THE CHURCH MUST LOOK FIRST TO CHRIST

“And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone…in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (EPHESIANS 2:20, 22)

The first look of the Church is toward Christ, who is her Head, her Lord and her All!

 

After that she must be self-regarding and world-regarding, with a proper balance between the two.

 

By self-regarding I do not mean self-centered. I mean that the Church must examine herself constantly to see if she be in the faith; she must engage in severe self-criticism with a cheerful readiness to make amends; she must live in a state of perpetual penitence, seeking God with her whole heart; she must constantly check her life and conduct against the Holy Scriptures and bring her life into line with the will of God.

 

By world-regarding I mean that the Church must know why she is here on earth; that she must acknowledge her indebtedness to all mankind (Rom. 1:14, 15); that she must take seriously the words of her Lord, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” and “Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

 

The task of the Church is twofold: to spread Christianity throughout the world and to make sure that the Christianity she spreads is the pure New Testament kind. To spread an effete, degenerate brand of Christianity to pagan lands is not to fulfill the commandment of Christ or discharge our obligation to the heathen!

 W. Tozer