Our Churches
“Clad in a robe of pure and spotless white, The youthful bride with timid steps comes forth To greet the hand to 7cphich she plights her troth, Her soft eyes radiant with strange delight. The snowy veil which circles her around, Shades the sweet face from every gazer’’ s eye. And thus enwrapt, she passes calmly by Nor casts a look but on the unconscious ground. So should the Church the bride elect of Heaven — Remembering whom she goeth forth to meet And with a truth that cannot brook deceit Holding the faith which u?ito her is given — Pass through this world which claims her for
awhile Nor cast about her longing look nor smile.’’’’
Mrs. Neal.
“He that hath aii ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith to the
churches. Revelation 2: ii.
The church is the most important institution in the world. It was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ, who said: “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The gates of hell have prevailed against governments that were flourishing in the time of Christ. They are known now only by name, and we walk with sadness amid their ruins. But the church still stands, and will continue to stand, for it is God’s building. When the lodge or the club conflicts with the interests of the church, the true Christian will let the lodge or the club go, while he clings to the church of Christ. If the lodge meeting is on the night of the prayer-meeting, your place is in the prayer-meeting. And if the club supports a saloon you have no right to lend your influence or your presence to it. We should be set against whatever influence or insititution is the enemy of the church. 10 145
In the seven churches of Asia we have pictures of the churches of to-day, and it is our purpose to listen to the message of the Spirit which comes to us through them.
I. There is the backslidden church at Ephesus. It was orthodox in creed and deed. The Spirit says of them “thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.” But it was orthodoxy on ice. Opposition to the evil was so intense that enthusiasm for the good was frozen. They were ecclesiastical warriors, they believed in trials for heresy, and pursued the heretic with relentless faithfulness. They hated the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, but they failed to love the Nicolaitanes themselves. “I have somewhat against thee,” says the Spirit, “because thou hast left thy first love.” It is well to hate wickedness and error, but when this hatred dries up our love for the wicked and the erring we have backslidden. God hates evil, but he is love. While we hate sin we should love sinners, and nothing in the church of Christ can take the place of love.
II. The rich, poor church in Smyrna. “I know thy poverty, but thou art rich.” It seems to have been a sort of down-town church, from which the wealthy members had moved to the suburbs. It was surrounded by organized opposition. It was next door to “the synagogue of Satan.” It walked in the furnace of martyrdom, and God gave to them what seemed to be a gloomy promise that the Devil should cast some of them into prison, and they should have tribulation even unto death. There is a poverty of wealth, and a wealth of poverty. This church had the wealth of poverty, poor in purse, but rich in grace. Its treasures were in heaven, and best of all the living Christ was with them.
To the frightened sailors in the storm the conqueror of Gaul said, “Fear not, you carry Caesar.” Wind and wave cared little for Caesar, but Jesus is the Master of the storm, and he says: “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer.” Like garments made of asbestos, you are to be cleansed in the fire. There is many a church like this to-day, its members struggling with poverty and persecution, while their characters are the vaults in which God keeps treasures that delight his heart.
Ill, The compromising church at Pergamos. There were faithful martyrs among its members, men who were willing to give up their lives rather than deny the faith of Christ. At the same time there were among them those who “held the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Lsrael, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.” The pastor of this church seemed to believe in a mixed membership of believers and unbelievers, gnostics and agnostics, good and bad. He had great respect for the character of the faithful, but he would not refuse to the Balaamites the privilege of believing and acting as they pleased. It was the paradise of the Nicolaitanes, who believed that the church should be married to the world. The tendency of the times to-day is to syndicate. We have syndicates of oil, leather, coal, almost everything under the sun. The parliament of religions at Chicago was an attempt to syndicate Christianity and paganism. There are some, it seems, who would syndicate earth, heaven and hell, and put God and Satan, angels and demons, good men and bad on the same footing.
A good deacon of mine, in a former charge, declared that the Lord was binding things in bundles to burn them. Whether that be true or not, we are certain that light can have no fellowship with darkness, nor health with disease, nor righteousness with sin, nor truth with falsehood. In the beginning God divided the light from the darkness, and he has been in this dividing business ever since. He will continue it until finally there will be only two worlds, one of light and one of darkness. The church of Christ is a called-out, separated, consecrated people, “in the world but not of it,” and when we drag down the church to the level of the world, instead of lifting the world to the level of the church, we are doing the work of Satan rather than of God.
IV. The erring woman’s church at Thyatira. It seems to have been ruled and ruined by a woman named Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess, teaching and practicing the most abominable things. Now woman is usually an angel of light or a demon of darkness. Pure water is good, but when it stagnates it fills the air with malaria and death. Woman is apt to be the best or the worst. She is nearly always aggressively good or bad. When she is good she is very good, but when she is bad, she is awfully bad. A good woman in the church is an angel of loving ministry; her sympathy, her prayers, her testimony, her character, her patient persistence, her purity, are powers for God. But a proud, worldly, pleasure-seeking woman who wears her religion as she does her diamonds, for show, can do an immense amount of harm, God be praised for the Phoebes who are the true servants of the church. Let her testify and pray and expound the Scriptures, filling the large sphere in the church to which God has called her, while she sits as queen in the home.
