The Church Life, Body, Family, Etc.

I always hesitate very much to speak after the time of worship. I think that we should keep our Lord before us and not to be distracted in any way. So let's look to the Lord that the words that we are going to fellowship may strengthen the presence, the sense of the presence of the Lord, instead of diluting it.

O Lord, how we praise and thank Thee, because Thou dost love the Church and give Thyself for her, that she may be presented to Thyself a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle of any of such sort. O Lord, how we praise and thank Thee for Thy great redeeming love. How we praise and thank Thee for Thy everlasting love.

How we praise and thank Thee that Thou hast constrained us with Thy love, that we do feel we love Thee, and we do long that we may love Thee more. O Lord, as we fellowship upon Thy word, we ask Thee that Thy presence shall continue with us. We pray that we may hear Thy voice, that we may respond to Thee.

We pray that in the Church Thou mayst get much praise for Thyself, in Thy precious name. Amen. We begin this time of our conference with some passages from the Letter to the Ephesians.

We read from the first chapter, and we touch upon the first three chapters of Ephesians. Now as we come to the conclusion of this time together, we have to return to the same letter. And by the grace of God, we would like to see a little bit, just very briefly, on the second part of the Letter to the Ephesians, that is from chapter four onward.

Let's read just a few places to help us in our fellowship. Ephesians chapter four, verse one through verse seven. I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you therefore to walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.

One body and one spirit, as ye have been also called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in us all, but to each one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ. Chapter five, verses one and two. Be ye therefore imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love, even as the Christ loved us and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savior.

Chapter six, verse ten. For the rest, brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the might of his strength. Put on the panel play of God that ye may be able to stand against the artifices of the devil, because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against authorities, against the universal Lord of this darkness, against spiritual power of witness in the heavenlies.

For this reason, take to you the panel play of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having accomplished all things, to stand. We are called according to his purpose. It is the purpose of God that we should be called to be that counterpart of Christ.

You remember in Ephesians chapter one it is said, the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all and in all. The church is the body of Christ, the complement of the one who fills all and in all. Dear brothers and sisters, by the grace of God we are called to a most high calling.

We are called to be his body. We are called to be his fullness. We are called to be united with him into one.

This is the mystery of Christ. Hidden in God, conceived by God even before the foundation of the world, even there is time, God has conceived in his mind. This mystery concerns his beloved son.

Throughout the ages this mystery has been hidden, but not without dropping hints here and there by our God. We are called to be his fullness. We remember how we find in the types in the Old Testament, even with Eve and Rebekah and Ruth and many more, we find that God has hidden his thoughts in all these types, that one day when that mystery shall be revealed, we can look back and see the counsel of God throughout the ages.

We find that when the time came, our Lord Jesus came to this world and through the travel of his soul the church is born. It is not something organized by man. It is not something conceived by man.

It is not something manufactured by man. But you find that the church is conceived by God, is brought into being through the travel of the soul of our Lord Jesus, how he loved the church and gave himself. This church of God is to be expressed today on earth everywhere.

Wherever God's people are, there they are to be a witness, a testimony to the world of the fact that God has his own church, that now to the principalities and authorities may be made known the manifold wisdom of God through the church. Dear brothers and sisters, have we seen the church? We are not able to see it unless we are given revelation. That is the reason why you find Paul in the first chapter of Ephesians, how he prays that the spirit of wisdom and revelation may be given, that we may see this mystery of Christ which is the church.

May I emphasize again, no one is able to see Christ as he is unless the Father reveals him to us. You may know about Christ, you may know all the creed, all the faith, articles of faith about Christ, but you do not see Christ until it pleases the Father to reveal his Son in you. In like manner, dear brothers and sisters, you may hear all the doctrines and the teachings and the truth about the church.

You may be acquainted with all the things about the church, but you are not able to see the church unless it pleases the Son to reveal the church to you. It is by revelation that we come to see Christ. It is by revelation that we come to see the church which is the fullness.

