S. God's Enlargement of a Church

GOD’S ENLARGEMENT OF A CHURCH TEXT: Run, speak to this young man. - Zechariah 2:4. A great many years ago in the city of Waco I heard a distinguished evangelist preach a sermon from this text, and he applied it in this way: That every Christian should take notice of every unconverted man in the city and run and speak to him about the salvation of his soul. He preached a very fine sermon, but not at all from this text, for it has no such application. And you may take it for granted that however good a sermon one may preach from a misconception of a text, there is always a better one to be found in that text, and which should have been the sermon preached. The circumstances of the text are these: A vast deal of interest centered in the Jewish people about the time of their captivity in Babylon, and many of the later books of the Old Testament are expressions of that interest. Much of the books of Jeremiah, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah and others bear upon that captivity or upon the deliverance from it. Now, Zechariah especially was commissioned to prophesy concerning this deliverance and restoration. I have read to you a number of his visions. The first was the vision of a man with a measuring line in his hand, going out on the ground where Jerusalem had stood, just as Chicago looked after it had been burned by fire, the whole city swept away. And the prophet asked this man with the measuring line what he intended to do. He replied that his purpose was to measure the length and the breadth of the Jerusalem to be restored, and mark out the lines where its new walls should be. But before he commenced his measurement, there came another angel from heaven with this word: “Run, speak to this young man,” i.e., the man with the measuring line, the man who is laying off such a small space for God’s city, and tell him that Jerusalem shall overflow these limits, that it shall go out into the country, that it shall be as an unwalled city that takes in all of the surrounding country, and God will be the wall to it, even as a wall of fire, and God will be the glory of it. The lesson, in a few words, was this: In the beginning of this enterprise, those who could not see with God’s sight, and who could not rightly calculate the extent of God’s power, nor understand the exceeding greatness of His precious promises, would, if left to themselves, lay off the boundaries of the new city on too small a scale. So my theme tonight is, “God’s Enlargement of a Church; and His Glory in That Church.” The appropriateness of the theme can be seen in a moment. You commenced an enterprise here some three years ago, with what calculations as to the outcome, I do not know, but I venture to say that those who started it, if everything had been built according to the highest calculation then in mind, would have been compelled by this time to revise that calculation and provide for greater things. The prophecy here primarily relates, as has been stated, to the restoration of the city of Jerusalem, but you do not read far into the book before you see that the prophet’s eye is passing on from the literal Jerusalem to the spiritual Jerusalem, the true church of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is evident from the reading of the book. But I will first discuss the subject somewhat in its primary reference. Even in that undertaking there was this danger, that they might measure and lay off the enterprise according to the misfortunes which had come upon them. The whole nation had been subjugated. The city had been destroyed. There was scarcely a vestige of it left. The people had been led into captivity. Consider that condition from its human viewpoint. There would not be hopefulness enough in them to project the enterprise on a sufficiently broad scale. Each would take counsel of his misfortunes and would gauge what was to be attempted by the magnitude of the reverses and losses that had come upon him in the past. We may safely say that in religious enterprises we should never lay out our work, we should never put the measuring line to the boundaries of our plans, prompted by despondency of heart arising from our past misfortunes. In the next place, those who started that new enterprise would, humanly speaking, be influenced by the poverty of the people who were to engage in it, who had been stripped of all their possessions by the captivity to which they had been subjected. A people that had been in slavery and deprived of the means of making and accumulating riches, going back to that burnt district, going back to rebuild a city, would likely, in laying out the work, look too much at the leanness of their purses, and so in endeavoring to restrict the length and breadth to their means, they would put it upon too infinitesimal a scale. And yet again, they were prompted to narrow the proposed boundaries of their enterprise by reason of their difficulties. Those difficulties assumed the proportions of a vast mountain. It was no small molehill. A huge, impassable granite mountain seemed to stand in their path, and when they saw that this mountain must be gotten out of the way and looked at their resources, the difficulty seemed to them to be insuperable. And so, having made their first calculation in view of these difficulties, it needed to be reconsidered. When a man taking counsel of his fears gazes upon the obstacles in his path, that seem to him to be more than he can possibly remove, and he begins to put down on his chart what, in view of these difficulties, he can accomplish, then he needs to hear the Word of God, “Run, speak to that young man. Drop that measuring line. You are not in the frame of mind to be an architect for God’s work. You lay the work out on too small a scale.” And still again, there were very active human enemies in the way of this enterprise. The Samaritans and other old foes of Israel who had rejoiced in its downfall were still ready enough to obstruct the re-establishment of that power which they dreaded and hated. They gathered themselves together to discourage and discomfit those who were engaged in the work. Now, one who