"THE GOSPEL OF AMUSEMENT" -Spurgeon
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
-by Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
An evil is 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, even 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" (Mark 16:15). That is clear
enough. So it would have been if He had 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; and some prophets;
and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers ..,
for the work of the ministry" (Eph. 4:11-12). 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"
(Matt. 5:13), not the sugar candy---something the world will
spit out not swallow. Short and sharp was the utterance,
"Let the dead bury their dead" (Matt. 8:22) 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
this gospel of 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 unto 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 from preaching
Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments.
Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere
preaching the gospel. They turned the world upside down
(Acts 17:6). That is the only difference! Lord, clear the
church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on
her, and bring us back to apostolic methods.