But it is not enough just to see the church. It is not enough just to see the church in all its glory, in all its transcendency, in all its power, in all its splendor. Are we living in it? Yes, by the grace of God, we are in it.

But are we living in it? Is the church just a glorious theory, or is it a practical one? So here you will find Apostle Paul, after he has tried to show us the principles that govern the church, he comes right down to us and exhorts us that we may walk worthy of our calling. Dear brothers and sisters, we are called with a heavenly calling. Now, walk worthily.

So this morning, as the concluding words, we will lie to fellowship together on this matter of church life. The life of the church is Christ. Remember this.

The life of the church is Christ. You take away Christ and the church is dead. There is no church.

The life of the church is Christ himself. But church life is the living out of Christ in the coffin. We are living Christ out together.

That is church life. What is church life? We find in the three last chapters of Ephesians, in chapter four, you will find church life is body life. The church is the body of Christ.

Therefore church life is living out the body life. In chapter five, you will find the church is the family of God. So church life is family life.

Living out the family life. You will find in chapter six, the church is a warrior. Therefore church life is a militant life.

Dear brothers and sisters, we know that there is one body. The Lord has only one body. He does not have many bodies.

He will be a monster if a head had many bodies. There is one head and one body. The head is Christ and the body includes all of those who are redeemed of the Lord throughout.

This body is being manifested locally everywhere. And wherever he appears locally, it embraces all the people of God in that locality. The church is one.

The body is one. How do we live out this body life? Paul says, keep diligently the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond. What is church life? What is body life? Keep diligently the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.

You know Christians today realize that they should be one. That is the reason why you will find the cry of Christians today throughout the world is, let us be united. How can we be united? Do we need to be united? What is the ground of our unity? We do praise the Lord that we do not need to manufacture a unity.

I think it is the most difficult thing to manufacture and that is unity. Oh, we have the United Nations, but you will find that the more they try to be united, the more divided they are of. We find the ecumenical movement, the more they try to unite, the more they disagree.

Dear brothers and sisters, we can manufacture anything but unity. You may have a union without unity. You can manufacture a union, but you cannot manufacture a unity.

Thank God, we do not need to manufacture a unity which is not there because He has already given us that unity. It is the unity of the Spirit. Is it not true that the Holy Spirit has baptized us into one body? Whether we are Jews or Gentiles, whether we are circumcised or uncircumcised, whether we are born men or free men, we find that the Holy Spirit has baptized us into one body.

There is neither Jews nor Gentiles, there is neither born men or free men, there is neither circumcision or uncircumcision, but Christ is all and equal. There is a unity. Who is this Holy Spirit? It is the unity of the Spirit.

What is the unity of the Spirit? It is the sevenfold oneness that He has given us. One body, one Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. The unity of the Spirit is based upon these seven oneness.

One body, thank God, we are baptized into one body, one Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. One hope of our calling, that we may be joined to Christ into one. One Lord, Jesus is Lord.

One faith, He is our faith, He is the Son of God, the Christ. One baptism, we are all baptized into Christ, into His name, and one Father and God of us. You cannot divide these seven oneness.

In all these sevenfold aspects, we find that the Holy Spirit has given us a oneness, and it is based upon the sevenfold oneness of that we are already one. Dear brothers and sisters, you do not need to be united with your brothers and sisters. You do not need to manufacture a unity.

All you need to do is keep diligently that which is already given. It is a tragic thing that God's people today instead of keeping diligently the unity of the Spirit, they are looking for ways and means to bring in that unity. Why is it? The unity of the Spirit has to be kept, and kept diligently.

Dear brothers and sisters, you do not keep a thing if it is worth nothing. You keep something which is precious to you. If something is most precious, you will guard it most diligently.

You even dare not go to sleep. Oh, the unity of the Spirit, the oneness of the Body of Christ, the Church is one, God's people are one. It is so precious that we ought to keep it, and diligently keep it.

