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In the Gospel of Matthew various points are put together to reveal a doctrine. This is what Matthew did in chapter 16. After giving the revelation concerning Christ and the church, he unveiled the way the church is built.
In Matthew 16:18 the Lord Jesus said, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” How can the church be built up in a practical way? The answer is found in verses 21 through 26. According to biblical terms, the way to build up the church is to be crucified and resurrected. Unless Christ had been crucified and resurrected, He could not build up the church. The church came into existence through His death and resurrection. Verse 21 says, “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.” This verse indicates that the way to build up the church is through death and resurrection. On the mount the Lord Jesus was transfigured. This transfiguration, however, was temporary. Through death and resurrection Christ was permanently transfigured. Resurrection is a form of transfiguration. Through death and resurrection Christ has entered into a realm of transfiguration. The church exists in this realm of transfiguration. It cannot exist in the natural life or with fleshly people. It can exist only in a realm of transfiguration. As long as we are in a natural realm or in a fleshly condition, we are through with the church.
In verse 21 the Lord revealed the way to build the church. However, the one to whom He had given the keys of the kingdom did not agree with this way. When the Lord spoke to Peter regarding death and resurrection, Peter dissented and rebuked Him. Verse 22 says, “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You!” But if this had not happened to the Lord, the church could have by no means been built up. If Peter, the one who received the keys, could be so dissenting, then any of us can be dissenting also. The history of Christianity is a history of dissension. The source of this dissension is Satan who comes out from Hades through the self. When the gate of self is open, Satan comes out to dissent.
When Peter rebuked the Lord, he was one with Satan. For this reason, verse 23 says, “He turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.” Here we see that Peter and Satan were one. Thus, the Lord rebuked Peter by calling him Satan and saying that he was a stumbling block to Him. The Lord also pointed out that Peter was not setting his mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.
Verse 24 says, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” The Lord Jesus did not say to deny Satan but to deny the self. Satan and self are synonymous terms used interchangeably by the Lord. To deny the self is negative. In this chapter we need to see something on the positive side. The positive side is the matter of taking up the cross and following the Lord. We all have our cross. The Lord’s cross is unique, but our crosses are many. In order for the church to be built, the Lord Jesus had to take up His cross, and we also must take up our cross.
Throughout the years this matter of taking up the cross and bearing the cross has been grossly misunderstood. For example, a brother who has lost a great deal of money in business may say that he must bear the cross. The book The Imitation of Christ, supposedly written by Thomas à Kempis, has been a help to many Christians. Nevertheless, that book contains an error: the concept that our human sufferings should be regarded as bearing the cross. This concept is very much like Hinduism. This is also a pronounced weakness of today’s Catholicism, which emphasizes our need to suffer. Thus, the concept of suffering has crept into the Christian religion. In her biography Madame Guyon says that she even asked for crosses. This comes from the natural concept.
We need to know the genuine meaning of the cross. Yes, the cross is a matter of suffering. Crucifixion was the method used by the Roman government to execute criminals. No doubt, to the criminal the cross was a suffering because he did not choose to be crucified. On the contrary, he was forced to be crucified. The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, however, was altogether different. He was not forced to suffer crucifixion; He chose it. This was His own preference. He was not compelled to go to the cross; He was willing to do so because His cross was God’s will. Hence, His crucifixion was for the fulfillment of God’s will. The Lord was willing to take up the cross and be crucified for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. In other words, Christ was not forced to die like a criminal. Rather, He was willing to be crucified so that through death His life might be released to produce the church.
No doubt, the cross was a great suffering to the Lord, but He had no thought of reducing the suffering. Rather, when He was offered the wine mingled with gall, He rejected it (27:34; Mark 15:23). The Lord did not care for the suffering; He cared for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. When He was on the cross, the Lord suffered greatly. But that suffering was not forced upon Him. He took it willingly. In Matthew 26:39 the Lord prayed to the Father, “Not as I will, but as You will.” At that same time He also prayed, “Your will be done” (v. 42). The Lord was willing to take up the cross, to go to the cross, and to remain on the cross until God’s will had been fulfilled. This is the significance of the first mention of the cross in the Bible.
According to this principle of first mention, all the other crosses must be the same as the first cross. This means that we are not forced to bear the cross but that we willingly take it up. Notice, the Lord Jesus did not say, “Let him deny himself and be crucified.” No, He said, “Let him...take up his cross.” We are not to be crucified, but we are to pick up the cross. However, certain brothers have said, “I have been crucified by my dear wife many times.” Such brothers are not cross-bearers; they are criminals executed by their wives. If you say that your children are crucifying you, you are not a cross-bearer but an executed criminal. Today most Christians are criminals being executed; very few are cross-bearers. Let me ask you this question: Are you a criminal or a cross-bearer? We all need to say, “Praise the Lord, I am not a criminal. I am one who is willing to bear the cross. I have not been crucified by others; rather, I take up the cross and bear it.”
