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Scripture Reading: Acts 1:8; Phil. 1:1; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:5-6
In the previous chapter we saw five points concerning the church. The church is something of God’s eternal purpose, something planned, purposed, by God in eternity past and for eternity to come. Therefore, the church is something eternal. If we have the revelation from the Word of God, we will realize that the church is the center of God’s eternal purpose. What God purposed in eternity past and for eternity to come is to have a church as the center of His purpose. Thus, the church is a central and eternal matter. Second, we saw that in the Old Testament time the church was a mystery hidden in God. Before the New Testament time the church was in the mind of God, but God never revealed it to anyone. Third, we saw the source of the church. The source of the church is Christ Himself, the Son of God. The church is something out of Christ Himself and a part of Christ Himself as His increase and as a counterpart to match Him. By this we can see that Christ is the nature of the church. Fourth, we saw the functions of the church. On one hand, it is a Body to Christ, and on the other hand, it is a house to God. These are the two aspects of the function of the church. Fifth, we saw clearly that the practice of the church, strictly speaking, can never be universal. It must be local. The universal practice is all the practices of the churches in their localities added together. Without or besides the local practices, we can never have the universal practice of the church.
In this chapter we shall consider some further points concerning the church. The sixth point is the expression of the church. This seems very close to the practice of the church, yet there is a difference. The church is something real and is very substantial; it is not something “in the air” or merely a theory in our mind. It is something composed of all the redeemed believers in the New Testament time built together with the Triune God. Therefore, it is very real and substantial, so there must be an expression of this real and substantial matter.
The church is expressed on this earth. It is absolutely wrong to think that the church is something expressed in heaven. There is no verse in the Scriptures to support this wrong idea. The church is not expressed in heaven but on the earth. I have spent much time to study the New Testament to find out whether there is something of the church in heaven. I speak the truth: I cannot find such a thing. Is there a verse in the twenty-eight chapters of Matthew, for example, to prove that the church today is in heaven? Is there such a word concerning the church in Mark, Luke, John, Acts, or the Epistles? First Thessalonians 4:17 says that we shall meet the Lord in the air, but that will be at the Lord’s coming. By this verse we cannot prove that the church is in heaven today.
The church is heavenly, but the church is not in heaven. Many of the saints, including Abraham, David, and Paul, are in Paradise, but none of them are in heaven. In his reference Bible, Dr. C. I. Scofield says that Paradise, where the saved ones are, was translated from the pleasant part of Hades to the third heavens when the Lord was resurrected and ascended to heaven. However, in Acts 2:34, when Peter stood up to speak on the day of Pentecost, he said that David had not ascended into heaven. The spirits and souls of all the dead saints, both from the Old Testament time and the New Testament time, are in Paradise and not in heaven. Therefore, we cannot find a verse to prove that the church today is in heaven.
The expression of the church is one hundred percent upon this earth in localities, in one place after another. The first expression of the church was in Jerusalem, in a locality, a city, a place on this earth. After that, there were many expressions in Judea and Samaria. Then the expression of the church expanded to Antioch, and it turned to the west, to many cities in Asia Minor. In each city there was an expression of the church. There was one in Ephesus, one in Smyrna, one in Pergamos, one in Thyatira, one in Sardis, one in Philadelphia, and one in Laodicea. In each city there was an expression of the church. If we follow the record of the Acts and the Epistles, we will find that the church is something expressed on this earth in place after place, in city after city.
Why did God make the church to be expressed in such a way? There are several reasons. First, the church must be built up with redeemed persons, and the redeemed persons, even after they have been redeemed, are still on this earth, living in human communities and in human society. The redeemed persons have not been taken away to the heavens. The church is a composition of saved and redeemed ones set free and separated from the satanic, evil system of the world, the system on the earth, yet still remaining on this earth and living among humans. Therefore, the church must be expressed on this earth in the human community and society. It is impossible for the church to be built up where there are no materials for the church. In a desert where there are no humans, there can never be an expression of the church. We must come to a city within human society to gain the materials from human society for the building up of the church.
