men either ran to Christ or stoned the Apostles. But the church today, for the most part, gets nei ther reaction. A comfortable compromise has been reached to avoid the extreme. Two church dignitaries were viewing a costly and ornate cathedral. One said: “The day is gone when the church can say as Peter said, ‘Silver and gold have I none.’ ” “Yes,” replied the other, “ and the day is gone when the church can say, as Peter said in the same verse, ‘In the name o f Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk.’ ” So the church must turn again carefully to the Scripture to see as it is clearly revealed, its true power and purpose. 1. TO GLORIFY GOD The catechism said, “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him for ever.” This is no more true of the individual Chris tian than it is of the church as a whole. Paul clear ly indicated this when he stated, “ That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God.” In writing to the Ephesian Christians in the first chapter, he reminded them that their salvation was to the end that they should be to the praise o f the glory of God. He summed it up in 3:21, when he triumphantly exclaimed, “Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” How does one glorify God? In I Corinthians 6 :20, we see that glorifying God is a matter o f the whole man: “ glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Glorifying God is the duty o f the church. Essentially this glorifying in volves worship, which is the expression toward God of the whole man. The substance o f the word “worship” in both the original languages is “ to prostrate,” “ render homage,” “ venerate,” “hold in awe” or “ serve religiously.” The Greek literally means “ to kiss toward.” An Indian, in his preparation for the Lord’s Day services, said that he always made his body very clean from head to foot and then instead of laughing and chatting idly with his friends, he would, in his own words, “ sit down and think Jesus until it was time to go.” Glorifying God comes by way o f prayer and praise. The Psalmist said of the Lord, “Whoso offereth the sacrifice o f thanksgiving glorifieth me” (50:23). More particularly we glorify Him by a godly life. Recorded in John 15:8 are the words of Jesus, “Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit.” Compare Galatians 5:22, 23. 2. TO EDIFY ITSELF In Ephesians 4, Paul reveals that God gave to the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the
5. The church is a 'participant in a great con test for the purpose of seeing who can have more bodies in it than any other building. The idea is to get many people into it— packed full—at least, if not full, certainly more than the other church down the street. And anyway, the pastor over there is no great shakes, and oh, what could be said about one o f their Sunday school teachers! The church today, in so many cases, has be come the playground for neighborhood games, and the pulpit has often been turned into a soap box for the proclamation of every inane babbling imaginable. It suffers from social disease. As in the days of Malachi, the religion of to day is frequently an offering of polluted sacrifices. Malachi commented regarding Israel: “ Ye said also, Behold what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was tom, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord. But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord o f hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen” (1:13, 14). God gets the dirty end o f the stick from men. They throw Him the bones. Men sing, “ Somebody Bigger Than You and I,” not “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” ; “He,” not “ A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” The sin of Israel was a false religion. They wanted, for safety’s sake, to make their overture to God and in their hypocrisy they brought the worst, the leftover. So much of modem Christianity, so-called, has deteriorated into a social structure with a occasional religious activity thrown at God. But God never accepts the residue; He demands the first-fruits. He didn’t want it then; He doesn’t want it now. What is the cure for this “neurotic” church? It seems almost infantile to mention, but the church must begin to exist and function on the principles and passions laid down in the Scriptures. There is no lack of guidelines as to how the church is to act and operate. The church is to be the body of the continuing ministry of Jesus Christ. To be thus, the church must become Word-centered. Here in lies the key! This is the great difference be tween the church of Acts and the church o f today: one was Word-centered and the other is man-cen tered. When the church as a whole was Word-cen tered, new men lived in the sphere o f the eternal. Heaven, hell, redemption, sin and the Holy Spirit were real. The preaching o f the Word was to save, to comfort, to instruct, and beyond that it was, and still is, the catalyst o f history. Upon hearing it,
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FEBRUARY, 1968
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