Will you please turn to Colossians—the letter to the Colossians, Chapter 2, just one verse: Colossians 2:19. Instead of reading it in a negative way, we will read it in a positive way:
Holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, ministered to and united together by the joints and bands, increaseth with the increase of God.
Then will you please turn to Ephesians, Chapter 4. We will read from Ephesians 4:1-16.
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called,
with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.But unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Wherefore He saith, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.And He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him, who is the Head, even Christ;
from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.
And finally, 1 Peter, Chapter 2, verse 5, and verse 9:
Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.
Dear Lord, as we continue together in Thy presence, our hearts do bow before Thee, knowing that Thou who knew no sin wast made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Dear Lord, we owe everything to Thee. We want to acknowledge Thee as truly our Lord. Thou art truly the Head of the body, which is Thy church. We pray, Lord, as we wait upon Thee with open hearts, that Thou wilt open Thy Word to us.
Thy Word is living truth. We pray that it will so work in our hearts that it may really bring us into the reality of all that Thou hast upon Thy heart. Lord, glorify Thy Son in the church. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Thank God for gathering us this morning. The burden that the Lord seems to put upon my heart is the corporate side of Christian living.
Now, of course, you cannot separate the personal side and the corporate side. These two things go together. But unfortunately, you can emphasize only the personal side and neglect the corporate side. So we want to see that we are well balanced before the Lord.
Now, thank God for saving us. Thank God for giving us His own life. Every one of us who believes in the Lord Jesus has His life in us—not only His life in us, but also His Holy Spirit.
What is life for? Why does the Holy Spirit dwell in each and every one of us? What is His errand, His responsibility, or His ministry to our life?
Life is given to live. In order that we may live out that life of Christ, the Holy Spirit within us is the Agent. He is there to see that the life of Christ becomes really our life. No longer is that old, fallen, Adamic, fleshly, self-life to be lived out.
We have lived in that life for so long, and now there is a complete change. Christ is our life, and He is going to live in and through us. By the power of the Holy Spirit, it is made possible for every one of us.
As we live by the life of Christ, then we find there is transformation. We will gradually be transformed and conformed to the image of Christ. That is the purpose of God in saving us.
But we find that there is something more than that, because He saved us not only for ourselves. Actually, He saved us for His own glory.
Each and every one of us is limited. No one person on this earth can express the fullness of Christ. Christ is so infinite, so rich. It takes more than one person to really represent Him and exhibit Him.
That is why, when our Lord Jesus was on earth, He told His disciples:
I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
In other words, our Lord Jesus becomes Head over all things to the church, His body, which is the fullness of Him who filleth all in all. So, dear brothers and sisters, we do believe that there is a corporate side of Christian life to which we should pay more attention.
We have already mentioned during the past two days how our Lord Jesus builds His church. With what kind of materials does He build?
After Simon acknowledged our Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, our Lord Jesus said, “Simon Bar-Jonah, thou art blessed, because this is not something that flesh and blood could tell you. It is My heavenly Father who revealed it to you.”
Peter acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. By this confession, there was a change in Peter. Our Lord Jesus said, “You were Simon before, a man of dust; but now you are Peter.”
Because of your confession of the revelation you received and believed, you became a stone, a piece of the rock.
I will build My church upon this massive rock; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
In other words, our Lord Jesus is the Rock. He is the foundation of the church, and upon Himself He will build His church. He builds His church with the same material as He is the foundation.
To put it clearly, He cannot build the church just with you and me. He has to build the church with what comes out of Himself in you and me. That is what the church really is.
As we come to the Lord Jesus, we become living stones. Then He uses these living stones and builds a church out of Himself. This church is none other than His own body.
The head and the body are one. In 1 Corinthians 12:12, it is said that there is one body but many members—many members, but one body. So also is the Christ. The church is the Christ; it is the extension of Christ.
In the church, we do not see anybody according to the flesh. We do not see Jew or Gentile, bondman or freeman, educated or barbarian. We only see Christ. That is the church which our Lord Jesus is building.
How does He build His church? He builds His church in the same way that He becomes Christ to us.
He becomes Christ to us because He went to the cross. You know, the enemy, Satan, tried every means to keep Jesus away from the cross. He even used the dear disciple of our Lord Jesus, Simon Peter, to dissuade our Lord Jesus from going to the cross.
But our Lord Jesus knew why He came into this world. He came to die. He came to the cross. When He died on the cross, He shouted, “It is finished.”
