The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ in the Local Churches
The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ in the Local Churches |
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Experiencing Christ in the Local Church1. The Divine Seed All things pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3) have been planted into us as a kind of divine seed. When we experience the riches of this divine life within, there is an expression of this life. Godliness is the expression of this life, and included in this godly expression is the practical, daily local church life. Here, Witness Lee comments on this divine seed and its expression, the local church: The submission comes out of the seed that has been sown into us. The divine power has given us all the things pertaining to life and godliness. This power is the Spirit within us. We also have been given the great and precious promises in the Word outside of us. We should not keep away from the Spirit within and the Word without. We have to continually contact the Spirit within and pray-read the Word without. We do not merely study the Word as a book. We pray-read the Word by calling upon the name of the Lord. We have the Spirit within as the divine power and the holy book without as the great and precious promises. All the riches of the divine life are our portion for us to enjoy. When we enjoy these riches, we will have the expression of life, godliness, in our living. Our living will be one of godliness, the expression of God as life. Whatever we need will be supplied to us. Submission, patience, humility, love, power, and mercy are all in the divine seed within us. The Body life, the local church life, is included in this godliness. The local church life has been given to us. Perhaps we have seen the New Testament church, so we agree to come together and practice it. But if we do this without the enjoyment of Christ, our practice will be a mess. We need to call on the name of the Lord, be filled within, and enjoy His Word. This is to render Him the adequate cooperation. Then we will enjoy the current of the heavenly electricity flooding us with the riches of life. Spontaneously, we will have the proper church life. (Witness Lee, Growth of Christ, 66-67) 2. Christ as Life Imparted into Us to Make Us Active Members of the Body of Christ Witness Lee alludes to the stories related in the Gospels in describing his experience of the impartation of Christ’s life to make him a living member of the Body of Christ: It was in 1932 that I first came into the local church. The Lord Jesus led me out of the “synagogue” into the “cornfield” to feed on its riches. Oh, the church to me at that time was just like the cornfield: I could pick all the ears and enjoy the corn. Then He lifted me up out of the pit; I was a withered member, I was waiting in the porch, waiting for something or someone, but He imparted life into me and made me an active member of the Body. I was impotent, I was blind, but He put something of Himself into me, not just that I might have life, but that I might have it abundantly, and in so doing I received my sight. Then I was made clear; I could see Him as the door and follow Him out of the fold into the pasture. Now I can testify that day and night I am on the pasture enjoying Him. How good it is to be in the flock! Hallelujah, we are flocked together. We never try to unite; we are flocked together. We are not united by any charters or creeds made by human hands; we are united by the Lord Jesus as the door, the Shepherd, and the pasture. (Witness Lee, Christ v. Religion, 116-117) It becomes evident through these portions of Witness Lee's ministry that to practice and express the local church properly, we must first have a proper experience of the divine life. Furthermore, to become living, functioning members of the Body of Christ in the local churches, we must receive the impartation of the abundant life of Christ. | ||||