For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints, and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. —Hebrews 4:12

I was on staff with The Navigators for 38 years and had the joy of serving in California, Colorado, Sweden, and here in Seattle. One of the high values in the Navigators organization is spending quality time in Scripture. We were taught how to read, study, meditate on, and memorize God’s Word. Scripture memory was something that was taught to every new and growing believer. It was embedded in our DNA from the early years of organization in the 1940s. The memorized Word of God has deeply, significantly and lastingly impacted my walk and work with and for Jesus.

Dawson Trotman’s Encounter with Scripture

Dawson Trotman, the founder of the Navigators, was deeply impacted by the memorized Word of God. Dawson spent his growing-up years in Lomita, California, a short drive from LA. He worked in a lumberyard and, prior to meeting Christ, lived for self and pleasure.

At the age of 20, Trotman was arrested and on his way to jail. His mother was a praying woman, and he told the arresting officer that it would break her heart if he went to jail. He agreed to change his ways and promised to begin regularly attending church. The first Sunday he went, the Sunday school class he attended was having a Scripture memory contest. Over a few weeks he memorized 20 verses in the King James Bible, and the Holy Spirit was ready to use the Word of God in his heart.

Saved by God’s Word

One morning he was on his way to work, with his lunch pail in his hand, when John 5:24 popped into his mind: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life…” He thought how wonderful that would be to have eternal life and prayed to the Lord, “Whatever this means, I want to have it.” No sooner had he spoken these words in prayer, than another one of his 20 memorized verses sprang to the forefront of his mind: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12). A second prayer followed the first one, “Whatever it means to receive Jesus, I do it right now.”

At that moment, Dawson Trotman, sinner and potential jailbird, was born again by the Holy Spirit of the living God. The memorized Word of God was not only instrumental in his conversion, but also in his continued growth toward spiritual maturity. He began to commit more and more Scripture to memory and to experience the truth of Romans 12:2, “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” Because of his experience, Trotman encouraged all followers of Jesus to hide God’s Word in their hearts.

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Continued from Part 1.

Mary's Life

Scripture gives scant insights into the early life of Mary. She grew up in Nazareth and was betrothed to be married to a carpenter named Joseph. During her engagement, the angel Gabriel appeared to her to declare that she would give birth to Jesus by a miracle of God the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). Following this announcement she traveled some one hundred miles to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was from the family line of Aaron (Luke 1:36). Upon entering Elizabeth’s home, she broke into a hymn of thanks to God (Luke 1:46–56), which has come to be known as the Magnificat. Mary later returned home and her fiancé, Joseph, was intending to end their relationship because he believed she had been sexually unfaithful to him. But God intervened and told Joseph in a dream all that He was doing (Matthew 1:18–25). Some months later the couple was required to travel about eighty or ninety miles to Bethlehem to register for a government census. Mary’s son was born there in humble circumstances (Luke 2:6–7), in fulfillment of Micah 5:2. He was named Jesus in accordance with an angel’s requirement (Matthew 1:21).

The family would later flee to Egypt to save the life of young Jesus and then they returned to Nazareth. Around perhaps the age of twelve, Jesus went to Jerusalem and was noted by the teachers for His theological insights (Luke 2:41–52). Jesus performed His first miracle at the request of Mary at a wedding in Cana (John 2:1–11). Mary is scarcely mentioned again in the Gospels until she appears at the crucifixion of Jesus, where He spoke to her lovingly just before His death (John 19:26–27). Following Jesus’ death, Mary then appears with the group of 120 early Christians who gathered in the Upper Room (Acts 1:12–26). She does not appear in Scripture again and her death is not mentioned in Scripture.

A Godly Woman

Mary was simply a very godly young woman who loved the Lord and trusted in Him despite great risk to her own reputation. She repeatedly appears as a devout woman who loved God and was a loving mother to Jesus. Contrary to some aberrant teaching, she did not remain a virgin, but mothered other sons such as James and Jude, who visited Jesus with Mary during His ministry (Matthew 12:46; Mark 3:31–35; Luke 8:19–21) and later became pastors who penned books of the New Testament bearing their names.

