Ephesians, v. 32: “I speak concerning Christ and the Church.”

In the attempt to answer the question “What ails the Church?” in my last sermon, you were no doubt conscious, at its close, as indeed I myself was, that the answer given was very general, too general, perhaps, to be of any real value. But it was meant to be general, and to deal with primary things.

I know that when we are in pain we have little patience with wise talk about keeping the system in order by regular hours, and careful diet, and proper exercise. What we -want is to have a dose administered which shall relieve the pain at once. Yes, that is what we want, no doubt. But how much better it would be not to have the pain; how much better to do those things and observe those rules which keep the body in a healthy condition, than to look to emergency remedies in the hour of need. In other words, if we had greater simplicity and more of Christ in the Church, there would be little occasion for the question “What ails the Church?” A healthy condition would be the inevitable result.

But now I realize that one might justly press for a more specific answer to the question, for an answer which is concerned a little more with detail, and I want to see to-day if I can not to some, extent meet that demand.

Again, let me say that there is no occasion for panic. There is nothing the matter with the Church that can’t be remedied. Whether or not some things ever will be remedied God alone knows. It will be no holiday task certainly, but so long as it is not an impossible task there is hope. There is no occasion for pessimistic wailings and gloomy forebodings over the future usefulness of the Church. There is no occasion to think that the Church is an anachronism and that the world has outgrown it. It can not outgrow it, for it ever has need of it. It may outgrow certain aspects of it, certain features which at some period have had their prominence and served their purpose, but as for outgrowing it altogether, that is quite, inconceivable.

The Church is here to stay, because God put it here for a purpose, and here God intends that it shall stay. The irresponsible, glib-tongued denouncer of it, who with one mighty sweep would, wipe it out of existence, must remember that, he is dealing with God’s great instrument for the moral progress of the world and for the spiritual regeneration of, the individual man. We can not be Churchless, and it certainly is not a new Church that is needed, only the old Church with more of God and Christ in it.

The marvelous vitality of the Church through all the Christian centuries ought to convince men that its inspiration must be something more than human, that it can not be dismissed as the product of well-meaning but misguided enthusiasts, or, at all events, it ought to soften and qualify men’s judgement of it. Here is something that has survived kingdoms, and dynasties, and empires, which for the time being Have been the expression of the mightiest human power. Why has not the Church gone down with them? What is the meaning of this survival? A man, if he is honest with himself, must seek an explanation of that fact. I know no explanation save that it is God’s Church, and God holds it up and carries it through every crisis.

Now I am minded to emphasize this here because I know that, very many will answer ‘the question “What ails the Church?” with a bitterness evident in every word, that the trouble with the Church is that it is a purely human affair, that it has no real mission, no place in the life of to-day, and that it is trying to exist when no one really wants it. Of course this is the position of extremists. They are very bitter, and their bitterness is fed on the imperfections of the Church and the misdemeanors of the individual Christian. They get no farther than that. They are to be pitied, more than condemned. They are to be dealt with patiently.

The Church will never be without its enemies, but it is the Church’s business to give as little occasion as possible for enmity. After all has been, done and said, the Church is the great conserver of morals. If it were possible to remove it altogether, I venture to say that the very first to run to cover in the resultant chaos would be those who rage and froth against it now.
But to believe that the Church is indispensable to the world is to make one eager for it to realize its ideal more and more. That is why men are asking “What is the matter with the Church?” They wish to see it take its proper place and exercise its full influence in the world. They wish to see it justify its claim to be the Church of Jesus Christ. It is after all a striking testimony to its importance that even men who are outwardly more or less indifferent to it are seemingly much concerned about its welfare and give, generously, it may be, for its support.

Now when we come to answer, or to attempt to answer, the question “What ails the Church?” we must not lose sight of the character of the age. It is certainly a marvelous age, and marvels are being wrought almost daily. Through the swift moving current the Church is trying to make its course. There will be deeper, smoother waters for it sometime, perhaps, but just now they are shallow and rough. The Church is in a transition stage. It must of course adapt itself to changed conditions.

The old theological formulae have lost their charm and potency. Strictly speaking, theology in its technical sense is at a discount. I am not sure that that is a serious evil. Of course it is a good thing to have something distinctive to fight for, but one is privileged to wonder if much of the fighting has been worth the powder. The emphasis now is not on dogma and dogmatic differences, but on applied Christianity. The change, relatively speaking, has been sudden, and the Church is trying to adjust itself to the new conditions. It will do so in time, but meanwhile there is some confusion, as to just what the Church does stand for. It is necessary to consider all these facts when we are trying to explain what is the trouble with the Church.

And again, in attempting to answer the question “What, ails the Church?” we must not overlook the fact that the attitude of men toward religion and religious things has undergone a decided change. Perhaps we are going around in a circle here. It may be said that the Church is responsible for that attitude, rather than that it. is responsible for the Church’s condition. However, I think that anyone who looks at the matter fairly will acknowledge at once that the Church is contending with a mighty problem in this changed attitude of men toward religion and religious things.

There to my mind is something very specific which is troubling the Church. This is a painfully materialistic age. All the great interests of life are materialistic. Materialism permeates and dominates everything. And the Church in- its violent lurch away from the older methods seems to be in danger of going too far toward the extreme of materialism.

