UNTO HIM BE THE GLORY IN THE CHURCH

UNTO HIM BE THE GLORY IN THE CHURCH UNTO HIM BE THE GLORY IN THE CHURCH
Paul L. Wallace Our Lord, during the third year of his ministry, de-parted from Bethsaida, near the Sea of Galilee, and traveled northward until he had come to the headwaters of the Jordan River near Caesarea Philippi. He and his disciples turned aside to pray. Jesus asked them, “Who do men say that the Son of Man is? Who do the multitudes say that I am?” Naturally, they began to give the most flattering answers that they had heard, “Some say John the Baptist; some Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He then asked them, “But who say ye that I am?” Peter, true to his prompt, decisive nature immediately answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” The imagery of the Lord in this memorable passage is that of a builder seeking to build a temple upon a ledge of rock. The enemy, fortified behind the walls and gates of a hostile city, seeks to prohibit the building of this temple. The builder, however, shows his determination to build by saying, “Upon this rock I will build . . and the gates . . shall not prevail against it.” The application of the figure is apparent: Christ, the Builder, resolves to build his church upon the bed-rock (Peter’s confession, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”) and states emphatically that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Notice carefully the uses of shall and will in this context. Shall or will always expresses futurity. In addition to futurity, either shall or will may express also the additional idea of determination, command, or promise. Shall in the first person expresses only futurity ; in the second and third it also expresses determination, command, or promise. Will in the second or third person expresses only futurity; in the first it expresses also determination. For example: one might say, “I shall go to town tonight if everything is convenient.” The .shall of this sentence shows simple futurity, but does not express determination. But if one were to say, “I will go to town tonight, and the weather shall not prevent it,” the will expresses not only futurity, but also determination. Jesus did not say, “Upon this rock I shall build my church,” showing only simple futurity. He said, “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” This whole text shows not only futurity, but also volition. No one reading this text could receive the impression that the building of the church was of little moment, or that the church, itself, was unimportant. Did Jesus use this language about something that is nonessential? Did he purchase a nonessential with his own precious blood? Who can believe it? The gates of Hades did not prevail against the building of the church. Jesus died upon Golgotha’s brow it is true: It is also true that he went into the hadean world; but when he went into the house of the strong man, he bound him and spoiled his goods, as Paul expressed it, “Having despoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:15). Peter sums up the successful conclusion of Christ’s determination to build his church when he quotes God’s promise to David, “Thou wilt not leave my soul unto Hades, neither wilt thou give thy Holy One to see corruption.” This application was then made of it: “Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne; he foreseeing this spake of the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear . . . Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.”

Jesus, then, is both Lord and Christ. The gates of Hades did not prevail against the building of the church. He is the Founder, the Foundation, the Head, and the Savior of the church. Surely a thing of which Jesus is the Builder, the Head, and the Savior, is of great moment! And a thing so important must have a sphere of necessary usefulness.

Glorify God
What is the main task of this 'important organization? What is its foremost work? Several passages indicate that a principal duty of the church is to glorify God through Jesus Christ, our Lord:
Ephesians 3:20-21, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen.”
1 Peter 2:9-10, “But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own pos-session, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: who in time past were no people, but now are the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”
2 Thessalonians 1:7-10, “At the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believe (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day. To which end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfil every desire of goodness and every work of faith, with power; that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Matthew 5:16, “Even so let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” A realization of this principle would solve many of the problems in the religious world. Can one glorify God, and at the same time ignore his word—belittle his divine pattern for the organization, worship, and work of the church? No! For Peter says in 1 Peter 4:11, “If any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God . . . that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” The Pharisees had “made void the word of God” because of their tradition, their human creed. They worshipped God in va'in, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. Even the great David, who lived before the day of the Pharisees, had a part in a disappointing failure because he did not recognize that God is glorified only when h'is word is obeyed.

After David had recaptured the ark of God from the Philistines, he desired to bring it to Jerusalem with great joy. To accomplish this worthwhile endeavor, “David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God Jehovah that sitteth above the cherubim, that is called by the Name . . . And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets” (1 Chronicles 13 :G-8). From man’s viewpoint every ingredient of success was present—a worthwhile undertaking, large audiences, zeal and energy, pomp and ceremony. Who could desire more? But even though David probably meant well, he erred, and the thing was a dismal failure! When they came to the threshing-floor of Chidon, Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled, and the Lord smote him. The ark turned aside into the house of Obed-edom and David was unable to remove it to Jerusalem.

Why this failure? Let David, himself, answer the question. In speaking to the Levites, he said, “For because ye bare it not at the first Jehovah our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not according to the ordinance” (1 Chronicles 15:13). The ark was to be borne on the shoulders of priests who had sanctified themselves for the occasion. But Uzzah and Ahio, kinsmen of David, and therefore not of the Levites, were transporting the ark on a cart as the Philistines apparently had, and God was displeased. God was not glorified until “The children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of Jehovah.” (vs. 15). Only then was the ark brought to Jerusalem with joy.

