AMEN FOR LOCAL CHURCH When Paul went to Corinth to preach the gospel and do the work of the Lord, did he establish a Pauline church with Christ as its foundation? Did Apollos, who also ministered in Corinth, establish a church upon the ground of Apollos with Christ as its foundation? Or did Peter, who may also have gone to Corinth, form a Petrine church with Christ as the foundation? Of course, they did not. In Corinth there was no Pauline church, no Apollonian church, and no Petrine church. Then what did they do? When Paul went to Corinth and brought people to the Lord, he established the church in Corinth. Upon what ground? Upon the ground of Corinth. He set up a local church in Corinth with Christ as its foundation upon the unique ground of locality. When Apollos went to Corinth, he did not set up another church. He built up the saints upon the same unique foundation and upon the same unique ground, the ground of Corinth. Paul planted them on that ground, and Apollos watered them on that ground. First Corinthians 1:2 says, "The church [singular] of God which is in Corinth." Paul, Apollos, and Peter brought their varied ministries to Corinth, but they all built one church with one foundation upon the one ground of unity. So eventually only one church existed in Corinth with one kind of saints, one foundation which is Christ, and one ground which was the common standing in the entire locality. One church, one foundation, one ground—it is so clear. We must come out of the divisions, not to form another division, but to come back to the proper ground, the ground of unity. There is no reason for us to be divided. We are all members of the one unique church. Why not simply come together with the believers in the locality where we live to be an expression of that church? Let us not be complicated and confused by Christianity. It is a shameful thing to ask people to what church they belong. If they are believers, they are our brothers—that is all. I belong to the unique church, and they belong to the same unique church. More than thirty-five years ago in Shanghai, a brother with a Bible in his hand was taking the street car to go to a meeting. Another believer on the street was distributing tracts to the passengers, and when he saw the brother with his Bible he said, "Oh, you must be a brother!" The brother answered that he was indeed a brother. Then he asked him, "To what church do you belong?" The brother answered: "I belong to the same church to which you belong, the same church to which the apostle Paul, the apostle Peter, the apostle John, and Martin Luther belonged, and the same church to which all believers belong." When he heard that, he said, "That would be wonderful!" Surely, it is wonderful. Oh, let us all come together on the unique ground of unity to have a proper expression of this one church in the place where we live. May the Lord be merciful to us. WL-
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 10:09:44 +0000
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