In the previous chapters we have covered the first three factors that are vital to the recovery of the church life. These factors are Christ, the Spirit, and the divine life. When we consider these three factors, we should become excited and stirred up in the spirit. In this chapter we come to the fourth factor that is vital to the recovery of the church life: the proper practice of the church life. Concerning this factor we all need to be very calm, quiet, and sober. We need to consider this fourth factor with a sober mind. In this chapter I wish to present to you a very basic truth in the Bible. To learn the truths in the Bible we need to have a sober mind, a mind which is clear, transparent, and enlightened by the Lord. We need such a mind to study the truth in the Bible concerning the church. We need to study the truth concerning the church, not in a general way, but in a very particular way. We especially need to learn the truth concerning the proper practice of the church life.
Most Christians would agree that they need the fellowship of a church. Actually, there are very few Christians who are not members of a church. Most Christians have a church, but the question is, do they have the proper church or an improper church? Today in every large city there are too many different so-called “churches.” In the city of Seoul, Korea, the Roman Catholic Church is very prominent. However, it is wrong to associate the word Roman with the church. In the Bible there is no Roman Church. Colossians 3:11 tells us that in the new man there is neither Greek nor Jew. Thus, there is no such thing as the Jewish Church or the Greek Church in the Bible. Furthermore, there is no Anglican Church, no Chinese Church, no Korean Church, no Presbyterian Church, no Baptist Church, and no Pentecostal Church. All these “churches” are improper because they are not scriptural, not according to God’s holy Word.
In order to know what is proper regarding the church, we need to study the Bible. I have been studying the Bible concerning the matter of the church since 1925. In this chapter I wish to present to you a brief outline of this matter. This brief, accurate, and clear outline is the cream of my nearly sixty years of study concerning the church. I am happy to present this outline to you. My desire is to impress you with the proper practice of the church life according to the Bible.
There is nothing wrong with the church itself, but the way Christians practice the church life might be wrong. Out of all the different ways of practicing the church life among Christians today, it is difficult to find one that is right. To be right in the practice of the church life is to be according to the Bible. The proper practice of the church life is not according to culture, not according to society, not according to any kind of religious background, and not according to our imagination; it must be absolutely according to the holy Word of God.
The church Christ is building is the universal church, not the church in a nation or the church in a city. In Matthew 16:18 the Lord Jesus said to Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church.” In this verse the Lord considered Himself as the rock (cf. v. 16). Christ Himself is the very rock upon which the church is built. The church in Matthew 16:18 is the universal church, the one church in the entire universe.