This World Needs the Church (Are We Doing What We Were Sent to Do?)

This World Needs the Church
(Are We Doing What We Were Sent to Do?) 

It is considered good business to take inventory regularly. This is done to get an honest evaluation of the busi¬ness—more especially of how effective the business practices have been to date. It has been said that the Church of God is the biggest business in the world—and the most important. This being the case, we would be terribly delinquent should we not “take stock” quite frequently.

If an inventory is taken conscien¬tiously, it reveals the truth about the ex¬isting status of things. If all is well, it’s a wonderful feeling. But even if the truth is that the business is only “holding its own,” or is on its way to bankruptcy, it still has to be faced. A business which refuses to face up to reality no longer has reason to be a business.

If a business is prospering in one sense but failing in another, it is the fail¬ing area which needs attention—draw¬ing whatever help we can from the pros¬pering phases. Since the Head of the Church has declared that “the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light,” we un¬derstand Him to mean that we can take a lesson from the world’s business prac¬tices wherever they have proven sound. We put a lot of faith in the fact that the Church can’t fail. Since “faith without works is dead,” we must never forget that, to keep the Church from failing in any generation, we have to “mind our business.”

It is possible to become so jubilant and carefree “living out of the till” that we may forget what the business is all about. The Church is not in business for selfish purposes. With our glib tongues, we may have recited our commission to one another so often that it has become largely a cliché—an expression that has lost its freshness of meaning. Like John 3:16—nearly everybody can quote it, but the widespread ignorance of its meaning makes one weep. God gave His Son for an eternal purpose, and the Church is here for an eternal purpose. In the inter¬est of “good business,” let us consider anew this purpose, and make an honest analysis of our current inventory.

THE CHURCH IS HERE to meet this world’s spiritual need. (This is just one way of expressing it, of course.) The world needed a Saviour, and in due time God sent forth His Son to meet that need. When He had finished the work God had given Him to do (John 17:4), He left His house and went on that “far journey” to the right hand of the Father (Mark 13:34), but not without giving authority to His servants, and to every man his work—and a command to the porter to watch. Then, between His res¬urrection and ascension, He said, “…as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21).

The Church has been sent into the world to meet this world’s need. We are here to carry on the work of the house Je¬sus set in order and purchased with His own blood. The world needs the Church. Would a conscientious inventory show that we are meeting those needs?

MAY WE UNDERSTAND from the events surrounding the Church’s return from the Dark Ages that the existing re¬ligious system at that time was not meet¬ing the world’s need? And may we un¬derstand that God restored the revelation of His divine institution for the purpose of meeting a need which others had not met, and evidently could not or would not meet? Yes, we would say that this is the reasonable understanding.

Now, when we consider those godly en who were so mightily used of God during the Reformation Period in the 16th century, and the great revivals and spiritual awakenings which literally changed whole nations in the 18th and 19th centuries, we would be remiss in our duty should we not look ourselves squarely in the face and ask ourselves some pertinent questions.

WE NEED NOT DISCOUNT the Church’s accomplishments. We need all to our credit that we can get. But there are times when we have to show more concern for our “liabilities” than for our “assets.” A company can “go broke” cheering one another over their assets and ignoring their liabilities. As the Church, we would be something less than honest should we contend that there is little reason for concern about our “balance sheet.”
We must not discredit our thousands of loyal and honorable
 members. We know they are there and can be counted on. But the whole “business” (Church) tends to lose its testimony before the world when we allow our liabilities to threaten our solvency. The question be¬fore us is: Are we meeting this world’s needs as the Church is supposed to do?

THE WORLD IS STEEPED IN SIN. Iniquity abounds. Fear and distrust leave almost everyone feeling unsafe and inse¬cure. We may say that the world doesn’t care—that they are going the way they want to go. That is beside the point. It is our commission to preach the gospel to them and to persuade them to care. Thousands of them do care, but they do not know what to do. Many have made an honest effort to come out of their un¬godly system, but they have been disap-pointed and deceived. They want real help; not empty promises. They are sick of “ballooned advertisement” and “bit talk” by the religious world. Their hearts are hardened against the sensational ap¬peal, which all too often has no lasting substance. People in trouble want “the real goods” or nothing. and in this they are to be commended. Now, do we have “the goods”?

If we do, the world doesn’t seem to detect it. Our increased mingling among them seems not to have impressed them. As far as witness is concerned, they don’t know we’re there, as a rule. Oh, we don’t curse, or smoke, or drink. But don’t we all know good moral people of the world who do none of those things? We don’t participate in immoral con¬duct. But neither do some of theirs.

Some times our “differences” from the world are less noticeable to the world than our “likenesses.”
WE HAVE BECOME SO TAINTED with love for “the world, and the things that are in the world” that the world can’t single us out from the crowd. They “lump us in” with all others who are stamped so boldly with the marks of “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” Under those circumstances, if they see us at all, and¬know us by name (Church), they have no confidence in us because of our ap¬parent relaxed conformity to their world.

To our shame, we can’t help them; but the inventory must be reckoned with. We can tuck it away in the back drawer of the file and contend that it doesn’t matter, for all will be done “by my Spirit, saith the Lord.” But consider this—everything from the “Jesus Move¬ment” to the “neo-Pentecostals” in the “old-line denominations” are now say¬ing the same thing—and going right on in their worldly ways. 

