the church of God (evening light): THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH Part 1b

THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH

Part 1b

Spiritual Practical

Herbert McClellan Riggle, D.D.

Author of

Beyond the Tomb; The Cream of My Life’s Work;

Christ’s Second Coming and What Will Follow;

The Sabbath and the Lord’s Day;

Christ’s Kingdom and Reign

GOSPEL TRUMPET COMPANY

Anderson, Indiana

CHAPTER 5

THE UNIVERSAL OR CATHOLIC PHASE OF THE CHURCH

THE ecclesia which Christ founded is the only universal church. As before seen in Daniel 2, it is spoken of as an everlasting kingdom which eventually is destined to fill the whole earth. The Church of God contains all true believers, all genuine Christians. As salvation constitutes us members of it, it follows that all the saved are its members. No one can be a Christian outside of the divine church. In many texts it is clearly stated that the church is the body of Christ. This being true, it must include all the members of that body. It is also spoken of as the household of faith. Therefore, it follows that every member of this household is in the church. Then in its universal phase the Church of God must include the family of God, and it is said to be one family in heaven and on earth, including all Christians. It is not a sect, but is the whole. Being the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, it comprehends all who are purchased with his blood.

This one distinguishing feature of the Church of God differentiates clearly between the genuine and false, between the divine New Testament ecelesia and all manmade institutions. It follows that any organization and institution called a church that does not include in its membership all the saved of earth is not the true Bible church. This one truth, the catholicity of the Church of God, locates every sect. All the religious denominations taken together come far short of including all Christians. In fact, before any of these institutions arose there were millions of Christians on the earth, all members of the New Testament Church of God. And right now, today, there are many thousands who are saved from sin and have never joined any of these human institutions. In holding membership in the one universal Church of God and in no other, and recognizing and extending the hand of warm Christian fellowship to all Christians everywhere, we stand clear of the sin of division. The church of this dispensation is not only catholic in its membership, but the religion of the Church of God will apply to all men of all nations. Christianity is the only universal religion. This being true, the church of God gathers into her folds the rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate, the high and the low, in short, all classes of all men, irrespective of their customs and manners among all the nations of the earth. Many of the religions of the world are local in their nature and apply only to certain classes. They have adopted peculiar customs, manners, etc., that are only local in their applications. But the religion of the New Testament church will apply to all classes of men. It imposes no peculiar customs or manners. There is but one Savior of all men. There is “none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Those who are saved by Christ are inducted by one Spirit into the one body, the church. This being true it follows that all who are outside of this one body are excluded from the grace of God. The faith that Jesus Christ gave to his church is a universal and exclusive faith. No other saves the soul. It is all-sufficient and complete. Everything contrary to it is false. Anything less is too little, and anything more is too much. All human ecclesiastical creeds are but subtractions from, or additions to the faith that Christ “once for all delivered to the saints.” There is one household of faith, one universal bride, and she has no sisters. God is one, and only one religion can emanate from him. As God is not the author of confusion, his church is not to be identified with a confused lot of rival and lifeless institutions. For emphasis here, I repeat the fact that there is but one church that emanates from God, the one purchased with the precious blood of Christ—the universal body of Christ, which includes all true Christians. This is the New Testament church. When we are members of Christ, we are members of his church.

Abide in Christ only and we are one, as Jesus expressed it in his prayer, “that they may be one IN US.” That is the secret. That presents to us the inevitable conclusion that the only thing today that holds people away from this sweet fellowship and visible unity is the denominational walls that they have built up. Obliterate these and a great forward step has been taken toward universal oneness in Christ. And brethren, this must be our attitude. If we put up any unscriptural walls and barriers of our own between ourselves and other true Christians, we become sectarian; but by abiding only in Christ and holding all true Christians everywhere as our brethren in the Lord, and by declaring with all boldness the visible unity of God’s people, we will, I believe, bring about the gathering together to the Bible standard of oneness all those who are in Christ Jesus. Thank God, the foundation on which the church rests, on which it was built, is deep enough and broad enough to include every Christian.

CHAPTER 6

THE LOCAL VISIBLE PHASE OF THE CHURCH

IN THE previous chapter we considered the catholic or universal phase of the New Testament church, and now we will consider the church as a visible, organic institution, in its local, congregational aspect. Let it be clearly understood that there is but one New Testament church, denominated the Church of God. But this one church is presented in the Bible under two distinct aspects—universal and local. The local is but the visible congregational phase of the general. The first distinct Christian church in its organic form was established at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. This first Christian church at Jerusalem was not made up of separate units unknown and unrecognized, individual saints scattered in different places throughout that city and community, but was a visible congregation which began with one hundred and twenty, and there were added three thousand members “UNTO THEM” as a body the first day of its organization (Acts 2:41), and from that day on “the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:47). In that upperroom meeting it is said “the number of NAMES TOGETHER were about an hundred and twenty” (Acts 1 :15). You see as people were being saved and added by the Lord to the church, this added these believers “UNTO THEM” as a visible assembly. Accordingly we read that “the number of the disciples was multiplied.” The inspired record tells us so. In a few days this church grew until “the number of men was about five thousand” (Acts 4:4).

Of this Christian assembly we read that they continued “daily with one accord in the temple,” and “all that believed WERE TOGETHER.” When Peter and John were let go by the Jewish authorities, they went “to their OWN COMPANY.” They didn’t hunt around all over the city for individual children of God, whether Jew or Gentile, but came direct to the assembly or congregation, which was the church at Jerusalem, and this is defined scripturally “their own company” (Acts 4:23-33). Now this company, or congregation, Luke tells us, was a great “multitude of them that believed” “assembled together.” This was the visible, organic church at Jerusalem. Absolutely so. Now in Acts 5 we read: “And great fear came upon all the church,” and “they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch, And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.” To this visible assembly, “believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.”

Now anyone can see at a glance from these and many other Scriptures that the church at Jerusalem was a visible, organized body of believers, a body in which the gifts of the Spirit were functioning. The apostles and elders ministered the Word in great power, and the deacons or stewards looked after the temporal affairs of that church. Ere long James was chosen as their pastor, or general overseer. Paul after his conversion at Damascus, came to Jerusalem, and it is said that “He assayed to join himself to the disciples.” But they were all afraid of him and believed not that he was a disciple. Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and the congregation, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and about his conversion to Christianity; and after being thus introduced and commended to their confidence, we read that “he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.” And himself began to speak “boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus.” See Acts 9 :26-29. This clearly proves that when Paul, who was already a member of the Church of God through salvation, sought the Christian church at Jerusalem, he went to the visible, organic assembly but was not recognized as a member of that congregation until certain contacts and recommendation had been made.

The church in this particular aspect is presented to us as a distinct, organized, visible institution with government; a body divinely arranged through the Holy Spirit with properly ordained officers. Such was the first Christian church that fulfilled the language of Jesus, “I will build my “church.” In this visible, organized aspect of the church, not all the people of God on earth were included or recognized in its visible membership. There is no question but that there were true people of God at this very time among the Jews who were members of God’s universal family and belonged to the household of God in its universal phase, but had no visible connection with the Christian church in this particular aspect. This was also true of the Gentiles. Peter was forced to admit this when he found the household of Cornelius at Caesarea (Acts 10). He said, “I perceive that. . . . in every nation he that worketh righteousness, is accepted of him.” These Gentiles were members of the family of God; but until Peter found Cornelius, he and his household had no knowledge of the Christian Church of God, and had no visible connection with it. It was contact with that church, enlightenment through the message, and acceptance of its principles that identified these scattered sheep among Jews and Gentiles with this visible Christian church.

