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. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer
with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with
it.--_1 Cor. 12, 12 and 26._
There is, perhaps, nothing more remarkable, when you study the
life of the Church at large and of each congregation individually,
than the little interest which its members take in each other. In
most cases the entire concern of the membership devolves on a few,
or perhaps on the pastor alone; in many instances the amount of
interest and sympathy which is shown to each other extends only to a
formal, a very cool, social recognition; in some there is not even
the interest which secures that. People go in and out of the same
church-building, month after month, year after year, without as
much as knowing, or caring to know the name of their fellow-member
or worshiper. When difficulties arise and embarrassments, those who
belong to the Christian Church feel no more liberty to call on a
member of the Church for counsel or aid than they would on any other
person; when disheartened and discouraged, in need of sympathy and
a kind word, they have no reason to suppose that a single member of
the Church sympathizes with them. And when living in the neglect
of Christian duty, none of the members ever stop to administer an
admonition or gentle rebuke to keep the backslider from a melancholy
fall. In a word, people are left to take care of themselves very
much alone; and this is the more remarkable when you consider
the condition of those who largely make up the membership of a
congregation like ours. Many of them are young and inexperienced in
Christian life, gained from families where there is no religion, no
kindred to help them on to God, rather, where they are exposed to
influences that would draw them aside, and where every effort ought
to be made to keep them in the fold.
The reflections, my beloved, and the constant cry, "What is the
Church doing for its members? See how other organizations are
helping each other, how they care for their constituents," have led
me to propose for our consideration this morning: _What are the
duties which the members of the Church owe to each other?_ We shall
inquire _I. What the Christian Church is_, _II. note a few traits
which ought to distinguish its members_. May God's Spirit make the
sermon a profitable one.
First, what the Christian Church is. The Christian Church is
an organization, a body, separate, different from all other
organizations or bodies. It has a separate origin, a separate
purpose. It has separate principles and law. As to its origin--the
Church is divine. It is not a human institution. It is not a mere
voluntary association, such as an Odd Fellows' Society, a Masonic
Fraternity, a Mutual Improvement Club, an Insurance Company. None of
these have in them any higher wisdom, authority, or goodness than
human experience or contrivance has given them. It is different with
the Church. God made the first Churches, and through them He made
all other Churches. What the Church teaches in her creed is not from
man, but from God. His revelation, the sacraments she administers,
are divine institutions, God-appointed, and all the terms and the
spiritual process by which people come to be part and parcel of the
Church are directly from God. Men can no more make a Church than
they can make a world. It is altogether a thing of God. Though human
agencies are employed in its perpetuation, it is altogether of God.
This, it may be well to emphasize, is a point which does not enter
into the practical consideration of men as it should. People come to
church or stay away the same as they would go or stay away from a
lecture on human science, politics, or travels. They forget that in
the one case they are dealing with men and the things of men, in the
other with God and the things of God. They listen to the preaching
of the Word as they would listen to a candidate for political favor,
except with a little more drowsiness and indifference. They forget
that it is but man speaking in the one case, and that it is God,
though by a man, speaking to them in the other. People all gaze more
idly upon a baptism or an administration of the Lord's Supper than
upon the shams and mockeries of a stage play, not reflecting that
the one is mere empty buffoonery, whilst the other is a transaction
upon which angels are gazing with reverence, and in which God is
setting forth the precious riches of His almighty grace. They
are great on praising their unions, clubs, lodges, fellowships,
regarding them as the very connections for true fellowship, benefit,
and improvement, and setting aside that organization without which
the good that is in those connections would never have been. The
little light with which those societies shine is only a borrowed
light, reflecting feebly the spirit and principles of the Church
which they largely despise. Beloved, these are no hasty utterances
on my part. They are the words of deliberation and truth. There is a
laxative goodishness, a weak religiousness spreading in our Churches
that holds other organizations just as good as God's organization.
The fact is that the true and certain divinity, the God character of
the Church, hardly enters any more into men's hearts. Let it be once
rightly grasped and felt that the Church, as such, is a thing of
God, that God's name and saving grace are linked with it, and that
it is the channel, conservatory of heaven's truth and saving grace,
by which alone men's souls are saved. Let those who profess to be
Christians avoid any and every connection that holds teachings,
rituals, prayers, and practices contrary to its teachings, prayers,
and practices, and the Church would not be shorn so much of her
strength and be so little thought of. If men are "brethren" in
other connections besides the "brotherhood of Christ," which is
the Church, hold with one hand to idolatry and with the other to
Christianity, it need not be wondered that their zeal is a divided
one, and, in most cases, the Church receives the smallest division.
The first general thought, then, is this: The Church is God's. Says
the text, it is the body of Christ, distinct from all man-made
associations, and so to be honored.
And what--to consider the second and larger part of our
discourse--are some of the distinguishing traits of its members? By
what are they to know each other and to be known of one another?
Other societies have their pledges and badges. In some it is a
secret sign known only to the initiated, the brethren of the craft;
in others it is some peculiarity of speech or of dress, the cut
of the cap or the hair. Now, it is remarkable that the Savior and
His apostles prescribed no such external badge of membership, more
remarkable because, perhaps, every society then, as now, could be
known by such an outward badge. The Jew would be known everywhere by
his broad phylacteries and the borders of his garments; the Roman
soldier had some mark wrought with imperishable dye in the skin;
the Greek introduced into the Eleusinian mysteries had some outward
method of expressing that fact to the world. And nothing would have
been easier than for the Savior to have appointed some such emblem
for His followers. But in the sacred record there is not even a
distant intimation of any such badge by which Christ's people or
Christ's ministers are to be externally so distinguished. And yet,
was there no badge, no mark of distinction? There was. What was it?
