The Christian Life ~ Various

[b]Treasure in Earthen Vessels[/b] by Alan Redpath

The principle of the world is "self-glorification," and the principle of the Christian is "self-crucifixion." The principle of the world is "exalt yourself," and the principle of the Christian is "crucify yourself." The principle of men is greatness, bigness, pomp, and show; the principle of the cross is death. Therefore, whenever a man has seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ . . . at once he comes right into a head-on collision within his own personal living, with all of his principles and motives upon which he has lived until this moment. . . . if there is to be a continual manifestation of Holy Spirit life, there must be a constant submission to the crucifixion of the flesh, not simply sometimes, but always.

. . . . I see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, in the measure in which I am prepared to die. . . Why is it that so many Christians behave like kindergarten children? Because they have not seen His face!

. . . And the cost in the Christian life. . . . Deep down in the Christian's life, always and all the time, there is to be a "no" to every demand that the flesh may make for recognition, and every demand that the flesh may make for approval, and every demand that the flesh may make for vindication. Always the Christian must bear about in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus (Blessings Out of Buffetings, p. 37-38).

[b]The Character of God's Workman[/b] by Watchman Nee

In the word of God, the worker is more important than the work. If God cannot find the right person, He would rather delay His work. Much time and effort will He spend in the training of a workman fit for the Master's use. Basically, the training is more in the area of character than of skill. Only a new creation can serve God. Positionally, "'If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17mg); experientially, old habits will have to be shed and new habits formed through the working of the cross in his life. A few principal characteristics of the life of Christ need to be incorporated in the worker before he is qualified to be a servant of God. Otherwise, God's work will suffer in his hands. It is far better for him not to plunge himself at all into the most sacred work of God.

Seeing the importance of the workman's character in the service of God, Watchman Nee gave a series of messages on this subject to a group of fellow-workers in Kuling in 1948, which was subsequently published in Chinese. A condensed version, in English translation, was published by the Church Book Room, Hong Kong, in 1965, it being the work of the late Miss Elizabeth Fischbacher. It was a work beautifully done and of the highest quality. Sensing, however, the tremendous significance of these messages in relation to God's work and His workmen, a new English translation of the full test seems now to be in order. While so doing, the spoken form of these messages has been preserved and only necessary editing done for clarity.

The fundamental features of the character of God's workman given by Watchman Nee are that he: (1) is able to listen, (2) loves all mankind, (3) has a mind to suffer, (4) buffets his body and brings it into subjection, (5) is diligent and not slothful, (6) is restrained in speech, (7) is stable, (8) is not subjective, (9) has a right attitude towards money, and (10) is dealt with on some other important matters.

[b]We will come unto him, and make our abode with him[/b] by A.B. Simpson

The idea of trying to obtain a holiness of our own, and then having Christ reward us for it, is not His teaching. Oh, no. Christ is the holiness. He Himself, the Holy One, will come to dwell in the heart forever. When a millionaire buys a piece of property with an old shanty on it, he does not fix up the old shanty. He contracts with someone to tear it down. in its place he then builds a mansion. We are not to try to fix up the old shanty; rather, we are to give Christ the property. He will excavate below our old life and build a suitable house where He will live forever. That is what we mean when we say that Christ will be the preparation for the blessing of holiness and make way for His own approach. Picture a great Assyrian king setting out on a march. He did not command the people to make a road, but he sent his own men on ahead to cut down the trees, fill the ravines and level the mountains. So, if we will let Him, will Christ be the Coming King, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

[b]Soon your little crosses[/b] by Anne Dutton

My Dear Friend,
Think it not strange, my dear friend, that troubles beset you on every side. The world, since sin entered, has been a place of sorrow to the saints, from the beginning until now. Remember that our dear Lord has said of His followers, in the world they shall have tribulation, but that in Him they shall have peace. Flee, my dear child, as a poor, helpless, perishing sinner in yourself, unto Christ the mighty Savior, and commit your soul daily into His hands, to be saved by Him from all sin and misery, unto all grace and glory, and He will never cast you out, but receive and embrace you, to save you to the uttermost. In Him you shall have peace—a delightful calm, when storms and tempests beat around you. The dear Lord Jesus is "a hiding-place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; and as rivers of water in a dry place" will He be to your thirsty soul.

All is peace between God and that soul which believes in Jesus, that looks unto Him for all salvation—all is peace even in the midst of trouble. All things come from the God of peace, shall end in peace, and work together for the good of that soul, to enrich it with grace here, and to enhance its crown of glory hereafter. Therefore, my dear sister, believing the love of God towards you in Christ, submitting to His dear will, and blessing His holy name under all trials, labor to glorify God upon the earth, and soon your little crosses shall be turned into a great, an immortal crown in heaven.

