Chapter Nineteen

Chapter 19.
An Example of Service A Sermon Delivered by Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D. At the Metropolitan Tabernacle On Lord's-day Morning; February 14th, 1892 "David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep."—Acts 13:36.

"After he had served his own generation by the will of God!" One of the most beautiful things about the Word of God is the brevity of its biographies—the short sentences in which, by the Holy Ghost, the entire story of a consecrated and useful life is often told. In this thirteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we have two verses which give God's estimate of David. One is the twenty-second verse: "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will." And the other is the thirty-sixth verse: "David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep." Now let us be as brief and as pointed as possible. Take these three thoughts that are suggested at a moment's glance:—service, service to one's own generation, service to one's own generation by the will of God. In other words, the thought of service first; the sphere of service second—one's own generation; the spirit of service third—"by the will of God."

First, as to service itself, we are accustomed to say that the Christian life in its completeness, consists: first, of salvation; second, of sanctification; and third, of service. But this is narrowing down the conception of salvation to very small limits. Salvation is not simply deliverance from the penalty of sin, which is justification; but from the power of sin which is sanctification, and from the dominion of selfishness: and what is that but service? When you forget yourself and begin to live for others, that is serving God and serving man. And surely no salvation is complete that does not include service as well as sanctification; and to show you that the saints of all ages have felt this, notice the last verse that we sung—

"Take, my soul, thy full salvation;

Rise o'er sin, and fear, and care;" what is that but sanctification?

"Joy to find in every station, Something still to do or bear."

That is service. So that there is no "full salvation" which does not include deliverance from the power of sin, and deliverance from the sway of all selfishness that confines our thought and our endeavour to our person, to ourselves.

We look quite too far for the sphere of our service. It is in our own generation, and not only so, it is in the very place where God has already put us that we are to find the sphere of our service. We look too far off. Doing the next duty, according to the will of God, is serving God—taking up the burdens of life and bearing them in the fear of God, and in the spirit of contentment, and for the glory of God: that is service. It is service in the house-maid to sweep the corners that she has neglected, to wash the pots and kettles and not fret about it. It is service in the carpenter to do good work, and furnish good material; it is service in the mason to build the wall, and put his piety and his conscience into brick and mortar. It is service in any man or woman or child to do the very next thing, and do it as one that loves God and wants to please him. There was a little girl in America who at the age of eight years found Jesus Christ. She lived in a district where, as yet, there was no church; it was a little hamlet in the West; she had a drunken, blasphemous, profligate father, and she began to ask God to bless her father. One Sunday morning she took her father's hand with caressing tenderness, and said, "Father, would you go to Sunday-school with me today?" Her father could not resist the omnipotence of that little hand, and he said, "Oh, yes, yes, I will go with you." He went, and he found Jesus Christ that afternoon. Not long since he died, having himself established 1,180 Sunday-schools in destitute districts. How little did that child understand what significance hung on her simply doing the next thing that was before her—the simplest thing that she could do, and the most natural thing that she could do! She never thought of doing a great thing. Is it not true that most servants of God that accomplish great things have not meditated great things to begin with? The Lord had a great plan, but his servant knew very little of it, and he simply began to do the next thing that was at his hand; and the Lord expanded his sphere and greatened his soul, and increased his faith, and crowned him with abundant success.

