It is quite appalling how, within the precincts of the Christian church, men succeed in replacing Christ and His glorious Gospel with things and ideas that, in their proper place are good, but in other than their proper place, became very bad. I refer to the tendency within reformed evangelicalism to exalt the church, the denomination, above even Christ and his Gospel. There is a tendency to elevate denomination above the Gospel in a way that is reminiscent of the false teaching of Roman Catholicism which elevates Mary above Christ.
This has resulted in the creation of a generation of evangelical ministers who are first and foremost denominational men rather than Gospel men. You can 'criticise' the Gospel and the way it is p reached (or not preached), but you cannot offer any criticism of the church. It is no longer acceptable to define what a Christian is, because once you do that, you might find yourself challenging decisions made by elders when they admitted non-Christians into church membership. Even if ministers are 'liberal' in their preaching, to offer criticism of that is to criticise the church, and we can't have that, now, can we? Especially where ministers do not have the ability to preach the Gospel of God (Rom.1:1), the Gospel of His Son (Rom.1:9), or the Gospel of Christ (Rom.1:16), this is accepted, because they are church ministers, and they are in our denomination!
The end result of this is that where there is a contest between supporting the Gospel minister and supporting the denomination, the latter usually wins hands down! The denomination will tolerate weak Gospellers, but it will not tolerate strong ones! The denomination must be protected against the Gospel especially when Gospel ministers, by their preaching, expose false Christians! This deplorable situation has, in consequence, created a type of pseudo-evangelical and pseudo-reformed religion that bears little relation to the Gospel as expounded by Paul in his great letter to the Romans and believed in the pews of Rome at that time (Stuart Ollyott).
When church officials are challenged by this change in allegiance, they go on the offensive and become quite irate. This is because they see their church as being the most perfect church of Christ on earth. Such a church needs no further reformation - which is NOT a trait of truly reformed churches!
What is needed then? An immediate return to the Gospel and to total allegiance to Christ. Ministers and members alike must always place the interests of the Gospel before the interests of the church - where these clash! There must be an end to assuming that what the church says and does is what the Gospel requires. A wholehearted return to the Gospel is an urgent necessity.
When a man becomes a Christian, "he can humbly declare his independence of everyone and everything outside of Christ," says A. W. Tozer. He then knows that Christ and His Gospel are everything to him. They can take away his means of income, they can throw him out of his house, they can publicly humiliate him, and they will even try to take away his faith in his Lord and Saviour. But that is one thing they can never do! Christ is his, and he is Christ's forever. His attitude is that of the Shulamite, who said, "My beloved is mine, and I am his," (Song of Sol. 2:16), and "I am my beloved's, And my beloved is mine," (Song of Sol. 6:3). There is this eternally secure relationship between Christ and His servant. Once church ministers arrive at this highest of positions, they will then naturally give precedence to the Gospel over what the church or her servants will say or do.
This is the only acceptable position for any man who has given himself to the Christian ministry. He was not forced by anyone to enter the Gospel ministry, so his obligation to Christ is intensified. He is there in answer to the call of the sovereign God. To fulfil that calling, he must be first and foremost Christ's man, Christ's slave (doulos). Further, he must be Christ's man only and exclusively. No other authority must demand his allegiance, and he must give it to no other. He must be bound to the Gospel and by the Gospel. Such a man will know the benediction of the Lord on his life and ministry, even though the world and the worldly church will regard him as the scum of the earth. The true minister of the Gospel will not only re-align his priorities, but will follow Paul's instruction in Col.3:2: (he will) "Set [his] mind on things above, not on things on the earth." He will willingly sacrifice himself for the Cross of Christ and for the sake of the Gospel. He will do this out of love for Christ and for the souls for whom Christ shed His precious blood (Jn.1:29; 3:16). He must "seek those things which are above." His desire is to be a true servant of Christ, and to preach the Gospel to every creature in the world.
Get this right, and the church will know the benefit!
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