If there’s really a difference—what’s wrong?

WHEN A MAN’S MIND AND HEART are full of one particular thing or type of thing, he has no capacity for other concerns. This is just as true in the Church as elsewhere.

While any condition seldom applies to every member, still the Church is one Body. In the natural body, one diseased member can cause suffering throughout the body; one afflicted part can impede the movement of the entire body. But it does not follow that only one or two sound members can give health to all the body.

The Body of Christ suffers throughout when even a small minority of its members are “diseased” by sin and the world which is at enmity with God. Also, the self-will of the minority can impede the progress of the whole Body.

Society has always been able to survive the occasional sickness of its people, but when certain diseases have reached “epidemic” proportions, all-out efforts have often had to be expanded —smallpox and polio, by way of examples. Nations ranking as world leaders have survived limited corruption for many years, only to fall and become a reproach when that corruption became the prevailing thing.

LET US NOT FORGET that Christianity is a “kingdom” or “society,” and the Church is a “nation” under government. No society has ever been so stable that it could not be debauched when it lowered its morals. No nation has been so strong that it could not fall when its subjects lost their patriotism or its government became corrupt. And the Church of God is no exception to the rule, as was clearly shown in the 4th Century! “Oh, it can’t happen again!” some may protest. And the protest often comes from those who are “glorifying in the flesh” but camouflaging their glory by a prolific use of the name of the Lord. They may wallow in the world and defy the Church’s authority while they shout the name of Jesus and laud the Church of God. This is no help to the Church, much less to the world we were sent to help!

THESE PEOPLE REMIND ME of an article written by A. J. Tomlinson entitled, “SOME PEOPLE CAN’T HELP.” His subtitle was, “What’s the Use to Try to Get People To Help When They Have Proved Unworthy?” We keep trying to help our erring people by warning them that they are inviting the judgments of God, even though they know that the Church must reach perfection. But they refuse to be admonished. Eventually they will get beyond our help, and beyond being helped. Their hearts are full of the world and their minds are full of themselves. They have no capacity left to be of any help to anybody.

It is the opinion of many that worldliness has already reached “epidemic” proportions among us. If the Church is full of the world, how can it be full of the Spirit and power of God? Without the Spirit and power, we cannot help the world. Like Samson, we have said a lot about our power, but if we continue laying our head in the lap of sin, “shaking ourselves” will suddenly fail to produce results, and the Philistines (the world) will see our helplessness!

THE WORLD KEEPS DYING and going to hell. They need help—but so do we! They admit that they have no solutions to their problems. We can tell them that Jesus is the answer—that Jesus is the way, for He is. We can tell it in “shouting volume” that Jesus is a Healer and Miracle Worker, for He is. But when we have come to the place where the world must say to us, “Physician, heal thyself,” what do we say then? When we tell them about the One Fold, and read them the Church teachings, what do we answer when they can say, “I hear you, but I see nothing in you that I cannot see in a hundred other places”? We can preach about the world-shaking power of the Holy Ghost until the rafters ring, but the dialogue will end if our hearers can say, “We see you quake, but we feel no conviction—we hear your whistle, but your train seems stalled on the up-grade.”

IF THIS WORLD WANTS HELP, it is the help of deliverance from its own sin. Oh yes, there is an element in the world that will settle for happiness without holiness, but the soberminded ones want holiness, so far as “religion” goes, it is nothing more than another episode in a long line of experiments; it too will soon be cast aside. But true holiness is the result of the death-pangs of sanctifying crucifixion. It is a sobering, settling experience, and the joy and happiness comes only after the suffering.

In religion, happiness without holiness is the devil’s counterfeit for the real manifestation of the Holy Ghost. The devil never objects to halfway change. In fact, he encourages it, because it is even more damning than outright iniquity. As “the prince of this world,” he loves for professing Christians to cling to the things of the world. He is glad to see us “shouting happy” as long as our behavior and appearance compliments his evil kingdom!

A CHURCH CAN BECOME so full of the world that it doesn’t know its own condition, for there is so little remaining in contrast to show up the difference. Its members can hardly do anything at all unless the world first sets a pattern. In this condition, most of its “gains” will be of the same worldly sort. This kind of church cannot help the world. But, O that the world might help that church to see its own lost estate!

We speak quite freely of the uniqueness of God’s Church; but we stand in danger of losing that distinguishing mark unless we stick to God’s pattern. We may not “ask for a king,” as did “the church in the wilderness,” but we seem to be “looking around!” Every “religious fad” that springs up finds some of our people sitting on its doorstep for a “briefing” on its philosophy. “Old Mother World” seems able to “sell” every new pattern in large quantities to the Church of God—whether it be a style, fashion, or some religious gimmick (often falsely spoken of as “a new method”).

IF WE WILL LEND THE LORD AN EAR, He will help us so that we can help this world. And probably His first word of admonition will be, as it so often has been—“HUMBLE YOURSELVES!” Think about it!

R. O. Covey
White Wing Messenger, January 18, 1975