The Line of Communications Goes Through You

Lake County Mail, Issue 28, 3 December 1947, Page 2

The Line of Communications Goes Through You

The church, as is clearly seen from the New Testament, is a visible Society founded by Christ to carry on His work in the world. It is the body of Christ. Each member has its appointed task to perform, and if we fail in that we fail in everything. It had from its very beginnings, and has to-day, the developed seed of a fixed order of officers, its rules and regulations for its successful government, its initiation ceremony, etc. And above all it has its commission and charter from its founder —“Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. . .” There it is—as plain as a pike staff for all who read their bibles, but many of us, I am afraid, see little further than our very short noses, and can see no reason for obeying our Lord’s command and commission. I remember when I handed in my resignation as a clerk in an office the secretary asked me what I was going to do, and I told him I hoped to go out as a Missionary to the South Pacific Islands, He said: “Why go interfering, the so-and-so niggers are happy as they are, let them go to the devil their own way,”—and though many may not express it in such “ picturesque ” language, yet that is the underlying idea behind their - refusal to hear any appeal for the apread of Christ’s Kingdom. • The only hope of salvation in the world to-day is by a greater realisation of the Fatherhood of God and the complementary tenet of the Brotherhood of mankind. It is therefore up to us who are Christians to pass on this “Good News” not only for the sake of the heathen, but also fdr our own sake. We believe that we are not sending natives to the devil when we bring them into God’s family, the Church, we are bringing them to Christ. First Missionary The Presbyterian Church in Queens-

town is not called “St. Andrew’s” solely because he is the patron saint of Scotland, hut because he was one of our Lord’s Apostles, who is known as the First Missionary, of the Church. When he was called to follow Christ he first found his brother Simon ... and brought him to Jesus. One of the four fishermen disciples of our Lord, he with the others, became fishers of men. Of course there are bad people in the church as in every organisation, of course some do not keep to theii ideals, of course we have failures even amongst the officers of the church, but as we read our Bibles we can see that our Lord foresaw such failures. He knew whom he had chosen, and yet Judas one of the twelve, betrayed Him. In the parable of the wheat and the tares He warned us that there would be good and bad, but He said, “ let both grow together until harvest ” —yes, the bad will grow up with the good, and He, the Divine Judge, will separate the bad from the good. In the miraculous catch of fish, the disciples, and if we will learn, were taught that there will be good and bad in the church. We cannot help that, but we can and we must be fishers of men. If a thing is good and worth having it is worth spreading, of course it must be good and not harmful like the measles. The news of our redemption is good, w T e should spread it. But what can I do to spread the good news? Lots of things. Some few are chosen to go into the heathen world they are our representatives, they depend on our support, they are doing our work. We should support them financially as well as in our prayers; we should interest other people in missions as well as showing an intelligent interest in them ourselves. But remember, too —not all the heathen are overseas there are many in our own country and we can preach to them, not only with our lips, but in our lives. Are we doing that or are wo rather shamefacedly paying lip service to God occasionally and so long as no one laughs at us? If they do not jeer, are we going to drop the Christian religion like hot cakes? The church means nothing unless U K in it, and for your membership to be effective you must be in it “ boots and all.”