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THE K I NG ' S BUS I NES S
April, 1937
Around the K ing 's Table
By PAUL W . ROOD
there be no nail prints, the teacher or the teaching is spurious. We will never get away from the cross. Throughout eternity we are going to worship the Lamb that was slain. We “shall know Him by the print of the nails in His hand.” When the Emmaus disciples had received this wonder ful revelation, they said to one another: “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures ?” Oh, that is what we need—burning hearts! There are many who have religion in the head. We need the Holy Spirit in the heart. We must have hot hearts and cool heads. Flam ing hearts will kindle revival fires in other lives. Fellowship with the living Christ-caused the hearts of the disciples to glow with holy fervor and enthusiasm. Restored fellowship with the Lord will rekindle the fire, and continued unbroken fellowship with Christ will main tain the fire on the altar. The first secret, then, of a burn ing heart is the experience of sustained fellowship with the Lord Jesus. Allowing Christ to open to us the Scrip tures is the second secret of a burning heart. Do we take time to read and to meditate upon the Word of God ? Do we talk to the Lord about our problems? Do we listen to His voice? If we do, our hearts are aflame. The result of this experience in the lives of the Emmaus disciples was that they were saved from doubt and de spondency, for the Scriptures were made plain and these believers had a ringing testimony, a report of meeting their risen Lord. In the understanding that “the Lord is risen indeed,” there is assurance, enthusiasm, and victory. When our hearts are set on fire by the Lord, we likewise will be living above the clouds of skepticism and discouragement and we will understand the Bible. With burning hearts we will witness boldly and enthusiastically for our resur rected Lord. „ Churches abound with sit-down strikers, au - own j t jjas jjeen said that we have in the church strikes “shirkers, jerkers, and workers.” The shirkers are those who do nothing, i The jerkers are those who work occasionally. The workers are those who are faithful to their tasks morning, noon, and night. Those who belong to the last-named group are the ones that keep the church going. The second group, the jerkers, accom plish little if anything and the first-named group, the shirkers, nothing at all. They are a hindrance instead of a help. To which group do you belong? “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” is the question that comes to all sit-down strikers in the Lord’s vineyard. This is no time for idleness. This is the time for work. Laziness is abominable in the sight of the Lord. “Six days shalt thou labor” is just as much a command as is the injunction to use one day out of seven as a rest day. God has made work a necessity because an idle life is a menace to man spiritually, morally, and physically. Work makes for health and happiness. The Apostle Paul expressed God’s standard thus: “If any would not work, neither
In these days of cold intellectualism and dead formalism we need to emphasize the necessity of a heart experience of Christ’s
A Burning Heart
presence and power. We are surrounded by coldness on every hand. There is a lack of fire and enthusiasm in most churches. We are affected by our environment, and consequently we reflect individually what is true collec tively of the average church. If we are spiritually cold, we become negative and often critical and cynical. Under these circumstances we are unhappy and useless as far as effective service is concerned. We admit and deplore the coldness of the churches and of our own hearts, but what are we doing to remedy the situation? First of all, we should recognize the fact that it is un necessary and abnormal for a Christian to be spiritually cold and that it is possible and normal to be spiritually warm, filled with love for Christ. Then we should ex amine ourselves and ascertain our spiritual condition. The physician makes a diagnosis before he prescribes the remedy. When we have learned our lack and its cause, we should confess it to the Lord and ask Him to restore unto us the joy of His salvation. We need spiritual renewal. Charles Finney said that he needed to go to the altar once a month in order to maintain a normal spiritual state. If Finney, Spirit-empowered as he unquestionably was, needed spiritual adjustment and renewal, who today will dare to deny his own personal need? Coldness and laxity must be confessed and judged if we are to escape the chastening of the Lord. Spiritual indifference may arise from various sources. The two disciples on the way to Emmaus were despondent. Their hearts were sad because of unbelief (Lk. 24:17, 21). Doubt chills the soul. You cannot have skepticism in your mind and fire in your soul. Has your coldness been caused by reading skeptical books and periodicals and by listen ing to teachers who major in question marks instead of in exclamation points? Or, it may be that you have not yielded to the Lord when He has allowed your own plans to come to naught. Frustrated hopes cast a dark shadow upon your pathway. Your hopes have not been realized, and therefore you have allowed clouds of disappointment to hide the face of the One altogether lovely. O r is it that some unconfessed sin has broken the fellowship that caused the joy bells to ring in bygone days? In all of these needs, the Lord Jesus is the sufficient Saviour. “Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.” The Lord does not forsake us in our hour of gloom. He comes to us in the darkness and gives us songs in the night. He deals with us faithfully and tenderly. He up braids us for our unbelief and then proceeds to restore our faith by His unfailing Word. He reveals Himself as the living Christ and as the subject of divine revelation. He opens the eyes that were “holden,” and we recognize Him. Cleopas and his companion saw the nail prints when Christ broke the bread, and then they knew that He was their risen Lord. Look for the nail prints when you read a book or listen to a sermon or to teaching that purports to be Christian. The nail prints are the credentials. If
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