After seeing the types of the tabernacle, the altar, and the Ark, which signify the outward form of the church, redemption, and Christ, we must see how to measure the church. In other words, we must see how to measure the spiritual worth, weight, and position of a church. Since the Ark represents Christ as the inner substance of the church, we can measure the church only by Christ Himself. Ephesians 4:11-12 also speaks very clearly of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers who perfect the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ. All the gifts that Christ gave to the church are for the building up of His Body; the goal of the building up is for the Body of Christ to become full grown and to attain to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (v. 13).
We need to see what it means to build up the church. To build up the church is to build up the Body of Christ. The goal of the building up of the Body of Christ is for the Body of Christ to become full grown and to attain to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that is, for the church to arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Hence, the matter of the church involves Christ. If the church does not have Christ inwardly, the church is void, empty, and without reality. Consequently, if we want to evaluate the church, we must not do it according to anything other than Christ Himself, and we must see that a group of Christians has the inward stature of Christ.
Anything that does not match Christ and is not of Christ should not have any place in the church; it should be completely eliminated and destroyed. In the church there are only Christ’s position, ground, and element. If we look at the church from the outside, there are many persons and matters, but these persons and matters should be mingled with the element of Christ. This means that every responsible brother and serving one should be mingled with Christ inwardly. In other words, all the responsible brothers and serving ones need to submit to Christ and allow Christ to mingle with them. In this way, even though we are still human, we will have the mingling of Christ within; we will be humans who are mingled with God. All our service and work should be mingled with the element of Christ.
Sometimes we hear people from certain Christian groups saying that they are truly God’s church because their beliefs are orthodox and their worship is according to the way of the Bible. However, if we examine them more deeply, we may discover that Christ is not mingled with them and that the Holy Spirit does not have the ground to rule in them. On the contrary, we may be able to touch only people and things. When we genuinely want to live in the Spirit and allow Christ to be the law of life in us, some may attempt to “pour cold water” on us by saying that this will not work. In such circumstances, however, it is not we who are being blocked and hindered; rather, the Holy Spirit is being blocked and hindered.
We should never be like this in the local churches. No local church should allow man to overstep Christ and the Holy Spirit. No local church should prevent a person who lives in the Lord from working with them. If a local church cannot enable someone who lives in Spirit and who follows the Holy Spirit to go on together with them, such a church is undoubtedly ruled by man, allows man to have the top position, and has more of the element of man than the element of Christ. The Lord does not approve of such a situation.
We must adhere closely to this principle: the normal condition of any local church is to establish Christ so that Christ can be built up in the church, so that the stature of Christ can grow daily in the church, and so that the Holy Spirit can become more active in the church as He lives more in the church. In a normal local church the Holy Spirit is able to lead people to learn and accept the breaking of the cross, to put themselves aside, and to submit to the authority of the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, a normal church life involves living in Christ and allowing Christ to lead us to learn the lesson of the cross so that we can learn how to build up the church as the Holy Spirit increasingly lives in us.
The standard of the church is simply Christ. We cannot conclude that the church has made progress and has grown simply if a church in a certain locality increases from four hundred brothers and sisters to six hundred in one year. In reality, the church may not have grown at all. Even when a church increases in number, we cannot determine whether the church has been enlarged and made progress merely by looking at these outward numbers. We must see whether Christ Himself has increased within a church. When Christ increases within a church, it has truly been enlarged and made progress.
When we visit a church, we may discover that even though it has increased in number, the element of man has increased as well so that the church is full of man’s ideas and opinions. According to the proper measure, this church has not made any progress. Even though these saints may have some experience and do not directly confront or offend one another, we can sense that they have their own opinions. Such saints do not submit to the Holy Spirit and do not allow the Holy Spirit to reign in them; instead, it is possible to meet people who are only experienced in the ways of the world. In other words, we can touch only man’s element and self-cultivation but not much of the element of Christ. It is possible for saints to be very weak even when a church increases in number.
If there is an increase only in number, we will touch only weakness and activity in their service. We will not touch the authority of the Holy Spirit, and we will not find people who are under the Holy Spirit’s authority, who abide in life by the Holy Spirit’s operation in them, and who serve the Lord by allowing Him to rule. Such a church will not have much of the stature of Christ. They may increase in number, and the responsible brothers may be full of human experiences and not argue with one another; however, we cannot touch Christ in them. This kind of church is a church in name only; it lacks reality.