We have seen that the Lord did not suffer as a criminal but that He willingly took up His cross. He was a willing and happy cross-bearer for the purpose of fulfilling God’s will to produce the church. Through His death His divine life was released to us, making us the members of the church. Today the problem is not with Him; it is with us. Although we have the divine life within us and have become members of the church, the problem is whether or not we shall be built up. We all have the divine life in us for the church, but we have not yet been built together. Throughout the centuries Christians have had the divine life in them for the church, but there has not been the building. Instead, there has been dissension, division, and confusion. Where is the building? Christ has done His best. Now it is our turn to take up the cross.
To take up the cross simply means to take up God’s will. The cross is actually God’s will. Anything that is not God’s will is not a cross. The cross experienced by Christ definitely was God’s will. If God’s will had been that Christ should not die on the cross, yet Christ still went there and died, He would have been acting contrary to God’s will. In such a case, that would not have been a cross but the execution of a criminal. However, the cross through which the Lord Jesus passed was not a criminal execution but the will of God.
According to God’s ordination in the Bible, there is one husband for one wife. Consider how Abraham obtained a wife for his son Isaac. Before Abraham’s servant brought Rebekah to Isaac, Isaac had never seen her. But when she was brought to him, he took her as his wife. This indicates that marriage, by whatever means it takes place, is sovereignly under the hand of God. Once you have married a certain one, she is your wife, and there is nothing more you can do about it. According to God’s ordination, there must be no divorce. One husband for one wife is God’s will. If you divorce your wife, you divorce yourself from God’s will. But if you accept her, you accept God’s will, because she represents God’s will and even is His will. God’s will is always a cross. However, if you suffer your wife as a cross, you are a criminal. But if you willingly take her by the Lord’s grace, you are a cross-bearer. You willingly take up the cross; you are not executed. You recognize that your wife is God’s will and ordination.
Suppose a brother’s wife causes him to suffer. Since no divorce is permitted, he has two choices regarding her. He may either suffer with her like a criminal being executed on the cross, or he may take her as God’s will and as his lot and portion. He may say, “God has allotted her to me. It was not I who married her; it was God who gave her to me. This is God’s will, God’s ordination. Hallelujah, I am willing and happy to bear the cross! I am not a criminal but a happy cross-bearer.” If we do this, the presence of the Lord will be with us, and we shall enjoy the riches of life. Furthermore, we shall have a strong testimony of being built into one.
We may apply the same principle to the church life. In the universe there is just one church, and in any locality there should also be one church. The one church is God’s ordination and allotment. This is His portion to us, and this is His will. Whether we like the church or not does not mean anything, because the church is God’s will. Perhaps at first you were very happy with the church, and you enjoyed a church-life honeymoon. But later you came to dislike the church and desired a separation from it. Many Christians today have divorced themselves from the church. But if we do this, we neglect Matthew 16. If we can divorce the church, there will be no building. Through the centuries many Christians have been like a woman who has had several husbands. After staying with a certain man for a period of time, she divorces him in order to be with another man. This is the actual situation among today’s Christians. We need to recognize that the one church is God’s will and ordination and that we have no choice about it. Therefore, eventually the church becomes the cross that we must bear. The question is whether we shall bear it like a criminal being executed or bear it willingly and happily. We should be like Christ who made the cross His choice, His first preference. Although being in the church may cause us difficulties, there is nothing we can do about it, for the church is the church. Thus, we all need to pray, “Lord, grant me the sufficient grace to make me a willing cross-bearer.” If you pray like this, you will become a happy bearer of the cross, not a criminal. As a result, you will have the genuine building.
Nearly all Christians today choose a church according to their taste, like people who choose restaurants according to their taste. Some may not like a certain church because the members shout and call on the name of the Lord. Others prefer a church where they can speak in tongues or hear musical performances by soloists, quartets, and choirs. If we are like this, then there is no bearing of the cross. First, we must find out what the church is. Once we find out, there must be no further preference, no further choice. Whether we like the church or not, we must recognize that the church is not according to our taste but according to God’s will and ordination. We simply need to claim the sufficient grace that we may become a happy bearer of the cross. We need to say, “Lord, make me a willing cross-bearer like You were. You learned what God’s will was in Matthew 26, and then You were willing to do it. You were glad to take up the cross. You could have summoned twelve legions of angels to rescue You, but You did not do it. You were willing to bear the cross. Thank You, Lord, that through Your willingness to bear the cross we are here today as the church. Now, Lord, we want to partake of Your willingness to take up the cross so that Your life may be released.”