There is the need for the church to be expressed upon this earth and among people in society. This does not mean that the church belongs to this world. To be in this world is one thing, but to belong to this world is another thing. To be separated from the world does not mean to leave the world. We do not belong to the satanic system of this world, and we are separated from it, yet we still remain here and live here. The church is expressed on this earth among human society in order that the church can gain some materials, who are delivered, saved, and separated out of human society. This is one reason why the church must be expressed on earth. Do not send the church to the heavens. We must keep the church in our locality and in all the cities on this earth.
Second, the Lord has committed the church with a mission. The great commission committed to the church by the Lord is that the church must bring the Lord as the gospel to human beings. The church must be expressed among people in order to preach the gospel to people. We have this responsibility and obligation, and we have been committed with this mission. It is a great mission, and it is nearly the unique mission. We have been committed to preach Christ as the gospel to people, so the church must be expressed among people on this earth.
Third, Christ as life to us must also be expressed among humanity. We do not express Christ merely to the angels; we have to express Christ among the human beings on the earth. Therefore, the church must be expressed on this earth in the localities where people are gathered and centered. Wherever there is a center, a gathering of people, there must be the expression of the church.
Fourth, God has His eternal purpose, and He must do something to accomplish His purpose on this earth through the church. Therefore, the church must exist on this earth among humans to carry out the eternal purpose of God.
The church is heavenly, but it must be expressed on the earth. We may not realize how much damage is done when people say, “Since the church is heavenly, it must be carried out in heaven.” When I was young, I was taught that all the so-called churches on this earth are not real and that the real church will be in heaven; all the visible churches are not the real churches because the real church is the invisible church. However, I do not know where there is an invisible church in this universe. We cannot find such a church. The church is something heavenly, yet it must be expressed on this earth. In the record of the Acts and the Epistles, the apostles stressed that the church must be local. We can find the church in Jerusalem, the church in Antioch, the church in Samaria, and the church in Ephesus; we can find many churches on the earth, but we can never find a church in the heavens. The church must be expressed on this earth.
Moreover, as the church is expressed on this earth, that expression must be one. In every city, in every locality where people are gathered together, there must be an expression of the church, and that expression must be only one. It can never be and should never be more than one. In Jerusalem the expression of the church was one, in Antioch the expression of the church was one, and in Ephesus the expression of the church was one. We cannot find a case in the Scriptures where in a certain city there was more than one expression. This is simply because the church is one. The church is expressed on this earth in localities where people are gathered, and wherever there is an expression of the church in a locality, it must be one. When I was in New York, someone asked me what we should do with a church in a city that has millions of people. I turned the question to the one who asked it and said, “How many governments do you have in New York, and how many city halls do you have? Can you have more than one city hall in New York? Can you have two city halls? It is impossible.” To have two city halls in New York because it is so big means that we divide the one New York City into two cities.
We may think that in a city with a population of several million it is impossible for us to have one church. However, human society can have one city hall in a city with more than ten million people. To have one church in a city, there is no need for all the people to meet together in one meeting place. In a family of five persons it is not necessary to have all five persons in one room. One family may use many rooms, and the members of a family may even live in different apartments. A large family with a grandfather, grandmother, husband, wife, and many children and grandchildren may live in a large compound with several buildings. However, they are still one family. There is no need to meet in one place in order to be one church. We can have many meetings in a big city, but all the saints who meet in different places are still one church. Acts 2 and 4 say that at the time of the apostles the church in Jerusalem met in houses, from house to house. They had many separate meetings, but they were still one church. According to the first eight chapters of Acts, the saints in Jerusalem met in houses separately, but they were still called the one church in Jerusalem (8:1).