That is to say, we will not allow anything to come near, to remove us from the ground of unity. We refuse to be distracted, to be tempted, to divert our eyes and attention to things other than the sevenfold. Dear brothers and sisters, when you see another brother, another sister, what will be your attitude? What is the thing that you are looking for? Are you looking for that sevenfold oneness with your brothers and sisters? Or are you looking for something other than the sevenfold oneness? If you are looking for something other than the sevenfold oneness, immediately you will find you are divided, separated from your brothers and sisters.

Do you allow me to illustrate it? Not with a spirit of criticism, but just for the sake of illustration. Suppose you go to a certain place, and there you meet another person, or you meet several, a group or many. When you come into their midst, how do you introduce yourself? Or what will they be looking for? Some years ago, I was in Oakland, California.

I was passing, walking on the street. I saw a building. I figured, there must be a building where the believers meet.

So I looked at the bulletin board and see when these believers will meet. So one evening I went. Oh, I went into the midst of a group of believers.

They were there reading the Word of God, and different ones shared what the Lord has shown them. And I was in their midst sitting with them. I enjoyed the fellowship with these people.

After the meeting was over, of course some of them came to me, you know, and we began to talk. The young people were not so wise. All they wanted to find out was whether I'm the Lord.

They were very happy when they discovered that I was the Lord. But the older people are a little bit clever. They try to draw and draw and draw from me.

They want to know what's my background, what's my affiliation, with whom I'm affiliated, and what, what, what this and what that. And you know, they try to figure me out. You know, when you're being figured out, you have a very uncomfortable feeling.

I was very comfortable in their midst, because we are reading the Word of God, we are worshiping the Lord, we are all the Lord. But when these elderly people - maybe, I don't know - they try to figure me out, I can tell you, a sense of uneasiness came upon me. And when they discovered that I had fellowship with a brother, Watchman Lee, I remember very vividly one of them just turned aside and forsook me.

Dear brothers and sisters, what is body life? Body life is keeping the unity of the Spirit. What God has already given us, that oneness, that sevenfold oneness, let's keep diligently to it. Do not try to divide God's people with something other than these seven ones.

It is true that if you move among God's people, you'll find God's people, whole different teachings. God's people do things differently. You'll find there are many, many differences among God's people.

Now, if you try to look for one of these differences, you'll find yourself separated from your brothers and sisters, and they will separate themselves from you. You don't need to look too far into it. You will meet that almost right away.

But dear brothers and sisters, let us refuse to be removed from the unity of the Spirit. We stand on the unity of the Spirit. In the uniting bond of people, we refuse to argue.

We refuse to fight. We love our brothers and sisters. This is body life.

On the other hand, you'll find that in a body you'll find many members. There is diversity in unity. There is unity in the Spirit.

I often think, and I think I'm not the first one to think, because you'll read 1 Corinthians 12, and you'll find many, many before me have been thinking about this. Oh, the year said, because I'm not the eye, therefore I'm not of the body. And the foot was said, because I'm not the hand, therefore I'm not of the body.

And you remember Paul said, if all are one member, where is the body? We want unity. But our urge for unity is so strong that we want to unify everything to us. Suppose you are able to unify every member to be just like you.

What happens? You lose the body. Suppose one day you are my right hand begins to think that in order to be united, I will unite the whole body. So my right hand begins to work, and my right hand tries to bring my left hand, my two feet, and all the other members of the body exactly like this right hand.

And the result is, you'll find a gigantic right hand. But where is the body? The body is gone. In the wisdom of God, He arranges that there should be diversity in unity.

The body is one. We have to maintain that unity. But it does not mean that we must try to unify everybody.

We must try to unify that everybody must think exactly the same way that I think. Everybody must do the same thing that I do. God loves variety.

You can see this in the creation. You can see this in your own body. God loves variation.

He gives to each grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. We are all members in the body, but we are not all alike. God has according to His own wisdom set us in the body that each may be given a portion of the grace and the gift of Christ that we may be members one to another.

