The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1913-09-26

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and women. On
| such as these the Lord Jesus Christ
bestows spiritual gifts according 10
! His grace, as the rest of the verse
says. These "girts' are for the use
and blessing of the whole church, and
are described in general terms in
the following verse as apostles, proph-
cts, evangelists, pastors and teach
ers.
Note this, that while we all believe
in education and especially in an ed
ucated ministry, yet all the colleges.
and seminaries and Bible Institutes
in the world can not make such apos-
tie, prophet, evangelist, pastor or
teacher. They have tried to make
them and have turned out graduates
that looked and acted like them, per-
haps, but they were not tIs real thing,
and the church has suffered by the
imposition. \ true apostle, prophet,
evangelist pastor or teacher is the
gift OF the Great Head of the Church
in his body. He is a Spirittaught and
Spirit-endowed man, and when the
church sees or hears such an one it
recognizes his divine commission
whether he has the imprimatur of a
school or not.
What Ministers Are For.
Now, specifically, what ~ these
gifts" bestowed upon the church for?
The answer of the text verse is. For
the perfecting of the saints which
means all true believers, for every be-
lever on the Lord Jesus Christ be-
comes a saint the moment he so be-
lieves. But when the saints are thus
perfected enlightened, strengthened
in the knowledge of the Lord, what
are they TO do? The answer is to
engage in the work of ministering
for the edifying building up) of the
body of Christ" Verse 12)
Here comes in the question of Chris
tian vocations for young people who
may not have the gift of apostles.
prophets, evangelists, pastors or teach
ers. There is a work OF ministering
for them to do nevertheless, when
they are perfected" for it by those
who have been truly set apart for that
task
What is the nature Of this work? If
the student output of the Moody Bible
institute may be taken as a criterion,
there is a wide variety in it, We have
been taking a census of 5000 to 5000
young men and women who have pass
ed through our hands, and have found
that some are pastors or assistant
pastors, and some are wives of pas
tors, for the last named is a calling
for which Christian young women
need a distinct training. Some are
evangelists or evangelistic singers,
both men an(. women some are home
missionaries; some are teachers in
Young Mems and Young Women's
Christian associations; some are SUI
perintendents of missions and hos
pitals; some are matrons. deaconesses
and nurses, while still others have
simply gone into commercial or pro-
fessional pursuits. and, in the case
OF women, are occupied in home du-
ties.
Every Joint" Of Value.
This brings US to the closing words
of Paul on this topic. in verse 16.
where. keeping up the figure OF the |
church being the body of Christ, he |
says. From whom the whole body fit |
ly joined and compacted by that which /
every joint supplieth maketh |
increase Of the body" In other words. |
every single joint in this spiritual or
ganism is OF value TO the whole, which |
means that not one Of us Christians /
can be spared in the exercises Of our /
vocation whatever or wherever IL may /
be. The smallest visible joint in the /
human body may be that OF the little /
finger IL seems Of comparatively lit |
tie worth. but let it get "out OF joint"
for a while, and what happens? The /
whole body soon becomes aware of it. /
and In time may be put out OF COM /
mission" because OF IL. So you and /
may have a small opinion OF ourselves /
in the organism OF Christ's spiritual /
body. and from one point OF view IL /
is becoming that we should. neverthe- /
less IL is necessary that we do our
part or else "all the members suffer"
We may not be apostles. evangelists. /
prophets. pastors or teachers. but we |
are that which is represented by a
Joint" and need 10 be always in
union with the Head. and with the |
other members OF the body IL the
whole shall be profited and increased
The vital question. however. is that
suggested at the beginning. are you
included in the word "US?" II is
not enough 10 live in a Christian land.
rot enough to be a church member