There was a time when strictly the only Christian church on earth that fulfilled the language of Christ in Matthew 16 :18 was that visible body of believers in Jerusalem. I humbly ask, where else would one have been found? Not in Antioch, Ephesus, Athens, Corinth, or Rome. Only in Jerusalem. If a stranger from Athens, Greece had come to Jerusalem to seek and find the new Christian community, where would he have looked and sought? Do you suppose he would have hunted all over the city for individual people of God? No! He would have come to that visible body, that congregation of Christian believers called “the church” to whom new members were daily being added. Unquestionably this is what the people in and around Jerusalem recognized as the Church of God.

From page 1 of What Is the Church and What It Is Not, by D. S. Warner, I quote: “The words ‘church’ and ‘churches’ occur in the New Testament 109 times, always translated from ecclesia, which would have been more correctly rendered ‘congregation,’ which, with the Bible qualification, would have read, ‘The congregation of God,’’ the congregation of the firstborn,’ denoting its divine founder and owner; and ‘the congregation that is at Antioch,’ ‘the congregation of God which is at Corinth,’ ‘the congregations of Asia,’ ‘the congregations of Galatia,’ denoting the different geographical locations of the congregations of God scattered throughout the then known world.” D. S. Warner was absolutely correct, for ecclesia, from which church is rendered, means congregation.

When we read in the New Testament of the church at Antioch, the church of God in Corinth, the seven churches of Asia, etc., what do these expressions mean? Do they refer to people who were scattered in these communities as individual Christians? Not strictly so. These expressions refer directly to the visible organized body, or bodies, of people in the community referred to. The visible institution, organized congregation at Corinth with its pastor, officers, and the gifts of the Spirit functioning therein, in other words the assembly of God’s people is what Paul denominated “the Church of God at Corinth.” On referring to this visible body of people he said, “Ye are the body of Christ,” and this is the church. The New Testament church, then, in its congregation of God’s people who assemble together and worship God. These visible assemblies, from the Day of Pentecost on, are exactly what the New Testament calls the church—the Church of God.

The entire group of these visible congregations in primitive times was the Church of God in that age of the world’s history, and the same is true today when such congregations are planted and established in accordance with New Testament truth. Such visible assemblies present to us the organic, institutional phase of the church. In his excellent book, A New Approach to Christian Unity, p. 129, Charles Ewing Brown says, “A church is not a mere conglomerate assemblage of individuals. A church is a homogeneous group, a social organism.” Fine and correct. Then to take the stand that a group of such congregations, holding only the one divine head—Christ, and built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, holding membership in no humanly organized institution, but only in the one divine, spiritual, universal Church of God, have no right to the title “Church of God” would, on the same grounds, condemn the primitive church, and virtually would deny that there ever was a visible Church of God on earth, and that it is ever possible for the church in these last days to be restored to its primitive condition.

I desire at this point to make the fact clear that we, as a body of people, stand clear, when it comes to membership, of every human institution and organization called a church. These are absolutely not necessary or essential to the visibility of the New Testament church. Before any of them ever came into existence or were heard of, the New Testament church was an organic, visible body of people under one divine government, with Christ its living head, and were known as a distinct religious body of people in the earth, and the same is true today. Thank God, on this solid, scriptural foundation we stand. Holding membership through salvation in the one heavenly divine church built by Jesus Christ, and in no other, assembling together in harmony with the New Testament teaching and example, taking the New Testament in its entirety as our infallible creed and discipline, we boldly present to the Christian world today what we believe to be the only true basis of Christian unity for all God’s people.

Unquestionably, all the congregations scattered throughout the then known world taken together were the visible Christian church in primitive times. The pagans and Jews did not consider or look at anything else in those days as the Christian church, but this visible community. This was not merely accidental. It fulfilled to the letter the language of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 16 :18: “UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH; AND THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT.” The visible church at Jerusalem was the first Christian church on earth, and the mother church for all time. Here, then, we have the clear and distinct phase of the Church of God as a visible community.

In our consideration of this particular aspect of the New Testament church, I think it is well to view it from different angles. There are many good people who can see only one side of things. They are somewhat lopsided and out of balance. There are those who are idealists, and because of this preach and hold up a standard that no one can measure to. They themselves do not do it, and no one else can. Not only is this true as it applies to the individual members in their life and experience, but also to the local, visible congregation in its collective sense.

As individual members, without a single exception, among both the ministry and laity there are dark seasons and bright seasons. It is true that the fully saved have pure hearts and upon them rests the power of the Holy Spirit, and to them God says, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Such are saved and cleansed from every sinful, carnal proclivity to wrong—as anger, envy, jealousy, pride, stubbornness, and related carnal elements. In fact the blood of Jesus cleanses “from all sin.” But with all this we are still human, and holiness does not deliver us from our natural dispositions, temperaments, likes and dislikes, weaknesses, and many other things that we have to contend with and combat and seek to overcome through long years of hard struggle. A careful study of the lives of the outstanding characters of both the Old and New Testament clearly reveals a great variety of temperaments, weaknesses, human faults, and natural shortcomings that are outstanding, as well as their strong points of character. The same is true of every one of us today. To stress clear out of proportion just the bright side of life will put honest souls under accusation unnecessarily and weaken Christian confidence, and this method will ere long destroy any church.

True, the Bible teaches that we can have “joy unspeakable and full of glory,” “peace that passeth all understanding,” “everlasting joy,” and the love of God “shed abroad in our hearts”; but along with this, “if need be for a season,” we may be “in heaviness through manifold temptations,” and like Paul, have “fightings without and fears within.” Yes, we may pass through very discouraging seasons in our Christian lives.

I have heard some good people assert: “I never get discouraged.” But one need be with them only a very short time until he sees opposite manifestations. Paul himself had seasons of real discouragement. When the brethren from Rome came down to Three Taverns and Appii forum to meet him and extend welcome, “he thanked God, and took courage” (Acts 28:15). The language implies that he had been passing through a discouraging time.

Now let us look at our church relations and work as visible assemblies of God’s people. A local church is composed of a group of people from every walk of life. Some of these are educated and highly refined, others are just the opposite. Some members may be financially well-to-do, others poor. Some of the men are courteous and polite in their manners, others naturally coarse and uncouth. Some of the women are very tidy housekeepers, others not so particular. Some are calm and reserved and conventional in their manners, others quick, impulsive, nervous, and sentimental. In a congregation of any size, like Paul and Peter in contrast, some will be found broad-minded and liberal in their views, and others narrow and extremely intolerant. What a variety of temperaments, dispositions, likes and dislikes! Yes, and what a difference of ideas and opinions they have about many things that pertain to their church work and yet are not strictly essential. All this and much more may be found in one local assembly. And yet these people must learn to get along with each other somehow. This means that although many if not all of the membership are both saved and sanctified, you just cannot strictly enjoy everybody’s manners and dispositions That is why Paul exhorts the members of a local assembly of the necessity of “for bearing one another in love,” and “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

In view of all this, there is no congregation that is strictly ideal. Each congregation will have troubles and difficulties to contend with, and because of this will need much grace and brotherly love. In Jesus’ first company of only twelve preachers there were troubles and abnormal conditions that arose, with Jesus right with them in person. Yes, in this small company of converted men with their unsanctified natures, there were some who wanted the highest seats, and the others got angry about it. There was a contention among them about who would be the greatest. Some wanted to command fire to come down from heaven upon those who opposed them. As you read the account you will note how often Jesus had to reprove these apostles and correct their mistakes. And what trouble he had with the leader of the whole group—Simon Peter! Time and again his impulsiveness got him into difficulty. Paul and Barnabas did not agree about taking John Mark with them on a second missionary tour, and you know the result. Peter, when an old minister, acted unwisely and entirely out of place at Antioch, so that Paul was forced to rebuke him sharply before all, and Barnabas defended Peter’s position which was, in this case, the wrong side. Read Galatians 2 :11-18. Right here I want to call attention to the fact that these men of God did not allow such matters as these to break their implicit confidence in each other, nor to destroy the unity of the church. After the episode over John Mark, Paul wrote Timothy as follows: “Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry” (2nd Timothy 4:11). What a beautiful spirit this demonstrated! Did the incident between Paul and Peter at Antioch destroy their confidence and unity? God bless you, NO. Paul, in the same epistle where he relates the above incident, refers to Peter as a pillar of the church (Galatians 2 :9); and Peter, in his epistle refers to Paul as “our beloved brother Paul.” These Christian ministers were too big and magnanimous in spirit to allow differences of this kind, that were not necessarily fundamental, to break the unity of their church work. Great God, give us more of their spirit today!

