The Christian's Junk Pile
LOUIS ALBERT BANKS (1855-1933) Peter tells us of things that we must throw on the junk pile as useless and injurious if we are to grow into the kind of people that God desires us to be.
"Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation; if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." — 1 Peter 2 : 1-3
This theme depends as much upon the attitude of the audience as it does upon the speaker himself. The natural man does not like this sort of theme. It is too heart-searching, comes too close home. If profitable, it must stir the conscience too earnestly to be a comfortable discussion in which to indulge. If it is to be profitable to us, it will be so because through honesty and humility there shall be aroused in us a sensitive consciousness concerning ourselves and an earnest desire to be developed along the line of the noblest and truest Christian manhood or womanhood.
I begin this sermon knowing that the fate of it is in your hands rather than mine. And, indeed, that is always so to a larger extent than we usually realize. It has been a common figure used to admonish preachers to greater earnestness and zeal, to compare the preacher to a lawyer who is addressing a jury and pleading for a verdict. It is often said that the minister should exhibit the same earnestness in seeking to win a jury to give a verdict according to his wishes that a lawyer does with a jury in an important case in an earthly court.
But, there is a tremendous difference that destroys the parallel. The juryman in court has no personal interest in the verdict; if he had such an interest, he would be disqualified. But the minister summons his jury to pass judgment on itself, and lethargy and prejudice and old habits all conspire to resist the appeal he makes. Therefore there is need of earnest sincerity. If I could be sure that every one who hears me felt himself under bond to welcome every bit of truth I bring, and apply it to his own life, at any cost of cherished prejudice, we should all be conscious of strange power in this discourse. No honest man could fail to preach with tenfold power to an audience like that.
I. Our text is first an exhortation to throw away some things that we may have others. And all life is full of such choices.
Peter uses the figure of growing manhood, and assures us that there are certain things antagonistic to the development of Christian character, and if we are to grow up into Christ-like personalities these things must be thrown away. Every life as it grows greater is the illustration of this principle. First the baby is pleased with the rattle and the rubber ring to chew, but when it gets a little older, it throws these away for building blocks and toys of another sort. After a little, if the child really grows in mind as well as body, it drops these for school books, and its tops and playthings are of a higher kind. As development goes on, these in turn are cast aside, outgrown; and every growing youth has realized Paul's saying, "When I became a man, I put away childish things." Every man and woman who has lived past middle age and has grown truly looks back over every epoch and can see all along the path things they have thrown away which for a while seemed necessary and important. So it becomes true that you can judge a person by what he can do without and by what he has outgrown.
Phillips Brooks declares that on these two ladders, these two scales, the order of human character mounts up — the power to do without and the power not to do without. As you grow better there are some things which are always relaxing their grasp upon you; there are other things which are always taking tighter hold upon your life. You sweep up out of the grasp of money, praise, ease, distinction. You sweep up into the necessity of truth, courage, virtue, love, and God. The gravitation of the earth grows weaker, the gravitation of the stars takes stronger and stronger hold upon you. And on the other hand, as you grow worse, as you go down, the terrible opposite of all this comes to pass: the highest necessities let you go, and the lowest necessities take tighter hold of you. Still, as you go down, you are judged by what you can do without, and what you can not do without.
You come down at last where you can not do without a comfortable dinner and an easy bed, but you can do without performing an act of charity or without a thought of God. The poor sot finds his misery sealed with this double seal, that he can not miss his glass of liquor, and he can miss without a sigh every good company and virtuous wish. Let us judge where we stand by the things we are willing to let go for the sake of God and humanity.
II. Peter gives us some suggestions as to the kind of things that we must throw on the junk pile as useless and injurious if we are to grow into the kind of men and women that God demands we shall be.
First, he declares as a general principle that we must throw away all wickedness, and then he helps us by suggesting certain things, certain phases of evil, by which we may test ourselves concerning our growth in grace and in a righteous life. The first of these that he suggests is "guile," a certain lack of wholesome directness which in a Scotchman we would call "canny," in an American we would call "sharp" — a kind of selfishness which roils the water of life and robs us of perfect sincerity and frankness of dealing.
We know what it is in life better than we can define it. There is a story of an Arab who went to his neighbor and said, "Lend me your rope." "I can't," said the neighbor. "Why can't you?" "Because I want to use the rope myself. I want to tie up five cubic feet of water with it."
"How on earth," sneered the would-be borrower, "can you tie up water with a rope?" "My friend," said the neighbor, "Allah is great, and he permits us to do strange things with a rope when we don't want to lend it."
The least lack of frankness and genuineness robs us of the truest character and many of the joys which ought to be ours. Spurgeon tells a story of a poor old woman who, when she saw her landlord coming to the front door, hid in the garden behind her cottage because she did not have the rent ready. The landlord was passing a few days later and seeing the old lady, said he had called a day or two earlier but had not found her in. Then the old lady confessed. She had not been out; but she supposed he wanted the rent and she had no money for him. Then her landlord laughed good-naturedly: "Why, no, Margaret, I was not after the rent. I happened to have a sovereign (a collectable coin) I thought you would like to have. So I stopped as I passed, to give it to you. Now, unfortunately, I haven't got it; I gave it to some one else." How often a little guile in us robs us of the gracious purpose God has for us.
