Is the Christian life supposed to be boring?

If you have not yet come to Him, who says in the tenth of John, "I am the door," hear His voice now. You may be saved tonight if you will enter in. Christ says, I am the door. Come, He says, enter in by Me. It is Christ you must know. It is Christ you need. I believe many of you have a longing, and a desire for Christ. You have a longing desire for rest that the world cannot give. I will ask you a simple question, Has the world satisfied you? No. I find a man saying, "I am going to a ball tomorrow night, and to something else on Tuesday, and I would like something else on Wednesday — I must have a little fun." A little will not do for me. I must have something that is perpetual; I must have something that is perennial; and what is that? The grace and love of Christ. That grace and love of Christ fill the heart with peace and joy. Perhaps you say, I thought it was a dull thing to be a Christian. That is a thorough mistake. The only really bright thing I know is to be a Christian. Everything connected with Christ is blessed and durable. Every earthly joy is transient. The world's laughter is vanity, for "as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity" (Ecc. 7:6). That fire soon burns out, that is the meaning of it. The laughter of the fool is like the crackling of thorns under a pot, there is no durability about it. There is no durability in what you are engaged in. There is no durability in the pleasures of sin. They are only for a season, and you have to meet their consequences and pains in eternity; but the love of Christ fills the heart with joy in this world and for ever. He saves you and lets you know that you are saved.

"I came that they may have life and may have it abundantly" (R.V.). Such is our portion. Not invalid life. Not existence merely. Thank God we have spiritual existence, but we have more. Spiritual vitality, spiritual vigour, spiritual enjoyment-these things are ours in the risen Shepherd who once in His goodness laid down His life for the sheep.

He now contrasts Himself with the thief. It would be right of me to say to all of you there would be no life at all for anybody save on the basis of the work that Christ has wrought. His death lies at the basis of all life. The life that will be enjoyed in a coming age of millennial blessing here on earth is on the basis of the death of Christ, but to us today there is not only life but life “more abundantly”. I think it is a good thing to ask ourselves, ‘Am I going in for the real abundant life which Christ has made known and revealed?’ I am afraid we have got to look at ourselves whether we are young Christians or old Christians, there is a life which is not merely the divine spark, so to speak, which is in every true saint, but life is often used in Scripture in a second sense. We use it in ordinary conversation, there is a young man of the world who says, ‘I am going out to see life’. You cannot look at life? Life puzzles the scientists, what is it? We can tell the difference between a live person and a dead one, you cannot see it, but you can see it in is manifestation. I know what the young man means, he means he is going to have a jolly time and perhaps a bit of sin and the bright lights of the city and is going out to enjoy himself, he is interested in the things the world calls ‘life’. Now we Christians have got life, we are brought into the knowledge of God as our Father, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, we have most blessed things to occupy our hearts affections and our devotion to our risen Lord. These are things that are really life. The Lord said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”. He came to reveal an abundance of such things that we may walk in the power of an abundant life. It is a wonderful fact. This is the divine program which the Lord had before Him when as the good Shepherd He gave His life for His sheep.

The reason the Holy Spirit reveals these wonders to our hearts is shown in verse 4; "These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." Our Father desires His children to be full of joy, in spite of the difficulties and trials of their often long and weary wandering through the. wilderness of this world. Listen to the words of our Lord Jesus to his beloved disciples on the night of His betrayal; "These things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full;" and again, in His wonderful prayer to the Father, "And now come I to Thee; and these things I speak in the world that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves." I will quote but one verse more, in the Epistle to the Philippians; "Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, rejoice." From these we can clearly see that the Christian's life down here ought to be full of joy, walking in living fellowship with the Father and the Son by the Holy Spirit.

Is the Christian, then, denied joy? Indeed he is not, for true spiritual joy is of God, both exceedingly precious and important. But let me ask, What gave you the joy at conversion? Was it through thinking of that joy? "Certainly not," you will say, "It resulted from the knowledge of the Lord Jesus as my own Savior, and of His very near presence always with me. I was feeding on real substance food, and rejoiced in doing so."