The grace of Christ be with your spirit.

[b]Lord, Is My Heart Tender? Part One[/b] by K.P Yohannan

"You know, Brother K.P., one of the hardest things I have to deal with is to sit in front of a man who has done awful, stupid things in his life or ministry yet has no conviction of sin. Even if he is caught, he acts as if there is no problem and simply asks for a transfer. I am weary of it."

These were the exact words of a senior pastor whose denomination appointed him as a counselor for its pastors, elders and churches across several nations.

Many respected mission agencies report record attrition rates of up to 80 percent for their well-trained, postgraduate field workers. Most barely survive their second term, and only a few make it past their third. The number-one reason for leaving the mission field is not death threats from an anti-Christian community or lack of funds, but personal relationship conflicts. They simply can't get along with their coworkers or the leadership.

Recent studies have estimated the divorce rate among born-again Christians in America to be anywhere from 35 percent to as high as 72.5 percent. Incidentally, the likelihood of divorce appears to be identical for both believers and non-believers. Most couples file for divorce not because of a spouse's infidelity, but because of incompatibility. Again, it's a relationship problem that destroys the foundation of our families and fills our prisons with delinquent teenagers.

Since these reports are not about secular society but represent the condition of the church at large, we must ask ourselves, What's wrong with our hearts that we would produce such a poor testimony?

It seems our hearts are no longer tender toward God, our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ or our spouses and families. At the center of each of these relationship problems is our unwillingness to humble ourselves and take responsibility for our sin. Instead, we fight and manipulate others to protect our spiritual self-image.

The phrase "I have sinned against you with my words, attitude or response" comes only with great difficulty over our lips. We find it much easier to say, "I just made a dumb mistake . . . forget it."

What's missing in our so-called repentance is the deep sorrow the prodigal son had when he realized how much he had hurt the heart of his father. It caused him to lay aside all pretense and self-protection and confess with a broken heart, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight" (Luke 15:21).

[b]Therefore, brethren, we are debtors[/b] by C.H. Spurgeon

As God's creatures, we are all debtors to Him: to obey Him with all our body, and soul, and strength. Having broken His commandments, as we all have, we are debtors to His justice, and we owe to Him a vast amount which we are not able to pay. But of the Christian it can be said that he does not owe God's justice anything, for Christ has paid the debt His people owed; for this reason the believer owes the more to love. I am a debtor to God's grace and forgiving mercy; but I am no debtor to His justice, for He will never accuse me of a debt already paid. Christ said, "It is finished!" and by that He meant, that whatever His people owed was wiped away for ever from the book of remembrance. Christ, to the uttermost, has satisfied divine justice; the account is settled; the handwriting is nailed to the cross; the receipt is given, and we are debtors to God's justice no longer. But then, because we are not debtors to our Lord in that sense, we become ten times more debtors to God than we should have been otherwise. Christian, pause and ponder for a moment. What a debtor thou art to divine sovereignty! How much thou owest to His disinterested love, for He gave His own Son that He might die for thee. Consider how much you owe to His forgiving grace, that after ten thousand affronts He loves you as infinitely as ever. Consider what you owe to His power; how He has raised you from your death in sin; how He has preserved your spiritual life; how He has kept you from falling; and how, though a thousand enemies have beset your path, you have been able to hold on your way. Consider what you owe to His immutability. Though you have changed a thousand times, He has not changed once. Thou art as deep in debt as thou canst be to every attribute of God. To God thou owest thyself, and all thou hast--yield thyself as a living sacrifice, it is but thy reasonable service.

[b]We Languish for Men[/b] by A.W. Tozer

Then Paul answered, "What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." --Acts 21:13

The Church at this moment needs men, the right kind of men, bold men....

We languish for men who feel themselves expendable in the warfare of the soul, who cannot be frightened by threats of death because they have already died to the allurements of this world. Such men will be free from the compulsions that control weaker men. They will not be forced to do things by the squeeze of circumstances; their only compulsion will come from within--or from above.

This kind of freedom is necessary if we are to have prophets in our pulpits again instead of mascots. These free men will serve God and mankind from motives too high to be understood by the rank and file of religious retainers who today shuttle in and out of the sanctuary. They will make no decisions out of fear, take no course out of a desire to please, accept no service for financial considerations, perform no religious act out of mere custom; nor will they allow themselves to be influenced by the love of publicity or the desire for reputation. Of God and Men, 11-13.

