Prayer: Lord, how we thank You that You have brought us through all the previous fellowship. We believe You will give us a glorious conclusion. You are the Alpha and the Omega. We trust in You. Lord, thank You that all the time we depend upon Your mercy, Your blessing, Your provisions, the Word and the Spirit, and Your presence. Lord, without these we are just like a dead dog. We can do nothing, we can have nothing, and we can be nothing. Lord, this is what we are. But we trust in You. You are everything to us for the purpose of making us the same as You are in life and in nature but not in Your Godhead. We thank You for this. We worship You. The main point in these days that You have unveiled to us is that You want to have a group of people to be remade through regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification to be the same as You are. We thank You for Yourself. Amen.
The ground of the church and the oneness of the Body of Christ are old subjects to us. I have been speaking about these things for over sixty-five years, but these subjects are very critical. Within the past fifteen months, the Lord has raised up over three hundred new churches around the globe, and these new churches must be clear about the local ground and the universal oneness. The ground is concerning the churches of God, and the oneness is concerning the Body of Christ. The ground and the oneness are unique, which means that the ground for the church and the oneness for the Body are just one.
First, we want to see the unique ground of the local churches of God (1 Cor. 1:1-2, 9, 10-13; 3:3-4).
First Corinthians 1:2a speaks of the church of God. The church has to be of God. It should not be of anything else. This refers to the content of the church in its essence. Every substantial matter has its source. Then it has its element. Intrinsically within the element, there is the essence. The content of the church essentially is God Himself.
First Corinthians 1:2b speaks of the church at Corinth. This shows the locality of Corinth for the existence, expression, and practice of the church; such a locality becomes the local ground of the local churches on which they are built respectively (Acts 8:1; 13:1; Rev. 1:11). For its existence, expression, and practice, the church surely needs a place, and that place according to the New Testament is a locality. The church in Corinth was built in Corinth. The church in Athens is built on the ground of the city of Athens. The church in New York is built on the ground of the city of New York. Thus, the locality spontaneously becomes the church ground.
Brother Watchman Nee pointed out that God was very wise in His way of building up the church on the local ground. There are a great number of God’s chosen people. Everywhere around the globe there are believers in Christ, and they should not be scattered but gathered together to be a church. If there were not the proper limitation of the ground, there would be no limitation to the setting up of churches. Today in Southern California there is a church called the Taiwan Gospel Church. These believers have used Taiwan as their ground. I was raised in China in the city of Chefoo, and in Chefoo there was the Church of England. People set up churches too easily. Today it is easier to establish a church than it is to set up a restaurant. All the denominations have divisive grounds, including the Southern Baptists, the Presbyterians, and the Lutherans.
If we believers keep the pattern set up by God in the Bible to have one church in one city, we can keep the oneness. Any believer who comes to a city has to be in the church in that city. If I go to Tokyo, I should join the church in Tokyo. If I go to London, I should go to the church in London. If I go to Dallas, I have to meet with the church in Dallas. Then spontaneously there will be no division. The Bible set up a pattern of how the believers should meet. The first gathering of the Christians was in Jerusalem, and Acts 8:1 calls that gathering the church in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a large city, but there was only one church in that city. Although there is one church in a city, the church does not necessarily need to meet in one place. But we must keep in mind that the city in which we are should be the unique local ground of the church.
Home | First | Prev | Next