Therefore, the Mary of Scripture greatly differs from the Mary of myth, legend, and folklore. The real Mary is a wonderful example for young women to love God and retain their virginity until marriage as a demonstration of their love for God. The real Mary is a wonderful example for mothers of a godly woman who is best known for the sons she raised, whom God used to change the world, thereby elevating the ministry of Christian motherhood. The real Mary is a wonderful example for all women of what it truly means to trust God in all things, obey God even when His call is difficult, worship God in faith that He is good for His promises, fellowship with God’s people in the church, and love God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
– Mary worshipping God in Luke 1:46–47

Each May it seems curious to me that many Protestant Christians do not focus on Jesus’ mother, Mary, in conjunction with the celebration of Mother’s Day. This may be, in part, an overreaction to the improper emphasis upon and false teachings about Mary among many Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

"The Second Eve"

In the second century, Irenaeus depicted Mary as a “second Eve,” laying a foundation upon which later theologians would build an unbiblical view of Mary, including Cardinal Newman who rediscovered the image in the nineteenth century. Also, in the second century, the baptismal creed began referring to Jesus as “Born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.” By the fourth century, some churches were being dedicated to Mary. In the fifth century, the Council of Ephesus declared Mary the “mother of God,” which further encouraged devotion to Mary. In the eighth century, Germanus of Constantinople said that Mary dispenses grace to the church on earth, and also taught, along with others, that Mary was Mediatrix, meaning that she participated in saving people along with Jesus.

In the twelfth century, Bernard of Clairvaux helped to popularize the idea that Mary dispenses grace to Christians, and the “Hail Mary” prayer was introduced and combined with the Rosary. In the fourteenth century, the title Coredemptrix first appeared in Catholic literature, speaking of Mary as participating with Jesus in our redemption (this concept continued gaining popularity, and in more recent times the late Pope John Paul II spoke of it on multiple occasions).

Spiritual Motherhood

In the fifteenth century, Pope Sixtus IV spoke of the spiritual motherhood of Mary over all Christians and the “Hail Mary” prayer was changed to its current form. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, shrines dedicated to Mary appeared in places such as Lourdes, France, and Fatima, Portugal. In the twentieth century, Pope Pius XII declared that Mary ascended into heaven like Jesus, called for the memorial of Mary’s role as queen dispensing grace to Christians, and said that she was so united with Jesus that she was involved in His suffering and our salvation. The Catholic Church also held a congress on Mary and sponsored pilgrimages to some of the shrines dedicated to Mary.

Having been raised as a Catholic, I did pray to Mary as a young boy. Once I met Jesus at the age of nineteen, though, I was convicted that I had sinned against God by praying to anyone but Him. In some ways I then overreacted for a few years and did not esteem Mary as I should have. Sadly, it seems that many Christians are also prone to the extremes of either esteeming Mary too much or esteeming her too little.

What Does Scripture Say?

The key to undoing all of the false teaching surrounding Mary is, of course, to simply look at what Scripture does say about her and add nothing to that. Mary appears by name in three of the four gospels (the Gospel of John refers to “Jesus’ mother”) and the book of Acts. She was a young virgin girl, perhaps even a young teenager, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14.

Continue to Part 2.

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At the age of twenty-seven Calvin settled in the city of Geneva. There he sought to fulfill his missiological church planting vision—to build a city that operated according to the principles of the Bible as an outpost for the kingdom of God on earth. Through his preaching and teaching Calvin became the most famous citizen in Geneva, refashioning every aspect of society from, law to theology, seeking to bring it under the lordship of Jesus and authority of his Word. Many years later, Marxist genius Leon Trotsky, who helped Lenin create the Soviet Union out of the Russian Revolution of 1917, said that Karl Marx and John Calvin were the two greatest revolutionaries in all of Western history.

