body o f Christ” (4 :12). The church is to indoctrin ate itself so that it may stand, and not to stand only, but also to move ahead to the conquest of new souls for the kingdom. The public worship, the Sunday school, the training hour and all other functions should keep in view the dynamic impor tance of teaching. This is just what Paul had in mind when he gave to Timothy the formula for implementing the teaching ministry o f the church. He said in II Timothy 2 :2 : “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” Every believer first should be in a learning group and then move to a teaching group and so should the chain reaction operate. 3. TO KEEP ITSELF PURE Christ gave Himself for the church, “ that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the wash ing of water with the Word, that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:26, 27 R.Y.). There is a purging that God performs (John 15:2) chiefly through divine chastening (Heb. 12:10). There is a purging that the believer should perform on his own life (I Cor. 11:28-31). There is also a cleansing process that the local church is asked to attend to (I Cor. 5:6, 7, 13). The early church practiced church discipline, and the present-day church is not excused from this same duty. As I Corinthians 5:6, 7, and 13 indicate: “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. . . . There fore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” 4. TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD The great commission in Matthew 28 charges the church not to “ convert” the world, but to “ evan gelize” the world. We know that not all the world will receive Christ; but the church’s duty is to give the whole world an opportunity to know about Him. Our task is at least to present the preroga tive. As the hymnwriter put it: “ Can we, whose souls are lighted with wisdom from on high, Can we to men benighted the lamp of life deny ? Salvation, O salvation, the joyful sound pro claim, Till earth’s remotest nation has learned Mes siah’s name!” This is the climax of the purpose! The church must realize that it is in the midst o f the greatest
challenge of its history. Mass media and advanced transportation, communication and education have made it more nearly possible to reach the world in this generation than in any previous generation in the history of mankind. Atlas Magazine in August of 1966 devoted sev eral articles to what it termed “The Unwanted Mil lions,” more popularly known as “ the population explosion.” In every country it surveyed, except Hungary and North America, there are more peo ple than can be properly clothed, housed, and fed. In summarizing the situation, the article said: “The bitter conclusion is that economically there is no solution to the problem o f population ex plosion.” There is a grave analogy to this problem. Simi larly, untold millions are starving and will starve spiritually because they need manna from God— the Bread o f Life. But unlike the physical food that this world needs, there is more than enough of the Bread of Life to go around. The problem is, the church is either not able or not willing to take it! Our world needs to be revolutionized. The prejudices, injustices, inequalities and sins of our world cry out for correction. In such a world Christians need to remember that God is a God of revolution. But there must be evangelization before there can ever be effective social reform. The church can never take in hand the problems of the world until the world is in the hands of Jesus Christ. Individual souls must be changed before society will be altered. There are only two philosophies involved: (1) Society must be changed to produce a better man; or (2) Man must be changed to produce a better society. The second is the Biblical method, the first is the human method. A graphic failure of the first can be seen even in the reign o f Christ on earth. In the promised millennial kingdom, with Christ ruling from the throne of David and peace on the earth, John tells us in Revelation 20:7 that Satan comes forth to deceive a mass o f humanity from all over the earth, and they join to fight against God and Christ. The truth is plain that even in that day, the most perfect society with Christ rul ing can’t produce better men. On the other hand, when man is transformed by God, perfect men will be brought together to make up the perfect society. It is called heaven. This is the end o f the church. Only fanatics make a difference in this world. The half-committed count for nothing. Revolutions demand fanatical concern and if this world is to be transformed for Christ, then God’s revolution is going to require more than just a handful of well-meaning people who want to make their little social contribution for Jesus. It is high time that the church took a look at herself and realized again who she is and what is her purpose in this world. HE
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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