The fact that the Scriptures do not provide for her ordination to the ministry does not contract her sphere, while it harmonizes with the fitness of things, but the Lord have mercy upon the church when Jezebel leads and rules. By her refined subtleties of sophistry the bad will appear good, error will look like truth, poison will taste like food, vice will resemble virtue, and imagination will seem to be solid reality.
It is a noteworthy fact that the three great modern apostacies took their rise in the brain and influence of woman. Spiritualism came from the Fox sisters, and has grown more corrupt and corrupting. No spiritualist acknowledges the Divinity of Christ. Foolish table rappings are put on a par with the revelation of God. Whatever in it is not fraud, delusion, and deception seems to be the activity of demons whose mission of darkness to this world is to assist in the overthrow of the kingdom of God.
“Christian Science” was founded by a woman. To say that it is neither Christian nor science is to speak the sober truth. Its claim that there is no reality of sin or Satan, and that therefore the atonement of Christ is not needed, is proof enough that it is not Christian. Its claim that material things are illusions, and the only reality is the Divine mind, is proof enough again that it is not scientific. If you have the headache, in the first place you have no head, and in the next place there is, of course, no ache. Convince yourself that you are without a head and without an ache, and then you are well. I have read some of their books, and having studied it quite thoroughly the definition of Christian science which has formulated in my mind is this: It is the art of making sensible people feel and act as if they were deranged. Only a woman of culture, hailing from Boston, could have founded and made popular such a refinement of folly.
Theosophy comes to us in modern guise from the brain of Madame Blavatsky, Its headquarters is in Thibet, the one country the gospel has not yet reached. Its mahatmas come through the air from this pagan stronghold to teach the followers of their prophetess. One of them presents a handkerchief to Colonel Olcott of New York, with his initials in the corner. Another relieves the embarrassment of a picnic party by showing a cup and saucer hidden under the root of a tree which matches precisely with the other cups and saucers of the party. Men that seem to have sense about other things are duped by this foolery, while they rail against the miraculous in the Bible. It is really the revival of an effete paganism which has been dead and buried in its native land for hundreds of years. Only a woman could have unearthed its corpse, and with her gentle, delicate touch have painted it into the resemblance of life. God be praised for the good movements that have been led by women, assisted and encouraged by their godly husbands, brothers, and friends, but the Devil only is to be thanked for these three great departures from the faith.
V. The merely nominal church at Sardis. It had a name to live but was dead. Very active with many kinds of organization. There was doubtless scarcely any need for the theater in Sardis, for this church furnished theatrical performances for the people. It had big concerts, big fairs, big socials, and little prayer meetings. The services held for the salvation of lost souls were not popular. Evangelism was dead. There may have been a gorgeous ritual, artistic singing, rhetorical preaching, a splendid display, but no real life, simply a galvanized corpse — powdered and painted death. I leave you to say whether such churches exist to-day.
VI. The faithful church at Philadelphia. The Spirit has no word of criticism. Before them is an open door, and they are entering it. With little strength they have depended upon God and obeyed His Word. The Synagogue of Satan has been compelled to acknowledge their supremacy. Their activity proceeds from spiritual life within. Their meetings for praise and prayer are full, the gospel is believed and honored by pulpit and pew. Their name expresses the fellowship which prevails. It is truly a church of brotherly love. Such a church is like the sun in the heavens, it cannot be hid.
VII. The half-hearted church at Laodicea. They are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot. God is disgusted with them. If there is nothing in Christianity, it deserves our opposition, and we should be hot against it. If there is anything in Christianity, there is everything, and we should be hot for it. There is no room for half-heartedness, no neutral ground, no excuse for indifference. This church at Laodicea felt rich, plenty of money, good social position, fine organization. There was just one thing lacking, Christ was on the outside, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” It was Christianity without Christ.
I wish that I could give you the substance and spirit of a sermon I once heard a black man of the South preach on this text: “Behold I stand at the door and knock.” Every sentence had broken grammar, but good religion in bad grammar is very much better than bad religion in good grammar, and we cared very little for his grammar while we listened to his fervent thought and earnest appeal. “There are two sides to this subject,” he said, “first, the outside, and, second, the inside. Firstly, Jesus is on the outside knocking, and you are on the inside holding the door, with your hand on the bolt. He knocks, you hold. There is coming a time when you will be on the outside and Jesus on the inside and while you knock, he will hold. Open the door, brethren, and let him in, that he may open the door then and let you in, for unless he enters your heart and sups with you here, you will not be prepared to enter his heaven and sup with him there.”
The cure for half-heartedness is the presence and fellowship of Jesus Christ. The church is his. Let him administer through the Holy Spirit its affairs. Let us put him in the place of honor, crowned, sceptered, and enthroned. By his presence every evil will be cast out, all disorder will be cured, and the glory of heaven will have begun.