Chapter 1 - The Problem of the Ground of the Church
9 what is the actual ground (def - basis for belief, action, argument) of the church? this matter is very important, for in the bible the Lord has shown us explicitly that the church has her definite ground. I presume we all recognize that the blessing of God, the Holy Spirit of God. the light of God and even the very life of the Lord Jesus Himself are all in the church. although we ordinarily stress the Lord's life in individuals, the fact is that His life is in the church. because god has committed so many spiritual things to the church, it is a very important matter whether or not a so-called 'church' is really the church. if god had not a so-called 'church' is really the church. if god had given many spiritual things to us as individuals, the problem would not be so great. but God has shown us in the Bible that He has put all spiritual things in the church. therefor, whether the group of which I am is a church or not is a very serious matter. if I fellowship with many brothers and sisters who are not the church, it will be a great loss.
for example, some of the sisters who work in the hospital laboratory use glass slide s for bacterial examinations. for this purpose, a glass slide is applicable. however, if a brother comes to visit you, a glass slide cannot be used to serve him a beverage. the glass slide has its important function in the laboratory, but it is useless for beverages. your visitor is not a grasshopper or sparrow who can be sufficed by water on a slide. You must serve him a glass. there are many problems which can never be solved by a slide. but a glass made up of many slides can easily be used to solve the problem of thirst.
10 a flat surface contains much less than a 3 - dimensional object. we are not seeking today to nullify the spiritual attainment of individuals before God. an individual may enjoy many spiritual things and sometimes have the highest spiritual attainment. but God has but more spiritual things in the church; therefore, when a person seeks them as an individual, he cannot obtain them. this does not mean that you cannot obtain it by your individual seeking. God's riches today are in the church, which is a 3-dimensional object just like the drinking glass. you as an individual must become a part of this glass before you can touch the living water. only the church can contain the many spiritual things.
we must clearly see before God that many spiritual things are in the church, not with the individuals. the Lord's word, 'upon this rock will I build My church', is very clear and very wonderful. the result is that 'the gates of hades shall not prevail against it'. this promise is for the church, not for individuals. many times it is very difficult for individuals to resist the enemy, but as soon as the church appears Satan is immediately defeated. individuals in these years do have blessings, but their blessings are limited. it is only in thee church that the blessings are unlimited and rich. therefore, as soon as a person departs from the way of the church, his blessing is limited and God's presence with him is also limited. (I do not say 'nil', but I do say 'limited'. ) furthermore, he is not able to touch many spiritual things before god. please excuse me for speaking very frankly. especially during the past 10 years, I have been watching to see if people know what the Church is. strangely enough, many broth3ers who have known the Lord for 20 or 30 years do not know God's church. even what they have already obtained has gradually declined and even what they think they have cannot be preserved intact. at the same time there are other brothers and sisters who know God's church; consequently, the riches of the Head become their riches and they are able to go forward continuously.
11 therefor, I wish that all the young brothers and sisters would note that a Christian must not only be concerned with his own gain, but also whether or not the brothers and sisters with whom he fellowships are the church. remember that each person is but one individual. 2 may be the church or they may only be 2 individuals and not the church. do not presume that 500 gathered together are the church or 1000 gathered together are the church. this may not be true. Thank God, 1000 people can become the church, but 1000 people may only be 1000 individuals; thus they are only more individuals and still not the church. there is a great difference here. god's children today realize that one person cannot be the church, but they do not acknowledge that 1000 people may only be 1000 individuals and thus also cannot be the church. please remember that even 10,000 people still remain 10,000 individuals and not be the church. the church before god has some other requirements. therefore, we as God's children must pay special attention to the ground of the church.
Two Basic Requirements
today, let me bring out 2 matters; both must exist before there can be the church. the New Testament clearly reveals to us 2 basic requirements: first, the authority of the Holy spirit; second, the boundary of locality.
A. the Authority of the Holy Spirit
we must take heed that where there is not the Holy spirit, there is not the church. the church is absolutely not Witness Lee, not Yu-Tse Chang, nor Ching-Hwa Yu; the church must only be the Holy Spirit. in other words, the church from beginning to end can only have one authority, one power, and one life, which is the Holy Spirit. there is only one life of the Holy Spirit, only one power of the Holy Spirit and only one authority of the Holy Spirit.
