In this message I have the burden to share concerning the ground of the church. It is difficult for the saints to be clear about this matter. Christians may talk about spirituality, the Body, and the building, but hardly anyone knows where to build. Not even the outstanding Christian teachers know where to build.
Let me relate a true story that illustrates this fact. Many of you are familiar with the books of Jessie Penn-Lewis on the subjective work of the cross. Anyone who knows the Lord's recovery will admit that her messages on the subjective work of the cross were part of the recovery. Before Mrs. Penn-Lewis was raised up by the Lord, not many Christians knew the subjective aspect of the Lord's cross clearly and adequately. A young Baptist pastor who had been somewhat influenced by modernistic teachings was made clear regarding the Lord's salvation through Mrs. Penn-Lewis's ministry. Later he became a co-worker with her. Eventually, this young pastor saw something beyond what Mrs. Penn-Lewis had seen. She had seen the subjective aspect of the cross, but he saw the principles of resurrection for the Body of Christ. What he saw was very deep. It was something about which others had had no concept. This young man worked together with Mrs. Penn-Lewis for some years, always considering her as his senior. But the day came when he could no longer work with her, and he left. Thus, the one work became two, the way of Mrs. Penn-Lewis and the way of this brother. He himself told me the story in detail. This story indicates that two spiritual persons who had seen something of so-called spirituality did not see the ground of the church. Neither of them had any ground for the work. Mrs. Penn-Lewis was suspended in the air and so was this brother.
Some time later I spent more than a month having fellowship with this brother day and night. Every contact between us lasted two or three hours. I eventually learned that he had no intention of knowing this matter of the ground. He simply would not give any heart, mind, or spirit to this matter. On the contrary, he was utterly closed to it. For more than thirty days I tried to convince him regarding the ground of the church, and he tried to convince me to abandon it. When he found that I would not leave it and when I learned that he had no intention of accepting it, we inwardly said good-bye to each other. That was the end of our fellowship. This took place approximately twenty years ago.
This illustration shows that if we do not have a definite site for building, yet we begin the work of building, we are doing something ridiculous. How ridiculous it is to prepare the materials for building and to begin the work of building, yet not to know the site of the building! Nothing is more foolish than this. Nevertheless, many Christians today are just this foolish.
We, however, need to be sober and to consider whose Christian work has the proper ground. You may ask whether or not the Baptist denomination has a ground. Yes, it has a definite ground, but the ground is wrong, because the Baptist Church takes as its ground baptism by immersion. This is the ground upon which the Baptist denomination is built. The Presbyterian denomination takes as its ground the presbytery. This ground, which is also divisive, is also wrong. I know of some cases of Presbyterian pastors who were immersed by Baptists in order to become the pastors of Baptist churches. Every denomination has a ground, but the ground is divisive. Today nearly all Christian workers are building on the wrong ground. For this reason, there is no genuine building whatever. Instead of unity, there are many divisions.
In the Bible it is clearly revealed that we Christians should be corporate and built up. But can you show me where the genuine building is today? It can hardly be found anywhere. Today's Christians have truckloads of building materials, but they are driving around looking for a place to unload them. Sometimes they unload the materials on the wrong site, and after a period of time they shift the materials to still another ground. This is the actual situation today.
I would ask you to check with the missionaries, the Christian workers, and those in the Navigators, Campus Crusade, and Inter-Varsity. In 1963 and 1964 I met a leader of a certain Christian work in Phoenix. On the campuses they were bringing a good number of young people to the Lord, but the young people then went to the denominations and became dead. Thus, some in this work recognized the need for the proper church life. At that time the book The Normal Christian Church Life had just been published in the United States. To a certain extent, these brothers agreed with it and were considering the practice of the church life. But they did not dare to take this step, for they realized that the denominations would withdraw their financial support if they were to do so. Deep within them, these leaders realized that their work had no ground. But because they feared the loss of financial support, they would not dare to practice the church life.