CHAPTER X — The Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken (2)

CHAPTER X --- The Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken (2) X. THE KINGDOM THAT CANNOT BE SHAKEN (2)
By E. W. McMILLAN Theme: The Indestructible and Immovable Qualities of That Kingdom. In our morning lesson we reflected upon the organization of the kingdom of God, the scope of that kingdom, the directing authority of the kingdom, the assignments of that kingdom, and the guarantees of God that those who conform to his will shall not fail. This evening our study shall conform more directly to the particular and distinct wording in the theme of this Lectureship:—“Things Which Cannot Be Shaken.” No study in the “Kingdom Which Cannot Be Shaken” is entirely complete until it has considered the Divine Powers which protect and direct this kingdom. This we shall do first, then consider those character qualities which, in us, invoke the great protecting powers of God—the two combined in us working out to be the indestructible and immovable qualities which consume all other kingdoms and stand forever.

There runs through all Divine revelation the assurance that God, Christ our Lord, and the Holy Spirit, further supplied with angels as “ministering spirit,” are on the side of children of God now, to secure them against all dangers which would destroy their hopes of salvation. Each of these sources of help is more than a long lecture within itself; but we must be. content with a few brief observations on each for the present address. Had we all the tongues of men combined, further enriched by the language of angels, these would not be enough to voice the hope which comes when God guarantees his help to us. He it was whose power spoke the world into existence, then through his Holy Spirit placed the stars in space and ordered the harmony in the universe. It was his power that lifted high the mountains, then opened the deep oceans and seas. The beauty of the landscape and the fragrance in the flowers came from his own heart of love.

Out of that same boundless power and goodness there flowed the urge to redeem the world of men. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life.” These powers engaged the willing service of the Holy Spirit to reveal this love and the pattern of life into which men should enter and live. As further assurance, they have engaged the help of angels, who work “as ministering spirits sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation.” To all who conform unto His will, God has said, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” Of that promise we are enjoined to cry out in reply, “The Lord is my helper, and I shall not fear what man shall do unto me.” Of Christ, the Bible says, “We do not have an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one who was tempted in all points like as we are. Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.”
It is said also that the “Holy Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

These powers, indwelling us through faith, become to us the guarantee that we shall not fail. Nothing more could be wished. But all this is conditioned upon our acceptance of his will and conforming to that will. As children of God we must possess certain enduring virtues. Reverently they must live in us. The first of these qualities is: A conscientious, well-balanced mind in the proper evaluation of important things. Some things are true but are not worth being an issue. A man once came to the preacher and accused him of a grave mistake in his sermon, saying that preachers often make infidels by such mistakes. He said the preacher had quoted a passage from Genesis as if it said Adam would make his living by the sweat of his brow, whereas the passage said it was to be made by the sweat of Adam’s face. The preacher told him, “My brow is a part of my face, where is yours?” But what if the preacher did slightly get the wording misplaced; since it did not alter the meaning of the principle, why make the matter an issue?

Citizens in this kingdom do not always agree about recre-ation, reading materials, and other uses of leisure time. It may be that a critic is correct in his judgment of wisdom at times, but before making his criticism an issue he would do well to weigh his publishing of it against the value of praying for the man he is opposing. Habitual critics could learn, also, to feed their pride on blaming others. And even when criticism is true, it sometimes does more good to pray with people than it does to advertise them or make an issue of them. Through each of us there should flow the warm glow of redeeming love. The unselfish life which led to Golgotha’s height and died with honor even between thieves, then went on loving enemies, silent in death, must flavor the words which we speak. Always claiming that we have his spirit makes it appear that we fear we do not. There is such a thing as being so much a certain way that it makes the evidence less for us to claim it in words. Before making an issue, then, of either ourselves or others, let us pray much.

It can be said further that even some important things are more important than other important things. It is important to help others keep the little specks of evil from their eyes of understanding; but it is more important for us not to build mountains in our own eyes. Our King said so. 
It is important that we keep all the indications of doctrinal departure out of church beliefs, but it is fully as important, if not more important, that we keep our motives right in our opposition to those departures. The outside of the cup is important, but the inside is, too.

