THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CHURCH
AND THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
THE FOUNDATION FOR THE BUILDING OF THE CHURCH
WEEK 9 – MONDAY
Bible reading: Rom. 14
Read and pray: “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16).
Even though we may not fully understand the extent of these matters, my speaking concerns our future work in other places. Today, there are many believers from different backgrounds. If we want to build up the Lord’s church, we must understand the foundation of the church; otherwise, there can be no building. We cannot take the path of exclusion and reject those who come from the West. We must receive them and acknowledge them as brothers. We need discernment to receive those who come from the West; otherwise, much of our work will have been in vain.
If we think we shouldn’t contend for the local ground but be tolerant like the denominations, then we might as well save our energy and join them. However, we want God’s children to know that God has no way in the denominations¹, because they cannot produce the building. At most, they can lead people to salvation and offer spiritual instruction.
Over the past thirty years, the Lord has shown us that, to build the church, we must be spiritual on the one hand and stand firm on the foundation on the other. If we are spiritual but lack foundation and building, the brothers will not be able to advance. If we change our attitude and let go of the matter of the foundation, the brothers will become wandering stars, with no way to go forward.
Every matter has its principles and rules. If we do not walk in the way of truth, others will, and when those who do come to question us, we will have no answer. We won’t be able to respond to their inquiries, because we didn’t take the way of truth.
A person may think baptism by immersion is unnecessary and say that sprinkling is enough. However, when a brother who was baptized by immersion questions him, he will have no answer and will fall under the condemnation of the truth. Therefore, for the sake of God’s building, we must have an accurate view of the foundation. Only by being firm regarding the foundation of the church can we build the church.
We must love the Lord and be spiritual, and we must be mingled with God and have His authority to be one with others. However, we cannot be in the Baptist or Lutheran Church, but only on the ground of locality. It is on this ground that we can speak the truth, and our speaking will be clear and logical. That is building. The way to building is the foundation. If we don’t have it, our speaking will only go halfway. We will be exactly like Brother Austin-Sparks.
May the Lord have mercy on us so that we may clearly see the matter of the foundation. We recognize that the brothers in the West are good and that their hearts are pure. However, they lack sufficient light concerning the truth, and as a result, they are not clear about the foundation.
They also have a Western superiority complex that hinders our ability to help them. If they didn’t have this sense and were willing to be humble and fellowship with us in the Word of the Lord, they would gradually begin to be enlightened. Their pride causes them to want to change everything they touch. That’s why they are unable to see the light, and it’s difficult for us to help them.
This shows that institutionalized Christianity has problems, and even those who are spiritual and pure have issues: their conduct and viewpoint force us to be passive and keep our distance, even though we don’t break fellowship. But since there is no practical fellowship, it’s hard to have the building. If we were to maintain practical fellowship with them, our work would fall apart. We have a way to move forward, but we cannot progress in our relationship with them. That’s why we prefer to maintain our position.¹
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¹ Editor’s note from the blog: We must always be very cautious with the content of older books, as not everything can be applied to today’s reality. We are publishing this material with the goal of learning and applying biblical principles (which never change). However, the understanding and practice of certain matters may vary greatly — or may even have already been surpassed — according to the Lord’s present light for His people.
This book was published in 1957. Over the years, the distance between us (brothers who practice the ground of locality) and the Christian groups has greatly increased; this has led to a sense of exclusivism that also brought us down a path of pride. Starting in 2023, many churches recognized this issue and abandoned the wall of exclusivity toward other brothers in Christian groups, since they are also part of the Body of Christ.
We have seen that, even with a clear understanding of the truth of the local ground, we cannot live as if we were the only ones who are the Lord’s church. Today, we enjoy more fellowship with them — even if each group follows what it has received from the Lord — because neither side can claim to be the direction of all Christians in the world or impose its own understanding, since the churches belong to the Lord Jesus and have local administration carried out by the elders.
Enjoy more: Hymn 389
“I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord”
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