In our organized work as pastors and district leaders we cannot ignore the place of the preacher's work in the pulpit as related to revival. We may not all have the gift of evangelism, but every man ordained of God to the ministry of His Word should be able to hold a revival in his own church. We all need renewals of the spiritual flame, but we cannot wait for other men to light that flame for us. Only at the altar of God can our tapers be lighted with spiritual fire.
What course shall this preaching take? Circumstances would doubtless alter the method. However, God's message to Laodicea sets forth fundamental steps in spiritual awakening.
1. A sharpened realization of our self-satisfaction. "I am rich. I have need of nothing. I am thankful that I am not as other men are." Our people will acknowledge this, especially if we do so also.
2. A cry for the true gold and an appeal for the white raiment to cover our naked and spiritually anemic bodies.
3. A pleading for a special application of the heavenly eye salve that we may see.
4. A decision to cooperate with God in attaining an experience of true repentance.
This is the kind of preaching we need. We may talk about the terrors of the atom bomb, the temptations of television, and the ruinous influence of run-of-the-mill radio and pernicious reading. We may wail at worldliness, condemn careless Sabbathkeeping, censure the delinquent tithepayer, and chide the critics. We may boast of our far-flung mission work, praise our excellent organization, and exalt the un questioned merits of vegetarianism. But if we preach not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and if we do not lead men to Calvary, our preaching will accomplish little. Our words may have a show of force. They may be borne on the wings of eloquence. But they will be sheared of spiritual power. At best, they will likely accomplish but two things: One, they may settle the self-satisfied more comfortably in their contentment of prescribed outward behavior and in intensive denominational activity. Two, they may shift some of the careless into the same naked and poverty-stricken condition.
As ministers of this everlasting gospel, being given for the last time, we must preach "Christ the power of God." Otherwise others may go on their worldly way or grope in a dismal darkness of despair, devoid of hope and peace and salvation. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom [or whereby] the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Gal. 6:14.
A story comes down to us that in battle King Cyrus took prisoner, among others, a noble man, his beautiful wife, and their children. To this prince, Cyrus said, "How much will you give if I set you free?"
"Half of my possessions," replied the noble.
"And how much will you give if I let your children go?"
"All that I have," responded the prince.
Cyrus waited for a certain dramatic effect, then asked, "What will you give if I set your wife at liberty?
"The prince replied, "I will give my life."
Deeply moved by the spirit of the noble prince, Cyrus set them all free.
Later, when the prince and his lovely wife were alone, happy over their escape, he said to her, "Was not King Cyrus about the most handsome man you ever saw?"
To this his wife replied, "I don't seem to recall anything unusual about him. I did not notice him too carefully."
"Why, what were you doing with your eyes?" exclaimed the prince.
His wife answered, "My eyes were upon the man who said he would give his life for me." (Adapted from McCartney Illustrations)
We, the ministry of God, must go with our congregations down to Calvary. There we must behold Him who not only offered to give but gave His life, because of our sins, to set us free—this, whether we be respectable Pharisee sinners or wicked publican sinners. We must gaze upon the uplifted Saviour, dying for our personal sins, until we have eyes to see only Him and His way for us.
No mere pathetic plucking of blighted leaves from people's lives will do the work that needs to be done. The ax must be laid to the root of sin—the sins of dishonesty, hatred, envy, pride, self-exaltation, and impurity. The love of sin and self, of position and popularity, must be cut down as with the blade of an ax; No other place in all the universe can this be done save at the cross of Jesus Christ. "The exceeding sinfulness of sin can be estimated only in the light of the cross."—Steps to Christ, p. 36.
"Those only who realize that the cross is the center of hope for the human family can understand the gospel that Christ taught."—Testimonies, vol. 8, p. 206. (Italics supplied.) How easy, in our preaching, for this central theme to be taken for granted, or to be found only at the outer fringes of our message.
The following words of the messenger of the Lord, which lift up that sacred cross of Jesus, present an unforgettable picture of the ministry of angels in connection with the Christ of Cal vary: "In heaven it is said by the ministering angels. . . . We sent brightness and light into the souls of men. . . . We attracted their eyes to the cross of Christ."—Christ's Object Les sons, p. 318. (Italics supplied.) What a privilege to preach and teach, knowing that angels will use their power to attract the eyes of men to the saving Christ of the cross, if we will but lift Him up!
"Unless he makes it his life business to behold the up lifted Saviour, and by faith to accept the merits which it is his privilege to claim, the sinner can no mote be saved than Peter could walk upon the water unless he kept his eyes fixed steadily upon Jesus."—Testimonies to Ministers, p. 93.
The "life business" of the sinner is beholding the uplifted Saviour and accepting His merits by faith. And our business? Doing that very thing ourselves, and then lifting Him up to others. Calling men to Calvary! What a business ! What a calling! What a priceless privilege!
"The world should no longer say that Seventh-day Adventists talk the law, the law, and do not teach or believe Christ."—Ibid., p. 92. When we are ready to launch revival in our churches, Christ, the Man of Calvary, must be lifted up in our preaching. The subjects of repentance, regeneration, and faith must be presented in simplicity and power. The second coming of Christ is to be the keynote; the Sab bath is the test, but the love of God at Calvary must ever be the saving theme and melody of our ministry.
"The sacrifice of Christ as an atonement for sin is the great truth around which all other truths cluster." — Gospel Workers, p. 315. Such cross-centered preaching will bring heaven's harmony close to the restless hearts of men.