MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church & gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy & blameless" (Ephesians 5:25-27).
A. As much as we enjoy being together as a congregation, it is important for us to remember that churches are not made of wood & stone - these make the building only. Churches are made of men & women, boys & girls. Churches are made of human personalities & brains & hearts & hands.
The Bible says that Jesus is the cornerstone & the foundation, & that you & I are building blocks in the Church which He loves, and for which He died.
And Paul says in Ephesians, in the passage of Scripture which we have just read, that Jesus wants a radiant, glorious church, without stain or blemish.
B. That is what Jesus wants. But we are the church, & I wonder, just how glorious are we? A poet wrote these familiar words:
"Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today;
He has no feet but our feet to lead men in His way;
He has no tongue but our tongue to tell men why He died;
He has no help but our help to bring them to His side.
We are the only Bible the careless world will read;
We are the sinners' gospel. We are the scoffer's creed."
ILL. Chuck Swindoll, in his book entitled, "Living Above the Level of Mediocrity," tells a story about a church back in the days before the Soviet Union broke up. The church met secretly in homes out of fear of the communist authorities.
They tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as they gathered on Sunday to worship the Lord, so they came at different times & casually walked into the house until they had all arrived. Then they would close & bolt the doors, pull the curtains, & quietly worship the Lord.
They had managed to obtain one copy of the Gospel of Luke for the whole church. They cut it up into little sections & passed out those pieces of the Gospel of Luke to individual members.
The members would take them home for the week & memorize that section of scripture, & then bring it back to exchange with another who had a different section of the Gospel, until finally everyone had an opportunity to read the entire gospel & to commit much of it to memory.
One Lord's day they gathered for worship as usual. With deep emotion they quietly sang their hymns of faith.
Between songs different ones would stand up & recite the passage of scripture they had learned that week from the Gospel of Luke. In this way they worshiped & praised God.
But right in the midst of their worship service, two KGB officers burst into the house, & at gunpoint commanded everyone to line up against the wall. Then they were told that they had a choice, either to renounce their faith in Christ & leave, or they could stay & suffer the consequences.
Several of the people quickly left. After a few moments, which seemed like an eternity to those still lined up against the wall, the officers said, "This is your last opportunity to leave. We repeat, ‘You may renounce your faith in Jesus Christ & leave, or stay & suffer the consequences."
Finally, two more left, almost hiding their faces in shame as they walked out. But the rest stood their ground, children standing beside their parents, trembling in fear, some even crying. Parents were trying to look down & comfort their children.
Then, after all had left who had elected to leave, the officers closed the doors once again, turned to the remaining Christians & said, "Now keep your hands up, but this time in praise to our Lord & Savior."
Then the two officers explained that some time earlier they had been given the assignment to infiltrate & to break up house churches & arrest Christians. But in the process, they had heard the gospel & had come to accept Jesus as their Lord & Savior, too.
"But," as they explained to these Christians who had refused to flee, "We have learned that you can't trust people who are not willing to die for their faith."
I've always wondered how I would react in such a situation. I pray that my commitment would be just as strong as theirs.
Now let me ask you, what is the level of our commitment? Are we really committed to the challenge & the commission that the Lord has given to us?
PROP. Paul talks about a radiant, glorious church. Just what would it take for us to be a radiant, glorious church? What are the characteristics of a glorious church?
I. LOVE IS A VITAL CHARACTERISTIC OF A GLORIOUS CHURCH
A. One characteristic is very obvious. It is mentioned in the scripture that we've just read. Paul speaks of Christ "loving the church" even as a husband loves his wife, & watches over her, & protects her, & provides for her. In turn, the church, as His bride, also loves Him, honors, reverences, & obeys His will.
Not only that, but the glorious church loves others, too. Even in times of cruelest persecution the pagan world in amazement observed the Christians & exclaimed, "See how they love one another." So love is a vital characteristic of a glorious church.
That was part of the secret of the tremendous growth of the early church. Even in the face of terrible persecution the church continued to grow by leaps & bounds.
A loving church draws people together. It is true even today. People will ride miles & pass by other congregations in order to go to a church filled with friendly, loving people.
B. But in too many churches today, it might be said, "See how they ignore one another," or even, "See how they hate one another." But we ought to love one another. We have the same Savior; we serve the same Lord; we are living for the same purpose.
ILL. A young American woman had come to work with the Peace Corps in a 3rd World country. For the first time in her life she was exposed to such filth & squalor as she had never even imagined before. She saw a little girl playing in the filthy water of an open sewer in the street, & was horrified.
She turned to her supervisor & said, "Isn't it just disgusting how dirty that little girl is?" The supervisor, having made many visits to this area before, turned to the new girl & said, "You know, here is the problem. Her mother probably loves that little girl very much, but she doesn't hate the dirt.
“You hate the dirt, but you don't love the little girl. It will only be when someone who hates the dirt & loves the little girl comes along that the little girl will be clean."
I think that's a message for the church. We must hate the sin, but we must also really love the sinner.
C. In helping to make the church warm & friendly you may be helping someone who might otherwise have gone down in the battle of life. The one next to you may need God, & your friendliness might make all the difference.