12 fro example, there are many elderly brothers here today. Brother Tu may say, 'Since I have been in the church for 20 years, I may give a proposal or initiate something'. you see, here is something extra coming out to interrupt. when Brother Tu comes out, the Holy Spirit is not here and the church also is not here.
please remember that where the Holy Spirit is not, there the church is not. the church is a body through which the Spirit of the Lord may express His desires without any hindrance. as the Lord used the body given to Him by Mary when He was on this earth, so He in the Holy Spirit uses the Church today. the church in its highest state is still the Body of Christ. in other words, only that which is able to express the mind of the Holy Spirit can be called the church.
Only the Holy Spirit has Authority
I will go on a little further by speaking first to the elderly brothers. more or less you know what authority is and you tell the younger brothers to submit to authority. the basic question today is this: when you are obeying authority, whose authority do you obey? let me tell you that as the younger brothers need to obey the elderly ones? it is because the elderly ones have learned more before god and know more of God's authority; consequently, the Holy Spirit can flow out more easily through them. they are like the water pipe through which the water has flowed for years without any blockage. the younger ones should obey the elderly ones, not because the elderly ones are the authority, but because it is easy for the Holy Spirit to speak through the elderly ones. because they have worked for the Lord for many years, it is
13 easy for the Holy Spirit to flow out of them.I learn to submit to the elderly brothers because the authority of the Holy Spirit is invested (def - 'cloth'; put to use) in them. once I do not obey, I will easily lose the authority of the Holy spirit in me, we are by no means building up the authority of the elderly brothers, but the authority of the Holy spirit which flows out easily from the elderly brothers. in other words, the only authority in the church is that of the Holy spirit. there is no authority that comes out from certain individuals. the elders do not have authority, the elderly brothers do not have authority and the spiritual ones also do not have authority. only the Holy Spirit has authority. this is called the Body of Christ.
A Channel for the Authority of the Holy Spirit
recently I saw what happened to a brother whose hand several years ago had carried a very heavy object over a long distance. after than, his hand felt somewhat sore. now it has become worse and worse so that it can hardly move. the brother finally said, 'My whole body belongs to me except this hand. this member seems to belong to someone else and struggle with me. I have never heard anyone say this in such a way before. I am one who is often sick and I know that whenever the existence of certain member is felt, that member must certainly have some kind of sickness. when the human body is in perfect condition, there is no consciousness that the body exists. whenever we feel the lungs breathing, then the lungs must be sick. whenever we feel the heart beating, the heart must then be sick. whenever we feel the heart beating, the heart must then be sick. from my birth to my teens, i was never conscious of my teeth, but the day i felt my teeth, I was not able to sleep the whole night. the body is very natural and spontaneous. it is not harmonious in the sense that it feels its existence, but it is so harmonious that it seems as if it does not exist. today you may not feel that you have some fingers. you would think it strange if I should say, 'do you feel that you have fingers? but if one of your fingers is broken, you will feel uncomfortable the whole day. whenever
14 you feel something, then something is wrong with you. whenever the body cannot use one of its members, the body is sick. the Holy Spirit should have the complete authority in the church; then the whole Body will move as it will without any hindrance. as soon as there is hindrance in a certain part, the whole Body becomes sick. when everyone is under the authority of the Holy Spirit. HE CAN USE EVERYONE; THEN THERE IS NO HINDRANCE IN THE BODY. EVERYTHING GOES SO SMOOTHLY. when authority operates smoothly, that is the moment the Body is healthy. WHENEVER EVERYONE CAN BE USED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, THEN THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS AUTHORITY AND EVERYTHING IS VERY NATURAL AND SPONTANEOUS. the complete authority of the Holy Spirit is the ground of the church where the body of Christ is.
a group today may have brothers and sisters who are under the authority of the Holy Spirit. and other brothers and sisters who are not under the authority of the Holy Spirit. immediately you can see that there is no ground of the church there. THE GROUND OF THE CHURCH IS THE HOLY SPIRIT. whenever the Holy Spirit is offended, the ground of he church is lost. today it is not that all the brothers and sisters have made a decision and then there is the Body of Christ. it is not that there are 1600 people and all 1600 have raised their hands to pass a resolution and then there is the church, it is not a question of 1600 people. but a question of whether or not the authority of the Holy Spirit has been executed. where the authority of the Holy Spirit is absent, there is no church ground. only when everyone submits to the authority of the Holy Spirit does the church have is ground.
