Why does the Church exist? What are the main things the Church should do? We find answers to these questions by looking at the Lord’s description of Paul in Acts 9:15:
“But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.”
Paul was called to the extraordinary office of an apostle, so it may seem that this verse does not apply to the Church today. However, he was also a preacher, a teacher (1 Tim. 2:7) and a minister (Eph. 3:7) – an office that will exist in the Church until Christ returns (Eph. 4:11-13). Divinely sent ministers of the Church are therefore chosen vessels.
What are these vessels supposed to contain? Paul provides the answer: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God, and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7). The treasure, of course, is chiefly the truths of the gospel – summed up as “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).
But we cannot isolate the gospel from other truths of Scripture. In fact, there are important relations between the fundamental doctrines of the gospel and the teaching regarding worship, church government, and Christian living. Accordingly, the minister must be “a scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven…like unto a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old” (Matt. 13:52).
If a minister must be a vessel and storehouse of divine truth, then so should the Church. To the Church are committed the oracles of God (Isa. 59:21, Rom. 3:2). She is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). She must therefore hold fast to all the truths of the Word of God, defend them, and spread them abroad.
A sound vessel: a picture of a sound church
A vessel is made to do two things: to store things and to dispense them. As a storage container, it must retain everything we put into it. If it cannot do this, then it cannot do the second thing: dispense its contents to those in need of them. Thus, we must repair a broken or leaking vessel before we can use it. If we cannot repair it, we throw it away and replace it with another vessel.
Similarly, the Lord formed His Church to be a vessel of truth. He expects that she will hold fast to every truth that He commits to her. This He does, not only by giving her the Holy Scriptures, but also by giving her a correct understanding of its doctrines and principles. He often gives this “light” on His Word during the fires of theological controversy and persecution. The Church preserves the light given by means of a Confession of Faith and other constitutional documents. Only when she retains and dispenses every truth in the inspired and preserved Scriptures, and holds fast to everything in her history and heritage that sheds light upon His Word, is she fulfilling her calling as the Lord’s chosen vessel.
A damaged vessel: a picture of a damaged church
A church that tolerates heretical error, obviously, is no longer a vessel that contains “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). But the “vessel” may be damaged in a more subtle way: by losing the will to assert or defend any one sound doctrine or principle. This church may leave its confessional standards unchanged. It may even claim to adhere to them in full. But it turns a blind eye to office-bearers who disagree with some of its doctrines and practices. It is then like a leaking vessel – unable to retain all the water poured into it.
Scripture and church history show that such a church inevitably compromises other truths committed to it. Consequently, this damaged vessel only becomes more damaged, and its loss of truth accelerates. Finally, it is cast away and replaced by another vessel: a church willing to retain and dispense every truth that the Lord has committed to it (see Rev. 2:5).
A damaged vessel: a picture of an ineffective church
A church that has compromised the truth may draw up impressive schemes for spreading the gospel. It may attempt to use every means available to do so. But this is like a person filling a large, cracked vessel with water, and transporting it a long distance to people dying of thirst. The people rejoice to see it and gather around it to admire its impressive size. They applaud the man who brought it to them. The man’s friends congratulate him for his energy, determination, and skill in bringing the vessel to a thirsty people. But all the water has disappeared; the people continue to die of thirst.
Perhaps the man noticed a small fracture in the vessel when he first filled it. But the crack was so small that he thought it was not worth spending the time to repair it. “After all,” he thought, “People are dying of thirst!” But during its long journey, the crack slowly widened and the water disappeared. Similarly, a church may see signs of spiritual declension, error, and worldliness within her congregations. Certain doctrines in her confession of faith become “open questions” – or left up to the conscience of each office-bearer. Certain biblical practices are no longer followed. But the church decides that these problems are minor, and that dealing with them will only slow down its church planting scheme.
Alas! the church has become a damaged vessel. Soon it will be incapable of retaining or conveying any truth. The lesson is clear: Only by repenting, reforming, and reclaiming all the truth committed to it, can the Church “bear Christ’s name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.”