Large numbers are not a problem. On one day the apostles baptized three thousand people, and on another day five thousand were saved and baptized. They were able to do this because they had been trained while the Lord was on the earth. When the Lord fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish, He trained the disciples. He did not pray and bless the loaves and then distribute them in a messy way to let the people fight over them. Rather, the Lord told the disciples to have the crowd sit in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. When people sit down, they are quiet and in order. This illustrates that to care for many people is easy. For the one hundred twenty disciples in Acts to take care of three thousand or five thousand on one day was not very difficult. We have had this experience. On one day in only two hours we baptized seven hundred people.
We need to realize that the church must be expressed on the earth in the localities where people are gathered. Moreover, each expression of the church, no matter where it is, must be one. There is no reason for us to be divided. If we go to London, there must be one church there; we belong to the church, so we meet with the church. We should not ask people there what kind of church they have, just as we cannot ask them what kind of moon they have. The moon is just one. In the same way, there is only one church. When I go to Los Angeles, I meet with the church there. Likewise, when I go to New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, or Hong Kong, I meet with the church there. There is no reason for us to be divided. We are members of the church. Wherever we go, we simply meet with the church. This is the proper way ordained by the Lord.
God ordained the church to be expressed in a very simple way. Where there is a gathering of people in a locality, we have to preach the gospel to them. Then some of them will be separated by the Lord’s salvation, and these separated ones need to come together as the expression of the church in that community, in that locality. The church is expressed on this earth in localities, and where there is an expression of the church, that expression must be one. Let us be simple. Let us not be complicated by the confusion in Christianity. It is a shame to ask people what church they belong to. If someone is a brother, that is all we need to know. I belong to the church, and you belong to the church. We all belong to the church.
More than thirty-two years ago, when we were in Shanghai, three or four brothers rode on a street car to go to the meeting, each with a Bible in his hand. Another believer, who was distributing tracts to the riders on the car, came to them and realized that they were brothers. That brother asked them, “What church do you belong to?” The three or four brothers looked at one another and wondered how to answer. Then one of the oldest among them told him, “We belong to the church that you, Paul, Peter, Martin Luther, and all the saints belong to.” After considering this, the brother with the tracts said, “This is wonderful!” To be sure, it is wonderful. To tell people that we belong to a certain kind of church is not glorious. We are nothing; we are only the general members of the one church. That is all.
The seventh point that we will consider is the content of the church. We must remember well that the content of the church cannot be and should not be anything other than the Lord Christ Himself. The church is a container to contain Christ, not anything else. Only the Lord Christ is the content of the church. If we realize this well and keep this well in mind and in spirit, that would be wonderful. The church is the Body of Christ. A body is a container, a vessel, to contain the life of the head. In the same way, the church is the container to contain Christ. We may have teachings, gifts, and knowledge, but all these teachings, gifts, and knowledge must be a help to people so that they may realize Christ more and more. As long as we encounter any kind of teaching, any kind of gift, or any kind of knowledge that detaches people from Christ, we must depreciate it because the content of the church is Christ Himself. We can use many means, including teachings, gifts, and knowledge, to bring people to Christ, to help people, to prompt people, even to urge people to Christ, but we must realize that nothing can be a substitute for Christ.
I do not like to say something to criticize anyone or any Christian organizations, but certain groups of Christians have certain systems, which apparently are their contents. Some groups of believers have certain doctrines, and other groups of Christians have certain gifts. We must be clear that all the doctrines, gifts, and knowledge are good as long as they help people to realize Christ and do not take people away from Christ. We need to realize very clearly that the church is a corporate vessel as a container to contain Christ, and Christ is the very content of the church.
When we come together, what do we express? We need to express Christ, either by prayer, by work, by a hymn, by a testimony, or by a teaching. What we have must be an expression of Christ. If we have something else as a center, we are sectarian. We often say that we have to be general Christians. Do you know what a general Christian is? A general Christian is a person who has nothing other than Christ as his center. We should be general, having Christ and nothing else as our center. We can keep everything, or we can lay everything aside. If this everything is a help to take Christ as the center, we keep it. If this everything is a damage, a hindrance, to have Christ as the center, we set it aside. We should not insist on anything but Christ.
