METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE PULPIT · VOLUME 37

C. H. Spurgeon

These Macedonians gave more than money, they gave themselves. Paul writes, “They first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.” This was the best donation, better even than the two mites of the poor widow. She gave her living, but they gave their life, their very being. They also gave the best donation in the best way. They did not stop with giving themselves to the Lord, they also gave themselves to the Lord’s people. This is the will of God, that those who yield themselves up to Him should join those who are His already. In speaking to you concerning these churches of Macedonia, I would say, first, that these people are an example to us in several particulars, and when I have spoken a little upon that subject, I will say, in the second place, Let us follow their example.

I. First, then, these people are an example to us.

Great Results from Unlikely People

The great works of the world are not done by the great people of the world, but as the tiny coral insects, patiently working unseen, produce large results, it often happens that the weakest brethren bestow a large legacy of blessing upon us.

This was the case in Macedonia, “The abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” As an ounce of example is worth a pound of precept, let us study the conduct of those early Christians very carefully.

They Followed the Right Order

First, they are an example because they followed the right order. They did the first thing first. Paul says, concerning them, “This they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord.” You know that it spoils even good things when you reverse the right order in which they should be done, and as we commonly say, put the cart before the horse.

This is the first thing, because it is of the first importance. If you are Christ’s, join Christ’s people, but the first thing is, see to it that you are Christ’s. Yield yourself unto Him, trust in Him.

This is the first thing, and everything else is a poor second in comparison with it.

A Direct Question: Have You Given Yourself to the Lord?

Dear friend, have you given yourself to the Lord? Can you truly say, “I am my Lord’s, and He is mine. I have by His grace made sure of that”? Especially you young people, who are just starting out in life, let this be your prime care. May God give you grace to yield yourself to Christ even now, ere you meet the fiercer temptations of the world! Stand still, and consider the matter, and say, “I will now unreservedly yield myself to Him who died for me—”

Reversing the Order Does Real Harm

Yielding ourselves to the Lord comes first, and thus makes the second thing valid. If it does not come first, the second is good for nothing. If a man gives himself to the church, he must not therefore suppose that he has given himself to God. To give himself to the people of God, before giving himself first to God, will do the man no good. It will, indeed, do him a positive injury. The man who acts in this way is either self-deceived, or else a deceiver. He does wrong to God, to the church, and to himself, and is thus a threefold offender… Dear friend, keep that first thing first. Give yourself first to the Lord, and then give yourself to us by the will of God.

Examine Yourself Before Seeking Membership

Do not give yourselves to us, do not think of joining any Christian church, until, first of all, you have given yourselves to the Lord. Make a very searching inquiry into your own spiritual state before you offer yourself as a candidate for church fellowship. Many of you do this. I have been struck, again and again, with the fact that the results of our special services in this place are not garnered quickly. Sometimes people come in numbers to join us, who trace their first impulse to some special effort put forth here a year or two before. I fear that many wait too long, but there should be no undue haste in the matter. Make sure that first you are the Lord’s, then come and be baptized, confessing your faith. Now, do you trust Christ? Have you become Christ’s servant? Have you taken His cross upon your shoulders to bear it after Him? Then come and welcome, and join with His people, but you must not do it until first you are the Lord’s.

Given Freely, Without Pressure

These Macedonians were so eager to be out and out for Christ, that they, without any constraint, gave themselves to His people. I delight to see young believers coming forward promptly and cheerfully, feeling, “Yes, I belong to Christ, and I should like to join those who also belong to Him.” To have it pressed upon you by one and another, and to be urged to do it, almost spoils it. I think that it is with our gift of ourselves to Christ and His people as it is with plucking a peach—if it is handled much, or pulled off the tree by a rough grasp of the hand, the beautiful bloom is quickly gone from it.

Christ loves to have our hearts with the bloom on them. He delights to see us willingly yielding ourselves.

Spurgeon’s Own Eagerness to Join a Church

I remember the difficulty that I had, when I was converted, and wished to join the Christian church in the place where I lived. I called upon the minister four successive days before I could see him, each time there was some obstacle in the way of an interview, and as I could not see him at all, I wrote and told him that I would go down to the church meeting, and propose myself as a member. He looked upon me as a strange character, but I meant what I said, for I felt that I could not be happy without fellowship with the people of God. I wanted to be wherever they were, and if anybody ridiculed them, I wished to be ridiculed with them, and if people had an ugly name for them, I wanted to be called by that ugly name. For I felt that unless I suffered with Christ in His humiliation, I could not expect to reign with Him in His glory.

