1 Corinthians 3

1 Corinthians 3:11-15

WHAT WILL BE THE OF THE FUTURE? 1 Corinthians 3:11-15’S pretentions perished some years since; Sanford is now seldom heard of; Dowie is long dead, and so is Mrs. Eddy, and the advocates of the doctrine, “Matter is no part of the reality of existence”, are in court to keep their unreal hands upon their unreal dollars. And yet, of the making of new religions, there is no end. A Cornell University professor, who was not even religious, outlined the coming religion. R. J.

Campbell was engaged in a campaign for “The Coming Religion for England.” The late Professor Foster tried to take out a patent on “The Plans for Future Faith,” and sold each copy of it at $4.20 net. It would not have been cheap as a gift. It would seem worth while for those who are without a personal axe to grind in the propagation of a new faith, to calmly consider the “Coming Religion,” and candidly inquire what it will be like, and what is to be our attitude toward the same. In investigating the claims of movements, modern and ancient, some of us are convinced that Paul, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, carefully delineated the Coming Religion, describing its foundation, defining its frame, and depicting its finial. THE OF THE COMING “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ”. The religion which is destined to dominate the future will retain Christ for its foundation—Christ, as the eternal Son of God, Christ as the sinner’s substitute, and Christ as the solitary Head of the Church.Christ as the Eternal Son of God. At this present moment the real conflict in the theological world rages about the question of Christ. A few years since the good natured Conservatives, who deplored any debate, were saying, “Whatever the critics take from us, Christ will remain.” And even the critics themselves were then conceding that Christ could not be touched; but scores, if not hundreds of preachers, have risen up to deny the Virgin Birth of Jesus, His physical resurrection from the grave, and His ascension to the right hand of God, thereby reducing Him to the level of a mortal man. Some of them reach this conclusion by disputing the authority of the sacred Scriptures; others by the adoption of the evolutionary theory, and one of the latest, by claiming that Christ appeared to him in person and confessed that He was nothing more than the son of Joseph.But these are not new movements. The Deity of Jesus was disputed by Scribe and Pharisee, explained away by Greek Gnostics, and even derided by the Rationalists of John’s day.

And yet the conviction that He was none other than the Son of God has grown, until, beginning with a solitary disciple, it has made conquest of hundreds, thousands, and even millions of men. The evidence which convinced an uncultured Roman soldier conquered the logical mind of a Gladstone, and excited the uncompromising testimony of a Webster.

That biggest-brained statesman said concerning Jesus, “Every act of His pure and holy life shows that He was the author of truth, the advocate of truth, and the uncompromising sufferer for truth * *. Christ was what He professed to be.” In some quarters people have questioned whether Tennyson, in his Universalism, made Christ the foundation of all, but listen while he sings, “What the sun is to the flower, Jesus Christ is to my soul.” The religion of the future, if it dominates the world and does men good, will retain as fundamental, Christ the Eternal Son of God.Christ as the sinner’s substitute. This truth is now inveighed against in some pulpits. Men professing to be abreast of the times have repudiated the blood without the shedding of which there is no remission. To such an extent has this defection from Scriptural teaching occurred that the late Dr. Augustus H.

Strong, on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, sent a message to the students of Rochester Theological Seminary, saying, “I am distressed by some of the common theological tendencies of our times, because I believe them to be false to both science and religion. How men who have ever felt themselves to be lost sinners, and who have once received pardon from their crucified Lord and Saviour, can thereafter seek to tear down His attributes, deny His Deity and Atonement, tear from His brow the crown of miracle and sovereignty, relegate Him to the place of a merely moral teacher who influences us only as does Socrates by words spoken across a stretch of ages, passes my comprehension.”Certain pulpit orators, whose audiences are scarcely an inspiration, are saying, “The religion of the future will be ethical”, as if the old doctrine of Christ, the sinner’s substitute, was not so.