In the Christian meeting I attended when I was young, I was taught that a man should not have long hair but should cut his hair very short. People there were also taught not to wear leather shoes but to wear the old style of Chinese shoes, and the sisters were taught not to wear certain kinds of dresses. If one of us today were to go there, they might tell us not to come back until we had cut our hair and changed our shoes. These people studied the Scriptures daily, taught the Scriptures, and were very strict. I was with them for quite a period of time, but later I realized that their strictness was not Christ.
If you travel over the whole world, you will see how many different kinds of Christian churches there are, with many different kinds of peculiar emphases. Many groups stress certain things other than Christ. Recently I traveled along the West Coast of the United States. Wherever I went, I often met some Pentecostal saints who asked me, “Do you speak in tongues? What about speaking in tongues?” I do not oppose speaking in tongues, but I must tell the Lord’s children that if we insist too much on speaking in tongues, we are sectarian. If we classify ourselves as “Spirit-filled persons” in a “Spirit-filled church,” we are sectarian. This is to make ourselves too special. We should not make ourselves special among the Lord’s children. We are general children of God. I believe in speaking in tongues in the right way, but I cannot believe that all the so-called tongues throughout the world today are the genuine ones. Perhaps only a small percent are genuine. Nevertheless, we should not insist even on the genuine speaking in tongues.
I have had many talks with the saints in the Far East and in the West, including Europe, about this matter. I pointed out to those dear ones who insist on speaking in tongues that many spiritual, powerful, and prevailing persons in the past never spoke in tongues. Brother Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, was a very powerful and spiritual man. We can even say that he was a spiritual giant, but he never spoke in tongues. George Müller was also a very spiritual man in the last century, but he never spoke in tongues. I do not oppose speaking in tongues, but you must realize that it is not our center. It is not something that is everything to us.
We should insist on nothing but Christ being everything to us. I agree that we must have baptism by immersion in water, but I do not insist on it. If some brothers or sisters do not agree with it, we can still go along with them. We must be careful not to insist on anything other than Christ. Christ is the center, and Christ is the everything of the church. If anything helps people to realize Christ, let us take it. If it is not helpful, let us drop it. We may keep all things, and we may lay all things aside, but we insist on Christ as the center and as everything. Christ is the content of the church.
The eighth point concerning the church is the order of the church. Philippians 1:1 says, “Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.” This verse speaks of the saints with the overseers and deacons. This refers to the order of the church. As a group of the Lord’s children coming together to realize the church life, to have the expression of the Body, the church, we have a real need of a spiritual order. I do not like to use the word organization; this is something wrong. But according to the teaching of the Scriptures, there must be a spiritual order among the saints. According to Acts 20, the overseers are the elders. An overseer is someone who oversees the situation in the church. In the churches there are always some leading ones. The elders are the ones who take the responsibility to care for the church, and the deacons are the ones who serve the church.
We all need much grace to keep the right order among the Lord’s children. To keep the order we must have elders. A brother needs much grace to be an elder. There are very many needs in the church. To be an elder, a person has to be broken, broad-minded, full of Christ, humble in the spirit, and patient in the spirit. He must also have some amount of spiritual knowledge, and he must be filled with God as love and saturated by the Spirit as wisdom. Oh, how much grace one needs to be an elder! As we have seen, he first must be broken and humble. If one has never been humble, he can never be an elder.
Not only so, we also need much grace to submit to the elders. There is the need to be the elders, and there is the need to submit to the elders. The first time I went to Shanghai thirty years ago, I encountered two brothers. The first brother came to the church in Shanghai first, and after a certain time, the second brother was brought in through the first brother. However, after a certain period of time, the second brother had improved, grown, and matured much in the Lord, but the first brother remained as a child and still spoke as a child. When it came time for the church to establish elders, the second brother was established as an elder, and the first one was not. From that time onward, the first brother complained and asked why the second had become an elder, and he, the first, had not. He could never submit himself to the second brother. I speak frankly; to submit yourself to someone else requires much grace, sometimes even more grace.
