“We are now under Christ in every way. He is our Lord supreme, so that to come into the church is to take up a sacred vow of subjection to His authority. Joining the church is not simply a matter of water on the head or a signature in a register or a raised hand. To join the church of Jesus Christ is to espouse oneself; it is to lay down all our maiden names for that one Name; it is to vow to set all plans and thoughts and affections upon a coming union with Him; it is to pour one's whole soul into the full confession of Christ, the Son of God.
“Jesus is Lord of the church—the exclusive Lord. To flirt after another or to receive contrary advice is to play the harlot. The words of our Lord, therefore, come to us as our highest calling. His Word is the final word, His voice our greatest authority. To be a member of His church is to make His thought our motives, His commands our actions, His values our guiding ethics.
“In Jesus the church finds its mind, its will, and its pleasure. To be otherwise minded is to pervert the sacred trust of intellect. To be contrary willed is to debase the sacred power of choice. The be otherwise fulfilled and delighted is to prostitute the holy capacity of joy. The church, therefore, finds her most profound knowledge when she takes on the mind of Christ. She finds her highest freedom in full submission and obedience to the will of Christ. And she finds her most sacred emotional stirrings in the discovery and adoration of His great heart of love.”—,John Coblentz, Love and Nonresistance: God's Plan for the Church, pages 57-58
<idle musing>
A very nice summary of the place of Christ in the life of a Christian—and the role of the church in the plan of Christ.
</idle musing>
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