Praising God, and having favour with all the people.
At once godly and popular
I. Piety. “Praising God.” Behold the natural history of regeneration. Those who are bought with a price are constrained to glorify God. Thanksgiving is a constituent element of prayer without which it is ineffectual. In the case of these converts as in the case of Israel redeemed from Egypt it was spontaneous, and could not be restrained. The gratitude that comes through prompting is not gratitude.
II. Popularity. “Having favour,” etc. In the first stage of their progress these converts were not persecuted. Two opposite experiences alternate in the history of the Church: sometimes the world admires and sometimes reviles. This is necessary. If godliness were always to obtain the favour of the world, counterfeits would spring up; if it were always to bring down the world’s enmity, the spark of Divine truth in humanity would be quenched. God holds the balance, and permits as much of the wrath of man as suffices to praise Himself and purge the Church, and then He restrains the remainder. This method, as exemplified in history, we see to be the best. When a spark is imbedded in the flax, and it begins to smoke, a blast would blow it out, and therefore the blast is restrained. But after the fire hasfairly caught, the blast will spread the flame, and therefore it is permitted to blow.
III. Increase.
1. The Lord added them, and yet they added themselves. The Good Shepherd carried the sheep home, but the prodigal walked home. The two are one showing the Divine and human sides of the same transaction. At one place the saved are “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord”’, at another they are “As many as the Lord shall call.” When I know myself to be like a withered leaf that flows to a sea of perdition, it is sweet to think that help is laid on One that is mighty, and to hope that the Lord adds me to His Church. My comfort arises from the fact not that I hold Him, but that He holds me. But woe to the man who with no liking for God’s presence or the company of His people dares to comfort himself that he has no power till God puts forth His strength. The Lord is now ready to do it, if you are willing that it should be done.
2. Every day some were added. There is no blank in the birth registers of God’s family. The Lamb’s Book of Life has a page for every day, and names on every page, although some pages are more crowded than others.
3. He added the saved to the Church: added them in the act of saving, saved in the act of adding. He does not add a withered branch to the vine; but in the act of inserting it makes the withered branch live. When pure water is drawn from the salt sea, it is added to the clouds in heaven. It is thus that the Lord adds the saved to the Church, winning them from a sea of wickedness and leaving their bitterness behind. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
And the Lord added to the Church such as should be saved.--
The relation of the Church to the individual
I. It seems almost inevitable that all believing men will as a matter of course associate themselves with the Church.
1. This is prompted by the very nature and fitness of things.
(1) It is the moral duty of every individual to give society an account of his convictions. No man is perfectly sincere to his fellows except as his whole life--his thoughts as well as his conduct--is open to their inspection. Respect for his fellow-men, himself and his God alike demand this. Therefore not to do this in matters of religious conviction is to withhold from society that to which it has a moral claim, for religious belief lies at the foundation of all moral conduct; and therefore of all social confidence. To profess to belong to society, and yet conceal our religious principles is a moral fraud.
(2) An evasion of religious profession does as much wrong to the spiritual life of the believer as it does to the community. He does as much violence to his spiritual nature as he would to his social nature were he to become a recluse. Such separation renders the development of one’s entire nature impossible--social instincts, sympathies and capabilities. And just as the domestic feeling finds development in the family, the mercantile in the company, the political in the club, so the religious feeling finds its proper development in the Church. Standing aloof, therefore, our personal piety must suffer, wanting that mutual encouragement and help that it requires. For the Church is “the garden of the Lord”--the place of rapid and healthy growth. “They that be planted in the house of the Lord,” etc. Standing aloof from our fellow Christians, moreover, there is a large class of holy and beautiful feelings that are never called into exercise. It is as if the members of a family were to live separate--the tie of relationship would be the same, and the affection might be in their hearts, but it would find but imperfect expression in the life.
(3) Church association is, moreover, needful for the advantageous application of spiritual power. The units are added into one sum; the drops collected into one stream; thestrands twisted into one cable; the parts “fitly framed together” into one potent engine. What separated believers cannot do the Church easily can. For other purposes, the advancement of literature, science, commerce, etc., men spontaneously unite, and so should believers in the work of God. For each Christian to do “what is right in his own eyes” is as if soldiers were to disperse themselves through a country for the purpose of subduing it.
(4) One prime part of the practical expression of religious principle is in public worship. God will have His people render Him sanctuary service--the chief way in which the “profession of Christ” is to be made. We might be pious without it, but our piety would be to ourselves, not to the world.
