USA > North Carolina > A history of the development of the Presbyterian Church in North Carolina, and of the Synodical home missions, together with evangelistic addresses by James I. Vance and others > Part 13
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810W YORRIM
REV. WM. BLACK
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The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, but the majority of professing Christians are much more inter- ested in some form of worldliness than in any sort of work for Christ. Is this not true of you?
It is necessary to realise that every soul out of Christ is lost. Do you? Have you seen the great throng of men and women-a thousand million of heathen, to say noth- ing of the half-million of our own kith and kin in North Carolina, out of Christ, marching down the rough path- way of life to eternity, lost? Have you seen the shadows of eternity, as they must very soon, grow dark upon this vast multitude that have not made Jesus their friend? If so, are you moved with compassion and pity for them? If not, pray the Lord to open your eyes that you may see, unstop your ears, that you may hear the cry of the lost, and say, "Here am I, send me." This realization is necessary-in fact, is the very main-spring and starting-point of all evangelistic activity, and you will never be an earnest worker till the vision of lost souls has so seized upon your own soul that you cannot shake it off, until you have gone forth to their rescue. May it come upon every one who reads these lines, is the prayer of the writer.
Let us, then, prayerfully examine this wonderful com- mission, with a heart-felt desire to know more of its re- quirements, make better use of its privileges, rejoice more in its honors, and reap more of its blessed rewards. It is certainly, not only the most sacred, but the greatest commission ever sent forth, and this is true because, (1) Its source, being from the King of kings and Lord of lords. (2) The issue involved, eternal life and eternal death. (3) The peoples included, the whole world. (4) The time it covers, to the end of the age; and lastly,
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the workers appointed, the largest numbers and the finest characters.
But, to be more specific, what of its command? What of the duties? Notice first, We are to "Go."
"Go ye," is authority, not only for the persons then within the sound of our Saviour's voice, but for every person who is to do any sort of mission work from then until the end of time; but not only is it authority for, but it is a command to every Christian, that cannot be lightly treated or set aside, but must be obeyed ; and it is a com- mand, to be sure, to every minister of the gospel, to every church, and therefore to every member of the church; it is to the officers, and especially the elders and deacons, to every Sunday-school teacher and every mis- sionary society, and to any and every Christian that has "Heard," not only to say "come," but a command to "go."
If, in the Synod of North Carolina, where there are 186 ministers, 1,440 elders, 1,357 deacons, 3,000 Sunday- school teachers, and about 41,000 members, every one should hear and obey this blessed command, would "Go," what a grand army of workers there would be for the Lord Jesus Christ. When we come to consider that this command has been standing for nearly two thousand years, and that there are to-day more persons out of Christ than ever before, and when we compare it with the work done in the first century, it is enough to make us stand appalled at our failure. At Thessalonica, the enemies of Christ declared that these "two men ( Paul and Silas) had turned the world upside down." Oh! that we Christians of to-day might be filled with the same love for souls, the same spirit of the Master, and the same power to do good.
Let us notice carefully, too, that when the Saviour says "Go," we have not fulfilled this command simply by
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building churches, preaching our sermons, teaching our Sunday-school lessons, holding our missionary society meetings, and attending upon the services ourselves, un- less indeed, we have made these exercises so attractive that the unsaved come and hear and are saved, so that if the unsaved do not come to the churches, we must go to them, or our skirts are not clear; and that they, very many of them, are not coming, are not being reached, is evident, for many of them never darken a church door, yet many of us have taken false comfort from the fact that there was a church, a gospel preached, and that we had helped in it; but let us remember that we are not merely attempting to discharge a duty, but are endeavor- ing, if we have the spirit of the Master, to reach the un- saved. It is one of the saddest facts with which we are confronted to-day, that the masses are not being reached.
Few of the churches have more than half as many to attend upon the services as there are communicants upon the roll, so it is apparent that not even the church inembers attend with any regularity, much less are all the church members making any effort to reach the tin- saved. Why is this? Many reasons might be given, but perhaps the best one could be found in the fact that there is a want of power to attract and power to save in the multiplied services, preaching and otherwise, which we have. Our Saviour's command was that "ALL are to Go, and to go to all," so when we come to consider how little help many ministers have from the church members, in carrying the gospel "to every creature," we have an- other explanation of why so few come to the services, and perhaps of why so few are reached. In apostolic times, we are told, "They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word," and in the first verse of this same chapter, we are told that they were all scat-
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tered except the apostles, so that it is evident that they that were scattered and went everywhere preaching the Word, making direct efforts to save men, were not or- dained ministers, but were simply professing Christians- private members.
