The Head and the Body

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Ephesians 4:15

But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

I. OUR UNION TO CHRIST — "The Head, even Christ."

1. Essential to life.

2. Essential to growth.

3. Essential to perfection.

4. Essential to every member.

II. OUR INDIVIDUALITY — "Every joint; every part." Each one must mind his own office.

1. We must each one personally see to his own vital union with the Body, and chiefly with the Head.

2. We must be careful to find and keep our fit position in the Body.

3. We must be careful of our personal health, for the sake of the whole Body; for one ailing member injures the whole.

4. We must be careful of our growth, for the sake of the whole Body. The most careful self-watch will not be a selfish measure, but a sanitary duty involved by our relationship to the rest.

III. OUR RELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER — "Joined together"; "that which every joint supplieth."

1. We should in desire and spirit be fitted to work with others. We are to have joints. How could there be a Body without them?

2. We should supply the joint-oil of love when so doing; indeed, each one must yield his own peculiar influence to the rest.

3. We should aid the compactness of the whole by our own solidity, and healthy firmness in our place.

4. We should perform our service for all. We should guard, guide, support, nourish, and comfort the rest of the members, as our function may be.

IV. OUR COMPACT UNITY AS A CHURCH.

1. There is but one Body of Christ, even as He is the one Head.

2. It is an actual, living union of a mere professed unity, but a Body quickened by "the effectual working" of God's Spirit in every part.

3. It is a growing corporation. It increases by mutual edification. Not by being puffed up, but by being built up. It grows as the result of its own life, sustained by suitable food.

4. An immortal Body. Because the Head lives, the Body must live also.

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