It is only through the cross that He was able to finish the mission that God had given Him. To put it simply, it is the cross that made Him Christ. A crossless Christ is no Christ, because a crossless Christ cannot save anybody. He can save Himself, but He cannot save you and me.
This is the way He laid the foundation of the church.
In the same principle, He tells His disciples:
If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
If you love your soul-life in this world, you will lose it. But if you lose your soul-life for His sake, you gain it unto eternity.
So, dear brothers and sisters, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, we should not think that now we have smooth sailing to heaven. As some people say, we are seeking a sedan chair to carry us to heaven. But that expectation is wrong.
Instead, after you believe in the Lord Jesus, you will find sufferings, tribulations, problems, and trouble. Why? Because you do not belong to the world. You are an alien upon this earth; your citizenship is in heaven. Because of this, you find the world is not kind to you.
If you want to live a separated life for the Lord, there will be crosses enough for you to bear. Thank God for that, because it is through the cross that we bear daily that we are delivered from our soul-life, and Christ’s life becomes the only life by which we live.
Christ in you is the hope of glory. So, brothers and sisters, do not be afraid of the cross. Do not create a cross for yourself or for other people, because the Holy Spirit is in charge of that, and He will do a perfect work.
This morning, we would like to share something concerning our response to God’s calling. We know that God has called us to be the body of Christ.
You find this throughout the whole letter to the Ephesians. God has made Christ Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who filleth all in all.
Then, in Ephesians 4, you find that we are to walk worthy of the calling wherewith we have been called. According to the letter to the Ephesians, what is our calling? Our calling is to be the body of Christ, and we have to walk worthy of that calling.
How should we respond to the calling of God? How should we respond to being called to be the church, to be the body of Christ?
This morning we would like to focus on just three things:
In response to the calling of God—not just as individual believers, but as members of the body of Christ—I think the first response should be to see the headship of Christ.
When Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians, he put it in a negative way. Why? Because the Colossian believers had a good beginning. They had a heart for the Lord. They wanted to grow; they wanted to mature. They did not want to remain babes in Christ.
After they believed in the Lord Jesus, they had a desire to grow spiritually into maturity. It was during that time that some people came in and said, “Do you want to become instantly spiritual? We have the formula.”
They said, “If you believe in the Lord Jesus alone, it cannot be done. But after you believe in the Lord Jesus, just accept a few of these mystical theories and practice a few of these ceremonies, and you will be instantly spiritual.”
The Colossian believers fell into it.
Even today, I believe every believer probably has the desire to become instantly spiritual. It seems as if this is human nature. Now we even have instant coffee and instant tea. Everything must be instant, and we want to be instantly spiritual.
“Just give me a formula, something that I can do, and then I will be perfect.” The Colossian believers fell into it.
In other words, they had Christ, but they considered Christ insufficient. It had to be Christ plus something; then you would be perfect.
So the Apostle Paul tried to show them that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily, and that they were complete in Him. Do not try to seek anything outside of Christ. You cannot take anything away from Christ, nor can you add anything to Christ, because Christ alone is God’s provision for us.
All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him, and we are complete in Him. That is why, in Colossians 2:19, Paul put it in a negative way: they were not holding fast the Head. That was their problem.
So, brothers and sisters, the first thing, when we respond to the calling of being the body of Christ, is to learn to see the headship of Christ. Why? Because Christ is the Head, and we are the body.
Just look at your physical body. We know that the head is over the body—not only outwardly, but realistically. It is the head that controls the body. The head is the seat of wisdom. All command comes from the head, and everything that happens to the members of the body goes back to the head.
What we have received through our sight, what we have seen, heard, touched, and contacted—it all goes up to the head. The head decides what should be done. It is the head that tells us what to do. It has control over the whole body.
The authority is in the head, not in the body. This is the headship of Christ.
In our physical body, how does the head control the body? Through the nervous system. Everything from our side goes up to the head, and the head gives its command through all the members to each member. That is how we live, how we act, and react on this earth.
Praise God: how does Christ become our Head? Through the Holy Spirit. He puts His Spirit into each and every member of the body of Christ. It is through the Holy Spirit that we are able to receive the command from the Head and also to look up to the Head in every reaction. That is the way.
What is spiritual growth? Spiritual growth is that the body comes out of the Head, and the body grows into the Head. That is spiritual growth.
Where does the body come from? It comes from the Head.
You remember, when our Lord Jesus was crucified, as recorded in John 19, the next day would be the Sabbath. They wanted to make sure that those who were crucified were dead, because the bodies had to be taken down before sundown.
