Matt Chandler - A Community of Endurance

I’m always a little sad when we finish a study. I mean, it’s like a year’s worth of work, and then it kind of just gets all tied off at the end. But if you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab those. We’re going to look at chapter five here and kind of land the plane on 1 Peter. The good news is that 1 Peter will stay in your Bible for the rest of your life, so feel free to revisit this over and over again. When I was in college, a mentor of mine came to me after I switched majors, and I finally surrendered to ministry, giving up the dream of being rich and powerful in law. Instead, I kind of took a vow of poverty; at least, that’s what I thought we were doing, and I switched my major to Bible. One of the guys in my circle at that time pulled me aside and said, «Hey, if you’re going to have a long run in ministry, you need an ancient friend.» I didn’t know what that meant; I certainly didn’t at the time. I asked, «What do you mean, an ancient friend?» He replied, «In the course of your life, culture’s going to swing wildly in a bunch of different directions. One of the ways you can help yourself from getting too cloudy about what’s going on in your own day is to get yourself an ancient friend who can root you in deep, orthodox Christian faith, so that whatever happens culturally in your life, you’re anchored.» I really wanted that ancient friend to be Charles Spurgeon; that’s who I wanted my ancient friend to be. If you don’t know who Charles Spurgeon is, that’s my God man. So, Spurgeon pastored the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London for 38 years; the dude was a monster, right? He was called the Prince of Preachers, but he wasn’t just a herald; the dude built an orphanage and called his people, the ones he led, to serve the poorest of the poor and the most needy in Victorian England. The church had 10,000 people, which is unheard of; in Dallas, there are 700 of those. But in London in the late 1800s, this is astounding! He started a Bible college now called Spurgeon College, which he did not allow to be named after him while he was alive. So, great job! Like, you’re dead now, let’s name it. His gift in the pulpit, the «Prince of Preachers,» wasn’t just that he was articulate and deep in his exposition of Scripture—usually covering a half-verse for 50 minutes—that the newspapers in and around England would print his sermons on Monday and Tuesday because everybody wanted to read them. He was just that compelling a figure. He had a robust chest and presence. In fact, one of the things they would do in Spurgeon’s College was measure the chest of the young men; if their chest was too small, they wouldn’t let them attend because they didn’t think they could project. So, just guess who wouldn’t be your pastor today if they had that standard! They would be like, «Uh, yeah, no, bro, God has called you to something else.» And so, my mentor was like, «You can’t do Spurgeon; that’s the 1800s, bro. Think church father.» So Augustine, Augustine is my ancient friend. I love me some Augustine; he’s a great friend and has served me well over the years. He has some quirks, but we enjoy one another’s company. But I’ve always had a thing for Spurgeon, so I’ve got to tell Augustine I love you, bud! I’m going to spend some time with Charles today; I’ll be back when we are building out the next series. I say all of that because, as I started looking at chapter five, let’s close this thing out. God has been so kind to us the last nine weeks; how do we kind of put an exclamation point on it? I immediately thought of this quote from Spurgeon’s autobiography; it’s actually a diary entry that was in his diary. If you’re from England or London or some place that has calendars, like the actual «Dear Diary» kind of journal, he wrote about his journey with the people of Metropolitan Tabernacle. He had been with them for 38 years, trying to summarize what it’s like to live and do life with a group of people for an extended period of time with the sole hope of getting safely home. The way he did it was by imposing himself, although you’ll see his humility in it, into Pilgrim’s Progress. Has anyone read Pilgrim’s Progress? Here’s what you need to know: it’s one of the best-selling books in all of human history—right not too far behind the Bible; the Bible and Pilgrim’s Progress are just right there competing for the most-read book in human history. Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegory where the main character is Christian, and his wife’s name is Christiana. It’s all about the Christian life.