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Additional Local Church Quotes by Witness Lee on Watchman Nee’s Burden for the Local Churches
There are some who establish missions, encourage
foreign evangelism, zealously donate money, form national councils, set up
organizations for foreign evangelism, and send missionaries to foreign lands
for evangelistic work. But why do many people today know only missions and not
the church? The reason is because from eternity past God’s emphasis was the
church, but man’s emphasis in this age is missions. Many have forgotten the
church! Mr. Gordon has said, “God never sets up missions; He only establishes
the church.” However, men today set up mission boards, evangelistic
organizations, schools, hospitals, humanistic societies, orphanages,
charitable associations (as the Methodist Episcopal Church does), and even
Sunday schools to help others. Are these good or bad? They are good, but if
man uses these to replace the church of God, God will never be satisfied. Do
you see Satan’s craftiness? Satan’s subtle method is to utilize works used by
God and substitute them for the church, which God in His eternal will intends
to establish. If your eyes are open, you will see that all these things should
be dropped and that you should turn your attention to the church, because the
church life, the life of the Body of Christ, is the goal of God.
Many Christians may say, “We have not established
mission boards, humanistic societies, Sunday schools, schools, and hospitals.”
Please do not speak so fast. You may not have done these wrong things on the
negative side, but what have you done on the positive side? Many would think,
“As long as I am zealous, victorious, and a holy Christian, that is good
enough.” Brothers and sisters, I say a strong word; these are not what God is
after; they are not His unique goal. I am by no means saying that zeal,
victory, and holiness are insignificant. These are significant, but they are
not God’s ultimate goal. What God desires is the corporate church, the
building, the spiritual house. He is not after fragmentary or individual
pieces of brick, tile, wood, or stone. God desires a body, not a finger or any
other member. What God wants is the church. His desire is for Christ to have
the preeminence in the church and to be Head of the church as well. Although
wood, stone, brick, and tile are necessary, they are by no means the goal of
God. You have been a Christian for these many years, but how much time have
you spent considering what God is after? Have you ever thought about this
matter of the church? Or has your primary attention been paid to how to pray,
how to overcome sin, how to help sinners be saved, and how to study the Bible
well? Do you only think about these things, or have you really considered what
the church is? What God wants is a church. Anything that falls short of this
fails to meet the goal of God. I am by no means saying that these other things
are not good, but I am saying that anything short of the church cannot be
counted as the goal of God. If Sunday schools are merely for the sake of
Sunday schools, orphanages merely for orphanages, humanistic societies merely
for humanistic societies, and gospel preaching merely for gospel preaching, it
is fine as long as they do not replace the church. For all these things fall
short of the church of God. What God wants is the church. The death of the Lord Jesus
was for the church, and the coming of the Holy Spirit was also for the church.
From beginning to end, in the New Testament, one principle can be found:
Everything is for the church. Take, for example, the fact that the Lord’s
death was for the church. The book of Ephesians tells us, “Christ also loved
the church and gave Himself up for her.” The Lord was raised from the dead to
be far above all rule and authority, and He is above all to be Head over all
things to the church. The Lord builds the church on this rock. The work of the
Holy Spirit for the past two thousand years has been for the building up of
the church. God saves sinners and enables men to overcome in order to
establish the church. It is for the building up of the church that God has
given us apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. Ephesians
tells us that the Lord cleanses the church by the washing of water in the word
and sanctifies her in order that He might present her to Himself a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she should be
holy and without blemish. Here again it is a matter of the church. God’s
ultimate goal is to have the New Jerusalem, and what the New Jerusalem
typifies is the church. God’s goal as recorded in the Old Testament, New
Testament, the four Gospels, and Revelation is to have the New Jerusalem,
which is for the church. I say strongly that unless our aim, work, and living
today are for the church—that is, for the accomplishment of what God is
after—we are a big failure. May the Lord have mercy on us and deliver us from
our limited vision into His goal and into what He emphasizes in the Scriptures….
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