SERVANTS ON HORSEBACK AND PRINCES ON FOOT! God’s promotion system does not work like ours. “Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He putteth down one and set- teth up another” (Ps. 75:6, 7). There are servants on horseback among u s : preachers who can’t preach for sour apples take chief seats in the syna gogue and are called “Rabbi.” And we have princes on foot, truly great preachers ministering in Po- dunk. We shall truly be surprised both ways at the judgment and will need to revise “Who’s Who In The Ministry” ! Who are the great preachers? Some preachers are made by ecclesiastical politics; by clever pub licity ; by knowing the right people; by pulling wires and making contacts. If it were a matter of merit some now on horseback would be hitch-hiking. Sometimes posterity elevates its princes to horse back posthumously. Jesus denounced the Pharisees for stoning the prophets and then building sepul chers in their honor. First, bricks and then bou quets ! It is not easy to be a prince on foot while ser vants ride on horseback. Consider Obadiah the poli tician and Elijah, the pedestrian prophet; or Court- preacher Amaziah and rustic Amos; or the “lord” who ridiculed Elisha’s prophecy of the lifting of the siege; or Micaiah, sent to a fare of bread and water while four hundred sycophants chanted in unison, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper.” But if posterity fails to recognize great preach ers, eternity will show them up. Paul said that nei ther he nor anyone else was competent to size up his ministry. God would do it one day (I Cor. 4 :3-5) . He awaited the verdict of eternity. Malachi tells us of a day when God will collect His jewels and then everybody will know who is who. Then the servants will come down from their high-horses and God’s aristocracy will come into its own. Let it be said in all fairness that some princes get recognized in their lifetime and ride horseback now. More power to them! But whether one passes through this world as equestrian or pedestrian, his one responsibility is to be faithful. There will be plenty of time hereafter for promotion. We are not headed for an eternal vacation, after all. “AND HIS SERVANTS SHALL SERVE HIM” over there as well as here. If these lines fall under the eye of some unrecognized servant on horseback, cheer up, my brother. Be faithful over a few things. Promotion day lies ahead!
other words, “A standard has been set and a prece dent established. It will pay you to fall in line.” Up to a certain point standards are necessary and desirable. Beyond that point, they impose a tyranny. We never had more courses on how to preach and we never had fewer great preachers. The mountain labors and brings forth a mouse. By popular standards today, many giants of the past would never make the grade with the average pulpit committee. Thank God, there will always be an Amos now and then who will dare to prophesy at Bethel but he will find plenty of Amaziahs of the court preachers school who will bid him return to his sheep and sycamores. At the very outset of his ministry, a preacher must decide whether to preach what is hot on his heart, preach it in his own way, and trust God to open doors, or whether he shall conform to the pre vailing rules and try to meet public demand. In the Bible, God's men were out to deliver a message. Sometimes the congregation was small, the results meager and the consequences death or imprison ment. Some of the classics on our shelves were writ ten by men who were scorned in their day, men who failed by modem standards. But they spoke what God said. If they had worked with a popular set of rules before them, we would know no more of them than we do of their sycophant contempo raries. To be sure, there are accepted rules for preach ing to which any sensible man will conform. The message should be clear, follow the best principles of grammar and not be unnecessarily offensive. But beyond that there is today a popular pattern that turns out a watered-down, denatured, colorless essay according to the new art of almost saying something. The best summary of it would be that Bible question: “Is there any taste in the white of an egg?” The path to success and popularity would seem to lié nowadays along the line of least resistance. But we have to live with ourselves ; we have to give account to God and we have an obligation to our generation to serve bread instead of stones. Use whatever of the modem pattern you can, discard the rest and devise your own pattern. The pattern was made for the preacher and not the preacher for the pattern. The last word, under God, lies with the prophet, not with the pattern-maker. To his own Master he stands or falls and God is able to make him stand. Another sort of ministerial misfit is indicated in Ecclesiastes : “I have seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon the earth” (10:7). Rulers are in mind here, inefficient men promoted to high position while abler men take a lower place. Equestrian servants and pedestrian princes ! History abounds in such sad cases and the same situation obtains in the religious world. 12
“Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul; Each thought and each motive beneath His control. Thus led by His Sp irit to fountains of love, Thou soon shall be fitted FOR SERVICE ABOVE !"
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