In the previous message we saw that as the spontaneous issue of our experience of the dispensing of the divine Trinity, we have the kingdom life, and the reality of the kingdom life is the content of the church life. We experience the dispensing of the processed Triune God corporately by entering into the kingdom and also by living in the church. In this message we shall consider some matters related to our living in the church.
The church is God’s house (1 Tim. 3:15), and this house is our family and home. As members of the household of God, we are God’s family, even God’s house. All believers have been born of God into His house to enjoy His riches. The Greek word rendered “house” in 1 Timothy 3:15 may also be translated household, as in 1 Timothy 3:4,5, and 12. The household, the family, of God is the house of God. The house and the household are one thing-the assembly of the believers (Eph. 2:19; Heb. 3:6). The reality of this house as the dwelling place of the living God is in our spirit (Eph. 2:22). God is our Father, and we, the believers in Christ, are His children. Being His children, we are the “folks” of God’s family. Therefore, Ephesians 2:19 says that we are “members of the household of God.” The Greek word for “household” here refers both to the house, the dwelling place, and to the household, the family. Ephesians 2 reveals the household as the habitation of God. Verse 19 mentions the household, while verse 22 says that we are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit. The household is the dwelling place, the habitation.
Physically speaking, a household cannot be the dwelling place of a father. However, spiritually speaking, God’s children are His family and also His dwelling place. God’s habitation is built with His children. Hence, the family is the dwelling place. We are both God’s family and God’s house. Corporately, we, the believers, are the house of God and the folks of God, His dwelling place and His family. Therefore, to say that we live in the church means that we live in the dwelling place of God and in the family of God.
First Timothy 3:15 says, “If I delay, that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.” As God’s dwelling place, the church is both God’s house and His household, His family. In the Old Testament the temple and God’s people were two separate things, but in the fulfillment in the New Testament the dwelling place and the family are one. According to God’s New Testament economy, God’s family is His house.
In speaking of the church as the house of God, Paul specifically refers to God as the living God. The living God who lives in the church must be subjective to the church rather than merely objective. An idol in a heathen temple is lifeless. The God who not only lives but also acts, moves, and works in His living temple, the church, is living. Because He is living, the church is also living in Him, by Him, and with Him. A living God and a living church live, move, and work together. The living church is the house and the household of the living God. Therefore, in our meetings, service, and ministry we must give people the impression that the living God is living, moving, speaking, and acting among us.
The church, the house of the living God, is living in the Father’s name and in the Father’s life. This means that the church is living in the Father’s reality. God’s house is a living composition of His many children in the Father’s life and reality. Where the house of God is, there is the family of God, and where the family of God is, there is God the Father with His life and reality. This is similar to the church being the Body of Christ. Christ is not separate from the members of the Body, for, as the Head of the Body, Christ indwells all the members. Christ should not be counted as a separate member of the Body, because He is in all the members of the Body. The principle is the same with the church as God’s house and family. The Father is not a separate member of the household but is in all the children.
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