Tame Talk

TAME talk is excusable in tame times. But these are not tame times. The nations teeter on the brink of abysmal catastrophe. Decency declines, morals collapse, and time-honored values, like Old Man River, lose themselves in the sea. Indeed, so rapid is this change for the worse that man seeks to break his fall with sleeping pills and pleasure whirls, or to drown it all in the cocktail glass. All of this, in a time like this—a time when, in addition to the natural consequences of wrongdoing, the retributive grip of the Cre­ator's hand tightens on the tide of human affairs. Spasms in nature reveal earth's agony. Earthquake, hurricane, fire, and flood are Heaven's voice of warning. In pulpits, in homes, in public meetinghouses, voices of God-ordained messengers are lifted, voices that give significance to our times.

Notion

It is paradoxical but true, that to the living the origin of life itself is a riddle. To fill what he considers a gap, man has concocted a fanciful theory of evolution, which at best is an illogical opiate. He has embraced the fiction of natural immortal­ity. He has declared the law of God null and void, to quiet his own conscience. To him the Sabbath is an annoying inconven­ience, and tithing an unbearable yoke. To­day's Christian is saved by a grace that does not reform. He possesses a love that is ex­clusive, and would more willingly hand God his purse than his heart. He means well while doing wrong, and to him the song "Jesus Saves" applies to everything but a long-cherished, defiling habit. To him Paradise is a mist-enshrouded promise, and hell a fiery joke. To this perplexed genera­tion, victims of mistaken notion, God has sent His men with the answers. They are men whose messages gain new urgency as sin's shadows lengthen. This is clearly no time for tame talk.

Motion

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. 28:19). This text is all motion: Go, teach, and baptize. The action is continu­ous. There is no discharge in this war. The prophet Isaiah questions his Creator con­cerning the length of his tenure of service: "And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly deso­late" (Isa. 6:11).

Go! The world is on the go. Everything is in motion. The church of God is a "move­ment." Its ministers go visiting, they go soliciting, they go counseling, and they go preaching.

Go preach! This is a command whose fulfillment is now a compelling urgency. The cost of renting halls is becoming pro­hibitive. Regulations governing the erec­tion of tents and tabernacles are becoming increasingly stringent. These and other fac­tors render the public proclamation of the Word increasingly difficult. Preach while you can, where you may. Were Christ on earth in the flesh would He not stand before our darkened, padlocked churches and shout: "Let there be light"! Especially on Sunday night. Sunday night—what an op­portunity!

"But you don't know the people in my area," one man lamely explained, "they just won't come to Sunday night services."

And so for him Sunday night is televi­sion night, as it is with his sleeping parish­ioners. Perish the thought! People will come to watch a blaze anytime, anywhere. Just catch fire and see! "And be not con­formed to this world," saith the Scriptures. Have the molders become the molded, and the potters become the clay? Circum­stances did not shape Peter, Paul, or even Martin Luther. In the day of God how shall we answer Him who called us? Wasted op­portunities, neglected privileges, will rise to haunt the self-indulgent in the day of final accounting. Go preach!

Go baptize! This is more than a com­mand, it is the natural consequence of Spirit-filled preaching. God expects it of the minister, the people expect it of him, and he expects it of himself. Baptism—the culmination of spiritual conquest, the ful­fillment of our Saviour's marching orders. And having accomplished this, the man of God knows satisfaction like the calm of the deep sea.

Whether the baptisms are many or few, there should be baptisms. The man who has done his best under God should not be depressed by small results. Nor should he ever be satisfied with them. Men of God must be men of large vision, men who ex­pect great things of God. They are men who settle for less only when compelled to. There are some who regard large bap­tisms as being for the gifted few. I have on occasion been in touch with some of these "gifted" brethren and have found some of them less "gifted" than others who are settling for less. Most of them are men who believe that any obstacle can be sur­mounted by faith in God and dedicated hustle. They make their "breaks" and capi­talize on them. They are surrendered men, willing to sacrifice, sweat, and serve, asking only that God give them souls. And in de­livering their messages they are not con­tent with tame talk. Their messages are "living things." People find such sermons irresistible.

