71
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
February 1930
What is the Supreme Need of the Church? B y D r . M ark A. M atthews (Pastor First Presbyterian'Church, Seattle)
cussed if the Gospel is to be preached; namely, sin. The Holy Spirit was sent in answer to the prayer of Christ, and His first duty is to present the fact of sin. Are these superficial pulpiteers going to reject the homiletic outline of the Holy Spirit? . The Church needs preachers who, after presenting the fact o f sín, will then preach salvation alone through the blood of JesUs Christ. There is no other way to be. saved ; therefore, why waste the public’s time in discussing other subjects? The Church needs preachers who will show the lost, doomed, damned sinners that the only possible way to be saved is through belief in Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God. The Church needs preachers who will pre sent the fact that He is God—very God of very,0qd|S-wlip died in our stead and for our redemption. Salvation is not of natural origin; it is of supernatural origin.; Preach ers of the Gospel are not naturalists; they are super naturalists. The Church needs preachers who will dernand re pentance and belief in the vicarious, atoning sacrifice of Christ. After presenting the plan of salvation they must warn the public of the alternative; namely, the certainty of judgment and the everlasting punishment in hell of the unrepentant who die out o f Christ and in their sins. The incompetent, untrained,, unlearned pulpiteers are leaving out of their sermons the note of judgment and everlasting punishment. The Church needs preachers who are com petent to preach that doctrine, men who understand the eternal verities and can present salvation and at the same time warn men that if they do not accept Christ they must take the consequences; namely, everlasting damnation. The Church needs preachers who are not afraid, who know how to present the fact of everlasting punishment and the existence of hell as the final habitation of the unrepentant who die in their sins and unbelief. There is an unalterable doom awaiting the unbeliever. Men are not saved by doing something; they are saved by believ ing iii the Second Person of the Trinity and His vicarious sacrifice. Men are not lost because they have violated law;, but they are damned because they do not believe in .the saving power of the blood of Jesus Christ whose life was sacrificed for their redemption. We are saved through belief in Christ; we are lost because of our unbe lief. The Church needs preachers who are not afraid to stand before a world of superficial, scoffing, self-adver tising, would-be scholars ahd present to them the super natural, virgin-born Son of God as their only hope, their only chance and their only Saviour, and plead with them to accept Him before it is too late. The Church needs preachers who are not afraid of men, devils or angels and who will proclaim the Gospel without fear or favor. The preacher is amenable to Jesus Christ only, his Lord and Master. He is. subject to his brethren in the presbytery, and he is amenable only to Jesus Christ, his Lord and Master. He should not fear men, devils or angels, but he should preach with a pas sion that would shake the centers of sin that might be in his congregation. The Church needs preachers who will spurn pink teas and seek the fields where sin-sick men
HE title suggests that the Church has many needs when it uses the word “ supreme.” The lesser needs’ were intended to be subordinated in the discussion of the subject. However, they might be enumerated because they are important in considering the supreme need. They are as fol lows : Better buildings— churchy buildings—not semi commercial structures which are a violation of the funda mental principles of architecture and of the doctrine of the separation of church and state. There should not be a combination of church and commerce. The semi-com mercial church structures are a travesty on faith, a libel on Christianity, and will become an increased menace to church work. , I'i'i'. i M inor N eeds We need adequate buildings, attractive to young peo ple and equipped with the most modern conveniences. The Sunday-school rooms of those buildings should be attrac tive, convenient, airy, beautiful and commodious. The Bible school should have the best that money can purchase. The churches must have ample parking space or free garage accommodations. The downtown church' with automobile conveniences must become the dominating power in the church life of the country. The automobile has brought the most remote districts into immediate touch with the downtown church, thereby making it possible to have fewer but better churches— churches stronger and more powerful in every respect. . The churches must have better janitors who under stand the laws of ventilation, radiation and fumigation. The churches must have more hymn books, better music, more worshipful music and the elimination of all jazz leaders. The Church needs workers and the incarcera tion of all shirkers. The Church needs prayers, not prat ers. The Church needs consistent, sincere worshipers, not flippant, pew-swapping amusement seekers. The Church needs loyal, consistent, Gospel members, not' sermon tasters. The Church needs supporters, not exploiters. T he S upreme N eed These needs will not be obtained unless nor until the Church comes into possession of her supreme need ; name ly, Gospel-fired, love-dominated, work-obsessed, Holy- Spirit-filled and Holy-Ghost-controlled preachers. The supreme need of the hour is Spirit-filled preachers who be lieve in the blood-bought, blood-bathed, vicarious, sub stitutionary Gospel of JeSus Christ. The Church needs preachers who are not afraid to present the fact of sin, the heinousness of sin, the total depravity of man. Approximately 90 per cent of all the pulpits of America have left the note of sin, the heinous ness of sin, the sinfulness and awfulness of sin out of their preaching. They evidently are not educated enough, they are not scholarly enough, they are not cultured enough, they do not know enough about the supreme sci ence of the world; namely, the science of theology, or the science of God, to discuss sin. Perhaps, they are too incompetent to discuss the first question that must be dis-
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