LIVING SACRIFICES

LIVING SACRIFICES LIVING SACRIFICES
Paul Earnhart

I am greatly humbled as I am confronted by the responsibility which this occasion holds forth. Yet, I am also deeply grateful for the opnortunity for good which it affords. It is my prayer that I shall speak forth words of truth and soberness and that each word shall be calculated to build up the cause of our Lord. In all the history of the world there have been many causes to which men have attached their efforts and influence. Many have been tragic hoaxes deluding many honest and sincere men, while others have been to a greater or lesser degree worthwhile to humanity. Regardless, however, of their ultimate value, great homage has always been paid to the men who give their all that a cause might live. If a soldier pours out his life’s blood on some far flung battle field in a deed of heroic daring, he is said to have served above and beyond the call of duty. If some noble individual pays the supreme price as a human guinea pig for medical science that others might be spared the ravages of disease, his name is not soon forgotten, lest he be praised too little for such uncalled-for devotion. Indeed, the world enthrones with honor all who give the last full measure of devotion out of love for a cause. Such, however, is not the case with the one great cause of all times. While other callings praise as beyond the call of duty the devotion which leads a man to give his all, Christianity demands and expects it. The purposes of Christianity make it the noblest and greatest cause. Its demands on its followers make it without a doubt the most challenging. Paul writing to the church at Rome made this urgent exhortation, “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual service.” Herein is embodied the urgent scope of the demands of our Lord’s cause, that all who aspire to the name Christian should come and present themselves without reservation as living sacrifices unto God.

We cannot be astounded by the extremity of this appointed theme of Christian endeavor when we realize that the captain of our salvation called us unto him not simply by giving much, but by giving all—for he emptied himself, he became obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
In the face of such devotion early Christians were constrained to give their all—heart, soul, life—to him. Adversity and suffering they accepted with rejoicing, thankful that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Paul told the Corinthians that he had been in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, 'in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Nevertheless, the aged Paul reviewing his life, shed not one tear of regret for such an unselfish sacrifice of self, but rather said, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may gain Christ.
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Not any threat, no power, no force, was sufficient to stop the mouths of early Christians as they proclaimed to all the glad tidings of the gospel. Men like Peter and John prayed only, for greater courage to speak and the record says “they spake the word of God with boldness.” Stephen poured out his life with every word as he preached Christ crucified to an enraged assembly whom he sought to give the words of life.
The lives also of these early Christians were living sermons. Paul wrote to the Romans that their faith was “proclaimed throughout the world” and to the Philippians that they were “seen as lights in the world, holding forth the. word of truth.” The early church gave not only of their labor and ability, their effort and energy, but also of what the Lord had blessed them with in a financial way. The churches of Macedonia, who, Paul says, first gave themselves to the Lord, gave out of the abundance of their joy and deep poverty which abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

I think we can all see in the self-sacrifice of our Lord and early Christians the path which our own devotion must take if we receive the crown of right-
eousness. The tragedy of the church today is that we have too often purposely blinded our eyes to what Christianity demands of us. Many times instead of being big enough to admit that we are not willing to pay the price, we have attempted in our own minds and in the minds of others to dip low the lofty standard of Christianity and have dragged the blood-stained banner of our Lord in the dust of human standards. That is the reason there are so many members of the body of the Lord everywhere here in the South who look on trying to be present at every service of the church as the challenge of Christianity. That’s the reason that so many are still struggling with the first principles of Christianity though they have been Christians for 10, 20, 30 years. Because of our unwillingness to preach in word and present in life the real demands of the gospel, we have raised up and are raising up in the South a group of hot house Chris-tians who could not stand to be exposed to the full challenge, of Christianity. Thus it is that every person we convert is deluded into thinking that our own indifferent attitude is the thing to which they are to aspire.

