by all the Church for him. Pentecost might never have come if all the disciples had not been “with one accord in one place.” Thus our gracious Lord sets forth His own esteem for the communion of saints. We cannot all preach, rule, or give gold and silver, but we can all contribute our prayers.
3. This united prayer should specially be made for the ministers of God.
(1) Their position is most perilous. Satan knows if he can once smite one of these there will be a general confusion, for if the champion be dead then the people fly. On returning from Rotterdam, when we were crossing the bar at the mouth of the Mass, where by reason of a neap tide and a bad wind the navigation was exceedingly dangerous, orders were issued--“All hands on deck!” So the life of a minister is so perilous, that I may well cry--“All hands on deck”; every man to prayer.
(2) A solemn weight of responsibility rests on them. The captain as we crossed that bar threw the lead himself into the sea; and when one asked why, he said, “At this point I dare not trust any man to heave the lead, for we have hardly six inches between our ship and the bottom.”
(3) Their preservation is one of the most important objects to the Church. You may lose a sailor from the ship, and that is very bad, but if the captain should be smitten, what is the vessel to do?
(4) How much more is asked of them than of you.
4. I find that in the original the word for “helping together” implies very earnest work. Some people’s prayers have no work in them. Melancthon derived great comfort from the information that certain poor weavers, woman and children, had met together to pray for the Reformation. It was not Luther only, but the thousands of poor persons who offered supplications, that made the Reformation what it was.
II. Excite you to praise.
1. Praise should always follow answered prayer, the mist of earth’s gratitude should rise asthe sun of heaven’s love warms the ground. Tongue-tied Christians are a sad dishonour to the Church.
2. United praise has a very special commendation, it is like music in concert. It is a volume of harmony. The praise of one Christian is accepted before God like a grain of incense; but the praise of many is like a censer full of frankincense smoking up before the Lord.
3. As united prayer should be offered specially for ministers, so should united praise. We ought to praise God for good ministers--
(1) That they live, for when they die much of their work dies with them.
(2) For preserved character, for when a minister falls, what a disgrace it is!
(3) If the minister be kept well supplied with goodly matter, and if he be kept sound. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
