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Initially, a saved one has no consideration of the church, even though he readily adopts concepts related to pursuing spirituality, working zealously for the Lord, and praying and reading the Bible diligently. After a person is saved, he usually has these good, worthy, and spiritual concepts. However, he rarely considers the matter of the church. He will consider the matter of the church only after pursuing the Lord for many years. Very few saints feel that they need to pay attention to the matter of the church after they are saved. Although God cares for the church very much, we neglect the matter of the church. The church occupies a crucial place in God’s thought, even though the church seemingly has no place in our considerations.
When we believed in the Lord and began to read the Bible, we focused on teachings, such as honoring our parents, treating others with honesty, and being truthful, patient, and good. It seemed as if every book in the Bible spoke about ethics and moral character. It was not easy for us to touch the truth of the church.
If we seriously study the Word, especially the New Testament, we will find that God has the most regard for the church. According to Ephesians 3:9-11, the church is something that is according to God’s eternal plan. God is working, and He intends to gain the church in the universe. God’s eternal plan is to gain the church in His Son, Christ. Everything that God does in the universe is to gain the church.
God created the universe and everything in it in order to prepare an environment and base so that He could build the church. If someone wants to build a house, he needs to prepare the environment and base, including planting flowers, grass, and trees for landscaping. Likewise, everything in the universe has been created as an environment and base for God to build the church. This is the purpose of God’s creation of all things in the universe. God created man to prepare materials so that He could use these materials to build His church. Except for building the church, God would have had no need to create the universe, all things, or even man. Except for building the church, there would be no need for creation. God’s creation is for the building of the church.
There is a line running through the Bible, beginning in Genesis and ending in Revelation, showing that God’s purpose in creation is to produce the New Jerusalem. Man is the material of the New Jerusalem. Her foundations are the twelve apostles (21:14), representing the New Testament saints, and her gates are the twelve tribes of Israel (v. 12), representing the Old Testament saints. The material for building the New Jerusalem is man, that is, men who have been gained by God in every time and in every place, including those in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Moreover, the New Jerusalem is in the new heaven and the new earth as the environment of the universe.
Creation is part of God’s procedure for accomplishing His purpose of building the church. God’s eternal plan in the universe is for His Son and in His Son. God’s plan is for His expression. God is in His Son, and through the death and resurrection of His only begotten Son, God produced many sons. These many sons are the church that God is building. The expression of God through many sons is God’s intention.
God chose the church before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4 says, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” God’s choosing involved a big “us.” God did not choose individual persons; we were not chosen by God individually. Paul was not chosen at one time, while we were chosen at a different time. God chose us at the same time that He chose Paul. We were chosen together and with the same motive. God did not choose persons individually; He chose the church.
When the Lord came to the earth, the Word became flesh (John 1:14). He was called Emmanuel, which means “God with us” (Matt. 1:23). He is the Son of God, who solely expressed God, having been anointed by God and commissioned by God. In Matthew 16:16 Peter, in particular, received a revelation concerning this very matter. Then the Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church” (v. 18). In the New Testament the Lord’s work is not merely to save sinners and to edify them; His work is to build the church. He is saving the sinners in order to build the church, and even more, He is edifying the saints in order to build the church. The Lord clearly said that He would build His church upon the rock; He is doing only one thing — building the church. The Lord did not say, “Simon Barjona, you are blessed because you have received the Father’s revelation that I am the Christ, the Son of the living God. Therefore, I will save sinners and shepherd My flock.” In Matthew 16 the Lord speaks of His goal to build the church.
The church that the Lord builds is related to both the gates of Hades and the keys of the kingdom of the heavens (vv. 18-19). The gates and the keys are related to each other. The gates of Hades represent the authority of Satan, the kingdom of Satan. The keys of the kingdom of the heavens represent the authority of God, the kingdom of God. The church that the Lord is building is related to the kingdom of Satan and to the kingdom of God.