2. This natural necessity of the Church is further insisted upon in the New Testament. The injunctions of Christ and His apostles are not mere arbitrary directions, but recognitions of our spiritual nature. We have passages--
(1) Recognising the Church as a legitimate fact. “Tell it to the Church,” “They assembled with the Church,” etc.
(2) Of injunction, expostulation and promise. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves,” “These be they who separate themselves,” “Where two or three are gathered in My name.”
(3) Where the necessity of professing Christ (of which Church membership is the chief way) is insisted on. We are to “come out and be separate,” to “confess the name of the Lord Jesus.” So imperative was this that the early Christians submitted to persecution for the maintenance of it. Half the martyrdoms of the Church might have been avoided had Christians been content with an isolated religion. And the great solicitude of the apostle in writing to persecuted believers is that they should “hold fast their profession without wavering.”
II. What does the Church require of the individual as a condition of its communion? Verse 42 embodies the natural principles of associated Christian life, and St. Luke distinctly traces the passage of the individual to the social Christian life. Membership with Christ first, then membership with His Church. All social life is made up of individual lives--each member enters as an individual not to receive life from it, but to add life to it. The spiritual life of the Church, therefore, is the sum of individual lives. In none of our relationships can we lose our individuality. As individuals we are born, live, die, and give account of ourselves to God. Of the individual, therefore, the Church may require--
1. Moral conversion. A purely spiritual society can admit none but spiritual members; and can include none that are unregenerate. Of course the Church has not omniscience, but it is bound to exercise the most vigilant jealousy. And it cannot receive a more deadly injury than an unsanctified member. A society is worth no more than it possesses of the quality for which it exists. A scientific society, whatever other qualities its members may have, is worth no more, as such, than it has science. And so the Church is worth no more than the spiritual life that is in it. Wealth, intellect, energy, are of incalculable value, if their possessor bring spiritual life also, but they are a curse if he do not. Hence the Church is invested with the power of discipline, like all social bodies, and therefore St. Paul censured the Corinthian Church for not excommunicating the incestuous person. Christian churches must be churches of Christians.
2. Intellectual agreement with its distinctive ecclesiastical principles. An Episcopalian, e.g., cannot and ought not to be allowed to take part in a Congregational administration. His membership would involve either a tacit denial of principle on his part or an exposure to constant embarrassment on the part of the Church. While we welcome him to all our spiritual privileges, we must deny him participation in our government.
3. Active and cordial co-operation in religious functions--participation in worship, communion and service. Every member, therefore, enters into a moral contract with the Church, and as far as he holds aloof is as dishonest as a mercantile servant who absents himself from his occupation. Of course we claim no legal hold, and can use no compulsion, and would not if we could. But these are the lowest constraints, and Christianity refuses to employ them. But if you will not discharge its duties the Church has a right to ask you to withdraw from a fellowship to whose enjoyment and efficacy you add nothing.
III. The claim of the individual in the Church. He may expect not the extinction on the part of its members of social rank, nor the sacrifice of individual claims. Membership warrants no rude familiarity, establishes no social equality. But Church members, though not one in rank or wealth, are yet one in Christ, and each in his spiritual and temporal need may expect such help as Christian brotherhood may prompt in hissorrows, brotherly interest and sympathy; in his assaults or perils, brotherly assistance and rescue; all that is involved in the great law, that we “love one another.” (H. Allon, D. D.)
Graduality and divinity of human salvation
Dean Alford’s version of the words is, “The Lord added to their number day by day them that were in the way of salvation.” Dr. Samuel Davidson’s version we think better: “The Lord was adding to the Church daily those who were being saved.” The authors of the New Testament Revised Version have adopted Dr. Samuel Davidson’s translation, and read, “the Lord added to them day by day those that were being saved.” Not those that had been saved, or those who would be saved, but those who were being saved. The words in their connection teach two great facts in relation to man’s salvation.