Geneva: The Wonderful Miracle

In the 1550s John Calvin saw the population of his city of Geneva double as Christians fled there from persecution. One of those refugees who came to Geneva was the Englishman John Bale, who wrote, “Geneva seems to me to be the wonderful miracle of the whole world. For so many from all countries come here, as it were, to a sanctuary. Is it not wonderful that Spaniards, Italians, Scots, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, disagreeing in manners, speech, and apparel, should live so lovingly and friendly, and dwell together like a . . . Christian congregation?”

God in his loving providence forced Geneva to become a short-term training ground in missions, where Christians from varying cultures lived together under the teaching of John Calvin and had to determine for themselves what to receive, reject, and redeem from their culture so as to effectively contextualize the gospel and do evangelism.

The Genevan Church Planting Explosion

After they had such wonderful theological training and missiological experience, many of the Christians returned to their cultures once persecution subsided. The result was an explosion of contending, contextualizing, and church planting, which is the logical result of the first two works. In fact, in France there were only five underground Protestant Churches in 1555, but by 1562, 2,150 churches were planted, with some three million people in them. Furthermore, some of the churches were megachurches, with anywhere from four to nine thousand people in attendance.

Additionally, Calvin sent church planting missionaries to Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, and the free imperial city-states in the Rhineland. The Atlantic Ocean was even crossed by church planting missionaries Calvin sent to South America and what is today Brazil.

Calvin's Missiological Legacy

Along with Martin Luther, Calvin is regarded as the most towering figure of the Protestant Reformation, although the two men never met. Calvin is credited with helping to bring about the rise of capitalism and democracy, which emerged from his theological teaching and helped to shape the entire Western world. Movements such as Puritanism, as well as the modern-day Presbyterian and Reformed churches, follow in his legacy.

Today, men such as Lesslie Newbigin, Tim Keller, and Ed Stetzer carry forward the legacy and influence of Calvin on missiology and church planting. These three men, one deceased and two living, are faithfully and fruitfully taking the same ideas that drove Calvin and applying them to our own age with keen insight.

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In our own day there are many faithful Reformed Bible teachers carrying on in the legacy of Charles Spurgeon. Among the best known is John MacArthur, a fifth-generation pastor. Like Spurgeon, he has committed his life to Bible preaching and teaching. This commitment extends, as Spurgeon’s did, to leading a school to train people for gospel ministry (The Master's College and The Master’s Seminary, which we have benefited from directly since one of our Mars Hill elders is a graduate), publishing many Bible commentaries, and launching publications. He has also published a long list of books. Among those I found most helpful to me as a newer Christian is The Gospel According to Jesus, which was a seminal book in what has been called the “Lordship Salvation Controversy.” When planting Mars Hill Church, I also gleaned a lot from his books Shepherdology and The Master’s Plan for the Church.

Expository Teaching

Also admirable are his bold stands for the gospel, including appearances on major networks such as CNN, and actually being sued as a church for practicing church discipline because the Bible commands it. MacArthur has always been a strong proponent of expositional Bible teaching through books of the Bible. That idea has definitely caught on among New Calvinists, and it is now the predominant form of preaching in that tribe.

If memory serves me correctly, I was first introduced to MacArthur’s teaching ministry when I heard him on the radio as a new Christian. I went on to listen to literally hundreds of his sermons on cassette (yes, I am old enough to remember cassettes). His radio program recently includes what I believe is a new twist—answering questions from the people in his church. In my opinion, this is some of his richest teaching because he blends his knowledge of the Bible with affection for his people and the occasional insight from his own life and childhood, all of which is quite compelling.

A Bible Preacher and a Calvinist

For many years, MacArthur was not noted as a Calvinist, but rather better known for being a Bible preacher and teacher. In a conversation I had with our mutual friend, John Piper, he said that about fifteen years ago MacArthur started putting Puritan sermons in the back of his books. This prompted Piper to invite MacArthur to the Desiring God Pastors Conference and ask him publicly if he is a five-point Calvinist, to which MacArthur replied, “Yes.” Since that time we have also seen MacArthur mellow out a bit on the cessationist position that some spiritual gifts in the Bible are not for today, which he argued for in Charismatic Chaos. He has gone so far as to welcome C. J. Mahaney—who is both a devoted Calvinist and charismatic—to preach at Grace Community Church and other events. For these and many more reasons, I want to honor MacArthur in our tributes this week.