"Lord, what would it take for me to be that kind of man? Do in me whatever work You need to do today, that I might die to the allurements of the world and serve You with high motives. Amen."

[b]As much as in me is, I am ready[/b] by A.B. Simpson

Be earnest. Intense earnestness, a whole heart for Christ, the passion sign of the cross, the enthusiasm of our whole being for our Master and humanity-this is what the Lord expects. This is what His cross deserves, this what the world needs and this is what the age has a right to look for. Everything around us is intensely alive. Life is earnest, death is earnest, sin is earnest, man is earnest, business is earnest, knowledge is earnest. God forgive us if we are lax in the white heat of this crisis time. Oh, for the baptism of fire! Oh, for the living coal upon the burning lips of love! 0h, for men and women God-possessed and self-surrendered, grasping God's great idea and pressing forward toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14). All the world for Jesus My prayer shall be, And my watchword ever, Himself for me. All the world for Jesus, Lord, quickly come, Bring Thy promised kingdom, And take us home.

[b]Come let us go to Gilgal, and renew[/b] by F.B.Meyer

Come let us go to Gilgal, and renew

the Kingdom there. 1 Sam. xi. 14.

IT is good to have days and occasions for renewing the kingdom. Already Saul had been anointed king. It was a recognised matter that he should inaugurate the days of the kings, as distinguished from those of the judges. But his great victory at Jabesh‑Gilead seems to have wrought the enthusiasm of the people to the highest pitch, and to have presented a great opportunity for renewing the kingdom. They went to Gilgal to do this, because there, on the first entrance into Canaan, Israel had rolled away the reproach of uncircumcision, which symbolised their lack of separation.

Jesus is our King. The Father hath anointed Him, and set Him on his holy hill; and we have gladly assented to the appointment, and made Him King. But sometimes our sense of loyalty and devotion wanes. Insensibly we drift from our strenuous endeavour to act always as his devoted subjects. Therefore we need, from time to time, to renew the kingdom, and reverently make Him King before the Lord.

Go over the old solemn form of dedication; turn to the yellow leaves of the diary; bring under his sceptre any new provinces of influence that have been acquired; tell Him how glad and thankful you are to live only for Him. Let this be done at Gilgal, the place of circumcision and separation, with the Jordan of death flowing behind, and the Land of Promise beckoning in front. There is a sense in which we can consecrate ourselves only once; but we can renew our vows often.

"Blessings abound where'er He reigns;

The prisoner leaps to burst his chains;

The weary find eternal rest,

And all the sons of want are blest"

[b]If ye then be risen[/b] by A.B. Simpson

God is waiting today to mark the opening hours, for every ready and willing heart, with a touch of life and power that will lift us to higher pleasures and offer to our vision grander horizons of hope and holy service. We shall not need to look far to discover our risen Lord. He was in advance even of the earliest seeker that Easter morning, and He will be waiting for us before the break of day with His glad "All hail" if we only have eyes to see and hearts to welcome and obey Him. What is His message to us this springtime? If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:1, 3). It is not just risen with Christ, but resurrected. It is not rising a little higher in the old life, but it is rising from the dead. The resurrection will mean no more than the death has meant. Only so far as we are really dead shall we live with Him.

[b]Post-Resurrection Appearing[/b] by G. Campbell Morgan

Today we are living in post-resurrection days in the fullest sense; in days when we no longer have the presence of our Lord as to the physical fact, but when we know He is night at hand, in the midst of every assembly of His people, the close, personal companion of every pilgrim of faith, the constant comrade of every trusting soul.

. . . He was preparing men to do without His bodily presence, and we feel there is in it great value for us.

After He had vanished; they knew that although they could not see Him, He was with them. Talking over their experience they said: When He talked to us by the way the old fire burned, the old enthusiasm returned, the vision which had faded from the glowing sky was restored; "Was not our heart burning within us, while He spake to us in the way."

. . . . He was seeking love, and the bursting of it into a flame, into passion, the rekindling of it into a fire! He knew it was there, overshadowed; He knew there was faith in Him, loyalty to Him, and that is but another way of saying that love for Him still remained. They had lost their confidence in His ability. They were disappointed. They felt He had been defeated, but in their heart there was love, and He was seeking that; to bring it again from underneath the shadow, and to fan it into the flame of great devotion.

. . . He did not make Himself known in order to kindle that love. He brought them back to the things they knew full well, to the old, familiar things. . .