This guile, as Peter means it, is I think the peculiar sin of "good" people, respectable people, people who have been so hedged about that there are no outbreaking sins charged against them, who are likely to be self-complacent, and yet lack that perfect unselfish devotion to God and his service, that unquestioning loyalty to Christ, which would make them greatly useful.
I think it would do all of us good to ask ourselves the heart-searching question:
"Were the whole world good as you — not an atom better —
Were it just as pure and true,
Just as pure and true as you;
Just as strong -in faith and works;
Just as free from crafty quirks;
All extortion, all deceit;
Schemes its neighbor to defeat;
Schemes its neighbors to defraud;
Schemes some culprit to applaud —
Would this world be better?
"If this whole world followed you — followed to the letter —
Would it be a nobler world,
All deceit and falsehood hurled
From it altogether;
Malice, selfishness, and lust
Banished from beneath the crust
Covering human hearts from view —
Tell me, if it followed you,
Would the world be better?"
One of the specifications which Peter uses as a suggestion of junk for the growing Christian to get rid of is "hypocrisy." There are many unconscious hypocrisies which nevertheless rob us of much of our power and usefulness. People who become accustomed to seeing the evil in other people and making it an excuse for their own failure to do their duty are consciously or unconsciously hypocrites.
A bright clergyman was arguing with a friend on the desirability of attending church. At last he put the question squarely, "What is your personal reason for not attending?" The man smiled in a quiet way as he replied, "The fact is, one finds so many hypocrites there."
Returning the smile, the clergyman said, "Do not let that keep you away — there is always room for one more."
One of the greatest dangers of hypocrisy to Christian people is the danger of professing more than they have of the Christian spirit. Some of the saddest tragedies I have ever known among Christian men and women have come about in the career of people who at the outset were deeply sincere and devoted, had entered into a very rich and restful Christian experience, made profession of entire sanctification, after a time fell away from their complete and whole-hearted service to God, and lost out of the heart and life the reality, while the outward profession of the lips still waved like a flag over an empty fortress from which the army has been withdrawn. Such tragedies are terrible, and we need to be careful concerning the genuineness of our inner spiritual life.
We should cherish nothing within that robs us of our perfect fellowship with Christ. A traveler in Borneo tells of finding there a great cave which was occupied in the daytime by the bats, and at night by the swallows. As he watched the mouth of the cave about sunset the first column of bats appeared, and wheeled away down the valley in a long coil, winding over the treetops in a wonderfully close and regular order. These were followed in less than a minute's time by another column, and in forty minutes, forty-seven distinct columns were counted, each about six hundred feet long by ten feet thick. It was estimated that over half a million bats flew out of the cave in less than three-quarters of an hour. As the last bats flew away the swallows appeared in enormous numbers and for a long time there was a ceaseless whirr of wings. Soon after dawn the next morning the bats returned, and literally rained into the cave, while the swallows passed out in a counter current. Some people try to live a double life like that. To the outer world they try to make it appear that they are as innocent as swallows, while underneath the bats hold revel. But, as in the case of "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde," the evil Mr. Hyde came at last into control, so the man who lets the bats of evil thoughts and impure imaginations hold revel in his soul will after a while be mastered and controlled by them to his final disaster.
Another specification which Peter uses of proper stuff for the junk pile is "envyings." Envy is the more dangerous to us because in the beginning it is hard to see the real ugliness and deadly poison of its nature. I have seen a parable of a young cabbage that discovered some specks on the under side of one of its leaves.
"You had better shake them off at once," said an elder tree close at hand. "I am older than you, and have seen many cabbages destroyed by specks like that."
"Oh, nonsense," said the cabbage, "how can these wee things destroy anything? Besides, I rather like them — they are pretty to look upon and afford me diversion." The days passed, and after a time out of the eggs there crept some queer-looking creatures with voracious jaws and hairy necks. "Ugh," exclaimed the cabbage. "I don't like the look of you. Get off of my leaves, will you?"
The caterpillars took no notice, but at once fell to work to eat up the tender leaves. "Here," cried the cabbage, "I am not going to stand that. Don't you see that you are spoiling my beautiful leaves? Get off, you ugly creatures!"
But the caterpillars simply held up their heads for a minute, and then commenced eating again. Bit by bit, they ate up the leaves until the cabbage was ragged and useless, and the gardener coming along pulled it up and threw it on the rubbish heap.
"Oh, I wish I had listened to the elder tree," exclaimed the cabbage root, "but I never thought such tiny eggs could contain such dreadful destructive creatures."
Envies are like those eggs on the cabbage leaf. They nested in the heart of Cain until they grew to such power as to master him and make him a murderer and a vagabond on the face of the earth. They grew in the hearts of the sons of Jacob until they ate out all love and sympathy and brotherly compassion, and they sold Joseph into slavery. Look out for the envies that nestle in your soul. The junk pile is the only safe place for them.
