If we would present others mature in Christ, we must minister the church as the mystery of Christ, as the ex- pension of Christ (Eph. 3:4; 1:23). In his subtlety, Satan has caused many seeking Christians to avoid the matter of the church.
My experience with Brother T. Austin-Sparks illustrates how persistently some avoid the church matter. At our invitation, he came to Taiwan in 1955. We had a wonderful time together as he ministered on Christ. He could clearly echo what we had seen about Christ. In 1957 he came to Taiwan a second time. On this visit he touched the church ground, the standing of the church, in a negative way. In 1958 I accepted his invitation to visit him in England. During the days we were together, we had many long conversations about the church. However, he could not change my mind, and I could not change his concept. He tried his best to avoid the subject of the church, but my concept was that we must labor for the building up of the churches. His intention was to convince us that we should give up the ground of the church. But I pointed out to him that it was impossible for us to have the church practically without the ground of the church. Brother Sparks tried to assure me that he was not opposed to the church. He went on to tell me that during the early years of his ministry, he was invited to speak in Edinburgh. When he spoke about Christ, the meeting hall was crowded, and the audience was responsive. But when he spoke about the church, the number of people decreased. This caused him to feel that it was not profitable for him to speak on the church.
I went on to ask Brother Sparks how we could practice the principles we both had seen concerning the Lord’s Body. He admitted that these principles could not be put into practice in the denominations. But he would not admit that they could be put into practice only on the proper ground of the church. Instead, he emphasized the fact that the church can be produced only by much prayer and through the Spirit. Then I said to him, “Do you think that so many churches on the island of Taiwan did not all come into existence by prayer and through the Spirit?” I asked him what a group of saints should do after they had prayed regarding the church. Still he would not admit that they should take the standing of the church on the ground of oneness. He simply said that they needed to be assured that any move they made was of the Spirit. This was the conclusion of our conversation about the church.
I tried my best to convince him concerning the church, and he tried his best to avoid the church. Eventually, neither of us would change our position.
Today a battle is raging over the church as the expression of Christ. Due to the subtlety of the enemy, most Christian bookstores will sell Brother Nee’s books on spirituality, but not his books on the church. Christians, however, cannot become full-grown without the church life. Brother Nee’s books related to spiritual matters have been popular with Christians around the world for many years. But the popularity of these books has not caused the condition of Christianity to improve very much. Without the church life, the help people received from Brother Nee’s books would eventually leak away because the church life is the only proper vessel to preserve this help. For some, the spiritual books by Brother Nee for the most part supply new doctrinal concepts. Not much is gained for the fulillment of God’s purpose. Does the Lord want people who only seek after spirituality, but who do not participate in the proper church life? Certainly not! Apart from the church, God’s purpose cannot be fulfilled. Because we realize this, the Lord’s burden concerning the church presses heavily upon us. We need to practice the church life for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose. We also need to be faithful to minister the church as the mystery of Christ, as the very expression of Christ.
The Lord’s desire is to have the Body, the church. He does not want the church in terminology—He wants the church in practicality. In order for the church life to be practical, there must be local churches. This is made clear in The Practical Expression of the Church. Today the practical expression of the church can only be in the local churches. Oh, may we all learn to minister the church as the mystery of Christ, as His expression, in order that others may be presented full-grown in Christ!
Some have claimed that the ministry concerning the church has no future because the opposition against it is so widespread and intense. Certainly if this ministry is simply the work of man, it has no future. But if this ministry is the ministry in the Lord’s recovery, the future will be bright. The more others advise us not to minister on the church, the more we must be faithful to minister regarding it. We must be bold and faithful to speak not only of Christ, the Head, but also of the church, His Body. We must not follow today’s Christianity. On the contrary, we must follow the pure Word to minister the church as the mystery of Christ.
Finally, we need to minister Christ as life to His members so that they may live by Him and grow with Him unto maturity. Colossians 3:4 says that Christ is our life, and in John 6:57; 14:19; and Galatians 2:20 we see that we need to live by Him. Then we shall grow with Him unto maturity (Eph. 4:15, 13).
If we desire to present others full-grown in Christ, we must minister to them all the matters we have considered in this message. What a great need there is for the believers to be infused with all the things related to God’s economy! If we are faithful to minister these crucial points, we shall be able to present others full-grown in Christ.