The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-18
REV. j. A. LORDS SERMON
EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN STAND
ARD IN THE PULPIT.
'New Testament Doctrine and Mis-
sions"-0ther Sermons by Wis
itors to the Conversion.

greeted by fine congregation, and his dis
course was generally commented upon as
being a most masterful pulpit production.
His subject was New Testament Doctrine
and Missions"
Mr.. Lord began by saying that the New
Testament doctrine has no existence apart
from missions and that so Intense is its re-
demptive motive that 1t discards whatever
does not make for salvation.
Jesus" said he, was the great mission
airy from the bosom of the Father 10 the
sin-stricken earth; the Holy Spirit is a
missionary sent by the glorified Savior to
equip and strengthen His disciples for their
evangelistic work. The angels are mission
aries out of heaven to minister to them
who shall be heirs OF salvation, and all true
demption to their fellow-men. From our
Lord on His throne to the humblest dis
ciple in the Church of God, the kingdom of
heaven is one grand missionary society
Continuing, Mr.. Lord said
1.-THE incarnation is the best buttressed
fact in the universe. The cross stands on
no isolated peak. Calvary was the crown
of a chain of glorious events, the culmina-
ton of a mission work of forty centuries.
The limitation of missionary effort in for
mer dispensationS came from divided pur-
we'll as man, and his whole strength could
be given to neither search. The Book of
Job Is perhaps the best representative of
Old Testament conditions. When the at
fiicted patriarch and his friends were Crap
ping with the mysteries OF Providence they
had little time to give to their fellow-men,
Even if they could silence their own fears
and reinforce their faint Unborn hope by
philosophical reasoning they were in no po-
sition TO evangelfZe others. Speculative and
inferential conclusions do not open blind
eyes or quicken the dull understanding.
There is no contagion in reasoned-out re-
ligion. If man die shall he live again.?
has it's missionary spirit crushed out by the
subjunctive mood and the Interrogation
point. In sharp contrast is PauPs Now is
Christ risen from the dead and become the
first fruis of them that slept
THE scope of the gospel message is the
world and concerns all men; its missionary
conditions concern believers. The duty of
sinners to repent is no more urgent than
that of saints to preach repentance Both
he that believeth not and he that goeth
not shall be condemned. In strictness of
speech, faith, repentance and baptism are
not the great commission. Go preach the
gospel to every creature, go teach the ma
tions is the commission given the apostles;
the other elements are the conditions of
salvation offered to alien sinners The go
Is the emphatic word in the commission"
HOW 1T STIMULATES THE CHURCH.
Mr.. Lord next took up the subject of how
the New Testament doctrine must stmu-
late the church and provide for the most
comprehensive, adequate and effective mis-
sionary enterprise for the evangelzation of
the whole earth. Said he:
THE man who is concerned only in his
own safety cannot be redeemed. The prob
lem is social as well as personal Christian,
in Pilgrims Progress, pursuing his soli-
tary journey toward the heavenly city is a
parody, and not even a good caricature of
gospel truths. II salvation were merely a
saving of human units the problem would
be simple. The Lord could send legions Of
angels and to each angel assign the task
of rescuing a single man. This would do
away with the need for missionary So
cietieS, the opportunities of secretaries who
vex lazy preachers and stingy congrega-
tons and destroy expensive religious con-
ventions that excite the ire of anti-mis-
SiOnary ScribeS. With such an arrange
ment (born Of the wisdom of the piO Cary
might have continued a contented cobbler,
Livingstone have spent his days at the cot
ton loom, Alexander Cross remained USE
full slave in Kentucky and Josephine Smith
whom they labored, might be living in hap
piness at home in glorious America-that
Is. II there could have been an America
without the tears of patriots and the blood
of martyrs through the eighteen centuries
OF missionary fellowship, including Cal
vary. But such a salvation would have
filled heaven with an aggregation of GU
riosities no more significant. than the aero
ltes dropped from other planets to fill a
niche in the museums of earth.
God and saved men cooperate in the
salvation OF sinners. New Testament doc
OF salvation are in the hands of holy men,
The great commission is a sacred trust The
refusal or the failure of the church to send
forth the message operates just as would
the refusal of Christ TO die for our sakes
With US the chief problem is not whether
whether we can be saved if we do not give
the heather the opportunity to accept or
reject the. gospel. The hottest fires of
fercest judgments will be for an anti-mis-
sionary and traitorous church.
1.-The union of holy men with God
through faith prayer and consecrated ac--
tivity, will lay the treasures of heaven and
earth at their feet for the requirements of
worldwide evangelism. 1t is power rather
than wisdom, and the power which secures
need. We must be filled with the Spirit be-
fore we can fill the earth with the glory of
God in Christ Jesus. This is the victory
which overcometh the world. even our
faith When the church lays hold on God
then IL can lift up the world.
DEED RATHER THAN CREED.
IAN impure church cannot be a mission
airy church. Deed rather than creed is the
note which dominates in the message which
is to impress unregenerate, men. They will
interpret our sermon by our lives and press
the troublesome question of Jesus, What
do We more than others?' If commercial
lying and gambling are passed lightly by,
If unconsecrated wealth have weight in re-
ligious councils. if, Jesuitical distinctions
between official and personal wrong doing
shield the great from merited condemna-
ton, II no definition of covetousneSS is
formed which throws greed and wordliness
outside the lines of church, fellowship,
sad day has come for the cause of Christ
the earth The spiritual teacher who
treats the subject of amusements without
respect to the radiant forces Of the gospel
Is a blind leader of the blind 1t is enough
to say against card playing, dancing and
all lust-generating and time-wasting sport
that they cut the nerve of missionary en-
deavor. The pleasure loving and society
seeking church is a stumbling block over
which thousands within and without fall
into perdition. The church, with the Christ,
must be lifted up If it would save the
world.
"A chief embarrassment in the continued
success of the gospel is found in the prob
lem of wealth. The rich church member is
apt to be a poor saint; he may build costly
temples and provide for an imposing ritual
in which aesthetics displace the Holy Spirit
and a subsidized pulpit prophesies smooth
things to dormant conscience. Like that
other rich man, Joseph of Artmathea, he
may be ready to bury the dead Christ when
he had failed TO confess the living. The
real needs of men of similar culture are
much the same. If an intelligent Christian
there is no reason why his brother of
abundant wealth should use il for lavish
self-indulgence. The rich man should not
only give more to Christs cause than his
his possessions, for, after reasonable wants
supplied. the surplus should be devoted
10 the missionary cause. Great ability has
Just as good right to be boarded as great
wealth. yet we would deSpise the preacher
who would act the miser with his talents.
rich disciple. He can speak with the elo-
duence OF deeds for love and righteousness
Heaven and earth delight to honor rich
men whose wealth IS consecrated to holy