Altar Call – Opelika-Auburn News
Walter Albritton
June 28, 2020
Preserved to the end of time
Traditions
change. Customs change. Habits change. Morals change. Laws change. Change is constant in every arena. Though some
people resist change, to survive and thrive we must all learn to adapt to
change.
Rituals of the church change. When I was in seminary
65 years ago, one professor insisted that we memorize the ritual for holy
communion, a most difficult assignment. To my dismay, a few years later that
ritual was changed. It seems the woods
are full of “scholars” who have nothing better to do than update rituals.
In my lifetime the Methodist rituals have been changed
several times. It may not surprise my younger colleagues to learn that I have
not welcomed some of our ritual changes. At 88, it goes without saying that I
am “old-fashioned,” so I continue to prefer the “old” ritual for baptism which,
thankfully, is still available. I prefer it mainly because it includes these
stirring words:
“The church is of God, and will be
preserved to the end of time, for the conduct of worship and the due
administration of God’s Word and Sacraments, the maintenance of Christian
fellowship and discipline, the edification of believers, and the conversion of
the world. All, of every age and station, stand in need of the means of grace
which it alone supplies.”
The phrase, “Will be preserved to the
end of time,” says it all. That I believe. It is an important truth for the
church to affirm. In the midst of a world that is constantly changing, we need
to remind ourselves that nothing can stop the plan God has begun in the world
through his church. In Christ God has opened the door to heaven for all who
believe. No man can ever shut that door!
If every Christian church building in the world was
destroyed today, tomorrow the Christian movement would be stronger than ever!
The people whose hearts God has touched are not dependent upon bricks and
mortar to finish the work Christ began. God can use buildings but his plan can
be fulfilled without them.
Judaism is an example of how God works. Repeatedly
the Jews have been crushed, defeated, enslaved and slaughtered. But God has
continued to restore them by his mighty power. Israel belongs to God to the present hour.
Those who seek to destroy Israel must first defeat God and that will
never happen. God is the sovereign ruler of the universe. He has ordained that
in the end love wins and hate loses. Those who perpetuate hate and violence can
inflict suffering upon millions but the ultimate victory belongs to God. The apostle
Paul understood that. He was convinced that nothing, absolutely nothing, “will
be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”
(Romans 8:39).
Long ago the ruthless King
Nebuchadnezzar confiscated the sacred vessels of the temple. He destroyed the
temple. No doubt he thought, “That is the end of Judah and the end of the Judahites. They are
finished.” But old Neb was wrong. God always has the last word. God had a plan,
a plan that can be assaulted but not thwarted by recalcitrant men.
The prophet Jeremiah
understood this plan. He knew God could
not be defeated. The prophet was convinced that God’s power was so great that
he could even use the pagan King Cyrus to accomplish his purposes – and God
did! When Cyrus came to power
over Babylonia he gave the exiled
Jews the freedom to worship the God of their choice. They began to worship
Yahweh more faithfully than ever before. Exile had taught them the foolishness
of worshipping pagan gods.
With no temple to use for worship the
Jews developed synagogue worship. In these small groups they began to love the Holy
Scriptures more than ever. The Jews became a people of the book, and that book
was God’s Word. Out of that environment God brought forth his only Son Jesus,
the Messiah for whom the Jews had waited so long. God does mighty things with
people who meet and study his Word – and then practice its truth.
God used the exile of the Jews for
their good and his glory. Slowly they realized that God had a plan and that his
plans cannot be ultimately stymied.
The prophet Ezra tells in Second
Chronicles of a mighty moment among the Jews. My heart skips a beat when I read
it! The priests and heads of families “got ready to go up and rebuild the house
of the Lord in Jerusalem”! They
got ready! Why? Because God stirred their spirits! The power of God was so real
that even King Cyrus’ heart was stirred. He returned to the Jews the vessels
that King Nebuchadnezzar had desecrated by using them in pagan worship.
We live in a time when God’s people need their hearts
stirred again by the Spirit of God. We are prone to forget that God is still on
the throne. The evil and violence in the world rob us of hope. Discouragement causes
us to take a dim view of the church. Then we become apathetic.
But the good news is that God will not leave us alone.
He finds us in the darkness of our disobedience and restores our hope that his
plan for the world will not fail. He raises up another Ezra who motivates us to
“get ready” to do God’s bidding. He energizes us to do our part in completing
His plan.
When God stirs us to action we get busy doing his will
– forgiving and loving one another and sharing Christ with our neighbors. We find
the divine energy to do our part, no matter how small, to help the kingdoms of
this world become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ!
Only then – when almighty God has stirred us out of
our lethargy – will we have the courage to face even the worst of times with
joy and hope. Only then will we find the enthusiasm to sing our faith as George
Frederic Handel sang it: Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent
reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
And if
we add the word “Glory” to all those “Hallelujahs,” I believe Brother George
would offer his approval with a smile! + + +