What is the ultimate goal of our mission as a church? What is the final objective of our ministry as modern apostles for Jesus Christ? Is it to finish the work, or to change the world, or to demonstrate for peace, or to press for social reforms and true racial equality? Is it to preach with power the three angels' messages, or to fill up the church and make up the 144,000? Is it to flood the world with our beautiful literature or to foster and support the finest program of Christian education in the world? Is it to provide the best, most modern medical institutions staffed with consecrated men and women committed to "making men whole," or to build a good public image by doing good feeding the poor, clothing the naked, comforting the sorrowing and delivering the captives from their enslaving habits?
All of these things are good and important. I would not for a moment underestimate their value to the church in the fulfillment of its mission. But not one of these things individually, nor all of them put together, constitutes the ultimate goal of the church in the world today. This goal is set forth clearly, positively, and finally by the angel Gabriel as he outlined the mission of John the Baptist:
"And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:17).
This is our ever-so-vital mission as a church and as ministers of Jesus Christ. This involves a great deal more than simply becoming a Christian. It means more than believing the Bible or accepting "the truth." It means more than understanding the prophecies. In involves more than church membership. It means more than being placed in a high position in the church or making a good profession. It means more than acceptance by our peers, more than good work, and more even than great deeds.
We might meet all the qualifications that are necessary to achieve all these things. We might fill our churches with wise and influential people. We might capture the imagination of today's youth and perform many miracles in the name of Christ, and still neither be ready ourselves nor succeed in making ready a people prepared for the Lord.
To be ready, prepared for the Lord, calls first for sincere and full confession of sin and deep heartfelt repentance. Next, it calls for the forsaking of sin, deliberately turning away from it and breaking off every relationship with it. Third, it calls for victory over sin. And fourth, it calls for death to sin.
It is our sacred mission and great privilege to first experience this for ourselves and then seek by God's grace to lead our dear people, young and old, and millions still in the world, into it, also. This means putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. It means being so transformed that we reflect the image of Jesus fully. It means making ready a people fully conditioned, absolutely safe to take to heaven. Nothing less than this is good enough. Nothing more is required. But this is required.
This kind of ministry charged with this kind of mission calls for:
1. A New Repentance. The message of John the Baptist was: "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This is the first duty of ministers, and we must "bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." Then this must be sounded forth by us as the apostle Peter so clearly outlines in 2 Peter 3:9. The apostle Paul adds another dimension to this when he declares that we must call for "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Both are required.
There must be genuine heartfelt repentance for the carelessness with which at times we approach our work and for the indifference with which we perform it. We need to repent because of our worldliness and materialism, our lack of commitment and concern, our lukewarmness and self-satisfaction, our failure to preach the Word of God and to set the right example in all things. We need to repent because of our permissiveness and our own personal laxness. There needs to be repentance because of our adulterous attachment to mediocrity and our in satiable appetite for credit and recognition. We need to repent for our worship of position and bigness and for our pride and self-seeking and prejudice. We need to repent because of our lack of love for Jesus Christ and for the souls for whom He died.
2. Our mission calls for A New morality—not in the sense in which the world uses that term, but a strange morality in which genuine honesty, purity, and truthfulness become a way of life. We must be absolutely honest with our selves, honest with men, honest with God, and even with the government honest in every way, in every thing, with every one.
We must be pure. Pure to the point where we are morally clean in thought and act. In the twenty-fourth psalm, verses 3 and 4, the question is asked: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?" The answer comes back: "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart." This involves purity of thought, purity of speech, purity of act, purity of motive, purity of relationship with men and women. Our definition of love must not be l-u-s-t, for as one has said: "The fires of lust are not cleansing fires."
We must be noted for our truthfulness: "In their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God." This means no falseness, no error, no deception. The great need of the world today is for "men who in their inmost souls are true and honest." For us, dear fellow workers, this means absolute truthfulness in our preaching of the Word of God and in our handling of sacred things.
