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11
Jesus And the Common People.
Text:— ‘ 1 And the common people heard him glad
ly.” Mark 12-37.
Sermon preached by Dr. Broughton, in the Bap
tist Tabernacle June 10th. Dr. Broughton produced
a letter which he had received from a lady in Texas,
stating that her husband had been converted
through reading a recent sermon of his in The Gold
en Age. The congregation was then asked to join
with him in prayer that God would pour out his
blessing upon the printed pages, and the other vari
ous avenues of the Tabernacle work in the salvation
of lost souls.
I purpose this morning talking to you on the
common people. It does seem to me from a careful
study of the Scriptures that Jesus Christ was es
pecially partial to the common people. You see this
illustrated in all the life of Christ. He chose to
be born among the common people. His early work
was among the common people, and in a line of
work carried on by them. And when He went to
select His disciples, those upon whom He could rely,
He selected the common people—humble fishermen,
unlettered, untaught, unknown except to Him. And
I think, there w r as abundant reason why Jesus se
lected the common people to be His most intimate
frends, and the pillars of His religion.
The Question of Salvation.
I think first of all, that He did it because He
knew that the common people were the only people
who would at first hand appreciate His teaching.
For example, take His teaching on the great ques
tion of salvation. Jesus knew that the better class
of people would not tolerate His teaching on the
plan of salvation. They looked upon salvation as
consisting in the observance of certain types and
forms and sacrifices; they thought that the observ
ance of the law, at least so far as they were able
to observe it, would constitute salvation; whereas
Jesus came to teach that salvation was from above;
that to be saved one must be born again, or born
from above. The better class of people resented
that kind of teaching. He knew that they would
resent it. They were men who w’ere proud of their
first birth, their ancestors, their blood; and to them,
such thought as a new birth was a reflection upon
the blood that coursed through their veins, and they
resented it.
The Equality of the Race.
And then take the teaching of Christ concerning
the equality of the race of man in matters of salva
tion. Nothing could have been more distasteful to
those of the upper-class than that kind of talk.
You remember how Christ said to them ‘‘Except
ing to a great multitude upon the streets, and some
women brought their children to Jesus, and there
was objection raised even upon the part of the dis
ciples themselves, that these children were brought
in and allowed to take the time of Jesus that should
have been given to the great surging multitude of
people.
You remember how Christ said to them “Except
ye become as litle children, ye shall never see the
kingdom of Heaven.” And immediately after that,
there came running to Jesus a rich young ruler, a
man of the upper class of society, as society is re-
f
a)W a
guarded, and he came to Jesus desiring his salvation.
He said as he came, “Master, What good thing shall
I do that I may inherit eternal life?” “What good
thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
This young man was desirous of having salvation,
but he did not have the slightest idea that he would
have to obtain salvation upon the same plan of the
common people of the street. He was present and
heard Jesus when He said “Ye must become as lit
the children, or else ye can never see the Kingdom of
God,” but it never entered into his mind that Jesus
meant to include in that statement such men as he
himself was. He was a rich man, 'he had his title,
he occupied a high place in society, and he thought
that there was something special for him.
You are aware how Jesus dealt with that question.
Jesus said to him first of all, “Why callest thou
me gccd? None is good, save one, that is, God.” As
much as to say, “Do you understand what you say?
Do you mean what you say when you call me good,
and therefore God? If so, the first thing in salva
tion you have done. You have accepted my deity;
for if I am good, and only God is good, then I am
God; and if I am God to you, the first step is taken
in salvation.”
He made no answer to that question. Then Jesus
carried him into the ethics of salvation. He said,
“Thou knowest the commandments,” and then He
repeated the majority of them to him, and the young
man said, I have kept all these from my youth. He
did not answer the first question, which was the
most important one, the one which dealt with the
deity.of Christ. He did answer the question con
cerning the ethics of salvation. He was just like
thousands of men today. There are thousands of
men that are square on the question of ethics that
are all off on the question of doctrine. And so this
young man said, “I have kept all these from my
youth.” Then Jesus said, “there is one thing lack
ing. Sell what thou hast and give it to the poor.”
