THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CHURCH
AND THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
THE FOUNDATION FOR THE BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH
WEEK 9 – SATURDAY
Bible Reading: 1 Cor. 1:10–17
Read and pray: "Now I exhort you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion." (1 Cor. 1:10)
THE CHURCH’S FOUNDATION
IN OUR BELIEF AND PRACTICE (2)
One day Brother Austin-Sparks asked what we meant by local ground. I illustrated with an example: I drew a circle on the ground representing the city of Jerusalem and said that all the believers there gathered within that circle; thus, they were called the church in Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem is the ground of the church in Jerusalem; the church is in Jerusalem.
Then I drew another circle representing the church in Corinth. The church in Corinth was originally one, but the believers there became divided. Those who supported Paul became the Pauline faction. Suppose some of the Pauline faction moved to Samaria and declared that they belonged to Paul in Samaria. They would be taking Paul as their ground, not Samaria.
At first, there was only one church in Corinth—the church in Corinth. The city of Corinth was the ground of the church there. After the division, there were some of Paul, others of Apollos, some of Cephas, and some of Christ. And they lost the local ground. The Pauline faction took Paul as their ground, and those of Apollos took Apollos as theirs.
Suppose some from the church in Jerusalem went to Samaria to meet with the saints there, only to find that they belonged to Paul. Those from Jerusalem could then explain that the church cannot be of Paul, but the ones in Samaria would insist they were of Paul; consequently, the brothers from Jerusalem would have no choice but to meet separately from them in Samaria. Although now there would be two groups meeting in Samaria, one would be on the local ground, and the other on Paul's ground.
It is possible that those meeting on the local ground were fleshly and those meeting on Paul’s ground were spiritual. Each group would have a measure of Christ. When other believers went to Samaria, should they take the measure of Christ as the standard and meet with the Pauline faction?
The next morning, Brother Austin-Sparks spoke concerning Christ and said that we make Him a small Christ and the church a small church by limiting everything to the ground. I translated calmly for him, though inwardly I felt uneasy. This matter concerned the truth. Two plus two is four. How can two plus two be five?
Brother Austin-Sparks also saw that we had reached an impasse, so he discontinued the sharing meeting the next day. He said that he and another brother from the West were satisfied with our answers, and therefore there was no need to continue the debate.
Enjoy more: Hymn 72
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