Tired Church Members | Page 3

you
are a Christian?--one bought back from slavery, called to be a saint,
heir of a kingdom? Ah, how ready men are to parade their worldly

honours; their orders of merit and badges of bravery; but leave their
Christian colours at home, and hide their uniform with a pair of the
world's overalls! Alas!--"If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who
shall prepare himself for battle?" [27]
Yes, if you can go into mixed society as the Lord went, then go. But
otherwise, for your own enjoyment, a different model is set.
"Then Jesus, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where
Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
There they made him a supper; and Martha served; but Lazarus was
one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of
ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and
wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of
the ointment." [28]
How exquisite the picture! how rare the intercourse, how precious the
results! A few of the Lord's own people met together with the Lord
himself; the one expensive thing mentioned being bought for him. It
was only "a supper"; and there were sorrows before them, and sorrows
behind, and only the spikenard was "very costly,"--that consecration to
God which gives him all we have: but its fragrance filled the house.
And not all Arabia was ever so perfumed.
And must Christians give no other feasts but such as that? some one
may ask. There is another sort mentioned, nay even insisted upon; but
if the first looks to you dull, the second will seem--impossible! You
will find a full description of it in Luke xiv. 13. And so far as I know,
this is the only sort of great entertainment that Christians are
encouraged to give; ruling out in toto the tit-for-tat customs of modern
society. "For they cannot recompense thee." But it also spares you the
perplexing question of full returns, for these people have given you
nothing. Only the Lord has given,--and now bids you keep open house
for him in his absence. And do you see? the great Master of assemblies
will count the invitations as given to himself, and will one day make a
royal return for them all when he cometh in his kingdom. "They cannot
recompense thee." [29] What!--never invite your friends unless they
happen to be poor? O, yes indeed,--invite them, enjoy them, make

much of them, precious things as friends are; yet spend the most on the
portionless lives that are all around you. There are fancy fountains in
the rich man's grounds, throwing up jets of water just to catch the
sunlight: let your small rills of refreshment flow silently to places
where the tide is out and the streams run dry.
"They cannot recompense thee; but thou shalt be recompensed at the
resurrection of the just." [30]
And as soon as you make ready a blessing--not a compliment--in your
hand, unfashionable dresses will not matter, untutored tongues will
sound sweet; and your feast will be all glorified, for the Lord himself
will be there.
"Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions unto
them for whom nothing is prepared." [31]
"The Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow," [32]--"the
poor that are cast out" [33]--these were Israel's special charge under the
law. But the gospel gives deeper work.
"When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy
brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also
bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest
a feast call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and thou shalt be
blessed, for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be
recompensed at the resurrection of the just." [34]
The Lord dates the note of payment far ahead, but indeed I think he is
better than his word, and deals out much coin as we go along; it is such
wonderful pleasure to fill an empty cup! This is "recreation," true and
sweet; for of all the refreshments from one's own toil and sorrow, I
think ministering to other people is about the best.
I have said nothing--is it needful to say aught?--of the Bible rules for
behaviour at a feast. One is ready to imagine that Christians do only
that which is "lovely, and of good report." Yet notice a few things.

"They love the uppermost rooms at feasts," [35] was spoken of the
Pharisees; but to his disciples Christ said: "Whosoever will be chief
among you, let him be your servant." [36]
"When thou art bidden, go and sit down in the