It is possible to stress with great force the first assembly and model church for all time, that congregation at Jerusalem, and in doing so present only the bright side and give an entirely wrong impression of things. True, it is said of this church that “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” “Great grace was upon them all.” “They were all of one accord.” “With great power gave the apostles witness.” “Of the rest durst no man join himself to them.” “And they were healed every one.” Now this was a wonderful picture, and it was all true, but it presents but one side of this church and its work. Let us turn the picture and take a square look at the other side of this church. Presenting that bright side alone would naturally lead people to believe that there is no assembly of God’s people on earth today anywhere that measures up to that first church at Jerusalem. But listen, “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministrations” (Acts 6:1). The original word for murmuring here means to mutter and grumble. What, you ask, among those Jerusalem saints who were all filled with the Holy Ghost? Yes, trouble arose right in the midst of them.

At a very early date James became the pastor, or general overseer of this church at Jerusalem, and we are told that certain ones went out from this very assembly to Antioch and troubled the church there, subverting their souls (see Acts 15:1-24), and Paul and Barnabas had “no small dissension and disputation with them.” This situation finally resulted in the great conference at Jerusalem (Acts 15), at which there was “much disputing” (vs. 7) before the question was fully settled. More than twenty years after the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the Jerusalem church, Paul went up to Jerusalem and declared to James and all the elders of that assembly “what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry” (Acts 21:17-19). While those assembled there rejoiced to learn this, they said to Paul, “Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law” (Acts 21:20). They advised Paul to shave his head, take a vow, and purify himself in the Temple according to Moses’ law, which he did. Of course this got him into trouble, and he was arrested as a result. But this presents the other side of this Jerusalem church. They had their difficulties just the same as local churches have today. And they did not get rid of nor cast off many of their old traditions for many years after they were filled with the Holy Ghost. And some people are as slow to learn today as they were back there. We need to be patient with them.

Let us consider the church at Corinth. Paul planted it and remained with the congregation a year and six months (Acts 18:1-11). Apollos watered this assembly, and God gave the increase (1st Corinthians 3:6). Although under direct apostolic supervision, everything in this assembly was not strictly ideal. Paul, in his wisdom in writing to this church, presents both the bright and dark side of things. He addressed them as “the Church of God which is at Corinth,” “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1st Corinthians 1:1-2). From this we learn that a goodly number of this assembly were baptized in the Holy Spirit and sanctified. He says further, “I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Christ Jesus; that in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge... so that ye come behind in no gift” (1st Corinthians 1:4-7). Of them he testified, “Ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building” (3 :9). “Ye are washed, but ye are sanctified . . by the Spirit of our God” (6:11). “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? . . . for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” By reading 1st Corinthians 12 it will be seen that the nine gifts of the Spirit were being exercised in their midst. There are many more quotations from Paul’s two epistles to this congregation that show the bright side of things as demonstrated in them.

But now let us look at the other side. Some of this assembly were still “babes in Christ” and were “yet carnal” (1st Corinthians 3:1-3). They were not necessarily backslidden and become carnal, but they were still in the babyhood stage, not wholly sanctified. In other words, some members of this congregation had not gone on to Christian perfection, were “BABES IN Christ” and “YET CARNAL.” Among this unsanctified part of the congregation there was “envying and strife and divisions” (1st Corinthians 3 :3). They even allowed a rank fornicator to profess among them (1st Corinthians 5:1-2). They went to law with each other before the courts of the land (1st Corinthians6:1-8). They terribly abused the observance of the sacred Lord’s supper (1st Corinthians 11:17-22); and the sanctified brethren of this church abused the gift of tongues with a lot of inconsistencies, so that Paul devoted an entire chapter of his first epistle to correct their wrong exercise of the gift (chapter 14). Some among them denied the resurrection of the dead, and the apostle devoted a whole chapter to settle them in this doctrine (1st Corinthians 15). Here then we see that this congregation, planted and established by Paul and under strict apostolic supervision, was by no means ideal, and abnormalities crept in.

Did you ever notice that almost all of Paul’s epistles to these primitive local churches were corrective? Of the seven churches of Asia, planted by this great apostle, only one or two were free from faults. The church at Ephesus with Timothy as its pastor, was found lacking in its first love and needed to repent. Many more examples could be given to show that in primitive times they had many of the same things to deal with, many of the same problems, and many of the same conditions we have today—and that under direct apostolic supervision and oversight. In some respects many of our local assemblies today are in a better condition than some of those primitive congregations. Paul’s writings are full of good advice to members of these local, visible assemblies. For example, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). And again, in verse 31 of the same chapter, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.” “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5 :21). “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye” (Colossians 3:12-13). Remember this advice was given to church members, and if obeyed and followed out in a practical way, despite all the differences and human abnormalities that may arise in a congregation, it is possible for brethren to dwell together in love and unity; and always, at all times, under all circumstances they should “endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

CHAPTER 7

HOW A LOCAL CHURCH CAN SUCCEED

OF THE church at Ephesus it is said, “So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed” (Acts 19:20). Of the church at Antioch we read “And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord” (Acts 11:21). Also of the church at Jerusalem, “And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women” (Acts 5 :14). From these texts we gather that irrespective of some abnormalities and difficulties that arose, these local assemblies were a glorious success for God. The same can be true today. There is absolutely no need of failure. There are certain conditions or essentials that enter into the success of any congregation. Some of these I wish to point out.

LEADERSHIP AND DIRECTION

An army must have a commander in chief. Upon his shoulders rests the responsibility of success or failure. An army where all the soldiers would try to direct and lead would be a miserable failure. The same is true in a nation. Take our own country, the United States of America. We elect a President whose duty and responsibility is to direct the ship of state. We also elect a Congress and Senate to cooperate with and assist in this great work.

Now this principle holds good in the work of the church. God has placed “governments” in the church (1st Corinthians 12 :28). In the success of any work it is essential that the pastor or overseer be an example in experience and life so that he or she can lead the flock. In the Orient a shepherd never drives his sheep. He always goes before the flock, leads them, and they follow him. How can a pastor succeed in getting people soundly converted and subsequently sanctified unless he himself has this experience! How can he feed his flock food that he himself has never tasted? Much depends on the overseer. It is an old but true saying, “Like priest, like people.” God wants a clean ministry—men and women of deep piety and spirituality whose lives are above reproach.

Paul said, “Ye have us for an example.” That is the idea, “being examples to the flock” (1st Peter 5 :3). A preacher’s life must be such that he can say to his congregation as Paul did, “Those things, which ye have heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.” The duty of the pastor is to “feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof” (1st Peter 5:2). Again, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). God foretold through the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 3 :15) that he would “give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.”

Unless a church is properly fed it cannot prosper. Too many sermons are dry, dogmatic, lifeless, and dead. They contain no vitamins—that is, no real food. Congregations starve, and the pastor is responsible. Then there are pastors who are idealists, and get the trough so high that only the big, strong sheep can reach it, and they must stretch their necks terribly to do so. The lambs get nothing. Congregations die under such methods.

As before stated, the responsibility of every phase of church work rests upon the pastor. This is true not only of the general congregational work, but also of the Sunday school, young people’s society, and missionary organization. A good pastor should be able to give direction and superintendency in all the departments of his church work. He should not domineer as a lord, but cooperate with the leaders of each department.

