STOP WHINING AND START WINNING

Are we on the verge of World War III?  Is the economy shrinking?  What are we to say of the apparent decline of the church and depravity of the culture?  We can just whine about it—and that will only make things worse.  Or, we can start winning souls to Christ!  That will make a difference!  Spurgeon put it this way:

I know that with many of us there is a tendency to sit down and say, “All things are wrong,  the world gets darker and darker, and everything is going to the bad.” We sit and fret together in most delightful misery, and try to cheer each other downwards into greater depths of despair!  Do we not often act thus? Alas! it is so, and we feel happy to think that other people will blend in blessed harmony of misery with us in all our melancholies; or if we do stir ourselves at little, we feel that there is not much good in our service, and that very little can possibly come of it. This message of our Master seems to me to be something like fine sound of a  trumpet. I have given you the strains of a dulcimer, but now there rings out the clarion note of a trumpet. Here is the power to enable you to “go.” Therefore, “go” away from your dunghills,  away from your ashes and your dust. Shake yourselves from your melancholy. The bugle calls, “Boot and saddle! Up and away!” The battle has begun, and every good soldier of Jesus Christ must be to the front for his Captain and his Lord.  Because all power is given unto Christ, He passes on that power  to His people, and sends them forth to battle and to victory.

I don’t know all that the future holds, but I know Who holds the future. God has made the outcome clear, but the timing is only known to Him. May we have the desperate drive of the four lepers who sat starving outside the besieged city of Samaria and asked, “Why are we sitting here until we die?” (2 Kings‬ ‭7‬:‭3).  God not only provided a miracle for them, but poured out blessing on His people through them.

I think of the thousands of starfish that washed up on the beach in a storm, where they would die. A little lad knowing this picked one up and tossed it into the water, again and again. An old fellow watched with amusement and asked, “Son, do you think that will make any difference?”  The boy picked up another and cast it into the surf. He said, “It did for that one!” 

So, whatever challenges you are facing today—get up and go forward. Stop whining and start winning. 

A BURDEN FOR SOULS

Spurgeon was a passionate preacher and a zealous soul-winner.  But, all God’s men should be.  What is it that fueled such a fire in Spurgeon’s heart—and might it not also do so for me and for you?  Here are his words:

Death-beds are grand schools for us. They are intended to act as tonics to brace us to our work. I have come down from the bed-chambers of the dying, and thought that everybody was mad, and myself most of all. I have grudged the earnestness which men devoted to earthly things, and half said to myself,–Why was that man driving along so hastily? Why was that woman walking out in such finery? Since they were all to die so soon, I thought nothing worth their doing but preparing to meet their God. To be often where men die will help us to teach them both to die and to live.  

M'Cheyne was wont to visit his sick or dying hearers on the Saturday afternoon, for, as he told Dr. James Hamilton, "Before preaching he liked to look over the verge."  

I pray you, moreover, measure your work in the light of God. Are you God's servant or not? If you are, how can your heart be cold? Are you sent by a dying Savior to proclaim his love and win the reward of his wounds, or are you not? If you are, how can you flag? Is the Spirit of God upon you? Has the Lord anointed you to preach glad tidings to the poor? If he has not, do not pretend to it. If he has, go in this thy might, and the Lord shall be thy strength. Yours is not a trade, or a profession. Assuredly if you measure it by the tradesman's measure it is the poorest business on the face of the earth. Consider it as a profession: who would not prefer any other, so far as golden gains or worldly honors are concerned? But if it be a divine calling, and you a miracle-worker, dwelling in the supernatural, and working not for time but for eternity, then you belong to a nobler guild, and to a higher fraternity than any that spring of earth and deal with time.  

Look at it aright, and you will own that it is a grand thing to be as poor as your Lord, if, like him, you may make many rich; you will feel that it is a glorious thing to be as unknown and despised as were your Lord's first followers, because you are making him known, whom to know is life eternal. You will be satisfied to be anything or to be nothing, and the thought of self will not enter your mind, or only cross it to be scouted as a meanness not to be tolerated by a consecrated man. There is the point.  

Measure your work as it should be measured, and I am not afraid that your earnestness will be diminished. Gaze upon it by the light of the judgment day, and in view of the eternal rewards of faithfulness. Oh, brethren, the present joy of having saved a soul is overwhelmingly delightful; you have felt it, I trust, and know it now. To save a soul from going down to perdition brings to us a little heaven below, but what must it be at the day of judgment to meet spirits redeemed by Christ, who learned the news of their redemption from our lips! We look forward to a blissful heaven in communion with our Master, but we shall also know the added joy of meeting those loved ones whom we led to Jesus by our ministry. Let us endure every cross, and despise all shame, for the joy which Jesus sets before us of winning men for him.  

One more thought may help to keep up our earnestness. Consider the great evil which will certainly come upon us and upon our hearers if we be negligent in our work. "They shall perish"–is not that a dreadful sentence? It is to me quite as awful as that which follows it,–"but their blood will I require at the watchman's hand." How shall we describe the doom of an unfaithful minister? And every unearnest minister is unfaithful.  

