Following the Way of Jesus (8)

David John Winter

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Jesus and Greatness - Children and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 18:1-9; 19:13-15

Matthew 19:13–15 (ESV)

Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away.

There is something very attractive about the honesty and simplicity of children. Listen to some leters from pastors from children:

Dear Pastor:

Please say in your sermon Peter Peterson has been a good boy all week. I am Peter Peterson. Sincerely, Pete, age 9

Are there any devils on earth? I think there may be one in my class.—Carla, age 10

I know God loves everybody but He never met my sister. Yours Sincerely, Arnold, age 8

I’m sorry I can’t leave more money in the plate, but my father didn’t give me a raise in my allowance. Could you have a sermon about a raise in my allowance? Love Patty, age 10

My mother is very religious. She goes to lay bingo at church every week even if she has a cold. Your truly, Annette, age 9

My father says I should learn the Ten Commandments. But I don’t think I want to because we have enough rules already in my house.—Joshua, age 10

I would like to go to Heaven someday because I know my brother won’t be there.—Stephen, age 8

I think a lot more people would come to your church if you moved it to Disneyland.—Loreen, age 9

How does God know the good people from the bad people? Do you tell Him or does He read about it in the newspapers? Sincerely, Marie, age 9

My father should be a minister. Every day he gives us a sermon about something.—Robert, age 11

I liked your sermon on Sunday. Especially when it was finished.—Ralph, age 11

Matthew 18 has a lot to say about children and indirectly about adults to and there different attitudes and actions that tell you a lot about where they are spiritually. The chapter, presents the fourth of Matthew’s five major discourse sections (cf. Matt 5–7; 10; 13; 18; 24–25).

This collection of sayings is built around the theme of the relationship of disciples to one another within the church.

Some key lessons here is thay proud ambition is rejected in favour of humble service.

Likewise, acceptance of Christ’s people, even “the least”, however small and insignificant is a basic test of discipleship.

Also, to cause another to stumble, whether through bad example or the failure to rescue the one’s who go astray; or through failing to repent of known sin or refusing to forgive the penitent sinner, occupy the themes of this chapter. is ti f proud ambition, indifference, or otherwise, is a deadly sin.

Humility, acceptance and reconciliation is the business of the church. Forgiveness is bound up inseparably with forgivableness and is to know no limits for we pray do we not, “forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who tresspass against us.”(Matt 6:12).

I. Children & True Greatness (Matt 18:1–5)

Muhammad Ali’s favourite catchphrase was, “I am the Greatest”!

The claim was highly disputed among experts in the boxing world all such claims would be equally disputed if you tried to identify the greatest politician; the greatest war time General; the greatest football team or the greatest parent or sibling in a household!

It was no different in Jesus day and His dsciples has a right old row about “who was the greatest” disciple among them! see Mark 9:33–34

This gave rise to Jesus’ teaching on true greatness.

Mark 9:33–37 tells us that the disciples had been discussing the question of who was the greatest. After entering a house in Capernaum, possibly Peter’s, Jesus asked them what they had been discussing, “but they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.”

Their silence betrayed their embarrassment and the realisation that their desire to be great would not impress Jesus. In Matthew the issue is presented as a more ‘academic’ question, but the principle is drawn out more explicitly.

The disciples’ question begins in the Greek with a particle meaning ‘so’. Jesus’ words in Matthew 17:25–26 have opened up a new discussion - if Jesus claims a special relation with the God of heaven, how do the authority structures of this new kingdom of heaven relate to those servants of the Son of God who make up His Kingdom? Who is the next in line of Jesus? Who is His pecial envoy or representative?

Now, such a question is very important in human society! If you can’t get to the person in charge; who is second in command? Who has the authority to get things done? What is the rank order of command?

Jesus answers this question by means of an acted parable taking a child (Grk: Paidion = a very young child, sometimes even an infant or a toddler) into the midst of them and saying: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”(Matt 18:3-4).

This lies at the heart of the disciples dispute and Jesus’ answer is typically radical, amounting to a total reversal of human value scales, in the ancient world.

A child was a person of no importance in Jewish society, subject to the authority of his elders, not taken seriously except as a responsibility, one to be looked after, not one to be looked up to.

Boys faired better than girls in Jewish and Graeco-Roman societies. In Jewish scoiety, a girl was property to be given another in a contract of marriage. In Graeco-Roman societies however, infants commonly suffered abandonment and even infanticide. Girls were often exposed to death as exemplified in a first-century papyrus fragment with a letter of Hilarion to his wife Alis, instructing her about their expected child, “if a boy to keep it, if a girl to let it die.”

