Over the next few posts, I will be showing the text of a chapter from a book that I have just read. I will not reveal the author or the book title until after I have posted the complete chapter. For all of those who have been arguing and stressing the fact of needing to be relevant in today's society, to those who have hinted that we need to lower our standards to reach the world to those who feel that the church is almost a hopeless"club", please read these pages. Share your thoughts. Let me know how you feel about this in regards to the above statements.
I want to stress that this writing is not mine, but being that I have posted it, I must be endorsing it.
The title of the chapter is: "Is It A Hard Saying?"
In a former article I said that the want of an infusion of power from on high should be deemed a disqualification for a pastor, a deacon or elder, a Sunday school superintendent, a professor in a Christian college, and especially for a professor in a theological seminary. Is this a hard saying? Is this an uncharitable saying? Is it unjust? Is it unreasonable? Is it unscriptural?
Suppose any one of the Apostles, or those present on the day of Pentecost, had failed, through apathy, selfishness, unbelief, indolence, or ignorance, to obtain this outpouring of power. Would it have been uncharitable, unjust, unreasonable, or unscriptural, to have accounted him disqualified for the work which Christ had appointed them?
Christ had expressly informed them that without this infusion of power, they could do nothing. He had expressly commanded them not to attempt the work in their own strength, but to tarry at Jerusalem until they received the necessary power from on high. He had also expressly promised that if they tarried, in the sense which He intended, they should receive it “not many days hence” (Acts1:5). They evidently understood Him to command them to tarry in the sense of a constant waiting upon Him in prayer and supplication for the blessing. Now, suppose that any one of them had stayed away and attended to his own business, and waited for the sovereignty of God to confer this power. He of course would have been disqualified for the work; and if his fellow-Christians, who had obtained this power, had deemed him so, would it have been uncharitable, unreasonable, unscriptural?
Is it not true of all to who the command to disciple the world is given, and to who the promise of this power is made, if through any shortcoming or fault of theirs they fail to obtain this gift, that they are in fact disqualified for the work, and especially for any official position? Are they not, in fact, disqualified for leadership in the sacramental host? Are they qualified for teachers of those who are to do the work? If it is a fact that they do lack this power, however this defect is to be accounted for, it is also a fact that they are not qualified for teachers of God’s people; and if they are seen to be disqualified because they lack this power, it must be reasonable and right and Scriptural so to deem them, and so to speak of them, and so to treat them.
Who has a right to complain? Surely, they have not. Should the Church of God be burdened with teachers and leaders who lack this fundamental qualification, when their failing to possess it must be their own fault? It is truly amazing to see the obvious apathy, indolence, ignorance, and unbelief that exist on this subject. They are inexcusable. They must be highly criminal. With such a command to convert the world ringing in our ears; with such an admonition to wait in constant, wrestling prayer till we receive the power; with such a promise, made by such a Savior, held out to us, a promise of all the help we need from Christ Himself, what excuse can we offer for being powerless in this great work? What an awe-inspiring responsibility rests upon us, upon the whole Church, upon every Christian!
Chatboard (2)