Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Dealing with people personally is of vital importance. No one can tell how many people have been lost to the kingdom of God through lack of following up the preaching of the gospel by personal work. It is deplorable how few church members are qualified to deal with those who are inquiring about salvation, yet that is the very work in which they ought most efficiently to aid the pastor.
People are not usually converted under the preaching of the minister. It is in the inquiry meeting (where those seeking Christ meet after the preaching to discuss their spiritual needs more personally), that they are most likely to be brought to Christ. They are perhaps awakened under the minister, but God generally uses some one person to point out the way of salvation and bring the concerned to Jesus. Some people can’t see the use of inquiry meetings. They think they are something new and that we haven’t any authority for them; but they are no innovation. We read about them all through the Bible. When John the Baptist was preaching, he was interrupted. It would be a good thing if people would interrupt the minister now and then in the middle of some metaphysical sermon and ask what he means. The only way to make sure that people understand what he is talking about is to let them ask questions. I don’t know what some men, who have their whole sermon written out, would do if someone got up and asked, “What must I do to be saved?” Yet such questions would do more good than anything else you could have. They would awaken a spirit of inquiry. Some of Christ’s sweetest teachings were called forth by questions.
There ought to be three kinds of services in all churches: (1) One for worship, to offer praise, and to wait on the Lord in prayer; (2) One for teaching, and at these services there needn’t be a word to the unconverted (although some men never close any meeting without presenting the gospel), but let the teaching be for the church people; and (3) One for preaching the gospel. Sunday morning is the best time for teaching, but Sunday night is the best night in the whole week, of the regular church services, to preach the simple gospel of the Son of God. When you have preached the simple gospel and have felt the power of the unseen world and there are souls trembling in the balance, don’t say, as I have heard good ministers say, “If there are any in this place concerned about their souls, I will be in the pastor’s study on Friday night and will be glad to see them.” By that time, the chances are that the impression will be all wiped out. Deal with them that night, before the Devil snatches away the good seed. Wherever the gospel is proclaimed, there should be an expectation of immediate results; if this were the case, the church of Christ would be in a constant state of grace.
Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God (Acts 13:43). How much would Paul and Barnabas have accomplished if they had pronounced the benediction and sent these people home? It is something to weep over that we have thousands and thousands of church members who are good for nothing towards extending the kingdom of God. They understand sports, fairs, and current events, but when you ask them to sit down and show a man or woman the way into God’s kingdom, they say, “Oh, I am not able to do that. Let the deacons do it, or someone else.” They might even invite people to church to let the pastor talk to them about Jesus, but they cannot or will not take them to Jesus themselves. It is all wrong. The church ought to be educated on this very point. There are a great many church members who are just hobbling about on crutches. They can just make out that they are saved, and they imagine that is all that constitutes a Christian. As far as helping others is concerned, that never enters their heads. They think if they can get along themselves, they are doing amazingly well. They have no idea what the Holy Spirit wants to do through them.
No matter how weak you are, God can use you, and you do not know what a stream of salvation you may set in motion. John the Baptist was a young man when he died, but he led Andrew to Christ, and Andrew led Peter, and so the river flowed on.
In the closing pages of this book, I want to give some hints in regard to passing on the good to others, and so profiting them by your knowledge of the Bible. Every believer, whether minister or layman, is duty bound to spread the gospel. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation was the wide command of our parting Savior to His disciples (Mark 16:15).
There are many Bible students, however, who utterly neglect the command. They are like sponges, always sucking in the Water of Life, but never imparting it to thirsty souls around them. When was the last time you spoke to someone about Jesus? A clergyman used to go hunting, and when his bishop reproved him, he said he never went hunting when he was on duty.
“When is a clergyman off duty?” asked the bishop.
And so with every Christian: when is he off duty?
To be ready with a promise for the dying, a word of hope for the bereaved and afflicted, of encouragement for the downhearted, or a word of advice for the anxious is a great accomplishment. The opportunities to be useful in these ways are numerous. Not only in inquiry meetings and church work, but the opening also constantly occurs in our everyday contact with others. A word, a look, a handshake, or a prayer may have an unending influence for good.
“Is your father at home?” asked a gentleman of a doctor’s child.
“No,” he said, “he’s away.”
“Where can I find him?”
“Well,” he said, “you’ve got to look for him in some place where people are sick or hurt, or something like that. I don’t know where he is, but he’s helping somewhere.”
That ought to be the spirit animating every follower of Him who went about doing good.
I admit that one cannot lay down specific rules in dealing with individuals about their religious condition. Tin soldiers are exactly alike, but people are not. Matthew was a lot different from Paul. The people we deal with may be widely different. What would be medicine for one might be poison for another. In the fifteenth chapter of Luke, the elder son and the younger son were exactly opposite. What would have been good counsel for one might have been ruin to the other. God never made two persons to look alike. If we had made people, we probably would have made them all alike, even if we had to crush some bones to get them into the mold. But that is not God’s way. There is infinite variety in the universe. The Philippian jailer required specific treatment. Christ dealt with Nicodemus one way and with the woman at the well another way.
In dealing with inquirers, it is a great mistake to tell your conversion experience. Experience may have its place, but I don’t think it has its place when we are dealing with inquirers. If you first tell an inquirer your own conversion experience, he will think that his experience must exactly match yours. He doesn’t want your experience; he wants one of his own.
Suppose Bartimaeus had gone to Jerusalem to the man who was born blind, and said:
“Tell us how the Lord cured you.”
