THE CHURCH ON EARTH

^[p. 248] THE CHURCH ON EARTH

In 1 Corinthians 12 we get the earthly side of the church. It is not the church looked at as the fulness of Christ, and it is not union which is taught in the chapter, though unity is taught there, but the church as the body is the vessel in which are set all the manifestations of the Spirit, and it makes us all dependent one upon another. When I hear people saying, ‘I never learnt anything from man’, that is a pretty good proof to me that they do not know much. If they simply mean that they never learned anything from man as man, that may be the case; but if they mean that they never learned anything through the instrumentality or medium of man, then I say they must be very ignorant persons. Because had they known anything of christianity, they must have known it through members of the body. Paul and John were members of the body, though they were apostles, and all the light that comes to us — the very Scriptures themselves — comes to us through the apostles, and the apostles were set in the church.

The practical application of it in the present day is this, that we should recognise the truth of the one body, “By one Spirit are we all baptised into one body”, “and have been all made to drink into one Spirit”, 1 Corinthians 12:13. That was not a kind of mystical idea; it was a reality down here which saints were to recognise, that is, that they were one body by the baptism of the Spirit, so that the apostle could say to the body of saints at Corinth, “Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular”, 1 Corinthians 12:27. Christ could not have two bodies at Corinth, any more than Christ could have two bodies in London. There is Christ’s body in London, and it is a very great point to recognise the fact. Because if once I recognise it, I say I have done ^[p. 249] completely with anything which takes up distinctive sectarian ground. I will not be identified with apostasy like popery, nor with a state church, nor with denominations, for the simple reason that I recognise the fact, “Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12:27), and “By one Spirit are we all baptised into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13), and the one body is the vessel here for the manifestations of the Spirit.

There is one point more, and it is that there must be room given for the Spirit, you must not place any kind of restrictions upon the Spirit. For instance, if you have an appointed minister, if you do not give liberty of ministry, you put restrictions on the Spirit. You can never tell who may be a vessel for the manifestation of the Spirit, for the Spirit sometimes uses very unlikely people; He does not always employ the kind of vessel that would be naturally approved by man, because the Spirit is sovereign, and uses whom He will. You must recognise the truth of the one body, which sets aside all idea of sectarianism, and you must leave room for the free action of the Spirit, who distributes to every man severally as He will. All this truth is as to the church on its earthward side, but it is vastly important; for if you do not recognise it, you cannot understand anything about the assembly as convened. The instruction is given to the Corinthians for the regulation of the assembly as convened, and to avoid confusion. We come together as mutually dependent, for we are all one body, and every member of the body is dependent upon every other member of the body, as well as dependent upon the Head.

Suppose a man were to say, I am not going to concern myself about the body or about church principles, I am going to exercise the gift which the Lord has given me. My answer to him is this, God has set the gift in the church, and if you recognise that fact, you cannot ignore the church. Let a man be the most distinguished evangelist that ever was, he cannot ^[p. 250] ignore the church. An apostle could not, because God set apostles in the church. You have no option in the matter; you must in the first instance recognise the truth of the church, and that every gift is set in the church, and leave free room for the Spirit of God. And therefore the most distinguished gift that a man could have, was not to overshadow every other gift. There may be members that are less conspicuous, and yet they are equally important. And it is not at all of God that the great gifts, the great luminaries, should overshadow everything else; because we are all set in the body in dependence on the Head and upon each other. That is the principle of its constitution. May God give us to understand it better!