The True Church by John W. Kennedy
The true Church is the scene of a continual, spiritual struggle for
its own existence. "Hold the pattern of sound words which thou hast
heard from me," Paul exhorts Timothy (2 Tim. 1:13). If we do not
hold firmly on to the fellowship of the Church, it will slip from
our grasp. It is of all things most vehemently assailed. It is
tempted to compromise with organized Christianity. It is tempted to
organize itself in order to conserve what it has gained. It is
tempted to sectarianism by limiting its growth to a certain
emphasis of Christian truth. When it succumbs to any of these
temptations, declension follows, for progress has been limited, and
when it has reached the end of its possible progress, it must fade
out as a spiritual power. This is the picture that history so
graphically portrays, the picture of spiritual power followed by
declension, but from every scene of declension God calls out His
remnant.
The denominations of today are often the churches of yesterday.
They each carried the torch of the testimony so far, then strayed
from the path to rest content with what they had achieved. But the
torch was taken up by others, and will be borne forward till the
Lord Himself comes. The Church, therefore, knows no organizational
continuance. Its continuance lies in the spiritual life of the
Lord's people wherever it has the opportunity of manifesting itself
by their coming together in His name.
The assembly based on the sure ground of Scripture faces a most
subtle peril, the peril not of willingly accepting a denominational
or sectarian position, but of allowing itself to be pushed into it.
'Exclusivism', among those who are truly children of God, is an
odious word. The assembly is separate from worldly and
ecclesiastical organizations not to be exclusive, but to be
inclusive, for it is only outside the camp of denominationalism and
sectarianism that a welcome for all who are regenerate can be
maintained, whatever their own religious background.
The spiritual life and the Scriptural order of the Church go
together. The order is the outcome of life, but it is also
conversely true that the continuance of life is dependent on the
order. All believers are priests and all are witnesses. The
assembly does not recognize any member of its fellowship as a
non-participant. The assembly is the focal point of Christian
service and responsibility. Its order must encourage the constant
flow of spiritual life, otherwise the order itself will be
destroyed.
In some countries today there is great concern among the large
Christian bodies to make the Church popular. Every conceivable
scheme is being brought into play in order to attract people to the
Church. It is forgotten that the true Church can never be
attractive to the world, and was never meant to be. It is something
which is completely beyond the world's understanding. People are
brought into the Church through the witness of the Lord's children
who comprise the Church. When the life of Christ is expressed
through a spiritual order, believers will maintain a witness that
is spiritually effective. Others will be regenerated, and they will
be added to the Church, not because they, as worldly people, were
attracted to it, but because they have been subject to a divine
change which enables them to enter into life on a higher plane. The
Church's mission is not to fit into the world, but to see men
changed so that they will fit into the Church.
The Church of the New Testament is no mere theory. It is a fact of
the twentieth century, as it was of the first. The principles of
the unchanging Word of God, having been demonstrated and tested for
almost two thousand years, have proved themselves applicable to
every age and every circumstance. The Church authoritative, holy,
witnessing, invincible has continued and will continue, not in
outward show and ostentation, but wherever the Lord has found a
people willing to gather round Him in submission and obedience. It
is a Church that is indissolubly one, bound by ties of the
Spirit.
Amid the bitter conflicts and tragedies of so-called Church
history, the life of the spiritual movement of the Church has
flowed on through the ages. The splendid unity of a heavenly race,
living a heavenly life passed down from spiritual generation to
spiritual generation has never been broken. They are pilgrims and
strangers still upon the earth, bearing the reproach of Christ
outside the camp, pressing 'on toward the goal unto the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus'. They gather round Christ
their Head, owning His Word their guide, bearing the torch of the
testimony.
Reference Used: The Torch of the Testimony by John W. Kennedy