In this chapter, we desire to see further from John’s writings that the content of this fullness also includes food, satisfaction, freedom, glory, and love. The Lord said in John 6:48, “I am the bread of life.” Hence, food is one of the contents of the fullness. The manifestation of the fullness of Christ depends on the presence of spiritual food in a locality. The food God gives to His people is Christ. In the Old Testament typology of the passover in Exodus, the Israelites were sustained by the flesh of the lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. In the wilderness they were sustained by manna. In Canaan they were sustained by the riches of the produce of the land of Canaan. The flesh of the lamb refers to Christ, the unleavened bread refers to Christ, the manna refers to Christ, and the produce of Canaan refers to Christ. Everything that is edible refers to Christ. Christ is the food for God’s people.
If a local church walks on the way of God, there should be an unceasing, daily food supply. A local church that lives in Christ, is dealt with by God, and has the addition of Christ through the building work of God will have a daily supply of spiritual food.
People often ask whether they can go and meet in a certain place. It is difficult for us to say whether it is right to meet in a certain place; the crucial matter is whether one can receive a supply of life there. Some brothers often ask me whether it is all right to go listen to a message at a certain place. It is not a matter of right or wrong; the question is whether they will hear a message or receive some food. Will they receive merely a teaching, or will they receive a supply? God’s children need to distinguish between teaching and food.
While sitting in a meeting, we should ask whether we are listening to a message to receive teachings or to receive food. While teachings make our thoughts clear and logical, food is altogether different; food nourishes our spirit. We may often forget a message that we have heard but feel that we have been fed inwardly. We may meet a brother, who can only say, “Today’s meeting was so good!” If we ask him what was so good about it, he may only say, “I am so full; I am truly satisfied within.” He may be unable to say anything other than that he is going back to be fed again. This is a good sign; this is the ministry meeting.
A ministry meeting should always cause people to be fed. The prayer meeting and the bread-breaking meeting should also cause people to be fed. We can be fed because Christ is released in the meeting. Christ is food; He is the One who satisfies people. He is the bread of life who came down out of heaven. John 1:16 says that of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. The expression and the proof of receiving is food that satisfies people. Whether a local church has Christ and is the expression of the Body depends upon whether there is food in that church; there is no way to fool people on this point.
If someone invites us for a meal, he cannot fool us concerning the number of dishes on the table. Three dishes are three dishes, and five dishes are five dishes; it is quite obvious. A person may prepare a banquet yet say politely, “This is just an ordinary, plain meal; please help yourself.” Someone else may invite us over for a meal and put out only a small amount of ordinary food, but he says, “Please eat as much as you can.” No matter what one says, if he puts out two dishes, there are two dishes; if he puts out ten dishes, there are ten dishes; if he puts out a plain and simple meal, it is a plain and simple meal; if he prepares a feast, it is a feast. Whatever one puts out, that is what there is; one can put out only what he has. There is no way to fool others.
People cannot be fooled in regard to how much a church has been dealt with and built up by God. How much a church has been built by God and how much Christ it has are not matters that can be faked. However, some places try to put up a façade. For example, when elders hear that some saints are coming to fellowship, they hurriedly put things in order. They try their best to make the elders look like “elders” and the deacons look like “deacons.” They may be elders and deacons, but they do not have much Christ. Our condition cannot be faked. It is impossible to pretend that God has worked in us more than He actually has. It is impossible to pretend that there is more building than there actually is. It is impossible to pretend that we have been broken by God more than we actually have. The measure that we have is the measure that we have. How much Christ has overflowed in the church is how much He has overflowed. It is not possible to pretend that we have more Christ than we actually have, nor is it possible to reduce the amount of Christ that we do have. Everything depends upon how much Christ has been built in us. Determining whether we have the reality of the church is greatly tested by whether people receive food when they come to meet with us. This is not a matter which can be proven with doctrine but rather with reality.
In the Gospel of John, another item is satisfaction. In John 4 the Lord said to the Samaritan woman, “Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever” (vv. 13-14). This is satisfaction. On the last day of the feast, the Lord stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (7:37). To be thirsty is to have no satisfaction. To come and drink is to obtain satisfaction. The Lord said, “He who believes into Me...out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water” (v. 38). This is not only to be satisfied but also to be overflowing, that is, to be satisfied to the extent of flowing over. This satisfaction, this overflowing, is a content of Christ’s fullness.
The church as the fullness of Christ should have an effect, which is to give people inner satisfaction. There is a strong proof of whether a local church is an expression of the Body and whether it causes people to touch the Body: when people go there, are they satisfied? In the past people have asked, “Why do I feel the same both before and after a meeting? I was empty within before the meeting, and after the meeting I am still empty.” This means that they were not satisfied in the meeting. But marvelously, it is also possible for us to be silent in a prayer meeting yet be inwardly satisfied after the meeting. We may feel as if something has entered into our being. If this happens, we should worship the Lord, saying, “O Lord, Your Body is here.” This indicates that the fullness of Christ is being expressed and that there is a supply of Christ.
