A Spiritual Paradox by Charles Thompson

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 24, 1916

FromSigns of the Times, October 24, 1916

A Spiritual Paradox

By Charles Thompson

BOTH

DEAD & ALIVE Excerpt from a Sermon by CHARLES THOMPSON TEXT: "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away." 2 Tim. 3: 5.

POWER properly belongs to godliness; but there is a possibility of a person's having a form of godliness without having the power. A condition of this kind is very unfortunate — so unfortunate that we are admonished to "turn away" from it.

I would not have you get the idea that I think God wants us to turn away from any individual. He is speaking about an existing condition from which He desires us to turn away. When people go through the treadmill of religious ceremony and accomplish nothing, the situation is unfortunate; and the danger of such a condition is what I wish to warn against.

I do not decry forms and ceremonies; I believe in them. Every religion, whether Christian or heathen, is expressed in some form. A man who has no form of worship has no religion of any kind, because religion does not exist in the human heart without seeking to express itself in some form of worship. God is the author of forms.

We read in Ex. 25: 8, "Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them." God wanted to dwell among the people, and He instructed them to build a sanctuary. The earthly sanctuary was the center of a continual round of services and ceremonies, through which men had opportunity to give expression to their belief in God and their appreciation of Him. However, there is danger of having the form, yet being destitute of power.

A Name Not Enough

To have a form of godliness is entirely proper; but the breath of life must be in the form, so it will be a living, active, serviceable experience. It is possible to have a dead form; for we read in Rev. 3: 1: "And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead."

It has its name among the denominations, has a church building, a pipe organ, a pastor, a choir, a congregation, a belfry, and a bell. The whole thing looks like a church. The form is there, but it is dead. Is there a possibility of a church's being dead when it has a pastor? Sometimes I think that the greatest blessing that can come to a church is to be without a pastor. Not that there is anything wrong with the pastor; but often all the activities of the church are wrapped up in one man, and that is most unfortunate for a church.

The Sign of a Dead Church

We read in 1 Tim. 5: 6, "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." This is a sort of paradox, to speak of one as being dead while he is yet living. Some people believe in a death that never dies; but you might as well believe in a life that never lives. If you are seeking for a dead church, look for a pleasure-loving church. And, by the way, the "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" are the ones from whom we are told by our text to turn away.

The hour has come when this condition should cease to exist. God has placed in connection with the church and Christianity a power for the accomplishment of something in the individual life and in the world. Nothing sadder could overtake the church than to become pleasure-loving and worldly, so that the people would simply go through a form of worship, and cease to be a power in the world. Where you find the most form and ceremony, you frequently find the least godliness. When people feel the need of something to take the place of the religious life which they realize is receding, often, alas, they grasp after rituals instead of realities.

Show me a church that the world loves, and I will show you one that is not very spiritual; because the statement came from the lips of the Saviour Himself, that the world loves its own.

I would have you note a statement from Amos 5: 21: "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies." Is not God the author of feast days and of solemn assemblies? — Most assuredly; yet there is a possibility of having such convocations without having the Lord's presence. Why? — Because of lack of heartfelt righteousness. God wants righteousness; and all forms that are expressive of it are acceptable to God.

Sin's Cloak of Forms

It is alarming to see to what extent individuals can go in the name of religion, and what they can educate themselves to do, going through the round of services, having a form of godliness, but at the same time doing many wicked things. You will recall the incident recorded in Acts 12: 1-4. Herod was king. He was using his official power to "vex certain of the church." He had killed James because it pleased the people. He had Peter in prison, waiting for a favorable occasion to slay him. What stood in the way? — The days of unleavened bread, and the Passover. This was a religious festival, and he would not cut off a man's head at this time. He could do it before, and was prepared to do it afterward; but he called a respite while he observed the forms of worship.

More striking still is the willingness of the Jewish leaders to murder the Prince of Life, though they scrupulously refused to allow His body to hang on the cross on the Sabbath day. John 19: 31.

He Accepts No Substitutes

In Jer. 2: 13, we read: "My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." A cistern is a form of well. Dr. Cruden, commenting on this text, says a cistern is anything that persons put their trust in besides God. There is danger in that. We get a substitute for what God has said, and depend on the substitute, and are destined only to disappointment in a crisis.

In Paul's comment on this statement of Jeremiah's, he says, "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them run out as leaking vessels." Heb. 2: 1, margin. Our danger lies in being leaking vessels,—getting a Christian experience, and then losing it all. The thing God wants changed is this leaky experience. Let us make the obtaining of the power of godliness the principal part of our religious service.

Christians to Be Flowing Wells

Our Saviour makes clear where help can be provided. In John 4: 13, 14, He said to the woman of Samaria, at the well: "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Again in John 7: 38 we read, "He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

Thus we find the directions for becoming a living, flowing well, ready to help others when help is needed. "He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said," shall have this experience. If there is anything we need to educate ourselves to do, it is to believe what the Scriptures say. You will never have a living, flowing experience until you believe the Book.

John explains the figure by saying, "This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive." Verse 39. Hence we find that the Saviour is teaching the importance of the Holy Spirit, and what it will do for us. But we need not pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit until we are ready to believe the Scriptures. And when we receive the Holy Spirit, we have the form of godliness with the power; for the Saviour has said, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." Acts 1: 8.

A Dead Church Is a Liability

We need also to remember that power is given for service. If we do not intend to spend our lives helping others, we do not need an increase of power. God wants the church to be living and active, having both form and power.

No worse calamity could come to a community than to get a dead church on its hands. Such a church, instead of being an asset, is a great liability. The church on earth is designed to be the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit; and what the church needs is to receive Him, to commune with Him. God wants our prayer meetings, our communion services, the preaching, and the gospel singing; but He wants it all to be expressive of a life consecrated to God for service, and the overflowing of a Spirit-filled life, that knows the power of redeeming love, and is simple enough to believe what "the scripture hath said."