For the Courses of the Doorkeepers.
The sermon emphasizes the importance of doorkeeping in the heart and the Church to maintain purity and closeness to God.
F.B. Meyer emphasizes the vital role of doorkeepers in both the physical and spiritual realms, highlighting their responsibility to maintain the sanctity of the House of God and the temple of the heart. He notes that just as doorkeepers were needed to manage access to the temple, we must also guard our hearts against disloyal and evil thoughts that can lead to alienation from God. Meyer encourages the church to welcome all, while also ensuring that its holiness is preserved through careful oversight. The sermon calls for vigilance in our inner lives, urging believers to submit their thoughts to the Spirit's scrutiny to maintain a pure relationship with God.
Text
For the courses of the doorkeepers. 1 Chron. xxvi. I (R.V.).
MIGHTY men of valour were needed for this, just as sweet singers were for the service of song. Entrance to the House of God was restricted to a privileged few. Gentiles were excluded from certain courts, and women from another. It was incumbent also to look out for those who, like the publican in the Lord's parable, might shrink from intruding, and encourage them to enter. Doorkeepers had to combine many qualities, which would be of the greatest service if they could be repeated in each church and chapel of our great cities, for welcoming old and young.
But chiefly we are concerned with the temple of the heart. We surely need the doorkeeper there, for in the history of the inner life there is so much going and coming; such troops of thoughts pour into the shrine of the soul, and pour out. And often, in the crowd, disloyal and evil thoughts intrude, which, before we know it, introduce a sense of distance and alienation from God, as though a cloud had veiled the shining of the Shekinah. Whenever the sky is overcast within, we should question whether some traitor, some excommunicate, has entered. Our native wit is not quick enough to detect, and our strength not mighty enough to withstand, the entrance of all these evil things. Hence the necessity not only to live in the Spirit, but to walk in the Spirit, i. e., to submit everything to the Spirit's scrutiny.
It is necessary also that strict supervision strong be exercised over those who unite with the visible Church, lest her holiness become diluted, and her fences broken down. Nothing is more important than the function of doorkeeping for the Church's purity.
Sermon Outline
- The Need for Doorkeepers
- The Importance of Doorkeeping
- The Role of the Holy Spirit
- Living in the Spirit
- Walking in the Spirit
Key Quotes
“Whenever the sky is overcast within, we should question whether some traitor, some excommunicate, has entered.” — F.B. Meyer
“Our native wit is not quick enough to detect, and our strength not mighty enough to withstand, the entrance of all these evil things.” — F.B. Meyer
Application Points
- We need to be mindful of the thoughts that enter our hearts and take steps to prevent evil thoughts from entering.
- Exercising doorkeeping in the Church is crucial to maintaining her purity and holiness.
- The Holy Spirit plays a vital role in doorkeeping, and we must submit to His scrutiny to live a life of spiritual growth.