Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

epent."carnal."alone."speak."shame"works"reality."For ye are yetIt is sometimesneedful to speak to the Church the samemessage given to the world,"Repent."So far as the evidence that others can seeis concerned, many church members needto be converted, to repent. "Examineyourselves, whether ye be in the faith"(II Cor. 13:5). There is certainly muchroom for just such conversation withinthe Church today. And it is not an unheard of thing that the conversationshould be of the original kind, from thedarkness of sin.Church members today are so confidentthat they are saved and this "beingsure"is either taken for granted withoutreal self examination, or attained onsuperficial ground that many are goingon in the way of the church at Ephesus.All unconsciously, because so slowly andgradually, we have left our first love,and to us our Lord says, "I will comeunto thee quickly, and will remove thycandlestick out of his place, except thouFIRST LOVEIt's bright, refreshing. It gives energyand a reason for selfdenial and sacrifice,whether the love is for a human ortoward God.But have you ever found that lovedisplaced, so slowly that its loss wasnot even perceived? Were you ever wornout with the strenuous demands of life,school events, community affairs, keepingthe house, the clothes, the yard, the farm,just ahead of complete disorganization,with a mere routine schedule? You hadto snatch a hurried five minutes for devotions and family worship, or sometimes these necessary matters had to beomitted altogether. Then came sickness inthe home and before there was relieffrom the anxiety that a loved one mightbe taken, another member of the familywas stricken. Then there came a financial disaster on top of everything else.But under the added burdens of life, yousuddenlyfound the pressure that keptyou from prayer, relieved. At least, youfound time for prayer. You hungeredafter your Bible reading. You could getto prayermeeting after all.The city of Ephesus had droned awayat its humdrum work through the years,forgetting the slow but fateful silting upof its harbor by the never resting river,until it awoke to the fact that it wasabout to lose its position as a great imperial harbor. Unless it were to lose itsplace it must undertake the tremendoustask of clearingout those mountains ofsilt, now stifling the traffic of seagoingvessels which was willing to yield its treasure at Ephesus if they would only keepthe way open. Thus the city itself became a parable of the message to thechurch, "Thou hast left thy332firstlove."THE REMEDY"Repent,and do the firstworks."Godwants, not our gifts, our labors, our suffering and self-denial, our accomplishments. He wants ourselves. Perhaps somewill say He wants both ourselves andour contributions of every kind. But thecattle on a thousand hills are His. AndHe can but speak the word and do whatHe will. The Roman church was quitewilling that Martin Luther should preach"salvation by faith," if theymight addother requirements such as penance, ButLuther insisted on preaching "salvationby faithalone."Protestants take Luther'smessage rather than that of the Romanchurch, and hasten to add, "True faithis neverfollow.For good works alwaysThe love, even of a human, who wouldbe aided and enriched by the contributions of a loved one, has been known tosurvive, even when sickness has madethe loved one helpless, not now a helpwith the tasks of life but an added burden. Love wants, not the contributionsthat might be made, but the return ofpure and appreciative love.Of course, on our part if we have reallove for God we must express it. We willwant to do all we can for God and Hein turn will be well pleased. How it mustplease God when there is a return to firstlove before we suffer loss of health, before we suffer disappointment that sendsus to the depths, from whence we cry outfor deliverance! But the works withoutthe love are trash.These are hard words. Yet they are notso hard as those written to the Hebrews:"For it is impossible for those who wereonce enlightened if they shall fall away,to renew them again to repentance ; seeingthey crucify to themselves the Son of Godafresh, and put him to an open(Heb. 6:4-6). He said all this, eventhough he could add, "But beloved, weare persuaded better things of you, andthings that accompany salvation, thoughwe thus"Turn us, O God, that we may do thefirst works of first love."For Discussion:1. Report on the historical backgroundof this letter to the Church at Ephesus.(See What is Bound to Happen W. J.McKnight or The Apocalypse of JesusChrist, Aauthor.)Reappearance, by the same2. Since it is "eternal life" that the believer receives, why does the Lord speakof the Ephesians as having fallen, andof their candlestick being removed?3. Distinguish between the virtuescommended in the Church at Ephesus(Rev. 2:2, 3) and the "firstverse 5.of4. What is the "first love" to which wemust return?OPEN LETTEREditor, Covenanter WitnessTopeka, KansasDear Mr. Editor:In the MissionaryBeaver Falls, Pa-October 29. 1954Editorial Notes ofthe October 6 Covenanter Witness, page212, is a paragraph on "Foreign MissionsGrinnell."atDr. Walter McCarrollstates his impression that "our ForeignMissions were relegated to a relativelyunimportant place in the Grinnell programs."He softens this by concluding"Of course, one's impressions, far removed from the scene, may be quite different from the actualLest his first statement be acceptedby those who could not attend Grinnellas the truth concerning "Foreign Missions and the Grinnellprogram,"allowme to list the parts given to ForeignMissions throughout the week of theGrinnell convention.On the opening evening, the foreignfield was in our attention through thepresentation of Pastor Awad, pastor ofthe Latakia congregation.Thursday morning, all of the foreignmissionaries were presented to theWomen's Synodical by the Corresponding Secretary of the Foreign Board.Thursday, Friday and Saturday, theforeign missionaries spoke for 30 minutes each day to the Junior Hi convention, and again at the Junior convention.Saturday morning, the Rev. Sam Boylespoke for thirty minutes to the YoungPeople's Convention on "CovenanterMissions; Romance or Realism." Saturday afternoon, the missionaries, homeand foreign, past and present, were theonly special group to have a picturetaken.On Sabbath afternoon, after aninspiring Covenant Signing Service inthe morning, the young people presenteda program entitled "Covenanters Aroundthe World." Three of the four speakerswere from the foreign mission fields,Miss Florence Fattal from Latakia, MissSphrodite Thrombattis from Cyprus andScott Boyle from Japan. The fourthspeaker was Elton Yellowfish from theIndian Mission.On Tuesday morning, the youngpeople and the Women's Synodical mettogether to hear the foreign missionaries, and Synod took recess to join inhearing them. Furthermore, Synod tooktime during its own sessions to hear themissionaries who were not heard at thegeneral gathering.The Foreign Mission Board was givenits usual time on the floor of Synod.Pastor Awad was heard at least twicebefore Synod and also at the Women'sSynodical tea on Tuesdayafternoon. Inaddition, every foreign field was repre-COVENANTER WITNESS