FEEDING SHEEP OR AMUSING GOATS
The mission of amusement fails to effect the end desired.
An evil resides in the professed camp of the Lord so gross in its impudence
that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past
few years it has developed at an abnormal rate evil for evil. It has worked
like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a
cleverer thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is
to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.
From speaking out as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned
down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the
day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them
under the plea of reaching the masses.
My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere
spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church. If it is a Christian
work why did not Christ speak of it? "Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature." That is clear enough. So it
would have been if He has added, "and provide amusement for those
who do not relish the gospel." No such words, however, are to be
found. It did not seem to occur to Him. Then again, "He gave some
apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers, for the work of the
ministry." Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent
concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the
people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll.
Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and
life of Christ and all His apostles. What was the attitude of the Church
to the world? "Ye are the salt," not sugar candy-something the
world will spite out, not swallow. Short and sharp was the utterance,
"Let the dead bury their dead." He was in awful earnestness!
Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into His
mission, He would have been more popular when they went back, because
of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear Him say, "Run
after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style
of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching.
We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be
sure to enjoy it. Be quick, Peter, we must get the people somehow!"
Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse
them. In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of the gospel
amusement. Their message is, "Come out, keep out, keep clean out!"
Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless
confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon. After Peter and
John were locked up for preaching, the Church had a prayer meeting, but
they did not pray, "Lord grant Thy servants that by a wise and discriminating
use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are."
If they ceased not for preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging
entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching
the gospel. They "turned the world upside down." That is the
difference! Lord, clear the Church of all the rot and rubbish the devil
has imposed on her and bring us back to apostolic methods.
Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to affect the end desired. It
works havoc among young converts. Let the careless and scoffers, who thank
God because the Church met them halfway, speak and testify. Let the heavy-laden
who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard
to whom the dramatic entertainment has been God's link in the chain of
their conversion, stand up! There are none to answer. The mission of amusement
produces no converts. The need of the hour for today's ministry is believing
scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the
other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood
and felt, that it sets men on fire.
Originally attributed to C H Spurgeon, this seems rather to be an edited version of a sermon by one of his students, Archibald G Brown. 'The Devil's Mission of Amusement', from which it has apparently been taken, was published in 1889.
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