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Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:4-6; Acts 8:1; 13:1; Rev. 1:11; 2:1; 1 Cor. 1:2; Rom. 1:7
There are many important matters related to the church life, but the first two main items for our practice and experience are the content of the church and the standing, or the ground, of the church. The content of the church is Christ, not merely in teaching or doctrine, but in practice, reality, and experience. Christ as the very life, content, and everything for the church is the basic, main, and first aspect of the church life. What we are practicing is not something in vain according to a form or certain teaching. We are practicing a life with Christ as its very life, content, and everything. The church life, the life of the church, the practice of the church life, is a life with Christ as everything.
The second main point of the church life is the standing, the ground, of the church. In order to build a house, there are two items that are most important: the materials and the site. When someone builds a house, he first must decide what material he will use to build it. A house can be built with cement, stone, wood, adobe, or even gold. Second, he must decide in what place, on what ground, he will build, whether on a mountain, by a river, or in the plain. For the building of the church, Christ as life is the material, the content. On what ground, then, on what standing, should we have the church life? We are building the church as the house, even the temple, so where must we build it? Can we build the temple in Babylon, Egypt, Syria, or somewhere else?
According to the revelation of the Scriptures, the ground of the church is very important. This is particularly true in the Old Testament types of the church. In the Old Testament no one dared to build the temple in any place he chose. There was only one place, the place chosen and appointed by God. For a thousand years, not one Israelite dared to build a temple in any place that he liked, because all the Jews realized that there was only one place, one site, where they could build the temple legally and properly. To build the temple in any other place, no matter what kind of temple it was, would be illegal. It would not be proper because it would not be on the proper ground. We have to be very clear about this matter.
In at least the first eight or ten years of my Christian life, I did not know what the ground of the church was. I never saw such a term in the writings and messages in Christianity. The term church ground was first used by Brother Watchman Nee in 1937. Before that time, this matter was not very clear, and this term was not in use. I hope that we all can be clear about the word ground. We use this word with a meaning that is different from foundation. The foundation is the basic part of the construction of a building. The ground, however, is not a part of the construction. It is the place, the piece of land, the site, the standing, on which the foundation is laid. We can construct a building with its foundation on a certain site or lot, or we may construct the same building with the same foundation on another lot. The building with the address 1101, for example, could have been built at the address 1103. By the term ground, we refer to the lot, the site on which we build. A lot is the site, and upon this site we place a foundation; then upon the foundation we construct a building. This is what we mean by the ground of the church.
In the large city of Los Angeles, for example, there is a big entity called the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church claims to be built upon Christ as the foundation. There is another entity called the Presbyterian Church that makes the same claim, that it is built upon Christ as the foundation. Likewise, the Baptists, the Methodists, and the Episcopalians also claim the same thing, that Christ is their cornerstone and foundation. It is the same with the Church of Christ and the Nazarenes. Not one of the so-called Christian churches fails to claim that Christ is their foundation. All have Christ as their foundation, but they have neglected the proper ground of the church.
The Catholic Church claims to be built upon Christ as its foundation, but this building is on a particular ground, the ground of Roman Catholicism. The Presbyterian Church also claims to be a building upon Christ as the foundation, but this building is upon the ground of the presbytery. Likewise, the Southern Baptist Church claims to be built on Christ as the foundation, but it is built on the ground of baptism, just as the Lutheran Church is built on the ground of Luther. All are so-called churches with the same foundation, that is, Christ; however, all are built upon different grounds. It is the grounds that create trouble. If the Roman Catholics would be willing to give up the ground of Roman Catholicism, the Presbyterians to give up the ground of the presbytery, and the Southern Baptists to give up the ground of baptism, eventually and spontaneously they all would be one. Then there will be no division. If we remove all the different names and different grounds of the denominations, what is left will simply be the church in Los Angeles with Christ and all the saints, without divisions or denominations. There will be no separating lines between us. There will be saints of one kind with one Christ to form one unique church in Los Angeles, composed together to be built up upon Christ as the foundation and standing on the local ground as the local church in Los Angeles.