They listened in astonishment, and as they listened, to employ their own word, their hearts burned within them. Coolness gave way to heat, despair to hope, disappointment to certainty; and there flamed within them the fire, not merely of the old and lost enthusiasm, but of a new passion for this very Christ in Whom they believed and Whom they loved, as they learned by interpretation of their own Scriptures at the lips of the Stranger, that all the things which had filled them most with fear, were according to the predictions of those Scriptures.

Thus their burning of heart was the thrill of a new discovery of the old things. It was the shame of past failure. It was the passion of a new endeavor. . . They were so familiar with them that they had ceased to make themselves familiar with them. . . . We need exactly what happened to these men on the way to Emmaus, a new understanding of the Scriptures of truth, a new discovery of them as the Scriptures that set forth the things concerning Christ. . . .

The church supremely needs to learn the secret of listening to the voice of the Master. . . . It is not a question as to whether He will come; He does come; He is always present to teach; but we do not take time to listen. It is true of our personal life and study of the Word; it is true of the assemblies of the saints; we do not listen to Him. . . . Not by the things we say to each other about Him; nor by the words we speak to Him in praise or prayer; but by the word He speaks to us about His Word is the fire kindled.

. . . . How much time have we given, not to prayer, not to fellowship with each other, not even to technical study of the Bible; but to listening for His voice? Is it not almost a lost art of Christian experience, this ability to sit still and wait? ("The Rekindled Fire," Great Sermons of the Resurrection of Christ, compiled by Wilbur M. Smith, 98-106).

[b]Without Fear of Man[/b] by C.H. Spurgeon

And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. (Deuteronomy 28:10)
Then we can have no reason to be afraid of them. This would show a mean spirit and be a token of unbelief rather than of faith. God can make us so like Himself that men shall be forced to see that we rightly bear His name and truly belong to the holy Jehovah. Oh, that we may obtain this grace which the Lord waits to bestow!

Be assured that ungodly men have a fear of true saints. They hate them, but they also fear them. Haman trembled because of Mordecai, even when he sought the good man's destruction. In fact, their hate often arises out of a dread which they are too proud to confess. Let us pursue the path of truth and uprightness without the slightest tremor. Fear is not for us but for those who do ill and fight against the Lord of hosts. If indeed the name of the eternal God is named upon us, we are secure; for, as of old, a Roman had but to say Romanus sum, I am a Roman, and he could claim the protection of all the legions of the vast empire; so every one who is a man of God has omnipotence as his guardian, and God will sooner empty heaven of angels than leave a saint without defense. Be braver than lions for the right, for God is with you.

We languish for men who feel themselves expendable in the warfare of the soul, who cannot be frightened by threats of death because they have already died to the allurements of this world. Such men will be free from the compulsions that control weaker men. They will not be forced to do things by the squeeze of circumstances; their only compulsion will come from within--or from above.

[b]Distinguishing What is Caesar's and What is God's[/b] by A.W. Tozer

One thing must be kept in mind: We Christians are Christians first and everything else after that. Our first alliegiance is to the kingdom of God. Our citizenship is in heaven. We are grateful for political freedom. We thank God for democracy as a way of life. But we never forget that we are sons of God and citizens of another city whose builder and maker is God. For this reason, we must not identify the gospel with any political system or make Christianity to be synonymous with any form of government, however noble. Christ stands alone, above and outside of every ideology devised by man. He does not join any of our parties or take sides with any of our great men except as they may come over on His side and try to follow Him in righteousness and true holiness. Then He is for them, but only as individuals, never as leaders of some political faction. The true Christian will be loyal to his country and obedient to those in authority, but he will never fall into the error of confusing his own national culture with Christianity. Christianity is bigger than any country, loftier than any civilization, broader than any human ideology.

[b]Continue in prayer[/b] by C.H. Spurgeon

It is interesting to remark how large a portion of Sacred Writ is occupied with the subject of prayer, either in furnishing examples, enforcing precepts, or pronouncing promises. We scarcely open the Bible before we read, "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord;" and just as we are about to close the volume, the "Amen" of an earnest supplication meets our ear. Instances are plentiful. Here we find a wrestling Jacob--there a Daniel who prayed three times a day--and a David who with all his heart called upon his God. On the mountain we see Elias; in the dungeon Paul and Silas. We have multitudes of commands, and myriads of promises. What does this teach us, but the sacred importance and necessity of prayer? We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in His Word, He intended to be conspicuous in our lives. If He has said much about prayer, it is because He knows we have much need of it. So deep are our necessities, that until we are in heaven we must not cease to pray. Dost thou want nothing? Then, I fear thou dost not know thy poverty. Hast thou no mercy to ask of God? Then, may the Lord's mercy show thee thy misery! A prayerless soul is a Christless soul. Prayer is the lisping of the believing infant, the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of the dying saint falling asleep in Jesus. It is the breath, the watchword, the comfort, the strength, the honour of a Christian. If thou be a child of God, thou wilt seek thy Father's face, and live in thy Father's love. Pray that this year thou mayst be holy, humble, zealous, and patient; have closer communion with Christ, and enter oftener into the banqueting-house of His love. Pray that thou mayst be an example and a blessing unto others, and that thou mayst live more to the glory of thy Master. The motto for this year must be, "Continue in prayer."