It is a blessed lesson to learn that I can stay right where I am, not change my sphere at all, but only change the spirit in which I do God's work, and ask my blessed Saviour to become a partner with me in my daily toils, and sweeten my cup, and use my life, and so make it a blessing to my soul and other souls. I am tempted to tell this great congregation an incident that happened in my own pastoral life; though it is scarcely of so dignified a character as to justify appearing in print, it is a most helpful story. I preached one Sunday morning on the text, "Let every man, in that calling wherein he is found, therein abide with God." There was a woman in my church who, having a husband, but no family, used to do all her own work; and there was a part of that work over which she used every day to fret, and that was washing the dinner dishes after the dinner was done. She went home that Sunday noon, and after dinner was over she came to the usual drudgery of washing the smudged pots and kettles. "Oh!" she said to herself, "it is the same old drudgery!" Then she thought of the text of my sermon, "Let every man abide in that calling wherein he is found," and "therein abide with God"; and she just stood there right at the kitchen table, lifted up her heart and said, "Jesus, come into this kitchen with me, and help me to wash these pots and kettles, that I may never again fret at any lot that God gives me." And she told me before I left America, that from that day she had never known what it was to fret at her kitchen work. That woman grew so much in grace, in knowledge of God, and in knowledge of the Holy Scripture, that she is today the head of the women's missionary society in a State of millions of people. Who can tell what a blessing might come to the men and women of this congregation, if, coming out of this house of God this morning, they should say to Jesus, "Come with me into my poor daily drudgery, and sanctify it; and help me never again to fret or worry at my lot." What a peace of God might come into your souls, and what a confidence in God into your daily toil! How Christ might sweeten even your bitter cup for you! And I desire to add, moreover, that service can only be done when we are living a life of faith. There is a notion in some peoples' minds that, when Jesus Christ said to his disciples in Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you," it was meant only for apostolic days. Believe me, we should cut about nine-tenths of the sweetest promises out of the Word of God if we treat them in that fashion. There is just as much occasion to live a life of faith today as there was in the days of the apostles; and that promise is just as much for you and for me as it was for them. And what does it mean? Take as the first object of your life, the extension of the kingdom of God, and the incorporation into your own life of his righteousness, and he will give you everything that he sees to be necessary for you. That is the promise! The fact is, we need a single eye and a single aim. No man can see double and see correctly and safely. And God wants his children to be single-eyed in his service, to aim at the extension of his kingdom, to aim at the development of righteousness in the human character, to keep the eye on the glory of God. You cannot serve God and Mammon; you cannot be careful and troubled about many things, and yet have your central and concentrated affection fixed on the one thing needful. And so our blessed Lord bids you no more to worry even about your daily support; and he says, if you will first of all live for him, he will see that, as no sparrow falls to the ground without his notice, and even the hairs of your head are numbered, you shall have just what is necessary for you. That is a great promise, is it not?

I hold that worry is calculated, not only to hinder the work of God, but absolutely to encourage sin in our hearts; and that worry is therefore not only needless, since we have the promise, but it is sinful—sinful. If you are doing God's work, what are you worrying about? Is not God able to take care of his own work? And are you so impertinent as to suppose that he cannot get along without your solicitude and anxiety concerning his work? And if it is something that demands worry, then it is not God's work but yours. That is very short logic, but, to my mind, very conclusive. If you are doing God's work, leave responsible issues with him; if you are doing work that is not God's work, get out of it just as soon as possible, and take your proper stand at the side of God, and let all you do be service for him.

There are some secrets of service that I must touch upon; and may I not first of all mention obedience? I am satisfied that very few people understand what obedience is—absolute obedience to God. To hear his Word and follow it; to hear the suggestions of his Spirit by the "still, small voice," and at once yield compliance; to mind instantly what conscience enjoins, and never to continue in a course when you are even doubtful with regard to its propriety—that is absolute obedience. And it would not be possible to express, in any fitting language, what God could do with his Church if there were absolute obedience even in one half of the members of Protestant communions. In the 277th Hegira, as it is called, there was a rebel sect known as Carmathians, led by Abu Said and Abu Taher. They were able to command in the field only about five hundred horse at the time I am speaking of. but they swept down the coasts of Persia, and approached the city of Bagdad, the capital. The caliph trembled before their onset, for there was a blind vow of absolute submission to their leader, on the part of these soldiers. As these five hundred horsemen approached the city, the caliph sent out his soldiers and burned the bridges, so that they could not retreat. Then he sent his own lieutenant to say to Abu Taher, who was leading this body of cavalry, "If you do not surrender, all of your company will be destroyed." Abu Taher said to the lieutenant, "Your master has thirty thousand soldiers at his command, but he has not three that are as loyal to him as all these five hundred horsemen of mine are to me.' He beckoned to one. Said he, "Plunge the dagger into your breast," and he instantly drove the dagger into his heart. He said to another, "Leap from that precipice," and immediately he sprang from the precipice and was dashed in pieces. He said to another, "Fling yourself into the waters of the Tigris," and, without murmur or hesitation, he threw himself into the waters and was drowned. "Now," said he, "you may go and tell the caliph that I have five hundred horsemen mounted, anyone of whom will do just what these men have done at my command, and tell him that before night I will have his generals chained with my dogs." And before night the generals of the caliph were thus chained with those dogs. Five hundred horsemen overcoming thirty thousand soldiers! How? By absolute obedience to their leader. If God had in his church today one-tenth of its membership that were absolutely surrendered to his will, never hesitating, never murmuring, content to follow where he leads, and do exactly what he commands—with that one-tenth of his followers Jesus Christ could conquer this whole world to himself.