If we were to keep within the limitation of this Great Commission, perhaps our services in the pulpit, in the Sunday-school, and elsewhere, would not only be more attractive, but have more power. Note that the limita- tion was that they should preach the gospel, and the gospel only, for it is quite possible for us, when preaching and teaching, to be very orthodox, and to tell much of the historical facts, of the geography, geology and other truths of the Bible, and yet not be preaching the gospel, for, as some one has well said, we should, when preaching and teaching, be sure to have both a subject and an object. Let the subject be the gospel, and the object the salvation of souls and the edification of believers, and with God's blessing upon us, we can scarcely fail of doing good; but, alas, how much of this preaching and teaching seems to have other subjects than the gos- pel and other objects than the salvation of souls or edi- fication of believers ; in short, is pointless, objectless, and, therefore, powerless.
This Great Commission has a declaration attached in the form of a most blessed promise, which is most en- couraging, and I am sure that no one is authorized, or expected to accept the command to go preach the gospel, without also accepting, in good faith, the blessed promise. What is this promise? "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Here we have the promise of the presence of Jesus with us, an almighty, willing, anxious and able helper.
Notice that this promise meant much to the apostles,
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disciples and early Christians, indeed, even the apostles themselves were not permitted to accept the Great Com- mission and go forth to preach the gospel, until they had realized what His presence with them meant. It had no mystical, shadowy meaning to them, and none such is intended now. It is true they spoke with tongues and performed miracles, but it is also true that they were clothed with great power to preach and teach and speak for their Lord and Master.
The statement of the text is, "I am with you alway." No one doubts that the command to go and preach the gospel is in force now, and will last until the end of time; can it be that the command is in force, and that the promise is not? or, in other words, that we are com- manded to go and preach, but have no promise of his help? Surely not. If the disciples, who had been taught by our Saviour, face to face, needed the Spirit's help, surely we do, and yet there are so many to-day, we fear, to whom this promise, "Lo, I am with you alway," means really nothing. Shall we not pray that we may have a realization of what this promise means? We need this help to lead us in the right way ourselves, to keep us from self-dependence and self-help of all kinds, to make us humble, and to guide us, not only in the use of our words, but to keep these words from being as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, for when the Word is preached or taught, without the power of the Spirit, it perhaps hardens the human heart as nothing else will do.
We need, too, the help of the Holy Spirit to show us the necessity for work, to enable us to use our opportuni- ties, to give us a love for the work, and above all, for power, so that we may preach, teach, speak and live in such way that souls shall be saved. Observe that we were directed in this Great Commission to make disciples. Are
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you doing it? If not, why not? After the disciples are made, we are to teach them to observe all things that Christ has commanded them. At Pentecost, when the apostles were filled with the Spirit, in one sermon, three thousand souls were saved, and within a few days more, the number had increased, we are told, to five thousand. Why is it that we have no such power now? The promise stands, and, moreover, our Saviour teaches us, not only in this commission itself, but in numerous other Scriptures, to expect results. He has declared in the fif- teenth chapter of John's Gospel, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit."
Is it not a fact that not very many souls are being saved, that professing Christians, most of them, are cold and apathetical, with little love for souls, and with little or no enthusiasm in the service of the Master? If so, are we satisfied for this state of affairs to continue?
Multiplying agencies is not enough; what we need is power, and we can and will have the power when we fulfill the conditions; that is to say, if we, ourselves, the church members are, (1) filled with the Spirit, and (2) filled with love for souls, filled with the knowledge of the Word, and will go to the people, even unto the highways and hedges, we can and will compel them to come in and hear the Word, and they will be saved. We can go our- selves, and we can, by our means, send others, and we should not be discouraged by past failures, but face squarely the facts and realize what they mean. First, that for 1,900 years the church has paid little attention to this Great Commission, to go into all the world and · preach the gospel to every creature, and secondly, that the difficulties are not growing less, but larger. Third, that every one who fails to do his duty is a hinderer, and lastly, that we need for ourselves and others, not to save
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alone our souls, but our lives, and enlist them in this great work. This done, the church must surely grow, for growth is the law of life, and action is the law of - growth. God's law is, use or lose, and He destroyed the Jewish Church as it then existed, in part, because of its failure to perform the work given it to do. Any church that neglects or refuses to go forth, carrying the gospel to the unsaved, is surely inviting the judgment of the Lord upon it. Let us, therefore, awake to our responsi- bility, to ourselves, that we may be right, and to our fel- low men, that they may be helped, and especially to those who are out of Christ, that they may be saved, for the church at home is, as it were, the engine of all mission work at home and in foreign lands, therefore, we must live the Christ life ourselves and have a religion worth sending before we can successfully carry or send the gos- pel to the unsaved.