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Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834–1892) is my favorite mentor outside of Scripture. Visiting his college and the private collection of his library and memoirs was a highlight of my visit to London.

This Child Will One Day Preach the Gospel

Spurgeon was the oldest of seventeen children, though nine died in infancy. Due to financial hardship, at the age of eighteen months he was sent to live with his grandfather, who, like Charles’ father, was a strong-willed Calvinistic preacher. At a young age he began reading his father's and grandfather’s theological books and listening in on their theological conversations with other men. On one occasion the visiting preacher Richard Knill prophesied over Charles, “This child will one day preach the gospel, and he will preach it to great multitudes.”

Free public education was not available in his day and so his father paid for a private education for Charles. By the age of ten, Charles was reading the Puritans with great delight.

Spurgeon the Preacher

Spurgeon began preaching shortly after his conversion to Jesus Christ at the age of sixteen. He soon became the best-known Bible preacher in the world in his day, and perhaps the best preacher in the history of the church outside of Scripture, along with John Chrysostom (347–407). Spurgeon preached up to ten times a week and was heard by twenty million people from his pulpit over the course of his lifetime.

Four years after his conversion, at the age of twenty, he was appointed the pastor of London’s famous New Park Street Chapel, which was previously led by the distinguished Reformed Baptist theologian John Gill. Spurgeon was such a magnetic draw that the previously struggling church, which had dwindled to a few hundred people, soon outgrew their building and had to move to Exeter Hall, and then to Surrey Music Hall. Spurgeon often preached to crowds of more than ten thousand without any amplification. His church became the world’s largest by the time of his death, meeting in the Metropolitan Tabernacle that they had eventually built.

Spurgeon was a committed lifelong student. He had a large library built in his home so that he could study continually and still be near his sick wife. He had a large, round desk with a hinge that permitted him to sit in the middle of it with his beloved books surrounding him.

Spurgeon's Sufferings

Spurgeon was blessed by a rigorous mind and powerful voice but also suffered from poor health. He suffered continually from a variety of ailments, ranging from kidney disease to gout, which occasionally prevented him from preaching and ultimately took his life at age fifty-seven. Additionally, his beloved wife Susannah struggled mightily with poor health. In his seasons of tremendous pain he was forced to pray and trust the goodness of God. Nonetheless, his suffering greatly clarified his understanding of Jesus’ painful atonement and great love for his people.

His prayers also sustained him when he was forced to miss up to seven weeks at a time and lie bedridden in pain rather than preach to his congregation. Spurgeon struggled with depression prompted by his poor health and the painful burden he carried for the many pastors who came to him for counsel. Perhaps the darkest period of Spurgeon’s ministry came when troublemakers began falsely crying “Fire!” to a packed congregation that had come to hear him preach, causing a stampede that killed some people who were trampled underfoot.

Spurgeon's Humor

Spurgeon was known to have a robust sense of humor that spilled out into his preaching, much to the consternation of his many critics. Still, Spurgeon shared the Bible’s love of irony and sarcasm, and his great wit endeared him to people who appreciated the fullness of his emotional life. This made him a real human being from whom people enjoyed learning the Bible. Among my favorite Spurgeon quips is his statement that he loved church committees and believed the ideal committee consisted of three people, two of whom stayed home.

Spurgeon the Activist

Spurgeon was committed to activism and social justice, going so far as to preach against slavery, which made him very unpopular in America, where his printed sermons were banned and burned. Spurgeon was also a very merciful man who opened and oversaw an orphanage for needy children. Many called the orphanage the greatest sermon he ever preached. His wife, Susannah, had a particular burden for poor pastors who could not afford books to assist their studies of Scripture. She raised money for a pastors’ book fund that gave away thousands of books to needy pastors.

