TEXT: II Peter 3:18

SUBJECT: Six Rules by Brownlow North #2

Tonight, with the Lord’s help, we’ll continue to study the pamphlet called Six Short Rules for Young Christians. The author is Brownlow North, an evangelist who lived from 1810-1875. The title is somewhat misleading. The rules are very good for young Christians, of course, but not only for young ones. All believers need to know them and to put them into practice.

Last week, we studied the first two rules. They’re the most obvious--and the most neglected: Pray every day and read the Bible with reverence and a mind to do what it says.

Have you done it the last seven days? Have you prayed privately? Have you done it daily? If you did, did you also remember that God is present and that He hears your prayers? And what about Bible reading? Have you read as if as if God is speaking to you? After you closed your Bible, did you act on it? If you haven’t, you need to confess your sins and resolve to do better. It takes little effort to mumble a few words at the dinner table or run your eyes over a chapter a day. But fervent prayer and Bible reading? The Puritan said that’s,

But work you must do—if you’re going to grow in Christ. You’ve heard it a million times; when preachers can’t think of anything else to say, we say Read the Bible and pray! But no matter how many times you’ve heard it or how worn it has become, it’s still true!

North may have overstated his case a little bit—but not much—when he said,

If you’re not praying and reading the Bible every day, you’re backsliding. And remember, backsliding is never right and is always dangerous.

Now, we’ll move on to Rules 3-4.

This Rule is made up of four parts. First, Do something for Christ every day.

Because Jesus Christ is Lord of all, we can serve Him in everything we do.

Colossians 3:22-25, it seems to me, is the key passage,

Note carefully the people addressed. They are "servants" or slaves. Most slaves do menial work; they’re farm hands or cooks or maids, or babysitters, and so on.

Yet in serving their masters, the slaves also serve the Lord Jesus Christ. They’re to put the same effort into mopping the floor as missionaries do in preaching the Gospel. And the Lord approves of their work as much as He does the work of an Apostle.

Everything we do is done for Christ or against Him. Insofar as others see us, our works reflect well on Him or ill. We encourage others to either "glorify our Father who is in heaven" or "to blaspheme the name and doctrine of God".

This is true, but I don’t think it’s what Brownlow North is getting at here. By "doing something for Jesus" I think he means two things: witnessing and doing works of charity in Christ’s name.

Witness every day. The Reformed Church excels in many areas, but personal witnessing is not one of them. How many of you have witnessed for the Lord Jesus today? Or this week? Or in the last month, even? Some never witness at all. On other topics, they’re aggressive and talkative, but when it comes to the Lord, they’re timid and quiet.

Why should you try to witness every day? Because God commands it, for one thing. Because sinners need the Gospel every day. And because, the longer you keep your mouth shut, the harder it becomes to open it.

I have a friend who is in his late seventies. When I met him twenty years ago, he was overweight, but now he’s very trim. I asked him how he did it and he told me he quit eating lunch, and now spends every day, from noon to one o’clock knocking on doors and witnessing to the lost. Many have come to Christ because my friend "never lets a day pass without trying to do something for Jesus".

I know another old man. He’s full of zeal for Christ, but he’s not articulate. So he spends one or two days each week passing out Gospel tracts at Bart Stations all over the Bay Area. Most of them are thrown away, but not all of them. Some fall on good ground and produce thirty, sixty, a hundred fold.

The other part of this is charity or helping people in need. If you read the Gospels, you’ll see that this too is God’s Work. Our Lord "went about doing good". He preached a lot, of course, but that’s not all He did. He also fed and healed and sympathized, and helped people in other ways.

Not everyone is good with words. If you’re not, serve the Lord in the ministry of mercy. The easiest place is a convalescent home. It’s not hard to find one; it’s not dangerous and almost everyone there would love your company. If that’s not your thing, find something that is. I know a pastor in Southern California whose church has a lot of single mothers. He tells his men to spend time with the boys who don’t have a dad at home. Maybe you can do that. If you like to cook, there are shut-ins who need your help. There are needy people all around you. You could help them. You could do it all for Christ.

The second part of this Rule is Every night reflect…

Every night in bed, I try to think over my day and what I’ve done with it. But most of the time, I concentrate on what I did wrong. I said something I shouldn’t have; I watched something that wasn’t wholesome; I lashed out at my kids. And so on.

But what about the other part? About what I haven’t done? It is good to ask yourself what have I done for Christ today? Maybe you haven’t taken His name in vain or nursed a grudge today. But is that the whole Christian life—what you don’t do? At night, it’s good to say something like this: The Lord has given me eighteen waking hours, now what have I done for Him in them? Have you witnessed to the lost? Visited the needy? Prayed for people? Have you been kind to your wife or husband or kids?

This is not always pleasant work. But it is good for you. "Redeem the time" Paul says. But we cannot do that unless we also review the time.

The third part is Reflect on what Jesus has done for you.