I would infinitely prefer to be consigned to Tophet as a murderer of men's bodies than as a destroyer of men's souls; neither do I know of any condition in which a man can perish so fatally, so infinitely, as in that of the man who preaches a gospel which he does not believe, and assumes the office of pastor over a people whose good he does not intensely desire. Let us pray to be found faithful always, and ever. God grant that the Holy Spirit may make and keep us so. (Lectures to My Students, pp. 319-320, Kindle Version)

That is my sincere prayer for myself and those preachers who read these words. Let us get alone with God and not come out until the fire of God for the perishing burns with holy zeal in our soul!  When we stand to preach, the people will know, and they will come to watch us burn.  

HOW MANY FISH DID YOU CATCH?

I must confess straightway that I am not much of a fisherman. I don’t have the patience for it. If I cannot reel in one after another, I get no joy from it. That is not a knock on fishing. It is just the way I am wired.

Those of you who are fishermen are reading this and shaking your head. You love to fish. Had you been there when Peter said, “I am going fishing,” you would have responded as the other disciples and said, “We are going with you also.”

There is nothing wrong with fishing. Yet, I wonder in this instance, if the disciples had misplaced priorities. 

Think of their AUDACITY.  The disciples had been commanded by the Lord to fish—for men. Again, fishing as an industry is commendable and fishing as a hobby may be enjoyable. Yet, think of the timing of this. Jesus had only days ago been crucified. Not long before, His lifeless corpse had risen from the tomb!  The disciples had the most exciting news for sinners that could possibly be told, yet what were their priorities?  Fishing for men?  No—they had the audacity just to fish. 

Please do not miss what I am saying. Gospel workers cannot be on the job 24/7. We all need a break. God ordained one day out of seven as a needful Sabbath. Yet, if we are not cautious, we may fritter away the hours and waste opportunities on the trivial. 

How many men and women did you catch last week for Christ?  Jesus asked them if they had caught anything. If I took no time to share the Gospel last week, it is no wonder I have not caught any souls!

But, listen to Christ’s AUTHORITY. These men knew about fishing. They had failed, however. Then, the Risen Lord told them to cast the net on the right side of the boat. 

What difference would that make? 

To their credit, they obeyed His authority and what a catch!  Peter immediately recognized the One speaking to them—“It is the Lord!” Ever impulsive, he dove in and swam to shore to bow before Christ. 

If we are not being productive in ministry, maybe we are not surrendered to Christ’s authority. We call Him Lord and fail to do what He says. Our time, talent, and treasure have been given to us by God. All we have and all we are belongs to Him. He has the final word. We are simply stewards. The question is, “Am I a faithful steward?”  We exhort the people to be, yet are we exemplifying the pattern for them?

The Lord can bless us ABUNDANTLY. They caught so many fish, they could not haul in the net. They had to drag it along as they struggled to row back to shore. 153 fish were in the net and thankfully the net did not break.

There will be times when we labor in fishing for souls and catch nothing. We must surrender to Christ’s sovereignty. We can cast the net, but only God can save a soul. 

Yet, if we cast the Gospel net faithfully, in His time Christ will enable us to labor fruitfully. Changing the analogy, we can claim this promise: “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”  (Galatians‬ ‭6‬:‭9‬‬)

There will be a harvest from our labor—a catch from our fishing—if we persevere. 

So, preacher, perhaps you have labored all week and are worn out. Today, you need a break. You might go fishing or golfing. I am not going to criticize you. Your church members do enough of that. 

All I am challenging us to consider is, “Am I being faithful and trusting God to make me fruitful?”  It is the Lord who gives that ability. What He wants from me is my availability.

Ponder the words of the old Gospel song,

Must I go, and empty handed, 
Thus my dear Redemer meet! 
Not one day of service give Him, 
Lay no trophy at His feet?

O the years in sinnng wasted, 
Could I but recall them now, 
I would give them to my Savior, 
To His will I’d gladly bow.

O ye saints, arouse, be earnest, 
Up and work while yet ’tis day; 
Ere the night of death o’ertake thee, 
Strive for souls while still you may.

Must I go, and empty handed? 
Must I meet my Savior so? 
Not one soul with which to greet Him; 

Must I empty handed go?

STUFF I’VE LEARNED THAT SEMINARY DIDN’T TEACH ME #39

Schedule times for outreach and evangelism. What gets scheduled, gets done. We may intend to share our faith, but unless we have regular times to do it (which is not to exclude spontaneous opportunities) it has a way of being forgotten. But we intended to share our faith, and you know that they say, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” and those good intentions are paving the way to hell for the lost around us!

What is to be our priority?  In heaven, we will never have the opportunity to lead one soul to Christ. 

There are those who will argue about methodology, who do not want a scheduled time and/or memorized method.  They would poo poo the idea of handing out a gospel tract or using what they call a simplistic “confrontational” approach. Instead they advocate building relationships and sharing in a “natural way.”  I understand, and there may be times that will be effective—IF, it is done. 

But, I think for many my response to their criticism of my methodology would be, “I like the way I do evangelism better than the way you do not.”