Thus we see the assembly of God, throughout its history in the Acts, under the sovereign guidance of the Holy Spirit. Sad failure as to this was distinctly foretold (Acts 20:28-3028Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. (Acts 20:28‑30)). Yea, the apostle himself failed (Acts 21:44And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. (Acts 21:4)). But the failure of man does not alter the truth of God. Christ is glorified; the Holy Spirit is sent down; and He remains with the church. Oh, how has Christendom utterly failed to own the divine presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit! I beg of you, my reader, to compare your own condition and associations with the Acts as to this. The church, or assembly, of God is one, as gathered together by the Lord. Sects or divisions are not of God, but carnal and of man.
Is that clearly revealed in the Word of God?
Nothing can be more so; read 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 3:1-510Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. 12Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:10‑13)
1And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? 5Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? (1 Corinthians 3:1‑5): “For ye are yet carnal; for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions [or sects], are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” Oh let us own the exceeding wickedness of sectarianism; and let us return unto our God with confession and humiliation. How fearfully has Christendom departed from that beautiful scene when “the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul!” One object – the glory of Christ: and all filled with the Holy Spirit. Compare this, say, with a so-called Liberation meeting!! But enough – can God approve of this wicked strife?
What do the epistles teach as to the church?
They address the children of God now, as the one assembly of God: “Unto the church [or assembly] of God which is at Corinth,” etc. “Unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father,” etc. This wondrous assembly we find was chosen of God in Christ before the foundation of the world, and blest of God with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved: in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” All this is more fully unfolded, the eye being fixed on Christ, in Ephesians 1. There we see Him raised from among the dead, and placed as the risen man, “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things, to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.”
But had He not always this glory? Doubtless He had in His own eternal Godhead. As the eternal Son He had glory with the Father before the world began. But now as man, the second Adam – the man who died for our sins, according to the Scriptures – the Substitute forsaken of God on the cross – having glorified God there, having finished the work given Him to do; God has given Him, as man, this highest place above all things. The universe under His feet. But all this “to us-ward who believe;” all this as head of the church, His body.
We have seen the person of the Holy Spirit in the Acts, in His own divine sovereignty, as the foundation of all church constitution on earth, we now look up and see the Lord of glory, the head of the church, far above all, in heaven.
Surely, then, the most worthy of mankind alone can form the church of God?
If you read Ephesians 2 you will be amazed to find the opposite of this to be the case. “And you who were dead in trespasses and sins” – “children of wrath, even as others.” These are the very persons whom God hath quickened together with Christ; and hath given to them the wondrous place of oneness with Him, in all that exalted glory. This is altogether of God – God’s new creation. Yes, the assembly of God is God’s new creation. And the once rejected Jesus, now Lord of all glory, “He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence” (Col. 1:1818And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:18)).. Mark, He is head of the body, not the different bodies, not the different regiments of Christendom, nor religions bodies of the so-called church. No, all this is not in Scripture, not of God; it is entirely of man, or Satan, who never ceases to deface the assembly of God, the one body of Christ. Do not help him a bit in this work.
This wondrous display of richest grace is far beyond all human thought. Just think of these words, if you have the discernment of the 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” (1 Cor. 12:1212For 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. (1 Corinthians 12:12)). Is not this wondrous? Just as all the members of the human body are joined to the head, and form one man, or one body; so also all who believe are joined to Christ, raised from the dead far above all, and form the one Christ!
But do you say that all who are saved now on earth, form the one body of Christ, and every case of true conversion to God – is it possible that all the saved belong to this one body? What; we all?
Let Scripture speak: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:1313For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13)). This is the church of God as found in Scripture. And this is the church of God, because it is entirely of God. Read the next verses, 1 Corinthians 14-27. “God hath set the members every one in the body, as it hath pleased Him.” “That there should be no schism in the body.” “God hath tempered the body together.” “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”
Let us with all lowliness of mind own all this. “There is one body and one Spirit,” “one Lord,” one faith, one baptism: “one God and Father of all.” Carefully study the context of these words, Ephesians 4:1-61I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Ephesians 4:1‑6). The effect is marvelous when the soul gets hold of this great fact (long lost, but true), that there is one body, even as there is one Lord and one God; and that in Scripture two or more bodies cannot be found. And above all that, this one body is of God; God’s workmanship. Then it is found, that all sectarianism is direct opposition to God.
(To be continued.)