Serving in the Hindmost
As usual, Spurgeon's Morning reading for today was very thought-provoking:
The camp of Dan brought up the rear when the armies of Israel were on the march. The Danites occupied the hindmost place, but what mattered the position, since they were as truly part of the host as were the foremost tribes; they followed the same fiery cloudy pillar, they ate of the same manna, drank of the same spiritual rock, and journeyed to the same inheritance. Come, my heart, cheer up, though last and least; it is thy privilege to be in the army, and to fare as they fare who lead the van. Some one must be hindmost in honour and esteem, some one must do menial work for Jesus, and why should not I? In a poor village, among an ignorant peasantry; or in a back street, among degraded sinners, I will work on, and “go hindmost with my standard.”
The Danites occupied a very useful place. Stragglers have to be picked up upon the march, and lost property has to be gathered from the field. Fiery spirits may dash forward over untrodden paths to learn fresh truth, and win more souls to Jesus; but some of a more conservative spirit may be well engaged in reminding the church of her ancient faith, and restoring her fainting sons. Every position has its duties, and the slowly moving children of God will find their peculiar state one in which they may be eminently a blessing to the whole host.
The rear guard is a place of danger. There are foes behind us as well as before us. Attacks may come from any quarter. We read that Amalek fell upon Israel, and slew some of the hindmost of them. The experienced Christian will find much work for his weapons in aiding those poor doubting, desponding, wavering, souls, who are hindmost in faith, knowledge, and joy. These must not be left unaided, and therefore be it the business of well-taught saints to bear their standards among the hindmost. My soul, do thou tenderly watch to help the hindmost this day.
Very often we as Christians look to the Apostle Paul, Peter, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, even those of our day like Graham, Piper and so on and think, "wow, I wish I could do that or speak in that way!" But Spurgeon points something out here--there must be a rear guard, a servant among the lowly masses. Can Piper serve the neighbor across the street who has no family and doesn't know what love is? Sure, he can send him or her a book, but can he serve that person in the personal way YOU can? As Christians, we are all called to serve the Lord and in different ways. However, we oftentimes think if we cannot serve him in such great ways as a Piper or Graham in preaching to multitudes, we often think there is nothing to be done. But there is!
Note what Spurgeon says: Fiery spirits may dash forward over untrodden paths to learn fresh truth, and win more souls to Jesus; but some of a more conservative spirit may be well engaged in reminding the church of her ancient faith, and restoring her fainting sons. Every position has its duties, and the slowly moving children of God will find their peculiar state one in which they may be eminently a blessing to the whole host.
We may not be the "fiery spirits" but we may be involved in restoration and healing--and he notes too that the rear is a dangerous place, since dark forces will try to attack from the rear and lowly places. Do you think that Satan uses all his forces on a church with 10,000 members? I would say close to 90% of the churches in the country have less than 1,000 members and these have no notable Piper or Dever at the helm, and these are churches he would attack, creating factions and divisions. Pastors who have no help from their members in serving the church are doomed to become overworked and neglect their flock, if not becoming burned out and leaving that church (and maybe even the ministry). We must be on our guard, wherever we are called to serve, and bear the standard where we are, serving our Lord in grace and truth. As Spurgeon states, we should glory in the fact that we have the privilege of being in the army in the first place by God's saving grace.
Father help us to be content wherever we are called to serve, be it in the front, middle, or hindmost and proclaim your Gospel by what we do!
The camp of Dan brought up the rear when the armies of Israel were on the march. The Danites occupied the hindmost place, but what mattered the position, since they were as truly part of the host as were the foremost tribes; they followed the same fiery cloudy pillar, they ate of the same manna, drank of the same spiritual rock, and journeyed to the same inheritance. Come, my heart, cheer up, though last and least; it is thy privilege to be in the army, and to fare as they fare who lead the van. Some one must be hindmost in honour and esteem, some one must do menial work for Jesus, and why should not I? In a poor village, among an ignorant peasantry; or in a back street, among degraded sinners, I will work on, and “go hindmost with my standard.”
The Danites occupied a very useful place. Stragglers have to be picked up upon the march, and lost property has to be gathered from the field. Fiery spirits may dash forward over untrodden paths to learn fresh truth, and win more souls to Jesus; but some of a more conservative spirit may be well engaged in reminding the church of her ancient faith, and restoring her fainting sons. Every position has its duties, and the slowly moving children of God will find their peculiar state one in which they may be eminently a blessing to the whole host.
The rear guard is a place of danger. There are foes behind us as well as before us. Attacks may come from any quarter. We read that Amalek fell upon Israel, and slew some of the hindmost of them. The experienced Christian will find much work for his weapons in aiding those poor doubting, desponding, wavering, souls, who are hindmost in faith, knowledge, and joy. These must not be left unaided, and therefore be it the business of well-taught saints to bear their standards among the hindmost. My soul, do thou tenderly watch to help the hindmost this day.
Very often we as Christians look to the Apostle Paul, Peter, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, even those of our day like Graham, Piper and so on and think, "wow, I wish I could do that or speak in that way!" But Spurgeon points something out here--there must be a rear guard, a servant among the lowly masses. Can Piper serve the neighbor across the street who has no family and doesn't know what love is? Sure, he can send him or her a book, but can he serve that person in the personal way YOU can? As Christians, we are all called to serve the Lord and in different ways. However, we oftentimes think if we cannot serve him in such great ways as a Piper or Graham in preaching to multitudes, we often think there is nothing to be done. But there is!
Note what Spurgeon says: Fiery spirits may dash forward over untrodden paths to learn fresh truth, and win more souls to Jesus; but some of a more conservative spirit may be well engaged in reminding the church of her ancient faith, and restoring her fainting sons. Every position has its duties, and the slowly moving children of God will find their peculiar state one in which they may be eminently a blessing to the whole host.
We may not be the "fiery spirits" but we may be involved in restoration and healing--and he notes too that the rear is a dangerous place, since dark forces will try to attack from the rear and lowly places. Do you think that Satan uses all his forces on a church with 10,000 members? I would say close to 90% of the churches in the country have less than 1,000 members and these have no notable Piper or Dever at the helm, and these are churches he would attack, creating factions and divisions. Pastors who have no help from their members in serving the church are doomed to become overworked and neglect their flock, if not becoming burned out and leaving that church (and maybe even the ministry). We must be on our guard, wherever we are called to serve, and bear the standard where we are, serving our Lord in grace and truth. As Spurgeon states, we should glory in the fact that we have the privilege of being in the army in the first place by God's saving grace.
Father help us to be content wherever we are called to serve, be it in the front, middle, or hindmost and proclaim your Gospel by what we do!
Labels: God, Gospel, grace, means of grace, salvation, service
posted by Dan B. @ 7:45 AM
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