The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ in the Local Churches
The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ in the Local Churches |
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Enjoying Christ in the Local Church3. Enjoying Christ as a Flowing River to Quench our Thirst We enjoy Christ not only as our heavenly food, but also as living water to quench our thirst. Witness Lee notes below that watering is the first sign of a genuine local church: The first sign that you have entered a genuine local church is that you meet something flowing, something watering, something which quenches your thirst. You may discern the situation by seeing whether or not there is a flowing river….Find where the river flows—that is the local church. "And He said unto me….I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely" (21:6). This is the sign of the local churches. (Witness Lee, Christ v. Religion, 192) 4. Calling on the Lord in Every Place The enjoyment of Christ in the local church is very much related to the scriptural practice of calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus. The Lord is rich to all who call on His name (Romans 10:12). Commenting on 1 Corinthians 1:2, Witness Lee says: Verse 2e continues with the fifth qualification: "With all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place." This long phrase indicates that the church which is genuine is related with all the saints who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in every place around the globe. Paul does not address the church as being related to all those who have been baptized by immersion or all those who speak in tongues or keep the Sabbath. Rather, the church is related to all those—including the believers today, those who came before us and those who will come after us—who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place. (Witness Lee, Genuine Church, 10) 5. Enjoying God’s Salvation in Life God’s full salvation in life is much more than an objective salvation from perdition. It involves a subjective salvation in which we are saved from a multitude of inward problems, most of which revolve around the self. This salvation is very much carried out in the context of the church life. Concerning this salvation in life worked out in the church life, Witness Lee writes: When we live the church life in a locality, we will be saved from self-views and self-goals. Views are opinions and concepts. Goals are purposes; they come from motives. Where there is a motive, there is a goal. Only the church life can save us from our own opinions, motives, and goals…. If there is to be any opinion, it should be the opinion described in Romans 12:2: “Prove by testing what the will of God is, that which is good and well-pleasing and perfect.” God’s perfect will is our view, opinion, and concept. Other than this, we have no concept or motive. We also have only one goal, which is to see that the Body of Christ be built up and the economy of God fulfilled. The church life is our test. It exposes all of our hearts, concepts, and motives…. The local churches are the gathering point of our enjoyment of God’s salvation in life. After a man is saved, he will always try to find a church. This is a wonderful thing! Hence, the church is the gathering point where saints receive grace. It is the gathering point of grace. If you want to see God’s grace, you have to go to the church. Hence, this is the destination of our enjoyment of God’s salvation in life. The more we enjoy God’s salvation in life, the more we love to go to the church meetings. This is the place where we enjoy God’s salvation in life unceasingly. Finally, the result of the enjoyment of God’s life is our being saved from self-view and self-goal. (Witness Lee, Salvation in Life, 51-52) 6. Loving the Lord and Loving One Another To receive Christ is a matter of our faith, but to enjoy Christ is a matter of our love for Him. The more we love Him, the more we enjoy Him. Moreover, out of this loving enjoyment of the Lord Himself, we spontaneously come to love the other believers. This precious experience and enjoyment in the local church is wonderfully expressed by Witness Lee: Brothers and sisters, wherever we are, the first thing we must do in the local churches is to love the Lord. The first and greatest impression we must give people in the local churches is not how much we work for Christ, but how much we love Him. Whenever we mention His precious name, we should simply be beside ourselves with love for Him. Let us aim at this, and let us be alert lest we lose it. The second impression we must give people is that in this love of Jesus we love one another. We love Him so intimately, and we love one another. The greatest impression people must receive when they touch the church life is the love in these two aspects—love toward the Lord Jesus and love to one another. Then we will have the lampstand with the shining power and fulness of light to chase away all the darkness. Then we will have the enjoyment of the tree of life and taste it even now in the paradise of God. (Witness Lee, Christ v. Religion, 167) | ||||