The truth about Building the Church

[love4truth]

Witness Lee’s main error was in thinking that man can assist Jesus in building His Church. Man does not build the church; Christ does. The individual believer is part of the building material. The material has no part in designing the building, or constructing it. He or she is as clay in the hands of the potter. Only the architect of a house knows where he wants to place a window, or a door, how many rooms there should be, whether the kitchen is large or small, whether to add a porch or patio, how many bathrooms, whether the master bedroom should get the morning or evening sun.

The New Testament makes it quite clear that Jesus is building His church. Only He knows the hearts of the individuals that make up the one collective Heart: His Body. He is the Head. No man can say, “Come over here. We are constructing Christ’s Church. All other work done by others is in vain.” That is arrogance, and, quite simply, foolishness. It has been the error of the RCC for centuries.

The work of Christ in building His Church begins with the individual. We never lose our individuality. Christ begins a work in each one by placing His spirit within the heart of an individual; and if that individual has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. (Rom. 8:9) It is Christ that does the work, growing that individual into what He wants him to be and placing him in His body according to the gifts He bestows. No man or institution can do that for Christ. Neither should he try, because it will always be a shoddy effort.

Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

In the Local Church they bring people in and teach them from the outset that they are building the New Jerusalem. Only Living Stream Ministries has the resources to do that. Do you see the error here? According to Lee, we are to lose our individuality, even before God has finished His work in us as individuals! They attempt to play Holy Spirit. They attempt to be personally constructing the building of God’s House. That house is built on sand of shoddy materials and a faulty foundation.

We need not worry over what man says on this issue. The individual only need submit to Christ, the Word, and following the leading of the Holy Spirit within him. Christ will build in you, He will build in me, and He will build in all the parts. Then He will put us all together in a perfect building at the appointed time. Many of us – most of us – need a great deal of planing and tearing down and reconstruction within our inner being. Some of us need testing and trying in the furnace, a winnowing to separate the wheat from the chaff. Etc. etc. In time, Christ’s work in individuals and the collective Body of Christ will result in the manifestation of the New Jerusalem on earth. And we will marvel how it all came about!!!

[aron]

Originally Posted by love4truth

Only the architect of a house knows where he wants to place a window, or a door, how many rooms there should be, whether the kitchen is large or small, whether to add a porch or patio, how many bathrooms, whether the master bedroom should get the morning or evening sun.

LSM apologists might reply in this way: "Yes, only the architect of the house (God) knows where to place all the materials such that it will be 'fitly framed' (Eph 2:21). But the Architect has revealed His plan, through the writings of the apostles, so that we now are not ignorant. He has given some as apostles, prophets, shepherds, teachers, evangelists (Eph 4:11) and so forth. We do have the divine arrangement made plain."

And, "Just as Moses was given the tabernacle plan, and Joshua given instructions on how to fight, and David given materials for temple building, so are the NT believers given the plan of the proper church life, which will consummate the New Jerusalem". Etc. In other words, the Bible is God's blueprint, or heavenly pattern, revealed to us.

Hebrews 8:5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."

Fine. But I would respond that the revealed NT blueprint is to believe into Jesus, and to love one another. The master plan is to receive one another in Christ Jesus, to bear with one another in love, to announce the good news, to comfort one another, bear each others burdens, etc. That does not need a new and special church organization to come into existence. God has in His wisdom already supplied you with a needy neighbor. Are you willing to spend and be spent? God can build His church if you will simply pay attention. If you are truly the person of God's design, alongside your fellow, then God can surely do a building work with you and among you that will glorify His name.

Instead, we were taught to ignore our neighbor and focus on the church life as the vehicle for promoting the ministry's high peak truths. That's what we got for the master plan, which would supposedly build up the NT church and consummate the labor of the ages. Our neighbor was only valued as a potential receptacle for the ministry of Witness Lee. Otherwise they were ignored.