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Dangers Confronting the Church
ATHENS CLAY PULLIAS President, David Lipscomb College
[This lecture was delivered and recorded on Thursday, January 26, 1950, during the Annual Lipscomb Winter Lectures.]
My friends, in proposing to speak to you this morning on "Dangers Confronting the New Testament Church" I do not pose as an expert. Neither do I claim to have full understanding of all the dangers that may confront us as a people. In addition to that, I would like to say that these suggestions of danger do not grow out ,of any spirit of pessimism on my part. I have another speech I make sometimes on "Problems That Arose in the Apostolic Church" in which the main theme is this: that we do not have any problem facing the church today which the members of the church did not face, in principle at least, There is only the usual requirement for thoughtful consideration of the mistakes that could be made and the tendencies in those directions.
As a matter of fact, I would like to preface all that I am going to say by this: that in spite of these dangers which I am going to mention, it is my sincere judgment that the church of our Lord is stronger in number, purer in faith, and more zealous in action than it has been at any time since the days of inspired men. However, at the time of greatest prosperity and development it is well to reflect upon danger. So let us make this. the text of our lesson: "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." So let us beware of some things that seem to me to create dangers to the New Testament church.
A DECREASING EMPHASIS ON "THUS SAITH THE LORD"
The first of these dangers that I want to mention is this: there has been a decreasing emphasis, in preaching and teaching generally, on "thus saith the Lord." "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God," is a cornerstone principle of all preaching and teaching. In preaching we hear more and more of human reasoning and logic and less and less of the word of God. There is a trend in preaching, teaching, and writing on matters dealing with right and wrong toward the use of more and more of human reasoning and logic and less and less of the word of God. As a result, the general thinking of the members of the church is guided more and more by the opinions of men, chiefly preachers, and less and less by the word of God. Modernism, one of the gravest dangers confronting us, is no more than an extreme form of this disregard for, and denial of, the authority of the Scriptures.
When the pioneers preached on a subject, they used the Bible as their authority for being for, or against, and not neatly-contrived witticisms of human reasoning and citations, of this and that outstanding preacher, editor, or educator who has "taken a stand." They quoted from the apostles of Christ and not from the distinguished men of the past or the present. So it seems to me that one of the dangers confronting the church is a decreasing emphasis in preaching and teaching on "thus saith the Lord."
Yesterday afternoon I talked to a group of Negro preachers at the Nashville Christian Institute, and I think the advice which I tried to give to them is the best advice I can give to you and to myself. When we dare to preach on any subject, our task is a simple one. Turn to the Bible, find out what the Lord has said on that subject, and tell the people the things that are written in the book. That means if you are preaching on the subject of lying, look up what the Bible says on lying and tell the people about it. And that goes all along the line. So "if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God."
AN INCREASING SPIRIT OF MATERIALISM AND SECULARISM
Another danger that I mention is this: an increasing spirit of materialism and secularism. Never before, I suppose, in the history of the world were people in general so concerned with all the things to which Jesus refers in Matt.6:33 when he said: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." The creature comforts have become far more important in life for the average person than spiritual principles. I want to read for you just a little from Ezekiel, a description of much this same spirit existing among spiritual leaders. As a preacher of the gospel, and as one who comes from a long line and family of preachers of the gospel, I certainly am in favor of preachers being paid according to their work and living in good homes and enjoying reasonable comforts in life; but it occurs to me that something may be fundamentally wrong when a preacher is approached concerning a work and the first questions he asks are: "How much does it pay? How much lime do I get off with pay? How good a house do you have to live in?" It seems to me that is not the right basis on which to decide where to go and where to preach. Now, I do not mean that the majority of the brethren are of that frame of mind, but there is a dangerous tendency to think in that direction. Everyone of us, including myself first of all, would do well to beware at that point.
Now let us read from Ezekiel, chapter 34: "And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to ail the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them." This was a time when the leaders of Israel were not leading, but instead were living themselves upon the fat of the land.
