Now let us consider the matter of the church. We have said many times that Christ is our life and that the church is our living. The more we know God’s heart and the more we have His vision, the more thoroughly we will know that God’s intention is for Christ to be our life inwardly and for us to live out the church outwardly. These two matters are clearly revealed in the Epistles written by the apostles. For example, chapter three of Colossians, a book on Christ as the Head of the church, has the phrase “Christ our life” (v. 4a). This shows us that the reason Christ can be the Head to the church is that He is our life. Ephesians, on the other hand, is a book on the church as the Body of Christ. Hence, in the entire book there is great stress on the various aspects of the Body life. We know that a person’s living is altogether connected to his body. Without a body, a person does not have a living. This is also the case with Christ. How can Christ live Himself out? It is through His Body, which is the church. Christ as the Head is our life, and the church as the Body is our living.
Christians in general usually consider that the Christian life is to live out human virtues such as humility, patience, and love, but this is not what the Bible tells us. It is true that Ephesians 4:2-3 says, “With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love, being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.” Yet verse 4 also says, “One Body and one Spirit.” Here we see clearly that the reason God wants us to be lowly and meek is that we may live out the Body.
How regrettable it is that although many Christians pursue lowliness, meekness, and long-suffering, they do not know the purpose for being lowly, meek, and long-suffering. Even the purpose of being lowly, meek, and long-suffering has become a mystery to them. This mystery is the church. God wants us to have lowliness, meekness, and long-suffering so that we can live out the church life.
Therefore, God’s intention is for Christ to be our life so that we can have the church as our living. God’s desire is that our life would be entirely Christ so that what we live out would be entirely the church. If we have such a vision, in everything we do we will ask ourselves, “In doing this particular work, am I living out the church or something of myself? In being so careful to avoid any problem, am I doing this so that my self will be preserved whole or so that the church will be perfected? Am I reading the Word, praying, pursuing, laboring, and serving for my own spirituality or for the building up of the church?” Questions of this kind are a great test. Some only care for their own spirituality rather than for the church life even in their prayers and pursuits. This is due to their lack of such a vision, their not knowing such a mystery.
If a person truly has seen God’s vision, immediately he will realize that God’s intention is not to build up individual spirituality but to build up the church as the Body of Christ. Hence, he will sacrifice and put aside everything that damages the church, regardless of how good it is, including his own spirituality. Therefore, the vision of this mystery is the solution to all the questions. If you were to ask me, “Is it all right for me to go to a certain place to preach the gospel?” My answer would be: “When you go to preach the gospel, will the church there be built up or destroyed?” I know some will say, “Oh, I do not care about this. As long as people are saved, it is good enough.” Please remember, however, that this is not sufficient. Of course, under normal circumstances, people being saved and the church being built up are one and the same thing. The condition today, however, is abnormal. Some of the work of preaching the gospel to save souls not only does not build up the church but actually tears down the building, the oneness, of the church. This is an extremely abnormal situation. Therefore, under the present circumstances, it is not enough just to ask whether people are being saved; we also have to ask whether the church is being built up. The principle is the same when we help others to pursue spirituality. Under normal circumstances, the pursuit of spirituality builds up the church, but today the situation is rather abnormal. Many pay attention to seeking spirituality, yet they tear down the building of the church. The reason that this happens is that they do not see the vision of God’s mystery. This is a very solemn test to us.
Now I would like to give you some of my personal testimony. I was tested numerous times. In the past there were many good things that I did, things which seemed to others to be very profitable, yet within me I had a question: “If I do this, how will it affect the church?” Often when I asked myself this question, I could not do what I was doing anymore. Because I was under the restriction of the vision of the church, I had to give up many things that were seemingly good. Today I thank and praise the Lord. I have not regretted this one bit. Instead, I worship the Lord. I can testify that the church is not only a test but also a protection and a safeguard. If you pay attention only to whether a certain matter is good and beneficial, and you neglect the church, in the end you will have regret. However, if you care for the building of the church and sacrifice any other thing, even if it seems good and beneficial in your eyes, time will prove to you that God is with you.
Therefore, not only is Christ our test, but also the church is our test. Christ is a test to us to see whether or not we take Him as life and allow Him to live out through us. The church is a test to us to see whether the things we do are for the building up or the tearing down of the church. Both kinds of testing should always be with us. We should always ask ourselves: “Am I living by taking Christ as my life? Am I living by Christ or by my natural life?” Moreover, we should also ask: “Are my living, my walk, my service, and my work for the building up of the church or just for the sake of doing something good?”
May the Lord show us these two matters—Christ is our life and the church is our living. May Christ and the church become our vision, so that in everything we are restricted, tested, and directed, as well as delivered and preserved, by this vision. We cannot live by ourselves; instead, we should live by Christ, because Christ is our life. Moreover, we cannot live independently; rather, we must live in the church, because the church is our living.
Christ and the church are a great mystery, a mystery that we have seen from God for many years now. Today this vision is becoming clearer and clearer. We feel that aside from this we have nothing else to speak and preach. What we preach and speak is just Christ and the church. May the Lord have mercy upon us that we may live in such a vision!