The Potter and the ClayWinnington Ingram, Arthur F. (Arthur Foley)
Religion
The Potter and the Clay
Winnington Ingram, Arthur F. (Arthur Foley)
Church of England -- Sermons; Sermons, English -- 20th century; World War, 1914-1918 -- Sermons
There is no doubt that this tremendous gift is the special promise
given by Christianity. CHRIST wants to live in me. He wants to come
inside. He stands outside the door, but if I ask Him He will come
inside. And notice, secondly, that this tremendous promise is not
made to a few selected people. You might suppose that it was meant
for a few Sisters of Mercy, very devoted, who live their lives
among the poor, or to a few particular saints among the clergy.
But you all have this promise. This tremendous promise comes in
the midst of the message to the Church in Laodicea, the people who
were neither cold nor hot, the people who were uplifted when they
ought to have been humble, the people who had to be chastened and
rebuked that they might be made humble, the people who had not a
chance of overcoming in their own strength--in fact, people just
like you and me. And it is just because we know this, that I have
to give this message of love to you. It is just because we know
that we are neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm--the churchwardens,
workers, sidesmen, Sunday-School teachers--it is just because we are
conscious, and because we know that we do want chastening, that we
may be perfected and purified; in fact, it is just because we are
like the people to whom that message was given that we need to pay
heed to the warning of the message. CHRIST says: "I stand at the
door and knock, and if any of you will open the door and hear My
voice, I will come in and sup with you, and you with Me."
And, therefore, you see, that sets us thinking, does it not? as to
what this knocking at the door can mean. Is it possible, you say,
that CHRIST has been knocking at the door, and I never knew it was
He who was knocking? The whole thing is wonderfully symbolised
at the consecration of a church. Perhaps you have not seen the
consecration of a church. The Bishop, representing JESUS CHRIST,
knocks three times at the door, and says: "Lift up your heads, O
ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of
Glory shall come in." The churchwardens and sidesmen say: "Who is
the King of Glory?" And the Bishop outside replies: "The LORD of
Hosts. He is the King of Glory." Then the doors are flung open,
and the Bishop enters, symbolising the entrance of CHRIST into His
Church. That happens every time a new church is consecrated in the
diocese of London or anywhere else. Who is the King of Glory? Who is
He? Is it possible that He has been knocking at my heart and I have
never known?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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