I. It is gradual in its process. The popular impression is that this great event is instantaneous. But the nature of the work and the testimony of the Scriptures give no sanction to such an impression. Consider--
1. The nature of the work. Salvation may be said to involve a twofold change.
(1) A change in condition. The soul is represented as lost, it has lost itsnormal condition and its original character. We say that a thing is lost when it has failed to realise the object for which it was produced. Thus a chronometer is lost when it becomes incapable of keeping time; a vessel is lost when it is unfit any more to plough the ocean; a family portrait is lost when all the lineaments are so discoloured or defaced as to be incapable of giving any faithful idea of the subject. In this sense the soul is lost; it does not answer the end of its existence. It involves--
(2) A change in character. We often say of a man when his character is gone that he is lost. Whether you consider salvation as consisting in the restoration of a lost condition, or a lost character, graduality is implied. The chronometer cannot be restored at once, nor can the unseaworthy vessel be repaired at once. Skilful and persistent effort in all cases of restoration is required. It is so with the soul. The rebellious does not become obedient at once, the malign benevolent at once, the selfish generous at once. The same in relation to character. Character is not something formed at once. Character is made up of habits, and habits are made up of numerously repeated actions. Consider--
2. The testimony of the Scriptures. “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” “With the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” “Kept through faith unto salvation.” “Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” “He that shall endure to the end shall be saved.” The various figures employed to represent the Christian life indicate the same graduality. It is a building, a planting, a race, a fight, etc.
II. It is effected by God through the instrumentality of preaching. It is said, “The Lord added.” He did it, but how? Everywhere in nature He works by means. This is the means by which God effects human salvation. Christ is the Gospel, and the gospel preached is Christ exhibited. Conclusion:
1. Infer not from this that salvation does not imply a crisis. There is a point when everything begins. There is a point when the dead seed receives the first touch of life. The heavy clouds charged with electricity reach a point when they flash into flame and break into thunder. There is a point in disease when it either becomes incurable or yields to a restorative touch, and we say the disease has taken a turn. It is so with the salvation of the soul. Conversion is a turn. But the mere turn is not salvation; the starting point is not the goal; incipient germination is not fruitage. The mariner may turn his barque from the direction of a northern port to a southern port, and yet the southern port he may never reach.
2. Infer not from this that other elements apart from the gospel may not contribute to human salvation. Wholesome literature, philosophic truths, scientific facts, and rational speculations we disparage not these, they may render important service, but they cannot do the work of the gospel, they cannot save souls. Put the best seed into the best soil, let the choicest showers come down upon it, and the most genial airs breathe about it. It will never spring to life without something else, they are useless without the sun. Add to them the sun, and the work is done. Add to all the elements of nature the sun, and it will start majestic forests on the barren hills. So with the gospel. Add to all other truths, natural and moral, the gospel, and they will render service, but not otherwise. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Additions to the Church
I. What about them?
1. It was the custom in the earliest times for persons who had been converted to Christ to join themselves with the Church. From that fact, I feel persuaded that--
(1) They did not conceal their convictions. It is a strong temptation with many to say, “I have believed in Jesus, but that is a matter between God and my own soul. Can I not go quietly to heaven and be a Nicodemus, or a Joseph of Arimathea?” Yes; but that is a different thing from being cowardly and ashamed of Christ. We shall not object to your being a Nicodemus if you will carry spices to the grave of Jesus, or beg His body. Neither of these two brethren were cowardly after the Cross had been set up, nor ashamed to identify themselves with Christ crucified. Follow them, not in the infancy of their love, but in its maturer days. The promise of the gospel is “He that with his heartbelieveth, and with his mouth maketh confession of Him, shall be saved.”
(2) They did not try to go to heaven alone. There has been a great deal said about being simply a Christian and not joining any particular church. But these people joined the Church at once. I daresay that, had they criticised the Church, they would have found faults in her, certainly within a few weeks great faults had to be remedied; but these converts felt that the society at Jerusalem was the Church of Christ, and, therefore, they joined it. If you wait for a perfect Church, you must wait until you get to heaven; and even if you could find one they would not admit you, for you are not perfect yourself. Find out those people who are nearest to the Scriptures, and then cast in your lot with them. If it would be right for you to remain out of Church fellowship, it must be right for every other believer, and then there would be no visible Church at all.
2. The persons who were received at Pentecost were added to the Church by the Lord. Does anybody else ever add to the Church? Oh, yes, the devil. Who was it that added Judas, and Ananias and Sapphira, and Simon Magus, and Demas? Who was it that stole forth by night and sowed tares among the wheat? Moreover, the Church itself cannot avoid adding some who should not be received. Mr. Hill met a man who hiccuped up to him and said, “How do you do, Mr. Hill? I am one of your converts.” “Yes,” said Rowland, “I should say you are, but you are none of God’s, or else you would not be drunk.” Converts of that sort are far too numerous--converts of the preacher, of friends, or of a certain fashion of making profession, but not true-born children of the Lord.
