Harold Ewing Burchett
(Written Many Years Ago)
Now, I want to give you a testimony of God’s work in my own case. With the passing of time, things have changed with me. My goals in “church work” are different; my methodologies – or program ideas – have greatly altered. By His grace, I myself am not what I was. As servants of Christ we cannot escape it; God never called us to “fill” a position – in the way we think of “filling the pulpit,” or the like. “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.” “For God hath…called us…unto holiness.” (I Thes. 4:3,7) Our first concern MUST be to BE what He wants; and, once we get on with that, it turns out to be O so different from what we expected!
Next, I am seeking to lead others along this same track. I am not THE minister. We are together servants of Christ – members of this one local body. Who knows what good “gift” will be bestowed? Where are old Bible elders and ministers, in the New Testament sense, produced by the church? My feeling is that a church can do far more than run a program, operate a budget, and then hire a professional “minister” to do its “ministering.” What folly that we expect you to produce an indigenous church in that culture, from scratch and we look at the seminaries and all-sufficient budgets and thus “import” our “staff.” (Directed to missionaries in the audience.)
What a giant is the local assembly when filled by the Spirit! I feel like one commissioned to massage the sleeping members into a vital experience. This new life means a new love. I discover more homes are being opened as hearts are opened. (Christians need each other. Preachers do not have all the GIFTS.) We must cry to God to bring us up to the young church in Rome. They were “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” (Romans 15:1-14)
The typical minister’s life of pushing a rat-race schedule of programming and then toppling into a grave ‘neath trees with abundant foliage and little fruit – scares me. The years are already slipping by, so I want the Lord’s help, and your prayers, as I get on with this boot camp. (That swatting of flies far behind the enemy lines makes good references for the next larger church, but does not disturb the Enemy!)
What it would mean, if we could present Christ with a new “body” here – into which new converts could be saved! There would be no more of that strolling “forward” to lightly “accept Jesus.” The man who gets hold of a wire that is charged will pulsate with it. Frankly, I have begun to suspect that any good salesman could contact folks enough to fill up the empty seats, and maybe even get up his quota of “decisions.” But, a church full of “decided” folks with the same Bible views and the same choices of public entertainment is still not a church.
Besides these things, here is a summary list of important attitudes that have been growing lately within my heart – and I trust within others:
1. The sinfulness of sin.
2. The sufficiency of Christ and what it means to be in Him as our Head. (Rom. 6, 7, 8; I Cor. 1:30; Ephesians) (Many thanks to Watchman Nee’s books here.)
3. Absolute necessity for personal holiness. To both practice sin and profess Christ is impossible. Breaking with sin is a must. Philippians 1:6 does not say that we will be saved anyhow. It says that those, who are surely and securely God’s, will be led on toward perfection. The others are none of His; there are no exceptions.
4. Growing hunger for God
5. Love and concern for one another
6. New regard for Satan who powerfully thwarts us on every hand, unless the armor be complete and prayer constant.
7. Like babies learning to talk, we are now trying to pray – really pray – and faith appears like a first evening star – not too clear as yet, but with good prospects.
8. Some of our Savior’s compassion for the multitudes of sheep without a shepherd.
It has taken too many years to get this little way. My wife and I are, therefore, asking God to help us teach our children all this. They need to know that there is no other Christian life, except that which gets on with the matter of holiness and abandonment to God. A life that intends to be less than perfect is that of a rebel, not a son. (Incidentally, I no longer give the old invitation: “How many of you Christian young people would be willing to do this or that if the Lord should call you?” The first thing is repentance – – or perish, (Lk. 13:3) and one who has truly repented will not willingly resist His will. (Heb. 10:26) A new convert does not have much light, but he is responsible to submit to that which he has and be just as perfect as God has called him to be. By our faulty preaching of repentance, faith and security, we have oiled the tracks of backsliding and cushioned the place of sin.) We need to help folks raise their guard against the flesh, Satan and the world – deadly enemies.
Well, what is there left to preach on! My heart is full, and may the Holy Spirit minister abundantly to you as well.
Harold E. Burchett