Peter gives another specification to which many people need to give heed — that of "evil speaking." We can trace a large share of the trouble in the world to this. It was this kind of speaking that Jesus meant when he exclaimed so sternly, "I say unto you that for every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." People speak recklessly so often of the character or reputation of another, not for a moment understanding the deadly weapon which they use. They do not intend the awful harm which they bring about. It is to them but an idle word in conversation. But it mars and wounds and kills, and nothing the speaker can ever do can eradicate the harm which has been accomplished.
Many an evil speech would be shut back behind the clenched teeth if the one tempted to speak it could realize how impossible it is to overtake it after it is once let loose.
'Careful with fire' is good advice, we know;
'Careful with words' is ten time better so;
Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead,
But God himself can't kill them when they're said.
I have been told by a hunter of big game in the East that tigers born of a man-eating tigress are always man-eaters, for they get their first lessons in hunting from their mother. A tigress teaches her whelps to hunt as a cat does her kitten, by bringing them live prey to practice on. Some years ago, in one of the hill districts of India, a tigress was killed whose taking off caused much rejoicing among the natives. She was known all over India as the man-eater who once had given her whelps a live man to play with. She carried off the man from an open hut in the forest where some woodcutters were sleeping. His companions took refuge in trees, and from their place of safety saw her take the man alive to where the whelps were waiting close by and lay him down before them. As the man attempted to crawl away the whelps would cling to his legs with teeth and claws, the tigress looking on and purring with pleasure. Do you know, I believe that gossipers and scandal-mongers are usually developed in the same way. The children of a scandal-loving mother or father are almost certain to develop the same man-eating trait. A bloodthirsty tigress teaching her whelps to play with a live man, and thus teaching them how to kill, is not an exaggerated illustration of the viciousness of a family brought up to gossip and speak evil of their neighbors.
III. When we look at all these things which are so common among us, and note how much junk we carry in our conversation and dealing, we wonder sometimes whether there is any chance to build up in the world that perfectly beautiful and splendid life of Jesus Christ.
But we get hope when we listen to Peter as to the method of accomplishment. We are not to throw away these things by our own will power or keep ourselves by our own watchfulness from again becoming victims of them, but through Jesus Christ we are to be born again into a new spirit, to be nourished by spiritual milk, to taste in our very souls the preciousness of Jesus, and through our association with him are to be lifted far above the junk pile into newness of life. Everything that is good and fine can come to us only through association with Jesus, but through him and in fellowship with him everything that is good enough to be true can become possible in you and in me.
Some years ago I was poking about an old stone smokehouse of the type used a hundred years ago, with an entrance through only one door. I came on a long, snail-like looking creature that was an entire stranger to me.
On one end which I took to be its head there seemed to be, on the top, a single eye — very large and very bright and dazzling. It seemed to look me through and through. It seemed uncanny with that single staring eye, and the whole creature was loathsome. I got it on a shingle and carried it in to the telephone, where I would have it close at hand to describe, and then I called up a friend of mine whose special business it was to know all about bugs and worms and snails and things of that kind, and told him what I had found, and asked him what it was. He laughed merrily and said that the end which I thought was its head was its tail, and what I had taken to be an eye was not an eye at all. And furthermore he told me that what I had found was the caterpillar of one of the most glorious moths or butterflies that is ever seen in that part of the world, and that if I would put the repulsive creature away in the dark, after a while he would throw off his ugliness and fly forth in dazzling beauty and glory among the summer flowers. As I carried the ugly thing back to give him a chance for his career I said to him, "You ugly thing, you are just like man."
When I look out over the world's squalor and selfishness and sin, when I see it wallowing in its malice and guile and hypocrisies and envies and evil speaking, I lose hope and am ready to despair of mankind. But when I turn from man in his sinfulness and look at Jesus Christ with all the beauty and glory of his character, arrayed in all those graces that make manhood splendid and glorious, and see him take hold of a poor drunken tinker like John Bunyan and lift him up out of the mire and the wretchedness of sin; when I see going to the junk pile the things that marred and wounded and destroyed him, and behold emerging under the influence of Jesus Christ those traits of character so beautiful and lovely in him; when I read in the Word of God the promise that if a man has this hope in him he purifieth himself, and that after a while when we meet Christ in the skies and see him face to face we shall be like him, my heart grows big with hope and courage for mankind, and for myself.
Dear friends, let us taste of the graciousness of Jesus Christ. Let us, through fellowship with him, lay aside everything that is out of harmony with his character of love. If we do this, the whole journey of life shall grow sweet in the fellowship which his love will bring to us.
A schooner arrived at Port Townsend, Washington, a while ago from Honolulu, which had had an interesting experience, A hundred and fifty miles off Cape Flattery it ran into an immense flock of wild canary birds, thousands of which settled on the rigging and other parts of the vessel. The sailors furnished their feathered visitors with food and drink, and multitudes of them remained on board contentedly, singing their sweet lays until the schooner reached port. God has many singing birds which he sends to rejoice the hearts of those who sail stedfastly toward the port of heaven. A good conscience, a hope of heaven, assurance of reunion with loved ones, the friendship of Jesus and all who love him — these are some of the sweet singers that may rejoice us by the way.
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