3. Additions to the Church of a right kind are described as “those who were being saved.” Those in whom the work of salvation is really begun are the proper candidates, and these are spoken of in verse 44 as “believers.” So let the question go round--Am I saved? Have I believed in Jesus? If I have, the process of salvation within me is going on, I am being delivered from the reigning power of sin each day; I am being kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, and I shall be kept and presented at last spotless before the presence of God with exceeding joy. We set the door wide open to all who are saved, however little their faith may be.
4. Such were really “added.” I am afraid certain persons’ names are added, but not themselves. They are added like figures on a slate, but they do not augment our strength. If you want to add to a tree you cannot take a dead bough and tie it on; that is not adding to it, but incumbering it. To add to a tree there must be grafting done. A true Church is a living thing, and only living men and women are fit to be grafted into it, and the grafting must be made by the Lord. Some members are only tied on to the Church, and they are neither use nor ornament. When I see disunion and disaffection among: Church members, I can well understand that the Lord never added them; but it would be a great mercy to the Church if the Lord would take them away.
5. There were additions to the Church every day. Some churches, if they have anaddition once in twelve months make as much noise over that one as a hen does when she has laid an egg. Now, in the early Church they would not have been contented with that.
II. Under what conditions may we expect them on a large scale? Turn to the chapter and we shall have our answer. We may expect additions to every church of God on a large scale--
1. When she has a Holy Ghost ministry. Peter was no doubt a man of considerable natural abilities, andjust such a man as would have power over his fellow-men; but for all this Peter had never seen three thousand persons converted until he had been baptized with the Holy Ghost. I fear that many churches would not be content with a ministry whose power would lie solely in the Holy Spirit. They judge a minister by his style, or culture. The jingle of rhetoric has more attraction for them than the certain sound of the trumpets of the sanctuary. A Holy Ghost ministry, if Peter be the model, is one which is bold, clear, telling, persuasive, and chooses Jesus for its main theme. He did not speak to them about modern science and the ways of twisting Scripture into agreement with it. He cared nothing for Rabbis or philosophers; but he went right on setting forth Christ crucified and Christ risen. When he had preached Christ, he made a pointed personal appeal to them and said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you.” That was the sort of sermon which God blesses.
2. When she is a Holy Ghost Church--a church baptized into His power, and this will be known by being,--
(1) “Steadfast in the apostles’ doctrine,” etc. (verse 42).
(2) United. The Sacred Dove takes His flight when strife comes in.
(3) Generous. I do not believe the Lord will ever bless a stingy church. There are churches where more is paid per annum for cleaning the shoes of the worshippers than for the cause of Christ; and where this is the case no great good will be done.
(4) Ready to make home a holy place. The converts did not think that religion was meant only for Sundays, and for what men now-a-days call the House of God. Their own houses were houses of God, and their own meals were so mixed and mingled with the Lord’s supper that to this day the most cautious student of the Bible cannot tell when they left off eating their common meals, and when they began eating the supper of the Lord. No house beneath the sky is more holy than the place where a Christian lives, and there is no worship more heavenly than that which is presented by holy families. To sacrifice home worship to public worship is a most evil course of action. Every truly Christian household is a church, andas such it is competent for the discharge of any function of Divine worship. Are we not all priests?
(5) Devout. They did not forget any part of the Lord’s will.
(6) Joyful.
(7) Grateful.
III. What responsibilities do they bring to us? It is our duty--
1. To welcome them heartily.
2. After welcoming them we must watch over them. Of course no pastor is equal to this alone. Let the watching be done by the officers of the church first, and then by every individual.
3. Setting them a good example.
4. Giving them work to do. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The saved added to the Church
I. What is meant by the church? The English is from the Greek kuriake; but the word here is ecclesia used in the New Testament sometimes for--
1. The place where the disciples met to worship God (1Co_11:22).
2. The assembly met together to worship God. Any particular congregation of saints (Col_4:15; Rom_16:3; Rom_16:5; 1Co_16:19). If the apostle had meant their private family he would have expressed it so (Rom_16:10-15; 2Ti_4:19). He means therefore the congregation usually met in some part of their house consecrated to the service of God.
3. The whole body of saints in any city or country a church: as the Church at Jerusalem (Act_8:1); Antioch (Act_13:1); Caesarea (Act_18:22); Thessalonians (2Th_1:1).
