It is a high attainment to be a good church member. One must first be a good Christian. Without this, church membership counts for nothing in the life of the person. We must always put first things first. We must join Christ before we join the church. Church membership will not save us.
But when we have taken Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord, and have consecrated our life to him, the next privilege we enjoy is that of uniting with his church. This involves duties which the young Christian should be ready to perform and responsibilities which he should humbly accept.
One of these is a continuous and consistent confession of Christ. We speak of uniting with the church as confessing Christ. It is a sacred moment when a company of young people stand up in the presence of their friends and make their first public confession of Christ. Then they sit down at the Lord’s Table, and receive their first Holy Communion. They have now confessed Christ before men. Their act is very beautiful. The Master, looking on this band of young Christians in these moments of their solemn commitment of themselves to him, is pleased with their consecration and with their promise to be his and to follow him fully and forever.
This is a confession of Christ, but it is not all of the confession; it is only the beginning of it. Those who have made this public avowal have thus set themselves apart for God. They are not their own. They have taken a new master. Their confession of Christ henceforth should be continuous. “If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples,” said Jesus to beginners. Indeed it is the life of the common days among men that tests the reality and sincerity of the first confession. It is easy to stand up in the midst of a company of Christians, all sympathetic and friendly, and say, “I am a Christian;” it is not so easy, however, on the play ground, in the office, in the social gathering, in the place of business, in the presence of those who are unsympathetic and unfriendly, to say, “I am a follower of Christ.” Yet this is what is expected and required of those who have declared themselves Christians.
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