Beloved friends, give yourselves first to God, and afterwards to His church, as these people did, cheerfully and promptly, without pressure or excitement. They came forward, not even as the apostle hoped, but they went beyond all that…

Membership Is the Will of God, and for Your Good

Paul distinctly states that these Macedonian Christians gave themselves to the church “by the will of God.” Beloved, it is the will of God that you who love Him should be numbered with His people. It is for your comfort, it is for your growth, it is for your preservation. If you belong to Christ, you should belong to Christ’s church. You owe something to the church already. By its means the preaching of the Gospel has been kept alive in the world. Through its preaching you have been converted. Through some one of its members you were brought to Jesus’ feet.

Give Yourself to the Church That Fed Your Soul

It is your duty and the church’s due that you should give yourself to the church by the will of God. Think it over, and see if it be not so. I say not that you should join this church. You may be quite a stranger to us, but there is a place where God has fed your soul. There is a company of people somewhere, amongst whom you have often been taken up to heaven’s gate. There is an assembly where you first of all found the Savior. Go, I pray you, and by the will of God, give yourself to that church, as you have given yourself to Christ.

A Dying Member Remembers His Baptism

You cannot tell the joy I have had today in visiting one that is lying grievously ill. My dear friend, in talking with me just now, as I sat by his bedside, said to me, “Pastor, do you remember what you said to me when you baptized me?” I said, “No, I do not.” “Well,” he said, “it is thirty-five years ago, and when I was stepping into the water, you said, ‘Let us praise God for this brother. I hope He will be a gift, a precious gift, to this church.’ And then you stopped before you baptized me, and said, ‘Lord, make him useful, grant him grace to serve You for many years to come!’ It was thirty-five years ago,” he said, “and yet I remember it as if it were but yesterday, how you prayed for me, and how you finished up by saying, ‘And, when your feet shall touch the cold waters of the river of death, may you find it firm beneath you!’ Oh, dear Pastor,” he said, “it is firm beneath my feet. I was never so happy or so joyful as I am now, in the expectation of soon beholding the face of Him I love.” Our Brother also added, “How little does modern theology supply to a man on the brink of eternity! I want no theories about inspiration, or about the atonement. The Word of God is true to me from beginning to end, and the precious blood of Jesus is my only hope.” … Brethren, we would have been great losers, if that brother had not, thirty-five years ago, having given himself to the Lord, also given himself… to the church over which the Lord had made me overseer. Blessed be God, who has kept him and us even to this day!

II. Secondly—and this I will urge very strongly on you all—let us follow their example.

First: Give Yourself to the Lord

First, imitate their example in this particular, give yourself to the Lord. You who have done it, do it again, and you who have up till this moment kept back that which He claims, make a full surrender now. Do not wait to make yourself better, or to feel better, but, just as you are, determine to be His, and to be His forever. Say, “I do now first of all give myself to You. I trust in the death of Christ as my only hope of eternal life, and I give myself up to Him, believing that He will save me. There are many reasons why I should do this, but the chief reason is that Jesus gave Himself for me, shall I not then give myself to Him ‘who loved me, and gave himself for me’? What is there that I should like to keep back? I know of nothing. No, let Him take all.”

C. H. Spurgeon in later years

Yourself Is the Best Offering—and the Only Path to Joy

The best offering you can bring to Christ is yourself, for until you have given yourself to Him, He cannot accept any other offering at your hands.

Unless you are really Christ’s, you cannot be truly happy. Surely, this is a motive that will appeal to you. You wish to live a happy life, do you not? There is no happiness without holiness, and no holiness without faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Give yourself to Him, and He will make you holy and happy too. True joy will never be yours until “the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

To abide in Christ is heaven begun below. “Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee.” Those who know the Lord best, praise Him the most, therefore would I urge you to give yourself to Him at this good hour.

