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In the previous message we saw that as the spontaneous issue of our experience of the dispensing of the divine Trinity, we have the kingdom life, and the reality of the kingdom life is the content of the church life. We experience the dispensing of the processed Triune God corporately by entering into the kingdom and also by living in the church. In this message we shall consider some matters related to our living in the church.
The church is God’s house (1 Tim. 3:15), and this house is our family and home. As members of the household of God, we are God’s family, even God’s house. All believers have been born of God into His house to enjoy His riches. The Greek word rendered “house” in 1 Timothy 3:15 may also be translated household, as in 1 Timothy 3:4,5, and 12. The household, the family, of God is the house of God. The house and the household are one thing — the assembly of the believers (Eph. 2:19; Heb. 3:6). The reality of this house as the dwelling place of the living God is in our spirit (Eph. 2:22). God is our Father, and we, the believers in Christ, are His children. Being His children, we are the “folks” of God’s family. Therefore, Ephesians 2:19 says that we are “members of the household of God.” The Greek word for “household” here refers both to the house, the dwelling place, and to the household, the family. Ephesians 2 reveals the household as the habitation of God. Verse 19 mentions the household, while verse 22 says that we are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit. The household is the dwelling place, the habitation.
Physically speaking, a household cannot be the dwelling place of a father. However, spiritually speaking, God’s children are His family and also His dwelling place. God’s habitation is built with His children. Hence, the family is the dwelling place. We are both God’s family and God’s house. Corporately, we, the believers, are the house of God and the folks of God, His dwelling place and His family. Therefore, to say that we live in the church means that we live in the dwelling place of God and in the family of God.
First Timothy 3:15 says, “If I delay, that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.” As God’s dwelling place, the church is both God’s house and His household, His family. In the Old Testament the temple and God’s people were two separate things, but in the fulfillment in the New Testament the dwelling place and the family are one. According to God’s New Testament economy, God’s family is His house.
In speaking of the church as the house of God, Paul specifically refers to God as the living God. The living God who lives in the church must be subjective to the church rather than merely objective. An idol in a heathen temple is lifeless. The God who not only lives but also acts, moves, and works in His living temple, the church, is living. Because He is living, the church is also living in Him, by Him, and with Him. A living God and a living church live, move, and work together. The living church is the house and the household of the living God. Therefore, in our meetings, service, and ministry we must give people the impression that the living God is living, moving, speaking, and acting among us.
The church, the house of the living God, is living in the Father’s name and in the Father’s life. This means that the church is living in the Father’s reality. God’s house is a living composition of His many children in the Father’s life and reality. Where the house of God is, there is the family of God, and where the family of God is, there is God the Father with His life and reality. This is similar to the church being the Body of Christ. Christ is not separate from the members of the Body, for, as the Head of the Body, Christ indwells all the members. Christ should not be counted as a separate member of the Body, because He is in all the members of the Body. The principle is the same with the church as God’s house and family. The Father is not a separate member of the household but is in all the children.
In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul tells us that the church of the living God is “the pillar and base of the truth.” The pillar supports the building, and the base holds the pillar. The church is such a supporting pillar and holding base of the truth. In this verse truth refers to the real things which are revealed in the New Testament concerning Christ and the church according to God’s New Testament economy. The church is the supporting pillar and holding base of all these realities. A local church should be such a building that holds, bears, and testifies the truth, the reality, of Christ and the church.
God’s New Testament economy is composed of two mysteries: Christ as the mystery of God (Col. 2:2) and the church as the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4). Christ and the church, the Head and the Body, are the contents of the reality of God’s New Testament economy. As the pillar which bears the truth and the base which upholds the pillar, the church testifies the reality, the truth, of Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ.
We may also say that the truth in 1 Timothy 3:15 denotes the divine realities, the realities of our God. These divine realities are revealed in particular in chapters fourteen through sixteen of the Gospel of John. According to these chapters, the truth, the reality, is revealed especially as the truth of the Spirit. The Spirit is the Spirit of all the divine realities. Today as the pillar and base of the truth, the church holds the realities of the divine Being. God’s realities are testified by the church as the pillar and base of the truth.
First Timothy 3:15 and 16 indicate that the church is also God’s manifestation in the flesh — the mystery of godliness. God is manifested in the church, the Body of Christ, as the enlarged, corporate expression in the flesh. First Timothy 3:15b and 16 say, “The house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness, who was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” In Greek, the antecedent of “who” is omitted but easily recognized, that is, Christ, who was God manifested in the flesh as the mystery of godliness. The transition from “the mystery…” to “who” implies that Christ as the manifestation of God in the flesh is the mystery of godliness (Col. 1:27; Gal. 2:20). This mystery of godliness is the living of a proper church, and such a living is also the manifestation of God in the flesh.