What was in the mind of Jesus here? Jesus was
not after his money; He had all the money He
wanted, let that once and forever be settled. God
is not poor because He asks us to give. God tells
us to give that we, ourselves, may get the blessing
from the gift. It is mercy that God extends to us
when He tells us to give for He knows that as we
give, it shall be given back to us. That is the fun
damental law of giving. What God was after here
was this young man’s salvation; and He knew that
he was relying upon his works, his position, his
standing, in the country. The fact that he was
rich, and the fact that riches gave him prominence
was the thing that Jesus was trying to knock out
from him.
Oh, my brethren, let it never, never escape you,—
money, intelligence, culture, refinement, social posi
tion, all these and everything else count not one iota
for the mercy of God.
The Church and the Common People.
Now just as this has (been true in history, it has
been true in the church. Take one example: The
time was when the Church of England was the
greatest church on earth. It had the greatest op
portunity in many respects. It had the greatest
minds that have ever been given to a church. The
Church of England had it in its power to become
the church of the world. But what about it? The
Church of England lost its prestige in the world.
Even in England among the people, it has lost its
position. The Church of England forgot that it
had an obligation to the common people, and God
in His Mysterious wisdom and providence laid His
hand upon William Booth, a humble local Methodist
preacher, a man without any influence, not even
enough to have a station; a man unknown to the
world, but a man who had a heart to feel, a man
ing.
The Golden Age for June 28, 1906.
Le n G . Broughton
who could cry with the needy and sympathize with
them in their needs. Upon that man’s shoulders
God laid the burden of the up-lifting of the common
people. And what about that movement? Though
it has many difficulties to contend with, and many
things to criticize, within the short space of a few
years that movement has gone on and on with the
speed of magic until today the noise of drum and
fife is heard around the globe.
What more shall follow since all this is true?
First of all, let me say that the church that would
be the church of Jesus Christ must stand for the
common people.
First, It must stand for their tastes.
The church that does not regard the tastes of
mankind is a church that will never grip the hearts
of mankind. Somebody said to me “Why do you
have that boy up there beating that drum? Do
you like it? I answer: It is not a question of
whether I like it or not, the people like it. “Well”
said he, ‘ ‘ Don’t you think the church ought to teach
the people up to the plane where they would have
not what they like, but what is best? Well, said I
take you upon your own argument, take for granted
that the drum is not best in the church, do you
think you can ever teach people by preaching to
benches ?
The taste of people is the one thing that the
church has failed to appreciate in its method of
work; and it is the one thing that has accounted
for the slow progress of the church more than any
thing else I know anything about.
I had rather have a one man church that I posi
tively knew had hold of the chords of God’s bat
tery than all the wealth of the world without it.
I tell you, we can do great things by holding on to
God. The common people have got to see this else
there is no encouragement for them. They have no
money, no social position, no standing; they can
never hope to take places of prominence and use
fulness and leadership in the church unless this fact
is recognized.
But if the church puts its emphasis where it
belongs, there is at once scatered universal hope and
inspiration to them, for all classes come in and have
a right to that kind of promise.
Where do the great preachers of today come from,
who were they? Where did the great philosophers
of this day come from, who were they? Where did
the great college professors and presidents come
from, who were they? Where did the men of
wealth for the most part in our churches come from,
who were they? For the most part, all these
classes have come from the common people. I know
a man now, the largest missionary giver I know,
who was once an humble factory boy. A missionary
went into the factory and held a meeting, and this
boy was the only boy converted, and when he was
carried by the missionary of the church to the
church to be given the righth and of fellowship,
church to be given the right hand of fellowship,
“well only a litle factory boy.” Only a little fac
tory boy! That is nothing. If he had been the son
of some rich man in town, it would have been, “Ah,
the son of so and so came today.” Oh, the devil
take that kind of a church. Only a little factory
boy, but ook at him today!
In the early days of our Tabernacle a young man
felt inclined to preach, and he wanted to join this
church, but his mother said “you can’t join that
church, it is not socially your equal.” He begged
any they refused, and to-day he is gone. I tell you,
my brethren, you set up society or wealth as an
ideal for your children, and if you do not reap hell
and destruction, you are the first one I have seen that
fails. Oh, God help us to love the people. Jesus
died to save them and let us do likewise.