proposed to lay out the boundaries of this work, and turned aside to consider its enemies and hearken to their words and sneers, who would, instead of hearing God, hear only Sanballat and Tobias mocking their feeble wall as they said, “Why, even if a fox should run against it, it would fall,” would make slow progress. Whoever intends to work for God should never go into the camp of the enemy to get advice as to how big a piece of work to undertake. If you consult your cowardice you can always be driven away from any grand, brave and heroic achievement. The man that takes counsel of his fears can never build for God. Yet again, these people looked at the infirmities and blemishes of the human instrumentalities that were to be employed in this work. Their high priest, instead of standing before them in the gorgeous apparel of Aaron, seemed to them to be clothed with filthy rags, and here stood Satan, ready to point at him and say, “Look at him. Behold his rags. See his infirmities. See what a fallible man he is. See his many faults. What can he do?” It is the object of this book to show that the Lord rebuked Satan, and that He commanded the filthy rags to be stripped from Joshua, the high priest, God putting away his iniquity and re-clothing him with the glorious insignia of his, priestly office, and giving power to his feebleness, so that he could accomplish this work. Then when they looked at that mountain that has just been described, the angel caused the prophet to see a golden lamp-stand with seven lamps on it, and an olive tree standing on each side of it, and pipes going from the olive trees and connecting with the bowls of the lamps, and he said, “Do you know what this means?” “No, I don’t know what it means.” “Well, it means this: What art thou, O mountain, before Zerubbabel? It is true that there may not he much oil in these lamps. It is true that they may be just now shining dimly. But those olive trees are rich with their own fatness, and the pipes from the olive trees connect with the lamp bowls, and while the supply of oil seems low, it shall never entirely cease. It shall be continually fed, and God Himself will supply strength that will compensate for the feebleness and the infirmity of the human agents employed in this work.” “Then, as to those enemies, do not look at them. Look up yonder. What is it you see?” “I see a flying book.” “That is the book of God’s curses, and that book, like a hawk circling in his flight and coming lower and lower, and hovering over his prey, is ready to swoop down upon the foe of God, and that book of curses is ready to light upon the house of the adversary and to be as a consuming fire to it, so that you need have no fear of an enemy when you consider the provision that God has made for their discomfiture.” So the leaders of a new church enterprise should never consider the smallness of their monetary resources, nor the magnitude of the difficulties in the way, nor the opposition of the enemies of, God. And more than that, they should never measure a result by the smallness of the beginning. The prophecy goes on here to declare, “Despise not thou the day of small things.” A mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds, and yet behold, it grows until it becomes a tree in which the fowls of the air can find shelter. That was a monster image looming up before Nebuchadnezzar the king, a stupendous, towering, colossal image, taller than the Statue of Liberty, taller than the Colossus of Rhodes, higher than the Pyramids, with its head of gold, its breast of silver, its body of brass, its legs and feet of iron, and yet there was cut out of the mountain, and without hands, a little stone, a pebble. What a little thing! But when it started coming down that mountain it increased in size and in momentum and in weight, and as it rolled it gathered solidity and substance and power and impetus and struck that image, and crushed it and pulverized it, and rolled on and swelled as it rolled, and grew larger by rolling until it filled the whole earth. Out on the streets of some crowded city at night, a match may be thrown down and fall upon a single shaving, and it will catch, and burning, curl, and curling, fall over on a pile of shavings, and from the shavings extend to a shed, and from the shed to a house, and from the house through a block, and from the block through a mighty city. A boy walking along the dykes of Holland, those mighty upheavals of earth that constitute the breakwaters of the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, may notice just a little crack on the top of the levee, through which trickles, drop by drop, a tiny stream. A little child could dam it up with his foot, but it grows, and deepens and widens the channel, until at last through the mighty crevasse an angry ocean pours in and floods a state. Who can forecast the outcome from a small beginning? I say to you, brethren, that in your enterprise you should but consider the following things: First, what has God commanded? Let us lay off our work according to the commandment, and if the commandment is exceedingly broad, we will yet follow that precept, and if we are staggered at the magnitude of what we are commanded to do, then let us look at the promises, and see how large they are, how exceedingly many, and how glorious in the effulgence of their brightness, and so lay off our work by the commandments and promises of God. And not only this, but we should take into account the power of God. It is not, What can I do? Let me not consult my feebleness. But is anything too hard for God to do? Are there any impossible things for Him? And if we forget what He has commanded and what He has promised, and the greatness of His power, and still are troubled by our own infirmities, by our feebleness, by the difficulties, by the dangers, by the sneers and prophecies of evil, oh! then we need in that hour of trembling and of despair that the angel voice shall be heard, “Run, speak to that young man, and tell him that Jerusalem shall be too big for walls to enclose it. It shall grow out into the country. It shall take in the villages, and I will increase it with men like a