God’s Great Purpose for the Church The church has the charge of the world entrusted to it. When Christ finished His work on earth and went to heaven to carry it on there, He spoke of two powers to whom the continuation of the work on earth was to be committed. He spoke of the Holy Spirit, who should come in His name to convict the worldof sin and be a divine power in His disciples to reveal Himself in them, and so make them witnesses for Him to the ends of the earth. He spoke of His disciples as those whom He sent into the world, even as the Father had sent Him. Just as entirely as He had lived to do the Father’s will in saving men and women so was His Spirit to do that work, too. And just as wholly as the Spirit was to be devoted to that work was the body, the church, to be set apart for it. The whole body of believers, and every individual believer, was to be like Christ, the light of the world, placed in the world with the one definite, exclusive object of enlightening its darkness and bringing men and women out of darkness into light. Empowered by the Holy Spirit To do its work the church has the promise of the power of the Holy Spirit of God. That Spirit is given to every believer to be within him thepower of a divine and holy life. That Spirit is to be to him the seal of his worship and acceptance, the fountain of love and joy, the grace for conquering sin and the world, the power to do all that God would have us do. That Spirit is to enlighten and guide and lead, to sanctify and fit for unbroken fellowship with a holy God, to reveal Christ the Son of God the Father within the heart. He is to be a fountain springing up within and flowing forth as streams of living water in what He thus works in personal experience; He equips the person to boldly testify about God’s power and to communicate to others what has happened in his own life. Without the power of the Holy Spirit fully recognized and experienced, the church cannot know or fulfilits calling. With His power the life and fruit God asks for are natural and sure. When the Spirit does not work in power, it is proof that another spirit has been allowed to take its place. There are only two spirits in the spiritual world – the Spirit of God and the spirit of the world. Between these there is an unceasing struggle going on. It is because Christians live so much for this present world, and under its power, that its spirit gets possession of them,and grieves and quenches the Spirit of God. They lose the power to conquer sin or live a holier life. They lose any intense desire to live for God and His kingdom. They lose the divine love that would enable them to live for or to have influence on their neighbors. Their religion becomes that of the mind and not of the heart. They are willing to listen to beautiful words on religion, and count the pleasing impressions these make as religious feeling. And all the while they are quenching the life in them into impotence and death. This is the state in which multitudes of Christians live, making themselves and their churches powerless for good or for blessing. It is out of this state that a revival is needed to lift the church into its true life, according to the divine pattern.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 19:08:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015