These verses imply that not only Christ Himself as the Head but also the church as the Body is the manifestation of God in the flesh. When a church grows in Christ with the growth of God (Col. 2:19), it will function as the house and household of the living God for His move on earth and as the supporting pillar and holding base of the truth, bearing the divine reality of Christ and His Body as a testimony to the world. Then the church becomes the continuation of Christ’s manifestation of God in the flesh. This is the great mystery of godliness — Christ lived out of the church as the manifestation of God in the flesh.
Such a church is the continuation, enlargement, and expansion of God manifested in the flesh. This manifestation of God is the church as the house of God and the pillar and base of the truth. The church is, then, the increase, the enlargement, of the manifestation of God in the flesh. This is God manifested in the flesh in a wider way. This is according to the New Testament principle of incarnation, which is God manifested in the flesh.
First Timothy 3:16 begins with the words, “And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness.” The conjunction “and” here indicates that the speaking about the church in verse 15 is not yet finished, and that the church is something even more than the house of the living God and the pillar and base of the truth. The church is also the mystery of godliness. According to the context, godliness refers not only to piety but to the living of God in the church, that is, God as life lived out in the church to be expressed. The church life is the expression of God. Both Christ and the church, the Head and the Body, are the mystery of godliness, expressing God in the flesh. This is the great mystery confessed universally by believers in Christ. The church as the manifestation of God in the flesh is a mystery, the mystery of godliness.
The mystery of godliness is the living of a proper church, and such a living is the manifestation of God in the flesh. When a church is well taken care of according to the instructions given in 1 Timothy, with the oversight of the elders and the service of the deacons fully established, the church will function as the house of the living God and as the pillar and base of the truth and will be the continuation and enlargement of the manifestation of God in the flesh. This manifestation began with Christ when He was on earth, and now it continues in the church. The church, therefore, as the manifestation of the invisible God is the mystery of godliness. If we have the proper church life through the reality of the kingdom, the manifestation of God, which began in Christ, will continue in the church.
The believers live in churches that are in their localities respectively. Acts 8:1, for example, speaks of “the church in Jerusalem.” This was the first church established in a locality within the jurisdiction of a city, in this case the city of Jerusalem. It was a local church in its locality, as indicated by the Lord in Matthew 18:17. It was not the universal church, as revealed by the Lord in Matthew 16:18, but only a part of the universal church, which is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). The record of the New Testament concerning the establishment of the church in its locality is consistent throughout (Acts 13:1; 14:23; Rom. 16:1; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 8:1; Gal. 1:2; Rev. 1:4, 11).
The second mention of a particular local church in the New Testament is in Acts 13:1a. This verse says, “Now there were in Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers.” In Antioch there was another local church, another expression of the church. Hence, in Acts 8 and 13 we can see one church with two expressions: one is at Jerusalem, the other at Antioch. All local churches are the expression of the one universal church.
In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul addresses “the church of God which is in Corinth.” This reveals that the church is not the church of any person, practice, or doctrine but of God. The church is the church of God because it is constituted of the universal God. Such a church existed in Corinth, a definite locality. In nature the church is universal in God, but in practice the church is local in a definite place. This means that the church has two aspects: the universal and the local. Without the universal aspect, the church has no content; without the local aspect, it is impossible for the church to have any expression and practice. For this reason, the New Testament emphasizes the local aspect of the church.
The description of the church in 1 Corinthians 1:2 is marvelous. The church is of God, for it is constituted of the element of God. But the church which is of God is also local. Hence, in this one verse we see both the universal aspect and the local aspect of the church. The universal aspect refers to the constitution, nature, and content of the church; the local aspect refers to the expression and practicality of the church. If we have only the local aspect but not the aspect of the church being of God, we shall have only an outward formality. We shall be lacking the inward reality. But if we have only the universal aspect but not the local aspect of the church in a particular locality, we shall have the reality but not the practicality. On the one hand, the church is constituted of God; on the other hand, the church is expressed in a particular locality. The universal church is expressed and practiced in particular localities.
