Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:23; 2:15-16, 19, 21-22; 4:4, 12-13, 16, 24; 5:5, 25, 31-32; 6:11, 13
Throughout history, Satan has damaged the church by religion, knowledge, and organization. Satan’s goal is to divide the Body of Christ through knowledge and doctrine and to destroy the functions of the members of the Body through organization, especially organization that issues in the clergy-laity system. This system has replaced the functions of the members of the Body. If Satan cannot keep people from the Lord, then he will seek to damage and corrupt the Body of Christ. God’s intention is not simply to save millions of people and then transport them into heaven. God’s intention in His eternal purpose is to have the Body to express Christ. He desires to have a number of genuine believers built up together in the life of Christ.
Due to the subtlety of Satan, many think that such a building can take place only in the future. According to this concept, all we can do today is preach the gospel, bring people to the Lord, and help them to know the Bible, to love the Lord, and to seek spirituality. Some Christian teachers say that, according to the type in the Old Testament, we are living in the age of David, in the time of fighting the battle and of making preparations for the building of the temple. Later, in the age of Solomon, the temple will be built up. However, this teaching annuls the book of Ephesians. In 2:22 Paul says, “In Whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” This verse does not say that we shall be built up some day in the future; it says plainly that we are being built even today. Hence, the building of the church is for today.
In 4:11 and 12 we see that the Lord has given apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers for the perfecting of the saints unto the building up of the Body of Christ. This also indicates that the building of the church is taking place today.
Ephesians 4:16 offers further proof of this. Here we see the growth that is unto the building up of the Body. The operation in the measure of each part causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. Paul’s word clearly indicates that the growth which is unto building is taking place today.
Certain Christian teachers evade the issue of the present building up of the Body because they know that they are in a situation in which it is impossible to have the church life. They are in division. They can merely shake hands over the denominational fences and say to one another that they are one in Christ. This, however, is a false oneness, a oneness in pretense. Therefore, they excuse their situation by saying that it is impossible for the church to be built up today. They follow the teaching that the building of the church will be only in the future. This is the subtlety of Satan.
No matter how many souls we may bring to the Lord, how many saints we may edify, and how much we help others to study the Bible and to be spiritual, God’s purpose is not fulfilled. I believe that the main reason for the delay of the Lord’s coming back is that His church has not yet been built up. In Matthew 16:18 the Lord Jesus promised and prophesied, “I will build My church.” This word must be fulfilled before the Lord comes back. Otherwise, concerning the building of the church, He would be put to shame. Satan would be able to boast of defeating the Lord. Then Satan would be able to say to the Lord Jesus, “For nearly two thousand years You have been trying to build the church, but You have not been successful. Your work on the cross, in resurrection, in ascension, and as the life-giving Spirit has not been sufficient to defeat me. You have not reached Your goal.” The Lord Jesus will not allow Satan to boast in this way. He will put him to shame through the building up of the church, even in the midst of this dark age. Then the Lord will be able to boast to Satan, “Satan, even in such a dark and evil age, I have built My church.”
The Lord is doing a marvelous work of recovery. He will show His enemy that He is well able to build His church. No matter what the situation may be on earth, we have the assurance that the Lord is carrying on the work of His recovery.
Today’s Christianity is filled with religion, doctrine, organization, forms, rituals, and regulations. People are helped to be saved, to become religious, to pursue spirituality, and to desire a closer walk with the Lord. But where is the Body? It seems that so many Christians do not see that in the book of Ephesians the church is emphasized. In his subtlety the enemy, Satan, has used various good things such as fundamental doctrine to damage the church. We must stand against the degradation of today’s Christianity. In doing this, we do not fight against people, but against the Devil, the subtle one.
Because the Lord is sovereign, He cannot be defeated. Even today He is fulfilling His purpose. In the Lord’s recovery we are not for religion, knowledge, organization, rituals, forms, or regulations; we are only for the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit. As we enjoy the mingled spirit in a corporate way, we have the church life.
The book of Ephesians reveals various aspects of the church. In this message we shall consider seven of these aspects: the Body, the new man, the Bride, the family, the kingdom, the dwelling place of God, and the warrior.
