Second, a house is for expression and manifestation. No other place expresses ourself more than our own home. We can see the true condition of a person in his home. What we cannot tell others and what we are embarrassed to say before others can be said at home. What we cannot make public in other places can be made public at home. Hence, our home is the best place for us to express ourselves. The place where we feel the most comfortable and free is in our home. The church is the house of God, where God’s life is propagated and where God Himself is expressed. God’s desires and inclinations are expressed in His house.
If God did not have a home in the universe, He would not have a place to propagate His life; if God did not have a home in the universe, He would not have a place to express and manifest Himself, thereby showing forth His mystery. There is no place like the church in which God can speak and show forth Himself. If the church is not this way, it shows that she has lost sight of her nature. If we must keep quiet and are not allowed to speak a word in our home, then our home is just like a court of law. The church is where God can pour Himself out.
Third, a house is a resting place; there is affection and love in a home. There is care, sympathy, and the sweetness of human relationships in a home. The sweetness of human relationships can be tasted only in a home. If a home has been corrupted by Satan, the enjoyment of human relationships is annulled. Hence, the most serious thing that Satan does in human relationships is to corrupt the family. All the enjoyment and meaning of human relationships are in the home. A home is a place for one to express his emotions and to rest. Only when a person has a home can he find rest inwardly and outwardly. It is the same with the church. If God did not have the church in the universe, He would have no rest. Without the church, God does not have a place that can respond to His love and His heart. This house is where God rests.
The church as the house of God is for the continuation of God’s life, the expression and manifestation of God, and the rest of God. If we know the church in this way, we will know how to conduct ourselves in the church. The way we act in the church must enable God to propagate His life, to express Himself, and to have rest. This is our action based upon our knowledge of the church.
I spoke about this matter in Canton four years ago, because at that time I saw a situation in which the brothers and sisters had many opinions whenever they came together to serve. I sensed that it was not like the house of God but more like a legislature. When the brothers and sisters sat there, they were all like legislators, and they did not give any room for God to express Himself. Therefore, when they asked me questions about the church, I said that the church is the house of God and that we must allow God to speak. If the master of a house does not have the ground to speak in his own home, the home must not be proper.
In all of the ways that we conduct ourselves, we must firmly grasp the principle that the church is the house of God. Our conduct in the church must be restricted by these principles. We should not do anything that hinders God’s life from being propagated, and we need to stop things that prevent God from speaking and being expressed; otherwise, the nature of God’s house will be ruined. Moreover, we must let God have rest in the church.
According to 1 Timothy 3:15, the house of God is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. The church is the house of the living God; the church is also the pillar and base of the truth. First, we need to see what truth refers to in this verse, because this is a great matter. The truth spoken of in this verse is “He who was manifested in the flesh” in the following verse. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Then verse 14 continues, “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us..., full of grace and reality [truth].” We know that this truth has become flesh, because verse 17 says, “Grace and reality [truth] came through Jesus Christ.” John 14:6 says, “I am...the reality [truth].” This One is the God who created all things and who became flesh. Hence, truth refers to God entering into man.
Truth is God being manifested in man; the joining of God and man is truth. Someone may ask, “Why is the joining of God and man truth?” We should not say that God is truth; rather, God becoming flesh and entering into man is truth, because without God being added, all the created things are false and empty. For example, an electric lamp without electricity is a false and hollow lamp. Only when electricity enters into the electric lamp can it be real and true. God is the reality of all things, just as electricity is the reality of the electric lamp. Electricity itself does not need to become real, because it is real. Likewise, our spirit and soul are the reality of our body as a shell; if our spirit and soul leave, our body becomes a sham. God must enter into human beings so that they may have the reality in them. Hence, truth refers to God’s entering into man, that is, the Creator’s entering into His creatures. This is called truth, which is the manifestation of God in the flesh.
The truth of God being manifested in the flesh is upheld by the church. The church is the pillar and the base of this truth. The church is too great; God manifested in the flesh is a great matter. The Bible says, “Great is the mystery of godliness” (1 Tim. 3:16). This great matter is upheld by the church. The church is the pillar and base of God being manifested in the flesh, and this matter needs to be upheld by the church. When we see the church, we see the manifestation of God in the flesh. If the church is not present, the manifestation of God is finished.
This reminds us of what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16:18: “Upon this rock I will build My church.” We all know that Christ is the rock, the foundation, upon which the church is built. When we come to 1 Timothy, however, we see that the church becomes the base of God’s manifestation in the flesh. The fact of this mystery rests with the church. The church is the pillar and base of this matter. A pillar denotes support, which can be seen in the beams of a house which are supported by pillars. However, with regard to the truth of God being manifested in the flesh, the church is not only the pillar but also the base. This shows that the church upholds and presents the matter of God’s manifestation in the flesh to the universe in time and space. God entrusts this mystery to the church. If we see this, we will confess that the administration of the church is a great matter.
All who serve God in the church, all who work for the Lord, all who preach the gospel, and all who administrate the church must be brought by the Lord to such a high realm to see that the church is the pillar and base of the truth, upholding the fact of God’s manifestation in the universe. This is a great and mysterious matter. Without this vision, we will not know what we are doing. A day must come when our eyes are opened to see that the church we serve and administrate is such a great matter; only then will we know what we are doing. What we do is too great and too mysterious!