To this Campbell Morgan has answered, “If the great movements under Wesley, Whitefield, Finney, Moody, were not ethical, what were they? They were movements that took hold of vast masses of men and moved them out of back streets into front ones. And if that was not ethical, surely nothing can be so! Beginning with regeneration of a man they changed his environment, and made him a citizen of whom any city might have been proud. That is the true ethical tone.”It is a fact which history abundantly illustrates, that human progress is by the way of human suffering. Some man must perish for the sins of the people.

The work of Jesus Christ in this matter is not unique, extraneous, or unnatural; it was only extensive, effective, sufficient. If Nathan Hale could serve his country by his death, why could not Jesus Christ save one of His little worlds by laying down His life in its behalf, so that stricken sinners, looking upon Him, might yet have hope, remembering the words of Isaiah, “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: * * He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed”? (Isaiah 53:4-5).The coming religion will hold as fundamental, Christ, the sinner’s substitute. Christ, the solitary Head of the Church. In times past that position has been disputed by the kings of countries characterized by established churches, by the popes of Romanism, and today aspirants for office propose to share it with Him. But it is written, “He is the Head of the Body, the Church”, and some millenniums since it was prophesied,“He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. “They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him; and His enemies shall lick the dust. “The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. “Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve Him” (Psalms 72:8-11). Years since, I listened to Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman speak on, “The New Song.” He referred to the time when in Cincinnati the great chorus of the May Festival of Music appeared, with Patti as soprano, Carey as alto, Theodore Toedt as tenor, Whitney as bass. Just before the Hallelujah chorus there was a death-like stillness over all the throng; then suddenly Whitney sang, “He shall reign for ever and ever,” and Carey lifted it a little higher, “For He shall reign for ever and ever,” the tenor carried it almost to the sky, “For He shall reign for ever and ever.” Then the sopranos, as if they were inspired, sang, “King of kings and Lord of lords.” And then, as if the angels were there with their questionings, “How long shall He reign?” with one accord they made reply, “For ever and ever; for ever and ever.” Then, shouting as with the voice of one man, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”The coming religion will put the crown of authority on the same brow that once wore the crown of thorns, and Christ shall be all and in all and over all! “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).But having begun with the figure of a building, Paul continues after the same manner. Permit us, therefore, some remarks concerningTHE FRAME OF THE COMING The design of it is already in the Holy Scriptures. When Moses was about to make the tabernacle, the Lord revealed to him the pattern, including the ark, the altar, and every part of it, from the remotest limits of the outer court to the sacred holy of holies, and then enjoined, “Look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount” (Exodus 25:40). Those who propose to frame the religion of the future must climb God’s holy hill, and attend again and again upon what God has spoken, and they will find not one point of human experience without provision; not one need of body, soul or spirit left in neglect. It is all in the Word! George C. Lorimer said truly, “There is no position we occupy, no relationship we sustain, no serious issue we have to meet, concerning which we may not, if we will, obtain the fullest information; neither is there any honest doubt, springing from a troubled conscience, that has not its antidote in the affluent provisions of Divine grace.

If you would know how to approach and honor your Creator; if you would realize the claims of Christ upon your faith and love, if you would learn how to fulfill your obligations as parent, child, citizen, or friend, and if you would understand how to live and die triumphantly, you have but to consult the Sacred Volume, whose pages glow with simplest wisdom and with safest counsels.”It may be safely asserted that up to the present there is no other such a formula of intelligent faith, or basis of beautiful conduct, as that revealed in the old Book. The man who proposes to put that aside and work out his destiny without the assistance of a design will probably discover (as I did when once I attempted to build a barn without the preparation of any plans for the same) in crookedness of character the result; his creed will be chaotic and his conduct Quixotic.The material must come from human service.

When you have a good foundation and a well designed frame you have not a house. It is no shield against the wind, no shelter against the storm, no shade against the sun. That framework must be filled in. Paul anticipates this, and talks of our building either with the stable material of “gold, silver, precious stones”, or the ephemeral stock of “wood, hay, stubble”, declaring, “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1 Corinthians 3:12-13).There are two classes of religionists in the world, the one made up of people who hold that creed is conduct, believing that if they accept the Bible as inspired from cover to cover they may then “sit and sing themselves away to everlasting bliss,” and God will be well satisfied with them. The other class believes that conduct is creed; if you only behave decently it doesn’t make much difference what opinions you entertain or propagate. Both are wrong! “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he”.

