S. The Glory of the Church

THE GLORY OF THE CHURCH

TEXT: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known, by the church, the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Unto Him be the glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. - Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 3:21. The church is a Divine institution. It is the only visible religious organization that is of specific Divine appointment. It is to the church that God has committed the preaching of the Gospel to a lost world, and to it committed the memorials which He instituted concerning His death and resurrection. This appointment was made by the Omniscient One, looking to the end of the world, taking into account perfectly all of the coming developments of nations, of society, and all the changes to be wrought in the world by science, philosophy or any other force of civilization. And having in view the end from the beginning, He deliberately appointed the church as a perpetual institution for the purposes specified, and distinctly declared that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. It is important to understand, then, the meaning of the church. After the last man is saved, after the resurrection and the judgment, the anti-typical church then will consist of all the redeemed, from the beginning of the world to the end of the world. That will he the true temple of God. That temple is in process of construction, but will not be completed until the last man is saved, and will not be inhabited by the Holy Ghost as a temple until it is completed. Hence it is evident that is was not to the church in that ideal future sense, that is, to the completed family of God, that were committed the official activities by which God intends to accomplish His purpose on earth, and in time. Our text refers to a visible organization. The next thing to be determined is whether in any New Testament sense this visible organization is, a federation of all the local organizations as its constituency and subordinated to some common earthly head. If there be a federation like the United States government, there must be an earthly head there must be a President. If a hierarchy be contemplated, there must be an earthly head, such as patriarch or pope. In the case of either federation, hierarchy or autocracy, responsibility keeps shrinking away from the individual and from the local community, and keeps drawing together wherever the head is. The natural tendency is, that the sense of responsibility is taken from the individual, leaving more and more the fate of the whole, the work of the whole, the development of the whole, to be determined either by some general congress, if it be a federation, or by the dictum of a pope or of a council. But the New Testament distinctly teaches the contrary idea. It teaches that the responsibility in every instance rests upon the local, visible organization. The scriptures expressly declare that each local congregation is the temple of the Lord, so that there is no way by which the local duties which rest upon one congregation can be shoved off upon some other congregation. We cannot wait in matters local until we call together all the people of God upon the earth to determine what is duty. We cannot wait until there be assembled a council even of all the Texas brethren to determine duties which peculiarly concern us here in Waco. When, then, our text says that, “Unto Him be the glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,” it means that the glory is to be rendered by each local congregation in its assembly and in its specific work. Not the vague kingdom at large typifies the future heavenly temple, but as the scriptures in this very context declare, “In whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.” (R.V.). That brings home to us the sense of our responsibility to God, and it makes it easy for each individual member of the church to understand his part of the matter. As set forth again in the context, “From Christ, the Head, all the body, fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body into the building up of itself in love.” I state then as the first proposition that it is essential to a due sense of responsibility in a local congregation, and it is essential to a due sense of responsibility in the individual, that the whole idea of a future temple of God should be represented in each local church. The conception of all local congregations in federation,, or of all denominations in congress, constituting the church on earth or even representing the church in heaven, is unscriptural. Beyond the ideas of comity and voluntary cooperation there is no such thing as the Lord Jesus Christ dealing with churches in groups. It is true that He addressed a communication to the seven churches of Asia, but it is also true that He dealt with each of the seven according to its particular condition. He did not hold Smyrna responsible for the state of affairs in Philadelphia, and what He said to Thyatira was widely different from what He said to Laodicea. He came directly to each congregation and looked upon the condition of that congregation, and held pastor and church responsible for their local condition; and He deals with us also just that way today. The next point which I wish to present is, that being built up, edified, depends upon compactness of organization, compacted by that which every joint supplies. Now, if any part of the church be loosely attached, that destroys compactness. There must be cohesion in order to unity. You may lift