Joining the Lord Jesus
Oining the church is one thing, but joining the Lord Jesus is quite another thing; and only those who have done the second have any clear right to do the first The main cause of inconsistency and failure in the life of too many professors of religion, is that they make a formal union with the Church without any heart-union to Christ. Almost their solitary act of loyalty was their uniting themselves to the Church. From that time onward their Divine Master had no more of them than their idle name on the roll of His followers. They enlisted; they entered their names on the record, and straightway are heard of no more. They made no tie to anything but an organized body of professed Christians; they did not knit their souls to the Saviour.
“But am I not to join the Church?” inquires some one who is indulging a hope of pardon and of the new birth. Yes, fiiend, join the Church, provided that you have already joined Jesus. If you unite yourself to nothing stronger than to a company of frail, fallible fellow-creatures, and expect them to tow you along by the power of their fellowship and prayers, then you have but a poor chance of reaching the” desired haven.*’ But genuine conversion unites your hart in dinging faith to th Ynivd o
joining the Lord yesus. 21
When you take the step of confessing this faith before men, you literally and truly join the Lord. You join your weakness to His strength; you join your ignorance to His wisdom, your unworthiness to His merits, your frailty to His enduring might, and your poverty to His boundless wealth. The fair peasant-girl who married an emperor of Russia became a sharer of his palace and his crown. When you wed your heart and hand to Jesus, you become a sharer in His kingdom and crown, a joint heir with Christ I The joint heir has the promise of the Father’s love, of the indwelling of the Spirit, of the peace of God, of pleasures for evermore, and of the society of all the just made perfect throughout eternity! “Where I am, there shall ye be also.”
What a glorious thought this is! What a different conception it is from that of merely “joining a Church” of fellow-creatures. You really join Christ. Your heart joins His heart Your life is knit by hidden links to His because He lives, ye shall live also. Your destiny is bound to His; and ye shall be kept by th power of God, through faith, unto salvation. If you have a real faith, however feeble, confess it. If you have renounced sin and self, and come to Jesus, then “join yourself to the Lord in a perpetual covenant, that shall not be forgotten.”
Many who have a secret faith in Christ hold back too long from a public confession. Waiting to become stronger, they only grow weaker. They are Yike the timid child who stiOulitrj X.oX^sec^X’^^’^^ without ever getting on its feet. For fear of a tumble they lie still. On the whole, I rather like the venture of Simon Peter out of the fishing-boat to walk to Jesus on the waves; for, though he began to sink, he also began to pray. He found that sinking times were praying times; and when we learn that, we know where to reinforce our own weakness by laying hold on the infinite strength. But for a true convert to confess Christ is really not a walking on the water. He has under him the solid rock of God’s promises.
“How soon should I join the Church?” The best answer we can give to this question is, just as soon as your heart has joined the Saviour. Not one moment before that. When God gives conversion He demands confession. Make the most of your early love. If your heart goes out to Jesus in loving trust, then stand up for Him and with Him, and joining your hand to His, take the blessed vows of spiritual wedlock. The whole drift of the Bible is in favour of prompt approach to Christ, prompt trust in Christ, prompt confession of Christ, and prompt obedience to His every call to duty. The teaching of the Word is, “Whatsoever He saith to you, do itr But the devil’s version reads,” Whatsoever He saith to you, delay it’^
Our pastoral observation has convinced us that
people sometimes commit two great mistakes. The
saddest mistake is committed by those who join a
Chuic without joining Christ. This solemn mockery
of professing a faith that is hot leaWy ^ot’se^V-a.^ yoining the Lord Jesus. 23
cost many a one the most indescribable misery and mischief. May God in His mercy keep you from such a false step; it may be a fatal one.
The other mistake is that of delaying the acknowledgment and open confession of that blessed Saviour, who, when He gave us Himself, demands that we give ourselves to Him. Have you given your heart to Jesus? Then give Him your hand in a public and perpetual covenant, that shall never be forgotten.