It is very important that we do good deeds to the poor; that we pray regularly; that we give liberally of our money for good works; but it is more important that we shall not be proud of our good deeds, or relish the praises of men after we have prayed, and that we shall not be disappointed if people do not build a monument to our gifts. The King Himself said that justice, and mercy, and faith are more important than the Old Testament ceremonies, or the tithing itself. Those were commanded, therefore, were important; but He would have us know that we must even more prayerfully cultivate the conscience about being fair to others, and about being merciful toward their unworthiness, and about living by faith ourselves. The preached justice to others is important for them, but the practiced justice is more important to ourselves; the preached mercy is important to others, but the practiced mercy is more important to us; the preached faith is important to those whom others might deceive, but the practiced faith is more important to us, as we walk.

It is very important to watch against encroaching dangers from without, but even more important to watch the heart of the watchman.

We have done a good job of standing at the door of worship and protecting the members against incoming dangers of doctrinal departures; but we should examine ourselves to see if we have done as well in the outgoing issues of love, service, and true worship of heart to God.

It was important, very important, that we protect the innocent against the introduction of mechanical instruments into the public worship, but it is even as important to make sure that those who only sing shall not sing with mere mechanics of voice; but, rather, that they “make melody in their hearts unto God,” when they sing.

It has been very important that we guard the church against the dominance of societies in the spread of mission work; but it is also most important that we shall see to it that the mission work is really done. We must see that the work is not done the wrong way, and that it is done the right way. After all, DOING is what our King required.

It is important that citizens in the kingdom shall be guarded against indulgence in harmful things; but it is also important—fully as important—that they shall be led to engage in helpful things. After all, people do not grow healthy by merely eating, neither do they grow strong in the Lord by merely being fed and taught about spiritual things. The full-grown man physically and spiritually becomes strong and healthful only by exercising in the things he has eaten or has been taught.

There is yet a meaning which the best of us have not seen in the great virtue called “COURAGE,.” Divine religion gives that meaning to it. The battlefields of many continents have been honored by men of courage. These men have been decorated and cited by their governments for that courage. The people back home have thrilled, and some of them bowed in prayer, when the news of their courage reached them. I would not for a dozen worlds decrease the honor due such noble men and women, but the adventures which brought these honors do not show courage at its best.

During the great Boston fire, when Teddy Roosevelt was president of these United States, there was another great example of courage. A man, with his wife and young child lived in a third-story apartment. In mid-morning one day, while the husband was at work, the mother learned that she and her child were completely cut off from both the stairway and the fire escape, by a fire on the floor beneath. Seeing no other escape, she swung herself underneath a rope that was used for a clothes line, extending from her window to the one across the alley, and with the baby tied on her back, she climbed under that rope to safety. That was courage, but not courage at its best.

There is an account of a man who never thought ill of anybody; who never spoke ill of anyone; who never was unfair to anyone. He went about among men, opposing all that was wrong and encouraging all that was good. He hid the faults of no friends and honored even the virtues in his foes. He faced a religious trial jury which had bargained with one of his friends to betray him, and he took the verdict of that jury without a wince, knowing that it would mean his death. He went on into the court of the land and let himself suffer the same gross injustice without retaliation. Looking to the side and seeing revenge in the face of a friend, he tenderly reminded that man that he must not become the victim of such thoughts. Speaking to his inner circle of friends, he said, “Be of good courage, I have overcome the world.” Courage in the shadow of a cross? Victory in the gate of death? That wras what he said. He went on and bore his cross, not scorning the men who whipped him on the way. He lay down with his back upon the cross-beam with the same calm which he would have had if he had been lying down to a night of pleasant dreams. He looked upon the soldier as he lifted his hand and hammer to nail him there —but he looked with compassion, not with revenge. Hanging high upon his cross he looked at a distance and saw his mother watching; but there was no sentence of expressed pain. Surely, the blood rushed from his heart, thundered in his ears, then returned to repeat its course until he was dead; but the pains of that ordeal were not in what he said. Near the end of three hours he cried, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Even the men who went about his cross shouting, “Come down and we will believe you,” when he at last bowed his head and died could not say, “He did not love me.” That was courage.

