The church is in the flow. Those in the local churches have come from all directions to be in the flow. Praise the Lord that we all have been gathered in! The only way to be one is to be in the flow. Although it is wonderful to be in the flow, sometimes we feel like leaping out of the flow, perhaps to get away from certain brothers. Nevertheless, the flow is too deep and too wide, and we simply do not have the strength to jump out of it. If you are able to jump out of the flow, it is a proof that you have never truly been in the flow. I do not believe that anyone who is in the flow could easily get out of it. Certain ones seemed to be in the flow, but later it became apparent that they were never in the flow. This flow is in the church.
In Matthew 16 the Lord Jesus said that He would build His church with Peter and others as the stones and with Himself as the rock foundation. In Matthew 18 the Lord indicated that there would be a local church to which we could go to have our problems solved. If we have a problem that we cannot solve ourselves or with the help of a few others, we can go to the church. Undoubtedly, this church is the local church, the church in the locality where we live.
At the end of the Gospel of Matthew the Lord revealed the way to build the church. It is to baptize people into the Triune God. Probably few of us have seen that baptism is the way to build the church. Recently, my wife asked me how I could prove that baptizing people into the Triune God was the way to build up the church. When I pointed her to Matthew 28:19, she said that this verse does not mention the church. Immediately, I referred her to 1 Corinthians 12:13, which says, “For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.” To be baptized in one Spirit is to be baptized into one Body. This surely is the way to build the church. My wife was convinced. The way to build the church is to put people into the Triune God, positioning them into the Triune God that they may be able to drink of the Triune God. We all have been baptized in one Spirit into one Body, and now we all are drinking of the one Spirit. First Corinthians 12:13, which covers both aspects, is a strong proof that baptizing people into the Triune God is the way to build up the church.
According to Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost three thousand were saved. If you read the last verses in this chapter, you will see that what is recorded there exactly fulfills the Lord’s command in Matthew 28:19 and 20. In these verses the Lord charged the disciples to baptize people into the Triune God and to teach them to observe all that He had commanded. Acts 2:42 says that the three thousand who were saved on the day of Pentecost “continued steadfastly in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles” (Gk.). Acts 2 is a record of the practical church life. When on the day of Pentecost the three thousand were baptized into the Triune God, the flow from the throne of God reached them and collected them. From that day onward, they were all in the flow, practicing the church life.
However, this pleasant scene did not last very long. Although the flow was there, various Judaistic teachings began to creep in. In the following chapters of Acts we see the entering in of these teachings, all of which were like little serpents. One teaching said that in addition to believing in Christ, the believers had to practice circumcision. This teaching regarding circumcision became a divisive element, a wind of teaching that carried some away (Eph. 4:14). On the day of Pentecost all the three thousand one hundred and twenty believers were one in the one flow. In the flow they enjoyed the Lord and found favor with men. They were happy with one another and experienced a marvelous church life. But the subtle enemy used a teaching from the Old Testament to cause damage. Circumcision was scriptural; it was ordained of God and recorded in the black and white letters of the Bible. Suppose you were in the church flow, and a brother said to you, “I do not oppose your being in the church flow, but what about circumcision? According to Genesis 17, God ordained circumcision through our father Abraham. In the books of Moses God commanded repeatedly that His people had to be circumcised and He rebuked those who were uncircumcised. Certainly circumcision should not be abandoned. Don’t you think that we should keep practicing it?” Undoubtedly, you would be influenced by this subtle teaching. Although this teaching is healthy, scriptural, and sound, it has nothing to do with God’s up-to-date flow. Today is not the day of Abraham or Moses; it is the day of the church, the day of the Spirit. Circumcision may be scriptural, but it is out of date.
Some may say that it is heretical and contrary to the holy Word of God to teach that we should give up circumcision. But this is exactly what the apostle Paul taught regarding circumcision. In the early years, the wind of teaching concerning circumcision blew many dear ones away from the enjoyment of the church flow. They were distracted from the flow and formed the division of circumcision. Those who were carried away by this teaching and who formed the circumcision party definitely were Christian brothers, but they were not the church. Rather, they became a division. Although they were members of the church, what they practiced was a division, not the church life. The Bible says that the church includes every real Christian. Those in the circumcision party were Christians, but they had been carried away from the church flow.
Other Judaizers in the early days felt unhappy about the fact that those in the church flow came together on the eighth day and no longer cared for the Sabbath. These Judaizers studied the scriptural teachings about keeping the Sabbath. The more they studied the Scripture, the stronger their convictions became. They knew that Moses had charged God’s people to keep the Sabbath, and that Isaiah had rebuked them for not keeping it, telling them that they had lost God’s blessing because of their violation of the Sabbath. This was another wind of teaching. By it a number were blown away from the church flow. Although this teaching about the Sabbath was scriptural, it resulted in another division.
Still other Judaizers were concerned about dietary regulations. They pointed out that in Leviticus God gave regulations about eating. These Judaizers might have said, “The church people eat things which are unclean according to Leviticus 11. Certainly this is contrary to the Scriptures.” This Judaistic teaching became yet another wind of doctrine carrying believers out of the flow.
Eventually, the church flow reached Greece, where many who were philosophically minded were gathered in. At first they were happy about having been brought into the divine flow. Gradually, however, they became rather disappointed because some things about the church were not as pleasing to them as certain aspects of their Greek philosophy were. As a result, they began to teach their philosophy, known in church history as gnosticism, to the believers. The Gnostics seemed to say, “The teaching of Christ is good, but because it is lacking in certain respects, there is the need for our philosophy.” This philosophy became another wind of teaching carrying the believers away from the proper church flow. Therefore, besides the church flow, there were at least four divisions.