Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 178, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 August 1918 — A Wide-Awake Church [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A Wide-Awake Church

By REV. HOWARD W. POPE

Moody Bible Institute,

TEXT—Awak<i! Awake! Put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful* garments, O Jerusalem.—lsa. 52:1. If it be asked why the church should ever fall into a drowsy, lifeless condl-

tion, the answer is easily given. There are two causes, the external and the internal. First, thereto the downward drag of the world and the flesh and the devil.- Theseare always operating against the church and tending to lessen her interest in things spiritual by ab-. sorption In worldly matters. More serious, by far.

however, is the Internal cause, or the church’s neglect of the means of grace. The tendency of fire is to go out. The best fire in the world will go out in 24 hours If you neglect to put on fuel. Even so, the fire of devotion in the hearts of God’s people tends to go out unless it Is fed with fuel, and the only fuel that will feed this flame is the fuel of God’s Word.

The average Christian does not read the Bible enough to keep himself Id spiritual health. The consequence is that he loses ground gradually until the fire dies down, and is almost extinct When this becomes general In a church, It Is necessary to resort to special measures to restore life to the church; and these special measures usually consist of nightly meetings In which the'fuel ,of God’s Word Is piled on the slumbering embers until they begin to blaze and burn and give out light and warmth, which is the normal condition of a church. Notice that the words, “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion,’* are not an exhortation, but a. positive, peremptory command. Christians sometimes speak of their spiritual -weakness as a misfortune, but God regards it not as a misfortune, but as a sin, as needless as it is disastrous. “Be ye strong in the Lord, and in the power of hls might,” Is just as binding as tiny commandment In the Decalogue. A Christian has no right to be weak. God has provided strength in abundance, and he holds us accountable for the use of it.

The real mission of the church 18 not educational, though It does educate people continually; not to furnish soup, soap and potatoes, though it may do this kind of work when necessary; not to furnish entertainment for the community, though It may wisely have an oversight of such matters, and see that pernicious entertainments are kept out by providing some of a better quality. No, the real mission of a church is to proclaim the Gospel, to wield spiritual forces, to bring down power from heaven to subdue proud' minds and stubborn wills and passionate tempers. This is the real work of the church from which she is never excused. And for this work she Is well equipped. There is work enough to do, and power enough to do it with. God is ever calling her to do things which are impossible in. her own strength but which §re easily possible to those who know how to avail themselves bf God’s strength. There Is a good illustration of this In John 6. A great crowd had followed Jesus out of the city to listen to hls marvelous teaching. The day was far spent, and there was no place where the people could obtain food. . Under these circumstances the apostles suggested to Jesus that he send the people away to the villages round about that they might buy food. But Jesus answered and said unto them, “Give ye them to eat. How many loaves have ye?” And when 'they had canvassed the company they reported that all they could find was a little lad who had five biscuits and two small fishes; and this amount of course was utterly inadequate. Neverthless the Master bade them bring him what they had, and arrange the people for supper. And when they had finished distributing the pieces which the Master broke off from those five biscuits, they found that they had fed five thousand men and. had twelve baskets full of fragments left over. And when the church really recognizes her mission as the spiritual teacher of the community, as the open channel through which God’s grace is to flow to the unsaved around her; when she realizes what power can be obtained' through prayer, what conviction can be carried to impenitent hearts, she will begin to see those who arte spiritually hungry coming to her doors, and the lame, and the blind, and the oppressed flocking to her so comfort, and guidance and deliverance from the power of sin. Thirsty boys know where the cool sprlpgsare, and godless people soon find out where the water of life can be had, and unconsciously are drawn thither.