W e have a word for it nowadays, “ trouble-shooter.” Big business employs men to look out for possi ble “ bugs” and breakdowns. God has such men in the .church. They are New Testament prophets. They are Divinely equipped for the job. They have an instinct for locating trouble and a genius for exposing it. Naturally, th£y are not popular. It is much more pleasant to be a Gamaliel, keeping everything quiet in Jerusalem than a Paul, exceedingly troubling Philippi. Such men are called trouble-makers but they do not create the situa tion; they reveal it. If they call attention to the bushels and beds that smother Christian testimony, they should not be accused of making the bushels and setting up the beds. They do not put delinquent Christians on the spot. Such people are already on the spot. The prophet merely reveals the spot. We need some sanctified trouble-shooters today. We have trouble aplenty. We are beset without and within. The temple of Truth is not endangered half as much by woodpeckers without as by termites within. The atheists who hammer on the outside make a lot of noise, but the pests who bore on the inside are doubly dangerous be cause they are so quiet about it. The New Testament teaches pest extermination. Today the idea seems to have gotten around that we should never disturb the status quo but go along with it, termites and all. The church has a right and a duty to screen out all varieties of bugs. It will take more than brains. If brains could untie the knot, they have had plenty of time to do it. Man is not going to think himself out of this dilemma. Indeed, it is a wisdom that knows not God that has brought us to the edge- of this abyss. We recognize the value of con- secrated intellects and well-informed minds. I have heard of a brother who said at prayer-meeting, “ Lord, I thank Thee that I’m ignorant.” Someone remarked: “ Evidently he .has a lot to be thankful fori” But it will take more than a symposium of brilliant minds and panel discus sions by the intelligentsia to solve our riddle. Our Lord did n6t hold seminars in Rome, Alexandria and Athens. He set the pattern. Hp was the supreme Prophet of all time. Prophets are a peculiar lot. They have moved nations and changed the course of history. They did not do it with carefully worked-out theses from a post-graduate school. Amos had no travel cards and boasted no degrees but he was more than a match for Amaziah, the court preacher of Bethel. John the Baptist did not draw crowds to the Jordan by putting on a public debate with the rab bis. He had no gimmicks. He did not even offer a copy of Isaiah to the oldest grandmother present or a free cam el ride to whoever brought most people to the meetings. He lived in touch with Headquarters and spoke for God. There is not much demand for prophets today but never was the need greater. Churches all too often want highly specialized professionals, experts in public rela tions, able to minister acceptably in Suburbia where church membership is fast becoming just good business. Prophets are too disturbing. A prophet is a contradiction to his generation. He is a cause of general uneasiness. He stabs fhe consciences of Ahabs and Herods and keeps
Darius awake all night. He plays havoc with the serenity school and irritates the tranquilizers. He has never learned to talk in such a way that half of what he says cancels the other half so that he finishes without having said anything. Just when false prophets of peaceful coexistence have almost lulled everybody into a stupor, the true prophet blasts the neighborhood with a siren that cries aloud and spares not. While scholars write wordy vol umes that nobody reads, the prophet says it in one color ful paragraph. He locates the trouble and proposes the remedy. He does not write a treatise on the subject; he calls to repentance. Joseph Parker said, “ The man whose sermon is ‘Repent’ sets himself against his age and will for the time being be battered mercilessly by the age whose moral tone he challenges. There is but one end for such a man . . . ‘off with his head.’ ” You had better no.t preach repentance until you have pledged your head to heaven.” Let it be said again, the true prophet is not a trouble maker. There are false prophets who set up straw men to knock over, who create crises and invent issues. There are also false prophets who cry “ Peace” when there is no peace, who would have us save our hides at the cost of our honor and preserve our skins though it cost our souls. The true prophet belongs to neither category. Ahab accused Elijah of troubling Israel. Elijah promptly set the matter straight. “ I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the com mandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Balaam. That was the trouble and Elijah did not create it; he re vealed it. Ahab was the trouble-maker. Elijah was the This age of Laodicean lukewarmness, of peaceful coex istence, of conformity and togetherness, naturally hates prophets. We are not training prophets because there is no demand and there are no candidates. We are turning out every other conceivable kind of religious specialist, but not prophets. Peace is the theme today and prophets deal with trouble. Somebody is sure to ask, “ But doesn’t the Bible say, ‘Blessed are the peace-makers,’ and not, ‘Blessed are the trouble-shooters’ ?” True, but the surest way to have peace is to deal with the troubles that pre vent it. A sick man has no peace because he has trouble and the doctor must first be a trouble-shooter before he can be a peace-maker. Ahab and his false prophets will of course accuse Eli jah of troubling Israel. But the prophet will understand* that, now as then, they are merely passing the buck. He is not creating the trouble; he is condemning and cor recting it. He will not be disturbed by those who do not know the difference between a trouble-maker and a trouble-shooter. The secret of his confidence lies in his fellowship with God. Elijah said to Ahab: “ As the Lord God of Israel liveth, BEFORE WHOM I STAND . . .” At that moment he was standing in the presence of a king but evidently he was not too much impressed. A man accustomed to communion with the Almighty will not be flustered before Ahab. With such credentials, he can meet any situation and rise to any occasion. We need a trouble-shooter of that caliber today. trouble-shooter.
THE KING 'S BUSINESS
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