Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1903-08-27
HER REAL STATUS,
OUR REGULAR SUNDAY SERMON
Inc Church Has Forgotten fier
Proper Status In the World-A
Touching Appeal.

severally members thereof" Mr.. McNally
said:
Throughout the land, with somewhat of
wall, the question is being asked, s'What
to be a foregone conclusion. The religious
periodicals and some Others are quick to
give diagnosis of the case. It is because
the pew has been elevated educationally
1t is because the ministry has lost self-re-
spect and prestige. It is because men
everywhere are too busy, to attend to the
concerns of the soul, or because Christian
ity is SO sother worldly it is not sufficient
~ practical for the practical life of to-day.
Many other reasons are given for why the
church lacks power.
IS this charge against the church just
1t statistics may be trusted, it is: The last
religious returns for the nation disclose the
lamentable fact that Christianity has made
no gain that even her warmest friends can
call proportionate to the increase of popu-
lation and the mighty development of com
mercial interests. In the city as well as in
the rural districts, the preachers of the gos:
pei are finding it hard to get enough peo-
the church live with commanding inhu.
ence in the community. The land is full
of reports of mans greed, his tricks of
trade and other disregard of sacred obliga-
tions. Men are looking to the church to
stem the tide of moral recklessness. It
must be frankly conceded that the church
has seemed to be powerless to arrest the
| drift. The masses of the people pass her
doors, or rarely enter. Her hold upon pub.
lie morals does not seem to be very strong.
Her ability to mold the ethical life of the
world does not seem to be adequate to the
needs. If the conditions are what they
seem to be-, if the church is really failing to
ards of Jesus Christ, something is surely
wrong, and the church should quickly
awaken to realization of her real condi-
ton, and take measures to strengthen her
hold upon the life of the nation.
Where does the difficulty lie? I believe
in this: The church has too much forgotten
what her real status in the world is. She
has in her effort to solve the mighty prob
lens that the last few generations have
presented to her, gone away from the sim.
pie teaching and simple method Of Christ
her founder. The ministry has too much
given itself to the work of education, OF
culture. Of reform. The pew has too much
hearts of men have been spiritually starved
Many who would have waited on the min.
istrations of the church have forsaken her
| because their spiritual natures were not
satisfied and developed. Education, esthet-
les and reform they could obtain from the
schools and the papers of the day.
It must be remembered that Christ
| while incarnate. gave Himself to none oi
these things. He devoted His entire min.
F istry to lodging in the minds of His disci
pies the fact that He was in the world fo1
one purpose and that to save men from sin
To the end that He might save the sinner
from his sin He devoted all His time, He
gave all His energy, and sacrificed His life
The mission of Christ was primarily not a
mission of education or reform, it was a
! mission of salvation. s.I come-to call sin
ners to repentance" "The Son of Man is
come to seek and to save that which was
lost" ''This is faithful saying and wor-
into the world to save sinners" When the
church will concentrate her efforts upon
this one thing-the saving Of sinful men
and women from the power of sin-the
questions of education and reform will take
| care of themselves.
| The status of the church in the world is
pointed out by Paul in the words of ou1
text eye are the body of Christ and sew.
| orally members thereof If Christ gave
from sin by manifesting to them the life Of
| God, can that body-the church-in which
| He is willing to incarnate Himself, do bet
| ter that to devote its undivided attention
and energies to the salvation of men, by
| the manifestation of the life and will oi
God! The church is the body of Christ
! In it He has incarnated Himself. What
Christ was in the world while in the flesh
| that the church must be in the world to
| day. What Christ did for the world while
| in the flesh that the church must do fo1
the world to-day. 'Ye," as church and
as individual members Of the church, ':are
| the body of Christ" Ye must be Christ
and the several members thereof as inal
viduals live as Christ in the world, the
| world will never know Christ.
| Paul, the master mind, could use such q
figure with such potent power. OF all his
| figures there is pernaDs no other more elab.
piled. The body-is not one member, but
many, and the man members only one
body. So is it with the church, and the
church is the body of Christ.
| Observe that this figure permits of de-
tailed analysis. While the church is the
body. of Christ, it is only the body, that in
which Christ has incarnated Himself.
| l. Christ is the life of the church. He
is the inner vitalizing spirit which ami
mates and directs The church which rec.
ognizes this has by this very recognition
marvelously vitalized itself.
| There are two kinds Of churches-the
man-led and the Christ-led. The man-led
| leans on the arm of flesh. The Christ-led
church gives itself to the worship of Christ
and leans hard on the arm of God. You
may be able from the history of your city
I to supply an Illustration OF the tact that
there have been churches where the preach
er has been the church. When the preach.
er has gone the church has gone. Mark
such a church as one that has been man
| led. The church has looked to it's pastor
fol. vitality and to lead it. What the heart
| is to the body that is Jesus Christ to His
| church. From Him through the agency OF
! the Holy Spirit it receives the impulse OF
| its life. The quickening, vitalizing power
| can no more be impaired to the heart of
man by the visiting physician. Christ is
| that inner muscle at whose every pulsation
| the life blood of spiritual power is made
to surge through the body To it Christ
and Christ only can give life, color and
| beauty. This should be self-evident fact.
| The fact is. however, that it is not so self
! evident as it ought to be.
| Never has there been time when the
| churches set so much store by the man,
their leader, as to-day. Hero worship
! runs rampant. The church when it seeks
a leader searches for the orator, the schol-
! ar, the man Of executive parts, and upon