Scripture Reading: Eph. 2:21-22
Chapter two of Ephesians concludes with the matter of the building. In verse 21 we see the universal building, and in verse 22, the local building. Verse 21 says, “In Whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.” The phrase “all the building” denotes the universal building, the church throughout the universe. The words “in Whom you also” in verse 22 denote the local building, the building among those in the city to which this Epistle was sent. The building, therefore, has a universal aspect and a local aspect. It is significant that this chapter of Ephesians concludes with the building of the church in these two aspects.
For centuries, this matter of the building has been neglected. Very few servants of the Lord have given it adequate attention. Beginning in 1938, among us the Lord began to emphasize the importance of the building. Message after message has been given on this crucial subject. Among them are the messages printed in The Vision of God’s Building. The messages in that book cover God’s building as revealed from the beginning of the Bible to the end.
If we would be built up universally and locally, we must forsake all ordinances. To hold to certain ordinances is to build without a proper foundation, that is, without Christ as the unique foundation. Many Christians are not clear about Christ as the unique foundation, and they do not know God’s building. Therefore, they have spent years wandering from one denomination or Christian group to another. Such believers may be stones for God’s building, but they have not yet been built in. Some church-traveling Christians may claim that the reason for their wandering from group to group is a sense of dissatisfaction. However, the underlying reason is ordinances.
Ordinances may be related to our natural disposition. Some have a quiet disposition and prefer Christian meetings where the believers worship in silence. They wander from group to group in quest of a meeting to match their disposition. They may think that a particular group suits their taste, only to learn that certain practices there do not match their disposition. Such Christians are not satisfied with any group. They cannot find a group that is fully in accord with their disposition.
If we have seen a clear vision of God’s economy and know what the recovery is, we shall be willing to forget our disposition, to deny our taste, and to care only for the Lord’s recovery. The recovery is not based on any practice; it is based on Christ who is our peace, our foundation, our cornerstone, and our everything. The vision of God’s economy must control us, direct us, and restrict us. Such a vision will surely cause us to stand on Christ as the unique foundation. Then instead of being wandering stars (Jude 1:13), we shall be those who can be built up with others. We shall be eternally settled in God’s economy. Those who have seen this vision and are governed by it can be built up with others on the unique foundation of the all-inclusive Christ. They will not allow any ordinances to become their foundation.
Once again I wish to use pray-reading as an example. We thank the Lord for pray-reading. Although we have not made pray-reading an ordinance, some have left the church life simply because they did not care for this practice. Do you think that someone who leaves the church for such a reason has truly seen what the church is? I do not think so. One who has seen the vision of the church will never leave.
Some Christians have criticized us not only for the practice of pray-reading, but also for praising the Lord loudly, for calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, and for allowing believers to be baptized again, that is, to be “buried.” Others have criticized us for emphasizing the fact that Christ is versus religion. If we in the local churches have something related to idols, immorality, division, or the denial of the deity of Christ, we should be criticized. However, it is wrong to criticize us for such things as pray-reading the Word or calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. If believers are helped spiritually by these practices, what right have others to criticize them? Those who do not follow these practices should nevertheless be one with those who receive benefit by following them. Suppose a certain brother is convicted of his oldness and deadness and is led of the Lord to bury himself in the waters of baptism. After his burial, he is refreshed, renewed, and living. He may even praise the Lord in a loud, excited way. Should he be condemned because he was baptized a second time or because he praises the Lord with a loud voice? Certainly not! Nevertheless, some believers may criticize such a one because they still have ordinances related to baptism or to loud praises.
Many years ago there was a certain Presbyterian pastor who was the top theologian in China. As a Presbyterian, in his teaching he should have opposed the practice of immersion and favored sprinkling. However, as he was praying one day on a mountain, he experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. As he was running down the mountainside, he saw a pool of water and threw himself into it. After that experience, he became a different person, very living in the Lord. Those who hold to ordinances may criticize him. But the Lord does not honor ordinances. In Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, only a new creation (Gal. 6:15).
Although there are millions of Christians on earth today, very few have been built up with others. The reason for this lack of building is that so many believers still hold on to ordinances. Perhaps you were a member of a certain denomination. However, because of your ordinances, you were not one with others, and you were not able to be built up with them. Rather, you were waiting for the situation to change to fit your ordinances. When there was no change or improvement, you moved to another group, hoping to find there a situation to suit your preference. This has caused many to travel from one denomination to another. Some have testified that they were not satisfied until they came into the church life. Although it is true that we are satisfied spiritually in the church, we must be careful not to hold to any ordinances. In our experience Christ must be everything to us: our peace, our foundation, our cornerstone. We should not care for anything other than Christ. Whether the meetings are noisy or quiet makes no difference. We are not for noise or for silence — we are for Christ. By caring only for Christ, we can easily be one with others and be built up with them locally and universally on Christ as the unique foundation.