WHAT IS THE BODY? IT IS THAT WHICH YOU CAN FREELY USE AND MOVE AROUND IN. IT HAS NO CONFLICTS OR DIFFICULTIES AT ALL. WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO DO, THAT IS WHAT IT DOES. that which struggles with you is not the body. whether or not a local church can be manifested depends upon whether or not it can submit to the Holy Spirit. when this kind of submission is manifested, the church is manifested. remember , therefore, that if a brother lies to speak and make decisions by himself,
15 the authority of the Holy Spirit is damaged, the Body of Christ is damaged and the church is damaged. consequently, there is no church in that place. it is not that there is a place with a signboard put up and then there is a church. but it is that as the brothers and sisters lay down their own thought and subject themselves to the authority of the Holy spirit and the authority of the Holy Spirit can flow through without any hindrance, then there is a church.
you who serve God and bear responsibility in the work need to remember this one thing: whether after 20 or 30 years or even after 50 or 60 years when all your hair becomes white, YOU STILL ARE ONLY A TRANSMITTER OF AUTHORITY, a channel or mouthpiece of authority - you yourself are not the authority. whenever you become the authority, everything is finished. the brothers and sisters who are workers must thoroughly know what is the authority of the authority of the Holy Spirit. don't think that at least today you can give some proposal. let me tell you that your proposal will not do. the Lord has never granted you the authority to make your own proposals. you can only be the channel of authority, not the authority itself. even if you live to be 100 and have followed the Lord for those 100 years, do not think that you can give some proposals. it is because my spirit has been trained and has learned something that the sense of my spirit may be keener, that i may have more light, that God's basic principles have been touched by me, and I am familiar with the word of God; therefore, it is easier for the authority of the Holy Spirit to come out.
we use authority to serve the brothers and sisters, not to govern them. authority is just one part of our service. I hope that all the leading ones of the home-meetings will take note of this. authority is related to your ministry and is only one of your many ministries. it is not for governing others, but for supplying other.s in a certain matter other brothers may not see, but I see; they may not understand, but I can understand. since I understand the heart's desire of god, I tell them God's desire and say to them, 'Brothers, you
16 should not do this in such a way; I know this will not do. if you do it, you will violate god's authority; so you must give up this matter'. this is not exercising authority to govern the brothers, but to supply and serve them. WE ARE BEFORE GOD, LEARNING TO BE THE HOLY SPIRIT'S CHANNEL OF AUTHORITY TO SUPPLY THE BROTHER. we are not governing them. WE ARE LEARNING TO LET GOD'S AUTHORITY TO COME OUT AS A SUPPLY and not establish our own authority.
regardless of what kind of position a brother may have, whether he be an overseer, an apostle or a deacon, whenever he establishes or manifests his won authority, he loses and ruins the whole ground of the church. the whole ground of the church is established upon the authority of the Holy Spirit. whenever His authority is offended, the ground of the church is gone.
the the whole church is under the authority of the Holy spirit, it is like the Lord using His won body given to Him by Mary while We was on this earth, speaking, listening and walking as He wished. the body which Mary prepared for the Lord could not be more appropriate. that body could coordinate to such an extent that it was as if the body were not there and that it was the Lord Himself. it was so harmonious, so united, having no difficulty or conflict at all. it was not as if when the hands are needed, they are unusable ; when the eyes are needed, they cannot function; when the tongue is needed, it is wounded; when the head is require, it is unable to think. the church likewise can also reach such an extent - there is the church, yet it is as if the church is not there; only Christ is there. the Lord can exercise spontaneously and pass through freely. it is so much in harmony, so much in oneness, so much in spontaneity, that it is as if the Lord is not passing through. the authority of the Holy Spirit passes through the church so freely, so harmoniously that it is as if He has not passed through the church. when the authority of the Holy Spirit can pass through completely, that is the church. whenever there is resistance or hindrance, that is not a church. whenever the Holy Spirit cannot move, WHENEVER
17 THE INDIVIDUALS STAND OUT, it means THERE IS SOME PROBLEM and the church is damage so that it can no longer be called a church.