Verse 18 says, “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” This means that the gates of Hades are powerful, but that they cannot overcome the church. The gates of Hades is a plural expression in Greek. This means that there are many gates trying to drag the church down into death. For two thousand years the gates of Hades have been strongly and continuously operating in order to drag the church down into death and to keep the church in the realm of death. However, the gates of Hades cannot drag down the church indefinitely; the church always comes out from death because the church is in resurrection. The church is built on the Son of the living God, the resurrected Christ; hence, the church cannot be held by death; the gates of Hades have no way to deal with the church. Instead, the church releases souls who are kept by the gates of Hades.
The church has the keys of the kingdom of the heavens to bring man under the authority of the heavens as the realm of God, the kingdom of God. The authority that determines whether a man can enter into the kingdom of the heavens is in the hands of the church. If the church does not lose its place and reality, it has this authority. When the church is living completely in Christ to be the expression and the testimony of Christ, it has the authority of the heavens.
The record in Acts 2 through 4 shows the initial condition of the church: This was the realization of the picture described in Matthew 16:18-19. On the day of Pentecost the church was established, and ever since, the gates of Hades have done their best to deal with the church, but they can do nothing. The gates that imprisoned the apostles represent the gates of Hades (Acts 4:3). The Judaizers tried their best to deal with the church by seizing the apostles and throwing them into prison, but eventually, the gates of the prison were opened (5:19). The gates of Hades cannot overcome the church or keep the church in death.
Men put Christ to death and buried Him in a tomb, but on the third day He came out of death. Likewise, people try to deal with the church and bring it into death, but the church always comes out of death. This is the meaning of the Lord’s word in Matthew 16 concerning the gates of Hades not prevailing against the church. The church brings in the kingdom of the heavens and manifests heavenly authority in the realm of heavenly authority.
Ephesians 4 reveals that Christ ascended to the height to be the Head and that He gave, as gifts (v. 8), some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as shepherds and teachers (v. 11). He gave these gifts for the building up of His Body, the church (v. 12).
Chapter 5 says even more explicitly that Christ gave Himself up for the church (v. 25). We rarely think of the Lord as giving Himself up for the church; instead, we think of Him as giving Himself up for us as individuals. Nevertheless, the only reason that the Lord gave Himself up for us at an individual level was to produce the church. He even nourishes and cherishes the church so that the church would be without spot or wrinkle (vv. 26-29). The Lord not only cleanses the church with His blood but also removes the spots and wrinkles of the old creation in us by His resurrection life.
Many of us have the concept that it is good enough for the church to be sinless. Sometimes we meet a brother whose condition is very good and who does not sin, but we still sense that he has some old elements, that is, spots and wrinkles. Spots and wrinkles cannot be washed away by natural water, and they cannot be cleansed by the Lord’s precious blood. They can be cleansed only by the water of the Lord’s resurrection life. The Lord’s work of giving Himself up for us, including shedding His blood to wash away our sins and cleansing our spots and wrinkles by His resurrection life, is for the church. His goal is to build a glorious church, a church without spot or wrinkle.
Chapter 3 also says that the church causes God to be glorified forever and ever (v. 21). The church is not temporary; the church causes God to be glorified throughout eternity. The eternal nature of the church is of the Lord Himself. In the New Jerusalem we will see the fullest expression of God being glorified in the church. The New Jerusalem shows that God is expressed and glorified through the church eternally.
First Timothy 3:15 says that the church is the pillar and base of the truth. The great mystery of God being manifested in the flesh is upheld by the church (v. 16). In the universe the church upholds God’s truth and holds forth the great mystery of God being manifested in the flesh.
Revelation 21 and 22 clearly show that God does not want many scattered Christians but all the saved ones who have been built up together as a city. God’s thought is of a corporate entity, and God’s concept is of a corporate Body. However, as saved ones, we rarely have this concept. We do not have a concept that is corporate but one that is individualistic in nature. We see only our individual salvation, our individual love for the Lord, and our individual reading of the Bible, prayer, spiritual pursuit, and work. All our concepts are centered on ourselves as individuals.
Even though we do not have a concept of being corporate, it is only possible for us to be corporate. Even though our concepts are entirely individualistic, we can never actually be individualistic, because God is producing only a corporate entity, the Body of Christ. Thus, in His sovereign arrangement, He brings us into contact with the brothers and sisters. The environment and situations that God arranges make it impossible for us to be individual Christians.