A dead creed, however true, is worth nothing; a living creed, if true, will express itself in approved conduct. The true Apostle of Jesus says, “I will shew thee my faith by my works”.The country is full of people who have joined the church, been baptized, and count their religious life complete.

At Hull, England, a man went to Campbell Morgan and said, “Do you know, the strangest thing has happened to me!” “What?” said Morgan. “Well, I am a cabinet maker, and I work at a bench, and another man works by my side. He has worked by my side for five years. I thought I would like to get him to come to some of these meetings, and this morning I summoned up my courage and said to him, ‘Charlie, I want you to come along tonight to some meetings we are having down in Wilberforce Hall.’ He looked at me and said, ‘You don’t mean to say you are a Christian?’ and I answered, ‘Yes, I am.’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘so am I.’ Wasn’t it funny?” he remarked. “Funny,” said Dr. Morgan, “is he here? If so, you both want to get down and start again; you were never regenerated.”I believe Dr. Morgan was right.

The coming religion will never be advanced by the man of whom it can be said, “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead”; who says he belongs to Christ but presents Him with no service. I do not know but the churches of this country ought to enter upon a campaign of discipline, and demand of their dead membership either a response to the call of God, or a retirement from the Church of God.Len Broughton tells the story of an old judge in the mountains of Georgia, characterized by his ignorance of law, but abundance of common sense.

Coming into court one morning he found a witness seated in the witness chair with a shawl around him. “You here to bear testimony?” “Yes.” “Put up your right hand.” “Judge, my right hand is paralyzed.” “Hold up your left hand then.” “The left arm is off.” In a spirit of semi-exasperation, he shouted, “Stick up your foot.” The witness answered, “Got them both shot off in the late war.” “Then stand on your head, you have got to put up something in this court!”Some stand for the “faith which was once delivered unto the saints”, believe the old Book is inspired from cover to cover, and that its statements are scientific; but solemnly, it does not matter how orthodox a man is, if he has nothing to put up in proof of the faith that is in him, he is a parasite on the ecclesiastical body, and can only retard the coming of true religion.The Master Builder is the Holy Spirit. Of Him Jesus said, “When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth”. In building it is essential to have a supervisor; a man who combines in one, direction and command. Laggards do not like it. Earnest workmen understand its advantages, and gladly acknowledging the supremacy, receive suggestions. Sometimes you will find the master builder not only a director but a dynamo; he has power in himself and he knows how to impart energy to other people.

The Spirit of God is such a director. The church that works under His guidance will neither be crooked nor incompetent.

Dr. Gordon used to be impressed to see signs as he walked the streets of Boston which read, “Room for rent; with or without power.” The Church of God cannot afford the latter, and it need not, since the Spirit stands ready to administer its affairs.The individual need not be without power, since the same Spirit is willing to descend upon him and upon her. If you are a clerk in the shop, the Comforter will come there if you concede His right and surrender to His reign. If you are the manager of a great corporation He will solve your difficult questions, and show you how to make both your cash and your character tell for Christ. If you are a mother in the home, oppressed by a thousand cares, He will teach you patience, aid you in perseverance, and enrich you with the results. A young man said, “My mother never made much ado about religion, but as sure as you live she had it. There was something in her life that followed me after she was gone until I was constrained to give my heart to God.” Let us affirm it as a fact that in the coming religion men will not be left to themselves to choose their course, think out the proper conduct and build up the proper character; the Spirit of God will administer, and men will marvel at what He has wrought through those who are truly the Lord’s own.The builders have a term which is seldom used in every-day speech, it is “the finial”—“an ornament at the apex of a spire, pinnacle, or the like; a common form in pointed architecture is that of a bud about to open.” How the idea fits the Apostle’s speech, “If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward” (1 Corinthians 3:14).THE FINIAL OF THE COMING What is in that bud? What is the purpose of it, and what is the promise?Surely, the holiness of the individual. Paul, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, said of Christ,“He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13). That is the meaning of Christ’s phrase, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). It refers not alone to the development of powers, but to separateness from sin. A whole life is also a holy life; hence the command, “Be ye holy”.Compromise with the devil will never make a conquering church, and the professed Christian who does not keep himself unspotted from the world will make no contribution to the coming religion.Certainly, the happiness of the earth. That is another feature of the finial of the coming religion. True religion is not self-seeking; it is sacrificial. It does not even so much concern itself with personal ecstacy as it does with the happiness of the people.

