This article is from Issue 7, Called to be Filled With The Holy Spirit
By Samuel Chadwick
“Apart from Me,
you can do nothing.”
(John 15: 5)
The Christian walk is not a set of doctrines about Christ, neither is it a rule of life based upon the teaching and example of Christ. It is not even a sincere and earnest endeavour to live according to the mind and spirit of Christ. It is Life, and that Life is the Life of Christ.
It is a continuation of the life of the risen Lord – in His body which is the church – and in the sanctified believer. “Christ liveth in me” is the essence of the Christian walk as set forth in the New Testament. It is not a system, but a Presence; the Spirit of Christ indwelling the spirit of man.
For much that is undertaken by the church, The Holy Spirit is not necessary. He is no more needed to run bazaars, social clubs, institutions, and picnics, than He is to run a circus. Religious services and organized institutions do not constitute a Christian church, and these may flourish without the gift of Pentecostal fire.
The Spirit of Christ has never abdicated His authority nor relegated His power. Neither Pope nor Parliament, neither Conference nor Council is supreme in the church of Christ. The church that is man-managed instead of God-governed is doomed to failure. A ministry that is college-trained but not Spirit-filled works no miracles. The church that multiplies committees and neglects prayer may be fussy, noisy, enterprising, but it labours in vain and spends its strength for naught. It is possible to excel in mechanics and fail in dynamic. There is a superabundance of machinery; what is wanting is power. To run an organization needs no God. Man can supply the energy, enterprise, and enthusiasm for things human. The real work of a church depends upon the power of the Spirit.
The carnal can argue, but it is the Spirit that convicts. Education can civilize, but it is being born of the Spirit that saves. The energy of the flesh can run bazaars, organize amusements, and raise millions; but it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that makes a temple of the Living God. The root trouble of the present distress is that the church has more faith in the world and the flesh than in the Holy Spirit, and things will get no better till we get back to His realised presence and power. Nothing else avails.
I owe everything to the gift of Pentecost. For fifty days the facts of the Gospel were complete, but no conversions were recorded. Pentecost registered three thousand souls. It is by fire that a holy passion is kindled in the soul whereby we live the life of God. The soul’s safety is in its heat. Truth without enthusiasm, morality without emotion, ritual without soul, make for a Church without power.
The Apostle Paul attributes all spiritual effectiveness to the indwelling power. “Our sufficiency,” he says, “is of God Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” (2 Cor. 3:5-6)
Taken from Life On The Altar Publication
Issue 7 Winter 2022/2023
LIFE ON THE ALTAR 