THE MINISTRY OF GRATITUDE – Charles Spurgeon
THE MINISTRY OF GRATITUDE
Introduction to the Miracle of Healing
“And immediately she arose and ministered unto them.” Luke 4:39. PETER’s wife’s mother had been sick with a great fever and was restored by the touch of the Savior’s hands and the power of His word. The Grace of God does not always keep us from trials. The house of Peter and Andrew (for it was common to them both) was a highly favored one. The Grace of God had passed by many other houses, but it had chosen this one to be its dwelling place. Yet, even in this blessed household, there was great sickness—the wife’s mother lay near death from fever. This was no small grief to the household, but it was for their lasting benefit.
Divine Love and Affliction
God loves His Chosen ones too much to allow them to live without the rod. If He loved us less, He might allow us unalloyed pleasure, but the love of our wise Father is too great to deprive us of the sacred benefits of affliction. Sickness came to that house not as an enemy but as a friend, for it was the means by which Christ’s great Power was made manifest to that family, and through His power, His love. The wife’s mother could never have been such a distinguished subject of the Redeemer’s power if she had not been prostrated with fever. The malaria from the marshes around the city caused her to become a trophy of the Lord’s divine energy. Often, the worst of ills are the black horses upon which the very best blessings ride to us.
The House of Healing
It was no small honor for Peter that his house became the headquarters of the Savior. The sick thronged the door, and as the sun set, and the Sabbath was over, the multitude brought people afflicted with all manner of diseases and hurried to reach that favored dwelling, placing them before the Lord. The healing Power, which had displayed itself within, poured forth from the house like a mighty flood, and all who drank from it were restored. That house contained the springhead and was beyond measure honored by it. Surely, for many years, that house would be one of the most notable in the city. Surely, it would be called “The House of the Great Physician,” not like the ancient house in Antwerp, detestable because it was the den of the Inquisition, but dear to many of the healed ones and their children, as the Hospital of Mercy, the Palace of Blessing.
Peter’s Miraculous Life
Peter among the Apostles is singularly honored, for everything about him was connected to a miracle. His person—he walked on water by a miracle; he was saved from drowning when the Savior stretched out His hand and bade him stand fast upon the liquid wave. There was a miracle in connection with his boat. From that boat, the miraculous draught of fishes was taken, so full that it began to sink. Simon knelt down and adored the Savior. A miracle was also associated with Peter’s rusty sword—he cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, but the Master healed the wound that Peter had made in his rashness. And here, in this case, a miracle was performed upon his relative—his wife’s mother was restored from a great fever by the Almighty Power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Hand of God in All Things
Every Christian should be ambitious to have the hand of God connected with everything they have, so that when they look upon their house, they may see God’s Providence in giving it to them; when they look upon the garments they wear, they may see them as the livery of Love; and when they view the food on their table, they may see it as the daily gift of Divine Charity. When looking back on their whole biography, the Believer may see bright spots where the Presence of God shines forth, making the humblest circumstances illustrious. Above all, it ought to be their prayer that God’s hand should be very conspicuous in connection with their relatives—that of every one of them it might be said, “The Lord restored her,” or “The Lord gave him spiritual life in answer to my prayer.” May husband, wife, children, and servants all receive healing from “The Beloved Physician.” May our whole household be “Holiness unto the Lord,” and may all sing for joy because the Lord has done great things for them, whereof we are glad!
A Sabbath of Healing
The occurrence about which we are speaking happened on a Sabbath. Sabbaths were generally Christ’s great chosen field days to break down the superstitiously rigid observance of the Sabbath among the Pharisees. It was on this holy day that Christ performed the greatest works of healing. The patient, lying in her bed, may have been complaining that she could not go to the synagogue or mingle with the people where prayer was sure to be made. Perhaps her fever had reduced her to such a state that she could not remember Christ, the Healer, or even breathe a prayer to Him. Yet Peter and Andrew went to Christ, told Him of the situation, and besought Him to come and heal her.
The Blessing of Having Faithful Relatives
It is a blessing to have saints as relatives—those who will remember you in prayer and speak to Christ on your behalf. If through despair or depression of spirit you cannot pray for yourself, it is a great blessing to have compassionate friends who will speak to the King for you! One Christian in a family can bring great blessing to it, but here we see two—Simon and his brother Andrew. The two prevailed with the Savior, and that Sabbath, when the patient least expected it, the Savior came to her lowly room, and standing over her in infinite pity, He first rebuked the disease with a royal word. Then, lifting her up gently in His familiar manner, she was perfectly restored to health.
Immediate Gratitude and Service
What love she must have felt for her gracious Benefactor! It is little wonder that thankfulness glowed in her heart, and being healed, she rose at once and began to serve her Healer. Her ministering began immediately upon her recovery: “Immediately she arose and ministered unto them.”