Wherever there is today a young life who is strong enough to face the evils of the world, refuse them, then take the scorns of more daring youth, believing that it pays to be good, that is courage. When a business man declines for the sake of gain to bend his heart to unworthy things and elects instead to live on less and do right, while those about him ridicule his scruples—that is courage. When a gospel preacher declines to go a certain way with others because he knows their way is not right, though by his going he would become a hero with them, but for not going he knows they will misrepresent and discredit him with others—that is courage.

Kingdoms of men allow the sword in self-defense; and they approve an end to endurance; but the kingdom of God goes on enduring, motivated by a pure love for the right. That kingdom has reached its acme of ideal and has found its most lasting joys when it has spent its last bit of strength for the highest good. That is courage—victorious courage.

Another of the immovable and indestructible qualities in the kingdom of God is this: The Conscious Indwelling of God in a Life Destroys All Sense of Fear in That Life. Enemy Number One in all people is fear. We cannot see one moment of the future; most of the people we have known have been defeated at times on their most cherished dreams; we have seen some of the most worthy efforts fall dead in defeat; most of us have suffered under the knowledge that we had failed. No human strength is enough to survive all this without becoming changed inside. That change with some takesN place overnight; they become cynical, or develop complexes; death to their courage is written all over their faces. With others, the change takes place gradually, but with absolute certainty. When some close friend, long absent, has been with the person for a while, he dares to ask, “John, what on earth has come over you? I have never seen anyone so changed as you are.” Then he may go on pointing out the laughter he used to hear in John, but John seldom laughs now; or, he may mention that there used to be light and confidence in John’s eyes, but there is now dread and uncertainty. The sun never shone more clearly than the changed heart of John is stamped on his face. What has happened? Well, many things, maybe. But the main trouble is that he has encountered a giant called FEAR. It can grow from a thousand roots. When people enter upon any sort of adventure together— in business, in education, in professional life, in marriage, or in mere friendly relationships— they know that they are facing a life of uncertainty—strewn with the ruins of other people’s efforts, who entered upon the same sort of adventure and failed. Life has its own way of writing upon the immortal canvas of memory the records of such happenings with others; and the wisdom of God keeps us reminded that neither fate nor circumstances, nor our own wits can guarantee that we are favorites in such matters. When we, therefore, lay aside all wistful thinking, we are confronted automatically with the knowledge that where others before us have met defeat, we also may meet it. In fact, Revelation just about declares that when we live godly under all conditions there will be what human beings call defeat. The ancient prophets met it; our Lord Jesus Christ endured it; his apostles did likewise, and the history of the apostolic church covers nineteen centuries of martyrs for the same faith. And then, for us who still live, as for all who will ever live, come the words of our King, saying, “They that will live godly in Christ Jesus” shall suffer such things.

Under such conditions it takes more than confidence in one’s own wits, or belief in one’s own power, or reliance upon one’s own intelligence to live without fear. And what is more, his Bible goes on reminding him of the fallen angels, now reserved in everlasting chains of darkness for eternal vengeance, because they did not live by holy means. “Take heed lest ye fall” and the sure tottering of the man who thinks he is secure—these are high-perched warning beacons along the journey of all men. The lurking enemies outside of him and the knowledge of his own weakness keeps man in constant fear. Under these conditions, nations learn to speak of permanent peace while madly preparing for the next war; citizens talk of personal honor while trusting almost no man; preachers go along preaching about being loyal and sound and courageous, but Hambone was right when he said that they mean “Mos’ly like me.” And all of us have learned, or will learn, that there is a hereafter on this earth for any man who does not wag when Simon says “Wig-wag.” Under these conditions we live in a prison cell of fear at times. And these fears greatly diminish the soul’s capacity for its largest service, to overcome which there must come a strength from outside of men themselves. The empires of men do not, and cannot, give it. That strength is faith in the overruling power of God, and it is found only in the kingdom of God. Our King has said, “Fear not them that can kill the body but have no more that they can do.” And again, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” Confidence in this promise is what John felt when he said, “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” It enabled our King to behold his own cross and still say, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

