Priorities?

Many years ago a notorious criminal was caught. After his trial for burglary, forgery and double murder he was condemned to death. As he was being led to the scaffold, the chaplain walked by his side, offering what was called the ‘consolations of religion’. The chaplain was talking of Christ’s power to save when the wretched man turned to him and said,

“Do you believe it? Do you believe it? If I believed that I would willingly crawl across England on broken glass to tell men it was true.”

There was a well known gifted non-Christian who said,

“Were I a religionist, did I truly, firmly, consistently believe, as millions say they do, that the knowledge and practice of religion in this life influences destiny in another, religion should be to me everything. I would cast aside earthly enjoyments as dross, earthly cares as follies, and earthly thoughts and feelings as less than vanity. Religion would be my first waking thought and my last image when sleep sunk me into unconsciousness. I would labour in her cause alone. I would not labour for the meat that perisheth, nor for treasures on earth, but only for a crown of glory in heavenly regions where treasures and happiness are alike beyond the reach of time and chance. I would take thought for the morrow of eternity alone. I would esteem one soul gained to heaven worth a life of suffering. . . . I would strive to look bot on eternity and on the immortal souls around me, soon to be everlastingly miserable or everlastingly happy. I would deem all who thought only of this world, merely seeking to increase temporal happiness and labouring to obtain temporal goods – I would deem all such pure madmen. I would go forth to the world and preach to it, in season and out of season;; and my text should be, ‘What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul.’ ”

Q1 Is this view rather extreme or is it close to the teaching of Jesus?

Remember the passion of Jeremiah 20 v. 9

Q2 How can we develop a ‘concern’ for others?

Note Paul’s concern in Roman’s 10 v.1

General Booth’s answer was not very practical! “I would like to send all my young men to Hell for twenty four hours.”

A young missionary, who had been invalided home, was asked why he was so eager to get back to his people. He replied, “Because I cannot sleep for thinking of them”

William Burns, who was greatly used in reviving Murray McCheyne’s church and later in China, was commencing his ministry. His mother met him one day in a Glasgow street. Seeing that he had been weeping she asked him, ‘Why those tears?’ He answered ‘I am weeping at the multitudes in the streets, so many of whom are passing through life unsaved.

Dr. Goodell diagnoses the problem when he says, ‘No man can be a herald of his Lord’s Passion if he does not himself share it.’

John Harper was a Baptist minister who was lost with the Titanic. At a conference in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada a man gave the following testimony, “Four years ago, when I left England on board the ‘Titanic’, I was a careless, godless sinner. I was in this condition on the night when the terrible catastrophe took place. Very soon, with hundreds more, I found myself struggling in the cold dark waters of the Atlantic. I caught hold of something and clung to it for dear life. The wail of the awful distress from the perishing all around was ringing in my ears, when there floated near by me a man who, too seemed to be clinging to something. He called to me: ‘Is your soul saved?’ I replied ‘No, it is not.’ ‘Then’, said he, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.’ We drifted apart for a few minutes, then we seemed to be driven together once more. ‘Is your soul saved?’ again he cried out. ‘I fear it is not,’ I replied. ‘Then if you will but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ your soul shall be saved,’ was his further message of intense appeal to me. But again we were separated by the rolling currents. I heard him call out the message to others as they sank beneath the waters into eternity. There and then, with two moles of water beneath me, in my desperation I cried unto Christ to save me. I believed upon him and I was saved. In a few minutes I heard this man of God say: ‘I’m going down, I’m going down’, then ‘No, no, I’m going up.’ That man was John Harper.

Q3 Why did Jesus emphasise that his followers will be persecuted?

Remember Matthew 5 v. 11-12, Matthew 10 v. 22, Mark 13 v. 9-11, John 15 v. 18-21

Q4 What is it that annoys non Christians about us?

Is it primarily because of what we do or what we think and say? See John 15 v. 22

Q5 Is it necessary for Christians to be ‘up front’ about their allegiance to Jesus? Can we not avoid problems by saying less and just being nice?

Remember what Jesus said in Luke 9 v. 26, Matthew 10 v. 32

Q6 What is it that prevents the Christians of this country being more effective for Christ?

Surely we need learn again to ‘walk by faith and not by sight’? What is the basis of this ‘walking by faith’? See 1 Peter 1 v. 23-25. What do we need to learn again from Hebrews 12 v. 1-3?

Q7 Are the present problems of the churches a new problem?

Remember the problem Jude wrote about? What were his solutions? See Jude v. 17-22.

David Brainerd died when little more than thirty years old.

“I wanted to wear myself out in His service, for his glory. I cared not how or where I lived, or what hardships I went through so that I could but gain souls for Christ.”

Do you know John 3 v. 18 by heart? When you have learnt it, will you go and pray “Lord, what would you have me do?”

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in God’s one and only Son.” John 3:18

BVP