Why We Need A Plan: 3 - The Servant Problem

Submitted by Jack Crow on Sat, 23/09/2017 - 15:47

Note to the reader. In general, comments in this blog are based upon experiences elsewhere. No references to Salem Chapel are intended, nor should they be inferred.

We were looking last time at what R. A. Torrey has to say about the importance of “personal work”, also known as “personal dealing”, or “personal evangelism”. Whatever you want to call it, Torrey is all in favour of it. He remarks on its simplicity, its efficacy, and its vital rôle in revival and in God’s greater plan for His people. Take a look back in the archives if you missed the previous entries.

Now he turns his attention to the advantages of this type of evangelism. Let’s look at the first of his seven short sections, paragraph by paragraph.

1. All Can Do It.
In an average congregation there are not more than four or five who can preach to edification. It would be a great pity, too, should all attempt to become preachers; it would be a great blessing if all would become personal workers. Any child of God can do personal work, and all can learn to do effective personal work.

These words were first published in 1901, so “an average congregation” would be rather larger than the ones we’re used to seeing. Assume that he means four or five hundred persons; if you can find “four or five who can preach” amongst that number, I’d say that’s good going. He adds: “to edification”. Let’s look it up.

Noun, mid-14c., in religious use, "building up of the soul," from Old French edification and directly from Latin aedificationem (nominative aedificatio) "construction, building," in Late Latin "spiritual improvement," from past participle stem of aedificare. Religious use is as translation of Greek oikodome in I Cor. xiv. Meaning "mental improvement" is 1650s. Literal sense of "building" is rare in English. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper.

E. A. Johnston, in his “Ten Mistakes Of Modern Evangelism”, comments on the contemporary church in America.

"Things have gotten so bad in our country that when I visit churches (and I visit countless numbers of them all the time), I seldom hear what I consider to be a full presentation of the Gospel message. In fact, I hear very little preaching. It’s mostly teaching being done in our pulpits today. Teaching informs. Preaching transforms.”

It could be worse. Only a few days ago I heard a lady lamenting that in her church they didn’t have sermons any more; if they were lucky, the speaker would “bring in an object and tell us all about it for a few minutes”.

Is there a direct link between the lack of ‘proper preaching’, and the neglect of personal evangelism in our day? Your thoughts would be welcome.

As you ponder Torrey’s next paragraph, you’ll need to remember that he’s writing over a century ago.

The mother who is confined at home by multiplicity of home duties can still do personal work, first of all with her own children, and then with the servants in the home, with the butcher, the grocer, the tramp who calls at the door, in fact, with everybody who comes within reach. I once knew a mother very gifted in the matter of bringing her own children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, who lamented that she could not do some work for Christ. I watched this woman carefully, and found that almost every one who came to the house in any capacity was spoken to about the Saviour, and she was, in point of fact, doing more for Christ in the way of direct evangelistic work than most pastors.

"...the servants in the home”! “Always a cause of concern for my dear wife, of course. You just can’t get the domestics these days, can you?” Indeed: in these democratic days, no one wants to be a servant, at someone else’s beck and call, doing only what they want you to do; it’s no better than being a slave, is it?

We warm to the idea of free and full salvation, but very few of us consider that we have been saved in order to serve. We like the sound of Romans 6.23, “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”, but we’re not so keen on the previous verse: “now you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God” (my italics), even though “the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” I can’t remember having heard anyone ever preach on that particular text, come to think of it.

Let’s take in Torrey’s main point: “almost every one who came to the house in any capacity was spoken to about the Saviour”. He continues with a few examples of “personal dealing” in particularly difficult circumstances.

Even the one shut up at home by sickness can do personal work. As friends come to the sick bed, a word of testimony can be given for Christ, or even an extended conversation can be held. A little girl of twelve, the child of very poor parents, lay dying in the city of Minneapolis. She let her light shine for the Master, and spoke among others to a godless physician, to whom, perhaps, no one else had ever spoken about Christ. A poor girl in New York City, who was rescued from the slums and died a year or two afterwards, was used of God to lead about one hundred men and women to Christ, while lying upon her dying bed.

I trust that these stories are true. Torrey was, by all accounts, a man of integrity. In chapter 14 of his “How To Prepare Sermons”, entitled “Illustrations And Their Use”, William Evans (1870-1950) warns against the abuse of anecdotes. “Illustrations from the lives of other men must not be attributed to the preacher’s own experience. That is lying, which does not bring glory to God.” Sad to say, this practice is still present with us today. If a man can’t tell you the truth about his own experience, why should you believe what he has to say about the bible?

He continues as follows.

Even the servant girl can do effective personal work. Lord Shaftesbury, the great English philanthropist, was won to Christ in a godless home by the effective work of a nurse girl.

Anna Maria Millis was her name, I believe, but, to my shame, that’s all I really know about her. As I write, I’m making a mental note to find out more.

Why do we need a plan, then? Torrey told us in that first paragraph: “Any child of God can do personal work, and all can learn to do effective personal work.” (My italics.) Anyone can paint a door, but, as my father so often remarked, the secret of success is in the preparation.

And now, since it’s the maid’s day off, I’d better set about the ironing.