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 I
once urged an unfaithful church member to resume his assembling
with the saints, and he replied, "When I get straightened
out I'll be there." And, sure enough, he was. When they
straightened him out in his coffin he was brought to the church
building for a "funeral service."
In
Australia I heard the expression, "Hatched, Matched, and
Dispatched" by the church. "The church" is
official administrator of "sacraments" — baptism,
marriage, extreme unction; and "requiem Mass" is for
the dead. So the babe is brought to "the church" to be
"christened" and duly enrolled as a church member. In
about twenty years he or she comes again to be
"matched" in a "church wedding." And
finally, "the church" is called upon to
"dispatch." Is it any wonder that "organized
religion" is viewed as superstition and hypocrisy by vast
numbers of people?
Of
course "we" don't "hatch, match, and
dispatch" We just "match and dispatch" — and
the sacramental aspect is smothered beneath purely social and
emotional developments. Although we know "marriage is
ordained of God (like civil government,
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Rom. 13:) only a few argue that "the
church" must be involved in either of these to assure their
validity.
But
many seem to be satisfied with being "faithful to the
church" — and that can mean attendance barely sufficient
to avoid being taken off of the mimeographed roster. There is
yet much to be done in teaching the true nature of the church
— the called out "people of God," faithful to Christ
rather than to the "party" and its
"program." Many are wedded to their dear friends, or
to the building; and would forsake the Lord before they would
forsake the "worship service."
We
must not be content with large numbers — in attendance or
contribution. "Peace" at any price is inflationary,
breeding pride and promoting institutional church concepts. Our
denominational friends followed this course, and degenerated to
"hatched, matched, and dispatched." Let us work hard
for genuine conversions to Jesus Christ, and worship that comes
from a sincerely grateful heart.
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