There never was and never will be enough preachers to do this work at home or abroad; in fact, it was never intended that they should, but on the other hand, every Christian has been given a part in the work, for our Saviour said, "Gave unto every man his work," and not only so, but it is equally true that the opportunities of the private members are frequently not less than those of the ministers, and as ALL have opportunities, it follows that all have a corresponding responsibility.
Let us, then, give cheerfully ourselves, our means, our sons and our daughters, our all, to the accomplishment of this work, and do this, not simply as a duty, but as a great privilege, for in so doing, the reflex influence must tell most powerfully upon us and our churches. Remember, it is the still pond and not the running river that freezes and stagnates; if, therefore, in our churches, our homes, and our hearts, there is spiritual freezing and
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stagnation, the cause must be evident. We are not ac- tively engaged in the Master's work, not going to the unsaved, and therefore, spiritual apathy, almost akin to death, has seized upon us. Let us at once remove the cause, not only for the sake of the unsaved, but for our own sake. It is no small sin to be lukewarm, and to feel that we have need of nothing, self-satisfied, for the ter- rible denunciation pronounced by our Saviour upon such, shows how such conduct is viewed by Him.
Are you a neglecter of work? Remember, a neglecter of work is a delayer of work. Delay it no longer. A million of years would not be sufficient to do the work at the present rate, and when we consider, that instead of having ages in which to do the work, the time is limited; limited both as to the worker and the work. We who are to do the work have only a short time in which to reach the unsaved, for soon, our sun will be swinging toward the west, and life's little day will be gone, and with it our opportunity also; then, too, if we had the time ourselves, the lost are dying every day, and dying without Christ, not only in heathen lands, but in your congregation, sometimes in your own family. What did you do to rescue them?
Let us preach, teach and live Christ, for there has been entirely too much of everything else. Our multipli- cation of agencies, societies, committees, asylums, and what not, does not reach and does not accomplish what grace and consecration, by the help of the Spirit, alone can do. Let Christ be the starting, the rallying and the radiating point for every Christian; let Him be our Wisdom and our Power. Let us bear his image, be so filled with His thoughts that we shall speak powerfully of TTim and for Him. Expression ais but the result of impression. If we, therefore, have not been impressed
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with the necessity for doing mission work, and of our obligation to go and carry the gospel to the unsaved, how can we hope to express, with any power, this nec- essity upon others, or reach the unsaved when speaking to them?
Let us pray, too, for workers, and for the work, and work ourselves, praying as if all depended on God, and working as if all depended on us. We have riches and education and social standing. Do these things separate us from the people? If so, they are a peril and not a blessing, but, guided by the Spirit, these things should be a power for good in our hands. If we can but realize the sacred trust committed to us, and appreciate the great privilege of carrying this gospel to the unsaved, we shall have, as a reflex influence, more assurance that we are God's children, more joy in His service, as well as more success in what we undertake for Him; it will build up our churches and give them new life and new power. Remember, that a tallow dip that gives light is better than a golden chandelier without flame. Be sure that you live a helpful life and begin it now ; while you wait, souls perish. What a splendid opportunity our elders, deacons and Sunday-school teachers, and in fact, every private member has, for they are of the people and among the people, in just the place and with just the knowledge of their needs to enable them to do the greatest good. Decide Now that You will undertake to win a soul for Jesus every time you have the opportunity.
"Have you found the heavenly light? Pass it on; Souls are groping in the night, daylight gone;
Hold thy lighted lamp on high,
Be a star in some one's sky;
He may live, who else would die; mass it on."
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Are you ready to say-will you-do you Now say, "What shall I do, Lord?" Say it NOW.
"Hark, the voice of Jesus crying, Who will go and work to-day? Fields are white and harvest waiting, Who will bear the sheaves away? Loud and strong the Master calleth, Rich reward he offers thee:
Who will answer, gladly saying, Here am I; send me, send me?
"If you cannot speak like angels, If you cannot preach like Paul, You can tell the love of Jesus; You can say, He died for all. If you cannot rouse the wicked With the judgment's dread alarms, You can lead the little children To the Saviour's waiting arms."
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