Convincing and Persuading
principles deposited there soon spread by natural arteries to all parts of the land. The missionaries skilfully seized the chief centres of influence and power.
On his arrival at Ephesus, he found a little company of disciples in the heart of the great heathen city. All the Christianity of the place gravitated toward Paul. Like draws to like. The apostle in Ephesus was like a magnetic bar thrust into a great heap of rubbish: forthwith all the filings of real steel that existed in the miscellaneous mass were found adhering to its sides. The attraction and cohesion of kindred spirits is a beautiful and beneficent law of the new kingdom.
We discover in this far-off region some direct results of the Baptist’s preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Some of those who heard the preacher must have emigrated before the death of Christ and the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost. They had beheld, at John’s invitation, the Lamb of God, and believed to the saving of their souls; but they had not obtained the fuller knowledge of the gospel which came after the resurrection to the chosen witnesses. To these men, and in answer to their prayers for greater light, the apostle of the Gentiles was sent, as a vessel, bearing the name of Christ more fully revealed. As Philip was sent to the desert of Gaza with the water of life to the thirsting Ethiop, Paul was sent on the same errand to those twelve men and their companions who panted for the living water in the desert-place of a huge idolatrous city. The Lord knoweth them that are his, and how to find them out. He will never leave them, nor forsake them.
He entered the synagogue as usual, and “spake boldly for the space of three months.” In this book much is made of boldness. The early disciples felt their need of it, longed for it, prayed for it, and obtained it. Courage displayed by the preacher implies a cruel persecution by the enemies of the cross. Strange that when a message from heaven is about to be proclaimed, great courage should be requisite in the herald who bears it. The message is peace and pardon. Surely a servant of the government may risk himself in the very heart of a convict prison alone, if he is the bearer of a royal pardon for all the inmates. In such a case, it would not be necessary to look out for a man of rare courage, who might dare to carry the proclamation to the convicts. Give him but the message of free pardon, and he may go in unarmed with all safety, like Daniel in the den of lions.
When Christ himself came to the world — the great convict prison of the universe — came the ambassador from God, bringing peace, they said, This is the heir; come, let us kill him. He came unto his own, and his own received him not; and the servant is not greater than his Lord.
Do preachers of the gospel need courage still? Not in the same sense and of the same kind. They are not put in prison for faithfulness in declaring the whole counsel of God. But as long as the carnal mind is enmity against God, there must be opposition to the gospel from some quarter. You might as well expect to escape from the law of gravitation when you travel to China, as expect that, when so many centuries have run their course, courage is no longer necessary to a preacher of the cross. The Jews opposed the gospel at an earlier stage. They opposed the publication of the doctrine: we allow the doctrine to pass freely from the preacher’s lips, but do not permit the kingdom to come in power over our hearts and lives. If we should denounce as boldly that form of opposition to Christ which is rife amongst ourselves, as the apostles denounced that which prevailed in their day, perhaps we should taste some of their experience.
In those days the testing-point lay higher up; in our days it lies lower down. Then the real struggle occurred at the profession; now it occurs at the practice. The cross then was to own themselves the disciples of Christ; it was this step that cost: the cross with us is not there; it is easy for us to own his name; the difficulty lies in so following him that our lives shall be a continual reproof. Their temptation was to fall into the track of the first son whom the father ordered to work in his vineyard — to say, “I will not.” Our temptation is to copy the answer of the second, “I go, sir;” and then to spend the day in seeking our own pleasures. The stress for them lay in the promise; the stress for us lies in the performance. If modern ministers were as bold in demanding performance as the apostles were in demanding profession, perhaps their course would not flow so smoothly.
The theme of the preacher was “the kingdom of God.” The preaching of these men was a new thing in the world. They were not contented with a niche in the temple for another idol, a day in the calendar for an additional saint. They demanded the overthrow of all idols, and the establishment of another throne in their stead. They proposed a King who should be absolute and sole.
The things that Paul preached did, no doubt, concern the kingdom in its final glory; but this kingdom in heaven afar, he uniformly presented as the legitimate and certain issue of a kingdom now established in believing hearts. First, the kingdom of heaven in you; and next, you in the kingdom of heaven. Let Christ reign in you now, and you will reign with him in that day. If I leave him standing at the door knocking throughout the day of grace, he will leave me standing at the door knocking when the day of grace is done.
Mark the manner of the apostolic preaching: “disputing and persuading.” The first makes the matter clear to the intellect, and the second makes it powerful on the will. The first enables you to know the true, and the second induces you to do the right. These are the two elements of which all right preaching consists. The proportions may vary indefinitely with circumstances; but every sermon should contain, in some measure, both constituents.
On the one hand, a discourse should not be merely exposition of doctrine; it ought to persuade as well as unfold. The preacher may not meet the hearers again, until he is called to give an account. He ought to beseech them to be reconciled unto God. On the other hand, mere exhortation will not suffice. God, who has given us understanding, expects us to exercise it in the highest of all concerns. He who would persuade his brethren to serve the Lord, should endeavour to convince them that it is a reasonable service.
Disputing means reasoning; but this does not imply that religion is founded on reason. Reason is the builder, not the foundation. Reason constructs religion, not on itself, but on the Scriptures. There is a good deal of pretence on this subject at the present day. Those who affect to be philosophers, freely insinuate that religious people put reason aside when they approach the spiritual sphere, and proceed upon faith instead. This is a false issue. Reason and faith are not antagonistic, so that in accepting the one you discard the other. Reason is no more discarded from religion than from philosophy. In former times human reason occupied too exalted a place in philosophy. It was made the foundation; and the structure, consequently, crumbled and fell. Bacon introduced a radical reform. He removed reason from its usurped position as a foundation, and gave it the place of operator. For basis lie substituted ascertained facts; on these, as a foundation, reason was permitted to rear her fabric, and a goodly palace meets our view to-day as the result of this new method. By the Reformation a parallel process was established in the sphere of religion. As the facts of the material or mental creation constitute the basis on which reason builds a philosophy, so the doctrines and facts of revelation constitute the basis on which reason builds a theology. On both spheres reason is the builder, not the basis.
In regard to the place of reason in the domain of religion, two opposite extremes exist. Positivism makes reason everything; Popery makes it nothing. The one will make it master; the other will not permit it even to serve. The Protestant principle stands midway between these extremes. It permits and demands the free exercise of human reason, but limits it in this domain to what is revealed in the Word: precisely as the Baconian philosophy permits and demands the exercise of human reason in the sphere of philosophy, but limits it to the observed facts and laws of nature.
After expounding the truth, the preacher persuades his auditors to comply with it. Exposition is necessary but not sufficient; without it you must fail, but even with it you may fail. Though the understanding be convinced, the will may remain perverse. A man may be convinced that God is lovely, and yet not love God. You may own that Christ is offered to you, and yet not accept Christ. You may know truth, and yet follow lies. This is a fact in history; it cannot reasonably be denied, and should not be carelessly overlooked. It is a startling and solemnising discovery. Paul was greatly moved when he found “a law in his members” warring against the law of God which was in his mind. His understanding was carried; but his heart still resisted. In his own experience he found out the power which was able to control the will and mould the life. The love of Christ constrained him, when all other motives failed. This power, accordingly, he was always ready to apply when he found reasoning to be impotent. He will beseech his Roman correspondents to yield themselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God; but he beseeches them “by the mercies of God,” He depends on this weight to overcome the inertia of the carnal mind, and set heart and life in motion like a running stream in the service of God and man.
The two great constituents of the Christian ministry are to convince and persuade; to enlighten the understanding, and to win souls.