If ever there was one who, from the world’s view of things, faced utter defeat, it was our Lord Jesus Christ at that moment. Public sentiment had turned from him; the trial courts of the Jewish sanhedrin and Pontius Pilate were set to condemn him; his trusted friend, Peter, was ready to swear and deny him; Judas Iscariot, another friend, was ready to sell him for thirty pieces of silver; and the soldiers already were assigned to crucify him. Did ever a man stand more in the door of defeat than he? And yet he said, “Let good cheer flow through all your hearts, for I have overcome the entire world.” Never did the halo of faith shine with more colors upon the head of any than it shone that day upon the head of our Lord Jesus Christ, nor did the feet of man ever stand upon higher ground than his stood that da>. His years of pursuing and imbibing all that makes men virtuous; his studied practice of being resigned unto all that the hand of Providence provides—be it weal or woe; his heart-glow of love for all men—friends and enemies alike; his complete faith in God, his Father, to see him through all that he may experience; and his utter confidence in the triumph ultimately of all that is right, was what he meant when he said he had overcome. The dread of injustice from others he had entirely lost; the fears of pain he had also lost; the dread of death—so universal to human lives—had ceased in his mind; the coldness of the tomb had changed to a warm comfort, for entering that grave was his final means of breaking down prison doors for those he loved; his resurrection and glorification were to him pathways which he could strew with fragrance for those who desired to travel after him. He had no fear. Could it be that there is a life here now gripped by fear ? I would point you to Him. Look and live. “We walk by faith, not by sight.” “The just shall live by faith.” Climb high on the hill of faith and look. Behold yon far-off slope of Moab. See that he who slowly climbs there is Moses, the saint of the years. See him pause and look the land through across the Jordan. Can you not see the pain which he feels that God will not let him enter? And can you not also see the resignation in his eyes? Look! Moses is slowly lying down and the sod upon the ground is laid aside. Now his form is silent in the earth and there bends over him a spirit form. It is God. The Bible says, “God kissed his eyes in sleep.”

After Moses had been for 1,500 years in the spirit world hf was invited with Elijah to join in the transfiguration of Christ, while angels and apostles looked on. I wonder if Moses did not feel then, as he had felt oft before, that when God withholds something which we want, he often has something much better that he wants to give. For us now, as for Moses then, “God hath his mysteries of grace; ways we cannot tell. lie hides them deep, like the secret sleep of him he loved so well.” When the once trembling human heart believes and comes to live under this light* its union with the spirits infinite is such that it loses all sense of fear. And this faith is another of the immovable qualities in the kingdom of God.
The last of tne immovable and imperishable qualities in the Kingdom of God is the system of human:

REFORM AND REHABILITATION IN THAT KINGDOM
Nowhere else is there a system of reform, purging through suffering, and. final rehabilitation comparable to tne kingdom of God. Nowhere else is there, a will so strong, a judgment so just, a revenge so severe, a love so tender, a compassion so deep, or a mercy so great. Nowhere else is there a combination of all these so complete.

Human government will swear its witnesses to the truth but know when it does so that prejudice is likely 1:o enter; it will swear its jurors to honesty but know they can hardly be entirely honest; it will impose upon its judges the same obligations, conscious that their weaknesses may betray justice, too. At best, human governments at times will free the guilty and punish the innocent. These governments, though Divinely ordered, are constantly filled with the human m their administrations. They can free a prisoner but they have no laws that require his rehabilitation. They can remove the stripes from his clothes, but they cannot forbid that society shall maintain stripes in their memories of hun. Isolated from the consolations which he needs and deserves, the prisoner not infrequently finds escape through another crime.

