CHAPTER THREE

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BLENDING

Scripture Reading: Gal. 1:4, 13-14; Phil. 3:3-8, 10; 2 Cor. 3:6

Hymns: #541, #539, #976

OUTLINE

1. Not an organization of any nature.
2. Not a system in any way.
3. Not a kind of unification in the outward practices.
4. But an organic building of the God-men who are perfected in life as the representatives of a local church, as Zion within Jerusalem, and who live the reality of the Body of Christ.

Prayer: Lord, we trust in Your mighty name and we trust in Your prevailing blood against the enemy, against the evil one. Lord, cover us and protect us and bring us through this meeting in Your mighty name.

In this message we want to see the significance of the blending. We have seen that the truth of blending is in the holy Word. Hardly anyone speaks about blending because this is not only very high and deep but also very mysterious. It is not a physical matter.

THE LOCAL CHURCHES BEING THE PROCEDURE TO REACH GOD’S GOAL

When Brother Nee was raised up by the Lord, he saw the light that the local churches are needed for the Lord to take the procedure to go on to reach His goal in His economy. So he stressed the local churches very much. For seventy-two years we have all followed this revelation. We have stressed the local churches again and again.

Recently among us there has been a kind of rebellion since 1987. One of the leading ones in this rebellion picked up the wrong teaching of G. H. Lang in his book The Churches of God. In this book Lang stressed the autonomy of each local church. This was an old wrong teaching by the Brethren. We knew this already. Yes, we do stress the local churches, but we do not stand for the autonomy of the local churches.

The one church is expressed in the local churches because of physical reasons. We believers are scattered on this earth, so we cannot be in one location. We have to be in many locations, so in a sense, we have to be separated by localities. But we cannot forget that the churches are the Body of Christ. Ephesians 4 says that there is one Body (v. 4). Paul said that though we are many, we are still one bread and one Body (1 Cor. 10:17).

The parts of our physical body cannot be autonomous. Is it possible that the shoulder is one autonomy, the nose is another autonomy, and the two feet are two other autonomies? If this is so, then our body becomes a divided carcass. In the same way, Christ’s Body is an organic unity, and no part of His Body can be autonomous.
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