Safety in Christ’s Keeping

Furthermore, we are only safe as we are given up to Christ’s keeping. Only His power can save us from our adversary the devil, who, “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” If you give yourself to the Lord, you will be “safe in the arms of Jesus.” He will hold you despite all the assaults of your foes, and none shall pluck you out of His hands, so that you may exultingly say with Paul, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

Second: Give Yourself to the Church—Imperfect, Yet the Dearest Place on Earth

In the next place, follow this example, and give yourself to the church. You that are members of the church have not found it perfect, and I hope that you feel almost glad that you have not. If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all, and the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle, London

All who have first given themselves to the Lord, should, as speedily as possible, also give themselves to the Lord’s people. How else is there to be a church on the earth? If it is right for anyone to refrain from membership in the church, it is right for everyone, and then the testimony for God would be lost to the world. As I have already said, the church is faulty, but that is no excuse for your not joining it, if you are the Lord’s.

A Sanctuary for Sinners, Not an Institution for the Perfect

Nor need your own faults keep you back, for the church is not an institution for perfect people, but a sanctuary for sinners saved by grace, who, though they are saved, are sinners still, and need all the help they can derive from the sympathy and guidance of their fellow believers.

The church is the nursery for God’s weak children, where they are nourished and grow strong.

What You Lose by Staying Outside

Think again, what a lack of fellowship there will be if those who have given themselves to the Lord do not also give themselves to His people. Possibly you ask, “What should I gain by joining the church?” That is a miserable question to put. I will answer it by asking another—Do you know how much you will lose by not joining the church? You will lose the satisfaction of having done your Lord’s will, you will lose the joy of fellowship with your brethren and sisters in Christ, you will lose the opportunity of helping by your example the weak ones of the flock. Your question should be, not “What should I gain for myself?” but, “What can I do for others?” And the answer should be, “I will join the church, because this is the will of God, and there I shall be of benefit to my fellow Christians.”

Third: Give Yourself to Both—Never One Without the Other

In the third place, you should follow the example of these Macedonian believers, and give yourself both to the Lord and to His church. Put the two together, and thus begin to place yourself wholly in the line of God’s will. Joining the church without being the Lord’s, no matter from whatever motive it is done, is a course of action fraught with great danger to the soul, for none are more dead than those who only have a name to live. On the other hand, much blessing is missed if those who are the Lord’s do not unite themselves with His people.

Join to Bear Witness for Christ

If you have given yourself to the Lord, give yourself, next, to His people that you may with them bear witness for Christ. Here is a certain number of people who, with all their faults, are the true followers of Christ. Join them and say, “I, too, am a follower of Christ.” That is what membership with the church means. It is as if you should say, “If the world is divided into two camps, I am on the side of King Jesus, and under His banner I will fight as one of those who bear witness to the truth that He has revealed.”

Join to Spread the Gospel

Do it, next, to spread the Gospel. Everybody is needed in this service today, for the clear light of the Gospel is sadly obscured in many places. We cannot all be preachers, for if all were preachers, where would be the hearers? But we want everybody to be talking about Christ, by lip and life, by the printed and the spoken word, telling about salvation by the precious blood for all who believe, forgiveness through the grace of God for the guilty, renovation by the Holy Spirit for the depraved. Come, then, and give yourselves to the Lord, and then to His church in order that you may spread the Gospel!

Join to Maintain the Church

Do this, again, to maintain the church. Nothing in the world is dearer to God’s heart than His church. Therefore, being His, let us also belong to it that by our prayers, our gifts, and our labors, we may support and strengthen it. If those who are Christ’s refrained, even for a generation, from numbering themselves with His people, there would be no visible church, no ordinances maintained, and I fear, very little preaching of the Gospel. Therefore follow the Macedonian example for the sake of the church.

Join to Grow in Love and Live unto the Lord

And finally, do it that you may grow in love, and continue to prove your love to your Lord and His church, and also that you may continue to live unto the Lord, and increase your life by mingling with others who are alive unto God. My dear friend, who is now lying so ill, of whom I have told you, does not regret that he joined the church, for, being a commercial traveler, he had opportunities of preaching Christ in different places, and that he might render the best possible service to his Lord, he always lived wherever his pastor told him to live, seeing that his business interests did not tie him down to any particular place.

Spurgeon in his study