89
March, 1933
T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
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F U N C T I O N o f l L G k u r c l i
B y ROBERT L. EVANS*, Pasadena, Calif.
God to rule his life through Jesus Christ, the crucified and exalted One, he has not come into harmony with God and the laws that govern his highest welfare. One o f the sad dest marks o f our boasted age is the lack of reverence for the things o f God. The Lord’s day is being ignored, God’s name blasphemed, and God’s word denied. In the midst of the confusion and general irreverence, the church is called to maintain the pure and simple worship of God. Her high and holy obligation is not an easy one, for if Satan, her adversary, fails in inducing her to corrupt her worship by introducing the worship o f angels and saints into her program, he often succeeds in making her wor ship either carnal by ignoring the sacrifice offered on Cal vary as the basis o f her worship, or else merely formal by. loading it down with ritualistic forms and ceremonies, that utterly obscure the spiritual intent. T o W itness for her L ord by P reaching H is W ord The church’s message is not to be confined to her own community or nation, for she is called to regard the whole world as her field (Acts 1 :8 ), ~ Her message to the world is the good news of sal vation based on the declared facts o f her Lord’s death
he one comforting assurance in the midst of the general world turmoil and unrest is the great fact that Jesus Christ still continues to build His church (Matt. 16:18). The one great restraining force that holds back the tides of iniquity, and that keeps the forces o f evil from be coming entirely dominant, is the pres ence of the church o f the living God. Indwelt and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, she is God’s great torchbearer
R obert E vans
o f truth in a world that otherwise would be utterly dark. Purchased and redeemed out o f the world at such tre mendous cost, we examine the Scriptures to learn the divine intent in it all. To W orship G od W e believe that the church was
chosen and set apart to maintain the worship o f God, in its purity and simplicity, in the world (John 4 :23 ,2 4 ). Worship seems to be the highest form o f service that created beings can render unto God. What glimpses o f worship in heaven have been given us ! W e behold an gels and the “ spirits o f just men made perfect” engaged in the wor ship o f God and o f the Lamb. A c ceptable worship, according to the Scriptures, implies God as the ob ject, the atoning work o f the Son as the basis, and the power o f the Holy Spirit as the energy. The abundant evidence of His divine power and wisdom, as seen in the work o f creation about us, and the marvelous revelation in the written Word of His grace in the gift of His Son, demand that every mem ber o f the race worship Him with reverence and godly fear. Under the. old economy, unto the Hebrew race was committed the responsibility o f maintaining the worship o f the one true God in the midst o f the nations given over to the worship o f many gods. The record o f Israel’s failure in this respect is the saddest in history. Idolatry and false worship in its many forms still hold the vast ma jority o f the race. The supreme law o f spiritual worship is this: “ The Lord alone shall be exalted.” Until man has acknowledged the right of *Pastor, Lincoln Avenue Presbyterian Church.
and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:1-4). In these days o f radio broadcast ing, it becomes increasingly difficult to secure the attention o f non church members at our services; then it devolves upon the members to carry the message into the homes of the community. Many profess ing Christians would not hesitate to recommend to their unsaved neigh- bors a new blend o f coffee or some new brand of bread, but they will not speak a word in favor of Him who is the “ bread o f life,” who alone can satisfy the hungry heart. With fervor, they will recom mend their family physician to their sick friends, yet they never have a word o f recommendation for Him who is the Great Physician. Many a modern church resorts to enter taining features to attract the un godly, substituting movie reels for a gospel service. We need to be reminded that the Holy Spirit took up His abode in His new temple on the day o f Pen tecost, not to enable believers to entertain the world, but to bear e f fective witness on behalf o f Him who is able to save men from sin, and to satisfy their hearts with His grace. These are days when great changes are taking place in the po litical and economical world. The
F^he (Sliurcli d S I evival an
I T h a s n e v e r b e e n by learning, by philosophy, by science, by scholarship, that the church hai been revived and saved in eras of great religious laxity and abounding infidelity. When Jesus introduced His religion into the world, H e did not choose'" scholars ," but humble, simple-minded men, attached to Himself by a living faith, and endued with power from on high, to do it, as witnesses to His words, works, and resurrection. So when we com e to the later age o f the Reforma tion, what brought the remedy for the unbelief and spiritual evils under which that age groaned? Not scholarship nor science, but the discovery in Scripture and faithful proclamation of the living gospel of the grace of God by Luther and his fellow reform ers, men who had felt its power in their souls. And once m ore, what rescued the church from th e torpor and death of the negation of the eighteenth century? The deliverance came, not from philosophy nor learning, not even from the worlds of able apol ogists, but from the tides of the spiritual revival that swept over Britain and were felt in other lands under the preaching of such men as Whitefield and the W esleys. T his it was which gave evangelism the vic tory .once more over indifference and unbelief, and breathed the new breath of life into society which in troduced the era of missions to the . heathen, Bible dif fusion, home evangelization, and the innumerable social reform s of the last century. It is to a like out pouring of the Spirit of God upon His church, and to the same divine energy manifesting itself in holy lives and practical work., far more than to learned con futations, however valuable these may be in their place, that we must look for tbe overthrow of the form s of unbelief that lift up their heads among us today. — J ames O rr .
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