It is not so in the kingdom of God. There runs through all Revelation, like the cool waters in a dry land, the consoling theme: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as wool; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as snow.” When that call stirs in a wayward, or discouraged, life, it can rise to greatness in the kingdom of God. What means the story of the prodigal son, if it is not that? What means the command, “Receive him back, lest he be swallowed up of overmuch sorrow,” if it is not that? God’s laws require that men be freed not in word alone, but in fact as well; and that they be restored to the fellowship, love and consolation of friends.

There is a further fact that this work of rehabilitation does not end with a mere group. Governments of the world set up their own systems of spying on other governments; they build their fortifications and guard their secrets against other nations; they trade and bargain for the group’s gain at all times. Treaties and charters are framed largely on the basis of advantage to particular groups. But the kingdom of God requires that one group shall lay its own plans always conscious of the rights of others. Service designed to be rendered through this kingdom has no horizons. As long as there is one man, far or near, who lacks an understanding of God’s will, it is the command of God that others shall go and teach him that will; as long as one person already in the kingdom is suffering—no matter the cause of that suffering—it is the will of God that others shall help that person bear with patience and resignation under suffering, enabling him to understand how suffering is, in the scheme of God, a course of refinement, and that his willing endurance under suffering will cause the Good Father to bring him forth “Refined as gold.” Even when hardships are the stroke of Divine Justice, we are not to understand that this stroke is the cold lash of harsh madness; but, rather, that it is the touch of Divine love, with most benevolent designs. For, “Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”

Members of the church, more developed in Christian ex-perience, have the obligation to keep in action the constant understanding through service that such is the Spirit of Chris-tianity. Let us understand that God’s kingdom today is afflicted with the same weakness and danger which confront America as a nation. Attack from without is always a danger; but decay from within is the greater evil. Roman Catholicism developed not chiefly as a doctrinal departure. These departures were definite and evil; but they grew from the forbidden roots of pride, pomp, ambition and the lust for power. Men who defend the church from these departures are much in the same position as a surgeon is beside his patient. One foul germ on his knife or from his breath could defeat all his skill. In the same way, an ill motive, or an evil desire can grow into mountains of transgression through action or doctrine. The truth expressed by one is often spurned by another because it was adjudged by the man who spoke it. Believing what a speaker says is half believing him. Just as the white muslin is of less value after passing through greasy hands, the sublime scheme of Divine Grace has less appeal when it comes forth upon the foul breath of a corrupt man in heart. Had we only the picture of the last fifty years before us there would be little on which to build encouragement for the future. But right now there are many encouraging things. Destructive criticism which twenty-five years ago rode high upon its vaunted pride in the name of science, saying that much in the Christian teachings is false and senseless, has become embarrassed by its own achievements and forced to admit that the Bible is true. Its attacks upon what it called the church then, furthermore, was not, in fact, an attack upon what we believe to be the church. It was upon the far- reaching system of denominationalism with its indefensible creeds and ecclesiasticisms. But these systems as we know them now are slowly, but surely, coming to the admission that denominationalism is not the church of God described in the Bible. Their present trend in this respect will not reach its logical end until it comes to the conclusions for which we have always stood. As a people, we do not have to face about; we need only to become more militant, if not also more Godly in motive, and meet these religious groups with honest intent toward truth and salvation. Surely, the hecklings we sometimes meet are not the most important things of the kingdom.

We need men with large currents in their souls—currents which move deep and wide, like the currents of great rivers; men who pray their ways through; men who work through conscience, not conceit; men who are large, and true, and genuine, and just, and merciful; and unselfish. God give us more such men that the bewildered world may see in them our King in all his beauty, all his glory, and aU his mercy. These are the immovable, unshakable, enduring qualities in His kingdom. They set it apart from, make it superior to, and endow it with the power to consume all other kingdoms. May it be that these qualities in us shall go on in greater, and yet greater abundance until His kingdom “Dwelling in us” brings it to pass that the kingdoms of this world have become the “kingdoms of our God and his Christ.”