If the responsible brothers and the saints remain like this, sooner or later the Holy Spirit will be forced to raise up another group of people. The Lord will raise up a group of people who will submit to the Holy Spirit’s authority and who will have much fellowship with Him. Then when people contact them, they will sense the Lord’s presence and taste the flavor of Christ in them. Thus, the Ark—the testimony of God—will be among this group of people.
David was a man who knew God’s heart, and he brought the Ark to the house of Obed-edom because he knew God’s heart (2 Sam. 6:11-12). However, the house of Obed-edom was neither the beginning nor the destination. The beginning was the tabernacle, and the destination was the temple; Obed-edom was only a part of the building process.
Over twenty years ago, the meetings that began in many places in mainland China were like the house of Obed-edom. When I first started serving God, the local church where I met was a “house of Obed-edom.” The house of Obed-edom, however, can last only a short period of time. Those who know God will not leave the Ark in the house of Obed-edom; instead, they will bring the Ark and set it in the city of David. The Ark can stay in a certain person’s house for a short time, but eventually it needs to enter into the temple. Thus, it is not sufficient simply to have the Ark; we also need to build up a temple for God’s Ark.
The stature of the church is Christ. When we build up the church, we cannot build with anything other than Christ; we can build only with Christ. Several years ago we visited a certain church and realized that the brothers did not know very much of the truth and were not clear about God’s Word. When we visited them this year, all the brothers were able to stand at the podium and speak for the Lord. Some might say that this church has made progress, but we can say only that they have made progress in the truth; we may not be able to say that the church has made progress. A church has made progress only when there has been an inward increase and growth of Christ. A church may increase in the knowledge of the truth outwardly, but she may not have much increase of Christ inwardly. We need to be able to discern this difference.
Many Christian organizations have studied the truth and published magazines for many years, but they have merely human views and ideas. It is difficult to find anyone among them who is under the breaking of the cross, who allows Christ to rule, and who lives in the Holy Spirit. If our church is like this, we have not grown much in Christ; instead, we have grown only in our mind. Even the truth cannot be used to measure the church; we can measure the church only by Christ.
Sometimes even the truth can replace Christ. The church in Taipei has been in the exercise of the four stages of the spiritual life, in which the third stage concerns the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Many saints have the concept that the discipline of the Holy Spirit involves losing something, being physically injured, having a car accident, or becoming sick. However, few of us truly see that the discipline of the Holy Spirit causes us to experience the breaking of the cross to allow the Holy Spirit to have ground in us and rule in us. Often we have the doctrine of the discipline of the Holy Spirit but not the reality of being ruled by the Holy Spirit. Hence, the stature of Christ may not be established in us. Among today’s Christians, there are too many substitutes for Christ; anything can be a substitute for Christ. However, only the things that come out of Christ have the element of Christ and are of Christ Himself.
Some Christians pay more attention to spiritual cultivation than to Christ, but spiritual cultivation is not Christ. Similarly, the things we think are related to the discipline of the Holy Spirit may be unrelated to Christ. Sometimes we visit seminaries and see people holding Bibles in their arms, walking slowly, and looking up to the heavens every few steps. It seems as if they are very pious. Such a pious demeanor conveys a sense of spiritual cultivation, but spiritual cultivation is not Christ. The result of this kind of spiritual cultivation is not spiritual growth but the growth of the flesh; instead of the spirit, the flesh is strengthened.
Spiritual cultivation may seem very real outwardly, but actually it is very false. Many seminary students and preachers behave and conduct themselves very differently at school than at home. When they are at home, their true nature is manifested, and they act like different persons. We can be like this as well; we can act like two totally different persons when we are with the saints and when we are at home. Just as our natural life can be expressed in our pride, it can be expressed in our meekness. Just as our natural life can be expressed in our “wildness,” it can be expressed in our refinement. All the things that people think are good and virtuous may not be spiritual or of Christ.
We may have the term the discipline of the Holy Spirit without any real knowledge and experience of it. This can be a substitute for Christ in us. As a result, we may receive some discipline, but we do not gain Christ or experience Christ. We need the discipline of the Holy Spirit in the church life, but we cannot use this item to measure the church. We cannot use anything but Christ to measure the church; we can use only Christ to measure the church. The degree to which a person knows Christ, allows Christ to rule in him, gives ground to Christ, and allows Christ to operate in him is the degree to which he has gained Christ.
In the church the goal and purpose of the gifts are to build up the church so that the church would have the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The church has no other work.