According to 1:22 and 23, the church is Christ’s Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. It was in this one Body that both the Jews and the Gentiles were reconciled to God through the cross (2:16). We, the believers, were reconciled not only for the Body of Christ, but also in the Body of Christ. We all have been reconciled in the one Body. As we have seen, the gifted persons are for the building up of the Body, and the Body is growing unto the building up of itself in love.
In 2:15 we see that Christ created the Jews and the Gentiles in Himself into one new man. This new man is corporate and universal. There are many believers, but there is only one new man in the universe. All the believers are components of this corporate and universal new man. According to 4:13, we are to grow up until we arrive at a full-grown man, and in 4:24 we see that, in a practical way, we need to put on the new man.
In Ephesians 5 we see the church as the Bride of Christ. This aspect reveals that the church comes out of Christ, as Eve came out of Adam (Gen. 2:21-22). The church has the same life and nature as Christ and becomes one with Him to be His counterpart, as Eve became one flesh with Adam (Gen. 2:24). Eventually, as Eve went back to Adam and was presented to him, so the church will go back to Christ and be presented to Him as His Bride.
In 2:19 Paul says, “So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow-citizens of the saints and members of the household of God.” As members of the household of God, we are God’s family, even God’s house. Both the Jewish and Gentile believers are members of God’s house, which is a matter of life and enjoyment. All believers were born of God into His house to enjoy His riches.
The house of God leads to the kingdom of God, indicated by the term “fellow-citizens of the saints.” All the believers are citizens in God’s kingdom. His kingdom is a sphere for Him to exercise His authority. In 5:5 Paul says that “every fornicator or unclean person or person of unbridled greedy lust, who is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” This refers not only to the millennium, but also to the church life today. The believers have been regenerated into the kingdom of God (John 3:5) and are in the church life, living in the kingdom of God today (Rom. 14:17).
In 2:22 we see that the church is God’s dwelling place. God’s Spirit dwells in our spirit. Therefore, the dwelling place of God is in our spirit.
Finally, in chapter six we see that the church is a warrior to defeat God’s enemy, the Devil. In order to fight the spiritual warfare, we need both the power of the Lord and also the whole armor of God. The church is a corporate warrior, and the believers are parts of this unique warrior. We must fight the spiritual warfare in the Body, not individually.
In his subtlety, Satan will allow Christians to do things that are scriptural and spiritual, as long as they do not have the Body or the new man. Most Christians do not even realize that the church is the new man, a corporate man. They may speak a little regarding the church as the Bride of Christ or as God’s family, but they have no concept that the church is God’s present kingdom or God’s dwelling place.
Can you find these seven aspects of the church in Christianity? Concerning the church, Christianity has missed the mark. We in the Lord’s recovery are not here for soul-winning, for Bible study, or for spirituality. We are here for the expression of the Body on earth. We are also here to be the new man and the Bride.
At present, Christ is preparing us to be His Bride. One day the wedding will come. That will be the fulfillment of Revelation 19. As we are preparing for that day, we are the church in the aspects of the family, the kingdom, the dwelling place, and the warrior. Praise the Lord that we are His family! When we came into the church life, we had the sense that we had come home. Furthermore, the church is God’s kingdom, for here we are under God’s authority. Moreover, as God’s warrior we are fighting against His enemy. We are here for the Body, the new man, the Bride, the family, the kingdom, and the warrior.
As the Body, the church needs life. Without life, our physical body would become a corpse. The same is true of the Body of Christ.
Some opposers argue that the Body is just a symbol, a figure, not a divine reality. It is utterly wrong to say that the Body of Christ is merely a symbol. Our body is a symbol and a figure, but the Body of Christ is a reality, for our body symbolizes Christ’s Body. To say that the Body of Christ is merely a symbol indicates a lack of a proper understanding of the church. Those who hold this view do not see that the church is actually the Body of Christ. Surely Christ is real. How can such a real One be expressed through a symbolic Body? How ridiculous! In order for Christ to be expressed, He must have a real and living Body.
We do not express Christ by endeavoring to correct or improve ourselves. Through such efforts we can express only our own character. If we would express Christ, we need the life of Christ. We need Christ as the living Spirit to live Himself out from within us. This is not outward correction or improvement; it is the experience of Christ as our inner life. Christ is the life-giving Spirit living within us and lived out from within us. This makes us His Body for His expression. What we express as the Body of Christ is not our character, but Christ Himself as life.
