“But when some of the Jewish religious leaders saw him eating with these men of ill repute, they said to his disciples, “How can he stand it, to eat with such scum?'”
Mark 2:16
“When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.”I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.”
I Corinthians 4:12-13
My ministry is “Scum of the Earth Teaching Ministry.”
Here is the teaching I gave on “How Scum Hear His Voice” given at a home fellowship group given on February 9, 2020, Homer, Alaska.
It was a bitterly cold night, with lots of wind, but the fellowship was very good. and the wood stove was a blessing. After this teaching, we had a good time praying and took communion.
The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens.
Mark 4:28, NLT
This concept of physical growth is now applied by Jesus to us. He has cultivated us, and we must insist on a maturation. We sprout, and extend ourselves in a growth that means, ‘there is now life’ here. Life is not mechanically rigid. It has nothing to do with plastic, steel girders or cement. It is emphatically not a concrete issue. It is life! It has a very different definition.
Jesus takes a seed, that seed splits open. A green leaf pushes through, and it is growing! Put into the ground, and watered, it will have life! It is living. This all seems easy and obvious now. “Of course,” we say. “I understand that.” But when Jesus taught this (even as simple as it is) the implications were profound. The earth seemed to shake when He declared this truth.
There was a rigidity to the spiritual world in Jesus’ day.
This principle of life, and growth, and greenness was not at all descriptive of Pharisees. The legalistic and cold hardness was unmoving, unrelenting and unyielding. For many, this is a really major issue–the spiritual life was supposed to be have more organic freshness, then this.
But a living life of spiritual growth should be more than that; it was meant to be energizing and life-giving. I remember seeing a mannequin in a mall (it was dressed in nicer clothes than I was.) But although this display was in human form, it was definitely inanimate. Going up to it, I tried to talk with him. I wanted to explain things of the Spirit, but he just stood there, staring. He was decidely devoid of real life.
Ridiculous? Perhaps. But having eternal life is profound. We are like department store mannequins that have been made to really live. And there is a growth that now takes place. There is a supernatural, organic development–its this that should really infuse us with the life of the Spirit. Our life is constantly and wonderfully changing, it should infuse us with a joy and elation we can’t keep a lid on.
“O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.”
Song of Solomon 2:14, KJV
“The dove is in the cleft of the rock”—that is, the open side of our Lord. There is comfort and security there. It is also in the secret places of the stairs. It loves to build its nest in the high towers to which men mount by winding stairs for hundreds of feet above the ground. What a glorious vision is there obtained of the surrounding scenery.
It is a picture of ascending life. To reach our highest altitudes we must find the secret places of the stairs. That is the only way to rise above the natural plane. Our lives should be ones of quiet mounting with occasional resting places; but we should be mounting higher, step by step. Not everyone finds this way of secret ascent. It is only for God’s chosen.
The world may think we are going down. We may not have as much public work to do as formerly.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
Matthew 5:3
It is a secret, hidden life. We may be hardly aware that we are growing, until one day a test comes and we find we are established.
Have you arrived at the place where Christ is keeping you from willful disobedience?
Does the consciousness of sin make you shudder?
Are you lifted above the world?”
~~A.B. Simpson
Albert Benjamin Simpson, (Dec. 15, 1843 – Oct. 29, 1919)
FOUNDER OF THE Christian and Missionary Alliance, Albert Benjamin Simpson was born in Canada of Scottish parents. He became a Presbyterian minister and pastored several churches in Ontario. Later, he accepted the call to serve as pastor of the Chestnut Street Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. It was there that his life and ministry were completely changed in that, during a revival meeting, he experienced the fullness of the Spirit.
He continued in the Presbyterian Church until 1881, when he founded an independent Gospel Tabernacle in New York. There he published the Alliance Weekly and wrote 70 books on Christian living. He organized two missionary societies which later merged to become the Christian and Missionary Alliance.
There is much good about the emphasis that the Church puts on discipleship. We pray, fast, and study the Bible better than any other generation. We have as our pastors and teachers men and women who have been equipped in seminaries and educated in counseling and church growth. And we are doing missions better than ever.
But I think there is something missing. I seriously believe we have misplaced intimacy. Our worship services seem mechanical. We are no longer in a wild love affair with the One who really matters. We no longer dwell on Him, crying out for His grace and mercy.
Could it be that the evangelical church in America has passed its expiration date?
Perhaps we have grown confused, and have struggled with an emptiness that is at the core of a legalistic and a works dominated life. We do not cry out with a passionate love for Him who desperately wants to hold us close. We miss out on so much.
The Old Testament book of the Song of Solomon is the love story between a shepherdess and her beloved. This love is a love that first envelops and then controls a person’s entire being. Her love is intense, as well as thirsty. She needs her shepherd. There is an element of being ‘lovesick’ and never settling for a second best relationship with her beloved.
Biblical discipleship must always be intimacy with Jesus.
In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul writes about his deep concern for that particular Church,
2 “For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ.3 But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.”
There is jealousy involved here (which is suspect by us) and foolishness (which is embarrassing) and is emotional (not at all what we think.) This passage suggests a higher and purer following of Jesus that Satan wants to corrupt. Paul was concerned that these Corinthians would not be a pure bride. He got jealous over their vulnerability. He believed that they would miss the bridal love that they once knew.
I want to challenge you to keep the innocence of your relationship with Jesus. Guard it and refuse to be led away from its simple devotion. Love Jesus with a white-hot love. Eternity is a long time to spend with someone who you feel ambivalent about.
Learn the language of romance again and remember that your discipleship is not an end in itself. Biblical discipleship is nothing more than intimacy with Jesus. We must settle on this in our hearts. The true foundation of discipleship can only be a kind of ‘first love’.
“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”
Rev. 2:4
P.S. A fanatic is someone who loves Jesus more than you.
Albert Benjamin Simpson, (Dec. 15, 1843 – Oct. 29, 1919)