today there is so much of man's opinion, man's decision, man's methods, man's organization, man's name and man's tradition in the groups that call upon the name of the Lord. I do not wish to say more about this. from the beginning to the end since we were called out by the Lord, there is a fundamental ground - that is, we must obey and establish the authority of the Holy Spirit in the church and destroy our own authority. I ask the Lord to forgive me for saying this, because the authority of the Holy Spirit does not need to be established by man, excuse me for using this illustration for the sake of the younger brothers: tomorrow, if I release a tiger in the streets, is it necessary to send guards to protect it? no , the tiger dos not need any guards; he can protect himself. likewise, the Holy spirit does not need our support. the authority of the Holy Spirit is in the church, not needing our zeal to establish it. the only thing needed is that God's children be willing to consecrate and YIELD them SELVES THAT THE AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT MIGHT COME OUT CONTINUOUSLY. the question now is whether or not we are willing to consecrate ourselves. whenever God's children disobey, the authority of the Holy spirit cannot come out. the basic question today is whether or not we have consecrated (def -set apart for the service of God) ourselves adequately.
I hope that we will consecrate ourselves afresh before god for the authority of the Holy Spirit. we should pray: 'Lord, You are the Head of the church.
Grant me the grace that i may not be one who hinders or resists;
cause me not to have anything of my own...'
you must realize that whenever you have anything of your own coming into the church regardless of how good it is, there is an extra thing added to the church and there is a hindrance. my body can only consist of its own members. I cannot allow the things of others to be put upon my body. what is of my body must be my own. the
things of other may be precious, but once they are added to my body they may be poisonous. I must learn before God not to bring my own things into the church. some of them may be very good, but if they are not of the Holy spirit, they cannot be put into the church. once they are, the church loses its ground. in the church there is only one Holy Spirit, one authority, one power, one fellowship, one Name. anything put into the church which is not of the Holy Spirit will ruin the church ground and then the church is gone.
What is not Started by the Holy Spirit is not the Church
in Shanghai many people can establish an evangelistic mission, a seminary, a Bible institute or a Bible study class. the mistake her is minor. but no one can establish a church! if you are not able to obey the Holy Spirit and man's authority and man's things come in, there is no church. if it is not started by the Holy Spirit, it is not the church. i do not know whether you have seen the seriousness of this. it is possible for a few of us to establish a factory if we have the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but that is impossible with the church. regardless of whether you are a believer of an unbeliever, whether you have the life of God or not, you cannot establish a church. if it is not started by the Holy spirit, it is not a church. this is quite a serious matter. no one can start to establish a church, for from the beginning he does not have the authority of the Holy Spirit if there is no authority of the Spirit, there is no church. regardless of what the situation may be, if the Holy Spirit does not start it, you cannot establish a church. firstly we have to ask: what about the star? if the Holy spirit would not start the church, there is no way for us to start it. we must submit ourselves to the mighty power of the Holy spirit and put ourselves under the authority willed by God, wholly restrained, not seeking our own freedom. we must let the authority of the Holy Spirit and put ourselves under the authority willed by god, wholly restrained, not seeking our won freedom. we must let the authority of the Holy Spirit pass through every one of us freely.
B The Boundary of Locality
19 a church also requires a second ground. without the second, there is also no ground of the church. you will probably ask: since we all express he authority and live under the authority of the Holy Spirit, is this not enough to establish a church? no, it is not. the Bible clearly shows us 2 things which must exist in order to establish the church: first, the authority of the Holy Spirit; second, the boundary of locality. if you do not also see this, you cannot understand the church ground. do you feel strange? does this seem lie falling 10,000 feet, all the way from heaven to earth? yes, indeed, the church is also on earth. the church is partly heavenly and partly on earth. the heavenly part concerns the authority of the Holy Spirit; the earthly part concerns the boundary of locality. this is a very wonderful matter in the Bible the Bible clearly shows us this one thing, that the church absolutely belongs to a locality, such as the church at Jerusalem -Jer is a place; the church at Corinth -Cor is a place; the church at Antioch - Ant is a city; the church at Ephesus -Eph is a seaport. in the Bible, the ground of the church is the locality where the church is. the churches all take the locality as the boundary.
