The money quote follows with the immediate context from which the quote is lifed on its heels::
I repeat, what we want is not missionaries, in the narrower sense, but evangelists—not a new interest in the non-Christian world, but a new interest in the Gospel—not men who want to preach to the heathen, but men who cannot but preach where they are.
The context from which the quote above is taken in the sermon “Propitiation”:
The motives to mission work—in other words, to preaching the Gospel—can never be found in a command as such. We read the command of Jesus in the Gospel, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,” and we know by experience that for multitudes it does not constitute a motive at all. They are quite well aware of it, but they quite easily ignore it. It only acts as a motive in those who have themselves been won by Christ, who realize what an unspeakable gift God has given us in His Son, and who feel spontaneously the impulse to impart it. There may be degrees in this realization, but it is most keen and vital—it operates most potently as a motive for preaching the Gospel—in those who have apprehended Christ in His character as a propitiation. In comparison with the Christianity which has this grasp on the heart of the New Testament revelation every other is anæmic; it is the passion of Jesus the Redeemer which alone evokes a responsive passion in sinful hearts. It is this which opens men’s mouths in testimony meetings; it is this which raises up evangelists; it is this and nothing else which will send them for the name of Jesus to the uttermost parts of the earth. And if even the command of Jesus, simply as a command, is ineffective, much more so are what may be called the secondary motives to missions. Our science, our civilization, our administration of justice, our industry—all these may be valuable enough, and it might be very advantageous to introduce them into countries we could name; but the Christian Church does not exist to be the agent or the forerunner of external fashions of life which it has seen come into being and which it will probably see pass away. It lives for and by the things which are spiritual and eternal. In Jesus Christ the righteous, the propitiation for sins, it is the possessor of something inexpressibly good—something so good, and for which it feels so deeply indebted and so boundlessly grateful to God—that it cannot keep silence nor withhold it from any man. There are Gospels with which we would not go very far. They are so poor that we should hardly like to expose them to anyone, let alone to all the world. But if Christ the propitiation has been revealed to us as the power of God to save, then we have something in our hearts that lifts us above the need of commands and makes secondary motives unreal. The only motives worth considering in this region are the irresistible motives. We get nothing until we get men who say, “We cannot but speak. Necessity is laid upon us. We are debtors. Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause; for the love of Christ constraineth us. Having therefore obtained help of God I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great.” I repeat, what we want is not missionaries, in the narrower sense, but evangelists—not a new interest in the non-Christian world, but a new interest in the Gospel—not men who want to preach to the heathen, but men who cannot but preach where they are. That is the stock from which alone the missionary force can be recruited—the men and women in whom all emotions and motives are swallowed up in the sense of what they owe to the Redeemer. Let us pray and preach for the multiplication of such men, if we would help the mission cause. Redeemed and devoted lives will solve all our problems, and nothing less will touch them. The appeals which have been made so long in vain will not be vain when the old doxology breaks again irresistibly and spontaneously from the Church’s lips—Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by His blood, be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. That is the voice of those who know instinctively that Christ is the heir of the world. It is of Him and of His Church that they think when they sing that ancient Psalm of the kingdom and its King. “There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. His name shall endure for ever; His name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed.” Amen.
--James Denney, The Way Everlasting: Sermons (London; New York; Toronto: Hodder and Stoughton, 1911), 305–307.
1Jason Goroncy's paper entitled "James Denney: Pastor and Theologian for the Church" may be downloaded below courtesy of Know Centre for Ministry and Leadership
Download Jason Goroncy's "James Denney: Pastor and Theologian for the Church"
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, DO THE WORK OF AN EVANGELIST, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (2Timothy 4:3-5)
"For the time will come ..." We are there folks! Drop everything else. Preach the Gospel that saves to ALL people ... be faithful to the message of the Cross ... do not be distracted by theological debate while the masses die without Christ.
Watch Billy Graham's message to America tonight http://www.billygraham.org/tvspecial/tv_index.asp
Posted by: Max | 2013.11.07 at 12:09 PM