Many believers long to live apart from others, but Psalm 133:1 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is / For brothers to dwell in unity!” Such ones think that it would be wonderful to not have to depend on others. They like to preach the gospel by themselves so that they can act freely, they like to pray by themselves so that they are not interrupted, and they like to read the Bible by themselves so that they can enjoy peace without being disturbed. To them, this is good and pleasant. However, God arranges things differently. For example, He arranges for some peculiar brothers and sisters to be with them so that their individualism, reclusiveness, and peculiarities can be exposed. God’s way is entirely corporate. From the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible, God wants to gain the church; this is His concept. From eternity past to eternity future God is working to gain the church; this is His work.
Even though the Old Testament does not plainly speak of the church, during this time God worked to gain the church in a hidden way. The church was a mystery hidden from the ages and from all the generations (Col. 1:24-26), but it was not a mystery that did not exist throughout the generations. In the Old Testament the church is hidden; there are no plain words or even designations of the church. Nevertheless, there are corporate types of the church. For example, the children of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, their journey in the wilderness, their engagement in warfare, their building of the tabernacle, their service, and their offering of sacrifices to God all signify the church. The children of Israel kept the passover not individualistically but corporately, and they crossed the Red Sea not individualistically but corporately. As they journeyed through the wilderness, no one acted on his own. They even gathered manna corporately every morning. Both their fighting and their service were corporate; no one was allowed to act on his own.
Some may respond by saying that these are merely Old Testament matters. However, even though we should not imitate the outward things in the Old Testament, the spirit of the Old Testament is the reality of the New Testament. When the children of Israel journeyed through the wilderness, there were arrangements for the twelve tribes, including who would be in front, who would be in the middle, and who would be at the rear; that is, there were arrangements for who would move first and who would follow. When they encamped, there were arrangements for who would be on the east, west, south, and north sides, and there were arrangements for who would be on the outer circumference and in the inner circle (Num. 2:2-31). All these matters are descriptions of the church.
God used not only the children of Israel to typify the church but also the Tent of Meeting. Around the Tent of Meeting standing boards were connected to each other by bars of acacia wood overlaid with gold and by rings of gold. This clearly signifies the saints in the church being built together as God’s dwelling place (Exo. 26:15-30; Eph. 2:21-22). After the children of Israel had entered Canaan, they built the temple with stones. This is also a description of the church because Peter speaks of the believers being living stones who come to the Lord to be built up together as a spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:4-5).
The children of Israel not only had the temple, but they also built the city of Jerusalem, which is an enlarged description of the church. At the end of the New Testament the final symbol of the church is the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21—22). The Old Testament does not contain the word church, but it does have types of the church. It does not have a statement concerning the church, but it presents the fact of the church. Hence, the church is a hidden mystery. In the Old Testament, God’s work seems to start from individual persons, but He gained Jerusalem as a city. In the New Testament, God’s work seems to start from individual persons, but He gains the New Jerusalem as a city. The principle in the New Testament is the same as the principle in the Old Testament. In the universe God is doing only one thing; He has only one purpose, one goal — to build His church. God is doing only this one work throughout the generations.
If the Lord enlightens us, we will see that the whole Bible is a story of the church. Even before the children of Israel, the Tent of Meeting, the holy temple, and the city of Jerusalem, God’s making of Eve for Adam is a type of God making the church for Christ. God did not make a person with many scattered members but a complete person, Eve. God’s work throughout the generations has not been to produce scattered persons who love Him, who belong to Him, and who are spiritual but to build the church for Christ. God’s concept is entirely corporate. This is a very important concept.
Simply speaking, we cannot be without the church, and we cannot live the Christian life individualistically. Those who desire to live an individualistic Christian life are contradicting God’s concept. God did not appoint us to walk by ourselves on the path ahead of us; He wants us to go on together with the brothers and sisters in the church. Not being individualistic is a basic principle. Those who are individualistic cannot be normal Christians, and those who do not have a thought of the church cannot be normal Christians. Being an individualistic Christian is abnormal and dangerous.