That we may supply one another. God has given you a portion. God has given me a portion.

God has set you in the body as the hand. God has set you in the body as the foot. Do not try to be a hand if you are a foot.

Do not try to be an eye if you are an ear. But thank the Lord because God has so arranged that you are a member in the body and try to be that member for the sake. You will say if you allow diversity, if you allow differences, then you will lose that unity.

The unity of the Spirit is the ground on which we stand. And through the diverse gifts in the diverse members of the body, we help one another until the body grows and we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge. My eyes see.

My eyes do not eat, but as my eyes see, my mind sees. My mouth eats. The result is the body grows.

And when the body grows, my eyes are satisfied. My mouth, dear brothers and sisters, let me come down very fast. When you meet another Christian, what should you do to maintain that body like? When you meet another Christian, do not try to figure out that Christian.

All that you need to find out is whether he is the Lord. Whether there is a seventh or oneness in that brother. That's all you need to find out.

Don't go too fast. If you move too fast, you spoil the whole thing. So in the beginning, just come together and find out if there is that unity of the Spirit.

If there is, thank God for that. Stick with your brother and your sister. Have fellowship together.

And you know, in the process of fellowship, you discover this diversity. Oh, in spite of the fact that we are one, we are very different. And our first temptation will be, let me correct him.

Let him bring him to my view. That we may have our unity strengthened. Dear brothers and sisters, if you try to do that, the result is just the opposite.

What do you do? On the basis of the unity of the Spirit, let us fellowship. Our fellowship is based upon life, not upon certain life. Let us have fellowship.

Let us be open one to another. Let us try to help and try to receive help. In meekness and loneliness, let us fellowship.

No, we are the saints of conquering anyone. But we are the saints of sharing with one another the Christ that means to me. And brothers and sisters, if we begin to share together the Christ that we have experienced, the truth that we have been shown, without imposing anything, as we fellowship and fellowship and fellowship, you know what is the result? For the eyes have seen, the mouth is benefited.

What the mouth has eaten, the eyes have benefited. The result is we are all gradually, by the grace of God, coming to that unity of the holy faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Unto this is the body of Christ.

You say you believe the church is the body of Christ. You say you want to live church life. But dear brothers and sisters, what is your attitude, reaction towards those who are the redeemed of the Lord? Those whom the Lord has put you with them in your locality, what is your attitude? Do you diligently keep the unity of the saints? In other words, you have to open your heart to all the redeemed of the Lord.

As long as they are the Lord, so long as they are the Lord, as much as they are the Lord, however different differences they may have, you have to ignore it for the time being. The day will come when we shall not only be on the unity of the Spirit, which is the beginning, but will also arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, which is the end. But how do you get there? You do not get there by being removed from your foundation.

You stand on the unity of the Spirit and through patient fellowship we shall be built up and arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge. You see? Let me illustrate it. Quite some years ago a couple came to us.

I just want to illustrate it. This couple loved the Lord very much. As a matter of fact they were Christian workers.

But because of some complications they were thrown out by a certain group. So they came to us. They were very honest people.

They did not want to deceive us in any way. So when this couple first came to us, we had fellowship. We found out that this couple loved the Lord.

They were the Lord. They loved the Lord. So they began to share with us.

They held a special teaching, which is universalism. They held a special teaching called universalism. Now if you do not know what it is, do not be curious.

You better not know it. So this couple were very honest. They said they believe in universalism.

They would like to come and join with us in fellowship, but whether this will interfere with that fellowship, whether we will have them or not. Because they had already been thrown out by another Christian group. We told this couple, brother and sister, you are the Lord.

You love the Lord. Whomever Christ receives, we receive. We do not believe in universalism.

We feel that this is an error. But since you believe it so sincerely, so honestly, we only ask you one thing. If you do not propagate it among us, that is all we want.

We will not argue with you. We will try to help you, but we will not force you. It is between you and the Lord.

You are the Lord. Come and fellowship. Leave this universalism teaching aside.

