To Spend and Be Spent for God

There is a statement by the Apostle Paul which shames me. It is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 15. Let me read that to you now, friends.

Paul writes to the Corinthians, and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. That verse is an indictment against me. How little I've done for Christ.

And when I read the story of the life of C.T. Studd, it shames me. It shames me for what little I've done for God and my generation. C.T. Studd was a man who lived on the verge of eternity and walked closely with the God of that eternity.

C.T. Studd penned the famous line, only one life which will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ shall last. And it's true, friends.

And when I compare my own life with that of a C.T. Studd, I am ashamed of how much money and how much time I've squandered on myself and wasted. I've wasted precious opportunities to advance the gospel in my generation. It's a crying shame.

I can only pick up the fragments of my remaining time and live in such a way as to spend and be spent for God. And that's the title of my message this evening, friends, to spend and be spent for God. Years ago, I had a business partner who was consumed with making money.

He already had plenty of money, but he wanted more. And he told me one day while we were having lunch that he wanted some words put on his tombstone when he died. And those words were, win, win, win.

And when I got home that day from my office, I told that story to my wife and I said to her, do you know what I want on my tombstone? Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. To spend and be spent for God, friends, is a privilege you get only once in a lifetime.

How you live your life in this world for God is all that matters. One of my dear friends was the late Bible commentator William McDonald. He wrote a written endorsement on my Sidlow Baxter biography, and he encouraged me to write my book on discipleship called No Turning Back, telling me to take the gloves off and don't state the obvious.

Bill McDonald was a man who lived to spend and be spent for God. Let me tell you a little bit about this man of God in case you're not familiar with him. When I knew Bill, he was a man in his 90s and he was still a virgin.

He had been a successful stock analyst in Boston, having graduated from Harvard with an MBA. But during World War II, God got a hold of Bill on a beach one day in Hawaii while he was reading a book about C.T. Studd, and it forever changed his life from that point forward. After the war, Bill quit his job as a stock analyst and went by faith into full-time ministry.

By the way, he wrote over 80 books. His two bestsellers were the book on discipleship, True Discipleship, which sold over a million copies, and his best-selling one-volume Bible Commentary entitled Believer's Bible Commentary, which sold over a million copies as well. You'd think Bill would have been a millionaire with book sales like that.

No, friends, he never took any of his royalties for himself, but gave every penny away to advance the gospel in his generation. He lived very meagerly and spent all he had on God's work. Bill lived in a small apartment in California, and in that apartment, you would find Bill sitting at his desk working on his manuscripts.

His desk consisted of a door taken off its hinges and placed upon two chairs. This is how the man lived. He cared little for creature comforts, but only the spread of the gospel in his generation.

Let me read you some of Bill's thoughts as found in his book, Winning Souls the Bible Way. Bill writes concerning a new convert. He will live sacrificially for the spread of the gospel.

The apostle Paul spoke of his willingness to spend and be spent in 2 Corinthians 12, 15. We too should be willing to do without present necessities to say nothing of comforts and luxuries in order that souls might not perish for want of the knowledge of Christ, and in order that we might look forward to a harvest of souls. Bill McDonald denied himself and his generation for the spread of the gospel all over the world.

Bill encouraged me to give away my pen ministry royalties, except for a small advance from Baker Books. I never received a dime from any of my 18 published books. I've given it to the mission field and the printing of foreign Bibles.

Bill McDonald was one of those rare individuals who lived what he preached. I remember I asked Bill one time if he wouldn't mind meeting with my own discipleship group, which met at my home at 6 a.m. on Friday mornings. He said he'd love to via telephone conference since he lived 2,000 miles away from me.

So we set it up for the following Friday, and I put Bill on the loudspeaker on my telephone so he could disciple us. Now mind you, here was a man in his 90s who was willing to meet with my man at 4 o'clock in the morning his time. When he spoke to us, he was as fresh as a flower and as sharp as a knife.

Now I want to ask each of us a question, friends. When did the church become so self-indulgent? When did the church stop living to further only the gospel rather than to further her own enterprise? How is it that an evangelist today needs an $80 million jet to fly him in private comfort all over the globe? Where has the church lost her vision? Many in the church have become hoarders rather than givers. Wealth accumulation to many is more important than the spread of the gospel.

There are still yet 2,200 language groups who do not have the gospel in their native tongue. It's very costly to translate the Bible into a foreign language. Members of churches have plenty of money, but why does the world wait? Why does the world wait to hear the good news of the gospel of the Son of God? Why is it so many young people have stopped giving themselves to the mission field to spend and be spent for God? Why are so few today not throwing their lives away for Christ? The great missionary enterprise of the 19th century in Great Britain and North America should shame each of us today.

