Lesson Thirteen God’s Chosen Vessels David Lipscomb 1
“The poor of this world were the chosen vessels of mercy, the especially honored and blessed of God. They, as a class, constitute His elect .” -- David Lipscomb (1869) -- 2
In June of 1873 a deadly cholera epidemic struck Nashville, Tennessee. On Black Friday, June 20, at least 72 people died. The epidemic raged for the month of June and more than 1000 people had died from it. About one out of every forty residents died. 3
Spread of cholera in Nashville, 1873 4
Cholera was linked with dirty water by the 1800s… public health message: clean up! 5
Many who were financially able, including many Christians, fled the city by train to escape the threat of the cholera epidemic. 6
At least 200 black people died in the New Bethel Community in the southern part of Nashville, Tennessee. 7
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“ Every individual, white or black, that dies from neglect and want of proper food and nursing, is a reproach to the professors of the Christian religion in the vicinity of Nashville.” 11
Christians are people who have taken a solemn pledge: “The pledge that we solemnly make in our profession of faith in Christ and of our baptism into him, is that we strive to reproduce his life before the world in our own lives. ” 12
How would Christ have responded to the epidemic and the “wild panic” that seized so many people?” Had he been a resident of Nashville with ten, twenty, one hundred dollars, what would he have done? Would he have rushed off to some place of refuge and left the poor to suffer? Christ would have stayed in the city and used all of his means to relieve the suffering. -- David Lipscomb-- 13
The cholera epidemic revealed the fundamental nature of the Christian faith as Lipscomb understood it. True Christianity was inextricable wrapped up with regard for the poor. His writing over nearly 50 years proclaim his deep conviction that ministry to the poor serves as a fundamental indentifying mark of the true church. 14
Matt. 11:4 … . Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which you do hear and see: 5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. Matt. 26:11 … . For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 15
Luke 4:18 … . The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 16
1870’s and 1880’s became age of big business, robber barons, exploding industrialism, and powerful railroad companies. Andrew Carnegie John D. Rockefeller Pierpont Morgan And the Gospel of Wealth 17
It was an age when some ministers assured their flocks that “ Godliness is in league with riches. ” 18
Labor strikes broke out in record numbers. 35,000 by end of 1800’s. 19
Widespread economic devastation and poverty was rampant in the South. 20
Lipscomb lived in a time in which many families he visited …”we felt that every mouth full of food we ate was taken from women and children who must suffer for the want of it. ” This was the residual result of the Civil War called the “ general desolation ” in the South. 21
Lipscomb’s fundamental conviction about the church: “The church is the especial legacy of God to the poor of the earth .” The poor were the chosen vessels through which God most often had chosen to work. 22
Old Testament prophets were poor and “often lived in sackcloth.” Jesus was born into a poor family and lived among the “laboring, toiling classes” throughout his youth. During his ministry, Jesus lived as “ a homeless wanderer on the earth” and had no where to lay his head.” He mingled with the poor in their homes, ate of their coarse barley loaves, and shared their frugal fare.” 23
9:58 … . And Luke Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has no where to lay his head. 24
When Jesus chose his apostles, he chose “ working them from the class, the fishermen, tax collectors, the laboring people. ” 25
Lipscomb concluded: “…the poor of this world were the chosen vessels of mercy, the especially honored and blessed of God. They, as a class, constitute his elect” Lipscomb often repeated that the ….”great mass of his true and honored followers, in all ages of the world, have been, ever must be, from the poor .” 26
Luke 14:12 … . He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." 27
James 2:5 …. Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? 28
Lipscomb thought: “… (the poor) generally make the best members when converted. For without worldly wealth and greatness to engross his care and to hold his affections such a person more readily learns to depend on God and submit to the divine will. 29
“Such people (the poor) are better able to maintain the spirit of self-denial and resist the temptation to compromise with the world.” 30
Lipscomb believed: “….that wealth generally corrupted the church…” “The rich, and worse, those not rich who aspire to ape and court the rich, are the greatest corrupters of the church.” 31
This happens because “worldly possessions, honors, [and] responsibilities above a modest competence steal the time, wean the affections, and hinder service to God. ” 32
When the rich embrace the “ninety faith, he said, times out of every hundred their influence is to corrupt the church, lower the standard of morality, and relax all discipline in a church. ” 33
Wealth so changes things that they (the poor) “cannot conform to its customs and they do not feel at home.” Lipscomb deplored the pouring of money into church buildings. “When I hear of a church setting out to build a fine house, I give that church up. Its usefulness as a church of Christ is at an end.” 34
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Granny White church of Christ next to the Lipscomb Campus. 36
Old Avalon Hall, former home of David Lipscomb, next to where the Granny White church of Christ was built. 37
Lipscomb on preachers: Was concerned about the effects of wealth on the work and aspirations of preachers. “Their central work should be among the poor and common people, but large salaries turned their heads in another direction.” “To pay large salaries is to excite the thirst for wealth and corrupt the simplicity of the life of the preacher. This unfits him for successful work among the common people .” 38
Further more, such salaries put a gag preacher’s “The in the mouth. preacher will cater to his supporters, hence we universally find that the sins of the rich are glossed over and apologized for, while the lesser sins of the poor are exaggerated and condemned. ” “Especially is this so in fashionable and wealthy churches and communities. ” 39
Lipscomb charged: “… (the) whole plan of a Preacher’s putting himself up to the highest bidder, shifting about from place to place, for the sake of a little higher salary, is at once a degradation to Christianity. ” “… .preach to the poor, the neglected, the degraded and if you live poor, you will … be one of the world’s true heroes and Heaven’s crowned victors. ” 40
“The crowing characteristic of the Christian religion is the esteem of its founder is that the poor have the gospel preached to them ” The church that failed to make this its most important work, Lipscomb was convinced, could scarcely claim to be a true church of Christ. 41
“The poor of this world were the chosen vessels of mercy, the especially honored and blessed of God. They, as a class, constitute his elect. ” -- David Lipscomb -- 42
Lesson Fourteen Faithful Shepherds David Lipscomb 43
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