Phillips Brooks in his book on preaching warns us of another very serious aspect of this. He talks about "clerical jesters." In identifying one of them he says: "He is full of Bible jokes. He deals with the sacred as if it were common. He lays his hands on the most sacred things and leaves defilement upon all he touches." Too often our hearers have been saddened as we have seen this demonstrated in our ministry. It is important that we handle the Word of God not only truthfully but reverently.
3. This kind of ministry calls for A New Reformation. This is one of the great needs of our church today it is our need also. No one can seriously read 2 Chronicles 7:14 without coming to this very important conclusion.
A revival and a reformation must take place, under the ministration of the Holy Spirit. Revival and reformation are two different things. Revival signifies a renewal of spiritual life, a quickening of the powers o£ mind and heart, a resurrection from spiritual death. Reformation signifies a reorganization, a change in ideas and theories, habits and practices." Selected Messages, book 1, p. 128.
4. This kind of ministry calls for A New Inspiration. What must come is the return of our first love and all the devotion, all the eagerness, and all the zeal that went with it. "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee" (Ps. 51:12, 13).
Isaiah's inspiration came from his vision of Christ, and it completely changed his life. This was true of Moses, as well, for we are told, "He endured, as seeing him who is invisible" (Heb. 11:27). This was Paul's inspiration, also. Listen to him as he testifies before Agrippa: "Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:19). He tells us that this must become our inspiration, also. "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus." To this the servant of the Lord adds: "If we keep the Lord ever before us, allowing our hearts to go out in thanksgiving and praise to Him, we shall have a continual freshness in our religious life." Christ's Object Lessons, p. 129. This is the inspiration that every minister needs as he seeks to complete his assignment for his Lord.
5. This kind of ministry calls for A New Conviction. This must be manifested in our ministry in many ways and in many things. This is God's church, this is His message. We have been called and ordained and sent on our mission by God. This must be the overwhelming conviction of our heart.
One of the ways that Laodicea manifests its lukewarmness is in its inability to distinguish clearly between right and wrong, truth and error. Things become blurred and indistinct. We "see men as trees walking." The difference between the important and the unimportant, be tween the major and minor matters, be tween true worth and the gaudy and cheap these are the vital considerations of our time.
God, give us men of conviction! We must come to the place where regard less of personal cost we will leave no doubt as to where we stand. "The greatest want of the world is the want of men men who will not be bought or sold, . . . men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall."
6. This kind of mission calls for A New Certainty., a new confidence in the Lord, in His church, its teachings and leader ship. We need this desperately if we are going to be able to convince people that we have something better to offer them than that which they already have. This we must have if we expect to bring them to salvation in Jesus Christ. We must banish our doubts, we must hold fast to that which is sure.
Of Christ it was said: "Never man spake like this man." The reason was "He spake as one having authority." The minister patterns his ministry after his Master. Listen to these positive assertions:
"It is as certain that we have the truth as that God lives." Testimonies, vol. 4, p. 595.
"The truths we present from the Bible are as firm and immovable as the throne of God." Selected Messages, Book 2, p. 87.
"I know that the sanctuary question stands in righteousness and truth, just as we have held it for so many years." Counsels to Writers and Editors, p. 54.
"We have a truth that admits of no compromise. Shall we not repudiate everything that is not in harmony with this truth?" Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 205.
"A line of truth extending from that time to the time when we shall enter the city of God, was made plain to me, and I gave to others instruction that the Lord had given me." Ibid., p. 207.
This certainly must become a fixation with us. Beyond may be fresh revelations of this truth, new vistas, new and more radiant light on it, but never will there be change in it or denial of it. A great evil confronts us in our evangelistic ministry today. It is not, as some so emphatically affirm, our failure or in ability to properly interpret Scripture or prophecy, but the danger that we shall be come so uncertain about our message that we fail to preach evangelistically at all.
7. This kind of ministry and mission calls for A New Clarity. The counsel that God has given to the ministry of this church is "Make it simple, make it plain, make it sure." Let us not clutter up our beautiful message with terms that cannot be understood. Let us neither obscure it with humanistic philosophy or discolor it with the vulgarisms of our day nor dis grace it by clothing it in cheap talk or common place anecdotes. We may not always be profound, but there is no reason why we cannot always be clear.
