Robert Murray M’Cheyne was a 19th century preacher in the Scottish Church. I recently read part of one of his sermons in which he reminded his congregation that our time on this earth is short and that very soon other people would sit in the pews they were occupying and another man would preach from the pulpit he used. For M’Cheyne that turned out to be very true. He died from typhoid fever at the age of 29.
I think that, among all the problems besetting the Church in the 21st century, one of the most glaring is the lack of preaching emphasis on our short life spans in this world. Too many preachers are bowing to the wishes of too many parishioners for upbeat messages about how God wants them to have a great life here on earth, how He wants to be our pal and help us out. Too many people want to hear that they are just fine the way they are and go home after singing a bunch of so-called praise songs, patting themselves on the back for being good people who just gave God an hour of their life.
How many people, I wonder, sit through church services without being told they are sinners who deserve eternal damnation but, through God’s mercy, their lives will be spared because of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ for the sins of the elect. Or maybe the words are use but the emphasis isn’t there. Friends the exit door from this world is right in front of everyone of us and sooner rather than later we will all pass through that portal. There is not time for us to fool around. There is not time–no there is not time. We stand on the very edge of eternity. There is no more time to waste.
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