In relation to knowing the church, we have covered five lessons on what the church is, the expression of the church, the oneness of the church, the ground of the church, and the division of the church. We have seen that the church is neither a lifeless building nor an organization of man’s intention. Rather, the church is an assembly of the called-out ones, the Body of Christ, and the house of the living God. Contrary to what most people believe, the church’s expression is not in heaven or in eternity. Undeniably, the nature of the church is heavenly and eternal, but its expression is on earth and today. The church is neither abstract nor suspended in the air; rather, it is practical, real, concrete, and substantial. We can touch the church.
The expression of the church on earth is according to the principle of “one city, one church.” Just as there is one church in the universe, the expression of the church in a locality should also be one. The church is altogether a matter of oneness. The source, production, nature, principle, existence, administration, fellowship, and testimony of the church are all one. Through one faith and one baptism, the church received one Spirit, one Lord, and one God, and thus became one Body and has one hope. Everything pertaining to the church is one; therefore, the church should not be divided. Apart from the ground of locality, the church should not have any other ground. As long as believers keep the ground of locality, the church will be one in practicality and will never be divided. These few points are clearly revealed in the Scriptures and were manifested in the condition of the early church.
However, the church has become deformed. The church today is in confusion. It is not in the condition that was initially expressed on earth. Since Christians cannot leave the church, what should our attitude be in the midst of this confusion? We must be clear that our taking the right way is not merely for us to grow in the Lord and to serve. It is also for those who come after us. We should clear a straight path so that those who come after us will have a way to go on. For this reason we will now consider our practice and attitude in relation to the church.
We must understand God’s attitude toward Christianity. The light and prophecies in the New Testament show how God feels about today’s Christianity. On the one hand, God is extremely dissatisfied with the desolate and deformed situation. Whether divisions, human organization, mixture with the world, or giving opportunity to Satan, all of these are condemned by God. On the other hand, although God condemns these things, He has no intention of eliminating or forbidding them; rather, He has an attitude of tolerance. Hence, today’s confusion will not only continue; it will even worsen. There will be more divisions in Christianity, and the worldly condition of Christianity will worsen as well.
Since this is God’s attitude, we should also adopt this attitude. We are merely a group of weak and feeble ones; thus, we do not have the strength to correct these many errors. However, we can love the Lord, follow Him, and be faithful in taking the way that pleases Him in the midst of such confusion. This should be our basic attitude. Now we will cover a few points concerning our practice that need our attention.
The foremost thing regarding our practice is to abandon every improper ground. Whether it is the Roman Catholic Church or the different denominations and sects of Protestantism, we do not want it. We do not want the ground of Roman Catholicism, nor do we want the ground of any Protestant denomination or sect. We must completely abandon, fully depart from, and have nothing to do with these grounds. We should simply return to the ground of locality.
In lesson 16 the ground of locality was clearly presented. The ground of locality is the ground of oneness. The church is divided because the saints have left the ground of locality. If the saints would keep the ground of locality, the oneness of the church would be spontaneously preserved. Therefore, wherever we go, we should simply be Christians in that locality. If there is a group of brothers and sisters who meet on only the ground of locality, we must put ourselves in their midst and serve the Lord together with them. We do not want a sectarian ground; we should simply return to the local ground of oneness.
It is a very serious matter that in both the Old Testament and New Testament, God never allowed His people to have two grounds of service, two grounds of worship. He ordained that the children of Israel worship Him in the place where He chose to put His name, His habitation (Deut. 12:5-14; 14:22-26; 16:2, 11, 15-16). They were told not to worship God “in every place that you see” (12:13). Even though they later became corrupted and divided into two kingdoms—the kingdom of Israel in the north and the kingdom of Judah in the south—the place of their worship of God remained one. It remained in Jerusalem. God never allowed them to have a separate place, a separate ground, of worship. Although Jeroboam did his best to set up a center of worship in the kingdom of Israel and wanted the people to worship at the altar in Bethel, God never approved of this (1 Kings 12:26—13:5). God allowed Jeroboam to establish another kingdom, but He forbade him to set up another center of worship. This offended God to the uttermost.