Numerical success, zeal, pomp, or ritual cannot be substituted for obedience to God’s word. The church growing out of the apostasy has all of these things. Who will say that God is glorified in it? In short, the church must be what God wants it to be, and to do what God wants it to do, if God is to be glorified. This my friends, is the obligation that Jesus has laid upon ithe church which he purchased with his blood. To glorify God the church must be something and it must do something. The Church Must Be Something
There is first a purely personal interest involved in being something. Peter says in 2 Peter 8:11, “Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness?” Believing that the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, men desire to be something in order to escape the “eternal destruction from the face of the Lord.” Herein is the value of that great responsibility of the church, self-edification, that men in the church may learn how to live “soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” But there is more involved than the salvation of the man himself: from a practical viewpoint godly living and teaching to maintain the purity and the identity of the church are essential to the final success of preaching the gospel to the lost, another of the great tasks of the church. One of the most scathing rebukes our Lord ever uttered was a rebuke to the Pharisees, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than yourself” (Matthew 23:13). Think of crossing sea and land to make one convert! Here was zeal personified, and yet all of this energy resulted only in making another son of hell! The conclusion is obvious: unless the church preserves its purity and identity, the more zeal it displays, the more harm it will do. This thought may be further enlarged and emphasized by this question, “What would have happened to the Prodigal, if after coming to himself, and returning home, he had found the elder brother only?” And what will happen when the Prodigal returns home today if he finds only a congregation made up of “elder brothers”?

Paul underlines this thought in Php_1:27, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ: that, whether I come and see you or be absent, I may hear of your state, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the gospel . . .” While it is surely true that the preaching of Christ even from the lips of a hypocrite will make a Christian if accepted; from a practical viewpoint letting one’s life be “worthy of the gospel of Christ” will add much weight to the arguments as one strives “for the faith of the gospel.”

Men must be something personally, and collectively, as a church. To fail to maintain the identity of the church in the field of purity is to become an enemy of the cross because of our walk (Philippians 3), to become a traitor to the cause because of our false pretenses, to help defeat the labors of godly men because of our ungodly influence. Paul said, “Herein I also exercise myself to have a conscience void of offence toward God and men always.” (Acts 24:16). The Church Must Do Something
Not only must the church be something; it must do something. Jesus said in Revelation 3 :l-2, “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead. Be thou watchful, and establish the things that remain, which were ready to die: for I have found no works of thine perfected before my God.” In contrast, while the church in Sardis was admonished to remember and to keep God’s word, because none of their work had been perfected, Paul complimented the church in Thessalonica because of their “work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope.” It would be hard, indeed, to find a congregation more nearly fulfilling its obligations than this one in Thessalonica. The men and women who made up this church had “received the word in much affliction.” But in less than two short years from them had sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place their faith to God-word had gone forth. (1 Thessalonians 1). Think of it! In less than two years they had preached the word to the whole Balkan Peninsula! They had become an example of personal faith and zeal, and congregational stedfastness and activity. Some congregations have been in a community for a hundred years without preaching the word even to the community. In Paul’s loving compliment to the church in Philippi the thought of being and doing are found : “So then, my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. Do all things without mur- murings and questionings: that ye may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.” (Php_2:12-15). As they had always obeyed, they were to be blameless and harmless, without blemish, because they were seen as luminaries as they held forth the word of life to their wicked and perverse generation. Some today make the excuse that a wicked generation prevents them from shining as lights, and holding forth the word of life!

Preaching the gospel, Christian friends, is one of the great tasks of the church. The church is the “pillar and ground of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15). It is to “sound forth the word of the Lord”—“to hold forth the word of life”—to “strive for the faith of the gospel.”

Jehovah, in his infinite wisdom, has chosen the word-method of revelation in order to make known his will to lost man. Worldly wisdom has been unable search out the true God. The intellectual speculations of the wise have performed their best, but have failed. God has decreed that through revealed truth men are to be saved. “For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21). “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (James 1:18). Notice: “Of-his own will (the motivating cause) he brought us forth (the new birth) by the word of truth (the instrument), that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures (the results).” The church is the “pillar and ground of the truth”; that is, it has the responsibility of holding forth the word of life to a wicked world. This great work should engage the energies of every member of the church. It is taken for granted in most congregations that the preacher is responsible for the conversion of the unsaved and for the building up of the church. As important and necessary as the evangelist’s work is, it is a fundamental error to suppose that he, and he alone, has this full measure of responsibility. To accomplish this huge assignment to carry the gospel into all the world will require elders who rule, deacons who serve, members who work, and evangelists who preach.

We are evangelistic in our theory, but thousands of us have no feeling of responsibility for the salvation of the souls of others. During the past election many Christians actively campaigned for their favorite candidates, and made their cars available to transport their friends to the polls. But these same people will not always canvass their friends on behalf of a gospel meeting, nor will they in every case offer their automobiles to take them to hear the word of God! To evangelize the 'world will require a love for the souls of men, and a sense of responsibility to help them. It will compel a passionate concern for the men and women for whom Christ died, and a firm belief that the gospel is God’s power to save them. It will enjoin a natural and sincere enthusiasm, and a sted- fast conviction that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. To evangelize the world will call for sacrifices at home. It will make necessary the surrender of some personal or congregational luxury, that funds may be present for the more pressing claim. It will mean giving up some comforts both from a personal and a congregational viewpoint, that the gospel may be preached in some distant city.

It will require the work of large congregations, and small congregations, that the. Christ may be preached in every country, every city, every town, every home, until the utmost corner of the earth is reached; May the Lord help us as we seek to glorify God in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations forever and ever! Amen!