This is what makes Jesus statement in Matthew 19 so radical, when “children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away.”(Matt 19:13-15).

The disciples’ objection is based on the udnerstandable notion that their Master has more important concerns than to be bothered by children. However, Jesus reverses conventional values, and accepts as important those whom society, and even his own followers were in danger of neglecting or even despising.

Jesus says of them, to such “belongs the kingdom of heaven.” He laid his hands on them and prayed as an act of identification and acceptance, not to mention a naturally affectionate response to children. (Note: It was a Jewish custom to bring a child to the elders on the evening of the Day of Atonement ‘to bless him and pray for him’ (Mishnah Sopherim 18:5).

It is right that children, little children should be brought to Jesus for His blessing - bringing them into a knowledge of Him, through His word. Bring them into His presence in prayer; bringing them among His people to worship where “two or three join together in His name”. We cannot save them by doing so but we can bring them into the environment by which they can be saved!

The ‘child’ of Matthew 18:2-4 then is also representative of all ‘little ones’ (insignificant believers) of Matthew 18:6-7.

While it is the children themselves whom Jesus welcomes for their own sake, such also points beyond them to all those of whatever age whose acceptance of a childlike status makes them great in Jesus’ new value-scale, where the insignificant and rejected—the sick, outcast, Gentiles, women, children—achieve a new acceptance and importance.

It is, then, the status of the child that is the point, not the claimed “natural” characteristics of children, such as humility, innocence, receptiveness or trustfulness - not all children have such supposed “latent” characteristics after all! The child stands for the overlooked; the marginalised and the neglected. The ‘little people’ of society who have been neglected or exploited in every age. There were millions of slaves in Jesus’ time, and even the Jewish leaders despised the ʿam haʾ arez, “the people of the land” or as John 7:49) puts it, “this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

To Jesus there were no unimportant people. The ‘greatness’ of such ‘children’ lies in their relationship to Jesus. This is why receiving little children and those who are not important; insigificant, etc is to be rewarded by Jesus as the equivalent of receiving Him! (Cf. Matt 25:31–46).

Now it is also important to emphasize that this invitation to enter “the Kingdom of Heaven” does not come automatically by virtue of being children or despised outcasts!

All of us, whether children or adults need to “turn and become” (Grk: strephomai) like children! It involves a turning from one’s own way to God! Peter in his message at Pentecost, called upon his hearers to “repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away” and declared in Jesus, “God raised up His Servant, and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways” (Acts 3:19, 26). Likewise, Paul when speaking of the Thessalonian believers, said they had turned “to God from idols to serve a living and true God” (1 Thess. 1:9).

Turning leads to conversion! Conversion is the other half of repentance. Repentance is being sorry for sin and turning away from it; conversion is the expression of will that fully turns from sin to the Lord, as the penitent David puts it in Psalm 51:9-13 “Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return (be converted) to you.”

Turning and conversion lead to a regeneration, the equivalent of a transformation which is aking to lew life or being “born again”(cf. John 3:3). For Jesus, to enter the kingdom means that life must start all over again, with the adoption of a new lifestyle; new behaviours, attitudes, values, trust, and commitment.

This is at the heart of Jesus’ teaching and its one that appears to have been forgotten by many in the church today who want to invite people into the Kingdom of God without telling them the truth about what Jesus requires of us as a condition of entry!

The idea of conversion and renewal are fundamental to Jesus’ teaching about entrance into life in the Kingdom of Heaven. To enter the Kingdom of Heaven requires a turning away from self and sin and a conversion in which our lives are under the rule of God and aligned to the values and standards of the Kingdom of Heaven. It involves repentance and following the way of Jesus!

And can you see how concern for personal greatness is the direct opposite of the concern of true discipleship?

It is the opposite of the submission required by the kingdom of God in which we submit to His Lordship rather than seek our own!

To be great in the Kingdom of Heaven is to humble (Grk: tapeinoō, literally meaning to make yourself lower!) under the hand of Almighty God

To be great in “the Kingdom of Heaven” begins with humility. The person who humbles himself is willing to accept an inferior position, just as Jesus did, as described by Paul in Phil. 2:5-8 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but semptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”

When a man asked George Muller the secret of his faithful and wonderful service for the Orphans in Bristol and for the ministry of the Word in the UL and beyond in its missionary endeavours, Muller responded: “There was a day when I died, utterly died; died to George Mueller, his opinions, preferences, tastes, and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends; and since then I have studied to show myself approved only to God.”