....if the brothers and sisters in Shanghai desire to stand on the church ground, they can only stand on the ground of the Holy Spirit and of Shanghai...
The Church and the Churches
I Thessalonians 2.14 says, 'the churches in Judea'. the church mentioned here is in the plural number in Greek, English and Chinese. it is the churches in Judea. why is it in
20 It is because at that time Judea was a province of Rome. since a province includes many localities, there are, therefore, many churches. ..it is not the church in Judea, but the churches in Judea. in the Scriptures...there is...not the provincial church. the same is true of Galatia, which is a province consisting of localities....
Ephesus is a seaport...Philadelphia was a city...only one church existed there...Asia which is Asia Minor today, was a large province; therefore the Bible says 'the 7 churches in Asia'...
Only One Church in One Locality
there is one thing we must all notice: the world does not have a church; therefore, the Roman Catholci Church is wrong. a country does not have a church; therefore, the Anglican Church...(ie. the Church of England...) is wrong...in the Bible, only the smallest administrative unit has a church...the church of one locality cannot unite with the church of another locality to become one church...
26...many brothers and sisters have begun to see the difference between the way of individualism and the ground of the church...
27 the church in Taipei had expected Brother Witness Lee to be responsible for their gospel campaign during the Chinese New Year. after this decision was reached, Brother Lee discovered that he had to come to me in Hong Kong for some affairs. they were really disappointed, thinking that they themselves could not carry out the campaign. Brother Lee said to them, 'to me, to have a Brother Lee is just to have one more brother; to lose a Brother lee is just to lose on brother. ...the result of that gospel campaign was marvelous! some of the brothers who you would think could not preach teh gospel preached the gospel contrary to expectation. as a result, over 1400 people received the Lord. at the 2 day follow-up meetings there were 228 baptized. ...now I will come back to that brother's letter. I am very pleased with his statement: 'I believe that if we brothers would learn to serve the Lord in a coordinated way, whether there be 3000 or 10,000, we will be able to digest or absorb them. when the church comes into being and begins to function, it can digest 500 if 500 come and 1000 if 1000 come. this is God's church.
A Vessel Needed to Contain God's Blessing
...we now have about 1500 brothers and sisters among us; still, our fellowship has not yet been adequate. what would we do if another 1000 were added to us?...a church is supposed to attain to such a degree that when God blesses abundantly blessed - there is a vessel which is able to contain this blessing. when the whole body of brothers and sisters obey the Holy Spirit, they all have the service and are all blessed the whole body will not bring in their own opinions, but will be occupied with service; it is at this time that god's church will come forth.
...if you are not getting ready for the Holy Spiri's work, the Holy spirit will not work. ...w must always prepare more room. we would rather let the Lord bring people in than let Him take people out. when the Holy Spirit begins to work, you will really see that there is not enough room...
29 All Must Learn to Serve
...once people submit themselves to the authority of the Holy Spirit, immediately the authority of the Holy spirit begins to direct and cause everyone to begin to serve and everyone serves.
you leading brothers in the home-meetings, excuse me for saying the following words: the basic responsibility you have before God is that you yourselves must serve, but this is not enough. if you can only do it yourself, but cannot make others do it, you are failing. the Holy Spirit desire to direct everyone to serve. on the negative side, do not bring in your own ideas; on the positive side, let the Holy spirit direct everyone to serve. ...the Holy Spirit can pass through everyone the Holy Spirit can direct everyone. therefore, he who can only serve by himself, but cannot commit things to others, is one who fails. he who holds not the responsibility in his own hands, but distributes it to the brothers and sisters that they may share in doing is the one whom God will use.
do not think when things arise it is right for you to do much. when things arise, you finish them yourself hurriedly, holding them in your hand, not giving them out - this hinders the work of the Holy Spirit. the things must be distributed; they should not be retained in your own hands.
31 Chapter 2 -The Church in a City and the Church in a House
concerning the ground of the church, we said that in a city there should be only one church, for there should be but one unit. but some people say that' the church in a house', quoting the Scriptures as the basis, is an additional unit to the locality what they mean is that the church may possibly have several units in a locality. what should we say to this kind of statement? the New Testament in 4 different places mentions the church in a house - that is, in a home.