flock.” Perhaps in every congregation are some who partake in large measure of the pessimistic spirit. They are not equal to great undertakings. As Spurgeon said, in speaking about the ark with its three stories, there are some good souls always anxious to go as steerage passengers; they want to be next to the bilgewater where they can be frightened enough by the sound of the waves striking upon the sides of the vessel. They need to come up where the window is, where they can look out and behold how strong and how mighty God is. So God, wherever He has authorized His people to form a church, has promised them enlargement, and all calculations should be made with reference to that. It may be unsuitable to such a grave theme to refer to a little matter that occurred when I was a young man, but I will state it. I had been but a short tithe in the ministry and with Rev. Martin V. Smith, of Belton, was making a visit to Brenham. He said to me, “I want you to go with me to a certain house today to take dinner. I am authorized to invite you, and you will see the strangest house you ever did see.” Well, when the time came, we went up to this place to take dinner, and as soon as I got in sight of the house I commenced laughing I could not help it. It was indeed the strangest and most composite structure I ever saw. The premises occupied a whole block, and the house had the capacity to front in any direction. It was only one story high, but it was built all over that yard. It was the home of that well known and large hearted Baptist, Charlie Breedlove, who thus explained his habitation: “The truth of the business is, when I first married I didn’t know much. I didn’t have much sense nor much faith, and we built this first room you see here. Then when the first baby was born, we added that room, and when the next baby was born, we added another room, and when the next baby was born, we added still another room, and we have kept on adding a room whenever a baby was born, until now this house covers all the yard.” In other words, his habitation had to be continually reset. The original boundaries never did fit the subsequent conditions of the household. Applying this now to the case before us: There are, as I stated, certain pessimistic people in every congregation. To them the world seems to be growing worse all the time. All of the bright days, are in the past, and all of the good people lived a long time ago. The lights are continually going out and the darkness is continually approaching. In their view of it, the whole kingdom of God is continually narrowing, the flock of God getting smaller and smaller, and the flock of the devil getting bigger and bigger, until they expect at the last day there will be just a handful of God’s people on the earth. But when our Lord speaks on the subject, He speaks in a different way. In the day that Abraham had faith in God, he was told to look up and count the stars in the heavens, and see if he could number them. “I say unto you that your seed shall be more than the stars of heaven. Count the leaves on the trees of the forest. They shall be more than the, leaves. Go down where the ocean kisses and fondles the white sand of the beach, and these shall not sufficiently express the number of the redeemed.” And when our Lord was exalted to the right hand of the- Majesty on High, this special declaration was made: “In the day that thou leadest out thine armies thy young men shall be more multitudinous than the drops of the dew in the dawn of the morning.” And when the outcome was seen by the Apostle John, he says: “I saw a multitude that no man could number, out of every nation and tribe and tongue and kindred; all of them washed whiter than snow; all of them with palm leaves of victory in their hands; all of them with harps of music, upon which to strike with skillful fingers the paeans of praise and of victory; all of them crowned kings and priests unto God.” O young man, measuring the length of Jerusalem, measuring the breadth of Jerusalem, never measure it by your feebleness, your power, your enemies, their prophecies, their sneers. Never measure it by the mountains that rise up in the way. But only measure by God’s command, God’s promise and by God’s power. Very briefly I refer to the next thought of the text: Jerusalem, like every other city of its day, depended upon its walls and so, when the measure is taken, these walls were built very high, and even when Titus came to besiege that city, they trusted in the height and solidity of their walls. But God had in view a different Jerusalem; a Jerusalem on no such narrow basis; a Jerusalem that would include the entire Gentile world. And He says, “Say to this man with the measuring line that Jerusalem shall not be as a walled city, it shall be as an unwalled country, and if you want a wall, God, who enlarges it, will also defend: He will be a wall of fire around about you to protect you.” The ingenuity of fear has exhausted itself in providing coverts where it can flee in the time of danger, or in providing defensive armor impervious to the arrows and spears and bullets of an adversary, but we may go on multiplying our defenses, and there is no secure defense except the word of God’s promise. If God be between us and our foes, what signify their numbers? If God be upon our side, and we are really carrying out His commands, why stop to talk of the difficulties? And if that injunction does rest on us, why stop to consider the smallness of our crowd? Was there a mighty host with Gideon when with his lamps and his pitchers he went forth to smite the enemy? Were there not just twelve humble men sent out to bombard by their gospel the fortifications of idolatry throughout the heathen world? “It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.” And that congregation that will go forth trusting not to numbers, trusting not to wealth, fearing not an adversary, undaunted by any degree of difficulty or obstacle that may intervene in their pathway, and that will lean hard upon the encircling arm of Divine Providence, that congregation will have between them and all the spears and arrows of opposition thick bosses of Jehovah’s