The immediate question every believer asks after his conversion concerns joining a church. We have covered the matter of separation from the world. This does not mean, however, that a person only needs to separate himself from the world and then can stop there. On the positive side, he needs also to join the church. (The phrase joining the church is not a proper one; however, we will borrow it for our use for the time being.)
Twenty or more years ago, when our testimony first began, six to eight out of ten persons who were saved had no thought of joining a church. This was very strange! They thought that it was good enough to be a Christian by themselves and that there was no need to join a church. You may think this is a very strange thought, but according to our experience, quite a number of people think this way. They want Christ, but they do not want the church. They want to have something to do with Christ, but they do not want to have anything to do with the church. They want to be solitary Christians. Can we pray by ourselves? Yes. Therefore, they say that this is enough! Can we read the Bible by ourselves? Yes. Therefore, they think that this is enough! They think that as long as one can pray and read the Bible by himself, it is good enough. They think that it is troublesome to join with others and that it is good enough as long as one believes in the Lord and fellowships with Him alone. This concept exists in China, and it exists in other countries.
However, we must realize that whether we like it or not, we have no choice but to join the church. When a person is saved, he should see that there is an individual aspect as well as a corporate aspect to his Christian life. On the individual side, he has received the Lord’s life, and he can fellowship with the Lord and pray by himself. He can lock himself up in a room and believe in the Lord by himself. However, if he only knows the individual aspect, his testimony will not be complete. In fact, he will not last long and will grow very little. I have never seen a reclusive Christian progress well, none in the past and none at present. During the two thousand years of church history, many people have thought that they could be believers individually. They have thought that they could live like hermits, shutting themselves up on a mountain and caring for nothing except their fellowship with the Lord. But the spiritual lessons that these ones experienced were very shallow; they could not withstand temptation. When the environment was right, they thrived. When the environment became adverse, they could not persevere.
We must realize that there is another side to the Christian life—the corporate side. In the Bible, as far as the corporate aspect is concerned, no one can be a solitary Christian. First of all, God’s Word tells us that when a person is saved, he becomes a member of God’s household; he becomes God’s child. This is the revelation of the Bible. Once a person is born again, he is born into God’s family, and he becomes God’s child together with many other children of God.
Second, the Bible shows us that all the saved ones are God’s dwelling place, that is, God’s house. This house is different from the household or family we spoke of earlier. The household refers to the family, while the house refers to the dwelling place.
Third, Christians are collectively called the Body of Christ. We are members one of another, and together we are the Body of Christ.
After a person believes in the Lord, he receives not only an individual life but also a life that is related to many other people. As members of God’s family, His dwelling place, and the Body of Christ, we are merely a part of the whole. It is impossible for us to exist alone. If we tried, we would surely miss the fullness and the riches in God. We may be a useful part, but if we are not joined to others, we are like a piece of cloth cut off from the whole or a spare part of a big machine, and we cannot express the light of the fullness of the highest form of life. The fullness of that light exists only in the church.
One cannot live in a family with five brothers and sisters without being related to them. If I am the only child of my father, I do not have to deal with any brothers or sisters in the family, because I have none. But if I have five brothers and sisters in my family, I am no longer my father’s only child; I am one of five children. How can I not be related to the other brothers and sisters and remain the only son to my father? How can I lock myself up in a room and tell the others, “Do not bother me. I have nothing to do with you. I am here to be my father’s only son”? How can one do that?
When a person believes in the Lord, he does not become God’s only begotten son. He is one among God’s millions of sons. He cannot lock himself up and be his Father’s only son. The very nature of the life you have received does not allow this. In the physical family, you may be an only child without any brother or sister. But since the day you believed in the Lord, you are bound in fellowship to the other brothers and sisters. You cannot escape from this. On that day, you were born into the biggest family in the whole world. No other family is as big as this one. You have millions and millions of brothers and sisters. You cannot belittle them just because there are so many of them. Because you are only one among many, there is the need for you to know them; there is the need for you to fellowship with them and to be related to them. If you have no desire at all to see them, I have doubts about whether or not you are really a brother or a sister. If you are born of God, you will be drawn towards those who are also born of God. If you can shut yourself off from them, I have doubts about whether or not you are a child of God at all.
The concept of being an individual Christian is not a Christian concept at all. This concept does not and should not belong to a Christian. In our own family we should be brothers to all our brothers and sisters to all our sisters. How much more should this be true in the family of God? This relationship flows forth from the life of God and is full of love. It is a strange thing for anyone to have no affection for his own brothers and sisters or to have no desire to communicate with them! We must remember that while we receive God’s life to be His children individually, the life we obtain is also in thousands of other children of God. I am only one among many brothers. The very nature of the life I possess does not allow me to be individualistic. It desires instead to communicate with all the other brothers and sisters.