Now, there is a tendency for us to put the material, the earthly, and the temporal ahead of the spiritual. There has been a corresponding decline in spiritual zeal. It might be called indifference or spiritual inertia, and more and more it seems to afflict the people of God. Many of you have been kind enough to express appreciation for the beautiful buildings which are on this campus. I am thankful for them, and I hope that in the years to come other urgently-needed buildings may be constructed. I am very keenly aware of this: that the success of David Lipscomb College cannot primarily be measured in terms of its material progress. We are all thankful for the material progress; but if in the course of developing these material things we were to lose our spirituality and spiritual purpose, then it would have been better if we had spent our lime in more humble quarters. Now this need not be the case. Let us be sure that we do not allow this increasing spirit of materialism and secularism to keep us from developing spiritually, which is the most important thing.
AN INCREASING ECCLESIASTICISM OR INSTITUTIONALISM
A third danger might be called an increasing ecclesiasticism. Some have called it INSTITUTIONALISM. Throughout the ages there has been a strong tendency for religious leadership to become formal and professional. This, in turn, has ]ed to the development of an ecclesiastical hierarchy which oppresses the people and corrupts their faith. This fatal danger looms before us in each generation.
God has ordained that elders, overseers, shall oversee the work of the local congregation of the Lord's church. There is no scriptural organization beyond the local congregation that would link two or more congregations together under the same control, except, of course, the unity of the universal church under Christ Jesus as its head. Therefore, any actual plan, or situation, which transfers control to any agency, institution, or group is unscriptural and antiscriptural. This is true even if such control is informal and denied by those who actually exercise it. It is not the province of any school, paper, or preacher to supervise, direct, or meddle in the affairs of a local congregation of God's people. The New Testament does not make provision for any brotherhood regulators, or spiritual umpires, to oversee the congregations. Any group attempting to exercise such control is in essence a denominational board--whatever you want to call it and whatever it calls itself. Therefore, when any school, paper, or preacher announces the intention to fasten itself on the churches, or to direct and control the brotherhood, that act is sinful and should be opposed as unscriptural and wrong by every faithful Christian. Each school, paper, and preacher does have the right to teach the word of God, and that is all. Therefore, ~et no man bind upon you anything as a matter of faith for which he cannot give a "thus saith the Lord." The faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is not determined on the campus of any school, nor in the editorial rooms of any paper,-nor in the private study of any preacher or group of preachers. The faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is determined only by what is taught in the New Testament.
There is a tendency toward the pastor system. Now, this does not mean in any sense that we should be opposed to a preacher preaching for a local congregation of God's people. A pastor is one who oversees. Now listen carefully: When the preacher oversees and directs the affairs of a congregation, he is the pastor, no matter what you call him. He, therefore, becomes a usurper of the power to which he has no scriptural right. Now, I want to say that again: When the preacher oversees and directs the affairs of a local congregation, he is the pastor. Now, you can call him by some other name, but that is still what he is. He thereby becomes a usurper of power to which he has no scriptural right. So I want to plead with the preachers Who are present, young and old, that we perform our duty to preach the word, the gospel of Christ, and let the elders oversee the congregations as God intended for them to do. Now, if we allow ourselves to sin in this connection, how shall be condemn those about us who sin in the same way?
Sometimes the contention is made that the elders are so weak that the preacher must do the work. Now, we are all aware that there is a great need of better leadership all along the line. Perhaps we should do more in our preaching to emphasize the work of the eiders, the need for their growth, and their development. Perhaps we have given too much thought and attention to developing preachers in contrast to the amount that we have given to developing elders to oversee the local congregation. Perhaps we should cease trying to entice everybody to preach who shows any promise; then if he cannot possibly preach, our attitude has too often been that maybe he will turn out to be a fairly good elder. Perhaps it would be better to place greater stress upon the importance, seriousness, and dignity of this work. Suppose the eiders in any given case are weak, does that mean that they ought to be supplanted by an unscriptural plan for the management of the local congregation? I have preached and held meetings in many places where the singing was poor and often off-key. It never seemed to me to be the proper solution to bring in an instrument to correct that situation. The way to correct it is to develop better song leaders and not to bring in an unscriptural innovation. In other words, our failure to work God's plan will never justify the adoption of our own plan. I want to repeat that sentence: Our failure to work God's plan will never justify the adoption of our own plan.