COOPERATION AND SUBMISSIVNESS

A congregation where all want to lead is always a failure. The philosophy of anarchy is this: “Who made you a ruler over me! Who authorized anyone to be my superior and to govern me! I am fully capable of self-government.” Now this philosophy is advocated by certain ones in every nation all around the world. And the spirit of this very thing will be found in some local churches. There are those who say, “I am under no man’s rule and will not recognize authority and government.” These are spiritual anarchists. They utterly ignore the solemn charges enjoined in Hebrews 13 :7 and 17. “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God: whose faith follow.” “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.” Paul solemnly charges every member of the church to submit “yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” People must learn and practice submission. We cannot all have our own way. Very frequently there are those who declare, “If it doesn’t go my way, I balk right here.”

I was born and raised on a farm, and I well remember that we once had a balky horse, and of all the contrary creatures to hinder work being done, it was that animal. But sometimes similar animals get into the church. Billy Sunday once said that “some church members wear out more holding-back straps than tugs.” Of course you understand that holding-back straps are to retard or stop progress forward. Tugs are intended for pulling and moving forward. A church, to succeed, must use the tugs a great deal more than the other straps. I have been in groups where it seemed that the whole congregation climbed up into a large carriage, with the church board sitting on the front seat holding fast the lines. When I looked at the shafts, behold, the poor pastor was harnessed up and hitched to the carriage and was expected to pull the entire load. What a sight! But this is some people’s idea of church work. Hitch up the pastor and let him do all the work. Sometimes we hear the expression from some leading member, “That’s what we pay him for.” Allow me to say right here that no church following this method will ever succeed. The church board must climb down from its seat of authority, and every member as well, and hitch up with the pastor and all together push and pull for success.

No pastor can succeed without the whole-hearted, united support of his congregation. Just as an army cannot succeed unless it follows the commander, neither can a government succeed unless it stands by and follows the ruler. Just so with the church. “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves.” Openly to claim support, and then secretly plan to ruin sets in motion a power and creates influences and sentiments that will destroy any work. Half-hearted support counts for little. To succeed, ALL must pull together, work together, stand together, and move forward.

THE CHURCH A PRAYING CHURCH

The secret of success at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost and thereafter is expressed as follows, “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren” (Acts 1:14). Of those early preachers in that church we read, “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6 :4). Probably the greatest lack in the church today and the greatest need of our times is more earnest, fervent, soul-wrestling, prevailing prayer. Jesus gave us a wonderful example of this. He had only three and one-half years to accomplish the great work assigned him during his public ministry. And yet when we study his prayer life, what a great outlay of time he devoted to this. On some occasions it is said that he did not find time “no not even to eat.” Yet he did take time to pray. Sometimes early in the morning, long before it was day, while others were sleeping he stole off to the mountain side and prayed. Again we find that sometimes he spent whole nights in prayer. His prayers were not formal, a mere saying of prayers, but we read that “in the days of his flesh. . . . he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears” (Hebrews 5:7).

Men of power in all ages have been men of prayer. Just a few examples are John Knox, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Charles G. Finney, Jonathan Edwards, D. L. Moody, and D. S. Warner. The secret of the success of these men in the work of God was not their outstanding ability and talent, not their superiority above their fellows along educational lines, but their devotion and prayer life. Prayer is the power house of the church’s accomplishment. It connects us with heaven’s dynamo, sends the spiritual electric current down the line, and sets the church on fire for God. Problems arise, but prayer solves them. Troubles come, but prayer dispels them. Discouraging times appear, but prayer lifts us above them all.

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

THE CONGREGATION A CHURCH OF POWER

The world today is cursed with dead religions and formal churches. Then on the other side are a number of new wild-fire, weird demonstrational religious bodies who have gone to the other extreme. This generally presents modern Christianity as a sorry spectacle. The Church of God to accomplish her mission in the world must strike a middle ground, the highway of true holiness, and be a church of power. This must be true, and demonstrated in her individual membership, in her local assemblies, and in the general visible representative body of believers. When we lose the power, there is no progress; we may cling to the form of doctrine, but the vital principle—the kernel—is gone.

Nothing so awakens man’s ambition as power, whether commercial power, corporate power, money power, military power, political power, or governmental power. As we look about us we see there are different kinds of power: (1) The forces of nature, as wind, water, fire, electricity, gravitation, radium, etc. Man has been able to summon all these forces, harness them up, and use them for his service. No doubt if the world stands long enough, other forces will be discovered. (2) There is physical force. This is the power to build, plant, and set the wheels of machinery and industry going in every direction. (3) Mental force. The power of ideas. Power to plan, invent, discover, etc. We stand today astounded at what man has accomplished in this field. He ransacks the heavens and amidst the galaxies, infinities, and immensities of the universe with which we are surrounded, unlocks mysteries that have been hidden for ages. He delves into the strata of the rocks and in the stone-book of nature reads to us the history of our earth. But there is a greater power than all these combined. It is a spiritual-moral force—the power to overcome evil, dethrone sin and idolatry in individuals and nations, to build character that will stand the tests of earth and time, overcome the attacks of Satan and hell, press through walls of opposition and mountains of difficulty, yes, an influence that spells success always, under all circumstances, in all places, in this time world, and secures an eternal reward hereafter.

This is not mere physical exertion, the power of logic, or the power of eloquence. Mere argument does not often win souls. Sheet lightning dazzles and flashes and is beautiful to behold, but seldom kills anything. It takes forked lightning to do this. Our mission is to save souls. There is tremendous force in words, but “sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal” will not save.

Then what is this power? It is the power of the Holy Spirit, “power from on high,” being “full of power by the Spirit of the Lord.” In short, it is the mighty, unlimited power of God through the Holy Spirit. It is not something we generate ourselves; it is no more worked up than a thunder shower. A church of power must have a ministry of power. We read “with great power gave the apostles witness.” Paul said of his preaching, “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.” But this is not only for preachers, but of the early church we read, “They were ALL filled with the Holy Ghost,” and “great grace [power] was upon THEM ALL” The prophet Micah testifies: “But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might” (Micah 3 :8). When a congregation has this experience, there is no room for divisions, surmisings, faultfindings, criticisms, envyings, and jealousies. It is when this divine Holy Ghost power is lacking that these other elements begin to work.

What fire and steam is to machinery, this power is to any church. With it, a congregation breathes the atmosphere of heaven, wields an influence for Christ, and is able to deal with the manifold evils of the times. It is not merely for enjoyment, but for use. In Acts 1 :8 we read that this endowment of power is that the church may witness for Christ. Plant a post and you have nothing but a post. Pull it up and plant a tree. The roots begin to spread, the earth responds and gives life, the branches shoot out and bud and leaf and bear fruit. The beasts gather under the shade, and the birds sing in the branches. How different! Reader, which of these represents your place and standing in the church! Are you a mere post that contributes nothing, or are you a fruitbearing tree of righteousness!

We, as members of the church, are to use this power to the glory of God, and then it uses us. It will make you eminently spiritual, fill you with enthusiasm, yes, unbounded enthusiasm. It will give you the experience expressed by one of the seers of old: “His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones.” This experience will make preachers eloquent. In your study you can gather materials, but in the pulpit this power will set those materials on fire. With this, a stripling can meet a Goliath, and a stammerer can become an Apollos. Moody called it “the old gospel with a new power.” For both pastor and laity it constitutes the equipment for effective service.

A CHURCH OF PIETY AND SPIRITUALITY

In 1st Corinthians 2:10-15 the apostle places before us two classes, two distinct kinds of people, in sharp contrast— “the NATURAL man,” and “the SPIRITUAL man.” By “natural” the apostle does not mean the outward physical man, for all possess this nature; and by “spiritual” he does not mean those who have passed into the eternal, glorified state. We inquire then, what does Paul refer to? A careful reading of the above portion of Scripture makes this clear. By natural man he means the unconverted, unregenerated, the unsaved, all who have not the Spirit of Christ. Such may be good moral folk, but spiritually dead, dead to God, and dead to the realm of spiritual things. They may possess many good traits and works, but mere works without faith are “dead works.”