When they came to the Lord Jesus, the soldiers saw that He was already dead. Usually, when one was crucified, he would linger and linger on. It was a very cruel type of death.
The two robbers were still alive, so their legs had to be broken to hasten their death. But when they came to Christ, our Lord was already dead. To make sure that He was dead, the soldier took his spear and thrust it through His side, and out came blood and water.
John saw it, and he made it very emphatic. He said, “I saw it. I witnessed it. Whatever I have witnessed is true. You have to believe it.” Why? Because there is a spiritual meaning behind it.
You know how Eve was made: out of that which came out of Adam. God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helpmeet for him.” God put Adam to sleep, and God performed a surgery. It was a bloodless surgery, because there was no sin at that time.
Then God took something out of Adam. In our Bible it is called a rib, but in the original it is not exactly that. God took something out of Adam’s side, and with that something He made a woman.
When God brought Eve to Adam, Adam looked at her and said:
This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.
“You are me.” So they are united into one. Now, that is only a type, but the real antitype is Christ and the church.
Out of the side of our Lord Jesus, God took out something: blood and water. Blood is for the remission of our sins, because there is sin in the world. Because of sin, that surgery which God did upon Jesus was a painful surgery.
When the spear was thrust into His side, it reached His heart. Some medical people have told us that when the heart is broken, the blood begins to separate. So out of His side came blood and water: blood for the remission of our sins, and water as life given out to us.
It is with the blood of our Lord Jesus and His life that He made the woman, the church. When we remember the Lord at the table, we have the loaf and the cup. The cup is the cup of His blood—how He shed His blood for us, for the remission of our sins. The loaf represents His life—how He gave His own life for us.
That is how we are made, and that is how the church, the body of Christ, is made.
We come out of the Head, and the Bible says we grow up into Him. We come out of Him, are united with Him, and grow up into Him. That is what the church is.
So, dear brothers and sisters, the first and foremost thing in fulfilling our calling is to see the headship of Christ.
We need to recognize that our Lord Jesus is not only our Savior; He is our Lord. He is our Head.
That is why, in Romans 12, after we have received all the mercies of God, how should we respond? We need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. We belong to Him. We acknowledge Him as our Head. That is consecration.
Consecration is not that you may work for the Lord. That is a wrong idea.
I remember when I was saved, back in 1930. Usually, at the last meeting, the pastor would begin to speak on consecration. At that time, a huge map of China was hung on the wall of the platform. The pastor said, “Now the Lord has saved you. How do you prove your love for the Lord? Go wherever you want to go and preach the gospel. Come to the platform, put your finger on any place on the map, and that is where you are going to preach the gospel.”
I was over fifteen at that time. I had just been saved, and I was full of gratitude, thanking God for what He had done for me. So I thought, “Well, how do I prove my love for the Lord? Go to the furthest place, the most difficult place, in order to prove it.”
So I marched up to the platform and put my finger on Mongolia. Thank God, I have never been to Mongolia. But at that time it was real to me. I really set my heart upon it.
At that time, that was the way we learned consecration. But as you begin to read the Bible more, you begin to see that this is not what consecration means.
Consecration means that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice. In other words, you hand yourself over to the Lord and say, “Lord, do whatever You want with me.”
It is not what you do for the Lord; it is to let the Lord do everything He wants with you. He wants your permission, and you give up your right to Him. In other words, you acknowledge Him as your Head, as your authority, and you are willing to submit to Him and let Him do everything He wants to do with your life. That is consecration.
You know, in the old days, when a lady was married, after she was married she took her husband’s family name.
Now, it is no longer true today. I had an experience of this some years ago. I went to the Chinese embassy to help a sister who wanted to have a visa to China. The officer gave me a lecture because, when I presented the sister’s name, it had four characters.
Usually, in Chinese, they have their family name and their own name with two characters—altogether three characters. But after a person was married, the husband’s family name stood first, her family name next, and then her own name followed: four characters.
The officer said, “This is a communist country now. It is different. It is no longer like the feudal state. Even if you get married, you keep your own name.” So I received a lecture on it.
But I think we all know that after you get married, you change your name. Why? Because you acknowledge that your husband is your head. Well, whether this is true or not, I do not know, but it is supposed to be true, right?
In the same way, when we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we are engaged to our Lord Jesus. We take His name and acknowledge Him as our Head.
What is the church?
Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
That is what the church is. As you read Revelation 3, you find that God praised the church in Philadelphia because they had not denied His name. In other words, to them the name of the Lord Jesus was sufficient. They did not want to have any other name than the name of the Lord Jesus.
They did not want to say, “I belong to Paul,” “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Barnabas.” No, the name of the Lord is sufficient. We are called by His name, and we gather together unto His name.
What does it mean? It is not just an outward name. There is a reality behind it. In other words, hold fast the Head.
Do you think it is very easy to hold fast the Head? Unless we are willing to cut off our own head, otherwise there will be two heads, and it would be a monster.
Are we willing to cut off our own heads so that we allow Christ to be our Head? It sounds easy, but in experience it is difficult.
Are we willing to lay down ourselves and really take Christ as our Head? Not only individually—that is something we must do—but even corporately. That is what the church is.
In the church, the name of the Lord Jesus is everything. He is the Head, and we all submit to His headship. Then the whole body will be united together and minister one to another for the increase of God.
That is the first thing.
The second thing is found in Ephesians 4. The Apostle Paul said, “Walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye have been called.” We are called to be the body of Christ. How can we walk worthy of that calling?
Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Thank God, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, there is a unity of the Spirit given to every believer. This unity of the Spirit is expressed in seven onenesses.
When you read Ephesians 4, you find:
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling.
There are three items here, and these three items all belong to God the Spirit: one Spirit, one body, and one hope.
The Holy Spirit who is in you is the same Spirit who dwells in me. One Spirit. It is through the one Spirit that we become one body, because in 1 Corinthians 12:13 we are told that in one Spirit we were baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, bondmen or free, and were all made to drink of one Spirit.
How do we become one body? Through one Spirit. It is the baptism with the Holy Spirit. He baptizes us into one body.
Not only is there one body, but there is also one hope of our calling. What is the hope of the body of Christ? The hope of the body of Christ is that one day, when it is mature, it will become the bride of the Lamb. That is our hope.
Our hope corporately is that one day we will become the bride of Christ. Is that not wonderful? But to be the bride of Christ, the body has to grow. You cannot marry a lady who has not grown, who is still a baby or a little girl. She has to be mature to be His counterpart.
That is the one hope of our calling.
These three items belong to God the Spirit. Then there are another three items that belong to God the Son: one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
Do we share one Lord? Of course. Do we share one faith? Yes. The one faith here refers to the basic faith, because without that one faith we cannot be saved. It is believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. In all this, we agree.
Then there is one baptism. Why are we baptized? We are baptized into Christ; we put on Christ. We are baptized, leaving the world behind us and putting ourselves into Christ Jesus. That is baptism.
Here you find that in God the Son there are three things in which we are one.
Finally, there is God the Father: one God and Father of all. He is not only our God; He is also our Father. Only those who believe in the Lord Jesus can cry out, “Abba, Father.” Those who do not know the Lord Jesus have God as their God, but not as their Father.
But we who have His life can call Him Father—one Father, who is over all, through all, and in us all.
So, brothers and sisters, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, when we are called into the body of Christ, God has already given us the unity. It is called the unity of the Spirit. In these seven onenesses, we are united.
But strangely, in the same section of Ephesians 4, in verse 13, you have another unity:
Till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
Here you find another unity which we have not yet attained. It is a unity at which we must arrive.
That unity is the unity of the faith. There is a difference between one faith and the faith.
One faith is limited to our initial, basic faith: believing Jesus as the Son of God and as the Christ. The faith includes all the truth that we find in the Word of God. That is the faith.
Today, we do not have the unity of the faith, because among God’s people there are different interpretations. Some people believe that the church will be raptured before the great tribulation. Others believe that the church will not be raptured until after the tribulation. Still others believe that there will be a partial rapture before the tribulation.
There are all kinds of different interpretations. We do not yet have the unity of the faith.
Not only that, but we do not even have the full knowledge of the Son of God. The knowledge there in the original is epignosis: full knowledge of the Son of God. That refers to our experience.
We have not experienced the Son of God in His fullness and in unity yet. Some people have one kind of experience of the Lord; other people have another kind of experience of the Lord. We have different experiences of different aspects of the fullness of Christ.
But one day there will be unity—not only in faith, in truth, but also in our experience of the Lord Jesus. We will come into full unity. In other words, everybody will experience the same fullness. We have not entered into that yet. It is something to be attained, and that is the maturity of the church.
