The Sickly and the Healthy Life
Andrew Murray emphasizes the importance of choosing a healthy and vibrant Christian life, characterized by strength, joy, and a willingness to perform duty, over a sickly and feeble life.
Andrew Murray emphasizes the distinction between a sickly and a healthy Christian life, urging believers to pursue the higher, true Christian walk to achieve victory over failures and strengthen their prayer life. He compares the two states of Christians to the difference between a healthy and sickly person, highlighting that while both are alive, only one can fulfill their duties joyfully and successfully. Murray points out that scripture categorizes Christians as either carnal or spiritual, and encourages believers to choose a life of health and vigor over a feeble existence. The sermon serves as a call to maturity in faith, urging believers to reject self and fleshly desires.
Text
I have spoken on the two levels of Christian walk, and the necessity of our living on the higher, which is simply the true Christian life, if we are to get victory over our failures, and enter upon the path we can become faithful and strong in prayer. The difference is simply that which we see around us between a healthy and sickly man. Both are living men, with all the attributes that go to make up a man, and to do so joyfully and successfully. To the other the performance of duty is a burden, if not an impossibility, because he is out of health and lacks the needful strength.
So when scripture divides Christians into carnal and spiritual, those who remain babies when they ought to be men, and those who have gone on unto perfection or maturity, into those who walk after the flesh and those who walk after the Spirit, it points out the two possible states of a believer living either a feeble sickly life, or a life of health and vigor. Every warning about yielding to self and the flesh, becomes a call to us to decide which of the two styles of living shall be ours.
(Excerpted from The Coming Revival, by Andrew Murray, pg. 89-90)
Sermon Outline
- The Two Levels of Christian Walk
- Characteristics of the Sickly Life
- The Choice Before Us
- Deciding Between Carnal and Spiritual Living
- Walking After the Flesh or the Spirit
Key Quotes
“The difference is simply that which we see around us between a healthy and sickly man.” — Andrew Murray
Application Points
- We must choose to live a spiritual life by walking after the Spirit and seeking to please God in all things.
- A healthy Christian life is characterized by strength, joy, and a willingness to perform duty.
- Yielding to self and the flesh leads to a life of weakness, burden, and spiritual immaturity.