Some day in glory someone may ask, "What brought about your salvation?" & the answer might be, "I had a friend who told me about Jesus & invited me to church." God help us to make this church a friendly, loving church. Let's be one great family with Christ as the Head a glorious church!
II. CONCERN FOR THE LOST IS A CHARACTERISTIC OF A GLORIOUS CHURCH
A. Another characteristic of a glorious church is a real concern for the lost a passion for souls, if you please.
If a church is not a soul winning church, why does it exist? The church is the only organization in the world with a concern to reach out for the souls of men. If the church fails here, it is a failure.
ILL. For 47 years now Ethel & I have been helping support the work of the late Dr. Vijai Lall & his family in India.
It has become a great mission work there with an eye hospital, more than 125 churches, two schools with more than 1300 students, a deaf school, a number of village medical clinics, a Bible College for training ministers, & a media-centre that produces videos about Christianity that have been shown on India’s national TV.
The last time we saw him he gave us a brochure about Mid India Christian Mission which contained a picture of an Indian man leading 3 blind women toward the Eye Hospital at the Mission. For years that man had been blind & a beggar, & then he had come groping his way to the hospital, seeking help.
After examining him, the Mission doctor told him that he could perform an operation that might give him his sight, but that it would be risky. The man told the doctor to go ahead, because he had nothing more to lose.
The operation was performed & on the day the bandages were removed, thank God, he could see. Soon the man became a Christian. One day he left, & was gone for several weeks.
Then suddenly, he was back again, leading 5 other blind men behind him bringing them to the doctor & to hear about Jesus. And in the picture in the brochure he is leading 3 blind women to the hospital, telling them about Jesus, too.
That is why we are here. There are millions of people on this earth who are blind in sin. And a glorious church will see to it that it has a part in helping them to see Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.
III. UNITY IS A VITAL CHARACTERISTIC OF A GLORIOUS CHURCH
A. Another characteristic of a glorious church is its unity – a oneness of its people.
Jesus prayed for that unity among His followers. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed for Himself, "Father, let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done."
He also prayed for the apostles. "Father, keep them from the evil one. Help them to do the task that I have left for them to do."
Then He prayed for us. After praying for the apostles, He said, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me & I am in you.
“May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (John 17:20 21). He prayed that we might be one that the world might believe!
The apostle Paul wrote, "I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you & that you may be perfectly united in mind & thought" (1 Corinthians 1:10).
What a terrible job the Christian world has done in answering Christ's prayer. I honestly believe that the price we are paying for a divided Christianity is an unbelieving world.
B. And what is true of the Christian world can also be true of a local congregation. No church is strong if it is a divided church. Jesus said, "If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand" (Mark 3:25).
ILL. A football team is composed of 11 men, but the men have just one objective & they work together to get the ball over the goal line.
An army may be composed of thousands of soldiers, but they have just one objective & they work together to defeat the enemy. If the church is to win the victory that God wants, then we, too, must be as one.
We sing the song: "Like a mighty army, moves the Church of God." Oh, what any church could do if all the members of that church would rise to the task that confronts them!
ILL. Donald Barnhouse tells about two men who graduated from Kent College of Law in Chicago in the same class. One of them was named Overton, & Overton was Valedictorian of the class.
So, in the graduation proceedings Overton was called up to receive his award as Valedictorian of the class. But before he received it, he made a request. He said, "I request that another of my classmates be called up here as well, & that he share the award with me."
The other man's name was Kasprisek, & Kasprisek came forward to stand beside Overton. Instantly it became obvious why Overton wanted his friend next to him.
Overton was blind. He couldn't see, & Kasprisek, while he could see, had no arms. He could not carry his books. On their first day as freshmen at Kent, Overton had found himself lost in the campus, & Kasprisek had come to his aid. Out of that meeting they had become friends & entered into an agreement.
Kasprisek said, "I'll be your eyes. I'll make sure you are able to find your way from class to class if you'll carry my books." So Overton became the arms of Kasprisek, & Kasprisek became the eyes of Overton. While both of their bodies were incomplete in & of themselves, together they became one.
Barnhouse reports that they became fast friends, formed a law partnership, & succeeded in the practice of law because each complemented the other & compensated for their handicaps.
C. That's what it means when the Bible says the church is the body of Christ. If I'm not seeing clearly, then don't stand back & criticize my ineptness to see. Become my eyes. If I have no arms to pick up my burdens, then don't stand back & criticize me because I'm weak. Come help me carry the burdens.
APPL. So let's unite in the great purpose of the church, namely, to make Jesus known in the world. Let all of our giving & singing & teaching & preaching & work be to that end.
Let us make certain that we have thrown aside every prejudice, every difference & every jealousy, & let us move forward as one body under the leadership of the Holy Spirit & thus be a radiant, glorious church.
CONCL: God help us to be a loving church to have a concern for souls to have a real unity, a oneness among ourselves so that the world may believe. If we will do that, then one day we'll hear Him say, "Well done, thou good & faithful servant" (Matthew 25:21).
INVITATION
