All of you are the fullness of the riches of America. If you did not feed upon the riches of American food, you would all be greatly reduced. But since you are full of the riches of America, you all become the fullness of America. The fullness is the product of enjoying the riches. The more we enjoy the riches of this country, the more we become the fullness of this country.

What then is the church? The church is the fullness of Christ. This means the church is the result of the enjoyment of the riches of Christ. We all must enjoy Christ. This is why we hate dead teachings and doctrines and prefer the enjoyment of Christ through pray-reading the Word. If we only learn the teachings and doctrines, it is just like learning the recipe and the menu without enjoying the food. It is better to forget the recipe and the menu, and enjoy the riches of Christ. How rich He is! And how richly we can enjoy Him day by day! The more we enjoy Him, the more we will grow and become His fullness.

This is the expression. The fullness is the expression of Christ. We can never express Christ just by learning doctrines. We can never express Christ only by knowing the Bible. The adequate way for us to express Christ is to feed upon Him, eat of Him, drink of Him and be filled with Him as our nourishment. We must take Him in and assimilate all that He is into our being. Then spontaneously, we will be His fullness, and this fullness is simply the expression of Christ.

This is the way for us to have a living expression of Christ. If the brothers and sisters in any church do not know how to feed upon Christ, how to enjoy Christ and how to assimilate all that Christ is into their being, it is impossible to have a proper expression of the church in that locality. Teachings alone can never bring forth a proper expression of the church in any place. We must realize how much we need to feed on Christ, to enjoy Christ, to eat of Christ and to drink of Christ. Then spontaneously, a proper expression of Christ will come into existence in our locality.

A local church is an expression of Christ, and this expression can only exist by taking Christ as our enjoyment. This is why I say again and again that we must enjoy Christ in such a practical and living way for ourselves. Then we can help others to enjoy Christ in the same way. Only in this way will we become the fullness, the expression of Christ.

The essence or substance of the church must be Christ Himself assimilated into our being. This is very basic. If you do not know how to enjoy Christ, how to drink of Him, how to feed on Him, and how to take Him into your spirit and assimilate Him into your being, it is not possible for a proper local church to be produced in your locality.

Unity is the first essential factor of a local church. If there is no unity, there is no possibility of having a local expression of the church. Can we have unity only by teachings? No, for throughout the centuries, in many cases, the more people have learned the teachings, the more they have been divided. We must pay more attention to the enjoyment of Christ than to the teachings. The more we enjoy Christ, the more we will be one. The more we feed upon Him, the more we are united.

I like what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 3:8, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” The Apostle Paul did not preach the teachings or the doctrines, but the unsearchable riches of Christ. What is the purpose of the unsearchable riches of Christ? If we read through verses 8-11, we will see that they are for the producing of the church. All the riches of Christ are simply for this one thing: to produce the church.

The more we partake of the riches of Christ, the more we realize that they are exceptionally rich. We all must learn day by day to enjoy these unsearchable riches; then we will know what we must minister to others. It should not be our intention to pass on teachings; we must be burdened simply to minister something of the riches of Christ to others.

I can never forget the lesson I learned in 1933 with Brother Watchman Nee. He did not talk with me about teachings and doctrines, but he helped me to enjoy Christ. He did not even use the word “enjoy,” but he helped me to enjoy Him. One day he asked me, “What is patience?” His question was so practical. I did not dare answer, for such a common question out of his mouth must be quite meaningful. But he forced me to tell him what I thought patience was. I then said that patience is the enduring of suffering or ill treatment. When he told me that this is not patience, I was much bothered. If this is not patience, I thought, then what is patience? I asked him to tell me, but he would not, and we were together for a considerable length of time. When I asked him what patience was, he said, “Yes, what is patience?” This really disappointed me. I returned to the place where I stayed, and with tears I knelt down to ask the Lord to show me what patience is.

Within those days my eyes were opened. I saw that patience is Christ. Christ must be my patience. That was the key. And not only must my patience be Christ, but everything for me and to me must be Christ. It was through this one lesson that I learned how to take Christ as my patience, my humility, my love to others and my everything. It was a real help to me.

Brother Nee did not give me any teaching. He ministered Christ to me as patience in a practical way. And it was not just one item, but one lesson which was the key to open the whole realm to me. By such a short, common sentence, he helped me eternally.

This is all we need. We do not need the mere teachings. Before I met Brother Nee, I received many teachings and doctrines from others. Though I sat at their feet for several years, it was not till that day when Brother Nee spoke with me that my eyes were opened. I saw that what I needed was not the teachings, but the riches and the enjoyment of Christ.

Only the enjoyment of the riches of Christ can produce the church. The church is not the product of teachings, but something born of Christ. The church comes out of the enjoyment of the riches of Christ. It is part of Christ.

I have told people in many places that mere doctrines mean nothing as far as the church life is concerned, and in so doing I have offended some. But I must say it. We must all be turned from doctrines to the riches of Christ in the Spirit. And we must be willing to be turned. If we are going to have a proper expression of the church in any locality, we need the real enjoyment of the riches of Christ.
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