Some Present-Day Perils and Problems

Some Present-Day Perils and Problems
SOME PRESENT-DAY PERILS AND PROBLEMS.
BY F. L. YOUNG

I am no alarmist. Neither am I a pessimist. I firmly believe in the triumph of right over wrong; that the Lord can make even the wrath of his enemies to praise Him.

It is, however, the part of wisdom to look on both sides, the dark as well as the bright. If one would avoid and overcome difficulties, they must be seen and recognized.

There are some perils and problems common to all the ages, and, then, there are others peculiar to each age. The fathers of the Restoration had to meet ignorance, prejudice, and sectarian bigotry; but the masses were honest and intensely religious. Great battles were fought and wonderful victories gained by those heroes, for there were giants in those days.

They bequeathed to us, their children, a restored gospel, a restored church, and a restored worship. In fact they restored to the world that gospel which was preached by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, that worship so full of God's simplicity, and that church so adequate for carry - ing on all the work of God. Shall we be as true to the next generation as they were to this? Our perils and problems differ from theirs, both in kind and in degree. Shall we meet them bravely and solve them wisely, or shall we be swept from our bearings by that great avalanche of worldliness that threatens to engulf everything? The spirit of worldliness is running riot; it knows no bounds. With it are no sacred seasons or sacred precincts. The amusement craze has defied the God of entertain­ment, whose attributes are mainly fun and frolic. If this deity were satisfied with his own territory, the devil's domain, it would not be so serious. But, like his old proto­type, he intrudes into the meeting places of sons of God, where is being offered worship in Spirit and in truth. When we turn to the pages of medieval history and see how the Romans desecrated the church of God, we lift our hands in holy horror. To gain favor with the heathen they sanctified their games, festivals and music, saying that, "the end justifies the means." This spirit of wantonness that would open the door of God's house to these heathen amusements would sacrifice the fellowship of purity, virtue and righteousness.

Worldliness today is the deadly apostasy that is poison­ing the atmosphere of God's Sanctuary. The devotees at this shrine are neither vile nor wicked, as men count vileness; but they are actuated by a Spirit that would secularize and commercialize every sacred prin­ciple. A Christless morality is the hidden rock that is wrecking the old Ship of Zion in many places.

Indifference is another peril with which we must reckon. It is that insidious negative condition of church life that is sapping the very foundation of God's Spiritual Temple. No care for the lost; deaf to the wail of the widow and the cry of the orphan. Heedless to the call of missions; and blind to the great work of the Christian education. No wonder the apostle asked the question, "How shall we escape if we neglect?" This spirit of indifference has so deadened the zeal of the Saints in many places that a deadly pall seems to be hanging over the church. Like the Ephesians they have gone to sleep in the midst of perils and surrounded by great opportunities. The voice of the Apostle, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and the Christ shall shine on thee" should be heralded from the rivers to the ends of the earth.

Another peril that threatens the church in this com­mercial age is business. It is well to have a business, and to be diligent in business and fervent in spirit. Serving the Lord. But when one is so absorbed in business as to neglect to serve the Lord, he needs to hear the warning voice of the Apostle when he cried saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." The Lord needs busy men and business men, but, like the Master, one should attend the Father's business first.

Surrounded as we are with the world, the flesh, and the devil, it is difficult for christians to stem the current and heed the command.;!o "withdraw yourselves from everyone that walks disorderly," "mark them," "have no company with them," "that they may be ashamed." The lack of wholesome discipline is a peril that is menacing the efficiency of the church more than any other one thing.

If the life of a citizen of God's Kingdom differs not from the Alien in self-denial, cross-bearing, and spiritual devotion, why be a citizen? Can the profession of theory save?

There is no doubt in my mind about the restoration of the faith and theory of primitive Christianity, but there is room to doubt the restoration of the practice. Having discovered our need, let us say with the Apostle, "This one thing I will do." We have been trying for years to set the denominations right; in fact, we have worked at that so much over-time that we have almost gotten out of plumb ourselves. May the dear Lord deliver us from a lop-sided Christianity, from faith without works, from the body without the spirit.

Let us show by our manner of life that the faith we hold not only purifies the heart, but that it works by love and purifies the church also. A good woman, after listening to a sermon on the beauty and simplicity of God's plan of salivation, came up to the preacher and said, "I want to ask you a question." The preacher, who was accustomed to the use of the query box, said that he would gladly answer any question. She said, "Do you practice what you preach?" That question came nearer knocking that preacher off his galavanic battery than any he had received before. I Jut, holding the woman by the hand, he answered her question by saying, " I f the time ever comes that I fail to practice what I preach, I shall quit preaching until the practice catches up."

