Daily Archives: February 7, 2020

Transforming Power;
The Work of God on Behalf of Man
Weekly Devotional 02-10-20 Adding to the Church Daily
In Acts chapter two, Peter gave the first of two sermons he preached to an assemblage of Jews who had remained in Jerusalem shortly after the ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven. At the conclusion of this first sermon many believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and verse forty-seven informs us that, “The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” In his second sermon, Peter said to these same people, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). In his letter to the Ephesian believers, Paul wrote that they had been added to the church when they heard the word of truth and believed (trusted) in the Lord (Ephesians 1:13-14).
From these three passages it should be clear that a person being added to the church is the work of the Holy Spirit as He convinces and convicts a person of his need of being cleansed of his (or her) sins. In response to being convinced and convicted of this need, people are led (of the Holy Spirit) to repent. Repenting is followed by commitment, a commitment to change; this is symbolized by baptism as he (or she) identifies with the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. In baptism, one declares that he (or she) has died to self and is raised unto newness of spiritual life. A life that then is lived to honor and glorify the Lord.
The Lord adds to the church those who have come to an acceptance of the truth. One must first accept the truth that he is a sinner and separated from Holy God (Romans 3:10-18; 23). He must also accept the truth that there is nothing that he can do to rectify the situation; that his salvation rests entirely on the mercy of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Then, he must trust in and commit to the saving grace of God found in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. No one, of course, whom the Lord adds to the church understands these things in their depth but will understand that which is necessary to conversion. An understanding arrived at not only in the intellect (the mind) but in the inward man; in his spirit.
The question then is, are you one of those whom the Lord has added to His church? There are many who are under a great delusion; that by some act of their own, or the act of others, they have been added to the Lord’s church. However, Scripture testifies that we are added to the church “through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). We are saved by a cleansing of our inward man and by the power of the Holy Spirit as he regenerates us to new spiritual life. The Holy Spirit is the agent of regeneration, and the Word is the instrument.
It is the new birth that qualifies one to be added to the church. One cannot be added to the church apart from that new birth, for by that birth, we are made a new creation in Christ. It is not the cleansing of the body, but a rebirth of our inward man, our spiritual identity. Jesus said of His disciples, “3You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:3). This qualified them as members of His church.
The apostle John writing of Jesus said, “10He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believed in His name: 13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God..” One does not become a Christian, nor is he added to the church because of heredity (bloodline). Neither of these things can be achieved by one’s own will (by his human intellect) nor willed by another i.e. a friend, a preacher, but only by the will of God.
What all persons must do is believe God and trust in His propitiation. Baptism, observing communion, joining a church, being kind to those around him, and so on, will not make a person a member of Christ’s church. Only the new birth can do that. The Philippian jailer, for instance, asked, what must I do to be saved? And Paul and Silas answered, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved and your household” (Acts 16:31). He was to commit his soul to Jesus Christ for his salvation, as must we.
Peter in testimony before Annas, the high priest, and the religious leaders said, “10let it be known to you all, and all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ 12Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”(Acts 4:10-12). This was and is the same Jesus who said, “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18b).
Thus, the church is being added to daily and it is Jesus who is accomplishing it through His word and regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
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