It is not two different unities. Actually, it is like a rod with two ends. We begin with the unity of the Spirit, and if we diligently keep the unity of the Spirit, not allowing other differences to divide us, continuing to fellowship with one another in openness and humility, then, by the grace of God, we will arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
Today we have difficulty. I remember many years ago, I was in Peru visiting a couple of missionaries. They loved the Lord. They spent half a year in a small boat, sailing through the Amazon River and visiting different villages. The other half of the year, they lived in a truck, going through the high mountains in Peru and visiting Christians everywhere.
I spent three weeks with them. I had to fly to where they lived because there was no road to it.
When I was leaving, the next day they had a conference. Natives came through the jungles, and they all came together for the conference. Missionaries from different areas also came together.
I was staying with that missionary couple. Actually, that brother’s own brother was one of the five who were killed by the Auca Indians.
Before the conference began, I was supposed to speak, because I was leaving the next day. But a missionary from a neighboring village came. After he came, he tried to figure me out.
I had heard of his background. He came from the Exclusive Brethren. So he began to question me, one question after another. I knew what he was aiming at, so I tried to avoid controversy.
Finally, he asked, “Do you believe the church will be raptured?”
“Well, that is easy. I believe the church will be raptured.”
Then he asked, “How many times?”
Unfortunately, we disagreed.
He said, “You do not believe the Bible.”
I said, “Brother, no. I believe the Bible just as you do. Our interpretations may be different, but that is the one with which I feel most comfortable. If the Lord shows me otherwise, I am willing to change.”
“No, you do not believe the Bible.”
After supper, we walked to the conference. Along the way, he murmured to me, “If you speak, I do not speak anymore. If you speak, I will not speak.”
What are you going to do? I was leaving the next day, and he was a neighbor. So finally I told the brother with whom I was staying, “I am not going.”
The next morning, the natives came and wanted to know why I did not speak.
Now, brothers and sisters, among God’s people we often do not diligently keep the unity of the Spirit. If we can continue to fellowship without separation, thank God, one day we will arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
I had another experience of this when I was in New York.
There was a missionary couple who were graduates of Moody Bible Institute. They were missionaries to the Jews in New York with the First Baptist Church. Unfortunately, they had become involved in universalism, which was very popular in the New England states. They were put out by the Baptist church, and they came to us.
They were very open. They told us all that had happened, and we fellowshipped with them. They loved the Lord, but unfortunately they maintained that universalism.
We tried to show them what the Bible teaches, but could not convince them. Finally, we said, “Brother, sister, you are the Lord’s, and we welcome you. But because you hold to something that we do not think is scriptural—indeed, something we consider heresy—you have to promise us not to propagate it among us. You can keep it yourself, but do not propagate it.”
They promised us, and they met with us for several months.
After several months, without our knowing, they wanted full fellowship with the brothers and sisters. They felt that, because they held that teaching, they were not able to have full fellowship. So they were bothered by it. They sought the Lord about it, and the Lord opened their understanding.
Without our knowing, they went and cut off every relationship with universalism, because they felt, “We want full fellowship.”
Thank God, gradually this brother became one of the elders. It can be done.
So, brothers and sisters, it is important that we diligently keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. If we continue to fellowship with openness, we will arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the full stature of Christ. We will no longer be babes, swayed by every wind of heresy.
That is the second thing.
Finally, the third thing is found in 1 Peter 2. You also find it in Revelation 1 and Revelation 5: the universal priesthood of believers.
That is the heart of God.
As the body of Christ, God has given to each, according to His grace, different gifts. In other words, God put us in the body of Christ for a reason—not only to live together as one, but because every member of the body has its function.
We are to be functioning members of the body of Christ. No one is to bury his or her talent. Under the leading of the Holy Spirit, we are to work together and minister one to another.
In other words, every believer is a priest—not merely in name, but in actuality. This is the heart of God.
God did this with the children of Israel. When He delivered them out of Egypt, what was His challenge to Pharaoh?
Let My people go, that they may serve Me.
We are freed in order to serve God. There is a reason behind it.
After they were delivered out of Egypt, God brought them to Sinai. There God gave them His law, and God said, “If you keep My covenant, I will make you a nation of priests.”
A priest is someone who is separated for God. He lives to serve God, not to serve any other purpose. That is a priest.
Unfortunately, the children of Israel worshipped the golden calf. Because of their sin, they were disqualified to serve God. So, out of the twelve tribes of Israel, God had to separate one tribe—and even one family—to be priests. All the rest lost their privilege.
But that was not God’s original will. That was only an emergency measure.
