The church of Christ is said to be the body of Christ. Eph. 1:22, 23. In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Col. 2:9. But his church is “the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” Eph. 1:23. That is, to the church of Christ has been appointed the privilege of shedding forth the fullness of Christ, the fullness of his blessing, the fullness of his righteousness, the fullness of his compassionate and tender love for a lost world. This is her duty. But as the church is composed of individuals, this important work devolves upon the individual members.
This, then, means faithful work on the part of every church member. If any member fails in performing his part, he not only hinders the body in revealing the fullness of Christ, but he is also a false witness. Then in order that the work intrusted to the church may be properly done, there must be unity of action. Unity gives strength. And just this is the object of our coming here. It is to organize ourselves into a conference, that there may be unity and strength in fulfilling this commission which Christ has given to his church.
It is further said that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. 1 Tim. 3:15. Then what is the work of the church?—It is to make known the truth.
But this is done in the life. We make known only as much truth as we live. The infidel denies God, the scorner derides Christ and his word. But when we live the life of Christ, live the truth, it is seen and known of all men that it is truth, and it cannot be denied. This idea must be the foundation of our work here.
Again: the organization of the conference means self-government for the field, for our field. But let us consider this a little more carefully. The conference is a union of churches, but the churches, in turn, are a union of individuals. A conference, then, meaning self-government, and the conference really being composed of individuals, it primarily means self-government in the individual. Now, brethren, you can see that successful self-government in the conference means nothing less than successful self-government in the individual believer. It means that you and I must have the Christ life so fully dwelling within that that life governs you and me; that by the power of that life, you and I so fully conquer sin that the governing power of truth shines forth to the world. Then, the truth thus governing us, we shall be able to govern and direct the work of the conference. This is the first essential in the work before us, and I can but encourage you to study these truths. For, I repeat, if we build on these principles, the work of our conference will be a success; if not, it must be a failure.
But as the conference is ourselves, each individual being a part of it, and as it is our duty to make known the fullness of Christ among the people of our conference, then do you not see that next to living the fullness of Christ in our daily lives, it is also our duty to give to the support of this work which God has intrusted to us, so that this work of revealing Christ may soon be accomplished throughout the borders of our conference? or, in other words, the living of the Christ-life includes the support of this work, and we should aim to see our conference self-supporting as soon as possible. This is included in true self-government.