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THE PILGRIMS' PREFERENCE “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.” (Psa. 137:1-6) Modern Christianity is filled with people who “prefer” all sorts of things. Folks prefer this church or that church, this Bible or that Bible, this preacher or that preacher, this fundamental camp or that fundamental camp, and so forth. Frankly, I’m just sick of the whole mess because most of the preferences that people have are not rooted in anything all that important. They’re just a bunch of selfish babies who demand that they have their way. Self denial and serious decision-making is a foreign concept to most modern Christians. Now, with the author of Psalm 137 it was a different story. Regardless of who the author was (and there are debates about the matter), he was sick of where he was, and he longed to be somewhere else. He was in Babylon, in captivity, a stranger in a strange land, but he said that He preferred Jerusalem above his chief joy. His preference was not a careless or weak preference. His preference was what you and I today would call a conviction, which is apparent from what he said about it: “. . . let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.” That’s a good bit stronger than someone preferring a preacher because he isn’t long-winded or someone preferring a church because it has a large youth department. Unlike modern Christians, the writer preferred something that God also preferred.That brings me to the subject of this message: a preference that someone else once had, a good and strong preference, much like that of the Psalmist. There was someone else who felt like strangers in a strange land, and they too had a strong preference to be somewhere else. Their preference was so strong that they took action, made some serious sacrifices, and ended up seeing their dream come true. It was on this day, September 16, 1620, that our pilgrim fathers boarded the Mayflower at Plymouth, England, and began a 65 day voyage across the Atlantic to start a new life in a new world. Last year around Thanksgiving I preached a message on The Pilgrims and the Israelites and gave you some rather interesting comparisons between the two. I also pointed out the significance of the number nine in the Pilgrim story, the number of fruitfulness in the Bible. Well, the voyage began in September, the ninth month on the calendar. But the voyage could not have begun at all if they had not first had a preference. They were not procrastinators; they were pilgrims. Their preference was so strong that they put their minds together, prayed about it, and decided to leave for a brand new world. It is that preference that I want to dwell on today. I. IT WAS A SPIRITUAL PREFERENCE. Before docking and stepping off onto the land, the Pilgrims drew up the Mayflower Compact. In part, it states that they came here for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith. Not a bad preference, huh? That’s why God blessed it. God always blesses a spiritual choice. Jesus said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Mat. 6:33) That’s what the Pilgrims did. It would have been a lot easier to just compromise some of their Biblical convictions and stay in the corrupt Church of England, but that’s not what spiritual people do. Had they been carnal, like most Christians today, that’s exactly what they would have done. They could have reasoned, “Hey, at least we’re in a church, and it must not be all that bad or so many people wouldn’t come here.” They could have also justified staying there by claiming that their children needed the social connections of other children, but they knew better. In fact, the negative influences of other children were one of the reasons they left! They could have claimed that they needed to stay there because there were no good educational institutions in the new world for their children, but that would not have been a spiritual argument.Economic hardships in the new world could have been an argument for staying, but they refused to give in to such carnal reasoning. The Pilgrims were a spiritually-minded people, so they made a spiritual choice. There was only one question to be answered: Is the life we are presently living the best for us and our children spiritually? The answer was “No,” so they left. If every Christian lived and made decisions by that same simple rule today, we’d have a national revival. But we’ve lost the Pilgrim spirit—the pioneer spirit that says, “I’m doing this even if no one else does and even if everyone thinks I’m insane.” If it’s right, then it’s right, regardless of the little or large numbers involved.The pilgrim choice was a spiritual choice, and we need to follow their example. II. IT WAS A NECESSARY PREFERENCE. I like the attitude of the Pilgrims. Unlike the Puritans, they didn’t attempt staying in the state church in hopes of things getting better. They reached the point of no return and gave of up hopes of any reform occurring within the Anglican Church. There is no cure for apostasy (II Chron. 36:16), and they knew it. They actually did attempt a compromise. About twelve years before crossing the Atlantic, they took a smaller step and crossed the English Channel to Holland. But in time they came to realize that a much larger step was needed. They could have justified staying at Holland. After all, it wasn’t as bad as the Anglican Church, where the Puritans still were. At least they had done something. But something wasn’t enough. They had to do the right thing, not just something. Jesus said, “. . . I must be about my Father's business . . . I must preach the kingdom of God . . . I must walk to day, and to morrow . . .” (Luke 2:49, 4:43, 13:33) That’s how the Pilgrims felt about what they were doing: we must leave this place and head for the new world. Friend, you’ll never amount to anything in life if you don’t learn to use that word and use it often: I must get serious about learning the Bible; I must pray and read the Bible; I must tithe; I must witness; I must attend a good strong church; I must train up my children right. You MUST be driven by a few “MUSTS” in your life, or you just won’t go very far. The Pilgrims’ “must” drove them clear across the Atlantic. III. IT WAS A BOLD PREFERENCE There was nothing easy about the Pilgrims’ preference. They had already gotten quite a name for themselves by leaving the Church of England and moving over to the mainland in Holland. However, it was still possible to visit family members and old friends on occasion, if they wished to do so. But this next move, thousands of miles across the Atlantic, would forever sever their ties with the folks back in the old world. That took some boldness. Then there was the danger factor. They’d heard stories about storms on the high seas and ships sinking, and they’d heard about Pirates. Then, even if they did safely reach the new world, how would they be treated by the natives? They might very well endure a long and hard voyage only to be massacred when they stepped out onto land. In fact, they had more reason to be fearful than one might imagine. They had already tried sailing in a ship called the Speedwell, but they had to come back because of leaks. It would have been much easier to just go back to England, dump some of their religious preferences, and be like everyone else. But that’s not the Christian heritage. That’s not the kind of preference that sent Paul on three missionary journeys. That’s not the kind of preference that nailed Luther’s 95 Thesis to the church door at Wittenberg. True Christian service requires boldness, so the Pilgrims took bold action. It’s easy to prefer something that doesn’t put much of a challenge before you, but that’s not our Christian heritage. Proverbs 28:1 says, “ . . . the righteous are bold as a lion.” Well, there’s nothing particularly bold about reading an NIV because it’s “easier to understand” or attending a big denominational church because “they have a lot going on for kids.” Most Christians today spend their lives taking the path of least resistance, but that path never takes you anywhere worth going. God, help us to have bold preferences and take the Pilgrim path. IV. IT WAS A LONG-TERM PREFERENCE. It was Bob Jones Sr. who said, “Never sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate.” The Pilgrims understood that. They understood that their decision to go to a new world was not a selfish and temporal decision. They knew that this endeavor, if successful, would make life better for future generations. Had they been temporal-minded, they’d never have left England, but their thoughts extended far beyond themselves. Consequently, here we are nearly 400 years later talking about their sacrifice. Will anyone talk about us 400 years from now? In the Millennial Kingdom, will anyone look back to the independent Baptists of twenty-first century America and find anything worth speaking about? I sure hope so. I hope we can be the Pilgrims of our day and age, the people who choose to be different for the glory of God and for the advancement of the Christian faith. I want to be remembered as the people who said “NO!” to Laodiceanism, denominationalism, ecumenicalism, and just plain sin. I want to cut a straight and narrow way through the wilderness so that our children and grandchildren will not have to travel the broad way to destruction. I don’t want to be a dead Anglican in the established church or a naïve Puritan who wastes his life trying to reform that which cannot be reformed. I want to be a Pilgrim who is driven by strong, life-changing, preferences. I hope and pray that you do as well. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Heb. 11:13)