There are two sides to true religion: the spiritual and the practical. It takes both to constitute a person and a church member in good standing in any local assembly. People may be intelligent thinkers, and have philosophical minds, but yet not be spiritual. There are too many such who are active in local church work. A spiritual person is one who is awakened by the Spirit of God, alive to God, and in vital touch with heaven. Here is Paul’s description of a spiritual man: he will “LIVE in the Spirit,” “WALK in the Spirit,” be “LED by the Spirit,” is “AFTER the Spirit,” will “MIND THE THINGS of the Spirit,” “WORSHIP God in Spirit,” is “FERVENT in Spirit,” will “PRAY in the Spirit,” and “SING in the Spirit,” the “manifestation of the Spirit is given to them,” “the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities,” and he is daily “strengthened with might by his Spirit.” How does your experience and life tally with this description? In Galatians 3:3 Paul speaks of some who “having begun in the Spirit,” afterwards hoped to be “made perfect by the flesh.” Oh, how many there are today who belong to this class! Paul pronounced them “bewitched.”

There is no question but that spirituality must be the characteristic of God’s people, both individually and collectively, in order for them to fulfill the work and mission God has assigned to his church. This is true because this is preeminently the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, and the Christian church is declared to be a “spiritual house” made up of spiritual people. Nothing but spiritual service and worship is acceptable to God. Dead formal worship is obnoxious to God. Deep piety and spirituality will rate the measure of our usefulness individually, and collectively as a congregation. I want to stress this fact. It is not natural talent, ability, or mere opportunities, but your degree of spirituality that counts. To attain the measure of God’s usefulness for you, enter the holiest of all, live in the inner circle of God’s will, near the heart of God, and drink deep “into the Spirit.”

A lot of things have been substituted for spirituality. It is not religious excitement and mere noise. All will admit that Jesus Christ was eminently spiritual, but I cannot conceive of his being very demonstrative or noisy. When he preached he sat down on the mountain side or in the boat and taught the people. Yet there was a power and heavenly anointing that accompanied his messages so that the people were compelled to say, “Never man spake like this man.” On the other hand, there are times when spirituality will produce noise and demonstration among religious people. This was clearly demon strated when Jesus rode on a colt down the western slope of the Mount of Olives, and entered the Temple grounds. The multitude of his disciples went before and after in loud demonstration of praise and thanksgiving, crying and saying, “Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.” In their religious excitement and enthusiasm they even cast their garments in the way and broke off the branches from the trees and strewed them before him. Of the disciples it is said, “They were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.” Both in the Old and New Testaments there are many examples of holy demonstration, but this in itself is not spirituality.

Spirituality is not mere zeal, earnestness, self-sacrifice, and self-denial. People may have all these and yet not be spiritual. There is danger sometimes in mistaking these elements for spirituality. But on the other hand, real pious, spiritual people are zealous, earnest, and self sacrificing in their lives. Again, spirituality is not mere orthodoxy in doctrine and practice. It is possible to be strictly orthodox in our teaching and belief and biblical in our outward practice, and yet lack vital spirituality.

In short, spirituality is the result of being “filled with the Spirit.” It is divine life in the soul, direct, sweet fellowship with God, an inward, burning passion of God’s love in the soul that enables the members of the church to “love one another with a pure heart fervently”; and fills them with a burning passion for lost men and women around them. Paul terms it in his own life the power that “worketh in me mightily” True spirituality will be visibly demonstrated in all who have the experience. It will be manifest in their conversation. Such people talk about spiritual things. It will be felt in our prayers, singing, testimonies, and preaching. It makes the service of God a delight and not a drag. Such delight themselves in the Lord, in his Word, work, and people. The performance of Christian service is not prompted by a sense of mere duty and compulsion, but “the love of Christ constraineth us.”

There are some definite signs when people are spiritual. One is life and activity. There are too many professors of religion whose pulse one must feel to ascertain whether they are alive. They have some activity but it is merely mechanical. To a spiritual person all Christian performance, such as attending church, praying, singing, witnessing, financial giving, etc., is a delight, a real pleasure, the natural outflow of an inward condition. Such people enjoy spiritual taste. “O taste and see.” Yes, they have a real appetite and thirst for spiritual things. They also have vision. They are able “to see that the Lord is good.” They are also sensitive to the checks of the Holy Spirit. They have spiritual hearing. “Hear, and your soul shall live.”

There are too many professing Christians who are dull of hearing when it comes to the Holy Spirit’s voice of warning against abstaining “from all appearance of evil.” Here are some safe rules. First, in your dress. “Do all to the glory of God.” What you cannot put on to his glory, leave off. Second, indulge in nothing that you would not want to be doing the very hour that death overtakes you. Third, go no place you would not want to be found when the last trump of God will sound and you are summoned into the august presence of the great judge of the universe.

There are some essentials to spirituality. It cannot be attained without a complete consecration and dedication of ourselves and all we have to God forevermore. This means a surrender to the entire will of God, without a single reserve. We must daily drink of the Spirit through much fervent prayer and holy meditation. It means a clean life, both secret, family, and public. People must be liberal with their means, for “the liberal soul shall be made fat.” When church members bring their tithes and offerings and deposit them in the house of the Lord, God will always verify his promise: “Prove me now herewith.. . . if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” We must walk in all the light and measure up on every point. Look out for number one, and get your eyes off the faults and failures of others.

A local assembly that is eminently spiritual will find itself far above the groveling things of this wicked world and sin. It will be living in “heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” It takes spiritual people to have spiritual meetings, and such only can demonstrate to the world old-time, experimental religion, and make the same attractive. Such a church is a lighthouse, a soul-saving institution. Such congregations are a pleasure to God and an honor to his cause, and point the community to a higher and better life.

CHURCH SEPARATE FROM SIN AND SINNERS

A church that is clean and separate from sin and sinners is the ideal which every local assembly should strive to attain. God never did, in any dispensation of the world’s history, approve of mixture. He always designed to have a clean, separate, distinct people to represent him on the earth. When the descendants of Seth intermarried and mixed with the descendants of Cain, it brought God’s wrath upon the earth and finally resulted in the flood. See Genesis 6. Later, when the whole world was given over to idolatry, God selected Abraham, whose kinsmen were idol worshipers, and said, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing” (Genesis 12:1-2). This, as we clearly showed in a previous chapter, was fulfilled in the Jewish nation. God solemnly charged that his people keep separate and distinct from all other peoples, for he chose them to be a “holy nation” unto himself. As long as they obeyed God in this respect, his blessing and favor rested upon them. But when they mixed up with the other nations with whom they were surrounded, judgment from the Almighty was poured out upon them.

When the Israelites entered the land of Canaan and captured Jericho, one of their number, Achan, trans gressed the command of God. The result was that when they went out to capture Ai they were slaughtered and defeated. When Joshua, their leader, inquired of the Lord the cause of this defeat, God said, “There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee.” Achan had stolen a “Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold,” and “the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,” because of this. By the command of the Lord, Achan and his household were destroyed from among God’s people, and then they marched on victorious. This shows that God not only is pleased in having an exclusive, separate church and people in the earth, but he wants them to keep clean from sin among themselves.

Another striking example is the case of Gideon as found in the sixth and seventh chapters of Judges. God selected Gideon to deliver Israel from the oppression of the Midianites and the Amalekites. When Gideon called for volunteers to help him in this great work, an army of thirty-two thousand stepped out on the Lord’s side. God, who sees the hearts of all men, said to Gideon, “The people that are with thee are too many.” So he put them to the test: “Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return.” On that day twenty-two thousand returned to their homes. That left but a small army of ten thousand. After God looked them over he said, “The people are yet too many.” So he gave them another test, and finally out of thirty-two thousand there were three hundred selected whom God could use. With this small company the Lord defeated the Arab hosts of Midian and delivered Israel. The truth we gather is that the Lord is not so much interested in a big work as he is in a clean work.