The universal church as the Body of Christ is expressed through the local churches. The local churches, as the expressions of the one Body of Christ, are locally one. The book of Revelation was written to local churches, to “the seven churches which are in Asia” (1:4). Asia was a province of the ancient Roman Empire in which were the seven cities mentioned in Revelation 1:11. The seven churches were in those seven cities respectively, not all in one city. The book of Revelation does not deal with the one universal church but with the local churches in many cities. The church is first revealed as universal in Matthew 16:18 and then as local in Matthew 18:17. In Acts the church was practiced in the way of local churches. Except for a few Epistles written to individuals, all the Epistles in the New Testament were written to local churches. Not one was written to the universal church. Without the local churches there is no practicality and actuality of the universal church. The universal church is realized in the local churches. Knowing the church universally must be consummated in knowing the church locally. It is a great advance for us to know and practice the local churches. Concerning the church, the book of Revelation is in the advanced stage, for it is written to local churches.
In Revelation 1:11 the voice said to John, “What you see write in a book and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” This verse is composed in a very important way. In this verse we see that the sending of this book to the seven churches equals the sending of it to the seven cities. This shows clearly that the practice of the church life in the early days was that of one church for one city, one city with one church. In no city was there more than one church. This is the local church, local with respect to city, not with respect to street or area. The jurisdiction of a local church should cover the whole city in which the church is; it should not be greater or lesser than the boundary of the city. All the believers within that boundary should constitute the one unique local church within that city. Hence, one church equals one city, and one city equals one church. This is what we call the local churches.
Matthew 18:17 reveals that the believers are to obey the church. If a brother sins, we first need to deal with him in love (v. 15), then by two or three witnesses (v. 16), and finally through the church with authority. Verse 17 says, “If he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to hear the church also, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector.” If a believer refuses to hear the church, he will lose the fellowship of the church and become like the Gentile, the heathen, and the tax collector, sinners who are outside the fellowship of the church. A Gentile or tax collector is someone who does not have the fellowship in the kingdom life or in the church life. To consider a believer a Gentile or a tax collector does not mean to excommunicate him. On the contrary, it means that he is considered as one cut off from the fellowship of the church. The offending brother who will not listen to the church may not require excommunication. Instead, he should be cut off from the fellowship of the church in order that this loss of fellowship may encourage him to repent and to recover his fellowship with the church.
The church which the believers should obey is certainly the local church, not the universal church. The church revealed in Matthew 16:18 is the universal church, the unique Body of Christ, whereas the church revealed in Matthew 18:17 is the local church, the expression of the unique Body of Christ in a certain locality. Matthew 16 concerns the universal building of the church, but chapter eighteen concerns the local practice of the church. Both chapters indicate that the church represents the kingdom of the heavens, having the authority to bind and to loose.
In order to be in the kingdom of the heavens in a practical way, we need to be in a local church. According to the context of 18:17, both the reality and the practicality of the kingdom are in the local church. In a chapter dealing with relationships in the kingdom, the Lord Jesus speaks eventually of the church. This indicates that the practicality of the kingdom today is in the local church. Without the local church, it is impossible to have the practicality and reality of the kingdom life. The local church is the reality both of the kingdom and of the universal church. Therefore, it is crucial for believers to obey the church. The more we realize how independent our natural self is, the more willing we shall be to submit to the church and to obey the church. Because of our independent self, we all must learn to obey the church. The church has the authority, and we must listen to the church and submit to the church. If we do not submit to the church, we are through with the kingdom, for the kingdom life is a life of submission to the church.
The context of Matthew 18 indicates that the reality of the church is the Lord’s presence (v. 20). The Lord’s presence is the authority of the church. The church must be certain that it has the presence of the Lord as its reality; otherwise, it has no genuine authority. The real and practical authority of the church is the Lord’s presence. If a believer does not listen to the church, he actually rebels against the Lord’s presence. The church then has the ground to exercise authority in the presence of the Lord over such a case of rebellion.
If we would live in the church, we need to meet with the church. In 1 Corinthians 14:23a Paul speaks of the whole church coming “together in one place.” This refers to a church meeting. In verse 26 Paul again refers to the believers coming together in a church meeting. Any believer who does not meet with the church spontaneously takes himself out of the church life.
First Corinthians 14 reveals that a meeting of the whole church actually is the church. After speaking in verse 23 of the whole church, Paul in verse 28 mentions a case when a person should “be silent in the church.” This clearly indicates that the church meeting is the church. When the whole church comes together, that is the meeting, and that is also the church because the meeting is the church. Such a meeting is not only part of the church — it is the church.
The proper way for believers to meet is to meet either as the church or as a part of the church. If the whole church comes together, then we meet as the church. If we meet in small groups in our homes, all those different meetings should be parts of the one church in our locality. All the meetings of the believers in a city should be constituents of the unique local church in that city. This is the proper way to meet. If we would experience the dispensing of the divine Trinity corporately by living in the church, we need to meet with the church, meeting either as the church or as a part of the church.