If we apply this example today, God may tolerate another work for a period of time, but He will never tolerate setting up another ground for worship. Under normal circumstances, even the work should not be divided. A person’s preaching of the gospel in school originates from the church, and his laboring in the hospital also originates from the church. All the work should be one. There may be a time when the brothers are not one in the work because their condition is not good. God seemingly is willing to bear and permit this. But He condemns and cannot tolerate someone setting up another center of worship, another ground of service.
God allowed the Israelites to have only one center of worship in order to prevent division. Although they were outwardly divided into two kingdoms, they were still one in reality as long as the center of their worship was not divided. Similarly, if the ground of the church is not divided, it is a relatively light matter if the outward activities are somewhat divided. Strictly speaking, they are not divided in reality. However, we do not want any other ground, and we cannot be on any other ground. We can only be on the ground of the church, which is the ground of oneness, the ground of the expression of one church in a locality.
Concerning the ground, we need to add two points of explanation.
First, we must not remain on the ground of a denomination, the ground of organized Christianity. In typology, this is to come out of Babylon. All those who know the Scriptures cannot deny that in the eyes of God, the Roman Catholic Church is Babylon, a place of confusion. Although Protestantism divided from Roman Catholicism many years ago, the poison of Roman Catholicism has not yet been fully purged. Moreover, it seems that Protestantism is increasingly inclining toward and following Roman Catholicism. Hence, in God’s eyes, the Protestant churches are also Babylon. In the same way that Babylon was versus Jerusalem, the Catholic Church and the Protestant churches are versus the genuine church. Therefore, we cannot remain on any denominational ground, any ground of organized Christianity. This can be compared to the children of Israel in the Old Testament choosing to return from their captivity instead of remaining in Babylon. We must come out from Roman Catholicism as well as from Protestantism (Rev. 18:4). We should not remain in the organized Babylon of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
Second, we should not linger on small, scattered grounds. Today there are small, scattered grounds among Christians. Some are family groups, others are fellowship groups in schools, and still others are congregations or chapels on certain streets and alleys. There are meetings that are so-called non-denominational, and there are also meetings that are for free groups. In type, these small, scattered grounds are the scattered places between Babylon and Jerusalem.
There was a significant distance between Babylon and Jerusalem. When Ezra and those with him returned to Jerusalem from Babylon, the means of transportation was bad, and the journey was very long (Ezra 7:6-9; 8:21-23, 31-32). This difficult journey aptly typifies the situation of those coming out of organized Roman Catholicism and Christianity to return to the ground of the church today. Their return is not instantaneous; rather, it requires journeying a significant distance.
There may have been some Israelites who left Babylon but lingered on the way and did not reach Jerusalem because the journey was long and difficult. Their forefather Abraham also came out of Babylon and went to Canaan. Abraham’s coming out of Ur of the Chaldeans was equivalent to his descendants’ coming out of Babylon. Ur of the Chaldeans is the same location as Babylon, and Jerusalem is in Canaan. Abraham did not arrive in Canaan immediately after departing from Ur of the Chaldeans; rather, he stopped midway at Haran and later continued on to Canaan. During the return from captivity, there may have been a good number of Israelites who lingered in some scattered places on the way and did not return to Jerusalem. According to typology, this signifies the many saints today who have seen the evil of denominations and abandoned them, not remaining in organized Christianity, but have not returned to the ground of oneness, that is, the ground of locality. They are groups that linger “halfway.” Some form student fellowship groups, and others form family gatherings. They claim that they are non-denominational, having seen the error of denominations. Realizing that the Lord condemns denominations, they have rejected and abandoned them. There are also those in free groups who reject organization. This means that they do not want chapels for worship or anything that relates to organization. On the negative side, this is correct, but on the positive side, they have not arrived at the ground on which God desires the church to stand. In terms of the Old Testament type, they have left Babylon but have not yet returned to Jerusalem. This is not adequate. By the Lord’s mercy we should not only leave the improper ground of the denominations, but we should also return to the proper ground of oneness. We are not on the ground of organized denominations, nor should we linger in any of the numerous scattered grounds in between. This is the first item of our practice.