JOINTS AND BANDS

JOINTS AND BANDS

I am glad you are interested in the subject of “joints and bands”. You will remark that in Ephesians 4 there are two edifications spoken of, one as connected with the gifts from the Head in heaven. Persons are gifted by Him to minister, and through their ministry there is an edifying of the body of Christ; but besides this there is that which every joint supplieth - the edification of itself in love. Thus there are two edifications, one from without and the other within; one through something imparted, the other from the condition produced by what had been imparted - the difference between food and air and the health produced by food and air. Food and air are necessary to health, but food and air are quite distinct from health. Food and air contribute to health, and the healthier a person is, the more he gains from the best food and air; but the action of health in itself is quite different from the action of food and air. Food and air symbolise the ministry. It is the Lord’s blessed way of feeding and refreshing His own on earth, but if the ministry has been effectual there is another way in which growth or edification is promoted, and that is by the health which the ministry has produced, the using of the health by that which every joint supplieth. Invalids are ^[p. 458] entirely dependent on food and air for mere existence, they know nothing of the energy of health; thus it is in some places that believers are too much like invalids, they are dependent on ministry (food and air) for existence or for the sense of it. If they had health they would exercise the energy in every joint, and there would be edification of the body in itself, and the highest expression of health, that is, love. A person in health is not independent of food and air, but like a camel that can carry water for eight days, he has taken in a supply and he grows through the very exercise of every joint, the sense of life in vigour and muscular power is diffused through the whole body irrespective of food and often in bad air. A person in full health values and appreciates food and air better far than an invalid does. The invalid has no power in himself, he has not health, and he is entirely dependent on what is ministered to him. An invalid is like one in health, as to appearance, sometimes, but put him to act and it will be at once seen that he has no power of life. Health is that which reaches out to every joint and is promoted by the true and just answer of every joint to its proper action in the body. An invalid may sit and listen and feed very well, but the proof or evidence of health is when there is increase in the joy of life, of which love is the expression. When a tree comes out in leaves and blossoms and fruit there is not only evidence that it has been well cultivated and nourished, but also that there is vigour in itself; yet it was not independent of the culture and nurture.