You see God is a holy, righteous God, an exclusive God. He recognizes no other god (Isaiah 44:8). The Philistines once tried to force Jehovah to recognize their deity, Dagon, and fellowship him. They placed the ark of the covenant, that they had stolen, in their idol temple beside Dagon. The next morning they found Dagon fallen down before the God of Israel. They set him up again, and the next time they found him not only fallen down but broken in pieces. This simply proves that God is a jealous God and will not recognize any other. Of his people he demands, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

Being a righteous, holy, and exclusive God, our Lord wants a holy, righteous people to represent him here on the earth. We have seen in previous chapters that the church is now the dwelling place of God through the Spirit, his house, and this is true of its individual members as well as the collective body; we can see why God demands a clean, pure, holy people to represent him on earth. The place of his dwelling must be holy. When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush in the wilderness he said, “Put off thy shoes . . . . for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” When God came down on Mount Sinai, the whole mountain was sanctified and hallowed with his glory. We have seen that the same was true in the tabernacle in the wilderness and the Temple at Jerusalem. Being the dwelling place of Jehovah, they were termed “the holy house.”

Since the New Testament church, individually and collectively, local and general, is God’s house, his temple and sanctuary, it is still true as Paul says, “The temple of God is HOLY, which temple YE ARE.” So God gives us a solemn injunction: “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” This emphasizes the solemn charge “Come out from among them, and BE YE SEPARATE” (2nd Corinthians 6:14-18). This comprehends separation from dead formalists. In 2nd Timothy 3 :1-5 Paul tells us that one of the outstanding characteristics of professed Christianity in the “last days” of this world’s career, and one that would make these last times “perilous,” would be that professors of religion “shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: FROM SUCH TURN AWAY.” This Scripture obeyed will bring out from all dead, formal religions bodies the true people of God. And God is accomplishing this very thing in the very time in which we are now living—the gathering of God’s people from all places where they have been scattered during the apostasy, back to the heights of Zion—the beautiful divine New Testament church—robed and adorned in the garments of righteousness and holiness, is now going on.

A CHURCH OF WORKERS

“So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work” (Nehemiah 4:6)). Nehemiah had a commission from God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He had a divine commission, and he was a strong leader, but he could not accomplish the work himself. It was too great for him. The people cooperated and helped. They felt the responsibility, shared it, and went to work.

Just so with church work. Every local congregation and every member of such a congregation, to be successful, must have a mind to work. Too many church members have no vision any larger than the walls of the building in which they worship. Some people’s vision has broadened enough to include the town or the community where they live, but farther than this they cannot see. Their idea of service is just to meet once or twice a week in their religious gathering, sing and pray and hear the sermons preached. They feel no burden or sense of responsibility for the lost world around them. Oh, for a mighty awakening in every local assembly of God’s people. The church is the Lord’s medium to disseminate the light and truth of the gospel of salvation to the lost world. That is the church’s mission, the purpose for which it was established in the earth. Any congregation then, to be successful, must get down to earnest, hard work.

While we were missionaries in Syria, I picked up the Gospel Trumpet and my attention was attracted by the heading of a certain article written by A. T. Rowe. The title was: “Meet an Old Friend.” Naturally I wondered who this friend might be, but I did not read far until I had the solution. This friend was defined “Hard Work.” Any local assembly, to be successful, must go to work. I repeat, to us is committed the immense responsibility of carrying the message of saving truth to those about us—to our own kinsfolk, to our neighbors, the community where our church is located, and then to the world at large. We will enjoy our religion better if we share it with others, and our purpose should be to win. You cannot drive, force, or scare people into a full acceptance of the truth; you must win them. “He that WINNETH souls is wise.” Jesus said: “I will DRAW.” We must show an interest in folk, go after them, make them welcome, be friendly, kind, and courteous. Paul said God will give you “mouth and wisdom.”

There is something about personal touch, making contacts and showing an interest in people that counts immensely in church work. Of course you must show an interest yourself in every department of the work in order to create an interest in others. Every local church should be 100 per cent Sunday-school attenders, and would it not be fine if every Sunday school was 100 per cent church attenders?

All wealth is the product of labor, both mental and physical. All great achievements, whether in the field of invention, industry, or governments, are the result of hard work. Work is beneficial. It is conducive to health and increases appreciation and economy. Our slogan should be: Keep on the job; keep pegging away; keep eternally at it. Your field of opportunity may not be so great as some others in the church; but if you get busy, you can accomplish something. Activity is the result of spiritual life and is conducive to it. Spiritual inactivity, carelessness, indifference, laziness, stupidity, lethargy, and a general lack of interest will render individual members impotent, and the local assembly as a whole absolutely dead and powerless. Great God, awaken thy church!

Such people mistake the true meaning of religion. They imagine they can step on a spiritual elevator and be carried automatically up into heaven without any effort on their part. They forget the responsibility of life. They fail to realize fully that they must render an account to God in the judgment for how they spend every day of life, how they avail themselves of all the opportunities of life, and how they use the talents and qualifications they possess. The devil chloroforms them when it comes to spiritual things. Oh, yes, they are alive to business, to money making, to politics, and a hundred other things of earth and time; but they are asleep and dead to God, dead to spiritual things, dead to real soul saving work. God pronounces “woe” upon such. Such a life of carelessness in the church is detrimental to one’s own soul and has a bad effect upon others. An inactive, sleeping church is not attractive to sinners, and will never have genuine revivals of true religion. In a real, live, active, awakened assembly, the spirit of salvation work will continue the whole year through. If people would really get busy, what they could accomplish! If every member of every assembly would at least win one soul for Christ in a year, how their church would grow, not only in numbers, but in spirituality and influence as well.

A CHURCH THAT PRACTICES WHAT IT PREACHES AND PROFESSES

“Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?” (Romans 2:21). “Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God?” (Romans 2:23). “Wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doeth the same things” (Romans 2:1). “And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” (Romans 2:3). From these texts, with many others that could be given, we see that the great imperative need of the time is for each saint of God, each preacher, each local assembly, and the church in general to practice what we profess and teach. Not to do this is to rob our message of its power and effectiveness, to make our selves a laughing stock to those around us, and worse than all this, fall under the judgments of Almighty God.

There are too many blue-print, picture-book preachers and sermons. What do we mean? Before a structure of any value is erected, the mechanic or draftsman draws a blue print, a detailed outline of the structure to be erected; some architects will even draw a picture which shows exactly what the building itself should look like. Now in the Bible, particularly the New Testament, we have the blue print in detail, showing just what the church should be. Not only so, but the picture of the beautiful, symmetrical New Testament Church of God is graphically portrayed. It is not enough continually to call attention to the blue print and picture as given in the Scriptures. People get tired of looking at a mere blue print, at a picture of something. They want to see the real thing itself, and they have a right to demand this. But the Word of God strictly enjoins us not merely to show the picture, but to “show THE HOUSE” itself.

On the Day of Pentecost Peter first presented the picture as portrayed by the prophet Joel. See Joel 2:28-32; compare with Acts 2:14-21. But he didn’t stop there. He boldly declared concerning that which had happened right there before the eyes of people that “THIS IS THAT.” The people witnessed the thing itself, and this is what convinced them of the truth and resulted in the conversion that day of three thousand souls. And this is the present need of the hour. Sometimes we preachers have spent much valuable time on the blue print and picture of the church as given in the New Testament. We have presented a theoretical picture-book church in all its glory, and then wondered why more people do not see the church. When we can point to our local, visible congregations of believers who have accepted the message and been called out as a result, and when we can say truthfully, “this is that,” the people will see the church.