As the new man, the church needs not only life, but also Christ as the person. A tree has only life, not a person. But a man must have a person as well as life. The church not only possesses Christ as life, but also holds Christ as the person. Hence, today the Lord Jesus is not only the life of the church, but also the person of the church. In order to have the church life, we all must take Christ as our person. But if we each hold to our own person, we shall be through with the church life.
Colossians 3:10 and 11 reveal that in the new man “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all.” This indicates that in the new man there is just one person — Christ. There is no room for Chinese, Japanese, American, British, German, or any other nationality. This should not be a mere doctrine, but should be our practical experience in the spirit. As a part of the new man, we all have Christ as our person. We need to pray, “Lord, make this real to us. We cannot be satisfied with knowledge or with the doctrine that the church is the new man with Christ as the person. We want this to be experienced in our daily life. O Lord, help us to take You as our person.” If we do this, the church will be truly one, and the enemy will be subdued. Whoever comes into the meetings of the church will see a number of people who take Christ as their person. How marvelous!
Eve typifies the church as Christ’s Bride. Eve was built with a rib taken out of Adam. After building this rib into a woman, God presented her to Adam. What came out of Adam went back to him and became one with him. In the same principle, the church comes out of Christ and will go back to Christ to be one with Him.
The aspect of the church as the Bride implies love. Marriage is a matter of love, and the life of a marriage depends on love. If a husband and wife do not love each other, it will be very difficult for them to remain together. No doubt, Adam and Eve loved each other. Because of this love, they became one. Today there is a mutual love between Christ and the church. Not only do we have Him as our life and as our person, but we also enjoy this mutual love. Christ desires to make known His love to the church, and the church responds by telling the Lord how much she loves Him. Whatever we do for the Lord we do joyfully and willingly out of love for Him. When you love someone, you are happy to serve him. You serve not out of necessity, but out of love. As the church, we must bear the testimony that we love the Lord. Whoever contacts us should receive an impression that we love the Lord and, out of our love for Him, serve Him willingly. This is the aspect of the church as Christ’s Bride.
If we have a genuine love for the Lord, we shall spontaneously be the church in the aspect of God’s family. So many worldly people today are either orphans or wanderers. They are homeless. We in the church life are members of God’s family. Therefore, we are at home. The church is our real family. We appreciate the natural family life created by God. But we can testify that this family life is not as sweet as the family life in the church. How pleasant is the church as God’s family! If you stay away from the church life for a period of time, you will realize how precious the church is in the aspect of God’s family. Oh, we in the church are God’s family!
As we have pointed out, we are also God’s kingdom. In the church we all are under God’s government, God’s authority and rule. We are not lawless. On the contrary, we are governed spontaneously in a pleasant and loving way. Although there are elders in the churches, they do not exercise control over the saints. Rather, all the saints are willingly under God’s rule. This is the church as the kingdom of God. If all the people in this country lived like this, the enemy would be completely subdued.
In the church we are under divine government. Because of an inward ruling, we cannot cheat others or take advantage of them. This inner ruling is the reality of the kingdom. Today in the church Jesus Christ is King. He is the King on the throne within us and among us.
Furthermore, the church is the dwelling place of God in spirit. When we are not in our spirit, we do not have the church as God’s dwelling place in a practical way. But whenever we turn to our spirit, we sense that God has a dwelling place in our spirit. This dwelling place is for God’s rest.
Not only is the church the Body, the new man, the Bride, the family, the kingdom, and the dwelling place; the church is also the warrior to fight against God’s enemy. God’s enemy, Satan, is terrified of such a church. Satan is not afraid of individualistic Christians, not even if they number in the thousands. But whenever the believers come together as the church in the aspect of the Body and in these other aspects, Satan trembles. By the church in these seven aspects Christ is expressed, the Father has rest, and the enemy is defeated. May we all see the vision that the church is not a matter of individual holiness or spirituality. On the contrary, it is a matter of being built up together as the Body, the new man, the Bride, the family, the kingdom, the dwelling place, and the warrior. As such a church, we defeat the enemy and prepare the way for the Lord Jesus to come back.