The Jerusalem man might have said, “He just spit on the ground and anointed my eyes with the clay.”
“No!” says Bartimaeus. “I don’t believe you ever got your sight at all. Who ever heard of being healed that way? That is not how Jesus healed me. To fill a man’s eyes with clay is enough to make you blind!”
Both men were blind, but they were not cured in the same way. A great many men are kept out of the kingdom of God because they are looking for somebody else’s experience – the experience their grandmother had, their aunt, or someone else in the family.
It is also very important to deal with one person at a time. A doctor doesn’t give cod liver oil for all complaints. “No,” he says, “I must seek what each one needs.” He looks at the tongue and inquires into the symptoms. One person may have the flu, another typhoid fever, and another may have a stomachache. We need to be able to read our Bibles and to read human nature too.
Those do best who do not run from one person to another in an inquiry meeting, offering words of encouragement everywhere. They would do better by going to only one or two persons. We are building for eternity, and that can take time. The work will not then be superficial. Try first to win the person’s confidence, and then your words will have more weight. Use great tact in approaching the subject.
It will be very helpful to realize the different classes or conditions of people as much as possible, and bring certain passages of Scripture to bear upon these classes. Don’t just repeat a verse that you have seen in a book, unless you personally understand and know the meaning and application of that verse. By all means, use suggestions from outside sources, but just as David could not fight in Saul’s armor, the verse that someone else used in a specific situation might not be the right verse for you to use in your situation. Look how varied the counsel of Jesus was. He aimed His words specifically toward each individual with whom He dealt.
It is better to be familiar with a few passages than to have a hazy and incomplete idea of a large number of verses. Look at the classes below. What are some verses that would be good for each class of inquirer? What is helpful to one class might not be what is needed by another.
The following classifications may be found helpful:
1. Believers who lack assurance, who are in darkness because they have sinned, who neglect prayer, Bible study, and other means of grace, who are in darkness because of an unforgiving spirit, who are timid or ashamed to confess Christ openly, who are not engaged in active work for the Master, who lack strength to resist temptation and to stand fast in time of trial, and who are not growing in grace.
2. Believers who have backslidden.
3. Those who are deeply convicted of sin and are seeking salvation.
4. Those who have difficulties of various kinds. Many believe that they are so sinful that God will not accept them, that they have sinned away their opportunities and now it is too late, that the gospel was never intended for them. Others are kept back by honest doubts regarding the divinity of Christ or the genuineness of the Bible. Others again are troubled by the mysteries of the Bible, the doctrines of election, instant conversion, or some other difficulty, or they say they have sought Christ in vain, that they have tried and failed. A large class is in great trouble about feelings.
5. Those who make excuses. There is a wide difference between a person who has a reason and one who has an excuse to offer. The most common excuses are that there are many inconsistent Christians and hypocrites in the church, that it would cost too much to become a Christian, that they could not continue in their present way of life, that they expect to become Christians someday, or that their companions hold them back or would cast them off if they were converted.
6. Those who are not convicted of sin. Some are deliberately sinful; they want to “see life,” to “sow their wild oats.” Others are thoughtless. Others again are simply ignorant of Jesus Christ and His work.
7. A large number do not feel their need of a Savior because they are self-righteous, trusting in their own morality and good works.
8. Those who hold hostile creeds, embracing sectarians, spiritualists, infidels, atheists, agnostics, etc.
Always use your Bible in personal dealing. Do not trust your memory, but make the person read the verse for himself. Do not use printed slips or books. So, if convenient, always carry a Bible or New Testament with you.
It is a good thing to get someone to pray (if convenient), but don’t get him there before he is ready. Remember, it is the Holy Spirit and not you who does the converting and who gives new life. You may have to talk with a person two hours before you can get him that far along. When you think he is about ready, say to him, “Let’s ask God to help us understand this point.” Sometimes a few minutes in prayer has done more for a man than two hours in talk. When the Spirit of God has led him so far that he is willing to have you pray with him, he is not very far from the kingdom. Ask him to pray for himself. If he does not want to pray, let him use a Bible prayer; get him to repeat it. For example, Lord, help me (Matthew 15:25). Tell the man, “If the Lord helped that poor woman, He will help you if you make the same prayer with the same heart. He will give you a new heart if you pray from the heart.” Don’t send a man home to pray. Of course, he should pray at home, but I would rather get his lips open at once. It is a good thing for a man to hear his own voice in prayer. It is a good thing for him to cry out, God, be merciful to me, the sinner (Luke 18:13).
Urge an immediate decision, but never tell a man he is converted. Never tell him he is saved. Let the Holy Spirit reveal that to him. You can shoot a man and see that he is dead, but you cannot see when a man receives eternal life. You cannot afford to deceive anyone about this great question, but you can help his faith and trust, and lead him aright. There are many people who wrongly think that they are on the way to heaven simply because a well-meaning person or even a pastor has told them that they are now saved simply because they “made a decision” or said a prayer; but they have never repented and their hearts have never been made new by the Spirit of God.
Always be prepared to do personal work. When war was declared between France and Germany, Count von Moltke, the German general, was prepared for it. Word was brought to him late at night, after he had gone to bed. “Very well,” he said to the messenger, “the third portfolio on the left” (where he had his battle plans); and he went to sleep again.
Do the work boldly. Don’t deal with a person of the opposite gender, if it can be otherwise arranged. Make all efforts to answer for poor, struggling souls the question that is of all importance to them: What must I do to be saved? (Acts 16:30).