4. The body collective of all Christians in the world whereof Christ is Head (Col_1:18; Eph_1:22-23; Eph_5:23; Eph_5:25). Thus Christ uses the word (Mat_16:18), and thus it is understood in the Creed and in the text.
II. What are the properties of this Church. It is--
1. One
(1) As having one Head and built on one Foundation (1Co_3:11; Eph_2:19-20).
(2) As agreeing in one faith (Eph_4:5).
(3) As led by one Spirit (Eph_4:3-4).
2. Holy.
(1) Negatively.
(a) Not as though there were no unholy persons in it, for Christ compares it to a floor, wheat and chaff (Mat_3:12); a field, good seed and tares (Mat_13:24-25; a casting-net, good and bad fishes (Mat_13:47-48); a house, vessels of honour and dishonour (2Ti_2:20).
(b) Not as if any were perfectly holy in this world (1Jn_1:8).
(2) Positively. The Church is holy because--
(a) It calls men to holiness (2Ti_1:9).
(b) It engages men to holiness (2Ti_2:19).
(c) In it many are sincerely holy (Tit_2:14).
(d) It brings them to a perfect holiness hereafter, when the Church will be all holy (Eph_5:26-27).
3. Universal: as--
(1) Spread over all places and ages (Mat_28:19; Mar_16:15; Rev_5:9).
(2) Teaching all necessary truths (Joh_16:13).
(3). Enjoining universal obedience, and the exercise of all graces (1Pe_1:15).
III. Such as are saved are brought into the Church by God.
1. The Lord brings or adds them to the Church (Joh_6:44; Act_16:14).
2. They that are saved are thus brought by the Lord into the Church (Act_4:12; Act_16:31).
Use1. Thank God for being brought into the Church (Mat_11:25).
2. Continue in the Church and live up to its doctrine and discipline (Mat_5:16; 1Pe_2:12). Unless ye do this, it will avail you nothing. If you do you will get to the Church triumphant (Heb_12:22). (Bp. Beveridge.)
A pure Church an increasing Church
The principal alterations in the Revised Version are the omission of “the Church,” and the substitution of “were being saved.” The former suggests that at this period the name of “the Church” had not yet been definitely attached to the infant community, and that the word afterwards crept into the text at a time when ecclesiasticism had become a great deal stronger than it was at the date of the writing of the Acts. The second suggests that salvation is a process going on all through the course of a Christian man’s life. Notice--
I. The profound conception which the writer had of the present action of the ascended Christ. “The Lord added,” etc.
1. Then the living, ascended Christ was present in, and working with, that little community of believing souls. And the thought of a present Saviour, the life-blood of the Church, and the spring of all its action, runs through the whole of this book. The keynote of it is struck in verse 1, which implies that the Acts is the second treatise, which tells all that Jesus continued to do and teach. It is He, e.g., that sends down the Spirit; whom the dying martyr sees ready to help; who appears to the persecutor on the road to Damascus; who sends Paul to preach in Europe; who stands by the apostle in a vision, and bids him be of good cheer, and go forth upon his work. Thus, at every crisis it is the Lord who is revealed as the ascended but yet ever-present Guide, Protector, anti Rewarder of them that put their trust in Him. So here it is He that adds to the Church.
2. Modern Christianity has far too much lost the vivid impression of this present Christ. We cannot think too much of that Cross by which He has laid the foundation for the salvation of the world; but we may easily so fix our thoughts upon that work which He completed when he said, “It is finished!” as to forget the continual work which will never be finished until Hie Church is perfected, and theworld is redeemed.
3. Notice, the specific action which is here ascribed to Him. He adds to the Church, not we, not our preaching, our fervour, our efforts; these may be the weapons in His hands, bat the hand that wields the weapon gives it all its power.
4. It is His will, His ideal of a Christian Church, that continuously it should be gathering into its fellowship those that are being saved. Does our reality correspond to Christ’s ideal? If it is not, wherefore?
II. Letus see if we can find an answer. Notice how emphatically there is brought out here the attractive power of an earnest and pure church.