We may use the city of Corinth as an example. Paul went to Corinth to preach the gospel and to do the work of the Lord, but Paul did not set up a Pauline church with Christ as the foundation. Apollos went there also, but neither did he set up a church with Christ as the foundation and Apollos as the ground. In the same way, Peter did not set up a church with Christ as the foundation and Peter as the ground to establish a Petrine church. In Corinth there was neither a Pauline church, a Petrine church, or a church of Apollos. Paul went to Corinth, preached the gospel, brought many people to the Lord, and established a church with Christ as the foundation on the local ground of Corinth. Paul established a local church there, and when Apollos went to Corinth, he did not set up another church. He simply brought more people to the Lord and built them on the same ground. Peter brought another number of people to the Lord, but neither did he set up another church. Peter built up those people on the same ground.
Therefore, in Corinth there was only one church, built with Christ as the unique foundation and located in the city of Corinth as the unique ground. Thus, there was the church in Corinth. First Corinthians 1:1 and 2a say, “Paul, a called apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Sosthenes the brother, to the church of God which is in Corinth.” Paul did not say, “To the churches of God which are in Corinth” but “To the church of God which is in Corinth,” the one church, singular in number. Paul went to Corinth, Apollos went there, and Peter went there. These different ministers with their ministries went to Corinth, but they all built one church with Christ as the foundation on the one unique ground, the ground of oneness, the ground of locality.
Therefore, eventually there was only one church, the church in Corinth. There were not more than one church: a Pauline church, a Petrine church, and a church of Apollos. There was not even a so-called church of Christ, in the divisive sense (v. 12). There was only one church, built with saints of one kind on one foundation — Christ — and upon one unique ground, the ground of oneness in the locality where that church was. There was one church, one foundation, and one ground. This is very clear.
Someone may say, “Yes, in Los Angeles there are the Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Baptist Church, and others, all on different kinds of ground. Not only so, here we also have many free groups, without any ground.” However, if someone meets without a ground, where can he stand? Even a small man needs at least a square foot of earth to stand upon. Just as no one can float in the air, there cannot be a free group that has no ground. Some free groups do not have a written, declared, or designated ground, but they have some kind of ground that is understood. Every kind of free group has a ground. To say that they take no ground is to be cheated and deceived.
By this we can see the difference between the foundation and the ground. Today the problem is not with the foundation; the problem is with the ground. This is why we say that in order to practice the church life, we must consider the ground as the second main item of the church. By the grace of the Lord, we are endeavoring to give up any other kind of ground and take the unique ground of oneness, the ground of locality. This is the only ground of the church.
The ground of the church can be seen both in the Old Testament types and in the New Testament revelation. We have the church in Corinth, for example, and the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. The oneness of the church can also be seen in the testimony of the physical universe, and it can be seen in the New Jerusalem. All these types and examples point out that the church is built upon one unique ground.
The church is the Body of Christ. The governing principle and rule is that one head always has one body. One head cannot have more than one body. Since the church is the Body of Christ, and Christ is the one Head, so the church must be one, and the church is one. That is why Ephesians 4:4 through 6 speaks of one Body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father. With the church, everything is one because the church is one.
In the whole universe there is only one church. We may compare the church to the moon. In the whole universe the earth has only one moon. Someone may ask, then, why the New Testament speaks of so many churches. It is because these many churches are the churches in many cities, many localities. In the universe the church is one, but the expression of the church is on this earth and among the human communities. In one city there is an expression of the church, which is called the local church, the church in a certain city. Then in another city there is another expression of the church, which is called the church in that city. The church in the universe is one, but the expressions of the church on this earth are many, in many cities. However, we still have the principle that the expression of the church in each city must be unique.
This is why in the city of Jerusalem there was one church, the church in Jerusalem. Acts 8:1 says, “There occurred in that day a great persecution against the church which was in Jerusalem.” There was only one church, the unique church in Jerusalem. Originally, there were one hundred twenty believers in Jerusalem. Then one day three thousand were added, and on another day five thousand were added. We have to believe that many more thousands were eventually added in. There may have been twenty or thirty thousand believers in that one city (5:14; 21:20). According to 2:46 and 5:42, those thousands did not meet in only one place; they met from house to house. There were many meetings, but not one meeting by itself became a church. Rather, all the meetings were one church.
After this, the testimony and gospel of the Lord spread from Jerusalem to Samaria and from Samaria to Antioch. As a result, how many churches were there in Antioch? Acts 13:1 begins, “Now there were in Antioch, in the local church, prophets and teachers.” This verse speaks of the one church in Antioch. In Antioch there were a number of gifted persons, prophets and teachers such as Paul, Barnabas, and others. However, these gifted persons did not form many churches. They were all members of the same, one, unique church in Antioch. Therefore, in Antioch there was one church.
