The Church of the Living God
By Clarence Santee
‘‘I AM married unto you.’’ Jer. 3:14. After marriage, the wife is expected to share the home of her husband. When this is not intended, something is wrong. The house of God is His church. Paul, in 1 Tim. 3:15, makes plain this relation: ‘‘But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.’’ REGULATIONS IN THE CHURCH
‘‘That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God.’’ From this we can see that there must be regulations and order in His church. In another part of the chapter, the apostle points out those who should be selected to fill the offices of a well conducted church. He mentions the bishops, or elders (see Titus 1:5, 7), and the deacons. 1 Tim. 3:1-14. In this fifteenth verse, one of the characteristics of the true church is made prominent. God says it is ‘‘the pillar and ground of the truth.’’ A pillar supports or upholds. His church will be the pillar in the earth, to support or lift up His truth. The question, then, is one of deep importance. What is ‘‘the truth’’? Christ said, ‘‘Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.’’ John 17:17. It seems plain from this that the true church will uphold the word of God. Again He says, ‘‘Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Thy law is the truth.’’ Ps. 119:142. This verse brings further test of the true church of Christ: first, belief in the word of God; second, a firm acceptance of the law of God. Christ said, ‘‘I have kept My Father’s commandments.’’ John 15:10. And being the representative head of His church (Eph. 5:23), He has left us an example, that we should follow His steps. 1 Peter 2:21. No man can follow the steps of another by taking a different way. Christ made but one path in this life, and that was a commandment-keeping path. ‘‘He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.’’ 1 John 2:6. The path the Saviour made is definite and plain, and every person can for himself decide whether he is doing as the Saviour did. There is no other life given as our example, and there are no other ‘‘steps’’ that lead from earth to heaven. ‘‘How thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.’’ 1 Tim. 3:15. There is much in the daily life of the church member. It may be ‘‘a light that shineth in a dark place,’’ or it may be an inconsistent life, that will prove a stumblingblock to those who are wandering in the darkness, yet who are honestly searching for light. While it is a blessed privilege to be a Christian, yet if rightly understood, it is a great matter to be a Christian. There are many in our churches to-day, who live a fairly good life in a general way, yet who cannot say, from the heart, that they know acceptance with God. In the final day, when the accounts are unveiled, many will be found naming the name of the Lord, who are self-condemned because of known sins that they were unwilling to surrender.473 VICTORY THROUGH SURRENDER
When a person is truly willing to surrender a self-indulgence, God cannot fail to give the victory in its removal. We may at times hope that we are willing, believe that we are willing, or will be; but when the test comes, we reveal the fact that we are not yet willing. We take the half relinquished offering back from the hand of the priest, and he cannot lay it on the altar. We turn away, and the weakness of doubt and self-condemnation takes away all that otherwise would be filled with courage and joy. My friend, if you have not thought of this, please analyze your feelings when that temptation again comes to you. God has said, ‘‘Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.’’ 1 Cor. 4:2. A true child of God will be as faithful when with worldlings, when in his own home, or when alone, as when he is with the members of the church. In eating or drinking, in conversation or business, he will be a representative of the light the Saviour has given him. CONSECRATION MAKES NO RESERVE
The person who is constantly seeking excuses for some deviation from the light given, betrays the fact that the yoke of Christ is a yoke of bondage, and that his heart is still in the possession of another master. Entire consecration lays all upon the altar, and makes no reserve. Jacob said, ‘‘If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God.’’ Gen. 28:20, 21. It took him twenty years to learn the lesson of implicit trust, with no added conditions of raiment, bread, or even life itself. In the night of wrestling, the victory was gained, and God gave him a new name, and with it a place was given him among the conquerors through faith. Gen. 32:24-28; Heb. 11:21. Complete surrender reserves nothing. It will say, ‘‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.’’ Job 13:15. A surrender that makes one reserve, betrays the fact that nothing has been surrendered; because when a man claims the right to reserve at all, he claims for himself the power to decide the extent of that reserve, whether all or part, and God’s claim is made second to man’s judgment in the matter. This places man’s ownership first, and God’s second. But since man has sold himself to the author of sin (Rom. 6:16), so long as he has not placed his all in the hands of the Saviour, but has made his own claims first, his reserve is in the interests of his master, for whom the reserve has been made. Every reserve made, when confronted with a requirement of God, is in opposition to that requirement, and hence can be only in the interests of that being who has set his lost life in opposition to that of the Ruler of heaven. As God accepts no divided heart, all is left in the hands of the old master, and the bands of slavery are not broken. 2 Peter 2:19. Christ said, ‘‘The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.’’ John 14:30. ‘‘Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt.’’ Matt. 12:33. The only way, the way of success, the ‘‘way of life,’’ is in a complete, an unconditional surrender, enduring as ‘‘seeing Him who is invisible,’’ having Him as a constant companion, doing nothing but that which one would be willing for the recording angel to record in the books of heaven, and standing true, though standing alone.