Let each one of you, as a child of God, ask yourself, "Am I serving God? Am I serving him? and if not, how may I serve him?" Look at the Greek word here: it is a word that means to be an under-rower. You know that the ancient war galleys had banks of oars arranged along the sides of the vessel in tiers, one, two, three, four, and sometimes five. At each one of these openings in the vessel's side, an oarsman presided at his oar, sometimes so limited in his range of vision that he could not even see the oarsman that sat in front of him on account of the partitions between. The oarsmen were all regulated by one superior will—the voice and beck of the pilot, and the word used here is the very word applied to an under-rower. "David, after he had under-rowed in his own generation." He just took his place at the oars that God gave him, and he pulled away at those oars, and the vessel was propelled forward under the will of the pilot. That is all you have to do, just take your place where God puts you, and do the work he gives you. Never envy your companions in labour, their spheres, their activities, their services; but look at your own sphere, activity, and service; and yield absolutely to the will and command of the divine pilot.

Let this great church consider what could be done if all the disciples in this membership were to work and live in the spirit of service. Here are, at least, five thousand members in active communion. Suppose that every one of these five thousand members should resolve, by the grace of God, to take one soul until the 1st of January next as the object of prayer and devout labour, seeking to lead, at least, one soul to Christ during the coming ten months; there would be five thousand converts as the reward of that work, for can you doubt for a moment that God would bless such a consecrated effort as that? There would be double the membership of this church within one year if each soul here led one other soul to Jesus Christ. I was yesterday making some slight computation as to what could be done if there were consecrated giving here, even in small sums. Suppose each member of this church, for example, should steadfastly set apart a single penny a day as an average; in one year we should have the princely sum of £7,600, or more than twice as much as was necessary to pay all the running expenses of this great church during the last twelve months, irrespective of benevolent institutions. But since the ability to give is unequal in this great congregation, suppose there should be two thousand; five hundred persons who would give a penny a day; one thousand five hundred, twopence; five hundred, threepence; two hundred and fifty, sixpence; one hundred and fifty, a shilling; and one hundred who would give two shillings a day (which is only about £36 a year), it would amount to £19,000 at the close of the year. Some people talk about these great institutions connected with the Tabernacle going down into decline because the head Pastor has been withdrawn. I hold that it would be the greatest reproach, not only to the name of the Pastor, but to the Lord Jesus Christ and to this church itself, if any paralysis should come upon one of the institutions connected with this great congregation. This large Christian membership, by a small average of daily consecrated giving, could support not only this church, but all its institutions, and, instead of declining, every form of work for Christ would go forward.

Then consider what people can do in serving God by simply praying. If you are bed-ridden, if you are too poor to give a penny a day, if you cannot go to a single public service, is there anything that shall hinder you from praying to Almighty God for every interest connected with his kingdom and the progress of his cause here?