“But,” says the young man, “these are the pleasures of sin, and are we not to be happy? Are we all to be gloomy and morose? Are we to have no pleasure?” Well, the pleasure that is bought at the cost of the soul, and that brings with it future punishment, if not present remorse, is dear indeed. Moreover it is not a question of pleasure, for there is a region of joy outside the province of sin that throws the transitory “pleasures of sin” into the shade. Come now, young man, be honest and tell me, whom you deem the happiest, the worldling or the true Christian? The man whose conscience is harrowed and stained by sin, or he whose sins are pardoned and who can look death, judgment, and eternity calmly in the face, who can truly say “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”? As one of yourselves I ask you for an honest answer. Ah! your conscience bears witness that a course of ungodliness is one of misery, that the sinner is the dupe of the devil and is being fooled into hell. Think of being a fool for ever! “Fools make a mock at sin.” Well then, I say, that the pleasure which harrows the conscience, violates the word of God, and secures future judgment, is pleasure falsely so called. It is an ignis fatuus leading on to the bottomless quagmire. It is sugar in the cup of deadly poison. Young man, take your fill indeed, but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

But there is a joy independent of all passing circumstances, and deeper than all others, because it is nearer to, yea, it is the one spring of all joy, it is to this the Apostle now calls them. "Finally [or, for the rest], my brethren, rejoice in the Lord." It is of the deepest moment that we, that all saints, should heed the call. It is due to Him, in whom we are exhorted to rejoice, that we should bear a true testimony in this respect. I say not a testimony worthy of Him, for none is, save that which God the Father has borne and bears, and that which the Holy Ghost renders in word and deed. Still, great as our shortcoming is, the Holy Ghost is in us to give a divine appreciation of the Lord. May we not then dishonour Him by gloomy thoughts, by unbelieving feelings, by ways that betoken fear, doubt, dissatisfaction, yearning after creature pleasure in one form or another; but may we be enabled by faith, heartily, simply, alone or with others, in public and in private, to "rejoice in the Lord."

What is Christianity? It is the knowledge of the Father, and the Son, with the Holy Ghost dwelling in the body of the believer, and setting him up in this scene in the power and spirit of Christ, that he may live in this scene as the Lord lived. Christianity is the repetition of the life of Jesus, in the life of the Christian. I cannot therefore allow myself any comfort from this chapter if I am a bit dejected. No, no! That might be overlooked in that day, when God was testing the flesh, as He was, but when I come to the full expression of the truth of the day we are in, you get Christ as the pattern. Did you ever hear Him murmuring? No, never! Even in the darkest day, we hear Him say, "I thank thee O Father" (Matt. 11:25). Always subject, always obedient, always peaceful. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you (John 14:27). Always joyful is also our normal state. "These things write we to you, that your joy may be full" (1 John 1:4). Ah, beloved, we have a perfect pattern in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us follow Him.

This suffering of the Son of man at once defines the path for the disciple. "He said to [them] all, If any one will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."229 It was in no way enjoyment of earthly things. That would be all suited and seasonable in the Kingdom when He reigns as the Christ, as well as Son of man, according to the hopes furnished by the prophets. There we find every kind of proof of God's beneficence, and men's hearts will be filled with gladness. But such is not the character of Christianity. The Cross shows us our true path. If Christ suffered, the Christian cannot expect to be above his Master. Christ was going to the cross; therefore if any man would come after Him, "let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever shall desire to save his life230 shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, he shall save it. For what shall a man profit if he shall have gained the whole world, and have destroyed or come under the penalty of the loss of himself?" "Daily": so Edd., following ℵABKL, and later uncials, 1, 33, 69, Syrrpesch cu, Amiat. Goth. Memph. Arm., CDEXΔ, etc., many cursives, Syrsin and most Old Latin omit.

In English-speaking lands, where religious liberty is freely granted, the conflict side of Christian life is apt to be overlooked, and the idea entertained that our pilgrimage to a joyous heaven is to be happy and serene. But such is not the prospect held out in Scripture. We are not only pilgrims but also disciples, who are called to take up our cross in following our rejected Lord, and as identified with Him, conflict is inevitable. As 'a good soldier of Jesus Christ' we are to 'endure hardness' (2 Tim. 2:3), consequently the protective armour of Ephesians 6 is needed, as well as the 'sword of the Spirit', for offensive action.