Sermon Illustration

Martin of Tours was a man in whom faith and works combined to make him a true Christian. One day he met a beggar who asked for alms. Martin didn’t have any money, but he saw that the beggar was freezing, so he gave him what he had. He took off his soldier’s overcoat, old and faded as it was, cut it in half, and wrapped half around the beggar. During the night Martin had a dream. He saw heaven opened, and Christ wearing half an overcoat. One of the angels asked, “Lord, why are you wearing that shabby old coat?” Christ answered, “Because my servant gave it to me.” It was only a dream, but it illustrates the truth that Christ taught, that whatever we do for others in His name, He accepts as a gift to Him.

The word “pontiff,” used to designate the highest religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, namely the Pope, has an interesting history. This was the name which, in the old pagan religion of ancient Rome, was given to the chief priests. The pontiffs were those who were invested with pontifical power. The name as it was first applied meant “the makers of bridges.” Why it was used to designate a religious order we hardly know. Perhaps those old Roman pontiffs were specially employed in consecrating those mighty instruments of earthly peace and civilization, the great roads and bridges by which the old Romans tamed and subdued the world. But in a moral and spiritual sense we ought all to be makers of bridges. Pontiff or no pontiff, minister or no minister, every Christian who walks in his Master’s steps ought to make it his special business to throw bridges across those moral rents and fissures which divide us one from the other. Across these various gulfs and chasms let every one len

Queen Victoria was a close friend of Principal and Mrs. Tullock, of St. Andrews. Prince Albert died and Victoria was left alone. Just at the same time, Principal Tullock died and Mrs. Tullock was left alone. Quite unexpectedly, Queen Victoria came to call on Mrs. Tullock when she was resting on a couch in her room. The Queen stepped forward. “My dear,” she said, “don’t rise. I am not coming to you today as a queen to a subject, but as one woman to another who has lost her husband.” She put herself in her friend’s place. That is what God did for us. That is what we should do for others.

A well-to-do businessman gave a fine car to his brother. One day when the brother went to the place he’d parked the car, he saw a ragged boy looking the car over with great interest. Instead of saying, “Get away from that car, kid,” he smiled at the youngster. The boy was the first to speak. “Is that car yours, Mister?” “Yes, it is,” was the reply. “What did it cost?” was the next question. “Nothing,” said the man. The boy looked at him curiously and said, “You don’t look like the kind of guy who would steal a car.” The owner laughed and said, “No, it was a present from my brother.” The boy seemed incredulous. “Do you mean to say he gave it to you as a present, and it didn’t cost you anything?” “That’s right.” Then the boy said the most surprising thing of all: “I sure do wish I could be such a brother as yours.” One might have expected him to say, “How I wish I could have such a brother as yours.” The man asked him what he meant, and he explained: “I’ll tell you. My youngest brother h

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). Concerning this passage, an eloquent preacher of the past wrote: “Many persons are caught with the most superficial contradiction. In the second verse it says, ‘Bear ye one another’s burdens’; and in the fifth it says, ‘Every man shall bear his own burden.’ As if both of them could not be true! As if a man carrying a burden for which he is especially responsible might not have it lightened somewhat by one who walked by his side and helped him! As if a little child carrying a heavily laden basket—which it was his task and business to carry, and which he had to take care of—might not be helped by another child walking by his side and taking hold of the handle. Might it not be said to one of them, ‘This is your burden, and you must see to it’; and to the other, ‘Help him with his burden.’ To bear one another’s burdens does not mean to take them from one another’s shoulders, but to help each other to carry them.”

I’ve been on both ends of this experience—the receiving and the giving. I remember when I first came to the United States from a warm climate. It was cold and I had no overcoat. How grateful I was to that servant of Christ, Melvin Wampler, who took off his coat and placed it on my shoulders. He went without so that I could be warm. In a similar manner I have often endeavored to do this for others. Believe me, however, there is more joy in giving and going without, than receiving and possessing.

The St. Bernard dogs in the Alps who seek out travelers lost in a storm take their mission very seriously. One of these dogs returned late one afternoon, wearied from fighting his way through the drifts. He went to his kennel, lay down in a corner, and acted thoroughly despondent, despite the efforts of his master to encourage him. Was he sick? Well, no—not in body, but in heart. He had failed to find anyone to help and had come back ashamed. It is such sorrow of heart, resulting in outbursts of tears on behalf of others, that should characterize the Christian.

A young man named John saw some ragged boys and invited them to Sunday school. One boy said he would go, but he had no coat. John gave him his coat and went in with him. Years afterward, a teacher of a Bible class told the story. A man in his class said, “I was that boy, and Dr. John G. Patton, one of the most famous missionaries of the ages, gave me his coat.”om

One of the greatest servants of Christ was Dr. Temple in England. A young clergyman who was being sent by Dr. Temple to a very difficult parish turned to him and said, “Dr. Temple, why do you send me there? Don’t you know how difficult it is? It’ll kill me if I go there.” You know what Dr. Temple’s reply was? “Well, you and I do not mind a little thing like that, do we? If what God has set for us to accomplish will require our lives, we should be willing to give our lives.”