Start with the Incarnation. God became Man for you. What a step down in dignity! And not only did He become a Man for you, but a poor man with parents who didn’t understand Him and brothers who hated Him. Move on to His ministry and how hard it was, how much suffering it involved, and how little He got back from it! He healed and fed thousands, but at the Passover, most of them preferred Barabbas. Go on to His sufferings—rejected, betrayed with a kiss, forsaken, whipped, beaten, crowned with thorns, mocked. Then go to the cross—crucified between two thieves and deserted by God. Then the tomb—the Prince of Life under the power of death.

After reviewing what He has done for you in the past, think about what He’s doing for you right now. In his diary, Robert Murray M’Cheyne said,

Jesus Christ is in heaven right now praying for you. The other day I had something very hard and distasteful to do. But a friend called me and said "I’m praying for you". I felt I could conquer the world. But, at this moment, the Son of God is praying for me. My Best Friend is getting me through the sermon by His intercession! Think about that, and it won’t be so hard to do something for Christ every day!

Think also of what Christ is going to do for you. One day He’s going to make you happier than you could ever imagine. When we think of heaven, we often think holiness. And that’s right to do. But never forget the place of perfect holiness is also the place of perfect happiness.

At the happiest moment of your life, there’s a voice in the back of your head saying, "It won’t last". But the happiness of heaven will last! It will never become stale, boring, or repetitious. Christ is there now, putting the finishing touches on your mansion!

Think about what the Lord has done for you and it will be no sacrifice doing something for Him every day.

The last part is a challenge: What am I doing for Him?

Note the order here. Think about what He’s done for you and then ask yourself, "What am I doing for Him?" A mere sense of duty will fail you in the end; the pride of self-righteous will too. But "love never fails". Get into your mind what Christ has done for you and you’ll want to do something for Him.

If you want to grow in grace, do something for Christ every day. That’s the third rule. Here’s Number Four,

This means keep a good conscience. On many things, there is no doubt about what you should do—or not do. Believers don’t have to spend a lot of time wondering if the Lord wants them to lie or steal or take His name in vain.

But other things are not so clear. They’re not commanded in the Bible or forbidden. But you might spend your time on better things and, by doing them, you might offend other people. But you’re not sure. You may be conscientious or you may be neurotic. How do you sort through the issues: Whether to watch movies or not—or which ones to watch? Listening to pop music? Drinking a beer now and then? Watching a football game on Sunday night?

All the issues need to be studied and prayed about. Over the years, you’ll reach a conclusion on most of them. But what if you don’t have years to decide? How do you make up your mind right now—and keep your conscience clear and sensitive?

North says go to your bedroom, kneel down, and ask God to bless what you’re doing. If you cannot do that, don’t do it. Not because it’s necessarily wrong. But because you don’t have a good conscience about it. And that makes it wrong for you! I Corinthians 10 is a case-study. The issue there is eating meat sacrificed to idols.

In those days, animals were often butchered on a pagan altar in order to please the gods. Only a small part of the meat was burned to the gods while the rest was sold to the public. Now, unbelievers thought that, in eating their meat, they were paying tribute to the idols. They ate their pork chops in reverence to Zeus or Juno or someone else.

Coming from this background, Christians wondered whether they should eat the meat or not. Some said they could because "the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof". But other said No because it involves them in idolatry.

Who was right? On the doctrine, the first ones were right—an idol is nothing. The Prime Rib sacrificed to Aphrodite is really God’s meat and I can eat all I want, giving thanks to Him for it.

But what if I wasn’t so sure about that? Maybe someone told me to eat, but I still felt guilty about it. Could I still eat with a good conscience? No. Not because it was wrong to do, but because I couldn’t do it in faith. On the same topic, Paul says,

Your conscience is not always right, of course, but it is always wrong to disobey it.

This would solve so many ethical issues! Ask God to bless what you want to do. If you can’t, don’t do it. My first pastor had a good saying on this one,

It’s possible to be so hard-hearted that you convince yourself that bad things are good. But that’s another problem. If you really want to serve the Lord; if you’re sincere (or, at least want to be sincere), this rule will help you make the hard calls in life. If you keep this rule perfectly, you still won’t be perfect. But you won’t stray too far from the Lord. That’s for sure.

People make mistakes with a good conscience. But nobody ever went to hell while keeping his heart will all diligence!

Do you want to grow in grace? I know you want to grow in reputation, but what about in grace? Do you want to become more like your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ? If you do, Brownlow North can help. Not that he adds anything to the Bible, but because he distills the Bible so well in his Rules for Young Christians.

We’ve now looked at four of them: Pray every day, read the Bible every day, do something for Christ every day, and keep your conscience clear every day.

Did you notice how often I said every day? I hope you did because that is the key—every day obedience. The Christian life is not a 100 yard dash; it’s a marathon. Thus, you don’t need a super-human effort for nine seconds. You need the patience and the fortitude to stay with it till the end.

May God give us the grace to finish the course, but Christ’s sake. Amen.