buckler, and in God they will conquer. Look now at the last thought of the text: They were very much concerned when they built their temple, because of its inferiority to the temple which Solomon built, and the old men were weakened, “Ah, me! I recall that first temple. Oh, it had gold and jewels and precious stones! It was a glorious building.” God says, “Go, do what I have commanded, and I will be the glory. I will be the glory of this building which you erect.” And then He stated that on account of the presence of the Messiah the glory of the latter temple should exceed the glory of the former temple, so that we look to this as the crowning thought. Now, to summarize: First, enlargement from God; second, protection from God; and third, God the glory of what we do. It was a little tabernacle that Moses erected, that little cube of a place called the “Most Holy Place;” what an insignificant room it was, and yet there was in that room an unquenchable tongue of fire that represented the eternal presence and power of God. God was the glory o at tabernacle, the same glory that filled Solomon’s temp and will fill this prophetic Jerusalem of which the prophet Zechariah is speaking. What signified that typical flame of fire that burned between the cherubim? There was to be a different light, a real luminary, which when it came into the building however infinitesimal, however contemptible in the sight of those who did not favor it, when that luminary descended and filled this house of God, it made it brighter than if you had gathered into one ball of light every star that ever sparkled, and then wound up on your finger every ray of sunshine that ever radiated from that central orb, and had put it all into one great shining ball of fire, brighter than all that. It was the holy spirit of God, and on the day of Pentecost the spiritual Jerusalem that Zechariah saw was filled with that spirit, and that spirit was the glory of it, and where that spirit was, the timid became brave. The Peter that cowered before a maid-servant is now as bold as a lion. The men who despaired having once trusted that this was He that would deliver Israel, now lifted up their heads, which had been hanging down like the bulrushes, and confronted their fellowman, courageous in their faith, undismayed by any combination that could be brought against them, and under the power and glory of the holy spirit, even when they prayed the ground was shaken where they knelt down. And the work spread and went beyond Jerusalem. The spiritual Jerusalem enlarged and took in Alexandria in Africa, and enlarged and took in ancient Babylon, and still enlarged and took in Ephesus and Tarsus; and still enlarged and went over into Europe and took in Philippi and Corinth and Athens, and still enlarged and took in Rome and Spain and England, and spread its wings and crossed the Atlantic and took in the New World and the Ads of the sea. If, when that great work was being out, some man, near-sighted, unable to see the things that were afar off, some man taking counsel of his fears, had taken up the measuring line and had said, “I will lay off the metes and bounds of God’s Kingdom,” O, run and speak to that young man! Tell him to expect great things and to attempt great things. Tell him to enlarge the place of his tent and lengthen its cords and strengthen its stakes, and open his heart, and lift up his eyes, as the prophets did, and hear Jerusalem saying: “Who are these? Who are these? Who are these? What means this rush of many pinions, that like doves come flying to my window?” These are the children that God is giving to thee. They come from Arabia. They come from heathen lands. They come from the islands of the sea. And as they come they bring their power and their resources to the City of God. Brethren of the Columbus Street Church, if you have set up a banner for the Lord, if, in your judgment, it is necessary to establish this church, if it yet seems to you that the work of a church should be done here, then let me urge you to beware of little measuring lines. Look at God’s commands. Look at His promises. Look at His power. Do not look at your poverty. Do not look at your fewness. O, be brave, be hopeful, be courageous, and all the time ready to increase and grow in grace, and in numbers and in power! I am sure that enlargement ought to be the destiny of every church established in accordance with the will of God. I have thought it proper, on your third anniversary, to call your attention to these things. I do know that the most deadly virus, the most dangerous poison, that ever entered into the veins of a congregation is the feeling of despondency and discouragement to go and look at the Promised Land, spy it out and say, “It is a fine country, but, oh! those sons of Anak are there, and we are just grasshoppers in their sight, and in our own sight.” It makes no difference about your being a grasshopper in other people’s sight, but whenever you are but a grasshopper in your own sight, then you are whipped already. No man that stands for God and does God’s work ought to count himself less than a giant. He does not represent himself. He represents the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. I recall, and I close with this declaration, the meetings, many years ago, of our general bodies in this State, to which those who wanted to work would go up heart-broken and urge, “Brethren, are we never going to do anything but quarrel when we meet? Are we never going to move out? Are we never going to send the Gospel to the destitute places in this State? Oh, for mission progress, for some trumpet voice that will wake us up to do what, under God, we are able to do and ought to do.” And now you see when they lay out the plans they lay them out with perfect coolness on a basis of $100,000 a year. It would have frightened the Baptist crowd in Texas half to death, twenty years ago, to have mentioned that much enlargement. I commend the thought, bright enough in my own mind, but so imperfectly presented. I commend it to you in the name and in the fear of God. Measure as God measures, and trust Him and let Him be the wall, and let His be the glory. f2