1. Romans 16.5: 'Greet the church that is in their house.
'their' refers to Priscilla and Aquila in vs. 3. here the fact is simple the church in Rome, lie hundreds and thousands of other local churches, first started in the house of a brother. this meant that the principal members in the house of this brother were already brothers and sisters in the Lord. at the same time, there were not many members in the church; therefore, they used this brother's house for their meeting place. this is an historical matter, not doctrinal. it is possible to explain away a doctrine, but impossible to explain away history, because historical events are facts. anyone who is acquainted with history knows that hundreds and thousands of churches first started in homes...
32 ...the book of Romans never mentions the term 'the church in Rome'...
I assume that the difficulty of those who argue about the church in both the house and the locality lies in the fact that after vs. 5 Paul against mentioned so many names. I think all Bible expositors know that after Paul greeted the church in vs. 5, he purposely mentioned quite a few important individuals and especially greeted them one by one. this does not mean, however, that these people were outside the church in the house, but that they were the ones inside the church in the house to whom Paul especially sent his greetings. some people, besides being included in his general greetings to the church , needed special attention. do not make the mistake of thinking that since everyone is included in the general greetings to the church, it is unnecessary to add further greetings to them individually...
the proof of this is in vs. 3. if the greeting sent to the church automatically includes all and it is unnecessary to greet them again by mentioning certain names, they Paul Should Not Have greeted Priscilla and Aquila in vs.3 paul should have greeted just 'the church that is in their (Priscilla and Aquila's) house' in vs 5. because Paul greeted 'the church that is in their (Priscilla and Aquila's) house, should this not have included Priscilla and Aquila already? greeting the whole church naturally includes the individuals. however, to mention these individuals besides greeting the church does not
33 mean that these individuals are not of the church but members of another group. if this were so, then Priscilla and Aquila were not of the church that was in their own house!... in vss. 10-11 2 more houses are mentioned in which there were also the lord's people.nevertheless, Paul did not say, 'Greet the church in Aristobulus' house' or 'greet the church in Narcissus' house.' only in vs. 5 did Paul say, 'Greet the Church that is in their (Priscilla and Aquilla's) house.///there was only one church in Rome, therefore the Bible doe not mention the church in the house of Narcissus.
34 ...although these were 3 households of believers, they were not 3 churches...
2. I Corinthians 16.19: 'Aquila and Priscila salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house'. this salutation was given in 59 AD when Aquila and Priscilla lived in Ephesus (Acts 18.18-9) since the church at Ephesus was meeting in their house, it was therefore called 'the church that is in their house'. the church in the city of Ephesus Was the church in the house of
Aquila and Priscilla.
later, they returned to Rome and again opened their house to be the meeting place for the church in Rome...
35 3. Colassianss 4.15-6: 'Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea and Nymphas and the church which is in his house. and when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans' (the word 'and' which is used twice in vs. 15 is the same word in greek).
36 4. Philemon 1,2 '...to Philemon...Apphia and Archippus...and to the church in thy house'. Philemon was a believer living in Colosse and was a co-worker of the Apostle paul. the church in Colosse met in his house...
37 The House as an Insufficient Unit
...why is it that a city or a locality can become (a unit of jurisdiction)? it is because Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea were all localities and only one church stood in each locality.
40 Two Mistakes
1. people desire to have a church bigger than a city or a locality. they want to unite many churches in different localities and make them one big church, bigger than a locality. the have never thought that in the Scriptures there is not such a term equivalent to 'the church in China'...
for example, it is 'the churches of galatia' Gal. 1.2 ..'the churches of the Gentiles' not 'the church of the gentiles Rom. 16.4 it is 'the churches of god in Judea' (a province", not 'the church of god in Judea, I Thess. 2.14 it is 'the 7 churches in asia' not the 'church in asia' Rev. 1.4. it is 'the churches' in Syria and Cilicia (districts), not 'the church' in Syria and Cilicia Acts 15.41
41 2. on the other hand, people desire to have a church divide a locality into many 'churches', many 'assemblies', many 'congregations' or 'churches in houses' used as a beautiful title.
.....when the 'church' in a certain person's house. is smaller than the church in his locality, it cannot be called a church.