There can be no pretense in this matter. Loud prayers in a prayer meeting are not necessarily a source of satisfaction. Often there is only a trickle of rather quiet prayers in a prayer meeting instead of many loud prayers. However, the saints are refreshed. On the one hand, they listen to the prayers, and on the other hand, they follow and advance the prayers. They drink the living water and are inwardly infused. After the meeting they say, “I drank to the full; I am satisfied.” I believe many saints among us have had this kind of experience.
If you ask me which meeting I like to attend the most, I would say that the first is the bread-breaking meeting and the second is the prayer meeting. This is because in the bread-breaking meeting and the prayer meeting, my spirit is always satisfied. I am watered, refreshed, and satisfied. However, I would say that while I enjoy the prayer meeting the most, I also dread it the most, because if the prayer meeting does not touch the Lord’s presence, it is a real suffering to the saints. Without the Lord’s presence they are at a loss as to what to do.
If the saints have a sense of frustration and thirst after a prayer meeting, that church has a problem before the Lord. Christ has “run into a blind alley”; He has come to a “dead end” there. He has no way to get through. If a prayer meeting lacks the flow of living water and is neither refreshing nor watering, the saints cannot be satisfied. This also applies to the bread-breaking meeting. May the Lord have mercy on us. Unless the Lord is in our meeting, the prayer meeting, the bread-breaking meeting, and every other meeting will cause the saints to be frustrated. However, when the responsible brothers and all the saints live in the Lord, allowing Him to break them, build them up, and pass through them, anyone who comes into their midst will sense that the Lord is indeed among them. He will touch the Lord and be refreshed. He may not hear much doctrine or exhortation during the meeting, but after the meeting he is inwardly refreshed, enlivened, and truly satisfied.
Our gospel meetings should also be like this. It is not the message in a good gospel meeting that saves a person; rather, it is the fullness in the meeting that satisfies his empty human life. A gospel meeting depends neither on excitement nor the number of people; it depends entirely on the content. When the saints come together to preach the gospel as the church, the expression of the Body of Christ, there is a spontaneous flow of the fullness that touches the thirsty human life. As a result, people may not hear much doctrine or understand much concerning salvation, but they are satisfied within and can say, “Oh! I have touched satisfaction in the church!”
When I was in northern China, the local church there was truly blessed by the Lord. Although we had not learned many deep lessons, we genuinely enjoyed the Lord’s presence. Once, as a couple was entering the meeting hall for their wedding meeting, a thirty-year-old widow also walked by. Curious to see how the wedding would be conducted, she entered the hall. During the meeting some saints spoke a few words of exhortation, and she received the Lord.
She was a Gentile, who had never heard of the gospel. She and her family had never had any contact with Christianity, and according to the local custom, they would never accept a foreign religion. However, when she saw the wedding that day, she was touched and she believed and received the Lord following just a few words of exhortation. As a result of receiving the Lord, her family gave her a difficult time. Nevertheless, she said, “I cannot help believing in Jesus. I have been unsatisfied my entire life, and I have never touched satisfaction in my human life. But on that day, I went to see a wedding in that meeting hall, and even though I cannot explain it, I touched something, and I felt that I had found a resting place for my human life. I will believe in Jesus even if you threaten to kill me.” Her family said that in this case she would not receive a portion of the family inheritance. But her attitude was that if death would not cause her to stop believing, how could losing the inheritance? Although she did not hear much doctrine, she had touched something in that wedding meeting. This is spiritual reality; this is the fullness of Christ expressed in His church.
The Lord does not desire to have a church that merely preaches the gospel for Him; rather, He desires to have a Body to be His fullness and expression. If He can gain a group of people on earth who live in Him and who allow Him to break and build them, this group of people will be the living Body of Christ. This Body is Christ’s fullness, Christ’s overflow. Whatever people need, they will find it in the Body, in the fullness. Those who need light will see light when they come to the Body. Those who need comfort will receive comfort when they come to the Body. Those who need a way will have a way set before them when they come to the Body. Those who are inwardly empty, unsatisfied, unhappy, and unable to find purpose in human life will become inwardly satisfied when they touch the Body, the church. They may not hear much doctrine, but inwardly they will touch something that gives them satisfaction, unites them with God, and attaches them to God.
If this is not our condition, we have a problem. If the meetings in a local church are unable to satisfy people, something is wrong. Such a locality has lost the Lord’s presence and has not allowed the Lord’s satisfaction to flow out of the saints.