3 ~ The Smooth Stone of Spiritual Challenge
~ Referring to the spiritual challenge related in the story of David and Goliath (I Samuel 17), Dr. Morriss thought of the challenge for boldness in Isaiah 54:2: Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. He continued:
As a lad, I learned through an unusual experience how necessary it was to strengthen the stakes. A visiting evangelist asked an uncle of mine to take care of his revival tent for a while. He asked him to see that it was stretched, dried, and taken care of in proper fashion. My uncle gave the kids in the neighborhood the privilege of stretching that tent. You can imagine our excitement. When we arrived we did not see a revival tent. We saw a real, honest-to-goodness circus tent.
We struggled to get those ropes pulled out and the poles erected. We were so proud when we finally had that tent standing in place on its tent poles. Now we could engage in our favorite fantasy of playing circus. What fun we had for a while, until our tent came tumbling down. You see, as youngsters we had succeeded in getting the tent into position and in lengthening the cords, but we had failed to strengthen the stakes. We had failed to drive down the pegs deep enough to hold up the tent. (SB 59-60)
It seems to me that spiritually we have lengthened our cords, but we have neglected to strengthen our spiritual stakes. (SB 60)
~ Dr. Morriss relates the following “lengthened cords” –
of Communication:
When I was a boy, we went to the picture show on Saturday afternoon for fifteen cents. Nowadays you can see the same movie I saw for three hundred dollars if you can afford a television set. (SB, 61)
of Transportation:
I looked through an old catalog not too long ago and found an advertisement of a Packard automobile of the days of my youth listing an ammonia gun as standard equipment. It was advertised to take care of the dogs that were trying to bite the tires of the car. (SB, 62)
of Intellect:
Intellectually, what advances we have made! Did you know that from the birth of Christ to 1750 all human knowledge doubled? I have been told that from 1750 to 1900 it doubled again — in just one hundred and fifty years. And then from 1900 to 1950 it again doubled, this time taking only fifty years. then from the year 1950 to the year 1960 it doubled again. (SB, 64-5)
. . . But there is convincing evidence that we have not been strengthening the moral stakes of our land. (SB, 65)
How can we strengthen the spiritual stakes? We can strengthen the stakes by living in our homes as God would have us to live.
You have heard the story of Henry W. Grady, that orator of the South, who lived in Atlanta, Georgia, during the Civil War. It is said that one time as he was visiting Capitol Hill, he saw the sun as its rays were reflected upon the dome of the Capitol and said, “Surely the secret of the American Republic lies beneath yonder dome in the halls of her legislature.”
Sometime later Mr. Grady said it was his experience to be visiting a rural area in America. He saw the grandfather and the father and the mother, along with the children, as they came from their respective places of work on the farm. He saw them as they gathered around the table for the evening meal, bowed their heads in prayer, and thanked God for their food. Then he said he watched them as they left the table to gather in the old-fashioned living room. He said he saw the old grandfather as he took down a much-worn Bible and thumbed through its pages until he found a message from God to the family that night and read it to them and then called them to prayer. Henry W. Grady said gone were the visions that the strength of America was in her halls of legislature. He said, “Surely the strength of America is in her godly, consecrated homelife.”
U. S. means “US”; as as we go, so goes our nation. It is still up to the average citizen in our community to make our nation what it ought to be. Today we need to live in our homes as God would have us live. (SB, 66-7)
. . . I believe in this hour we ought to support our New Testament churches. Let us proclaim with boldness that every person should have an opportunity to hear the gospel of Christ, and every person should have an opportunity to express his faith in a fellowship of believers in all kinds of settings. Just lengthening the cord in evangelism is not sufficient unless we congregationalize. I have no part with the person who says he loves Jesus and despises the church. For if you accept me, you must accept the bride of my youth. The Bible tells us that the church is the bride of Christ. (SB, 68-9)
I think we can strengthen the stake sin the tent of America by having a life-style of evangelism. I know of nothing that will bless the fellowship of our churches more than winning people to Christ. It will do something for our lives, our churches, and our fellowship if we will be busy in life-style evangelism. (SB, 69)