From Palestine the Lord’s move went on to Asia Minor, including Ephesus. How many churches were there in Ephesus? According to Revelation 1:11 and 2:1, all the believers in Ephesus were one church. This was true not only in Ephesus but in all the seven cities in Asia Minor. In each one of those cities there was only one church: one in Ephesus, one in Smyrna, one in Pergamos, one in Thyatira, one in Sardis, one in Philadelphia, and one in Laodicea. There is not one exception to this rule.
From there the Lord’s move went to Europe, including Corinth. How many churches were there in Corinth? According to 1 Corinthians 1:2, there was only one. Likewise, in Rome there was only one church (Rom. 1:7). By this we can see that in the universe the church is one, and the expression of the church in each locality is also one.
We can compare this to the uniqueness of the United States. In the whole world there is only one United States, and anywhere there is an expression of the United States, that expression must be unique. This is why in London there is only one American embassy. Likewise, if you go to Tokyo or Hong Kong, you will find only one American embassy or consulate. There is no need for an American citizen to ask which consulate in Hong Kong to go to. If someone asks in this way, people will say that he is foolish. There is only one United States on this earth, so in Hong Kong there is only one American consulate. A person only needs to ask where the consulate in Hong Kong is. If there were two American consulates in Hong Kong, that would mean that the United States had been divided into two, and if there were three consulates in Hong Kong, the United States would have been divided into three.
When a person in Jerusalem was saved, he did not need to ask what church he should join, because there was only one church in Jerusalem. Before he was saved, he was outside the church. Now after being saved, he became a member of the one church there. At night if I tell a brother to look at the moon, he will not ask which moon to look at, because there is only one moon. In the same way, there is no need to consider to which church we should go — to the Presbyterian, Baptist, Nazarene, Lutheran, Methodist, or Episcopalian Church — because there is only one church.
For practical reasons, a brother may transfer from Jerusalem to Antioch. When he arrives, there is no need to ask to which church he should go. He must simply be in the church in Antioch. The only thing he needs to know is where the church has its meetings. Perhaps they are in one brother’s home tonight and another brother’s home the next night, but it is still one church. If the brother is later transferred to Ephesus, it is the same there. Again in Ephesus, the meeting of the church one night may be in one home and the next week in another home, but it is still one church. In Corinth, likewise, there is no need to consider whether the “Pauline” church is better than the “Petrine” church. There is no need to say, “I come from Jerusalem, so I know Peter better and will go to the Petrine church.” There is no such Petrine church; there is only one church. Yet again, if the brother were to transfer from Corinth to Rome, it would be the same; there is only one church in Rome.
In the New Jerusalem there is one way, one street (Rev. 22:1). Because there is one street, no one can go astray. This one way saves us. There is no confusion and no possibility to go astray. Even if we try to go astray, we eventually will not be able to, because in the New Jerusalem there is only one way, and there will be no possibility to get off of it.
How beautiful and how pleasant this picture is, just as Psalm 133:1 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is / For brothers to dwell in unity!” Today in each city, however, the situation is different. Everywhere — in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Tokyo, Taipei, and Hong Kong — people ask, “Are you a Christian? Have you been saved? Praise the Lord! What is your church?” An American brother may say, “I am of the Church of England,” even though it seems foolish for an American citizen to be in an English church. If he is transferred to another city, he will look for the British church in that city. Similarly, a Chinese brother in America may say that he is in the Chinese Independent Church, and someone of Scandinavian descent may say that he belongs to the Swedish Lutheran Church. In one American city there may be an Anglo church, a Chinese church, and a Swedish church. How strange this sounds, but this is exactly the situation. Here is a so-called church built upon the British ground, another built upon the Chinese ground, and another built upon the Swedish ground.
In the same way, a Japanese person may say that he belongs to the Japanese Baptist Church. Someone who comes from Greece may not like the British, thinking they are too political. Neither does he like the Chinese, thinking they are too concerned with money, and he also does not like the Swedes and the Japanese. Because he likes only his countrymen, the Greeks, he will look for the Greek Orthodox Church, the church built upon the Greek ground. This is the situation today. We need a “vaccination” against this disease.
