God removes from the church "the proud, exulting ones" (Zephaniah 3:8-17).

The apostle John saw this happening in his day. He said, "They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they are not of us." (1 John 2:19)."

The elders of each church determine what spiritual standard they want to maintain in their church. Churches that have no standards of holiness will not have anyone leaving them. But churches that desire to live by the standards that Jesus taught, will find as Jesus Himself found, that many will leave them. And we have seen this happening in our midst too.

Those who left our churches first of all were the rich and the mighty who were offended because they did not receive the preferential treatment in our midst that they were used to receiving in the world and in other churches. It was not their wealth or their position that hindered them from becoming disciples of Jesus, but their pride in these things. We never cared for anyone's earthly wealth or position. We honoured only those who were humble and God-fearing - whether they were rich or poor (Psalm 15:4).

Some others left us because they wanted to become elders in our churches - and were not appointed as elders! And some who were appointed as elders, left us when they were asked to step down from eldership, because of their unfaithfulness to their charge. Some of them wanted to make money through their preaching abilities (1 Peter 5:2) - and we are commanded to stay away from all who preach the gospel to make money (1 Timothy 6:3). Others ruled over the flock as lords (1 Peter 5:3). And some of them attached people to themselves and not to the Lord (Acts 20:30)! God replaced all these elders with better men and thus confirmed to us that it was He Himself Who had removed them.

Others left us because they wanted to be connected with some rich, Western church - and not to a poor Indian church like ours. Most Indian Christians believe that Western Christians are spiritually superior, and so they are abjectly subservient to them. Many churches in India never have any special meetings without at least one American or European preacher as their main speaker. Only thus can they attract people to their meetings! We however, treated people of all races as our equals and sought to draw people to our churches by the anointing of the Spirit and the message we preached - and not by the colour of the preacher's skin!! Many Indian Christians latch on to Western groups for the sake of financial gain and to get free trips to the West!! We stood against all such "seeking of one's own".

Then there were a number who left us because they felt that the standard of holiness we preached was too high! We preached discipleship, the baptism of the Holy Spirit (and His gifts), victory over all conscious sin, the sermon on the mount (Matthew Chapters 5, 6 & 7), pressing on to perfection, walking as Jesus walked, a godly family-life, taking up the cross daily, separation from the spirit of the world, freedom from the love of money, fasting and prayer, forgiving everyone from the heart, loving others as Jesus loved us, building the local church as Christ's Body, etc. Such preaching stumbled a number of people and so they left us. But this did not disturb us - for we knew that many were offended with Jesus' message too, and had left Him (John 6:60, 66). But it did amaze us that Christians who chose the best schools for their children's education and the best hospitals for their medical treatment, chose churches with low standards of holiness for their spiritual fellowship. This only proved that they valued earthly things more than spiritual things and their bodies more than their souls.

But we were more amazed to see that some who had no desire for a godly life still chose to stay in our churches. We discovered however, that they stayed on, only because they found a good atmosphere in our midst for their families. Our church was like a good club that charged no membership fees!! And so a number of "Babylonian" Christians still stayed on in our churches. Jesus had a Judas Iscariot in His church too!

We sought, however, to maintain a high standard among the elders in our churches, with frequent meetings and conferences designed specifically for them. God raised up some fine men to be elders in our churches. Many of them were not eloquent preachers, but they sought the glory of Christ and had a genuine concern for the welfare of God's people (Philippians 2:19-21). If we could not find even one such brother in a place, we would not start a church there - for without a godly shepherd, we realized that the sheep would only go astray.

As we look at our churches today, we see that we are still far short of what God wants us to be. But we are pressing on to perfection and we seek to maintain the standard of holiness that Jesus taught - irrespective of who joins us or who leaves us.

The church is God's dwelling place - just like the tabernacle was in the Old Testament. That tabernacle had three parts - outer court, holy place and most holy place. In the outer court, great numbers of people crowded around the altar and the laver (symbolizing forgiveness of sins and water-baptism). In the holy place however, the number was much smaller. There, the lampstand, table of bread and altar of incense symbolized the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the study of God's Word and prayer. But into the most holy place, no-one could enter, in Old Testament times. It is this sacred area that is open today for all who seek fellowship with God, who surrender their all to Him, and who seek to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

These three parts of the tabernacle represent three circles of intimacy with God. And every church (including ours) consists of people who choose to live in one of these three areas. The overcomers however are the ones who choose to live in the most holy place all the time, and who will therefore remain faithful to the Lord until the end. They are the ones who constitute the real strength of our churches - and of every church.