Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 255, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1918 — Why a Christian Should Join the Church [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Why a Christian Should Join the Church

By REV .HOWARD W. POPE

. Moody Bible Institute. Chicago

TEXT—And the hurt added to the church dally such as were being saved.— ▲eta 2H7. Why does a soldier enlist In the army? Because, there he can render

the most effecttive service; there his influence will help, and not hinder; there’he can have the sympathy and co-opera-tion of other soldiers. " tn every war, however, there are some soldiers who refuse to join the army. They prefer to fight independently. They are called guerillas.

But guerilla warfare as a rule is ineffective, demoralizing, and disreputable. It damages the very cause It tries to help. In like manner there are some people who claim to be Christians, but ■who refuse to join the church. Like guerillas, they unconsciously damage the very cause they ought to help. They cannot give a single good reason for their position, but there are reasons why every Christian should Join some church. I. There he can render the most effective service. He is one of many, who are all working under one commander and for the .same end, and who, collectively, can accomplish • hat could not be done separately. If it is a good thing to have churches in a community, then Christians should support them. Remove the churches from a town, and property would depreciate,, business would decline, and all good people would move away. Sunday would become a holiday, life and property would be unsafe, and the town would' soon have such a bad reputation that no decent person .would move Into it. For this reason every Christian owes it to himself, his family, to society, and to his God, to join and support some church. 11. It is the only consistent position for a Christian. In. the church his influence will help and not hinder; for an outsider, who ought to be in the church, damages the cause of Christ just as much as an insider who ought to be out. A Christian who refuses to join the church practically says to the world that the commands of Jesus are not binding or important, which is not truj. 111. A Christian who does not join the church will soon lose his Joy, and perhaps' his hope. If, knowing his Master’s wish, he refuses to comply with it, he cannot be a happy person. He may be a saved man, but he will lose the joy of his salvation. And if he loses his joy he will also lose his power, for “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” IV. To be a member of Christ’s church is the highest honor this world affords. ' Its sacraments are the most sacred, its literature the most sublime, and its fellowship the most sweet and enduring. All lodges and other organizations are man-made affairs, but the church is a divine institution, founded by Jesus Christ, guided and guarded by the Holy Spirit, having for its mission the evangelization of the world, and for its destiny eternal fellowship with God and heaven. V. If it be objected that there are some hypocrites in the church, the answer is: “Yes, it may be true, but Jesus Christ is no hypocrite, and he is the life of every church.” Remember also that when the church goes through the pearly gates there will be a sifting, and the hypocrites will be left on- the outside of the gate, on your side, unless you obey Christ, and you will have to spend all eternity with them. Would it not be better to live with them a few years in the church than to spend nil eternity with them elsewhere? You must spend some time with those hypocrites somewhere. Where shall it be? VI. The Christian who refuses to ( join the church, dishonors Jesus Christ. It is like proposing a secret marriage. He is willing that Christ should die for him, but he is not willing to live for Christ, or even to acknowledge his relation to him. He desires to be saved, but he Is not willing to server He wants the benefits of Christianity without the sacrifices, whereas the sacrifices constitute nine-tenths of the The meanness of it is well illustrated

by the following story: .Doctor Lorimer once asked a man why he did not join the church. The reply was that the dying thief did not join the church and he was saved. “Well,” said the .doctor, “if you de not belong to a church, you help support missions, of course?” “No,” said the man. “The dying thief did not help missions, and he was saved, wak he not?” “Yes,” said the doctor. “I suppose he waa,byt you must remember that he was a dying thief, whereas you are a living one.”