42 ...there must have been over 10,000 brothers in Jerusalem and they Might have been divided into 100 houses for meetings...
43 who can point out in the Bible that there are 2 churches in one locality? No one! today, we can only say that there are 2 denominations in one locality, four sects in one locality or a hundred manifestations of the flesh in one locality...
46 we all know that there is only one church. at home and abroad, in the past and present, there is only one church. because there is only one Head, therefore, there is only one Body. the church is a Body with life; thus, it is not right to divide it for any reason. we must stress this: the church is one because the Body is one. therefore, any reason to divide the church is sin. a division is sin, because it is a 'schism (greek, 'division') in the body' I Cor. 12.25
48 ...any division that is not for a geographical or physical reason is inwardly a real, basic and spiritual division...
49 ...now, since we all lie in the same city and are all in the same locality, is it conceivable that we still should not express or show our oneness? ..
Chapter 3 - The Content of the Church
1. Receptive
51 first of all, if a church is rally standing on the ground of locality as set forth in the Bible, she must receive all whom the Lord receives. Romans 15.7 says, 'wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God'....the christian's receiving is based upon Christ's receiving - that is, we should receive one another as Christ also received us.
52 'him that is weak in the faith, receive ye...for God hath received him. Romans 14.1,3...we cannot have any reason to refuse him; otherwise, we are a sect and not a church. in other words, what is a church? it is that our receiving in a locality is as broad as God and also as strict as God: all whom God receives, we receive; all whom God does not receive, we also do not receive...no matter how different a brother is from us or how far short he comes of our standard, there is only one requirement for us to receive him - that is, has God received him?
53 If God has...we too must...a local church...must take the life of Christ and faith in god as the basis for receiving believers. apart from this we do not have any other demands. if we make other demands as certain requirements, we are a sect...a sect is condemned...
II. Exercising Discipline
does this mean that e must receive all believers in a locality without any reservations? No! a church in a locality must not only receive all whom Christ has received in that locality, but must also exercise the church's discipline. what is the church's discipline/ it is when a brother who is received by the Lord commits something so that the Lord excludes him from fellowship. we too exercise discipline upon him....
we often use this illustration: when a boat is at sea, the boat and the sea cannot have fellowship. as soon as they begin to have fellowship, the boat will sooner or later sink in the sea. likewise, if you drill a hoe in the church, the line of separation between the church and the world will be gone.
what is disciplinary action? I Corinthians chapter 5 mentions 6 different kinds of persons who are saved and have god's life. but they have especially indulged themselves and become a fornicator, a covetous person, a railer, a drunkard, an idolater and an extortioner. paul said that You (the church in Corinth) must 'put away from among yourselves that wicked person (v13) the command in i Cor. 5 does not say that as soon as a brother has sinned, then you must put him awya from mong you. but it does say that when a brother becomes Such a One, then you must put him away. it does not say one who commits fornication, but 'a fornicator'; not a brother who rails, but 'a railer'. when a man becomes such a one, the church must put him away, it must excommunicate him. whom the Lord does not want in the church, you also must not want in that locality. if you...keep (such a ) one...this retention will cause trouble. the Lord said that such a one is like a little leaven which will leaven teh whole lump (I Cor. 5.6)...
57 ...we must all believe in spiritual gifts...
58 2. take a greater matter, such as selling all to follow the Lord. suppose the brothers in Shanghai do not believe in selling everything, but in working diligently to earn money and taking out a certain percentage of it to distribute to the poor. if 100 brothers in shanghai are moved by the spirit of the Lord to sell everything and follow the Lord, they would then feel that there is no place for them in this church. since you have no way to include them, you are exclusive to them. but selling all to follow the Lord is also a part of the life of Christ. if you cannot include the brothers who have this portion of life but keep them out, you can see that this church of yours is too small and is maimed. this is just like the amputation of a hand or foot. how could the church not have what Christ has? if the church does not allow what Christ has, this church cannot stand in the position of the church. thus, you are a sect and not a church. a church must include the fullness of Christ. the result will be that these 100 people will become a church that sells all to follow the Lord and bring forth one more sect. you are not complete and neither are they. your doctine is not enought to include them and theirs is also not the perfect, complete will of God ...a local church , therefor, must include all kinds of God' children who seek teh Lord.
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