It is utterly inconsistent to hold up a beautiful picture and perfect outline of the church as given in the New Testament Scriptures, and then present to them in our own work an old, dilapidated, rotten, homely shack, and say, “This is it.” And it is still more inconsistent to remark sarcastically, “Why can’t they see the church? They are utterly perverted or they could see it.” They do not see it because our old dirty shack does not harmonize with the picture. We must practice what we profess and preach. May I say to every individual member of a local assembly and to the visible assembly as a whole, the general cause that you claim to represent is judged by what the people see IN YOU. In every locality or community, the visible assembly of God’s people is what people look at as the church.

Listen, it is when people see in the local, visible assembly a spirit-filled people, a Holy Ghost church, having fervent love and unity among themselves, walking in all the light, and demonstrating what they preach and profess, then and then only will a gainsaying and unenlightened community see the true Church of God. We must measure to the standard in our personal Christian experience, that is, we must be soundly converted and subsequently sanctified holy. Our lives must measure up to the blue print. This must be true in our secret walk, our home life, and in the community generally, in our business dealings and general transactions with the world. If you get up in the public assembly and testify to being saved and sanctified, and in that same congregation there sits the merchant, garage man, or other business men to whom you owe debts, but have broken your contract and neglected to pay, to such persons your testimony is a mockery. Is your record clean? Do your children and your companion who live in very close contact with you day by day, have implicit confidence in your profession? If sick or in trouble, would they call on you to pray for them? How about that man to whom you sold that old car and represented it to be so and so? Do you think he would call upon you for prayer and help in his dying hour? May I ask you preachers, would the business men, your creditors where you last lived and had charge of the work before you moved to your present location, send for you to pray for them in the solemn hour of their departure? Honestly, have you, like Paul, “a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men.”? To preach and profess a high standard, and then be loose in our practice is making a mockery of religion and the church. To be successful, each member of each assembly must practice what he preaches.

A MISSIONARY SPIRIT AND PROGRAM

No local church can succeed as it should without a place for missions in its program. In fact the Holy Ghost was given to the church to equip it for missionary work. It is the business of the church to witness for Christ “unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1 :8). The final solemn charge and commission, as recorded in Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; and Luke 24:47, to carry the gospel message “among all nations” in “all the world” to “every creature” rests upon the shoulders of the ministry and church of this age. The responsibility is ours. Our field is not a mere community, state, or nation, but “the field is the world.” The foundation on which this solemn charge rests is (1) A universal need. “All have sinned”; the whole world is guilty before God; hence all are lost, and Christ is their only hope. Only those who believe in Him shall be saved. The apostle asks, “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent?” This is the work of the church, to send missionaries into all the world. (2) God’s universal love. He did not simply love one community, one nation, or a particular class of people, but. “God so loved THE WORLD, that he gave his only begotten Son.” (3) God’s universal provision. “Christ died for all.” He “tasted death for every man.” It is the solemn duty of the church to carry this message to “every creature” in all the world. (4) God’s universal invitation. Not one is excluded. “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” The evangelistic prophet, Isaiah, expresses it thus: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” (5) God’s universal will. He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God “now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.”

In primitive times Paul felt the burden of this solemn obligation. Hear him, “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise” (Romans 1 :14). It was missions that gave Christ to the world. The prophetic declarations are replete with this fact, and the birth announcement by the angels declared it. “Good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” The cause of missions is founded on Christ’s death, and inspired by his resurrection. This great cause and work is the purpose of Pentecost, and it is the work of the Holy Ghost in the church. The very root and life of true religion is personal devotion to Christ. Christ’s interests become ours. The very cause that brought him from heaven to earth, that led him to become poor, despised and rejected of men, that inspired him to carry our sins and humble himself even to the ignominious death of the cross is the enterprise that must imbue every member of the church. It means active service in his cause. You see we receive mercy from him, and we owe it to men. The world’s apathy does not release our obligation. Salvation is not a tank or cistern, but a fountain or spring that flows out. Every saved person becomes a trustee of the gospel, and is responsible to take this gospel to the whole family of mankind—and we are members of that family. Thus we are duty bound and morally obligated to see that the world gets the gospel, not because of something received from them, but because of something God has given us for them.

I here repeat, we cannot evade this great responsibility and burden that Christ laid upon his ministry and church. We cannot excuse ourselves and be guiltless. This responsibility will meet us at the judgment. It may be on our hands there, for our liabilities are increasing every day. These nations are no longer afar off; modern science and invention have laid earth’s myriads at our very door. It is estimated that nearly 800,000,000 people are yet in heathen night. Here are some appalling facts. Around 12,045,000 adult heathen die every year, 1,003,750 every month, 250,938 every week, more than 33,000 every day, 1,375 every hour, and about 29 every minute. Think of that. The plaintive cry, the beckoning hand from every side is “Come over and help us.” Preachers must feel this burden enough to go anywhere, everywhere, to endure, suffer, sacrifice, work, and give their whole time to the spreading of the gospel of salvation. Church members must all feel this obligation enough to sacrifice, deny themselves, tithe their gross income, and support not only their local work, but every phase of the work, including the great cause of foreign missions. Missions is not a poor beggar standing at the door of the church, pleading for a few consecrated workers and a paltry sum to carry on. No, indeed. When the work is normal and possesses the spirit of primitive Christianity, missions will be a very real and vital part of the church. I have heard pastors remark that if their local assembly would get back of and support the foreign missionary cause, the local work would suffer. I have been pastor of a number of congregations, both large and small, all of which liberally supported the missionary work, and I have proved that this excuse is not true. My observation and experience has proved that wherever a local church will liberally support missions, that church will prosper financially in its local work in proportion.

A SOUND BIBLICAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM

As before observed, Christianity, or true religion, has both a spiritual and practical side. As expressed in Hebrews 13:15-16: “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” This expresses the spiritual side of religion. But lest people should forget the practical side, the writer continues, “But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” A well-balanced and rounded-out Christian experience and life are both spiritual and practical. A local church, to be successful, must also demonstrate these principles.

The principle of gospel giving is expressed in the following Scriptures: “Freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8). “And to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). All that we have, we received. Paul asks, “What hast thou that thou hast not received?” (1) Our own selves. “Ye are not your own.” God made us; we are his offspring. (2) Our lives. “In him we live, and move, and have our being.” “In whose hand is the soul of every living thing.” (3) Our knowledge, wisdom, talents, opportunities, and gifts, whether natural or spiritual, come from God. (4) This is true of temporal and physical blessings as well, such as food, raiment, strength, and health. “Every good gift and every perfect gift. . . . cometh down from the Father of lights, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.”

All that we enjoy in the spiritual realm is the free gift of God. Christ himself is the Father’s gift to the world. The Holy Ghost is a gift. Salvation is by grace, hence a gift, for “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.” God gives freely: “Freely ye have received.” The word “freely” here has two meanings: (1) What we receive from God is unmerited, it is by grace. (2) He does not give sparingly but in abundance, bountifully. “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life FREELY.” “Shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). This means grace in abundance, “fullness of joy,” yes, “joy unspeakable and full of glory,” and “peace like a river.”

Now in view of all the foregoing facts, it places man under obligation to give to God as an evidence of love and deep appreciation. No individual member of the church, and no local assembly as a whole can prosper and succeed without fully supporting God’s cause in a financial way. This principle and practice is as old as the human family, and really dates from the first family of mankind. In Genesis 4:3-4 we read that the two sons of Adam gave a proportionate amount of their substance to the Lord. Cain was “a tiller of the ground,” that is, he was a farmer. His brother, Abel, was “a keeper of sheep.” Now when Cain harvested his crops, did he keep and store it all up for himself as some folk do today? No, indeed. “Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.” And what about Abel? When his flocks increased, did he selfishly keep them all for himself? Here is the answer, “He also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof as an offering to the Lord. Some scholars whom I have consulted claim that here is where tithing began. I am inclined to believe that this is correct. But one thing is certain, they gave a proportionate amount of their total income to the Lord. The inference is that their father, Adam, taught them to do this, and of course we infer that he practiced it before them. We inquire, where did Adam get his instruction and direction to do such a thing? One thing is certain, it was not handed down by tradition. Paul tells us that Adam was “the first man.” There is but one conclusion. The solemn obligation to give was handed to Adam direct from God his Creator, and that obligation remains the same in all ages.