Let's fellowship. Thank God this couple came in. We had no doubt that we would have wonderful fellowship together.

We never talk about universalism anymore. And after some time, they came to us again and said, brethren, we want full fellowship. We feel that by holding on to this universalism, we do not get full fellowship.

We are holding back something. By the grace of God throughout the month, God has shown us. We have dealt with it.

We have written to those who have led us into this way and told them that we have seen the error of it. We have cut ourselves off from this universalism. Now we want to be in full fellowship with brothers and sisters.

We have to move on. What is body life? What is church life? How do we live church life? Church is a family. The church of God is not an institution.

The church of God is a home. God has provided for his people a home wherever you are. And that home is the church.

You know, if you go into an institution, suppose you go to an orphanage. You enter into a well-managed orphanage. You find that everything is neat.

Everything is orderly. You can say. It is the atmosphere of an institution.

That's the reason why people can never live in an institution for life. Everything is legal, legalistic, neat, orderly. But then, the church of God is a home.

It is a family. God has put us all in that family, dear brothers and sisters. What is church life? It is family life.

What is family life? It is an atmosphere. You go to a family, you go to a home, and you immediately, you know, it's different. The basic difference between a family and an institution is in the atmosphere.

Being a family in a home, the atmosphere is love. Walk in love. As Christ has loved us and has delivered himself up as an offering and sacrifice, brothers and sisters, how do we live church life? We live church life by being filled with the love of God.

It is not an institution. The love that we need. If you try to love with that natural love in the church, you know what will be the result? You will make that church a nursery.

You will spoil every brother, every sister. They will never be able to grow up. They will remain as babies.

God does not want you to open an institution, nor does he want you to open a nursery. In the church, the family of God, there is love. But it is a different kind of love.

It is not love in the natural way. In 1 Corinthians 13 you'll find you may give up everything. You may even let your body be burned if there is no finish.

Why? Because there is an abundance of natural love. But there is none. The church is the family of God.

Therefore it is the love of God that is the essence. As Christ has loved us and has given himself up for us as an offering and sacrifice. Oh dear brothers and sisters, how do we love our brothers and sisters as Christ? As we love, it is an offering and sacrifice.

We love them with a love of Christ. Sometimes you have to be cruel to your brothers. But it is love.

Love in the love. Not just blindly love. Love with the light.

You know in the early days, the testimony of the church. In the early days, in the beginning, the world looked at the church and said, see how they look. The world is not impressed by what we teach.

The world is not touched by the doctrine and the teaching. The world is touched, see how they look. What is a family? A family is not an aggregate of members.

A family is not a grouping of some people. All the two older people. Old enough to be parents.

And maybe several younger ones, young enough to be children. So here you will find some older ones, some younger ones, and maybe in the old days there are lots of slaves too. Slaves are considered as members in that family.

Not active members, but subordinates. No a family is not an aggregate of people. No that does not make a family.

How many make up a family? In a family, you will find different members. Some older, some younger. And yet, all these members are related to one another.

That makes a family. When is a family broken up? Not when the children leave the home and go to other places. They may still stay at home, but if the members of that family are no longer related to one another.

That's family. Not just members, related members. Here you find two older people, they are not just older members, they are parents.

Here you find these younger ones, they are not just younger ones, they are children. Here you find some a little bit older, they are older brothers and sisters. They are those who are very small, they are babes of the family.

And yet you'll find they are all interrelated, one with another. What is church life? Church life is a life of relatedness. We are related one to another.

It is not a one to two. Some in the church are like fathers and mothers. Some in the church are like children.

Some like older children, some like little babies. That's true. And yet you'll find all the members are properly interrelated.

You know, it is very sad in this country that people do not, may I say the younger generation, do not appreciate family life. But you know in the old days, especially in the Orient, family is a big thing in our life. You know the teaching that has been put upon us when we are little children is this.

Now you belong to the Kong family. Remember everything you do reflects upon the Kong family. You are not alone.