So let us heed the words of James at this point in James 4:6-10 “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

II. Children & Stumbling Blocks! (Matthew 18:5–9).

We love our children and parents quite rightly seek to bring them up in ways which are good and healthy;law-abiding and producive and for Christian parents, there is no greater desire than to bring them up to love Jesus and live in “the fear and instruction of the Lord” (Prov 15:33).

Likewise we seek to avoid situations in which our children are caused to stumble by bad outside influences in their lives and so we seek to protect them from harm.

Also painfully we seek to avoid being bad examples for them. As Christians there is nothing more horrifying to think that you have been the cause of your child’s rejection of Christ and His gospel!

To “receive one such child” in the name of Jesus is to receive Him!

The word “receive” is from dechomai, which means to deliberately and readily take something or someone to yourself! To receive is to embrace another; to welcome a guest and meet their needs by acts of hospitality and kindness.

The disciples were thinking not of receiving these little ones but reje ting them and dismissing them as unimportant, so Jesus’ primary point here is that the way a believer treats another believer is indicative of how He would treat Jesus Himself! When anyone welcomes with an open heart a Christian as an honored guest and friend, he welcomes Christ as his honoured guest and friend. Whenthe beleiver treats any Christian with tenderness and kindness, he treats Christ in the same way.

Jesus makes this absolutely explicit in Matthew 25:31-40 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

On the other hand, to cause a little one to stumble (Grk: skandalisēi) is in the mind of Jesus, worse than to die a horrific death!

To be drowned in the depth of sea by tying a great millstone, (Grk mulos onikos) the upper of two millstones used in grinding seeds, so large that it had to be turned by an animal, is preferrable that causing a little one to sin!

William Barclay tells the story of an old man on his deathbed who was terribly distraught. When asked what was bothering him, he replied, “When we were boys at play, one day at a crossroads we reversed a signpost, and I’ve never ceased to wonder how many people were sent in the wrong direction by what we did.” Such acts go on all the time in the life of the church as believers send other believers signals that lead them on the road to sin. This is extremely serious. Just how serious is seen in the next verse.

Now, the causes of stumbling may be varied and they are also inevitable “necessary” (Grk: anagke), becasue life being as it is in this imperfect and sinful world, will mean that temptatiomns will be a recurrent problem. To grant a person free will us to give a person the option of choosing good over evil or evil over good! For God to give us freedom comes with the real prospect of disobedience and self-harm!

However, the warning here is to add to the already dangerous paths we all must follow by adding to the danger in causing someone else to stumble - in this case is the pride that excludes the child or the insignificant from the Kingdom of Heaven, whilst Mark includes the poisonous effect of prejudice (Mark 9:38–41) - but there are a whole load of other ways we can do it! The point here is that we must not put any unecessary barrier in the way of people entering the Kingdom of Heaven because unless we enter the Kingdom of Heaven we cannot be saved!

“Every believer is a child of God and, like all children, needs protection, care, and understanding. It is an enormous crime to harm even one of them by leading him to sin. To ruin the character of a saint or to retard his spiritual growth is heinous in God’s sight, because it amounts to attacking His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.”(John McArthur jr).

And its worth noting here that Matt 18:8-9 is virtually the same saying as Matt 5:29–30 and the inclusion of the foot as well as hand and eye, is appropriate to the fate of those who casue others to ‘stumble’ .

In Matt 5:29–30 the point was a warning against things in the disciple’s own life which will trip him up that need to be moritfied. The sins of the hand and the eye; external actions that carry out sin and inner desires that provoke sin in our lives! Just as people would sacrifice a limb or organ of the body to save physical life, so we must be prepared to discipline ourselves, however severely, to have victory over temptations to sin which threaten us being “thrown into Hell.”

However, the addition of the “foot” here, is appropriate becasue it warns against tripping someone else up! A serious sin which carries with it the warning of “eternal fire”, a phrase which we came across in Matthew 10:28 where Jesus exhorts us not to “fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” and will occur again in Matthew 25:41 where Jesus warns of the danger of being sent away from Him on Judgment Day “cursed into eternal fire, prepared for the Devil and His angels”.

The lesson is that deep seated sin must be rooted out and mortified. As Paul puts it in Colossians 3:5-17, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

So little wonder there is a “woe” from Jesus here!