The Certainty of Her Healing
Now, the fact that this restored woman began at once to minister to Christ and His disciples proves, first, the certainty of her cure. The best way to prove the thoroughness of a conversion is through actions similar to hers. If the woman had remained bedridden, even if she spoke of how much better she felt, there would have been no evidence of her healing. If people live in sin as they always did, it is clear that the work of the Holy Spirit is not in them.
The Proof of True Conversion
The only irresistible proof of a person being spiritually healed by Christ must be found in the change in their conduct, particularly in their living to serve Christ and being obedient to Him. If someone who was once a gross sinner now lives a holy life, we are sure that Christ has healed them. When we see a person, once disinclined to holiness, now living uprightly and serving Jesus Christ, we know that this must be the work of the Holy Spirit in their soul.
The Importance of Humble Service
The woman’s duties, once she was healed, were humble ones. She probably resumed her role as the head of the household and began performing duties that were unostentatious and commonplace. Many who profess to be converted immediately aspire to preach or do something grand, but this woman thought of serving in humble ways, like washing Christ’s feet and preparing food for Him. Attention to humble duties is a better sign of grace than ambition for lofty works.
Grace in Everyday Life
True grace shines in everyday, ordinary duties. There is likely more grace in a mother’s loving service to Christ in raising her children in the fear of God than if she were known for taking a leading role in great public movements. True Christian service is not defined by its public display but by its consistency and the humility in daily actions.
Serving Christ at Home
This woman’s service to Christ was also done at home. Charity begins at home, and so does piety. If your household cannot see that you are godly, no one else will. The best way to show your conversion is to serve Christ in your family and make your house a dwelling place of all that is kind, good, and holy.
Immediate and Cheerful Service
Her service was prompt and voluntary. She did not wait for an invitation or command, but as soon as she was healed, she arose and began her service. True service to Christ is done voluntarily, cheerfully, and promptly. It is not about obligation but about a natural outpouring of love for Him.
The Perfection of Her Cure
Finally, the perfection of her cure is demonstrated in her ability to rise immediately and resume her work. Fever often leaves extreme weakness behind, but she was completely healed—so much so that she was able to perform her duties without difficulty. This is a mark of divine healing. When the converted person is immediately able to serve Christ and live in accordance with His will, we can be sure that the work is done by God’s grace.
Conclusion
The human theory of moral reformations requires time, but God’s miracles transcend time. In an instant, a person can be healed of their sins, and the evidence of this healing is seen in their transformed life. The grace of God does not need time to work; it is immediate, perfect, and complete.
The Immediate Work of Grace
Once and for all, in a moment; when a man believes and is born again, the axe is laid at the root of all the evil trees within him! Sin is condemned to die right then and there, and more than that, all Divine graces are implanted in the soul at once. These graces are not in perfection—they will grow, but they are all sown in the sinner in a moment, in embryo. Therefore, even a newly converted sinner, though he has only been born again for five minutes, carries within him the embryo of the perfect saint who shall one day stand before the Throne of God!
This is one of the marvels that certify the work as divine. Note, Beloved, that those who have just been converted to God can worship God, can praise God, can pray to God, and can love God, even though they were strangers to these things up to that point! Some of the sweetest worship that God ever hears comes from the hearts of the newly regenerate. Of all the prayers that strike the Christian’s ear like music, surely among the sweetest are the broken pleadings of those who have just found the Savior!
I delight in the expressions of faith from elderly and full-grown Christians; they are instructive and precious. But, oh, that first grip of the hand, that first flash of the eye, that first tear of joy when a soul has seen Christ for the first time, and stands astonished at the matchless vision of Incarnate Love! There is no worship sweeter beneath the sun!
The Immediate Response of the Converted Soul
The woman arises at once and ministers to Christ, and the sinner arises at once and begins to adore Christ! Did I not say that the newly converted sinner can love and does love his Lord as soon as he is born to God? I must correct myself. Not only can and does he love, but he loves beyond most others. For very seldom do men’s after-love exceed in fervency the love of their espousals, which is also called their first love! This standard love is implanted in us at once, full-blooming and full of fragrance. Hating Christ one minute, hearts are ravished with His love the next! Men who were enemies to God an hour ago now would die to defend His Gospel. So changed is their nature! This must be a divine work!
If that which was water-flood, quenching every spark of fire, should suddenly blaze and glow like Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace, God alone could have worked the change! Who has turned the waters of raging hatred into the flame of holy love? Who has done this but the mighty God Himself? If an iceberg suddenly becomes a flaming beacon, who could have worked this marvel but the Miracle Worker who alone does great wonders? Glory be to God, we often see it, and He shall have the praise of it!
