A Call To The Remnant

As we gather unto Christ, we gather unto each other, and the nearer we get to Christ, the nearer we get to each other. If there was something down at the front of the church, some curio or missionary exhibit that I wanted you to get closer to, I would invite you to come down and see it. As you came unto it, you would come unto each other. The closer you got to it, the closer you would be to each other until finally, shoulder would touch shoulder and you would be pushing close together to see this exhibit. When we come unto Christ, we automatically come unto each other. (A.W.Tozer)

This is such a simple yet profound truth shared by brother Tozer. If Jesus be lifted up, if Christ be preeminent, if He and He alone is the center of our attention and affections then the Body of Christ would get closer and closer and closer. Yet in every century for the last two thousand years, the traditions of men and the wisdom of this world has chipped away at the centrality of Jesus in our worship. He has been replaced by so called sacraments and relics and statues and even teachings. All of them became idols in their own way, for as men, when we lift something up, we adore it. Pomp and circumstance and other forms of pageantry has tragically dethroned Jesus from His rightful place. If Christ is not lifted up He is simply not there. He would never allow Himself to be demoted to a mere spectator of the aforementioned pageantry. Raise Him up or tear Him down for there is nor can be no middle ground. If there was such a middle ground it would be nothing more than slow acting sinking sand. Grand Cathedrals slowly sinking into the mire of their own making.

When we raise Jesus up. When He is the center of everything that we are and He sits upon the affections of our heart, then and only then can men and woman from a million different backgrounds be brought into a place of intimacy and closeness. Social barriers fall away like the falling banks of a river. Men and woman become color blind. The old social orders are swept away by the very river that causes the banks to collapse and thus changes the very nature and direction of the river. All who belong to Jesus are swallowed up by the river of God that flows from the throne. They become one with the river. Every single effort of man, be it politics, be it social polices, be it well meaning church programs will fail and miserable will be its failure. Christ and Christ alone and He being the centerpiece of all that we are brings men and woman closer and closer together into the glorious union of the Body of Christ.