Charles Colson wrote in his book, The Body,
“It has been said the church is like Noah’s ark: the stench inside would be
unbearable if it weren’t for the storm outside.”
The story of Noah’s ark is
found in Genesis chapters 6-8. Preachers have often noted likenesses between
that ark and the church. One vital comparison is that the ark provided a way to
be saved – but it was the only way! Only those who entered and stayed inside
God’s gracious place of safety were sustained through the flood. That’s where
Colson’s comment about the church and the stench and the storm comes into play.
The ark was filled with animals. While we don’t know all the details of
existence on board the ark, it is reasonable to assume that the animals on
board sometimes caused a stink! How did Noah and family, for months, manage to
put up with the stench? The answer lies in something completely external to the
ark itself. For while there was likely at times a stench inside there was
indisputably a storm of hell-like fury outside. Outside of the
ark, everything in which was the breath of life died in God’s flood of judgment
on mankind’s sin.
Now make application to the church. For
forty-plus years I have heard Christians and non-Christians alike complain
about the stench in the church. And truly, at times, there is one. Though the
church is the body of Christ, the human side of that divine body has an
underarm. If she ignores the spiritual deodorant of love, kindness, and a
Christ-like spirit, the church emits a lot of “BO” (body odor). Sin, hypocrisy,
gossip, pride, worldliness, lovelessness, and lukewarmness create a stench in
the church.
Guess what?
Because her pews are filled with less than perfect people, every congregation
struggles to some degree with the stench of sin. Read the New Testament. Almost
from her conception the church struggled, in one place or another, with
everything from wrong belief to wrong behavior, from wrong actions to wrong
attitudes. The book of First Corinthians highlights how strong the stench can
become. The stench there wafted from the existence of factions, division,
cliques, “preacher-itis,” acceptance of
open immoral behavior among members, pride, snobbishness, a
“my-gift-is-greater-than-your-gift so I am better than you” mentality, a lack
of love, confusion over marriage and divorce, and even some who denied the
resurrection! Stinky problems indeed! They created a real spiritual stench.
With God-inspired wisdom, the apostle Paul addressed their problems but never,
not once, did he hint or suggest that the solution would be to leave the
church! Why? Paul knew Jesus built the church (Matthew 16:18), purchased her
with His blood (Acts 20:28), and loved her (Ephesians 5:25). He further knew
she was the solitary body of Christ, that Jesus is her head, that every
Christian is a member of that body, that remaining in the body is indispensable
to spiritual life (Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:4; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27), and that
Jesus is the Savior of that one body (Ephesians 5:23).
At the final judgment
all hell will be let loose on all those outside Christ just as it was on all
those outside the ark. As I think about the fury that yet future storm will
bring to bear on all those outside of Christ’s body, the church, somehow the
occasional stench inside seems more bearable, no matter how strong it becomes.
Stench or not,
don’t leave the Lord’s church. A storm is coming.
--by Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN
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