God -- Sermons; Jesus Christ -- Sermons; Sermons, English -- 20th century
The Church was formed out of a little company of 120 men and women who
were gathered together praying in the Upper Room at Jerusalem. [Footnote:
Acts i. 14, 15.] Suddenly they heard a wonderful sound and saw a heavenly
vision, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost; and before the day
was over that little company increased to the number of 3,000 souls. How
many does it number now? No one knows, but it is a "multitude which no man
can number." [Footnote: Rev. vii. 9.] Some are already in glory, some are
still on earth, but it matters not where they are, they belong to the
"whole family" of God "in heaven and in earth." [Footnote: Eph. iii. 15.]
On the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out, His special
work was to create a new thing--it was then that the Church of God was
formed into one Body by the Holy Spirit, "For, as the body is one and hath
many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one
body, so also is Christ." [Footnote: I Cor. xii. 12, 27.] "Now ye are the
Body of Christ and members in particular," that is, individually, for
every saved soul is a member.
The Church is a living body united to Jesus Christ, for He is the living
Head of the Body. He needs His Church just as much as His Church needs
Him. It is the Holy Spirit who unites us to the risen and glorified Christ
Who is the Head, and then He unites us to one another in Him. It is a
_living_ union, because we pass through death into the resurrection life
of Christ, for by "One Spirit we are all baptized into One Body, and we
have all been made to drink into that One Spirit." [Footnote: I Cor. xii.
13.] The Holy Ghost sustains the life of the Church. In Him we live and
move and have our being. As the bird lives in the air, as the flower lives
in the sunshine, so we live in the Spirit, and when we drink in His
fulness there is growth and fruitfulness.
Have we ever felt this need of drinking into that One Spirit? Everything
connected with the true Church of Christ must be spiritual, it is this
which is being lost sight of in the present day, and it is the reason why
there is so little power and so few conversions.
Have you ever tried to understand why the Church is called "the Body of
Christ"? Think first about your own body. It is the only part of your real
self that can be seen. I cannot see your heart or your thoughts, but
I know what your thoughts are by your words, and what you feel by the look
of joy or sorrow in your face, and by the way you go about.
It is by your body that your real personality is made known to others;
what you really are would never be seen unless your body made it known. In
the same way the Church is the Body in order to make Christ known in the
world. He is hidden from our view, He is unseen, but He manifests Himself
and shines out through us, and He sends us to carry His messages and to do
His Will.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account