Non Nobis Domine
by R.C. Sproul Jr.

One of the things we often do in this column is complain. In fact we complain in many of our columns. But here in this column we complain about the state of Christ's church. We bemoan its worldliness, gripe about its impotence, grumble about its softness. We are an ugly, stain covered bride.

And sometimes, in the privacy of my home, I complain to my bride about my bride. Her frequent response is, 'But look how much better I've gotten." There is wisdom there, a wisdom that is equally true of the church of Christ. Sure we could look back in history and see a stronger church. But we can also see a church in far worse shape than the church of today.

One of the many slogans of the Reformation was "Post tenebras lux," after darkness light. Go back 500 years and take a look at the church. Where could one find the gospel there? To be sure it could be found. It was not a complete darkness. Luther could not say to the Lord, "I know you gave Elijah seven thousand, but you have left me all alone.' Things were so bad, however, that he could not even see seven thousand as the sun set over Rome, and began to rise over Germany, Switzerland and Scotland.

Just as He does with us as individuals, God takes His church through mountains and valleys. And sometimes both at the same time. We can not see what God is doing with His church if we look only in our neighborhood, in our country, even in our hemisphere. When we look at the 20th century American evangelical church we are wont to despair 'Ichabod!", the glory has departed. And it may well have, but it hasn't disappeared, it has just moved.

Perhaps that is why we despair. Maybe we really aren't so concerned in the church with God and His honor. Maybe we're more concerned about our honor in God's church. Maybe the problem is not that we want God to win, but that we want to be the one to shoot the winning bucket. Consider how we honor the Puritans. Which is more apt to come from your lips, "Those Puritans sure were a great bunch of folks." or "Those Puritans sure served a great and powerful God"? I know, me too.

Those of us who hold an optimistic view of the future are quick to qualify that view, affirming that it is not we, but He who brings the victory. We reject the bootstrap vision of liberal post-millennialism that has as its source not Scripture but the Enlightenment. But do we really believe that it is God who does these things? When we say "GOD does these great works through us" do we really mean "God does these great works through US"?

While we affirm with vigor that God is at work, that He is actively involved in His providential work over the church, and while we affirm that the ultimate reason for all that He does is our well-being, and His glory, we must with equal vigor affirm our utter ignorance of how these twin goals are being met. Isn't it at least possible that God could have built such a strong church in America, and then ordained that it should betray its great heritage and go the way of the world, in order to teach the great world changing, kingdom building church of Tonga in the 25th century to keep their eyes on Christ and His glory, to be wary of the allure of the world? And isn't it possible that the church in Tonga will only learn this lesson because some scholar had to go to the dusty, musty library shelves to even learn that there once was a church in America, or even that there was an America?

To judge the ebb and flow of church history and to look into our future, we need to broaden the scope of where and when we look. We shouldn't jump for joy just because George Barna tells us that mainline churches are shrinking and evangelical churches growing in America over the last twenty years. Twenty years is a blip (though it is long enough for evangelical churches to become liberal in practice while evangelical in profession) in the scope of God's plan. It is, of course, a part of His plan, and of great importance, but not enough to tell us whither Christ's church as a whole is going.

We do know the future. God wins, and He wins through His church. And we are serving His church when we shout for it to get up and fight, as it lays on the canvas. But we are fools if we fear that it will never get back up. All despair, whether it be personal, or over the current weakness of Christ's church, should lead us to the same conclusion, "God is yet on His throne.' He will not leave Himself without a witness to His majesty. And He continually works His providence toward one certain goal, the purification of His bride. We can rest in peace knowing that even if we fail to herald His glory, the very rocks will stand and praise Him, as the one Rock covers all the world.