We turn for a moment to reflect on the second and third clauses, upon which I will be brief. "David served his own generation by the will of God;" that is, he found the sphere of his service in the generation in which he lived. Our benevolence is sometimes too far sighted, it overlooks immediate wants for more remote wants. I cannot myself understand how any man to whom God has given large means, can accumulate those means with reference to their distribution by legacy. It seems to me a great instance of folly, to say nothing more, that a man should risk the final appropriation of great gifts which God has entrusted to him in the way of accumulations of money—that he should risk their finally reaching their destination by leaving those gifts to be distributed by will. I have known in America, a princely fortune of two millions sterling absolutely wasted in legal processes in the court, devoured by those vultures, called lawyers, instead of being distributed through the channels for which it was designed. A man who gives while he lives has the satisfaction of seeing his gifts reach their destination; and has the satisfaction of seeing that the work of God is advancing under his benefactions. We talk about "generous legacies," and "munificent bequests." I do not see how there can be such a thing as a generous legacy or a munificent bequest. How can a man be generous when he has no longer any other opportunity of using the money for himself? What munificence can there be on the part of a man whose dying hand relaxes its grasp on every earthly possession, and out of which even the gold he had accumulated and coveted drops? There may be munificent gifts to God and glorious benefactions while a man lives, but it is very doubtful to me whether we ought to call any legacy or bequest generous 01 munificent. What a blessed thing for a man while he lives so to bestow his goods as that widows and orphans are made glad, as that the greatest institutions are permanently founded on a firm basis, as that the gospel is spread abroad in all parts of the earth! William E. Dodge, in New York, was so beneficent a giver that when he died no less than two hundred and fifty institutions in America, Europe, Asia, and Africa owed either their existence, or their extension, to what he had done on their behalf. "David served his own generation." He served his own generation when he was feeding his flocks, when he learned to use the sling that hurled the stone that smote Goliath in the forehead, when he learned to play the harp and prepared himself to become the great psalmist and psalmodist of Israel. He served his own generation when he carried on the wars of the Lord, and made preparation for building the temple of the Lord; and there is no reason to believe that he did not serve God as much in the faithful care of his flocks as when he was gathering together gold, silver, and precious stones for the erection of the stately temple of ancient times. We need only to see that all is according to the will of God. If it is not in obedience to the voice of your Divine Pilot that you take your place at the oars and do your work, if the plan of your life is not embraced in the plan of God, if your heart does not by its love and its loyalty take God's pleasure as your pleasure, how can there be any real service unto God or unto humanity?

I leave all this to say one word in application on the life of the beloved departed Pastor of this church. Let me instance one example of his service to his own generation by the will of God. I will not say a word about the Orphanage, or the Pastors' College, or the Almshouses, but will simply speak of him as a preacher of the gospel—a simple, earnest, gospel preacher. I was making a computation, and I found that he must have preached the gospel, during the time of his public ministry, to no less than ten millions of people; that during his pastorate he must have received into communion between ten and twelve thousand converts; that his sermons must have reached a total of between twenty and forty millions of readers during the last thirty years; and that, probably, today there are over fifty millions of people that are reading the account of his life, and his labours, and his decease and burial. Here then was one man gathering into the Church of God, through his ministry, not less than twelve thousands converts, preaching the gospel to not less than ten millions of people with the living voice, and reaching from twenty to forty millions of people with his printed sermons during thirty years. Then all of you must know how those sermons have gone round the world, translated into twenty languages and dialects, at least, of which we know—Danish, Swedish, Russian, Dutch, German, French, Swiss, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Hindustani, Chinese, Japanese, Syriac, Arabic, Gaelic, the languages of Africa and of the South Sea Islands; on the continent of Asia; on the continent of Europe; going into South America, North America, Canada; penetrating into every part of the earth, so that it is impossible for us to form a correct and exact estimate today, of the marvellous influence of that one voice and that one pen. And I have made no reference whatever to the multitude of works, aside from sermons and volumes of sermons, that he produced by his laborious pen. The testimony has been given throughout this memorial service, and given by men of all denominations from all quarters, that he was the princely preacher of this century, and that no doubt his messages of the gospel had more rapidly and more distantly permeated the world than those of any other man, living or dead, in the century. Would it not be a privilege to serve the same God that Charles H. Spurgeon served? Are there none of you this morning that will look unto Jesus and be saved as he was, and find the secret of pardon and acceptance in those blessed words, "He hath made us accepted in the beloved"? What a marvellous change will take place in your life this morning, if, as you go out of this house, you should say to God, "Henceforth thy will shall be the guiding star of my whole existence; I will undertake to serve God with holy living, to serve God with holy giving, to serve God with devout praying, to serve God by instant and constant obedience, to serve God by taking my place wherever God puts me, doing whatever work he gives me to do, and with all my heart seeking to glorify my Master." Then, my beloved friends, it may be your joy and mine, by-and-by, to stand where he stands in the presence of the Lord of Glory, and receive from our Master, the divine words of commendation that have already fallen upon his ears, "Well done, good and faithful servant."