Furthermore, the most important matter for the church in a locality is that she must be inclusive, not exclusive. The church must be inclusive in two aspects of its behavior and its doctrine. First, we will consider the aspect of Christian behavior that the church should not exclude.
In Acts 20:27 Paul told the elders of Ephesus, “I did not shrink from declaring to you all the counsel of God,” or “I did not shrink from declaring to you the perfect, complete will of God.” If the church in a locality is standing in the position of the church, she must not shrink from declaring the perfect, complete will of God. We cannot expect that every brother will touch the perfect, complete will of God, but like Paul we must not shrink from or reject one truth concerning the perfect, complete will of God. As soon as we shy away from some aspect of the truth, we are a sect. If we exclude those who believe in the certain truths which we shrink from, then we are not able to include all of God’s children.
“The church...is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23). The Lord fills the universal church; the Lord also fills the local church. If a local church only has a part of Christ, that is not the church. The church is the Body of Christ, which means the whole Christ. For example, if my waist is forty inches around and I am given a suit with a waistline measuring thirty inches, I will not be able to wear it. The clothing must be big enough for me to wear. The relationship of the church to Christ is like the body to life; it is not exactly like clothing to the body. Sometimes we can force our clothing a little to fit our body, but we can never force our body to contain life. The Body must be complete in order to fully contain the whole life of Christ. Only when the Lord’s fullness is in the church in Shanghai can it be called the church in Shanghai. If the church allows a certain matter but disallows another matter, then the church has a shortage. If there is anything that we cannot accept, the portion of Christ within that very thing will be excluded from us. In such a case, we are not perfectly complete; the church is maimed. This is very important. The church is filled with the fullness of Christ. The church is the Body of Christ; Christ puts on such a church as His outward container. The church must be large enough to contain Christ. The church must have a large enough shell for Christ to fit into. If the church does not have all that His life has, the church cannot express the complete Christ and cannot be called the church.
Colossians 1:25 says, “Of which I became a minister according to the stewardship of God, which was given to me for you, to complete the word of God.” Within the church, there must be the complete word of God. The word of God must be completed in the church. After reading these words, we may not understand the practical side. For example, what does it mean to have the word of God and all kinds of scriptural behavior fulfilled in the church? What does it mean that a local church should be inclusive and not exclusive?
(1)As an example, we have been talking about the matter of spiritual gifts in these days. We say that we are the church in Shanghai, but suppose that brothers in Shanghai do not believe in spiritual gifts. Is this all right? No! The church cannot say that it does not believe in spiritual gifts, because there are spiritual gifts in the Bible. As soon as we do not believe in spiritual gifts, we cannot be the church in Shanghai; we can only be called “a church in Shanghai that does not believe in spiritual gifts.” Our refusal to believe in spiritual gifts causes us not to be inclusive and makes us exclusive to some brothers. Suppose there are twenty brothers in Shanghai who believe in spiritual gifts. Once we refuse to believe in spiritual gifts, we cannot include them; we keep them out. Since they are members of the Body of Christ, our excluding of them may not be like cutting off our hand, but at least it is like cutting off a finger. Therefore, we cannot say that this church is filled with the fullness of Christ. We have not fulfilled the word of God; we have cut off a portion of Christ.
(2)Consider a greater matter, such as selling all to follow the Lord. Suppose the brothers in Shanghai do not believe in selling everything, but instead believe in working diligently to earn money and taking out a certain percentage of it for distribution to the poor. If one hundred brothers in Shanghai are moved by the Spirit of the Lord to sell everything and follow the Lord, they will feel that there is no place for them in this church. If we have no way to include them, we are exclusive to them. But selling all to follow the Lord is a part of the life of Christ. If we cannot include the brothers who have this portion of life, if we ostracize them, we can see that our church is both too small and it is maimed. This is like amputating a hand or foot. How can the church not have all that Christ has? If the church does not have all that Christ has, this church cannot stand in the position of the church. It is a sect, not a church. A church must include the fullness of Christ. If it does not, these one hundred brothers will eventually form a church that sells all to follow the Lord, bringing forth one more sect. We will not be complete and neither will they. Our doctrine is not broad enough to include them, and theirs is also not the perfect, complete will of God. We cut them off, and they also cut us off.
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