Why did God make the church to be expressed in such a way? There are several reasons. First, the church must be built up with redeemed persons, and the redeemed persons, even after they have been redeemed, are still on this earth, living in human communities and in human society. The redeemed persons have not been taken away to the heavens. The church is a composition of saved and redeemed ones set free and separated from the satanic, evil system of the world, the system on the earth, yet still remaining on this earth and living among humans. Therefore, the church must be expressed on this earth in the human community and society. It is impossible for the church to be built up where there are no materials for the church. In a desert where there are no humans, there can never be an expression of the church. We must come to a city within human society to gain the materials from human society for the building up of the church.
There is the need for the church to be expressed upon this earth and among people in society. This does not mean that the church belongs to this world. To be in this world is one thing, while to belong to this world is another thing. To be separated from the world does not mean to leave the world. We do not belong to the satanic system of this world, and we are separated from it, yet we still remain here and live here. The church is expressed on this earth among human society in order that the church can gain some materials, who are delivered, saved, and separated out of human society. This is one reason why the church must be expressed on earth. Do not send the church to the heavens. We must keep the church in our locality and in all the cities on this earth.
Second, the Lord has committed the church with a mission. The great commission committed to the church by the Lord is that the church must bring the Lord as the gospel to human beings. The church must be expressed among people in order to preach the gospel to people. We have this responsibility and obligation, and we have been committed with this mission. It is a great mission, and it is nearly the unique mission. We have been committed to preach Christ as the gospel to people, so the church must be expressed among people on this earth.
Third, Christ as life to us must also be expressed among humanity. We do not express Christ merely to the angels; we have to express Christ among the human beings on the earth. Therefore, the church must be expressed on this earth in the localities where people are gathered and centered. Wherever there is a center, a gathering of people, there must be the expression of the church.
Fourth, God has His eternal purpose, and He must do something to accomplish His purpose on this earth through the church. Therefore, the church must exist on this earth among humans to carry out the eternal purpose of God.
The church is heavenly, but it must be expressed on the earth. We may not realize how much damage is done when people say, “Since the church is heavenly, it must be carried out in heaven.” When I was young, I was taught that all the so-called churches on this earth are not real and that the real church will be in heaven; all the visible churches are not the real churches because the real church is the invisible church. However, I do not know where there is an invisible church in this universe. We cannot find such a church. The church is something heavenly, yet it must be expressed on this earth. In the record of the Acts and the Epistles, the apostles stressed that the church must be local. We can find the church in Jerusalem, the church in Antioch, the church in Samaria, and the church in Ephesus; we can find many churches on the earth, but we can never find a church in the heavens. The church must be expressed on this earth.
Home | First | Prev | Next