The Penn's Grove record., 1903-02-27
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
THE FULL REWARD
Inc Rev. Ord Wilbur Chapman Tell. of
the Spirit That is Needed in the Church
How TO Win the Crown which is In
corruptible-New Plan Of Salvation.

the Spirit That is Needed in the Church
How TO Win the Crown Which is IN
corruptible-New Plan of Salvation.
NEW YORK CITY.-The distinguished
evangelist, the Rev. DIR. j. Wilbur Chap
MN, Is the author of the following sermon
entitled The Full Reward" which was
pEeacned rom the text, Every man that
strlveth tor the mastery is temperate in
all things. Now they do it to obtain 4 cor
Tupti6le crown, but we an i~ncorruptib,e.
put l Keep my body under, and bring It
INTO sqo}ection, lest that by any means.
Wnen l have preached to others. / myself
SHOULD be a castaway." / Cor. tx: %. 81.
Paul, IN the figure of speech, is on the
race course. He is striving to reach the
goal AMI win the prize. Here, therefore. It
Is NOT a question of life, but entirely a
question: OF awards: He is not writing to
Ine unTegenerate, but to the children of
200. He says: II will keep under nv
body, lest I shall become a castaway5
The word "castaway" in the Greek is lit
orally "disapproved." Paul is teaching
That even if he is to win the crown that Is
lncorruptible, he must deny himself. he
must put forth heroic effort. he must he
faithful until the very end.
Ihls spirit is needed in the church IF
the hrst crown is for the passive Christian
the second is for the enthusiastic follower
OF Gnrlst, and next to the baptism of the
nnoiy Unost the church to-day needs the
baptism OF enthusiasm. It is a great mis-
sake Ior men to allow their prejudices to
lead them against the methods of church
work upon which God has set His seal
There is a cry to-day against new methods
ana people say. the need of the time is for
the old methods of our fathers. There 10
some truth In this. but the trouble with
the advocates of this proposition Is that
they do not make their methods old
enough. We ought to go back to Pente-
COSTA methods of giving. for in those DAYS
the disciples gave all they had. We ought
70 go back to Pentecostal methods of
preaching; the early preachers had just
" themes in mind-namely, Jesus and
the Resurrection. We ought to 60 back to
pente Fostal living. for in the olden times
the disciples lived in the expectation that
each new day would bring back the Lord
Himself, ard having this hope in Him their
lives became pure and their testimonies
powerful.
Ever, church ought to change its method
every SUNDAY, if the methods in use do
not compel the peple to accept the gospel.
we have no responsibility for conversion
tfe spirit of God takes care of that. but
we do have a tremendous responsibility
resting upon US to make every man. wom-
an and child understand that the Son of
God died to set them free from the pen
atty o. sin, and that He ever pleads at
Gods right hand to liherate them from it's
power The church is not an end. but
rather 4 means to an end. IF counted an
end. the membership becomes satisfied
with the church in itself. it's preaching.
its music, its social standing. its ability TO
influence the minds of the peonle, and in
all seriousness l dare to say that such a
church will be a curse to a community in
the thought of God, rather than a bless
ing. We have this to remember: when
counted as a means to an end the church
loses sight of herself and realizes that she
Is IN existence only to bring to every lost
sinner the message of the gospel. So long
az there is one soul IN the world unsaved
God calls His children to carry the mes
of peace and glad tidings of great joy
to that one.
There is a S~criptural warrant for this
frequent change of method. Tt is all
summed up in one word: until. How lone
did the father wait for his son. 'Untip'
he returned. How long did the woman
for the lost niece of silvere Gun
til' she found it. How long did the shen-
herd look for his sheep2 "Until" he had it
in HIS arms and vres bearing it back with
rejoicing to the fo.d. How often ought
we tn change our methods in the church.
Until" we have a method upon which
God will set His seal. and to which the
Holy Ghost will give His approval, because
that method comnels the people to hear
the gospel and to known that Jesus Christ
died to save all mankind.
Paul was willing to he counted a fool if
only ne might better influence men. To the
wise he would be wise; to the ignorant he
was willing to be counted ignorant: TO
the weak as a nan of weakness-if OILY
by all means he "mipht save some" Nav
the lord God fn the church with this
spirit We could shate the cities md
the world with the power of God.
And when the great dav Of awards should
come. simnlv because we had been dead in
earnest, had counted personal ease as
nothing, had labored incessartly hv day
and hy NIGHT. in heat and in cold. we
receive the crown that is incorrupt-
ible.
THE CROWN OF REJOICING.
l Thess. ii: l9-"For what is our hope,
or JOY or crown of rejoicing? Are not even
In the presence of our Lord Jesus
Christ at His coming?"
When Paul remembers the Thessalon-
ians whom he had won for Christ, he i'm
mediateiy replies: "Ye are our crown of
rejoicing" and so this third form of the
reward is properly called the soul-win-
ner's c own.
Alas! some who are born of the Spirit,
who have been trained in the Christian
or might have been, who have
all their lives dead in sin, shall never
wear it. But it is possible for everybody
to receive it from the hands of the Master
Himself.
This is the crown that the sainted Spur
yeon is to wear. 1t is said that $4,000 peo-
pie joined his church in his ministry, and
this was only the beginning of the multi
tude of others that have been influenced
crown that Mr.. Moody is to wear, because
all parts of the world he has pointed
men to the crucified One. 1t is the crown
hat faithful Sunday-school teachers and
workers are to wear.
l had in my home at one time a very
celebrated Sunday-school worker. He tod
ne how he became a servant of Christ. He
vas converted as a boy before the Young
Peoples Society of Christian Endeavor was
znown. He wanted to do something for
Christ, and all he could think of was to
he superintendent with a request that he
be made a teacher, and was re-
He went a second time, with a
ike result. He vent a third time, and
proposed to bring in a class from outside.
Ind this time he secured the consent of
he superintendent. When he went out to
ind bows his first visit was to a great
mansion. He rang the bell
md the servant opened the door. He
lsked if the lady of The house could be
len. He was shown into the parlor, and
Don the mother of the boy entered.
He said: IT have come to ask if your |
NV can come tn Sundav-SchoOI"
Her face flushed and her eyes flashed
S she replied: my child has been to Sun !
lay-school and has had such miserable
that | have made up my mind
hat he shall not go again. until either |
teach him myself or get some one who
After a little waiting she asked: "Sup-
lose I should send MIN who would teach
He became greatly embarrassed at this
uesti On. and thought that if ever he got
0. the house he would never again
hink of any work in the church. But
InallN he replied:
"Wel, if ne comes I will teach him my
eli"
There was something in his frank state
lent-the ring of his ~voice-which touched
be mother, and she said:
NE It Sunday be will be there
He came-he was the only boy in the
lass-and when the young teacher told
i'm the story of Jesus Christ he was con |
erted.
As he told US the story the tears were
/ his eyes, and he said:
CIT - ~ a }oll x-at. fhu rccf Jyek If1-o I 1