In some universities in Japan there is a group of Christians called the “Non-church Sect.” They do not have any denominational name and are not part of any denominations. They only read the Bible, pray, and bring others to the Lord in homes, but they never speak of the church. Many Christians have this same concept; they think that there is no need to speak of the church as long as everyone loves the Lord, reads the Bible, preaches the truth, brings others to salvation, and pursues spirituality. This is a natural concept. Without light and revelation from the Holy Spirit, a person will not have any consideration of the church. We need revelation and vision, and even more we need to be delivered from our natural concepts. May the Lord open our eyes so that we can see that He wants to gain the church, not individualistic spiritual men.
In God’s eyes the church is one; there are not many groups or individuals. The church is corporate, and there is only one church as a corporate entity. It is not enough for a Christian to live and serve individualistically. It is not even enough for many groups to live and serve on their own. Although the church appears in many localities as local churches, there is only one church. The final product of God’s building work is not many New Jerusalems but one New Jerusalem. When the church is spoken of in the Bible as being in different localities, different cities, the words church in (Rev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14) or churches (Acts 15:41; 16:5) are used, but there is still only one church. Christ has one Body, God has one dwelling place, and the Holy Spirit has one temple. Throughout the ages and generations God is not building more than one church; He is building only one church. God does not approve of Christians being scattered or divided. God does not approve of individual Christians being scattered, and He does not approve of Christians being divided into groups.
Then some may ask, “Are the church in Tainan and the church in Kaohsiung two churches?” On the one hand, with respect to the city, the locality, they are two churches; on the other hand, these two local churches are still one church. All the local churches on the earth are still one church. There is only one church in the universe; God does not approve of saints being scattered or being divided into groups. A church should not be divided, either in a locality or in the entire universe. Being scattered or divided is not right; the church is only one.
God cares only for the church, and the church is one. Although the church is composed of many Christians, the church is absolutely one. We should not be scattered Christians, and we should not be divided Christians. Scattered Christians are Christians who are individualistic, and divided Christians are Christians who group themselves into different, exclusive groups.
Today not many scattered Christians are seeking to improve themselves. However, there are many Christians who are divided into groups. The number of scattered Christians is small, whereas the number of Christians in various groups is large, and these groups are divided even from one another. These groups include the Presbyterian Church, the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church, and the True Jesus Church. Although these Christians are in groups, they are divided from one another. The church is not testified among those who are scattered and divided into groups. This does not mean that the ones who are saved in these groups are not part of the church, but they do not testify of the church, even though they are people of God. When they are scattered, they are not the church. Likewise, when a number of Christians are grouped together but divided from others, they also do not testify of the church. In regard to testifying of the church, there are two problems — being scattered and being divided into groups. Being scattered tears down the church, and being divided into groups tears down the church.
The Lord wants to build, to gain, the church, but Satan is doing a work to scatter the believers and to divide them into groups. Among those who are saved, very few escape these two problems. We should ask ourselves, “Are we scattered Christians? Are we divided Christians?” There is no neutral ground. We should not be scattered or divided into groups; both positions are wrong. This is the difficulty in today’s Christianity. Satan is trying to undermine the church, to damage and tear down the church. He is damaging the church mainly by dividing believers into groups.
Even though we ourselves are grouped together, our grouping together is not wrong unless we are also divided from others. Therefore, we should ask ourselves, “Are we divided from others?” Although we admit that it appears we are divided from others, we need to ask further, “Who is responsible for this?” As a group of people, are we inside a small circle that excludes others? If we are not part of such a circle, we are not responsible for being divided; rather, the responsibility is upon the other groups, such as the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, the Holiness Church, the True Jesus Church, and other so-called churches. If we are not part of such a circle, we are not responsible for any division.