How to produce an efficient eldership is a present-day problem that needs solving. The lack of qualified over­seers is a handicap to the church in many places. The church will not shine as clear as the sun, as fair as the moon, and as terrible as an army with banners while this condition exists. In solving this problem there are several prime factors to be considered. A man to be an over-seer, or superintendent, in the church of Christ must be the result of five prime factors. First, nature must do her part well. A man with no natural gifts cannot meet the demand. Time is an element that cannot be discarded, for it brings ripe­ness, experience, and maturity. Then the Holy Spirit ex­presses the qualifications or lays down the standard of at­tainment. As the Holy Spirit makes Christians by reveal­ing God's will and inviting man to accept, so that same spirit makes men over-seers or bishops in the church of God. Before the Holy Spirit can make one a Christian, he must desire to adorn that character that will please God. Before the Holy Spirit can make one a bishop, he must rle- sire the work. Desire it so earnestly as to meet the standard of measurement. Desire is a factor not to be neglected. Having found one whose character possesses these four factors, it is then the duty of the church to recognize such and appoint him to the work of an over-seer in the house of God.
As I face an audience of more than forty preachers and nearly as many "near" preachers, I am reminded of another problem —the preacher problem. What shall we do with the preachers? You no doubt have heard of the old sister's solution. A preacher who lived hard-by —and he may have lived" hard-up too —had a pea patch, and the sister had a mule. The mule had a fondness for the preacher's peas. So the preacher loaded his gun with beans and slipped too close to the mule before he shot. The mule managed to get outside into the brush before he died. Suspicion rested heavily on the preacher; so he quit preach­ing for a while. During the summer revival he got warmed up; his old time zeal returned. He arose in meeting one day and said he loved everybody and expected to meet nearly everybody in heaven. "Brethren," he said, "the Baptists will be there, and the Methodist too; so, also, will the Presbyterians. But —and —brethren, what shall we do with the Campbellites!" The old sister whose mule had been shot, arose from the rear of the audience and shouted, "Shoot 'em with beans." There are several phases to the preacher problem, some of which need considering. Elderly preachers should encourage the younger by cheerful and optimistic views of the ministry. There should be no more jealousy or envy among old and young preachers than there is between one's manhood and boyhood days. Paul, the aged, needs a Timothy as well as a Timothy needs a Paul. One of the most important phases of this problem is the attitude of the church to the preacher and the relation of the preacher to the church. Should the church take charge of the preacher, or the preacher the church? What is their relationship? Should a preacher hold membership and be in fellowship with a local assembly like other folk? Should they be members where they live or somewhere else? Are preachers amenable to the bishops or the bishops to them? Should a church invite a preacher to labor with them when he repudiates the church and her overseers? Can a church scripturally withdraw from a preacher when he does wrong and refuses to repent, just as it can from anyone else? What should be the attitude of other churches of Christ toward the one withdrawn from? What should be the atti­tude toward the church that did the withdrawing? These questions are simply suggestive. A correct answer to them will help in solving the preacher problem. Many earnest, faithful, loyal, self-sacrificing men have gone preaching the gospel without money and without price. They recognized the local assembly with its bishops and deacons as the highest ecclesiastical authority on earth. With them the preacher is a minister or a servant of the church and is always amenable to the congregation of which he is a member.

Censorship. The position of the religious censor is not always recognized or appreciated. What is sound, or what is unsound is sometimes hard to determine. Then the ques­tion arises, "Who made him a judge? Where did he get his authority to pass on the soundness or unsoundness of another's teaching?" Does not the Apostle teach "to his own master he stands or falls?" Too often the man who differs from us, because he has learned more than we have, is pro­nounced a heretic, while the man who thinks as we do is sound in the faith, though he never spent a moment in the examination of the foundation of the faith. Can a faithful minister afford to trifle with his conviction because some self-appointed censor cries, "unsound?" There is no doubt, much teaching that should never be taught publicly or pri­vately either. And there is much written that should never see the light. As long as one's life is above reproach, and he teaches faithfully and plainly God's plan of salvation, should he be condemned and disfellowshiped because he has clearer glimpses of sonic of God's great mysteries than I have? No earthly censor can dictate to a faithful gospel preacher. The overseers of the flock may suggest the best message for the occasion, but the faithful messenger gets his authority higher up. I have read a few books on religious theories that I considered speculative Some of their theories I accepted some I rejected Shall I dis-fellowship the good brother whose theory I reject? I have resolved never to make anything a test of fellowship that the Holy Spirit has not made a condition of salvation.