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 Church9. Giving Him Pre-eminence to Counter Desolation in the House of God The enjoyment of Christ in the local church is maintained and preserved by giving Christ the pre-eminence in all things. In his expounding of the Psalms, Witness Lee points out this principle: God allowed such desolation in His house because the position due to Christ was surrendered. How careful we must be! The local church is wonderful and indeed glorious, but the enjoyment of the local church can only be maintained and preserved by Christ being properly appreciated and exalted among us. If we concentrate on the local church, but neglect Christ Himself, we are in danger of allowing God’s house to suffer desolation. Christ must have the proper position in the local church: He must have the pre-eminence. If He is not adequately appreciated and exalted, we will lose the enjoyment of God’s house. (Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 132) Continuing on the subject of giving Christ the preeminence in the church, Witness Lee comments on Psalm 80:17-19: Psalm 80:17-19: “Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. Restore us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” In this poetic utterance of the seeking saint, the Spirit of Christ is saying something concerning Christ. It is that the restoration of God’s dwelling place depends wholly upon Christ. We must give Christ the proper position; then the desolated house of God will be restored…. Christ must be afforded the proper position by the people of God. God has already given Him the highest place in the universe. Now every one of us, both the young brothers and sisters and the elder brothers and sisters, must give Him His due place. Never take the pre-eminence among the Lord’s people in the local church; the pre-eminence must always be given to Christ. The first secret for us in maintaining the house of God and restoring it from desolation is to give the pre-eminence to Christ. (Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 139, 141) 10. Enjoying God as the Fullest Blessing Drawing from Psalm 84, Witness Lee describes the blessing the believers receive by being in the local churches: “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand” (v. 10). In the Bible, one thousand signifies the fullest measure of a complete unit. Ezekiel 47 speaks of the measurement of a thousand cubits, and the millennium covers a period of a thousand years. Hence, the blessing we receive by being in the dwelling place of the Lord is the fullest, the uttermost. Nowhere else can we receive a blessing as full as that which we obtain in the courts of the house of God….If you want the fullest blessing, if you would turn one good day into a thousand, you must come to the local churches. “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Here in the house of God we enjoy God as a sun and a shield. The sun is for supply, and the shield is for protection. Here in the church life God is our supply, and God is our safeguard. Here we enjoy His grace and His glory. Grace is the inner enjoyment, and glory is the outward expression. In the church life we have the inner enjoyment of grace and the outward expression of glory; we have a supply as the sun, and God Himself as our shield. Oh, how blessed is the church life! (Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 153-154) 11. Praising Him The local church should be a place filled with praises to God. Witness Lee points this out in his commentary on Psalm 84:4: The second item is the praising: “Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be praising thee all the day long. Selah” (v. 4). Henceforth, whenever we meet together, we must spend much time in praising. The praising should occupy more of the time in our meetings than the teachings. “They will be praising thee all the day long.” Learn to praise Him. (Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 149) 12. Trusting Him The local church should also be a place characterized by absolute trust in God. Speaking on Psalm 84:12, Witness Lee observes: The third aspect of the enjoyment is that in the local church we have the very God to trust in: “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee” (v. 12). Indeed, we may all trust in God outside of the local church, but it is rather difficult. In the local church, we can testify, it is so easy to trust in God. If you have not tasted, you do not know. Even the young ones can bear witness to this fact. Come into the local church and stay there for just two months, and you will see how easy it is to trust in God when you are in the meetings. At home it is rather arduous, but in the meetings it is spontaneous. In the local churches we have the very God to trust in. (Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 149) | ||||