The evidence of Abraham’s beautiful character is in the pledge God made him, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed”. The statement that forever ends all quibble concerning Paul’s conversion is his cry over unregenerate Israel, “I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:3).

The words of Jesus, as He looked over Jerusalem, were abundant testimony to His Sonship, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not”! (Matthew 23:37).More men profess to be Christ’s than show any concern for His cause. After consenting to its supreme importance, we let Edison shame us at the point of diligence. Archimedes, we are told, was so absorbed in a problem which he had traced upon the sand, that he didn’t know of the fall of Syracuse. When he saw a Roman soldier rushing upon him with drawn sword, he raised his eyes to cry, “Hold your hands a little; only spare my life until I have solved this problem.” Ours is a greater problem— the problem of human happiness, human honor, human redemption. And if the coming religion is to find a finial worthy of it, those of us who name Jesus must give ourselves diligently to the solution of the same.Finally, that finial involves a home in Heaven. A Cornell professor once said, “The coming religion will deal in no futures!

It will address itself to present problems.” But you take eternity from the views of men and you destroy the interest in the things of time. Beasts think; their reasoning powers are capable of some cultivation, but they are without hope for the future, and their aspirations never rise above the expression of utter selfishness.

Their whole world is one in which every individual is for himself and the devil gets the hindermost. Thank God, the religion of the future, like the true religion of the past, will present another prospect, will hold out another promise. Jesus has voiced it: “In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-3). R. F. Horton says of our present fellowship with Christ, “The heaven we have is a pledge of the heaven which is to be. * * We have tasted the manna sent down from Heaven, but the land flowing with milk and honey is yet in reserve. Certain mansions of our Father’s house which lie along the line of pilgrimage have been open to us, and we have repeatedly, in them, been entertained with banquet and with song. But we surmise, sitting at the feet of Jesus, that the starry heavens, ‘that wide and shining house of God’, are not more vastly removed above the poor littleness of ‘this dim spot that men call earth’ than the range of mansions in the Father’s house excels even those fair habitations in which we have sojourned.”Do you remember how in “Marble Faun” Hawthorne presents Donatello and Miriam as wandering aimlessly along a street at the end of which stood Hilda’s tower? He says, “There was a light in her high chamber; a light too, at the Virgin’s shrine, and the glimmer of these two was the loftiest light beneath the stars.

Miriam drew Donatello’s arm to make him stop. And while they stood at some distance, looking at Hilda’s window, they beheld her approach and throw it open.

She leaned far forth and extended her clasped hands towards the sky. ‘The good, pure child! She is praying, Donatello’, said Miriam, with a kind of simple joy at witnessing the devoutness of her friend. Then her own sin rushed upon her, and she shouted with the rich strength of her voice, ‘Pray for us, Hilda; we need it!’ Whether Hilda heard and recognized the voice we cannot tell. The window was immediately closed, and her form disappeared from behind the snowy curtain. Miriam felt this to be a token that the cry of her condemned spirit was shut out of Heaven.”No religion which despises Heaven will ever command the deep interest of men. In the future, as in the past, that synonym of all conceivable happiness, Heaven, will hold to itself all pure hearts and all righteous hopes. The angels must pity the man, and even with strong crying and tears, commiserate the woman who misses it.