Dear Friends,
One of the most consistent and persistent charges that is made against Evangelical Christianity is that it “turns the brain” of those who involve themselves in it. “Paul, thou art beside thyself,” Festus told the great apostle as he preached before King Agrippa, “much learning doth make thee mad.”
It was no new charge, of course, that Festus was delivering, for the disciples themselves, on the day of Pentecost, were accused of being “full of new wine,” while the Lord Jesus was told He “had a devil,” and away back in the old Testament, it was said of one of the prophets, “Wherefore came this mad fellow unto me?” No doubt Paul had shown a good measure of “warmth” and vigour as he preached before Agrippa that day, and as far as Festus was concerned, there was no better way to ward-off the blows of truth than with the old, well-tried accusation of madness and fanaticism. Festus knew his stuff, for is it not a charge that can sometimes throw us off our course, because it is a charge that levels itself at the pride of the human heart; for none of us want to be thought anything other than to be in obvious possession of all our faculties.
It’s a strange charge, of course; and it would seem that a man or a woman can indulge in any pursuit to any degree without coming under such scathing stricture by those around them. There is a lovely incident in the life of old John Berridge that might serve us well as an example for answering our accusers along this line; on one occasion he was called before his Bishop to answer the charge of “preaching in other parishes.” This was an unheard-of thing and showed definite signs of “enthusiasm!” “Well your Grace,” said old John, “it is true that I go and preach in parishes other than my own; but,” he went on, “I remember seeing five or six clergymen away from their own parishes playing at bowls!” Just so and isn’t it a strange thing that it is this business of “soul” business that attracts so much opposition and charge of madness.
It seems that people can climb to the highest peaks of mountains and plunge to their deaths below; they can burrow into bowels of the earth, get stuck there, and have rescue teams toiling all night to get them out; they can hurtle round race tracks at 150 miles an hour and flash into hell at the turn of a wheel; they can hang from kits until they fall from them like a stone to the ground – but, they cannot see to the eternal welfare of their never-dying soul without being deemed some kind of a mad person, such as Paul, and a million others have been deemed.
It’s another well-tried shield and weapon that Festus falls back on when he reckons to know the “source” of Paul’s madness in this business of Christianity. “Paul, thou art beside thyself, much learning doth make thee mad.” But Paul’s reply is a model for any of us – both with regards to good manners, and also with regards to being confident in the Word of eternal life; “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.”
There was a time, indeed, when Paul reckoned himself something like a madman; when he persecuted the Church of Christ and fought against the knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.
“A little learning is a dangerous thing:
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
Those shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
But drinking largely sobers it again.”
How true on almost any subject. Get a few facts and we become drunk with their possession. The best way to “sober-up” is to take a deeper drink, and then, what a different view the whole thing takes on.
So, in the things of salvation. It is the shallow draughts of what the Bible has to say that absolutely intoxicate the brains of many men and women. But to drink deeper – with regards to sin and salvation, heaven and hell, the devil and God – then it is to be “sober,” through the Word of “truth and soberness” itself. Like the man in the miracle, “whereas I was blind, now I see;” Paul is saying “Whereas I was mad and drunk, now I am sane and sober.”
It is a virtual epitome of gospel grace that is pictured for us in the Gadarene demoniac after Christ has released him from his “madness;” when the people see him, “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind.” As Mr Ryle says, “We are only in our right mind as we sit at the feet of Jesus.” We need feel no intimidation: - “Let the world deride or pity, I will glory in His Name.”