In the patriarchal age, hundreds of years before the Mosaic law was given, Abraham, the father of many nations whose seed we are, gave “tithes of all” to Melchizedek who was king of Salem and priest of the most high God (Genesis 14:17-20). How does it come that he paid tithes? Why not some other sum or amount? What led him to do it? Why a tenth of all? There is no evasion of the fact that a divine principle is here set forth, namely, tithing began in Eden and was a general practice among the people of God from that time until Abraham’s day. And the righteous example of this father of the faithful left its impress upon his children and grandchildren. Hear his grandson Jacob making a solemn vow to God, “Of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee” (Genesis 28:16-22). Again I ask, why the particular tenth? What put the tenth into Jacob’s mind? It seems to me that a little meditation and thought on this would prove that all this was providential.

There is a biblical financial system that in principle has never changed from Eden until now. If every local church would adopt it, all phases of God’s work would be well supported. Right principles never change. Dispensations may change, ceremonial laws may change, ordinances may change, law may be supplanted by the gospel, but moral principles never change. Something that was a moral obligation from Eden during the Patriarchal and the Mosaical ages remains a moral duty under the gospel. There are some who contend that the tithing system originated in the law of Moses. This I boldly affirm is incorrect. A principle and practice that was in vogue for 2,500 years before the Sinaitic law was given was simply incorporated into that law system. But upon investigation we find that during the Mosaical age three distinct tithes were required of the Israelites. (1) A tenth for the support of the ministry—the Levites (Numbers 18 :20-21). (2) A tenth to the king (1st Samuel 8:10-17). (3) A tenth for ‘the yearly feast at Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 14:22, 27). Then beside all this, the people were required to give liberally to the poor (Leviticus 19 :9-10; 23 :22); their sin offerings demanded the very best of their lambs, goats, heifers, and bullocks; and above all this their vows and free-will offerings. Read Deuteronomy 12:17; Exodus 35:20-29; and 2nd Chronicles 24:8-12. The temple at Jerusalem, that cost approximately $37,000,000 in our money, was not erected with tithe money, but from the free-will offerings of the people.

In view of all this, the liberalities of the Israelite nation under the law would put the Christian church today to shame. A careful estimate will show that in the dispensation of the law, the people gave approximately one-half of their total income to the Lord. Selfishly inclined people today would naturally say, “I don’t see how they ever lived.” But God’s promise to them was that if they would obey him in all this, he would bless and prosper them financially (read Deuteronomy 28:1-6; 8-13; and Proverbs 3:9-10). I am happy to say that as long as Israel obeyed God and gave liberally of their means, he blessed and prospered them. Listen, “Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry. . . And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba” (1st Kings 4:20-25). “And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and olive yards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness” (Nehemiah 9 :25). It was when they let up in their liberalities and robbed God by not paying their tithes and giving their free-will offerings to support his work that famine, pestilence, and poverty came upon them. The same principle holds good today.

In the dispensation of the law their obligations were enjoined with “thou shalt.” Under the gospel Jesus says, “If ye love me ye will.” Under the Christian dispensation the responsibility in these things is not lessened because the requirement is not enforced in such radical language, backed up with stones and death, but the incentive, the prompting influence and motive is now love, yes, love to God and for his cause. In his epistles to the local church at Corinth, it will be noted that Paul devoted several chapters (1st Corinthians 9; 2nd Corinthians 8 and 9) to the subject of finance and the liberalities of that congregation. A careful reading of these chapters will show that the apostle emphasized a sound financial system as being essential to their success as a congregation. Now it follows that if this was essential in the primitive churches, it is absolutely so in our day.

The apostle shows that in order to succeed in the “grace of giving” and to “not come behind in this grace,” a purposed amount is necessary. “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver” (2nd Corinthians 9 :7). Of course the amount purposed should never fall below the tithe and may reach far beyond this. A careful reading of Malachi, third chapter, will show that it is largely prophetical. Both the ministry of John the Baptist and Christ the Messiah are clearly foretold. In this chapter Judah and Jerusalem are used as metaphors of the New Testament church. Now right in the center of this chapter we read, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (vs. 8-10). Here we have New Testament truth in Old Testament prophecy.

There is not a hint in the entire New Testament that the moral obligation of giving a proportionate amount as practiced by God’s people in both the Patriarchal age, covering 2,500 years, and the Mosaical age, covering 1,500 years, was ever changed. When speaking to certain persons who paid tithes and yet “omitted the weightier matters of the law,” Jesus said, “These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matthew 23 :23). His language shows that he approved of their tithing but disapproved of their not performing certain weightier matters. In Hebrews 7:1-8 the subject of tithing is clearly presented. First, Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. The Christian church is composed of the seed of Abraham through Christ, “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed.” So hundreds of years before the Mosaical age was ushered in, our father Abraham gave a tenth of all and set the example to all his children. The writer of this epistle has clearly shown that this Melchizedek was a clear type of Christ, our everlasting high priest. Then after stressing this point, it is shown that in the law dispensation the sons of Levi received tithes of the people. All this was typical. The grand climax is clearly expressed in verse 8. “And here [in those dispensations that preceded the Christian era] men that die receive tithes.” Melchizedek, the tribe of Levi, and all others back there are dead. But listen, “But there [in the new dispensation of the gospel] HE RECEIVETH THEM, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.” This refers directly to Jesus Christ, our everlasting high priest. He is to receive our tithes, for that is what he is talking about. In other words, we pay our tithes to Christ. Then whatever is given to the support of the gospel, is given to the Lord. Brother, does Christ receive your tithe? Will a man rob God? It seems to me it would be more honorable to rob a bank rather than to rob God. Under the law dispensation not only did the eleven tribes of Israel pay tithes to the ministers of that dispensation—the Levites, but the tribe of Levi also were required to tithe to the Aaronites, and so on. This is a clear type of the fact that God’s ministers are under obligation to tithe as well as are all other persons.

In the carrying on of local church work, the Lord has ordained that the ministry—pastors and evangelists— shall be supported by the people. When Jesus sent out the first apostles he instructed them not to provide gold, silver, clothes, shoes, and script for their journeys “for the workman is worthy of his meat” (Matthew 10:10). “The laborer is worthy of his hire” (Luke 10:7). Referring back to these words of Christ, Paul, in 1st Corinthians 9 :14, tells us, “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” In the same chapter the apostle tells this local church, “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?” (vs. 11). Paul emphasizes this duty in Galatians 6:6, “Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.” In 1st Corinthians 9 :7-11 the apostle emphatically declares that the ministry are not to support themselves, but their maintenance is to come from the church.

The purpose of this is that the ministry may be able to give their entire strength, energy, attention, and time to the sacred work to which God has called them. However, the attitude of the true preacher of the gospel is not that of a “hireling,” one who “makes merchandise of the gospel,” and simply enters the ministry and engages therein for “filthy lucre’s sake.” Many Scriptures both in the Old and New Testament condemn this in the strongest terms. It is a regrettable fact that too many preachers engage in the work as a mere profession which they themselves choose for a livelihood. This is a sacred, divine calling, and a true minister fills the most responsible position in the world today. The ministry should be entered with reverence and in the fear of God, and the motive should be the glory of God, the salvation of souls, and the evangelization of the world. This attitude, however, of true ministers of Jesus Christ does not in the least lessen the responsibility and solemn duty of the church adequately to support them.

the church of God (evening light)

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH Part 1b

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