Spurgeon the Controversialist

Throughout his ministry, Spurgeon came under continual attack because of both his conservative theology and successful ministry. What has come to be known as the “Downgrade Controversy” ultimately led to Spurgeon being kicked out of his own Baptist denomination for his unwillingness to stop teaching such things as eternal torment in a literal hell, the literal truthfulness of Scripture, a literal creation by God, and the perfection and divine inspiration of Scripture. In his final days, Spurgeon was attacked by hyper-Calvinistic legalists and universalistic liberals alike, the former because he freely preached the gospel to all people, and the latter because he did not believe that everyone would be saved.

Spurgeon's Passion for the Lost

The hyper-Calvinists in his day disdained Spurgeon for his passion for lost people to meet Jesus and his continual offering of the gospel of grace to the masses, which led to the baptism of 14,692 converts during his ministry. Despite much mean-spirited opposition, Spurgeon never shied away from calling all men to repentance. He used unconventional means, such as meeting in a public theater (not a church) and preaching from a stage (not a raised pulpit), in an effort to be more culturally relevant in his ministry style. Curiously, however, he forbade the use of choirs, organs, and other musical instruments in his church services.

Upon his death, sixty thousand people passed before his open coffin in one day, with a similar crowd the ensuing day. Four memorial services were held in one day for the members of the church, ministers and students, members of other denominations, and the general public, respectively. The road to the cemetery from his church was lined with hundreds of thousands of people whose lives had been touched by the power of the gospel through Jesus’ servant, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

For Further Study

For those wanting to study Spurgeon more in depth, I have particularly enjoyed the following resources and recommend them to you for consideration:

• Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism: The Battle for Gospel Preaching by Iain Murray (159 pages)
• The Unforgettable Spurgeon by Eric Hayden (239 pages)
• The Young Spurgeon by Peter Jeffery (112 pages)
• The Forgotten Spurgeon by Iain Murray (249 pages)
• Spurgeon: Prince of Preachers by Lewis A. Drummond (836 pages)
• Spurgeon by Arnold Dallimore (244 pages)
• Letters of Charles Haddon Spurgeon by Iain Murray (211 pages)
• www.Spurgeon.org houses an enormous amount of information by and on Charles Spurgeon

My wife, Grace, has also enjoyed studying the life of Charles’ bride and recommends the book Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon by Charles Ray.

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David Brainerd (1718–1747) is one of the greatest missionaries America has ever had. Brainerd began his life of ministry at the young age of twenty-four. His passion was to convert the Native Americans scattered throughout New York and Pennsylvania. He traveled more than three thousand miles on horseback, preaching the gospel faithfully until he died at the age of twenty-nine after a lengthy sickness brought on by his constant exposure to harsh winter conditions. Jonathan Edwards published An Account of the Life of the Late Rev. David Brainerd, chiefly taken from Brainerd’s own Diary and Other Private Writings, which has become a missionary classic.

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George Whitefield (1714–1770) began preaching at the age of twenty-four and is the greatest preacher America has ever seen. He preached eighteen thousand sermons to over ten million people during the Great Awakening. He planted 150 churches in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. He preached in open air with crowds as large as thirty thousand people at a time. Amazingly, he preached to such crowds without a microphone and would cough up blood from the strain on his throat. It is estimated that most Americans heard him preach at least once. His farewell sermon on Boston Commons drew more people than Boston’s entire population and was the largest crowd ever gathered in America up to that time.

For Further Reading

For those wanting to learn more about Whitefield, John Armstrong’s Five Great Evangelists and Arnold Dallimore’s George Whitefield are good places to start.

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Continued from Vintage Saints: Young Guns, Part 1.

Throughout church history God has chosen to use young people for significant kingdom work. The following are a few more examples that have greatly encouraged me, and I pray they do likewise for you.

