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KINGDOM (Family) OF ÜOD, to
GOVERN and RULE the whole
earth with the Government of
God!
But HOW does the CHURCH as
the spiritual MOTHER of its mem–
bers DEVELOP THAT SPIRITUAL
CHARACTER?
This brings us to the real PUR–
POSE of the Church. This brings
US tOan UNDERSTANDING of WHY
one cannot be BORN AGAIN out–
side the CHURCH.
The Real Purpose of the Church
Now MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL–
what is tbe REAL PURPOSE for tbe
Church. WHY did God bave
Christ raise it up?
The CHURCH is the spiritual
MOTHER of human converts. They
are the spiritual embryos and
fetuses as yet UNBORN, although
begotten by God's Holy Spirit–
already children of Goo.
The CHURCH is God's spiritual
ORGANISM, well organized, for
feeding on spiritual food, training
and developing in spiritual righ–
teous CHARACTER the future Goo
BEINGS- sons of God the Fa–
ther!
For that training-that spiri–
tual development of God's CHAR–
ACTER, God has give n His
Church a DUAL responsibility:
1) "Go ye into all the world"
and proclaim the GOOD NEWS–
announcement-of the coming
Kingdom of God.
2) "Feed my sheep."
But in FEEDING tbe "sheep,"
developing in them God's spiri–
tual CHARACTER, God has given
tbem THEIR PART
in
supporting,
backing up, the great commis–
sion, "Go ye into al! the world."
This first and great commis–
sion was given to the apostles. To
a lesser extent evangelists were
used in carrying forth the mes–
sage. Other Jeaders- ordained
ministers- were stationary, yet
even the local pastor of a church
may hold evangelistic services in
bis area- not the "soul-saving
cr usade" type, but lectures
ANNOUNCING and PROCLAIMING
as a witness the coming KING–
DOM OF Goo (the true Gospel)!
This ENTIRE GREAT COMMIS–
SION-proclaiming the GOOD
8
NEWS of the coming Kingdom,
and "feeding the sheep," is a
COMBINED admi.nistration and
function of the Church.
The individuallay member HAS
HIS VITAL PART in procJaiming
the GOOD NEWS (Gospe!) to the
world. How? Not by going out
and himself proclaiming Christ's
message to the neighborhood or
to the world. That is done pri–
marily by the apostles, to sorne
extent by evangelists, and to even
a lesser extent in local areas by
local pastors. (The chief responsi–
bility of local pastors is supervi–
sion of and preaching to the local
church.)
But the ENTIRE CHURCH OPER–
ATION is one WHOLE, organized
into various operations and
administrations (l Corinthians
12:5-6).
For example, what part does
the individual local member have
in taking the Gospel message to
ALL THE WORLD? This is done
primarily and directly by the
APOSTLE. In this latter half of the
20th century it is done also by
radio, television and in· PRINT!
In the first century it was done
by personal proclamation. Then
WHAT PART did the individual lay
member have in it?
MucH! Without this larger
body of !ay members the apostle
could do nothing!
Notice a scriptural example:
Peter and John had been pro–
claiming the message at the Tem–
ple in Jerusalem. A miracle had
been performed by Peter and a
large crowd had gathered. As a
result Peter and John were
thrown in prison overnight, and
severely threatened. Their lives
were in danger. They were
unnerved.
They went immediately upon
release to the lay brethren (Acts
4:23). They needed the backing,
support, encouragement of the
brethren. They fervently PRAYED!
Peter and John sorely NEEDED
this loyalty, backing and the
prayers of the lay members. THEY
WERE ALL A TEAM TOGETHER!
Take a recent modern exam–
ple.
The office of the attorney gen–
eral of America's largest state-
California- bad made a
~udden ,
unexpected massive armed as–
sault on the headquarters of the
Worldwide Church of God at
Pasadena, California. They
claimed, in violation of the U.S.
Constitution, that all church
property and assets belonged to
the State, and a court had
secretly appointed a receiver to
TAKE OVER, RUN ANO OPERATE
the Church of the living Goo!
But when the receiver was
about to enter, with his stalf and
deputy sheriffs, the Hall of
Administration and other head–
quarters buildings, sorne 5,000
lay members, with children and
babies, crowded these buildings
in extended and continuous
prayer services. The doors were
locked. The armed officials did
not quite dare to break down the
doors and disturb these massive
and orderly prayer services. After
two days they gave up. The
receiver, an ex-judge of a non–
Christian faith, resigned. The civ–
il lawsuit went on "the back
burner." And the OPERATION OF
THE CHURCH CONTINUED!
The author , Christ's apostle,
can say emphatically that the
apostles, evangelists, pastors and
elders could not carry on the
Work of God without the loyal
backing and continua! encourage–
ment of the Iay members.
Neither can the individual !ay
member develop and build within
him God's holy, righteous and
perfect CHARACTER without the
operations of the apostle, evange–
lists, pastors and elders. Al! these
various members Goo HAS SET in
His Church are interdependent–
mutually dependent on one
another. They form a TEAM- an
ORGANIZED SPIRITUAL ORGA–
NlSM- UtterJy different from any
secular and worldly organization!
How, more specifically, does
this mutual dependency operate?
In general, tbe whole operation
of the Church costs money in this
late 20th-century world. Facili–
ties and methods are available to
the Church for performance of its
commission that did not exist in
the first-century world. Without
the tithes and generous freewill
olferings of !ay members the
The
PLAIN TRUTH