Commotion

Under the power of apostolic preaching communities were upset and cities left in an uproar. The apostles' messages inspired such fierce loyalty or determined opposi­tion that they were often fortunate to es­cape with their lives. Where is the "old-time" power, the pentecostal power? Acts 17:6 records the testimony of certain ene­mies of Paul. Said they: "These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also." Verse 5 describes the town as being in "an uproar." "And the whole city was filled with confusion" (Acts 19:29). "All Jerusalem was in an uproar" (Acts 21:31). Their ministry was one that could not be ignored, a power that could not be contained. These men were heard, believed, and resisted. Shall we see this thing again? If so, when? To quote the Apocalyptic souls under the altar: "How long, O Lord?"

Hindering this climactic witness is the fear of being different. "All things continue as they were from the beginning." We preach alike, pray alike, and in all of our services there is an unmistakable flavor of sameness. This tendency to conform has robbed many a man of his power. The world is famishing for a fresh revelation of Jesus Christ, not from lips that parrot other lips in calling that sacred name, but from hearts that have responded to His transforming power. The question: "How does Elder---------do it?" is replaced by a personal concern to represent Christ's will as an individual. It is upon men of this spirit that the fire will fall.

We are agreed that in all of our efforts there should be an identifying imprint. But let not sameness lead to tameness. While we cling to fundamental truth, is there not now need for a fresh mode of presentation, indeed, a new method of approach? A man preaches with fresh power when the ser­mon is of his own construction. Truth per­sonally investigated with prayer in one's own study, is delivered with an unmistak­able flavor of originality. Such an outline, kissed with the breath of heaven, conveys its freshness to the heart of the hearer. The minister himself experiences an enthusiasm for his own preaching akin to that of a boy examining a new and cherished toy. In­vigorated himself, the man of God moves men to repentance.

When you hurry from one thing to another, when you have so much to do that you cannot take time to talk with God, how can you expect power in your work? The reason so many of our ministers preach tame, lifeless discourses is that they allow a variety of things of a worldly nature to take their time and attention.—Evangelism, p. 80.

Too busy to study and pray? Then, sir, you are too busy. No emergency, however grave, must interfere with the minister's study-prayer life.

I was traveling a south Florida road by automobile. My gas supply was nearly ex­hausted. I had misjudged my distance and supply. The car suddenly came to a halt. I was out of gasoline. Noticing the familiar sign of a service station farther along, I hastened thither, confidently expecting that my needs would be supplied. Imagine my dismay upon arrival at the service station to learn that they were out of business. The sign had been misleading. Cruel deception! It had led me to expect what it could not supply.

The world has a right to expect power in a gospel pulpit. Can the growing skepti­cism of things religious be due partly to continued disappointment? Can it be that some have approached the fount, seeking to quench their thirst with living water, and have found instead tame talk?

Communion

In all fairness it should be said that pul­pit-power and volume are not synonymous terms. Nor is the distracting gesture a sign that the speaker is full of his subject. But, few will deny that to lift up one's voice like a trumpet produces few congregational sleepers. And the timely gesture has ar­rested many a drooping eyelid in its de­scent. Intensity born of prayerful commun­ion must characterize both message and messenger. This heaven-born urgency must show on his countenance. A holy fire must anoint his utterances.

"It is the power of the Holy Spirit that gives efficacy to your efforts and your ap­peals."—Evangelism, p. 285. A telling min­istry for these times will be a tactful minis­try. Tact is not compromise of faith. Genu­ine tact is in essence plain truth spoken from a heart of love. Love is tactful. The tactless are the loveless or uninformed. Let the truth make its own enemies. It will also win friends and influence people. Tactful talk is not tame talk.

We have reached the hour of the great consummation. Humanity is on a one-way street, rushing to its own end. There is desperate need that a voice be raised with a message of hope for the hopeless. In times like these silence is high treason and "tame talk" a travesty. To quote an African vil­lage woman as she spoke to the mission­ary: "Man, if you believe what you're teach­ing, say it loud enough for the whole vil­lage to hear!"

"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet" (Isa. 58:1).