Recently I have been burdened of the Lord to give a number of messages dealing with ordinances. I believe that the Spirit of the Lord within us realizes how important it is for us to be clear about this matter. As more saints turn to the way of the Lord’s recovery, it is possible for ordinances to be brought in or for dissenting opinions to be expressed. Therefore, it is crucial that we learn to care only for Christ, particularly as we visit localities where the way of meeting differs from that to which we are accustomed. We should not evaluate a meeting according to whether or not the saints practice pray-reading, exercise tongues-speaking, or pray long prayers or short ones. We should care for Christ and for Christ alone. If we care only for Christ, we shall not have any problems with oneness. The more we care for Christ and drop all manner of ordinances, the more we shall be built up in Christ locally and also universally.
In speaking of the universal building, we must be careful to distinguish such building from organization. Although we are absolutely for the proper building, we are opposed to organization. The churches will be built together universally, but this does not mean that they will be universally organized.
According to the truth of the Body, the Body is universally one. For this reason, the local churches should not be isolated from one another. Isolation is contrary to the truth concerning the oneness of the Body. Because each local church is part of the Body universally, no local church should be isolated from the others. This is especially true today with modern means of communication and transportation that permit the rapid spread of news and information around the world. Something of life may be released in Los Angeles today and be known in dozens of other places within hours. How wrong it is for a church to try to be independent! The Body is receiving a continual transfusion. If we isolate ourselves from the other churches, we cut ourselves off both from the transfusion and from the circulation of life in the Body. Such a thing violates the law of the Body. Although we must shun organization, we need to be built up universally as the one Body.
In 2:22 Paul speaks of the local building: “In Whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” The word “you” refers to the local saints. Furthermore, the word “also” indicates that the building in verse 22 is local. According to the context, the dwelling place of God in this verse is local, whereas the holy temple in the preceding verse is universal.
Paul is careful to point out that it is in Christ that the local saints are built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit. They are not built in ordinances, in practices, or in opinions. We can be built up only in the all-inclusive Christ who is our peace, foundation, and cornerstone.
It is important to see that the universal building can be accomplished only through the local building. If we are not built up with others in our own locality, we should not expect to be able to be built up in any other locality. All those who are burdened to migrate for the spread of the church life must firstly be built up in their own locality. If you have not yet been built up in your local church, I encourage you not to migrate. Before we can be built up universally, we must be built up in a practical way locally.
If you have been in a locality for a period of time without being built up with others, there must be a reason for this lack of building. The reason may be your natural cleverness or your reservations concerning the church life. Yes, you have stopped wandering from group to group, and you have come into the church life to stay. However, in order for you to be built up locally, your disposition, your being, must be dealt with. Nothing tests your spiritual maturity as much as this matter of building. Furthermore, the local building is a great help in your spiritual growth. If you are willing to be built into the church in your locality, you will have the abundance of the growth in life. The building must begin with the local aspect and then spread to the universal aspect. Some saints have not grown very much because they have not been built into the church locally. The reason for the lack of building is that they have too many reservations. Although they are in the local church, they have the tendency to withdraw or to hold back when certain situations arise in the church. It is this holding back that keeps them from being built up. Instead of withdrawing or holding back, we should be willing to be broken and even “wrecked” in order to be built up with others. What a difference this makes to our growth in life! If we grow in this way, the church life will spread both through us and with us, and we shall be useful in any coming migration. However, if we are not built up locally, we shall not be a help to any future migration. Only those who have been built up locally can support the spread of the church life through migration. Any who have reservations about the church, yet who desire to participate in a migration, will be a cause of frustration.
The spread of the Lord’s recovery is the move of the living Christ in our spirit in a corporate way. The Lord’s move is with the saints not individualistically, but corporately. As those who seek the Lord, we should not hold anything back from Him. On the contrary, we should always give in to Him and be willing to be broken so that we may be built into the church in our locality. Then wherever we may be, the recovery of the Lord will spread through us. This is altogether different from a movement of man or an organization. For the genuine move of Christ as the life-giving Spirit in His Body, we need the local building.
We thank the Lord for the many churches raised up through migration. We also thank Him for the many who have been useful in migration because they had experienced some amount of local building before they migrated. At the same time, we must admit that there has been some frustration in certain places. The reason for this frustration is that certain ones still have reservations. They still have the tendency to hold back from the church life. This underscores the fact that the success of migration depends on the degree of building. If we are built up in an absolute way, migration will proceed also in an absolute way. But if we compromise with the local building, we shall also compromise in any future migration.
In conclusion, I wish to emphasize again that how much building we have universally as well as locally depends on how much we give up the ordinances and realize in a practical way that Christ is everything in God’s economy. Since He is the all-inclusive One, we should not hold on to anything in place of Him. If we hold to Christ as everything to us, we shall experience the genuine building, first locally and then universally. This will make us useful in migration for the expansion of the church life.