First Corinthians 11 tells us that God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of every man, and man is the head of the woman (v. 3). Therefore, the woman must be covered (vv. 5-6). Man is the head, and the woman has to be covered. For man to be the head requires much grace. If one does not have the grace, it is impossible for him to be the head. I have experienced this. To be a head is not simple. In the years that I was in Shanghai, many times I told the Lord, “I almost long to be a sister.” How nice it is to be a sister because to be a brother, as the head, one has to take care of many things. He must be suppressed and put down, and he must learn the lessons to be broken, to be humble, and to be patient. Oh, there are so many lessons! Eventually all the burdens will come to him.
One day, the main one among the leading sisters came to me about a certain matter and said, “Brother Lee, in this matter you brothers must take the responsibility.” I said, “Yes, sister, there is no doubt about this.” She said, “Good. Let us sisters go in peace.” I said, “Sister, you can go in peace, while we bear the burden.” After that I told the Lord, “Lord, I long to be a sister so that I could go in peace.” Brothers, do you realize that you are brothers and that you must take care of the burdens? You cannot go in peace. How easy and comfortable it is to be a sister. This illustrates that to be an elder in the real church life is not an easy matter. It requires much grace.
Nevertheless, I realize that if I were a sister, it would not be easy to submit myself to the brothers. One day a sister came to me and said, “Brother Lee, I know we sisters have to submit to you brothers as the head, but you brothers must know what kind of head you need to be. We sisters can submit to a certain kind of head, but we cannot submit ourselves to any kind of head. A human has a head, but so does a hammer and an axe.” That sister challenged me, asking, “Brother Lee, what kind of head are you brothers going to be? The head of a hammer, hammering us all the time?” This shows that it is not easy to submit to others. Especially today in the twentieth century, throughout the whole world the human race is inclining toward independence. Everyone wants to be independent. Even the children want to be independent of their parents, and the students want to be independent of their teachers and school. No one wants to submit to another, but if there is no submission, how can there be an order? How can there be the real Body life?
A certain brother has three grandchildren, the youngest of whom is about two years old. One day I said to her, “Baby, how are you?” She said, “I am not a baby! I am big!” Even such a small girl wants to be big in her family. It is human nature to want to be big. On the way to Jerusalem as the Lord was going to be crucified, the disciples argued about who was the greatest. Was there the possibility of an order being built up among them?
We say that we are going to have the church life, but what about submission? It is not easy to submit ourselves to others. I can never forget how thirty years ago Brother Watchman Nee said in a message, “To submit yourself to others requires more grace.” He used the words more grace. We need more grace to submit ourselves to others. Not only do the brothers and sisters need to submit to the elders, but even the elders need to learn the lesson to submit themselves to all the brothers. We need to learn the lesson to submit to one another. This is taught in 1 Peter 5, which implies that even the elders should submit themselves to the younger ones (v. 5).
We need to submit to one another so that there will be a nice, wonderful, spiritual order among us. This order is the real church life, and this order is the real building up of the church. We say that we want to have the church life and the building up of the church, but we must realize that the real church life and the real building up of the church depends upon spiritual order. For this, we all need grace. Each one of us needs grace to keep our position and stand where we ought to stand. Each one needs the grace to keep his own position so that we can have a spiritual order among us. Then we will realize the real church life. If we do not have the order, it is impossible to have the church life.
What we have spoken here is something truly profitable. We need to realize that the church is expressed on the earth in the localities where people are gathered, and wherever we go, we must keep in mind that there is one church, one expression of the Body of Christ. We must respect and honor this principle. Moreover, we must realize that the content of the church is Christ Himself, and we must learn the lesson by grace to keep our own position so that the order of the church may be kept and maintained, so that we may have the real church life. The expression of the church, the content of the church, and the order of the church are the three most practical matters in the church life. May the Lord grant us the grace to see these matters and to keep them.