Here, therefore is the crux of the matter—that unless changes are made we are going to bring into existence another generation of lukewarm disciples of the Lord who shall in their delusion lose their souls, and by their example destroy the influence of New Testament Christianity. Now, unless we want to be responsible for the damnation of many souls and the destruction of the influence of the gospel, we need to realize there’s an important decision which faces us—and couched in simple and almost rude terms it is this: “Get in or get out.” Now, I may be one who ought to get out, but that doesn’t change the truth of this matter. It is very far better that members of the church who are determined to render only half-hearted service get out and quit wasting their time, for in addition to dunning themselves, they delude others and destroy the influence of the gospel. The present situation is made apparent in several symptoms. One is the great number of unhappy Christians. That’s a contradiction, isn’t it?—a Christian who is unhappy. Nevertheless, the situation is a real one, and the reason for it is that many have not been willing to become living sacrifices for the Lord. These people are in a miserable state, indeed. They have too little religion to enjoy serving the Lord and too much religion to enjoy the pleasures of a worldly life. The man who has never espoused religion and is an avowed worldly is in a pitiable sense happier than the indifferent Christian, in that he enjoys earth’s fleeting pleasures without the terrible pangs of conscience. If we could all but realize the truth of the words of a song we often sing:

“For we never can prove the delights of his love,
Till all on the altar we lay.
For the favor he shows and the joy he bestows
Are for those who will trust and obey.” The church today is the only stronghold of New Testament Christianity. Think now what it would mean if she apostatized. Think of the millions of souls yet unborn that might never hear a gospel sermon. Yet today we’re playing with the fire that could consume the church in apostasy. We hear on every hand, “If you can’t get men who meet all the qualifications of the elder get the best you have.” I have observed that in almost every small congregation for which I have preached that at least one or more so- called elders do not meet the qualifications. This trend has been created by a lack of men qualified for the eldership and ultimately a failure of Christians to be living sacrifices. It is because we do not have enough men who are willing to strive earnestly to be qualified for this great work. It is because we do not have enough mothers and fathers who impress upon their young sons the nobility and importance of the work of an elder and consequently cause them to aspire to it. Until this situation be changed the doctrinal soundness of the church rests on very shaky ground.

Paul told the Philippians that they were “seen as lights in the world.” But today the world cannot see our lights ofttimes because they’ve become so coated by the smut of worldly living. Too many times we cannot be distinguished from the people of the world because we look and act just like them. There ought to be as great a difference between the lives that we live and the lives of others as there is between the gospel we preach and the gospel of others. Instead we’re still compromising with the world—trying to walk through life with one arm around the waist of the world and the other clasping the nail pierced hand of Jesus. Our young people in many instances are engaging in unchristian activity because of a failure to teach and instruct them along the lines of Christian recreation and entertainment. Men and women in the church have embroiled themselves in every sort of marital morass because teaching on marriage and divorce has been avoided or misrepresented. We need to come to that attitude of mind which Paul expressed when he said in Romans 12:9, ‘‘Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.” I wonder if the fleeting pleasures of this world mean so much to us that we are willing to damn our souls and destroy the influence of the gospel by engaging in them. Are temptations so alluring?
Do earth’s pleasures so enthroll That I cannot love my Savior Well enough to leave them all?
Though we are not threatened here in the South with prison or sword we are not preaching the gospel with boldness. We cannot even say that our mouths have been stopped by the slightest persecution. If we’re honest about it we will have to admit that we’ve been put to flight by only a slight social pressure. Out of a fear of being looked on as “religious fanatics” we have become ashamed of the beautiful words of life and now avoid the embarrassment of speaking them to others. We need again to listen to Paul, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation,” and to read again of the church at Jerusalem who when they were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the gospel. This is the challenge of Christianity that everyone should go everyivhere preaching the gospel. Yet, with this truth facing us, and with many areas of the United States and the world as a whole untouched, we have been complacently content to stay in the South. Many young married couples have been unwilling to make the sacrifice of leaving loved ones in order to move to areas where the church is weak or nonexistent. Many fathers and mothers have discouraged their children from making such a decision because they are unwilling to sacrifice the nearness of their children and grandchildren for the sake of the gospel. While gospel preachers on the far flung gospel battle fields work nearly around the clock to meet at least a portion of the demands upon them to speak, qualified teachers and preachers sit in the audience in the South listening to someone else. We must scatter the over concentrated resources of the South to other areas, but it will take men and women who are willing to be living sacrifices. Are we big enough for the task? The Lord is calling us to come and take up our cross and follow him. The call is for men— tall men, sun crowned, who live above the fog of this world’s deceptive beauty. The call is for consecrated, devoted, godly Christians. Shall we not all this day as Abraham of old, gather together everything that is near and dear to us, every talent, every capacity, every nerve, every sinew and go to the altar of self-sacrifice, that unseen trysting place of God and man, and lay ourselves down with these words, “Here am I, Lord, send me.” “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.”