If someone asks what church we belong to, we should simply say, “I belong to the church.” If he asks what kind of church that is, we can say, “It is simply the church.” There are many small “circles” meeting in each city — the British circle, the Chinese circle, the Swedish circle, and the Japanese circle, as well as the Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, and Lutheran circles. Where then should we place ourselves? We should be outside the circles, outside the camp (Heb. 13:13), and in the one “circle” of the church. The problem between brothers is due to the small circles. If we remove the small circles, we all will be in the one church. There will be no divisions, all of which come from the small circles. All these small circles become many different grounds upon which many different kinds of churches are built up.
If all the grounds were torn down, this would leave only one ground without any division. However, someone may say that there is no possibility of tearing down all these grounds. I agree with this; there is no possibility. According to the prophecy in the New Testament, the denominational grounds will remain until the Lord’s coming. Not only is there no possibility of actually tearing them down; even the Lord Himself has no intention to get rid of them. The Lord will tolerate all these things, let them remain until He comes back, and then put them all under His judgment.
In such a situation full of confusion, however, where shall we stand? Can we stand in the various denominations? No we cannot. Can we stand in the national churches? No we cannot. We should stand simply on the ground of the locality where we are. I am a saint living in Los Angeles, so I should stand on the ground of this city, and so should many others. Then we can come together, but we do not “draw a small circle.” We do not build upon another ground. Moreover, we do not specialize in anything but are very general. When these brothers and sisters who are outside the small circles come together, they are simply standing on the proper ground, the local ground, the ground of oneness.
If some new brothers come to a city, they may look at those brothers meeting on the proper ground and notice that they do not speak in tongues. Because of this, the new brothers may decide to have a separate meeting in their home where they can speak in tongues. Their meeting in the home becomes a tongue-speaking meeting. Then gradually they may bring more into this meeting, still claiming that they are not a denomination. In fact, however, they are a small sect. We have no right to do this. If we do, we will create a division, another small “circle,” not being limited by the Lord’s ordination and decision.
A number of brothers may be meeting together outside all the “circles,” but gradually three or four may feel unhappy with the others and the meetings. They may feel that they can do something better, so they start to meet separately. In this way, these three or four create another small division. What then shall we do if we do not feel happy with the other brothers? The only thing to do is to learn the lessons of the cross and of limitation. We all have to be limited.
There is already an American embassy in Tokyo. Suppose that when two men go to the embassy, the people there are not polite. Can those men start another embassy? Can they go back to their apartment and put a sign over it that says, “American Embassy”? If they do, they will be in trouble with the American government. They have no right to do that. How pitiful it is today, however. Wherever Christians go, they feel that they have the right, the liberty, the freedom, to do whatever they want. Today it is too easy to disagree with others and start a church in one’s own home. It is easier than opening a new store. We cannot do this, and we have no right to do this. This is revealed by the type of the meeting in oneness in Deuteronomy 12. There was only one unique place appointed by God at which to worship the Lord (vv. 5-6, 11, 13-14). It was by that unique, appointed place that the oneness of the people of Israel was kept. One ground, one center, and one place kept the oneness.
Some may say that this concept is very good but too difficult to practice if there are thousands of believers in many meetings in one city. In actuality, this is not difficult. In a large city such as Los Angeles, there is one bank called Bank of America. This one bank, however, may have up to one hundred branch offices. In the same way, there can be many meetings in one city, yet all the meetings are of one church, which is still the church in Los Angeles. Recently, some brothers among us went to Taipei and saw the situation there. On the Lord’s Day in Taipei there are up to forty meetings for the Lord’s table, all meeting at the same time in the same city. All these home meetings, however, are of the one church in Taipei. If someone goes to Taipei, he may attend home meeting number one or home meeting number forty, but he is still attending the same church. There is no division there; rather, there is the oneness.
By this oneness there is the impact. If the fifty states of the United States were divided, the impact, the strength, and the power of this country would be lost. Why is the United States so strong today? It is because of the oneness. With the oneness there is the impact. Oh, how subtle the enemy is to divide the children of the Lord again and again! How weak the situation is today. There is no impact, and there is no learning of the lessons. If we keep the oneness, we will learn the lesson to recognize that each believer is our brother, and if we learn the lessons of the cross and of limitation, we will have the impact.
The ground of the church is not a small matter. It saves, keeps, and safeguards us, and it closes the back door for divisions. Regardless of whether or not we feel happy with someone, we have to meet with him on the proper ground. There is no other way and no other choice. There is only one choice, which is God’s choice.
