In The Master's Service

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THE ORDER OF GOD'S HOUSE

Elder J. M. Bullard

God's House should be an orderly house. It has orders to abide by, and laws to govern its activities. Those who occupy it are authorized to keep it in order. Notice! Keep it so. It was given as an orderly Church. Now YOU keep it that way. But how are we to know what is an orderly house?

Sometimes there are so many ready to give orders, and declare order and disorder, that many poor little children of God become so confused that they do not know where they are, nor what to do. If they decide to abide by the order of some one, very soon another instructs them that that procedure is wrong and that they are in disorder. Hence, they change their course and follow this instructor. But, alas, another soon points out that that way is wrong, and anyone following that way is in disorder and will soon be cut off, "unless you adopt MY WAY."

Lord, have mercy upon such vain instructors! No man, or set of men, on earth today has a right to give one law to govern the Church of God. The giving of orders was never in the hands of men since the days of the apostles. The laws that are to govern the activity of the Church in every age were given, and no place can ever be found to change them in the least. God saw her in every age, under every condition, and supplied her with everything that she will ever need. But God did not supply her with the blind guides afore mentioned. They have supplied themselves for no man who has the cause of our Master at heart, has a desire to be a "boss" in the kingdom, or to give orders for its operation. God did, and does, supply teachers and various instructors in the kingdom. But they are to instruct IN the WORD-not out of it.

I don't think much of an instructor for a church, unless he speaks in the language of the apostles. When we do that, we speak the mind of the Spirit, because they were inspired to write when they were giving the orders to the Church. Too often some of us forget that human tradition and custom are not inspiration. Human custom can be practiced for hundreds of years and be wrong. But any practice that is in keeping with the inspired Word of God, can never be wrong, though it might be against some custom. So let's forget custom; forget men as lawgivers; forget selfish zeal, and look to the blessed old Book for our guide; abide by her sacred orders, and you can not go wrong. Study the commands that it gives you, and always be satisfied to take it in preference to orders given by men, regardless of how pious they may be.

God has given, as I have stated, everything that she needs, and no more. You can as safely, bring in some new thing as you can leave off some required thing. Now, let's use the measuring line a little. One of the first orders given to those who occupy a place in the Church is:
"Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together."
Another: "Let brotherly love continue."
Again: "See that you love one another with a pure heart fervently."
Again: "Be kindly affectioned one toward an other."
Again: "Let each of you lay by him in store on the first day of the week, as the Lord has prospered him."

Now, there are a few of the things that are positively ordered Is it all right to neglect such orders, and disregard the authority of the Holy Spirit to give these orders? I ask, can we afford to overlook such binding commands, and then at the sign of the first thing that enters the church without authority, begin to howl 'disorder'? What is wrong? If it's wrong to bring in new things (and it certainly is), is it not equally wrong to leave off some of the required things?

It looks like a quarrel between the kettle and the pot, as to which is black.

I have in mind just at this time a preacher, the pastor of a church where not over twenty percent of the membership attend the services, and not over twenty percent of them ever give a dime for the expenses of the church, and some at variance with one another; yet, this church. answers in PEACE and ORDER at each conference. But along comes a preacher full of zeal for the cause - preaching all the time - laboring to instruct the Lord's poor, tempest tossed children in their duties toward the Master. But before this preacher fills his appointment, it is known, by some strange instinct (perhaps suspicion) that somewhere down the line he has been thrown in company, and has preached with, with a preacher who affiliates with secret orders. So this preacher begins to cry LONG and, LOUD to warn his flock to flee from such disorder. Well, fine! Now, why not begin to warn them to flee from the ungodly disorder of 'neglect' in their own assembly? God pity! May we at least be consistent! It is a serious thing to bring strange gods into the Church! It is also a serious thing to leave off required things!

I know that the principles of truth were given to the Church, and they belong there now. In making a rude comparison of the Church and our natural homes, we may have all kinds of nice, useful and valuable things in our home, and use them as we should, we will have a comfortable, happy place in which to dwell; but unless we exert some effort to keep the house cleaned up and things placed where they belong, and keep them where they will serve their usefulness, we better not have them. They are in the way, and we will likely stumble over some of the things and get hurt. Well, suppose I have a neighbor whose home is as described above, and I go over and order the occupants to get that house set in order right now, or I'll never neighbor with them again, would I not be assuming too much? Would it not be more fitting for me to point out how beautiful that home would be if certain pieces of furniture were arranged differently? How amazingly it is to see how rudely we sometimes treat a brother! God is the one who said for us to keep our house in order. We are amenable to Him. How needful it is for His children to study His Word; study His laws, and abide by them, regardless of tradition or custom.

To be continued ...