up a woven garment by one thread, because the different threads are interwoven. You may lift up a coat of mail by one steel scale because all are linked together. If the local congregation is the church in the sense in which duties are to be performed, memorial services are to be held, and the gospel to be preached, we can readily understand how the head is Christ. As the scripture expresses it, “Speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things who is the head, even Christ.” “Christ is the head over all things to the church.” We are the body and He is the head. The pastor is not the head of the church. The deacons do not make the head of the church. The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church. It follows, therefore, that for compactness and for each part to work according to its measure, there must not only be a connecting bond between the parts holding them together compactly, but there must be some connection between each part and the head. In order to be a church in the highest idea of life, there must be a vital connection between each member and the head, which is Christ. It follows, at once, that if there be in a congregation one member who has no living connection with Jesus Christ, that member is so much incumbrance and dead weight on the church. It is impossible that strength can be imparted to the church by that man’s being a member of it. It needs must follow that his connection with the church is absolutely hurtful to the church. There is no way to evade the conclusion. Now, when we would address ourselves to the work committed to the church, that is to manifest the glory of God to all ages, we must first carefully consider the things which are conducive to the highest success. It is quite possible that there may be a vital connection between an individual member and the head, who is Jesus Christ, and yet through sin and backsliding there may be a partial paralysis of this connecting tie, so that a healthful and continuous circulation of life does not pass from the head to this member. It would follow then from this that when a church is to attain to its best proportions and its greatest activity, those things should be done which will restore the circulation to any member in whom the circulation is feeble or interrupted. Therefore, every time you bring back to the joy of salvation a backslidden Christian, you have re-established full connection between that member and the head. It is also true that there is no way by which compactness with other parts can be maintained when this circulation is interrupted; when there is a loosing from Christ, the head, there is a loosing from every part. If a man’s communication with Jesus Christ be real, if it be daily, then is he a profitable part of the organization, and the more nearly he touches Christ the more nearly he can be made to touch his brethren. The next thought that I would impress is that our Lord has not left us free to seek relief from paralyzed or enfeebled church life in organizations devised by our own wisdom. Whenever the church as an organization, as a body, is loose-jointed, not compact, when it rattles as it moves, whenever it is carrying a large number of members that have no vital connection with the head, the remedy is not to be sought in our own expedients. We must have recourse to the means of resuscitation prescribed in the scriptures: “Unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places are to be made known, throughout all ages, by the church the manifold wisdom of God.” We are to renew the unity of the church by compacting its members, causing their minds to flow together and their wills to merge and their movements to harmonize in time and step. We must do the things that will bring this about. Such is the great problem always. And so whenever a church loses all compactness, there remaining no bond of cohesion between its members, and there is no living connection between most of the members and Christ, that church as an organization must die. Nothing else remains. The converted souls in it are saved, but that particular church, as an organization, passes away. It no longer has a name or a place in history. That is the provision of God. It simply loses its life. When there is no light, there is no need for a candlestick, and the candlestick is removed. Consider ourselves shut up to this. We have nothing else to think about. There is no other direction to which we can profitably turn our attention. If God is to be glorified in this world, He is to be glorified by the institution which He appointed, and if that institution is to accomplish the ends for which it was designed and established, it must be by attending to the means which He sets forth in His word. Our hope then to reach men, our hope to save men is through the church. That being true and being unwilling to concede that this organization is lifeless, being unwilling to concede that all touch between the members is destroyed, and that all connection between the head and the members is destroyed, we should, in proposing to hold a meeting, honor and magnify the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the institution which He appointed, in which, through which and by which we will do what He has commanded us to do. My hope then in going into this meeting rests upon the fact that if it be attempted at all it will be attempted by the church. We are called upon to vote upon that officially. Some of us have been meeting together and praying about it ever since Wednesday night, and those of us at these