The heaven that we preach is more than "pie in the sky by and by." Hell is more than a holding oven or barbecue pit. Armageddon is more than an ecclesiastical cold war. The hail of the seven last plagues is more than frozen chunks of theology. The judgment is more than a Chicago Seven trial. The sanctuary is more than a paper blueprint. Our sinfulness is more than a harmless trip into situationalism and conformity. Our Saviour is more than a psychiatric practitioner, and our cleansing is more than a whitewash.
8. Our ministry requires A New Urgency. We must allow nothing, absolutely nothing, to divert us or detain us from our mission. Neither the lukewarm comfortableness of our churches with their security and serenity nor the antagonism and bitter opposition of the devil and his agencies must be permitted to distract us.
Each day brings new and clearer evidence that time is extremely short. Read the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. Read The Great Controversy and you cannot fail to see in exact detail the prophetic fulfillment of the very events that usher in the coming of the Lord. In view of this a new urgency must possess our souls. This must be made evident by the sound of our voices, by the purposefulness of our lives, by the firmness of our hold upon the Lord, by the boldness of our witness, by the total commitment of our lives to our total task.
"Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay" (Jer. 20:9).
9. The fulfillment of our mission today calls for A New Pentecost. This is a mighty solemn, though glorious, experience that we seek. We must eagerly and with great earnestness prepare for it, and preach concerning it. We must meet together by groups, companies, and churches and plead for it, and it will come. This is as sure as the fact that God lives. With it the work of God will go like fire in the stubble; thousands will be converted; miracles will be wrought, and the work of God will be finished and Jesus will come. Without it we are doomed to stay in this world much longer than God ever intended.
10. Finally, it requires A New Demonstration—a mighty, convincing, compelling demonstration. Once again the Word must become flesh. People must behold His glory in people. We must "adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." It is this kind of demonstration that really needs to captivate the imagination and dedication of our people and our ministry today.
In visions of the night, representations passed before me of a great reformatory movement among God's people. Many were praising God. The sick were healed, and other miracles were wrought. A spirit of intercession was seen, even as was manifested before the great Day of Pentecost. Hundreds and thousands were seen visiting families and opening before them the word of God. Hearts were convicted by the power of the Holy Spirit, and a spirit of genuine conversion was manifest. On every side doors were thrown open to the proclamation of the truth. The world seemed to be lightened with the heavenly influence. Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 126.
This, dear brethren, is what it is all about. This is why we are in the world. This is why God has a remnant church. This is why we have a divinely appointed and ordained ministry. This is why we are in Atlantic City as apostles of Jesus Christ. "The efficiency and power attending a truly converted ministry would make the hypocrites in Zion tremble and sinners afraid." Ibid., vol. 4, p. 528. "Through the church will eventually be made manifest, even to 'the principalities and powers in heavenly places,' the final and full display of the love of God." The Acts of the Apostles, p. 9.
This is a picture that God is waiting to see fulfilled. This must be our demonstration. Let us march as a people bound together in perfect unity, filled with holy zeal, going forth to reveal to all men everywhere the final and full display of the love of God. Here is true equality, true brotherhood, true fellowship, true acceptance. The walls of separation have crumbled. All barriers are broken down. The prayer of our Saviour in John 17 has been answered. This is it!
Ghandi, the great leader of India, debated for a long time whether to become a Hindu or a Christian. After he made his decision someone asked him why he had not become a Christian. His significant though tragic reply was: "I would have be come a Christian if it had not been for Christians."
Is this what is wrong with the Christian church today? Is this the reason why we are still in this sad and troubled world? Is this descriptive of our Seventh-day Adventist ministry and membership? Are we driving men and women away from Christ instead of drawing them to Him? Are we delaying His coming instead of hastening it? These are solemn questions and deserve truthful answers. While we are here in this place these few days let us spend the time in earnest prayer and study; let us seek the Lord for full victory over sin and for the mighty showers of the latter rain. Let us thus "make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
