To Be Like Spurgeon

Guest column from Rev. Michael Brooks of Siluria Baptist Church, Alabaster AL

The social media page is sponsored by young pastors who exult in beards, beer and cigars. I don’t remember how I found it nor why I hung around for so long. But I did a little back and forth with them and tried to gain and share ideas.

The beards—OK. No issue. If you want to look like a Puritan, that’s fine. But the beer and cigars were another story.

I’m not sure when cigars became a holy thing to this group, but they quoted Charles Spurgeon, considered the “prince of preachers” in his day, who talked about smoking cigars “to the glory of God.” The actual quote is: “I intend to smoke a good cigar before I go to bed tonight to the glory of God. It is a kind of incense drifting to heaven.”

No offense to Spurgeon, but contemporaries described him as “portly,” and he died at 57 of kidney failure and depression. Smoking cigars probably didn’t help his health or longevity.

Smoking a cigar to be like Spurgeon reminded me of being in college and a part-time pastor when Ed snapped the tab on his beer can in front of me. He apparently thought I was about to blast him. “Preacher,” he said, “there’s nothing wrong with my beer. Jesus drank wine.” 

I simply smiled sweetly but thought there are a number of more significant things we could do to be like Jesus!

I know we Baptists are outliers since we’ve traditionally promoted abstinence. We tell our impressionable teens their lives can be fulfilled without alcohol, they’re safer since 56 percent of serious accidents and highway fatalities involve alcohol, plus ten percent of those who begin to drink become problem drinkers—a sobering statistic, if you will.

There’s also the concept of influence, illustrated in the “idol meat” controversy in 1 Corinthians and Romans. 

The ancient world was filled with many gods, and pagans sacrificed to these just as the Jews sacrificed to Jehovah. Often the idol meat was sold in the marketplace at a discount. Some Christians purchased and consumed without issue, while others recoiled at what they thought was adulation of pagan gods.

Paul’s opinion was clear. An idol is nothing, so the meat is offered to nothing and therefore, no issue. But, he said, if I eat this meat and it causes my brother or sister angst, then I won’t eat this food. 

Whatever choices we make in life must include consideration of influence—how our choices affect our brothers and sisters in the faith and potentially lead them in the wrong direction. 

Since there’s no “one size fits all” approach, every believer must evaluate the scope and power of personal influence.

Michael J. Brooks, pastor of Siluria Baptist Church in Alabaster, Alabama and former Judson College faculty member, writes a weekly faith column. Visit siluriabaptist.com for more information. Rev. Brooks has graciously given ALPolitics.com permission to repost his regular pastoral column here.

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