meetings have felt impressed that we ought, as a congregation, to hold a meeting. That is the impression made on our minds, at least all who spoke out, and there seemed to be concurrence upon the part of those who did not speak. But we were only individuals. Now, when you come together in conference this afternoon you are to intelligently vote upon this matter. One of the objections considered particularly last night was this: The untimeliness of such an effort, and humanly speaking the conditions every way seemed to be unfavorable, but when we began to look at each one of these seemingly unfavorable conditions by itself and reduce the difficulty to its real and last analysis, it became to us evident that each difficulty was more apparent than real; that it was more in apprehension than in substance, and that so far from the approaching period in which Christians are accustomed to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ being an inappropriate time, it is a more appropriate time, if there be any distinctions in time, than any other in the world. It will not be considered today, whether December 25th is the birthday of our Lord. But we may well remember that when He was born, whatever the time, Heaven sent all its choir of angels to sing in the hearing of the astounded shepherds, and to make known to a startled world that there was born unto them a Prince and a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord, and that His advent meant glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and good will among men. Let us be willing enough, heartily willing, to co-operate in all innocent measures which look to making children happy and households happy, and let us exchange suitable gifts, though they only relate to time and timely things. These things are not only innocent in themselves, but commendable. Yet, our greatest desire, if we would harmonize with the higher and deeper spirit of our Lord’s advent, should be to turn men’s thoughts to greater gifts, gifts from God’s free grace, eternal life and the indwelling Spirit. It cannot be inappropriate and untimely to signalize this December by the reconciliation of difficulties, by bringing brethren wide apart closer together, by comforting hearts that are stricken. And we may make the occasion glorious in the sight of God by carrying the good tidings of that Prince of Peace to some soul in bondage and darkness, thus accomplishing the highest aim and holiest mission of the church of Jesus Christ. The thing to do, then, is to catch the spirit of such an effort, realize that this is an appropriate thing to do, and that this is a good time to do it; be persuaded that it is in accordance with the commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ that it be done. As glory to God in the highest came on that birthday of our Lord, surely it cannot be incompatible with the Divine Will that the same glory should come now, nearly two thousand years later. Looking back to the advent as the greatest event in the history of the world to that date, and to be paralleled only by the second advent, when our Lord comes to take His people to Himself, my own heart and spirit need no stimulus to work heartily now in a revival meeting. No abstract reasoning of any kind is necessary to induce me to readily take hold, and work as joyfully as the ancient German went forth to battle, as gladly as the long-waiting husbandman goes out to thrust his sickle into the ripening grain fields upon which he has bestowed his labor, expecting to hear the shouts of the harvesters as they garner in the precious grain. So does my own heart leap and throb at the thought that this church, by the glory and power of God, is waking up to a meeting just at this time. Being now prepared for it, let us consider for what purpose I read the other Scripture: “Simeon hath declared unto you,” saith James, “that God purposed to take out of the Gentiles a people for Himself.” Indeed, He has a purpose to take out of each community a people for Himself. For example, when the difficulties at Corinth, humanly considered, seemed to Paul to be insuperable, when his own brave heart was daunted, when his own firm grasp was ready to relax, God came to him in a vision by night and told him not to be afraid, but to speak out, because He had much people in that city. Equally are they here. God knoweth. You do not, but God knoweth. The things we may do, let us consider them. And one of the things is that God hath ordained that through the church He obtains His glory in the salvation of these people. Let us face that, and we also know that God’s word has declared that if a sinner will seek Him while He may be found and call upon Him while He is near, God will abundantly pardon him. Let us know that thoroughly. And know that though you be not a good man, or though you are in a backslidden condition, though you have allowed your heart to become as hard as the nether millstone, though it has been years since you shed a religious tear, though your heart may be a long desert waste far back to an oasis, showing that then your heart was fresh and your soul was full of love for your brethren, and then the outgoing of your spirit was for the salvation of men all this may be so and yet it does remain true that God’s Divine appointment is that the church shall make known His wisdom, and the church shall declare His glory, and the church shall proclaim His gospel, and the church shall be the blessed instrument which, set on fire by the Spirit of God, shall give life, and light and salvation to