1. My text is the end of a sentence. What is the beginning? “All that believed were together,” etc. Suppose this Church bore stamped upon it, plain and deep as the broad arrow of the king, those characteristics--fraternal unity, unselfish unworldliness, unbroken devotion, gladness, and transparent simplicity of life and heart--do you not think that the Lord would add to you daily such as should be saved? Wherever men are held together by a living Christ, and manifest in their lives the features of that Christ, there will be drawn to them--by the gravitation which is natural in thesupernatural realm--souls that have been touched by the grace of the Lord, and souls to whom that grace has been brought the nearer by looking upon them. Wheresoever there is inward vigour of life there will be outward growth. Historically, it has always been the case that in God’s Church seasons of expansion have followed upon seasons of deepened spiritual life on the part of His people.
2. And just in like manner as such a community will draw to it men who are like-minded, so it will repel from it all formalists. And I come to you with this appeal: Do you see to it that this community be such as that half-dead Christians will never think of coming near us, and those whose religion is tepid will be repelled from us, but they who love the Lord Jesus Christ with earnest devotion shall recognise in us men like-minded, and from whom they may draw help.
3. Now, if all this be true, it is possible for worldly and stagnant communities to thwart Christ’s purpose. It is a solemn thing to feel that we may clog Christ’s chariot-wheels, that there maybe so little spiritual life in us, that He dare not entrust us with the responsibility of guarding and keeping the young converts whom He loves and tends. Depend upon it that, far more than my preaching, your lives will determine the expansion of this Church. And if my preaching is pulling one way and your lives the other, and I have half an hour a week for talk and you have seven days for contradictory life, which of the two do you think is likely to win in the tug? And remember that just as a bit of sealing-wax, if you rub it on your sleeve and so warm it, develops an attractive power, the Church which is warmed will draw many to itself.
III. The definition given here of the class of persons gathered into the community.
1. In the New Testament salvation is represented--
(1) As past, in so far as the first exercise of faith in Jesus Christ the whole subsequent development is involved, and the process of salvation has its beginning then, when a man turns to God.
(2) As present, in so far as the joy of deliverance from evil and possession of good, which is God, is realised day by day.
(3) As future, in so far as all the imperfect possession of salvation prophesies its perfecting in heaven. But all these three points of view may be merged into this one of my text, which speaks of every saint on earth, from the infantile to the most mature, as standing in the same row, though at different points; walking on the same road, though advanced different distances; all participant of the same process of “being saved.”
2. The Christian salvation, then, is a process begun at conversion, carried on progressively through the life, and reaching its climax in another state. Day by day, through the spring and the early summer, the sun is longer in the sky, and rises higher in the heavens. And the path of the Christian is as the shining light. Last year’s greenwood is this year’s hardwood; and the Christian, in like manner, has to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and Saviour. So these progressively and, therefore, as yet imperfectly saved people, were gathered into the Church.
3. Now if that be the description of the kind of folk that come into a Christian Church, the duties of that Church are very plainly marked--
(1) To see that the community help the growth of its members. There are Christian Churches into which, if a young plant is brought, it is pretty sure to be killed. The temperature is so low that the tender shoots are burned as with frost, and die. I have seen people coming all full of fervour and of faith, into Christian congregations, and finding that the average round about them was so much lower than their own, they have cooled down after a bit to the fashionable temperature, and grown indifferent like their brethren.
(2) And if any hold aloof from Christian fellowship for more or less sufficient reasons, let me press upon them, that if they are conscious of however imperfect a possession of that incipient salvation, their place is thereby determined, and they are doing wrong if they do not connect themselves with some Christian communion, and stand forth as members of Christ’s Church. Conclusion: Salvation is a process. The opposite thing is a process too. “The preaching of the Cross is to them who are in the act of perishing, foolishness; unto us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” These two processes start, as it were, from the same point, one by slow degrees and almost imperceptible motion, rising higher and higher, the other by slow degrees and almost unconscious descent, sliding steadily and fatally downward ever further and further. And in each of us one or other of these processes is going on. Either you are slowly rising or you are slipping down. No man becomes a devil all at once, and no man becomes an angel all at once. Trust yourself to Christ, and He will lift you to Himself; turn your back upon Him, and you will settle down, down, down, until you are lost for ever. (A. Maclaren, D. D)
Church membership not the measure of Christianity
It is a joy to me to know that the Christians within the communion of this church are not all the Christians to be found in the congregation. We are richer than we appear to be. Here are growing pear-trees, apple-trees, cherry-trees, and shrubs, and blossoming vines, and flowers of every hue and odour; but I am glad that some seeds have blown over the wall, and that fruit-trees and flowers most pleasant to the eye are springing up there also. And though I wish they were within the enclosure, where the boar out of the wood could not waste them, and the wild beast of the field devour them, yet I love them, and am glad to see them growing there. (H. W. Beecher.)