I was in the basement of Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut, conducting research on my biography on Azahel Nettleton. And in that darkened basement, I saw on the wall hanging plaque after plaque of the names of the graduates of Hartford Seminary in the 1800s, a young man and women who lived only to spread the gospel in their generation. Many were converts of the Second Great Awakening.

And as soon as they got out of school, they could not wait to pour their lives out on foreign soil for the souls of men. There were their names as I read them down in that darkened hallway. Miss So-and-so, who died as a missionary to New Guinea in 1898.

Mr. So-and-so, who died in the heart of Africa in 1888. Miss So-and-so, who died as a martyr in China in 1882. And so on and so on is that bloodstained testimony down in the basement of that seminary today.

But most kids today don't want to go into the mission field much anymore. They'd rather just make a lot of money and live for themselves. A new young man several years ago, a Christian who could have done great things for God.

He had a lot of potential, but he wanted to make a lot of money before he turned 30. So he became a businessman in a booming oil town, and now money is his God. I know a lot of good deacons who are self-sacrificing individuals bent on spreading the gospel in their generation.

But I will also say this, friends. Some of the greediest men I've ever known have been deacons in Baptist churches. When the church prospers, she slumbers in indifference to the perishing.

But in times of persecution, the church thrives in spiritual vitality. Look at the Chinese underground church compared to the rich, affluent American church. One has power.

The other does not. One grows by leaps and bounds through lives of vital New Testament Christianity. The other languishes on soft pillows of conformity and compromise to spend and be spent for God.

Listen to some quotes of C.T. Studd, friends. I go on gambling for all I'm worth for Jesus all the time till he tells me to quit and come up aloft. Our objective must be the evangelization of the whole world, nothing less.

I'm on pins and needles till he comes. I'm in the thing, neck, crop, and heel. Every night, the rats and mice run around my tent and bed and wake me up while the dogs crack bones at the tent door, which always lies open for fresh air.

Sometimes I think of home and its comforts and, oh, how I long for that bath. But it's better to be here in the service of Christ. Let me pause there, friends.

When C.T. Studd is thinking about home, he grew up at Tedworth, a mansion you could stick the White House in several times. He grew up a millionaire's son, and he gave his inherited fortune away for the spread of the gospel. C.T. Studd is known for doing what the rich young ruler would not.

Now here are some more of his quotes. The fact remains, God can do little with those who love their lives or reputations. But there's absolutely no limit to what God can do with men or women who care not whether they live or die, so long as they're allowed to fight for Christ and do the will of God.

We don't want to go to heaven in golden slippers, nor on a flowery bed of ease. Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.

I think you get the picture, friends, on how C.T. Studd lived his life. I keep the framed photo of his grave on my desk. It's utter simplicity and plainness.

Speak of how that man was willing to spend and be spent for God and his generation. And when I think along those lines of to spend and be spent for God, I cannot help think of David Brainerd, who poured himself out on the mission field to the natives in America. Dying of tuberculosis in his 20s, he barely made it to the home of Jonathan Edwards in Northampton, where he died and is buried in that town today.

I have often stood at Brainerd's grave, and there is a great solemnity which surrounds it still. How that man lived for his God. And when I think of to spend and be spent for God, I cannot help but think of George Whitefield and how he cared little for his own body and his own comforts as long as he was able to proclaim the gospel of the son of God.

Whitefield slept no more than three or four hours a night and preached up to three to six times a day every day of the week. He was always up early before dawn, having his quiet time of devotions and prayer with his precious redeemer. And he'd get up at 4 a.m. every day, even if he went to bed after midnight.

Whitefield poured himself out for his Lord like a drink offering and the gospel, and he died at 55. John Wesley had lunch with Whitefield in London a year before his death. And Wesley commented that Whitefield, though he was not yet 60, looked and walked as an old man.

And when I think of spend and be spent for God, I cannot help but think of the missionary martyr, Jim Elliott, whose wife, Elizabeth, died this past week. Jim Elliott was speared by an Inca Indian, the very people he was trying to reach with the gospel. His wife, Elizabeth, said of him 30 years after his death, Jim Elliott considered himself disposable.

Let me ask you, friend, are you disposable for Christ and his gospel, or are you into self-preservation? Jim Elliott wrote in the margin of his Bible the following words, and I will end this message with his words, because they sum up and typify our theme this evening of to spend and be spent for God. Here's what Jim Elliott wrote in the margin of his Bible. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Let's go to God now in prayer, friends, and be honest with him. Let each one of us answer the following question. Am I willing to be spent for God with the rest of my life? Ask the Holy Spirit to shine his spotlight on our lives right now.

Let us pray.