My sister sent me a sermon by Spurgeon about a month back and I've just now gotten the urge to dig into it. It's long and reads in old-fashioned language type (you know: thee's, thou's, henceforth and whencenot's -- you get the point). But it's really good. I've been devouring it, savouring it even, and the other night I started to read it to Isaac as well. It was a nice switch from reading the book of Samuel from the bible where every paragraph is a new story with five new characters. It takes a great deal of patience and slow digestion to intake all this sermon's content, but it's so powerful and right on. Not only that, but Spurgeon really seems to be able to speak in such a way that leaves you knowing exactly what he means wihout having to say too much or make it too complicated, even on serious issues.
For my amusement and your pleasure, I wanted to share a few snippets of things that caught my attention. Spurgeon's main emphasis here is to Love Thy Neighbour. As such, he opens up by saying that the second great commandment is to, "love they neighbour as thyself." What a powerful phrase to model our lives after. Anyway, he breaks down in the first couple paragraphs about who our neighbours are, what we are to do (love), and how we are to do it, even in the most difficult and disagreeable of circumstances. He breaks down each thoroughly and in depth. I've only gotten through the first few long paragraphs of it though, since it's such a slow-processing read.
Here are a few of my favorite passages, thus far:
On Who am I to Love?
...and if any one in the world is near us, he is our neighbour...Perhaps he is in riches, and thou art poor, and thou livest in thy little cot side-by-side with his lordly mansion. Thou seest his estates, thou markest his fine linen, and his sumptuous raiment. God has given him these gifts, and if he has not given them to thee, covet not his wealth, and think no hard thoughts concerning him..."God hath made of one blood all people that dwell on the face of the earth." Thou art by no means better than they...
On albeit that he be a different religion.
...Thou thinkest thyself to be of that sect which is the nearest to the truth, and thou hast hope that thou and thy compeers who think so well, shall certainly be saved. Thy neighbour thinketh differently...Let not thy differences separate him from thee. Perhaps he may be right, or he may be wrong; he shall be the rightest in practice, who loves the most. Possibly he has no religion at all. He disregards thy God; he breaks the Sabbath; he is confessedly an atheist; love him still...
On although he opposes thee in trade.
...A young man has lately started a shop which you are afraid will damage you. You must not hurt him; you must neither think nor say anything to injure him. Your business is to love him, for though he oppose you in your business, he is your neighbour still...
On though he offend thee with him sin.
...Sometimes our spirits are overwhelmed, and our hearts are grieved, when we see the wickedness of our streets. The common habit with the harlot or the profligate, is to drive them out of society as a curse. It is not right, it is not Christian-like. We are bound to love even sinners...Is a man a rogue, a thief, or a liar? I cannot love his roguery, or I should be a rogue myself. I cannot love his lying, or I should be untrue; but I am bound to love him still, and even though I am wronged by him, yet I must not harbor one vindictive feeling, but as I would desire God to forgive me, so I must forgive him...And if he so sins against the law of the land, that he is to be punished I am to love him in the punishment; for I am not to condemn him to imprisonment vindictively, but I am to do it for his good, that he may be led to repent through the punishment...But let me condemn him with a tear in my eye, because I love him still...You do not hardly love all the people who go to the same chapel. Certainly, you would not think of loving those who differ from you in opinion—would you? That would be too strange a charity. Why, you hardly love your own brothers and sisters. Some of you to-day are at daggers drawing with them that hung on the same breast. O, how can I expect you to love your enemies if you do not love your friends?
That was actually more than I intended to write, but it's good stuff. If you read this, I hope it struck you and touched you as much as it did me. In my continued readings of these passages over and over, as I've done as of late, it simply leaves me only with the thought that there is never any excuse not to love a neighbor. God loved even the lowliest of the low and the supreme sinners, those who were poor, desperate, needy, and hungry and almost more often than not it seemed He wanted to be closer to those types of people more than the ones who had it all. We should be so thankful for His grace in our lives, for even our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).
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