Ordination Sermon.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XVII, Issue 2, 2 August 1926, Page 3

Ordination Sermon.

(Sermon preached: on \&t. F«fcjer J s ©a^ dn Napier, by the. Rev. JR. ,-jR,. ' ; Geddes). Ist Mm^lsrs:: ''iHere is MyPfttiier glorified, 'that ye beaivmuch; fruit; so stall' ye be My disciples. " ~ I have -chosen this text with ; care, for I : think' that" Jong after;. the words of- my Sermon have sunk into oblivion tihis ; -text will remind you of your Ordinations. •I do not think that I. am entirely responsible for chossing it. All of us. who preach to others, are conscious, more or less, of a feeling of inspiration ;■ more especially- when we are privileged to preach at the: ordination of a brother. :We indeed: ask for that inspiration 'and depend upon it The more We feel our personal unworthineSs to preach to others, the greater must' be bur reliance upon the Holy Spiiiti "Stir iip the Gift of God r which is m thee by the putting on of my hands, ' ' says: St. Paul ; and if « we are to: rely upon the Gift of the Spirit given m Confirmation, how much more on the further and : fuller Gift m Ordination. We are to aim at nothing less than the fullness of the Spirit; and it is only by deliberately giving up ourselvets to : the Personality of the Spirit that we become transformed into His likeness. It is, I think, hard; for us to grasp this idea of the Personality of the Holy Spirit,, for personality suggests to us limitations. The word is indeed inadequate, yet it may convey to us al). those tender and strong associations with, which 'we are so familiar m the Person of Our Lord.; Perhaps much of our -spiritual- weakness is due to bur 'neglect of this foundation of our religion. We forget too often that the Gift. o£ the Spirit is the Gift of Himself/ So we forget that : the M*uit bf : the Spirit is nothing else than the Personality of the Spii-it shown forth m a humjaii : life. And so we : come to the. meaning of the words, of! Our I^ord which I: Have given you. in my. text that you may bind them upon your foreheads.: "Herein is JMfy_ Father glorified, that ye be l arVm^ch ; -'fruitj' : siq3|i a ]l : y e be My disciples?'* Over aiid^oyer^ again m this.chapter, Our r Lbrd u§es., . tKe^awl ?f fruit ' ' IJe, is sending, you 17 pvi| iftto the .-world to bear.'fi ; uit; -onlyrso,..arei..yqu.. flis cli^piple^./ ■ ' ' liVis ; an arresting.- thought, though perhaps.. Jih^^ftrf^.us : t^ for many years be^i^ pi^ests, m. the Chu^cJi, eyen, than for you who .are aliolut to be i orcjained. ; pi|i < liaj)s',"as wel^/bii6Ju)n tij&g wFsee'iitt(r^*uit

• there; -perhaps -again -we r see -much fruit. : my Brothers, i£ is not , back" oil life^ or even' to the? life before us, that we are to look. We are to lpok yiwajfcls.:, into ourselves as we are, *E<yv the " f r{iit " : tjhe P^sonaJity bf the Holy Spirit stirping through us and trarisfiguring 1 us. Herein is the father glorified 1 ; herein; are we seen to be the' dsciple's of Jesus. It is your personality that counts ajl the way and all the time. We are ' '■' stewai^ls i of ■persphality" for others. It is just as' real as the stewardship of time or wealth or influence or taleni The increasing; realisation of this stewardship of personality will, I think, condition the increase of. our own personalities through the indwelling Spirit. "More and" more -as we realise this increase m personality will it- be borne m I upon usthat 1 it is given us for the building up of the Church of God. . . All through the lSth Chapter of St. John Our Lord is concerned- with the future, ,of> the Ghuir^h. = It} is the great appeal to our loyalty. Loyalty to Him is loyalty to His Church. Our life is derived, from r Him. : iii:ough : the Church, lie and ; Has Cliureh are One. He is the T^ine ; we are thfi branches. As , living, members. p'£ the w.e b,§ar. fruit ; : ,cut oflf fooni; the Vine we wither; and die. All ouiv gifts and graces are derived ttirpugjh , : the Church; the, fru^t tha,t we bjear is due tp ; the life of the Church; thrusting: up through, ns. Tis fruH : is the Personality of Holy Spirit. There is. an., ever gi'pwjng sense m the Church o£ this Rei^onality of the Holy Spirit. Indeed it has occurred to, me that this deepening sense of His. Personality and Presence; may account for the. widespread, belief m the nearness of. our Lord's Second Advent Here is the. strongest appeal to our loyalty. The highest stewardship of all is the stewardship of personality. It is. a sacred- triist to -be used for- others :. for the : edifying of the Ohuiieh: for the, edifying of the Father. It . is . not only for your own sakes. that Our > Lord appeals to you to live jthe -life of theSpirit, but also for the. sake of .= all.. other; human beings: for the. sake of the -Father: for His^o^>ai dear sake. How often ii; has been said of. Christianity thaJLit 7 isia'selfisli. religion! IJere is the exact opposite. If 'you will nojt save your souls, for yourselyesj, save them at' least for th 6 sake of the Ghurch. You have no idea how fpr the. influence of your personality eistend.sl 'Onp 1 life of. ioye^ %& inner biai'njony and contpntntent;; gives back to 'untol^;riunlbeH b/elief 1 m God; r .it co^ipensates^'for inn^hierape\discprds^ T|ie only tru^wtneß?

that, the -Church .can bear-is ihe. Emit ,<*£ tfce Spirit : tlie cpmplete fcarmony , »f i^d|y fdual. lives. /..No: fitness ;fer jtfie . Spjarit i ; s ;mo^ neftde^l m the nipjlarn wp£jd. To^ayi hejng : St. ■ Peter J 6' Hay, we , area-oimhfled that the Church Ms Her roots deep down m the unseen world, comes her strength, and lifer inspiration. ' Ther-e is seen Hfer Fruit m it^ perfectipn. We ail, living and departed) ahare: m the 6n6 lif e df'tlie ., Spirit.. The' merits of the saints adprfl the Churcji. We think of; Her . mw, noi as; the 'Bbdy oi : 'Christy but the Bride Of the Heavenly BrMe- ■ gropni. Her body is a living " organjsui cpjnppsed of all the faithful. The Spirit gives /-Her' life aiadi personality. So yre can; understand how the Saints help us; and how throiigh our prayers to the Father fpr their uitercjes'giorisv/tKere: conies an ' added grace. It is not that they can give anythingwhich' the Spirit cari not give. It is we are drawn more; clpaely to each other iii the. life 6f the Spirit, so that the perspniality of the t; Spirit raay ; be more cleanly maiiif ested.- ' r %t is the adPrihg and the beaiitifymg '61 the -Bride of J Christ through 1 Ber • increased response to the indweHing Si>irit. Hoiw wondrous and 1 how beautiful will be the Bride of: Christ ! What entrancing loneliness and' grace will be- Her 's, past even the -highest imaginings of j^ngels! " J " ■": Sbine such; vision must 'St. ; Paul have had when he wrote to the Ephesians: The ; love of ; Christ of which 1 , he. speafcs ; is the mutual love of the^Bridegroom and the- Bridec'in the fulness of the- Father. It'-iaVtbe eternal' love of the Holy Trinity shed throughout the Universe. How wonderful are these words ; m the 3rd Chapter : ' 'That ye, being rooted and grounded in^ may be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, and length 5 and depth, and height; and to know- the love of- Christ which passeth knowledge,- that ye may be filled with all the- fulness^ of [ Godv"