men. That is true and I stand on that truth. And I stand on the eternal purpose of God to save men, and I stand upon His declarations that if the sinner will call upon Him he will be saved. We can make no greater mistake than to imagine that everything depends on any one man. It may be that on account of your coldness of heart your attention has been withdrawn from religious things. Your business may have absorbed you. Political affairs may have diverted you. Unhappy tragedies may have caused you to forget that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and you may be this day living in sin. God knoweth. But I do know that if you are a Christian, you can be reached. If there was ever kindled on the altar of your heart one spark of the divine light, the devil cannot put that light out. There may be a big fire revived there by piling on the proper fuel, when we rake among the smouldering ashes of your heart, and find one coal not extinct, if so be the breath of God’s Spirit blow upon it and the fuel of duty piled on it. It is with a reasonable expectation that you, my brother, notwithstanding your present wretched condition, may be by the grace of God brought back to compactness with your brethren and into uninterrupted communication with Christ, the head. It is worth working for. One of the things then clearly before my mind as visible as a mountainous coast to a mariner at sea, one huge substance that rears itself up into the sky, so that the eye cannot help but see it, is that backsliders may be healed. God has made abundant provision for their healing. And’ it seems to me that you ought to be unwilling for this year to close, if your spiritual affairs are not in good, condition, leaving them in a wretched condition. Why should there not be on your part an adjustment before this year closes? Why not seek to commence the new year with fresh views of divine grace, with new sensations of religious joy, and with quickened purpose of religious life? I invite you to that as personally as if I were to call your name and step down from this pulpit and walk down the aisle, and take you by the hand, singling you out from everybody else in the world, to ask these questions: Is it well with your soul, my brother, my sister? Will you help your pastor? Will you respond to the trumpet commandment of your Redeemer? Will you yield yourself to the impressions of the Eternal Spirit by seeking a deeper and a richer spirituality before this year closes? Then remember that whet God says that it is His purpose to take out a people, that He does not mean to take all the people. You torture yourself to no good end, you afflict your soul without accomplishing any good result, if you seek to satisfy all outside people. All men have not faith. Some of them will never have it. Some of them have already sinned against the Holy Ghost. Some may call you hypocrites. Some may hate the doctrine you preach. Some may work against it. These possibly would be glad if every one of you were dead. Let it be so. Allow not their criticisms to influence your action in this matter. But there are also some people in this town that may be saved. And here I suggest two or three things to think about as you go out and try to save them. These are thoughts worth ten thousand volumes of philosophical speculations which deride the Word of God. The first thought is that man by nature is religious. Man, by nature, as God made him, is endowed for religion, and infidelity is simply a veneer. Under the veneer the eternal truth remains that man is religious by nature. There is a craving for something better than anything this earth can give. There is the restlessness of an immortal spirit. There is a longing for something more gratifying than anything he has ever yet found. He feels that earth’s foundations and songs and glories and honors and powers and emoluments cannot satisfy the inner man. Now you have that to work on. Then remember this, that whatever may be the ten thousand objections sinners may allege at any particular time, whatever their charges against you or any other Christian people, these things are evanescent. They do not abide. There comes one breeze from God, and as autumn leaves are stripped from the boughs of the trees which gave them birth and are carried away, so these objections that sinners regarded as insuperable and multitudinous, and that you regarded as beyond your power to break down, one single breath of God may sweep them all away, every one of them, in an hour. Go out then on these thoughts: (1) God has appointed the church as the institution for the accomplishment of His purposes; (2) that God has a purpose to take out of the Gentiles a people, so that while confessedly you cannot reach everybody, since all people have not faith, there are some people reachable and it is your duty to reach them; (3) that difficulties which at one time may appear to both you and sinners as insuperable as granite mountains, melt away and vanish before one breath of the rising day. So let us have faith and go to work. Are you out of touch with your brethren? Get in touch. Are you out of touch with Jesus Christ, the Head? Get in touch. And as a church which God has wonderfully blessed in the past, and for which, as I trust, He has reserved greater blessings in the future, I invite you to move together, honor the institution of the divine appointment, keep the bond of unity, and for Christ’s sake, who loved you and cleansed you from your sins and made you kings and priests of God, let us render glory to Him in this December.