If you go out and do something, the whole Kong family is involved, is with you. Therefore it is your duty to bring glory to your family and not to bring disgrace. Even though this is Chinese teaching, I won't force that Chinese teaching upon you.

I should never do that, but I believe in the Bible. I do not want you to accept that Chinese teaching. I want you to be taught by the Lord.

Dear brothers and sisters in the family of God, we are all interrelated. Oh, it is a sad thing that God's people today are all individuals. We are independent and we are proud of it.

But in living the church life, we are interdependent. We cannot do without, we cannot do without one. Can you live by yourself? Do you live all alone? You are responsible to the Lord and you are responsible to your brothers.

It is the thought that I'm related to my family that will keep you away from many things. Many things you think you can do, but you think of your family. That's church life.

A relatedness among God's people. And out of their relatedness, there is the contribution of each member. Every member contributes something to the family.

You know, the little baby contributes much more than you think. Every member contributes something to the family. That makes a happy, healthy family life.

Are we living that? Are we living that? Finally, church life is militant life. Why? Because there is an enemy. The Lord said, I will build my church upon this rock and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

The church in the world today is surrounded by an adversary. With all its principalities and authorities, powers of darkness and evil spirit, our warfare is not against blood and flesh. Dear brothers and sisters, there is a spiritual war going on.

The Lord is building his church, but the enemy is trying to destroy it. The enemy is trying to discredit God by discrediting the church. The church is, you know, we often think of spiritual warfare in terms of individuals.

We think that we are fighting with the enemy all by ourselves. You don't call that a war. We are involved in a global war.

You cannot fight a global war all by yourself. God does not expect you to do that. On the battlefield, if you try to expose yourself all by yourself, what will happen? You are a good target.

We move. Oh dear brothers and sisters, the church is a warrior. God has committed this warfare to the church, not to individuals.

We must fight together. We must stand together in Christ. As the church of God, we must be close with the armor of God.

You cannot fight alone. Together we stand divided. Therefore brothers and sisters, what is church life? How do we live church life? It is by standing together in Christ.

Do not slip away when your brothers are at the front line. We need one another in the fight. Stand in the Lord, in the might of his church, and pray that the word, will of God, may be heard.

Dear brothers and sisters, this is church. When you see your brothers and sisters are at the front, bearing the brunt of the battle, can you sleep on your rosy bed? We have to stand together, pray, pray to bring you the kingdom of God. Dear brothers and sisters, I can only give you a little bit of the practical working out of the church life, but I want to conclude it in this way.

What is church life? Church life is living out Christ together. If we live together as a church, as a body, as a family, as one warrior, if we keep the unity of the faith, of the spirit, if we allow diversity, but continue to fellowship, if we love one another, if we contribute to the family of its happiness, if we stand together and pray together, you know what happens. You see the church? No.

You see Christ. As I look down, as I look at you, what do I see? I see! But what do I see? I see your face. I see the head.

Dear brothers and sisters, if we really live as a church, you'll find people will not see the church. People see Christ. Oh, it is a pity if people only see the church and do not see Christ.

Because if that should happen, what is it? The body is Christ. Thank God it is Christ. The body is a complement of Christ.

The body is not meant to be seen. It is there. But if it comes to the head, it is uncanny to see the glory of the Lord among you.

That is what it is. Oh Lord, how we praise and thank you, because these days thou has been leading us into that mystery of without a desire to reveal to all of us. Oh Lord, we ask thee that we may not only receive revelation from you, that we may really be brought into the life of you.

But dear Lord, we ask thee that we may not be so involved with ourselves, even in this matter of church life, that we hide thee from the view of people. Oh Lord, we ask thee that we may be there for cover. Thou art the head, the only one that is worthy to be seen, to be praised, to be honored.

We give thee all the glory in thy presence. Oh Lord, we ask thee that we may be there for cover, to be honored, to be praised. Oh Lord, we ask thee that we may be there for cover, to be honored.