Permit me, in answer, to quote a few passages. "A new commandment I
give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you. By this
shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to
another." "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because
we love the brethren." "He that loveth not his brother abideth in
death." "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a
liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can
he love God whom he hath not seen?" "Be kindly affectioned one to
another with brotherly love." "As touching brotherly love, ye have
no need that I write you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to
love one another."
And the story of John the Apostle is well known. In his old
age of 98 years he was carried to the Church, and when he was
asked whether he had anything to say, he would feebly respond,
"Children, love one another." Not by signs, peculiarity of dress, or
password--by attachment for each other were Christ's followers to be
distinguished the world over, in all ages. In His Church they were
to feel that, regardless of wealth, learning, office, or other human
distinctions, they were on a level, that they had common wants,
had been redeemed by the same precious blood, were going to the
same heaven, and were in every respect "brethren." And under this
conviction of feeling they were to hold to each other, love each
other. My dear hearers, did this love ever in the history of the
Church form such a distinguishing badge? It did. The time was when
the attachment of Christians for each other was such as to impress
the world with the reality of their religion, and with the fact that
they belonged to the family of the redeemed. "See," said the heathen
in the early days of Christianity, "how these Christians love one
another, and how ready they are to lay down their lives for each
other." Is it so now? I answer for anything that you can tell, if
persecutions were to arise, those scenes of ancient martyrdom story
might be acted over again. But if there is not this love of which
the Savior and His apostles speak as a distinguishing characteristic
of His Church, let it be for all of us a matter of self-examination
and reflection. I, as a servant of the Master, can only tell what He
requires of His disciples.
Again, a second trait and duty required,--they are to be
characterized by sympathy for those of its members who suffer.
The members of the Church are indeed expected and required to
have sympathy for all who are afflicted, but the idea is that
they are sympathizing with each other in a peculiar manner.
Christians are exposed to the same kind of afflictions as others.
They are liable to sickness and bereavement and poverty like
others, and, in addition, they have sources of sorrow peculiar to
themselves,--internal conflicts and struggles, persecutions and
trials on account of their religion; and in these, as well as in the
occasions of joy, they are supposed to find cordial sympathy and
interest among their brethren. That is the idea set forth in the
text when it says: "And whether one member suffer, all the members
suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice
with it."
Such is the formation of our body, the constitution of the nervous
fibers and the tissues, that pain in one part affects the whole
frame; that joy in one part diffuses itself over all. A pain in
the heart, the side, or in one of the limbs does not confine
itself there, leaving the rest of the body in a state fitted for
its usual employments, but every part sympathizes with that which
is affected. And so the pleasure which we receive from beauty of
objects seen by the eye, or from the melody and harmony of music
as perceived by the ear, is diffused over the whole frame, and we
are filled with enjoyments. So is the Church which is the body of
Christ. What affects one member is supposed to affect all. What
gives pain to one gives pain to all. What honors one honors all.
As an injury done to a nerve in the body, though so small as not
to be traceable to an unpracticed eye, may be felt at the remotest
extremities, so is the body of Christ. The dishonor done to the
obscurest member should be felt by all; the honor done to that
member should produce rejoicing. Without any officious intermeddling
with the private concerns of individuals, there should be such an
interest felt in the common welfare of the whole that each might
depend on the sympathy of his brethren at all times and in all
circumstances. Say not that "So it is not." The consideration now,
the Savior's teaching, is that so it ought to be, and that every
member of His Church should strive to make it so.
And one more duty must we mention, however briefly. It is this: As
an essential to healthful congregational life there must be mutual
admonition among the members. Here is the fundamental principle laid
down by the Savior. "If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go
and tell him his fault between thee and him alone." You are not to
blazon his fault abroad, you are not to allow the suspicion that he
has done you wrong to lie, and rankle, and fester in your own mind.
You are not to allow it to make you cold and distant, and evasive
and repulsive when you meet him, without his knowing the cause; you
are not to send an anonymous letter or a message by any one. You are
to go to him and see him by himself, and give him an opportunity
of explanation, or confession. It is a painful duty, and it is not
a duty that devolves on the pastor, but according to the rule laid
down by the Savior, upon a brother, _i. e._, clearly every one who
is a member of the Church. Beloved, the more I study congregational
life and gather practical experience, the wiser does the Lord's
rule appear to me in preserving the welfare of the Church. Let us
all strive to conform to it. Let us openly and frankly treat each
other like brethren. If you have been offended by a brother, or if
you have offended a brother, here is the rule that guides you; if
you see a congregational member wandering from the path of true
religion, going astray from Church and godliness, fail not to do
your duty by him, by an attempt to admonish and reclaim him.
We have set before us to-day what the Church is, and what the
characteristics of its members are,--a peculiar love founded on
their common hope of heaven, and their attachment to a common
Savior, sympathy with each other in joy and sorrow, and a common
interest and proper admonition when going astray. God grant that
all of us may rightly understand and may strive to live up to these
things, so that the Church may answer its high and holy purpose, the
salvation of men's souls through faith in Christ, to whom in all
matter be glory and honor forever. Amen.