[b]Rest only in God[/b] by W.R. Inge

IF I had everything that I could desire, and my finger ached, I should not have everything, for I should have a pain in my finger, and so long as that remained, I should not enjoy full comfort. Bread is comfortable for men, when they are hungry; but when they are thirsty, they find no more comfort in bread than in a stone. So it is with clothes, they are welcome to men, when they are cold; but when they are too hot, clothes give them no comfort. And so it is with all the creatures. The comfort which they promise is only on the surface, like froth, and it always carries with it a want. But God's comfort is clear and has nothing wanting: it is full and complete, and God is constrained to give it thee, for He cannot cease till He have given thee Himself. (300)

It is only in God that are collected and united all the perfections, which in the creatures are sundered and divided. (324)

Yet all the fulness of the creatures can as little express God, as a drop of water can express the sea. (173)

'It was a secret as deep but also as simple as possible; it was the Lord Jesus Christ. Really and literally, Jesus Christ was the one ruling consideration for St. Paul; not himself, his claims, position, influence, feelings; not even the Church. To him the Church was inestimably precious, but the Lord was more. And all his thoughts about work, authority, order, and the like, were accordingly conditioned and governed by the thought, What will best promote the glory of the Lord who loved us and gave Himself for us? . . . . "that Christ may be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death."'

-Taken from [i]Glorify Christ[/i] by H. C. G. Moule

[b]The Ministry Of The Unnoticed[/b] by Oswald Chambers

“Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
Matthew 5:3

The New Testament notices things which from our standards do not seem to count. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," literally - Blessed are the paupers - an exceedingly commonplace thing! The preaching of to-day is apt to emphasize strength of will, beauty of character - the things that are easily noticed. The phrase we bear so often, Decide for Christ, is an emphasis on something Our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him - a very different thing. At the basis of Jesus Christ's Kingdom is the unaffected loveliness of the commonplace. The thing I am blessed in is my poverty. If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, then Jesus says - Blessed are you, because it is through this poverty that I enter His Kingdom. I cannot enter His Kingdom as a good man or woman, I can only enter it as a complete pauper.

The true character of the loveliness that tells for God is always unconscious. Conscious influence is priggish and un-Christian. If I say - I wonder if I am of any use - I instantly lose the bloom of the touch of the Lord. "He that believeth in me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water." If I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.

Which are the people who have influenced us most? Not the ones who thought they did, but those who had not the remotest notion that they were influencing us. In the Christian life the implicit is never conscious, if it is conscious it ceases to have this unaffected loveliness which is the characteristic of the touch of Jesus. We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.

[b]I sought him, but I found him not[/b] by C.H. Spurgeon

Tell me where you lost the company of a Christ, and I will tell you the most likely place to find Him. Have you lost Christ in the closet by restraining prayer? Then it is there you must seek and find Him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to mortify the member in which the lust doth dwell. Did you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures? You must find Christ in the Scriptures. It is a true proverb, "Look for a thing where you dropped it, it is there." So look for Christ where you lost Him, for He has not gone away. But it is hard work to go back for Christ. Bunyan tells us, the pilgrim found the piece of the road back to the Arbour of Ease, where he lost his roll, the hardest he had ever travelled. Twenty miles onward is easier than to go one mile back for the lost evidence.

Take care, then, when you find your Master, to cling close to Him. But how is it you have lost Him? One would have thought you would never have parted with such a precious friend, whose presence is so sweet, whose words are so comforting, and whose company is so dear to you! How is it that you did not watch Him every moment for fear of losing sight of Him? Yet, since you have let Him go, what a mercy that you are seeking Him, even though you mournfully groan, "O that I knew where I might find Him!" Go on seeking, for it is dangerous to be without thy Lord. Without Christ you are like a sheep without its shepherd; like a tree without water at its roots; like a sere leaf in the tempest--not bound to the tree of life. With thine whole heart seek Him, and He will be found of thee: only give thyself thoroughly up to the search, and verily, thou shalt yet discover Him to thy joy and gladness.