Purity and Transformation
How pure some men’s lives become at conversion—pure at once, though before they were polluted with every vice! Certain sins we may have to fight with all our lives, but a renewed man usually has no difficulty whatever with the grosser sins. For example, I have known a man, once habituated to blasphemy, who never spoke a dozen sentences without an oath. Yet, after he was converted, the profane habit never troubled him again. We have known some who were troubled with a ferocious temper, making them like demons, but from the moment of conversion, they became remarkably gentle and meek.
We have known misers instantly display the freest generosity, and thieves become scrupulously honest! Though the temptation to old sin may return, those saved from gross vices often become the greatest loathers of the very mention or name of their former abominations. Such is the work of God in the soul. These evils are driven out at once and sent away. The man who once excelled in evil now becomes as much an expert in holy labor.
The New Life in Christ
He may not immediately grasp the technicalities of religion—but he gets to the bottom of it, the secret of it, and goes to work for Jesus Christ in his own way, with extraordinary wisdom and skill from the very first! Some of the best evangelists we have ever seen have been those who learned to evangelize instantly, as if they knew it from the first hour they were converted to God, taking to it as naturally as young swans take to the stream.
Some of the best people who speak to others about their souls privately began to do so as soon as they found the Savior. They attain to this sacred art and, blessed as it is, it’s as though they were touched by the hand of God and inspired for the service He meant them to render.
The Challenge for Young Converts
What is the practical drift of this second remark? It proves the real divinity of this woman’s cure—she was able to immediately go to work for Christ. So, young converts, you should hold the honor of Christ in high esteem and prove the reality of His grace in your souls by bringing forth immediate fruit to His honor. See if you cannot at once rise and minister to Him!
Be as zealous as the dying thief—he had no sooner known Christ than he confessed Him. He did the only thing he could for his dying Lord—he rebuked the other malefactor who had reviled the Savior. Oh, if you love Jesus, do not wait until you have been a Christian for ten years! Serve Him now!
If you are healed from sin, do not wait for experience; with your inexperience of everything except the new birth, go and seek the good of others! Do not suppose you must be trained for this war through a long process of spiritual drill. March forward at once with all your heart and soul, in the freshness of your newly given life. You may achieve greater triumphs than some of the older ones, for alas, some of them are dry and sapless, having long forgotten their early days of enthusiasm. In too many Christians, the peach has lost its bloom, and the flower has withered from the stem. They are no longer loving and earnest, but have declined into the dry and yellow leaf of religion.
Living Out Your New Life
Go with the dew of the morning still upon your spirit, and I know not what great and gracious works the Lord may do by you!
Gratitude in Service
Now we move to a third point. Peter’s wife’s mother, in ministering to Christ, proved her own gratitude. Her acts of hospitality were an exhibition of her thankfulness. Brothers and Sisters, if we need to evidence our gratitude to Christ, we had better do it in the same way as she did. There is no record of her falling at Jesus’ feet and saying, “Blessed be Your name.” She may have done so; the Bible has not room for many holy expressions, though it finds space for gracious acts.
Holy Scripture has not room for all the hymns good people sing, but it finds space for the actions they perform. We have the Acts of the Apostles, but not their devotional emotions, hymns, or resolutions. This woman proved her gratitude through tangible deeds. She didn’t say to herself, “The Lord has served me, I will serve Him.” It never strikes an awakened person that mere words are a fit return for the grace of God.
Serving with True Action
Can you give for the Lord’s healing fruit a handful of mere leaves from the tree of talk? It looks like mockery! Give Him the leaves, but wrap the fruit within them! Let Him have true action and consecrated service—for this is the fittest fruit of a grateful heart.
The Timing of Service
Observe that it is not said that she waited upon Christ before she was healed. The fevered patient is first restored, and then she begins to minister. I am far from exhorting any of you to serve Christ if your inner life is not first renewed by Him. There must be a regenerated heart through His blessed touch, or else a renewed life may be imitated but cannot be truly possessed.
The Process of Healing and Serving
First, the healing, then the serving! The healing is first, but note well that the serving follows close behind. If you are saved, arise and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Since the light of God is now kindled, let it shine forth from you; since Christ has opened in your soul a well of living waters, let it flow out of the midst of you as a river of water for His service and the benefit of your fellow men.
Understanding the Purpose of Restoration
This good soul knew to what end she had been raised up. She knew from whom she had received the healing—it was from the Lord alone. She knew from what she was restored, from the very jaws of death. She knew to what she was restored, for she felt that health and strength had returned to her, and therefore she rightly guessed that she was restored to serve the Lord.