Now this is in accord with the spirit of the times. It is unquestionably due in large part to the growing tendency among men to regard religion lightly, and nor as vitally essential to, the true development of the individual life and the consequent uplift of the community. There is so much in our modern church method’s which seems to say as plainly as it can that, religion as a straight proposition having lost its power to attract, we must therefore see what we can do in an indirect way, we must see if we can’t win men without their knowing it.

And so the band plays, and the crowd gathers, and the ringmaster invites all in for a grand merry-go-round—and the Church has not gained the fraction of an inch. Indeed, I should go much farther than that and say that it has actually lost ground.

And again, in obedience to the intensely practical and materialistic spirit of the day, the emphasis is placed upon practical work to such an extent that the Church is in serious danger of losing sight of its true and great mission. It is possible to say this without ignoring the fact that the Church may have legitimate work to do which is not directly spiritual in its’ results. But it seems to me that we should lay particular stress upon, what after all must be regarded as the primary and essential purpose of the Church, namely, to develop the religious instinct in man so that religion shall be a real power in his life and make him a real power in human life.

The world is hot so much in need of men and women who are feverishly busy about things more or less remotely connected with religion, as it is with men and women in whom the spirit of religion-is strong, whose faith in God is a living faith, and whose lives day by day are lived in the sweet consciousness of Jesus’ love, and are renewed by the might of His power. It is the Church’s mission to make godly men and women. That is its paramount duty, the reason for its existence, and by its success, or ability, in accomplishing that will it be judged by God and by man.

And so we must keep the Church right up to its great duty, realizing clearly that to permit it to deflect from its course is to be false to Him whose name it bears. In so far then as the question “What ails the Church?” signifies that the Church is failing’ to fulfill, its primary mission, it is certainly a mighty serious question, and a question which will not down.

It is therefore obvious that in order to take away the reproach which that question implies, all, minister and people alike, have their part to play. They must make it clear to those who stand off ready and eager to throw stones, as well as to those who are keeping up a constant fire of irritating pebbles”, that this matter of being a ‘disciple of Jesus Christ is a serious matter, and is by them regarded seriously.

Yea, verily, it is true that “a city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” Your life and my life may be the, reason why men are asking “What ails the Church?” Do they reflect anything of Jesus? Do they show that we have been with Him? Are they manifestly any better because of their Christian professions and associations? If they are not, and we have the presumption to make the Church responsible for them, why, the inevitable question will be “What ails the Church?” And men are justified in asking it.

However, I am not very much disturbed by it, as it comes from those who are making no effort to live a pure and noble life. It is easy enough to be godless and a reprobate. Any thin-brained and fiberless man or woman can be that. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God,” and the fool can act as if there were none. But it is a mighty task, the task of heroes, and a task that is never done, to live the Christ-life, and be a man of God.

It is easy enough in a moment of carelessness to lose your footing and in a few seconds shoot down thousands of feet over ice and snow, but it is only by patient toil, by hardship bravely borne, by clear head and firm foot, by the lure of the summit, that you keep your course upward.

Let Churchmen and Churchwomen be Christian men and
Christian women, and there won’t be anything the matter with
the Church. Let men and women who are indifferent to the
Church, who perhaps think they are superior to religion’s claims, recognize their responsibility, and turning from their own, little selfish interests, seek the highest in God through
Christ, and the Church will have only such troubles as naturally belong to an aggressive and growing institution. I start
from the premise, you understand, that the Church is necessary. I am not blind to its imperfections. I am not ignorant of its mistakes. But for its imperfections and its mistakes men such as we are have been responsible, even as we are
responsible now.

O how necessary it is for each one of us to realize how much depends upon him or her! It isn’t some other man’s or woman’s affair. It is yours and it is mine. We know how ready men are to argue from individual cases and condemn the whole from them. A Christian minister with little sense of the fitness of things resorts to freakish methods in his work and preaching, and straightway the Church as a whole suffers. A Christian layman is careless in his moral obligations, and therefore Christian people generally are humbugs and hypocrites and cheats. And so you see how essential it is for everyone to realize his or her responsibility.

It is, all very well, to talk about the Church throwing off the, shackles of theological formulas and emerging from a heavy and stupid intellectualism, about its adjusting itself to new conditions, about its doing its duty in meeting human needs and in participating in civic and social matters, about its being responsive to every philanthropic effort; it is all very well, I say, to talk about these as necessary to its modernization and the removal of the stigma that is upon it; but when you get right down to rock bottom, unless the men and women who constitute the Church are wholesome, whole-hearted Christians, the same old question will be on the lips of men, demanding an answer, “What ails the Church?”

Now it may be that in some respects the Church needs modernization, hut it certainly needs none in respect to Him whose name it bears. The Christ who lived in Palestine nineteen hundred years ago, who taught that blessed evangel which has lost none of its sweetness through the centuries, who gave the world a new ideal and a new inspiration, is still the Christ to guide, inspire, and teach mankind. The world has not outgrown Him. He can work miracles to-day as of old. He can take a nerveless character and make it strong. He can give to a human life purpose and power. He can turn it upward to greatness and to God.

My brethren, it is more of this Christ that we must have in the life of to-day, more of Him in every aspect of it, more of Him in His Church. And as we realize His presence more and more, and our knowledge of Him as He is increases, our individual lives shall feel the uplift, and therefore of necessity His Church shall be stronger, possessing a livelier sense of its divine mission, and ever ready, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to perform its God-appointed task.