Not only is the church God’s will, but every brother and sister in the church is also His will. According to the Bible, we have no way to divide ourselves from the brothers and sisters. If we prefer certain brothers and sisters above others, we are a Barjona, a son of flesh and blood. In the church every brother and sister is God’s will, and we have no choice regarding them. The Father has begotten them all, and we need to accept them all as His will. There is no room for our likes or dislikes, both of which are natural. In the church there are no special friendships and no preferences. Thus, eventually every brother and sister becomes a cross to us. However, if we receive mercy and grace from the Lord, we shall become a happy bearer of the cross, not a criminal condemned to execution.
If I say that I do not like a certain brother and will no longer spend any time with him, I spontaneously stop bearing the cross. As soon as I forsake the cross, the building ceases. The church has not been built over the past nineteen centuries because not many have been willing to take up the cross. Are you willing to bear the cross? The whole church, with every brother and sister in it, is a cross. We have no choice, no preference. We must bear the church and we must bear all of the saints, whether we like them or not. If we have our preference, we are not bearing the cross, and there can be no building. Wherever I am, I have no choice, for there is just one church.
Some saints in the Lord’s recovery, however, have tried to have their choice regarding the church. After staying in a certain place for a period of time, they became unhappy with the church there, especially with the leading ones. Therefore, they moved to another locality and stayed there for another period of time. Being unhappy there, they moved to still another place. In each locality the situation was the same. This illustrates the fact that no church can satisfy you according to your taste. Instead, what you need to do is to willingly bear the cross. Do not make any selection, for all the churches are the same. If you cannot be happy in one place, you will not be happy in any other place. Do not try to deal with the church, but deal with your taste.
Many are able to get along with the church but not with some of the saints. If this is your situation, you are finished with the building. We need to take up the cross. If you make a selection among the churches, you are a wide open gate for Satan to come out. Thus, you must use the second key — the taking up of the cross. We need to say, “Lord, Your will is that there be one church in the universe and one church in every city. Lord, Your will is also that I be one with all my brothers and sisters. As long as anyone is a believer, I must accept him without choice or preference. My likes or dislikes do not mean anything.” This is the unique way for us to be built together. Otherwise, our preferences and tastes will constantly fluctuate. Today I may feel positively toward you, but tomorrow I may feel negatively. Both in the church life and in married life there should be no fluctuation. What can keep us stable and steadfast is the bearing of the cross. This is the second practical key for the building of the church.
In the previous chapter we saw that the first key is denying the self. Now we see that the second key is taking up the cross. Denying the self is negative, whereas taking up the cross is positive. The only way to fulfill God’s will is to take up the cross. Do not blame the brothers and sisters, and do not even blame yourself. Rather, simply take up the cross. Do not give any ground to your choice or preference. Your destiny is God’s will, God’s ordination. We need to take the one church and all the brothers and sisters as God’s will. However, deep within us we may have certain preferences. We may like some and dislike others. Because we are natural and human, we all have our preferences. But if we exercise our preference, there will not be any building.
All the demons and evil angels are observing us and examining our testimony. Thus, our testimony is not merely before men but before the whole universe. What a shame it is if we talk about the building but do not actually have the building because of our natural preferences! We need to pray, “Lord, help us and grant us the sufficient grace. We want to bear the cross so that no evil angel may be able to say a negative word about our testimony. We are here as the testimony of the building, and we want there to be no ground for the demons and evil angels to say anything.” Man may not know what is taking place, but all the demons and evil angels understand what we are doing. They know what is in our heart and whether or not we are willing to take up the cross. If we are willing to bear the cross, then we are a real testimony.
A battle is raging today not simply before men but before all the evil powers. Thus, we must have no preferences, no choices, except the will of God; and we must take up the cross, that is, take up the will of God. If we have seen the vision of the one church and of all the saints as the members of the one Body, then we shall have no choice and no personal taste. We should not care for our taste, feeling, or consciousness. Rather, we should care only for God’s will that we would have the genuine oneness, the oneness that can stand the investigation of all the demons and the principalities and powers. We want to have the testimony before the evil powers that we are a people with the genuine oneness because we are all willing to take up the cross. We are not suffering like criminals, but we are happy cross-bearers. I believe that at this end time throughout the entire earth there will be a people bearing such a testimony.