You, my Brother, are saved from Hell; you are lifted into spiritual life and acceptance; you are ennobled and made an heir of Heaven! Why was this done but that you might minister to your Lord here and glorify Him hereafter?
The Lord’s Purpose in Our Service
Our gratitude should teach us about divine grace, and we ought to take care that it is attained. The Lord cannot have saved us at such an expense as the death of His own Son for any reason less than that we should live unto Him. If we are bought with a price, we are not our own. If the Holy Spirit has given us a new nature, it must be that we should lead a new life, and that our new life must be consecrated to Him who is the Author of it.
The Fruit of Gratitude
True gratitude always leads us to serve, and it distinctly places our healing Lord as the objective of our service—it puts Him in the forefront. “She arose and ministered unto them” — to Him first, and to His disciples next. To the Head and, for the Head’s sake, to all the members. To the Redeemer, and because of Him, to all the redeemed.
A Call to Action
What are you rendering unto your Lord? What are you doing for Him? Begin with Him; do it as unto Him; do what you do in His presence, and present it at His dear feet. Then, I know you will also be doing something for His people! You will befriend His poor, seek to gather His backsliding ones, visit His sick ones, comfort His comfortless ones, and seek after His lost sheep. You will minister to Him and to His chosen, to all the members of His body.
The Condescension of the Physician
Lastly, this woman’s ministering to Christ proved the condescension of the Physician. He who healed her of the fever did not need her to minister to Him. He who had the power to heal diseases certainly could do without human ministry. If Christ could raise her up, He must be omnipotent and divine—what need then had He of a womanly service?
Instead of this, the mighty Master of all angels condescended to be waited upon by a poor woman! It was great condescension on Christ’s part that He needed ministry, and great gentleness that He so often chose woman’s ministry. He came to earth, and the first garments of His infancy were wrapped about Him by a woman’s hands. And here, He dwelt until at last He died, and holy women bound Him in the death clothes of the tomb.
A Marvel of Condescension
It is a matchless marvel of condescension that He who is Almighty and Ever-Blessed should stoop from Heaven to need the ministry of human beings! He has ministered to us by humbling Himself to accept mortal ministry! Peter’s wife’s mother was one of the despised poor, but Jesus honored her. What was she but a fisherman’s wife? Yet Christ allowed her to wait upon Him—an honor which the royal princess, Herodias, never had!
Room for Ministry in the Church
So the Lord today should be beloved of us for His humility in allowing us to wait upon Him. I do not wonder that Christ allowed Paul, Peter, and John to serve Him, but that He should allow me to do it? I am overwhelmed with astonishment at it! Do you not marvel also? It seems easy enough to believe that the blessed Virgin and Mary Magdalene were honored of God, but that you, dear Sister, should be allowed to take part in His service, is not this marvelous?
A Gracious Invitation
Will you not bless Him and minister with the utmost cheerfulness because you feel it to be such a great grace? Suppose the Lord had made all His people rich? There would be no room for generosity to help the poor saints, and you would not have the opportunity to prove your love to Him. Suppose He had converted all His Elect without any teaching? Then He would not have needed you in the Sunday school or with your tracts or with my sermons.
The Lord’s Grace in Allowing Service
Our teaching, our preaching, and all that we do for Christ are like cracked four-penny pieces—just nothing at all! But the Lord allows us to do His work for His love’s sake. His love to us finds sweetness in our love to Him.
A Place for Everyone in the Church
I am most thankful that in the Church, there is room for such a variety of ministries. Some brothers and sisters are so strangely constituted that I cannot tell what they were made for, but I believe if they are God’s people, there is a place for them in His spiritual temple! Even the most crooked stick will fit somewhere in His Church if it is one He has planted.
Every Child of God Has a Ministry
This is a certain fact, without exception: every child of God who has been healed has some ministry which he can render to Christ and which he ought to render at once. May the Lord allow every one of you to show your gratitude in this way, and as you do it, let it always be in an adoring spirit, saying, “Lord, I thank You I am allowed to go to my Sunday school class.” Do not look at your work as a burden. Say, “Lord, I thank You I am permitted to do it.”
A Grateful Heart and Service
“Oh,” says one, “I can hardly do that because I suffer so much abuse and mistreatment.” Bless God, dear Brother, that He counts you worthy to suffer for His name’s sake! What are you doing for Him? Do you love Him? If you love Him, feed His lambs and His sheep; if you love, serve! And if you serve, serve Him first, and serve His children and His people next. You will prove your gratitude.
The Call to Be Healed
Arise and minister, you healed ones! And as for those who are not healed, may you believe in Him who is able to restore you with His touch! He is mighty to save! Believe in Him, and you shall live forever! Amen.
Portion of Scripture Read Before Sermon—Luke 4