The brothers in the Presbyterian Church may ask, “What is our circle?” First, the name Presbyterian Church itself forms a circle. If our brothers in the Presbyterian Church would see the light and realize that all the saints, as one church, should not be scattered or divided, they would eliminate the name Presbyterian Church. They would not want to be divided from other Christians, but they would be willing to be one with others. However, if they insist on things such as the presbytery system and baptism by sprinkling, what should we do? I would simply say, “We should not exclude them because of this.” We should not exclude them just because we agree with immersion, and they agree with sprinkling. We should still be together. The church should never be divided because of a difference between immersion and sprinkling. Although there may be disagreements, we should be like a large family that may argue much but is never divided. The church should never be divided.
If the saints in the True Jesus Church receive clear light and see that there should not be any division but nevertheless are unwilling to abandon the keeping of the Sabbath, that is, meeting and worshipping on Saturdays, and praying with trembling, we should not exclude them. The receiving of believers, as spoken of in Romans 14, should be our practice. Some keep this day, and others do not keep this day, but this should not be an excuse for us to be divided from them. Rather, we should thank and praise the Lord that we are together with all the saints.
The church should not be divided. Some Christians advocate keeping the Sabbath, but there should not be a Seventh-day Adventist Church; some advocate the presbytery system, but there should not be a Presbyterian Church; and some may advocate baptism by immersion, but there should not be a Baptist Church. There is no excuse for the church being divided. No one can offer any excuse for being divided from others. All the circles of the different groups should be removed. Even if we paid attention to pursuing holiness, we should not have a Holiness Church. Even though baptism by immersion is according to the Bible, we should not have a Baptist Church. And even though John Wesley was a servant who was very much used by God, we should not have a Methodist Church. Even if there are a thousand excuses, Christians should never be scattered or divided into groups. In our locality we should be in the church in that locality. Some Christians advocate baptism by sprinkling, whereas others advocate baptism by immersion, and some advocate keeping the Sabbath, whereas others advocate keeping the Lord’s Day; but all these things are unimportant. God is not concerned about these differences in the church; He is concerned about the church being divided. He who regards a day should regard it to the Lord (Rom. 14:6), and he who does not regard a day should also not regard it to the Lord. Some advocate eating meat, believing that all things can be eaten, and some advocate not eating meat, eating only vegetables (v. 2). Paul charged us not to argue about these things but to receive one another (vv. 1, 3; 15:7).
When saints hear such words, they may feel troubled, but they should not bring in problems that can cause division. Such things do not have a place in the church and are merely secondary. Some brothers practice sprinkling. If we do not feel peaceful about this, we can let them do it but not do it ourselves. Thus we will not be divided from them. The church is one, and there is no excuse for our being divided. Some believe in pretribulation rapture, whereas others believe in posttribulation rapture. This difference, however, should not be an excuse for division. A person can believe in either a posttribulation rapture or a pretribulation rapture, but he should not be divided from others because of this. Similarly, being a Christian is not a matter of immersion or sprinkling. Immersion is according to the Bible. When I baptize, I baptize people by immersion, but I would never be divided from other believers who practice sprinkling. I also know that keeping the Lord’s Day is according to the New Testament and that keeping the Sabbath belongs to the Old Testament; however, I would never be divided from other believers who keep the Sabbath. There is no valid view that can serve as an excuse for dividing the church.
However, we need to look at a few necessary matters. First, if one commits a sin deserving of excommunication, he should be excommunicated. Second, if one teaches heresy, not confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (2 John 7-10), we should not have fellowship with him. Apart from these things, we should receive all the believers no matter what kind of opinions they have or what kind of Bible interpretations they have.
Some may criticize us and say that we have a circle. If we do have a circle, we should remove it; otherwise, we will be responsible for division. We also should not divide ourselves from others because they have divided themselves from us. Even if others divide themselves from us, we should not divide ourselves from them, because the church is only one. Although we cannot join the Presbyterian Church, the Baptist Church, or any other “churches,” we should never divide ourselves from other saints. As long as a believer does not have a circle or divisive things, we should not be divided from him. No matter what kind of interpretations, opinions, or views concerning the truth a believer may have, there is absolutely no excuse for division, as long as these things do not harm the basic faith. In summary, we do not want to be individualistically scattered or even to be corporately divided into groups. We need to enter into God’s concept that the church is one and that nothing and no one can be an excuse for division.
