When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He preached in the Jewish synagogues; Paul also preached there (Matt. 4:23; 13:54; Mark 1:39; Acts 13:5; 18:4). However, they did not confirm or strengthen the Jewish way of worship; rather, they urged the Jews to come out of the synagogues. The brother claimed that when the apostles went to the Jewish synagogues, they preached only Christ and not the ground of the church. This is correct. Indeed, the apostles preached Christ wherever they went, including in all the synagogues; however, when some in the synagogues believed in Christ, the apostles did not leave them there. The New Testament tells us clearly that the apostles gathered them together and established them as the church in their locality.
I asked this brother, “Since you labor in the various Christian groups and preach Christ there, when people receive the Christ whom you preach, where should they go?” He said, “They themselves need to receive the Lord’s leading.” Then I asked, “Where do you think the Lord will lead them? If some were to ask you this, how would you answer them?” He said, “I would not tell them where to go. One day the Lord will tell them.” I said, “What do you suppose the Lord will tell them? Where do you think the Lord will lead them? Do you think that the Lord will lead them into organizations that He condemns?” Eventually, he said, “No, the Lord will want them to come out of such organizations.” Then I questioned insistently, “So where will they go when they come out?” For this, the brother did not have an answer.
I then told the brother, “What you have said is too theoretical. We do not say that we should go everywhere to preach the ground of the church. How much do we actually preach the ground of the church? We mostly preach the Lord Jesus as Savior, as Christ, as the Head, as the Lord of all, and as the all-inclusive One. When we allow the Lord to work in us, things definitely happen. When people are enlightened to see what does not match God’s will and what is incompatible with what God desires, they leave and come out of those organizations. After these ones forsake these organizations, where should they go?”
I then continued, “You strongly disapprove of the ground of the church. But I would like to ask, If we forsake the ground of the church, where should we go? Should we go to your home?” On the one hand, he acknowledged that what I said was right, but on the other hand, he still disagreed with us, saying that we should not emphasize the ground of the church, or we would become like the Brethren, who claimed that only their ground is right and that the other grounds are wrong. I pointed out to him that the church is built in definite places; otherwise, the church would be something in the air, and we would have nowhere to meet. He said, “As long as there is a piece of land, we can meet there.” I said, “The ground of the church is our ‘land’; if we sell our ‘land’ and are without the ground, we will have nowhere to meet.”
Finally, I presented to him the same conclusion that I had spoken at the beginning. We cannot be merely individual Christians; we must be corporate Christians. Today among Christians there is division after division. We cannot accept these divisions. We must choose a place to be in order to serve with other saints. As to whether or not we should participate in a work carried out apart from the local church, we must carefully observe the group that is carrying out the work. We need to know whether the group is destructive or constructive. This is to care for not only the truth but also the practice.
Furthermore, we are absolutely different from the Brethren. First, the Brethren are exclusive, and we are not. The Brethren think that if a person does not leave the denominations and remains connected to them, he is a “companion of evil.” We do not think this way. If a brother is genuinely saved and comes to meet with us, we will receive him and break bread with him, even if he is wearing the robe of a Catholic priest. Second, the Brethren also think that whoever holds a different view in regard to the truth is “heretical” and cannot be received. We, however, pay attention only to the fundamental truths. Thus, we open the Lord’s table to all genuine believers; whoever is saved by believing in the Lord can partake of this table.
As far as the work is concerned, we cannot casually give approval to participate in the work of others. If someone wants to have mutual participation with us in a matter related to the work, we must first consider his person. Then we will decide. We do not want our trumpet to give two kinds of sound; once we give two kinds of sound, the work will be in confusion, and the result will not be profitable (1 Cor. 14:8). For example, the brother spoken of earlier breaks bread with us, and we are happy about this. However, he still has some disagreements and different opinions concerning the ground that we consider to be proper. Since his attitude is such, when we calmly consider the matter, we realize that we cannot participate with him in his work. How can we give him a confirmation regarding his view of the work? We have no intention to hurt his feelings. If this brother feels that he should work in other groups, this is a personal matter, and we leave it to him to decide.
On the other hand, if a person is clear regarding the ground of the church and the purpose of God, we will not only give him a confirmation but will also encourage him in the work. Some people, however, have a different opinion regarding the ground on which we stand. We cannot encourage them. Moreover, if the work of a group of Christians was only constructive and not destructive, we would still encourage them in their work. However, the present condition of the work of most groups is in a state of confusion. On one hand, there is building up, but there is also tearing down. If a person is not clear concerning the ground and carries out the work in a negative situation, we do not have the confidence to encourage him in his work. This kind of consideration is not unreasonable.