It reminds us of a latter saying of Jesus in Matthew 23:13–36 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and pall uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

It was a former Bishop of Liverpool, J.C. Ryle who said: “A flood of false doctrine has lately broken in upon us. Men are beginning to tell us "that God is too merciful to punish souls for ever...that all mankind, however wicked and ungodly...will sooner or later be saved." We are to embrace what is called "kinder theology," and treat hell as a pagan fable...This question lies at the very foundation of the whole Gospel. The moral attributes of God, His justice, His holiness, His purity, are all involved in it. The Scripture has spoken plainly and fully on the subject of hell... If words mean anything, there is such a place as hell. If texts are to be interpreted fairly, there are those who will be cast into it...The same Bible which teaches that God in mercy and compassion sent Christ to die for sinners, does also teach that God hates sin, and must from His very nature punish all who cleave to sin or refuse the salvation He has provided. God knows that I never speak of hell without pain and sorrow. I would gladly offer the salvation of the Gospel to the very chief of sinners. I would willingly say to the vilest and most profligate of mankind on his deathbed, "Repent, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be save." But God\ forbid that I should ever keep back from mortal man that scripture reveals a hell as well as heaven...that men may be lost as well as saved.” ( The Berean Call, April, 1993).

And A. W. Tozer out it very succinctly: “The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions.” Beware of the impact of that lying drug!

III. Children & Caring! (Matthew 18:10–11)

Instead of causing little ones to sin let us learn to “consider how to stir one another up to love and good deeds”(Heb. 10:24).

Caring for the ‘little ones’ - as we have seen already, not simply to children but to ordinary, insignificant followers of Jesus who have entered the Kingdom of Heaven - is commended to us by Jesus and we are to model it on the way that God cares for His children

But there is an additional challenge in that caring for fellow Christians is to be modeled by us in the same way we would care for our own children!

The disciples were concerned about greatness! And in being concerned about their status they lost sight on the need to care for the weak and vulnerable!

They needed to learn from Jesus here, Mark 10:35-44 “And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.”

Learn to become “a slave of all”! Do not despise the “little ones” because God’s care extends to every one of them.

To the Elders of the Church, Peter said: “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when tthe chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.” (1 Pet 5:1-6).

And whenever tempted to feel superior to a brother and sister in Christ, determine to become “a slave of all” because these little ones are protected by and represented by “angels” who “always see the face of my Father in Heaven” enjoying constant personal access to God.

A quite remarkable statement and one supported in the book of Daniel 10:13 and Daniel 12:1 among other passages in Scripture where individual angels, in this case Michael, are sent to aid those enduring spiritual struggles.

This is confirmed in Hebrews 1:14 where angels are described as “ministering spirits, sent out to serve those who will inherit salvation” and again in Revelation 1:20 where each local church is represented by an angel! enjoys constant personal access to God.

Never understimate the power of protection that surrounds you as these ministering spirits surround and protect you! - The Reverend John G. Paton, (1824-1907) pioneer missionary in the New Hebrides Islands, told a thrilling story involving the protective care of angels. Hostile natives surrounded his mission headquarters one night, intent on burning the Patons out and killing them. John Paton and his wife prayed all during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see that, unaccountably, the attackers had left. They thanked God for delivering them. A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Jesus Christ, and Mr. Paton, remembering what had happened, asked the chief what had kept him and his men from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise, "Who were all those men you had with you there?" The missionary answered, "There were no men there; just my wife and I." The chief argued that they had seen many men standing guard - hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hands. They seemed to circle the mission station so that the natives were afraid to attack. Only then did Mr. Paton realize that God had sent His angels to protect them. The chief agreed that there was no other explanation. Could it be that God had sent a legion of angels to protect His servants, whose lives were being endangered?

True Greatness is discovered by us as “we humble ouselves…under the mighty hand of God”.

In closing let me commend to you the example of Samuel Logan Brengle(1860-1936) who was an early Salvation Army officer in the USA and eventually Commisioner.

He was raised a Methodist, but lost his father while young, as a result of wounds his father received during the American Civil War at the seige of Vicksburg. His mother married again but it was nota hapy marriage and she died when he was just 15. Still their godly example prevailed and Samuel was converted in his early teens and served in the Sunday School.

He felt the call to the Lord’s work and ministry and stated his theological training. He was already demonstrating great powers of eloquence and on graduation was offered one of the largest Methodist Churches in America to be its Minister but it was then that he underwent a great spiritual crisis - Brengle wrote: “I saw the humility of Jesus, and my pride; the meekness of Jesus, and my temper; the lowliness of Jesus, and my ambition; the purity of Jesus and my unclean heart; the faithfulness of Jesus, and the deceitfulness of my heart; the unselfishness of Jesus, and my selfishness; the trust and faith of Jesus, and my doubts and unbelief; the holiness of Jesus and my unholiness. I got my eyes off everybody but Jesus and myself, and I came to loathe myself.”.