Church membership does not ensure final salvation
Many men seem to think that religion consists of buying a ticket at the little ticket-office of conversion. They conclude that they will make the voyage to heaven. They understand that a man must be convicted and converted, and join the Church; and, when they have done that, they think they have a ticket, which, under ordinary circumstances, will carry them through. Their salvation is not altogether sure. A man may be cast away upon a voyage. But still they say, “I have got my ticket, and, if no accident occur, it will carry me to my destination safely; and all I have to do is to have patience and faith.” And they are like a man that is riding in the cars, who, every time the conductor comes around, shows his ticket. They say, “I was awakened, I saw that I was a sinner, and trusted my soul in the hands of Christ.” Yes: you have trusted it there, and there you have left it ever since you were converted. Are there not hundreds and thousands who are living in just the same way? (H. W. Beecher.)
Success
I. Divine in its source. “The Lord.”
1. It was instrumentally Divine. Through the labours of the good.
2. It was voluntarily Divine. Omnipotence did not coerce.
3. It was beneficently Divine. None deserved to be influenced.
4. It was impartially Divine. No respect of persons.
5. It was unostentatiously Divine. The virtual energy and blessing came from the Lord, but He was hidden in the instrument:
6. It was mediatorially Divine. “The Lord”--Christ, operating not as Creator, but Redeemer.
II. Social in its form. “To the Church.” This implies--
1. Separation from the world. New maxims, motives, aspirations, activities.
2. Public profession of attachment to Christ.
3. Supreme sympathy with, and love to, the associated friends of the Saviour. Like draws to like.
4. Co-operation with advocates of organized Christianity.
III. Constant in its occurrence. “Daily.”
1. Repeatedness.
2. Gradualness.
3. Continuity.
4. Accumulativeness. Each day added to the advance of the others.
IV. Redemptive in its blessings. “Such as should be saved.”
1. Saved from sin and its contaminations.
2. Saved by the Spirit through the blood of Christ.
An old sea-captain was riding in the cars towards Philadelphia, and a young man sat down beside him. He said, “Young man, where are you going?” “I am going to Philadelphia to live,” replied the young man. “Have you letters of introduction?” asked the old captain. “Yes,” said the young man, and he pulled some of them out. “Well,” said the old sea-captain, “haven’t you a church certificate” “Oh, yes,” replied the young man, “I didn’t suppose you would want to look at that.” “Yes,” said the sea-captain, “I want to see that. As soon as you get to Philadelphia, present that to some Christian Church. I am an old sailor, and I have been up and down in the world, and it’s my rule, as soon as I get into port, to fasten my ship fore and aftto the wharf, although it may cost a little wharfage, rather than have my ship out in the stream, floating hither and thither with the tide.” (T. DeWittTalmage, D. D.)
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Converts should join the Church
At first Oliver Cromwell’s Ironsides were dressed anyhow and everyhow; but in the melee with the Cavaliers it some-times happened that an Ironside was struck down by mistake by the sword of one of his own brethren, and so the general said, “You wear red coats, all of you. We must know our own men from the enemy.” What Cromwell said he meant, and they had to come in their red coats, for it was found essential in warfare that men should be known by some kind of regimental. Now, you that are Christ’s, do not go about as if you were ashamed of His Majesty’s service. Put on your red coats: I mean come out as acknowledged Christians. Unite with a body of Christian people, and be distinctly known to be Christ’s. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Church membership: its value to the young
Griffith John, the celebrated missionary to China, was admitted to Church-membership at the exceedingly early age of eight. His testimony is, “Had I not taken that step then, I doubt whether I should ever have been a missionary, if a member of a Christian Church at all.” (J. Morley Wright.)
Church members: wrong and right sort of
Now, many people go to church as a rich man goes to an hotel. He has his big boxes, his trunks, his wife, his children, and plenty of money, and he wants to find commodious apartments. Many people think that if they have clothes, and a good supply of money, and are well-appearing and good-paying boarders in the hotel of the Church, they are just the kind that we want. We do not want any such folks. We have too many of them already! This, in respect to a man’s qualifications for entering the Church, falsifies the fundamental idea of Christianity; for we look upon men, and know that they are fallible, imperfect, and that by the force of evil passions from within, and the pressure of temptations from without, imperfection has wrought itself into sins in innumerable instances. (H. W. Beecher.)
