Is not this the way God has worked in the past? Abraham in the extremity of old age staggering not at the promise of God; Jacob alone at Jabbok; Israel at the Red Sea with water before them, Egypt behind them and God above; Gideon with his three hundred; David facing Goliath with sling and stone; Paul with his thorn in the flesh but shipwrecked on God, . . . all of these were like lepers in the gate of Samaria. Those who got the greatest blessings from our Lord were desperate: the poor sick woman who pressed through the crowd to touch the hem of His garment; the paralytic whose four friends—an other desperate foursome—let him down through a roof into the Saviour’s presence; Zacchaeus climb ing the sycamore and Bartimaeus stopping traffic; the Syrophenician woman who woudn’t go home without an answer; and the parables: the woman pleading with the judge and the man pleading with a friend at midnight for bread—all of these, like the lepers of Samaria, are a study in holy despera tion. There is one exception, the rich young ruler. He was a better character than Zacchaeus or the Syrophenician but they got their blessing while he missed his. HE WAS NOT DESPERATE. He had not reached that extremity where he would bum his bridges and sell out to Jesus Christ. Money was his crutch and he limped away on it. He was no leper in the gate o f Samaria! “Let our debts be what they may, however great or small, As soon as we have naught to pay our Lord for gives us all; ’Tis perfect poverty alone that sets the soul at large, While we can call one mite our own we have no full discharge.” The prodigal never starts home until he realizes that he is perishing and comes to himself.
the time nor the ability to argue but who MUST do or die. Too many o f us beggars are sitting around discussing existentialism, the new morality and the latest theological fads. We have bigger business than that! The victory has been won, the enemy has been defeated and we need to possess our possessions. Much of what I hear in church conventions and read in religious papers sounds like Jehoram in sackcloth or like Jehoram’s cour tier saying, “ If the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?” The church needs to say two things: First, WHY SIT WE HERE UNTIL WE DIE? We need to come to, snap out of our stupor and get going. Then, when we begin to possess what God has provided we need to say like these lepers when they found more spoil than they could handle, “WE DO NOT WELL: THIS IS A DAY OF GOOD TID INGS, AND WE HOLD OUR PEACE.” We must not only POSSESS, we must SHARE. There is no worse selfishness than the kind of Christianity that enjoys the riches of grace and never shares them with the neighbor across the street or across the sea. We eat our cake on Sunday morning in our comfortable churches and throw a few crumbs to a lost world that lies like Lazarus at Dives’ table. If we do not share the Gospel, we are not rivers o f living water but stagnant pools. Shame on us that in a day of good tidings we hold our peace! How about you? Are you sitting in the gate of Samaria? What will you do about it? Will you spend the rest of your days at this poor dying rate? Will you listen to the cynic’s “ If God should make windows in heaven, might this thing be?” or will you hear God: “ Prove me now if I will not open you the windows of heaven” ? Will you not say, “ I will take God at His word. I will walk by faith and see what happens.” Feelings may frighten me, circumstances may scare me, friends may discour age me, timid Christians may shake their heads, but I have set my face like a flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed.” I never tire o f reading or telling the story of J. C. Penney, head o f the great mercantile firm that bears his name. At 56, he had lost millions and was bankrupt. He had a nervous breakdown and shingles and thought he would soon die. Lying in a sanatorium one morning, he heard singing in the hall. Some of the patients were holding a prayer-meeting in a parlor and they were singing, “ Be not dismayed, whate’er betide, God will take care o f you.” He shuffled down to join them, gave himself up completely to God. Gradually his disease and his depression lifted, he became strong and healthy, re-established his business and became a great Christian layman witnessing all over the country to the goodness of God. And all because “ in the gate of Samaria” he came to that momentous question, “WHY SIT WE HERE UNTIL WE DIE” ! |J b ] 13
" I can but peritth it I go; I am resolved to try, For if I stay away I huow I must forever die."
The church has no business living in a state of siege, on the defensive, when we ought to be in vading the enemy’s territory. WHY SIT WE HERE UNTIL WE DIE? We pride ourselves on defending the faith; God is looking for somebody who will demonstrate the faith. Too many Jeho- rams are walking the walls deploring the times. We expound the truth but we do not experience it. We need some lepers in the gate who have neither FEBRUARY, 1969
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