For weeks he could hardly sleep but finally on the morning of this day, 9 January 1885, he woke early and came to the realisation that he had hoped that if only “I can only be a great preacher like Moody! Perhaps if I seek the baptism, I shall have this power!…I was seeking the Holy Spirit that I might use Him, rather than that He might use me.” He repented of his sin of pride and instead of taking up the offer of the Methodist church he prayed: “Lord, if Thou wilt only sanctify me, I will take the meanest little appointment there is.”

He resolved to go to England and offer himself in the work of William Booth and the Salvation Army, but at first William Booth was not convinced, “You belong to the dangerous classes, he said. You have been your own boss for so long that I don’t think you will want to submit to Salvation Army discipline. We are an Army, and we demand obedience.” However, Brengle was sent on trial to a training school where his first assignment was to black the boots of eighteen other cadets! When he remembered that Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, his heart sang for joy. Never did he shrink from the humble quarters where he later found himself, the visitation routine, the every-night services, and the selling of the War Cry. him as a

Finally he returned home where his contribution to the work of the Salvation Army, first in Boston, New England and then all over America and the world was momentous! He worked for forty years, all over the United States and as well as in England, he worked in Europe and on to Australia, New Zealand, and the Hawaiian Islands. His books reached millions all over the world and helped direct people in the “Helps to holiness”

One particular incident stands out for me, showing the quality of the man. Whislt in Boston, a drunkard hurled a paving brick which struck Brengle on the head. The injury was so serious that he nearly died and for eighteen months he was unable to preach. He saw this as a learning time and he wrote many articles for War Cry that helped so many, so much so that Mrs. Brengle later painted on the brick, the words of Joseph referring to his brothers selling him as a slave: “As for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to save much people alive.”

Towards the end of his life, he was once introduced as the, “Great Dr. Brengle.” He later wrote in his diary, “If I appear great in their eyes, the Lord is most graciously helping me to see how absolutely nothing I am without Him, and helping me to keep little in my own eyes. He does use me. But I am so concerned that He uses me and that it is not of me the work is done. The axe cannot boast of the trees it has cut down. It could do nothing but for the woodsman. He made it, he sharpened it, and he used it. The moment he throws it aside, it becomes only old iron. O, that I may never lose sight of this.”

Two years before his death he was asked to give advice to how a Christian should continue in the way of His Lord. His answer: “Keep in the will of God, obey Him, seek Him daily, waiting at His gates. Read the Bible regularly. Never neglect secret prayer. Keep testifying to the grace bestowed upon you. Help others...The great heights are set over against the great depths. So the highest religious attainments are set over against the dark depths of fanaticism. And the only way to escape falling into that abyss is by being humble-minded and praying such a prayer as David’s, Teach me good judgment and knowledge. I have prayed for years that my light and my love might keep step with each other...These fifty years have been rich in spiritual blessing and sweet fellowship with my Lord and His people. But they also have been years of toil, of temptation, of tribulation and sometimes of sore discipline of spirit amounting to agony. My Master is a Man with a cross, Who bade me take up my Cross and follow Him if I would be His disciple, learn of Him, and finally share His triumph.”

Brengle died in 1936, and received his “well done, good and faithful servant.” Earlier in his life he composed a hymn which was his personal testimony:

I have seen His face in blessing When my eyes were dimmed with tears; I have felt His hand caressing When my heart was torn by fears. When the shadows gathered o’er me, And the gloom fell deep as night, In the darkness, just before me, There were tokens of His light. I have stepped in waves of sorrow Till my soul was covered o’er; I have dreaded oft the morrow And the path which lay before. But when sinking in my sadness, I have felt His helping hand, And e’re daydawn came His gladness With the courage to withstand. I was wandering, and He found me, Brought me from the verge of Hell; I was bruisèd, and He bound me, Sick was I, He made me well. I was wounded, and He healed me When a-wearied of the strife; I was erring, and He sealed me, Dead, His Spirit gave me life. By His life’s Blood, He has claimed me As a jewel in His sight; As His own child He has named me, Brought me forth to walk in light. So I’m fighting till He calls me, Walking in the path He trod; And I care not what befalls me Living in the life of God.

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