From the perspective of the inner workings of our body, the external environment is seething with enemies looking for an opportunity to attack and destroy life. The cells in our bodies are so delicate and exceedingly complex and are therefore very vulnerable to any disturbance. A slight change in temperature, or chemical balance will wreck havoc in the body. Because of this extreme vulnerability, and extreme threat from the outside, only the most remarkable system of defense enables us to live from a physical point of view.
Our first line of defense is our skin which includes the lining in our lungs as well as the digestive system. Our skin effectively prevents the invasion of the millions of bacteria and viruses which would immediately engage in a systematic destruction of our body upon entry. For the most part, the delicate cells are quite secure beneath the skin, that is, until we get a cut or scratch, a breach in the wall, so to speak.
If an enemy does manage to evade the first line of defense, the battle has only begun. The enemy immediately faces the deadly force of precision security unmatched by the best security and defense devised by man. This security system is the immune system. The principle is simple and straight forward: anything foreign to the actual material of the body is treated as an enemy and destroyed. Only after a foreign material such as food or water has been carefully prepared for the body in the digestive system will it be received in the body.
When one studies the immune system he is immediately impressed with the fact that it is quite remarkable that we are alive while such a deadly force as the immune system prowls throughout the body. It is as if the body is crawling with deadly vipers ready to strike out at and destroy anything that is unable to identify itself as belonging to the body. What if the system makes a mistake and begins to attack the body itself? That happens occasionally, and scientists are greatly challenged to figure these things out. Even a mother’s own baby while in the womb is subject to attack!
Enemy bacteria and viruses attack with a variety of strategies. Some of the enemies attempt to disguise themselves to evade detection, some come in a great variety of shapes to confuse the security, and some come with brute force in an attempt to overwhelm the security. The immune system must therefore be able to distinguish between all the various enemies and at the same time leave the body itself in all its variations untouched and safe. It is indeed an amazing array of highly trained and adaptable warriors. They are at the same time very gentle with the body but merciless with the enemy.
The Church also exists in a world seething with enemies. We live in a world of sin. Satan has been given authority to rule God’s creation for a time, though it has in principle been redeemed by the blood of Christ and the new life of the resurrected Lord is found in the Church. Though Satan has been defeated, he continues to fight and seek entry into the body of Christ to destroy it and snuff out its life.
But the Church has an immune system. It consists of the pure preaching of the gospel. Most of the time we think of the Word of God preached as spiritual food; it is that, but it is also a defensive weapon. If we think that the physical immune system is amazing, the Word of God is infinitely more amazing with wonders too deep ever to be fathomed. If we think the immune system is a powerful deadly force, the Word of God holds the power of eternal life and eternal death.
The Word of God is a two-edged sword that is precise and exacting. It makes no mistakes, and smites dead every enemy that invades the Church, able even to pierce the old man of sin within an individual member of the Church. The Word is like the exceedingly hot fire that killed the soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar in an instant, but did not singe so much as a hair of Daniel and his friends nor cause the smell of smoke to be found on them. The Word of God is the angel of death which killed all the firstborn of Egypt but saved Israel alive. With such a power in the Church and in each believer, it is truly a wonder that we are not all consumed!
The pure preaching of the Word tolerates nothing foreign to the body of Christ. One is either a member of the body or he is not. One either has the new life of Christ in him, or he does not. The Word preached penetrates the soul of every hearer and brings condemnation to the sinner who rejects Christ, but brings life more abundantly to the sinner in whom Christ lives. The Word of God preached, the Gospel, is the good news that salvation is in Christ alone and by grace alone and worked by the sovereign operation of God. Only those in whom God implants the new life of regeneration receive the gospel with gladness, all others in pride reject it to their own destruction.
The enemy is forever seeking to evade the pure preaching of the Word. The best way to enter is to slip quietly into an individual member where it can remain undetected by the bearers of the Word: the preachers and the elders in the church. The enemies of the human body play the same game. They enter a cell of the body and there they quietly multiply, rupturing the cell with a virtual army of enemies trained to invade new cells. When Satan invades the heart of a church member, his first goal is to make him dull of hearing and lethargic lest the sword of the Word root him out. Only the sharpest preaching can find it out and prevent the spread of the enemy in the Body.
The Enemy also generates an endless variety of false doctrines and wicked ideas which the preacher of the Word and every believer must be able to identify and attack with the sword of the Word. The Word must remain sharp as to its central purpose and also continually be used and studied in order to identify distinctly endless variety of false doctrines and errors. The Word must be lively and quick in the preaching and also in the soul of the believer.
Sometimes disorders arise in the human immune system and it fails in its purpose. The immune system may become corrupted and begin to identify wrongly the cells of the body as the enemy and destroy the body it is supposed to protect. Presently the AIDS virus lurks in the world ready and able to attack and disable the immune system itself. Once infected, the immune system relaxes and becomes lazy and there is little chance of survival.
When the Enemy of the Body of Christ attacks the preaching of gospel itself, the result is as deadly for the church as AIDS is to the human body. The preaching of false doctrine is full blown AIDS in the church. When false doctrines are preached, the sword is dull and fails to destroy the enemy. The preaching begins instead to kill and starve the true members of the body. More false doctrines are allowed in the church, they quickly overtake the Body and the life is snuffed out.
The preaching of false doctrine in your local congregation can be prevented only when your church and your minister condemns the preaching of false doctrine and remains faithful to the Word of God. The church may never compromise the seriousness of sin, the vicarious atonement of Christ, the sovereignty of God in salvation by grace alone. The Church must remain faithful to her Husband: Christ Jesus. Any illicit contact with organizations that preach false doctrine such as Promise Keepers is asking for trouble. A firm rebuke and a call to repentance is the only contact we may have with such organizations and it is a necessary contact in obedience to Christ. Those who belong to such organizations must be warned and believers who are deceived must be called out.
Despite the vicious threat of false doctrine, the pure preaching of the gospel will never be silent. Denominations of churches and congregations may become infected and die, but the Body of Christ is spiritual and found throughout the whole world. The true Body of Christ is perfectly preserved by the pure preaching of the Word and not one member is ever lost. The Church continues to grow and mature into the beautiful bride of Christ wherever believers are found and the Word of God is faithfully preached. ❖
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John is a member of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan.