Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1945-06-14
THE CHURCH BEGINS ITS WORK

LESSON TEXT--Acts 5:29.35, 38.4O, AZ.
GOLDEN TEXT-Ye shall be witnesses
unto me both to Jerusalem, and in all
Judea. and in Samaria, and unto the ut
termost part Of the earth.-Acts l:B.
The church OF Jesus Christ, glori-
GUS in spite of her failings. is the
greatest institution known to this
world. That Is true because while
it is in this world, the church is not
of the world, but Of God. He estab-
lished the church as the fellowship
OF believers to do His work in the
world. For more than 10 centuries
the Christian church has served
Him with varying degrees of conse-
Grafton and usefulness.
The beginning Of the work of the
church is Of special interest, for
such study will show whether we
today are following in the right
path. We find in our lesson that the
early church was distinguished by:
/. Obedience to God wv 29-32).
The disciples filled with the Holy
Spirit were bold in declaring the
gospel and in proclaiming their risen
Lord. Realizing that the apostles
message was winning the people, the
leaders of the Jews admonished
them not to speak in the name of
Christ (Acts 418) When they con-
tinued, the priests threw them into
prison. but an angel set them free
(Acts SID.
When they were again appre-
hended and accused of disobeying
the command Of the high priest,
Peter and the others responded by
pointing out that they were under
higher command, that of God Him
self. Him they would obey, come
what may,
Who will deny that we need a
renewal Of that spirit in the church
today? We need to lose our fear of
men and their little authority, and
regain larger measure of obedi-
ence to God
ii. A COnvicting Message ". 33).
When Gods Word is preached
with complete obedience to Him,
something is sure to happen. Men
and women will be convicted of their
sin They will be cut to the heart.
That conviction will show itself in
one of two ways. Some will be re-
pentant and will cry out with the
jailer at Philippi, What must do
to be saved?" (Acts 1890. Turn
ing to Christ, they will find deliver
ance from sin.
Others will harden themselves in
their wicked ways and become even
more bitter in their hatred of Christ
and the church. In our lesson we
find them taking counsel to kill the
disciples. Knowing themselves to be
wrong and seeing that Gods work
revealed their sin, but not being
willing to give it up, they tried to de-
stroy the witness against them.
We see that same spirit opera
tive today. To be sure, 1t does not
usually show itself in such crude
action as physical killing, although
the day when that may happen
again may not be far away.
In our cultivated time, it is re-
vealed in scholarly attack upon
Gods Word, an undermining of the
faith Of our young people in schools
or colleges. or ridiculing of those
who wish to live separated, con-
secrated life.
III. No Compromise wv. "a, IS,
38-40).
A wise man, Gamaliel, presented
what we would now call program
of appeasement. He urged that they
wait and see what would happen.
At first glance his idea seems
to be most commendable, and Of
course it did save the lives of the
disciples at the moment. But it was
essentially do-nothing'' policy Of
compromise. II he believed in what
the disciples were doing, he should
have come out boldly on their side.
Notice that the believers had no
part In this scheme. They lis
tened, but did not give assent. They
took the beating and went right out
and preached the gospel again.
What fine example for US to fol.
lowl Those who are alert to the real
problems of the church today recog-
nize that the willingness to COM
promise with the world, the flesh,
and $50 1t seems at times) the devil
himself for the sake of peace, is
destroying the real ministry of the
church.
Nv. Absolute Fearlessness wv. 40,
42).
The early church was a very
small group Of believers with no
position of influence or power in the
world, Humanity speaking it would
have been expedient for them to
heed the admonition now twice CIV
en- Compare Acts Alb and confine
their testimony to private wit
ness.
But they had hearts which were
afiame with the fire Of God, a com.
mission to take the good news OF
Gods saving grace to all men, and
the assurance of Gods presence
(see Matt. 10. 20. Acts l:S). and
they were absolutely fearless.
The world admires true courage
not only on the battlefield, but in
the pulpit.
The criticism which men in the
armed services make Of the church
centers at this point. namely, that
the church has been too timid about
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