The book of Ephesians also reveals that the church is the family of God (Eph. 2:19). The sonship and the family are closely related. If you are not in the sonship, you do not belong to the family because the family is based upon the sonship. While sonship indicates source and implies nature, the family denotes our household life. Our life should not be an individual life, but a family life. Although I do not like to see the brothers and sisters get married when they are still teenagers, I like to see them get married at a proper age and then become parents of two or more children. This is family life.
Family life kills your individualism. I am concerned for some among us. Although they are good brothers and sisters, their individualism has never been killed. Do you know what can kill your individualism? Firstly, your husband or wife, and then your children. When you get married, you gain someone who kills your individualism. Day by day in the family life of the church we are suffering the killing of our individualism. Have you ever sensed that, in the church life, you are under someone’s killing? Some of my children have said, “Daddy, you have too many children. I wish I were just by myself and didn’t have so many brothers and sisters, because they all bother me.” Praise the Lord that the church life is a family life!
God the Father has no intention of having individual sons. His intention is to have a family, and we are His family. Although we all belong to the family, some naughty ones do not like to remain with the family. Instead, they prefer to be off somewhere by themselves. Some of you may still hold to your preference of being away from your brothers and sisters. You enjoy being isolated. But if you consider the human situation, you will see that mankind does not depend upon individuals, but upon the family. The church is God’s family. God’s unit is corporate; it is not the individual. He does not want you to be an only son. You cannot be His only son, for He already has His only begotten Son. You must be a member of His family.
In Greek, the word for family or household is the same as the word for house, or dwelling place. Thus, the church is God’s dwelling place, God’s house and home (1 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 3:6). Today, the family is different from the house, but in the New Testament the house and the family are one. In some cases it is difficult to determine whether to translate the Greek word as house or as household. Both are correct. In God’s eyes, the house is the family, and the family is the house. Individually you and I could never be God’s house. God’s house is a corporate matter, not an individual one. If we say that we are the church, then we must examine ourselves to see whether we are God’s house, God’s dwelling. If we say that we are the church of God, then we must be God’s dwelling place. Many talk about the church, but they do not have the reality of the church.
The reality of the church is that it is God’s residence. God dwells there. Do we have the residence of God among us? If we do not, then we are not qualified to say that we are the church. We are a so-called church, but we lack the divine residence.
In relation to the Father, the church is the sonship and the household. Now we must see what the church is in relation to Christ. All Christians know that the church is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:30). Christ’s Body is the church. This term, however, has been used in a very loose way. After coming to this country, I heard a lot of talk about “Body ministry” and the “Body life.” What was described as “Body ministry” eventually turned out to be something absolutely different. Others said that they had the “Body life.” But I wondered where the Head was. The New Testament clearly says that the Body is one with the Head. If we do not have the Head, we cannot have the Body. Without the Head, you would have something similar to the Body, but it would not be the Body—it would be a corpse. If we claim to be the Body, then we must ask where the Head is. In our church life, do we have the Head? The Head certainly must be Christ. In our church life do we truly realize that Christ is here as the Head? Many who claim to be the Body, but who do not have the Head, are like a corpse that is somehow still active—a body without a head still acting as if it were alive. This is a monstrosity. If someone were walking around in the meeting without a head, we would all be terrified. But the situation in today’s Christianity is that of many active bodies without the Head. Are we truly under the headship of Christ? We do have the awareness and the application of the headship of Christ among us. Many times the brothers are unable to do certain things because of their awareness of Christ’s headship. They realize that only Christ, not any of them, is the Head. We dare not make certain decisions because we realize that only He is the Head. We must honor Christ’s headship and apply it to the practicality of today’s church life. If the Head is removed, the Body is finished. But when we have the Head, we have the Body also.
The church as the Body implies life and function. The Body is a living organism. If it does not have life in it, it can no longer be the Body. Without life, it would either be a corpse or an organization. A body must have life. A body also implies function. Hence, the Body of Christ has three things—the Head, the life, and the function. My body functions even when I am sleeping. A dead body, however, does not function at all. If we say that we are the church, then we must realize three things concerning the Body: headship, life, and function. I hope that you all will take in this word.
Although we may have the life of the Body, we may not live by that life. The human body has a life, and it certainly lives by this life. If the body does not live by the life in the body, then it must be sick. For the body to be sick means that a part of the body does not live by the life of the body. Many Christians are talking about the church as the Body, but they are sick, not living by the life of the Body. To say that we are the church, the Body of Christ, means that we live by the life of the Body, which is Christ Himself. Suppose you go to a brother to have some fellowship with him or to deal with him. As you do so, you must realize that you are in the Body and that you must live by the life in the Body. You should not fellowship with that brother or deal with him by your own natural life, but by the life in the Body. Perhaps not many among us have the full realization of this. We need to realize that we must live and act by the life within the Body. This is not for us to be holy, victorious, or spiritual; it is for us to be a part of the church, a part of the Body.
Whenever we consider the matter of the functions in the Body, our heart aches. So many have been drugged and damaged by the tradition, background, and environment of Christianity. When they come to the meetings, they sit there under the influence of Christianity, expecting some hired ones to function for them. Although this is the practice in Christianity, it is not the church in function. In the church, every member functions. As I am speaking, my whole body is functioning. If my diaphragm did not function, I would not be able to project my voice very far. If my legs did not function, my whole body would sense it and suffer because of it. But many members sit in the meetings without functioning and even without any inner sense regarding this. This proves that they have been drugged by Christianity. In our meetings, everyone must function. No matter how many come together, even if it be more than a thousand, everyone must function. Even if you do not bear a large responsibility in the Body, you still must function. If we are sincere in saying that we are the church, then we all must function as members of the Body.