When you come to the New Testament, when our Lord Jesus came, He restored everything back to God’s original thought. So every believer is a priest.
Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
That is what we are.
Unfortunately, you find that the early church gradually departed from God’s truth. Especially after Constantine the Great endorsed Christianity, instead of being persecuted, Christianity became favored.
If a soldier was willing to be baptized, he received a reward of silver and even clothing. Who would not do it—to please the emperor and also to get something? So many flocked to the so-called church. They did not have life. How could they serve God? They could not.
So a certain caste of people had to be created—people trained to serve for the rest. That is how Christianity began to fall.
In the Catholic Church, you have the so-called fathers, just as among the Jewish people you have the rabbis.
In the sixteenth century, during the Reformation, Martin Luther believed in the universal priesthood of believers. He believed it, but he felt that the church was not ready for it, because most people were not saved yet.
So he did not emphasize the universal priesthood of believers. He emphasized justification by faith and an open Bible.
Because of that, you find that in the Protestant church they continued with a pastor system—just as the Catholics had the father system, and the Jews had the rabbi system.
But that is not God’s purpose for His body. Every member of the body, every living member of the body, has its function. It is the will of God that all the members of the body should function together.
So, brothers and sisters, we should not bury the gift that God has given to us.
But remember: you do not function as an individual. You function as a member of the body of Christ.
Even within the priesthood, what is a priesthood? We are not merely singular, particular, individual priests. We belong to a priesthood.
In the old days, you had the high priest. He was the head of the priesthood. He was the one who led the priests in their service.
Even at the time of Christ, we are told that when a course of priests was supposed to function during its week, every early morning they gathered together in a room and cast lots to see who would do what during that day.
You remember Zacharias, an old priest. He had never received the privilege of burning incense. In his old age, one day he received the lot. He went into the temple, offered incense, and saw a vision.
According to the Jewish way, if you had the privilege of burning incense, it was only once in a lifetime. You did not do it twice. But because the Holy Spirit had not yet come, they cast lots.
Today the Holy Spirit has come. He is in every one of us, so we do not need to cast lots anymore.
Christ is our High Priest. We are priests under His control, and He controls us by His Holy Spirit. When we minister, we minister together. We minister to one another. We share with one another whatever grace and gift God has given to us.
Some people may say, “I do not know what my gift is. How can I function?” Very simple.
When you were born, God gave you all the members of your body. Did He not also give you all the gifts of the different members of your body? He created you with an eye, and He gave you the gift of sight. He created you with an ear, and He gave you the gift of hearing. He created you with a tongue, and He gave you the gift of speaking. He gave you hands with which to hold, and He gave you feet with which to walk.
When a baby is born, he is born with all the members of the body, and with these members all the gifts are inherent there. It is true that when the baby is born, he cannot see. It takes a little while for him to see.
He cannot walk. He does not know how to walk, so he crawls. His hands and feet are working together. But later, as he grows older, he discovers that using the hands for walking is a handicap. So with his two feet he can walk better. The hands give up walking, and the feet take over.
Brothers and sisters, that is the way we learn, right? Spiritually, it is the same thing.
When you are born again, you become a member of the body of Christ. He has already given you a gift, but it may be dormant. It takes life. As you grow and grow in life, you begin to discover what gift God has given you.
The Holy Spirit within you will lead you in a certain way. You feel burdened about certain things. You begin to see that something is lacking in the church, something with which you are burdened.
You try a little and see, and God blesses it. The brothers and sisters begin to be helped by it, and then you receive confirmation. That is where God wants you to go.
Brothers and sisters, that is why we need one another. We check one another and confirm one another, because we may be mistaken. But the body will know. That is how we help one another into functioning ministry in the house of God.
Let no talent be buried. If you have five persons with one talent, that is already equal to one with five talents. The problem is that one with five talents may become proud, but the one with one talent is safe.
So, brothers and sisters, be encouraged.
Know that you are a priest unto God, and you are to offer up spiritual sacrifices—not natural sacrifices. It is not your natural talents; it is spiritual gifts.
Offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. It is only through Jesus Christ that you will be acceptable.
So, dear brothers and sisters, this morning I would just like to share these three points:
If we can really respond to God’s calling in that way, I believe you will see that the body will increase with the increase of God. So may the Lord help us.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for giving us this time together. Lord, we just lay everything at Thy feet. If these things are of Thee, Lord, bless them, use them, and make them work. If they are not of Thee, Lord, cleanse them with the precious blood. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.