D.L. Moody

D.L. Moody was one of the greatest evangelists in the history of America. His legacy today includes the renowned Moody Church, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers. Moody began his ministry with a ragtag group of rowdy young boys who had been kicked out of other Sunday school classes. Before becoming a pastor, Moody was denied church membership because he failed the oral doctrine exam. During his life he traveled one million miles and preached to over one hundred million people. At the Chicago World’s Fair he preached to 130,000 people in one day. Moody began his life of ministry at the young age of twenty-one and went into full time ministry at the age of twenty-four.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of the most well-known pastors of the 20th century. He opposed the Nazi church in Germany and built an underground seminary to train pastors to remain faithful to Jesus Christ and not bend their knees to Adolf Hitler. Bonhoeffer was hanged by the Nazis in 1945 at the age of thirty-nine after writing, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die.” Bonhoeffer began his life of ministry at the young age of twenty-five.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Charles Haddon Spurgeon is among the finest preachers in the history of the church, though he was not formally educated for the task. He pastored the world’s first megachurch, where thousands would come to hear him preach the gospel upwards of ten times a week. Over 100,000 people attended his funeral. Spurgeon took his first pulpit at the young age of nineteen.

Billy Graham

Billy Graham is easily the most influential Protestant Christian leader of the 20th century and for me personally one of the most inspiring men who has ever lived. Graham has preached the gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history—over 210 million people in more than 185 countries and territories. Hundreds of millions more have been reached through television, video, film, and webcasts. Graham began publicly preaching the gospel at the young age of nineteen.

Various Revivals

In addition to God working miraculously through the young, he is also prone to work miraculously on the young. Three revivals in particular primarily affected young people. The college student revivals under Jonathan Edward’s grandson, Timothy Dwight, brought many young Christians into church leadership. The Second Great Awakening (1776-1810) was largely fueled by college revivals. The Puritans in Britain were often scoffed at for being “merely children” because so many of them were in their early and mid twenties. Lastly, the great Scottish revival is reported to have been mainly young people, as a reported 60 percent of the mass conversions were among people between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five.

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Mars Hill Church began in the fall of 1996, one week before I turned 26 years of age. At that time, nearly everyone in the church was young. Today, there is thankfully a growing range of ages, though I am admittedly starting to feel old.

I often pray that Mars Hill will not simply be a church that grows old together. Rather, we should seek to always welcome young people, see their lives transformed by Jesus, and encourage them to serve Him wholeheartedly.

In the history of the church, much has been accomplished by Christians who were young. Perhaps Paul’s words to the young Timothy are the most pertinent, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity” (I Timothy 4:12).

Curiously, throughout church history God has chosen to use young people like Timothy for significant kingdom work. The following are a handful of such examples that have greatly encouraged me and I pray they do likewise for you.

Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards is the greatest theologian America has ever produced. Additionally, the Great Awakening began in 1734 in his Northampton, Massachusetts congregation with the young people who had drifted away from the church, but suddenly wanted to begin meeting with him about his sermons. Edwards began his life of ministry at the young age of nineteen.

George Whitefield

George Whitefield is the greatest preacher America has ever seen. He preached 18,000 sermons to over ten million people during the Great Awakening. He planted 150 churches in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. He preached in open air with crowds as large as 30,000 people at a time. Amazingly, he preached to such crowds without a microphone and would cough up blood from the strain on his throat. It is estimated that most Americans heard him preach at least once. His farewell sermon on Boston Commons drew more people than Boston’s entire population and was the largest crowd ever gathered in America at that time. Whitefield began his life of ministry at the young age of twenty-five.

David Brainerd

David Brainerd is one of the greatest missionaries America has ever had. His passion was to convert the Americans Indians scattered throughout New York and Pennsylvania. He traveled more than 3,000 miles on horseback, preaching the gospel faithfully until he died at the age of twenty-nine, after a lengthy sickness brought on by his constant time spent in harsh winter conditions. Brainerd began his life of ministry at the young age of twenty-four.

Methodist Circuit Riders

The Methodist Circuit Riders were devout evangelists who traveled across the country on horseback to lead people to Christ by preaching of the gospel and establishing local congregations of believers. Amazingly, four questions were asked in the selecting of a potential Circuit Rider:

• Is this man truly converted?
• Does he know how to keep our rules?
• Can he preach acceptably?
• Has he a horse?

Due to the harsh conditions of living in the woods and traveling on horseback, the average life expectancy of a Circuit Rider was only thirty-three years of age. Most of the Circuit Riders began their ministry while they were in their twenties.

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