THE ONE TRUE CHURCH

CH. 2

THE SUBSTANCE OF THE CHURCH

“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man He made into a woman and He brought her to the man” (Gen 2:21,22).

When we become converted and begin to think about working together with God to accomplish His eternal purposes we must first receive a revelation from Him. We must have spent time in His presence. We must have ascended the holy mountain of God. It is there that we perceive what is on His heart and it is there that we understand what and how we should build. Without such a revelation, it is possible or even probable that much of our time and energy will be wasted constructing something which He does not desire.
One of the things of which we must be very certain when we begin to build is what kind of materials we should use. When we are constructing the habitation of the eternal God, there are some very specific guidelines which we must follow concerning the building materials. We are not free to use whatever kind of elements we think might do the job. If we are to satisfy God’s heart, we must carefully follow the Divine plan.
On one hand we can all too easily build with natural materials. The scriptures call these things “wood,” “hay” and “straw.” These items are representative of what a human being can do on his own. For example, a natural man can plan. He can organize. He can administrate. He can use his “God given” talents to influence people and even attract a following. Many men and women can persuade others of their position. They can recruit other to join their ranks. They can give counsel, teach and give advice about any number of subjects. They can give interesting or even powerful, emotion stirring speeches. These and many more things the natural man can do.
Since the natural man can do these things it is easy for us to do them when we begin working for God. Especially if we have abilities in some of these areas, it is only natural for us to think that we can use our assets to help build the house of God. But since the origin of these things is earthly they really are only wood, hay and straw. It does not matter how impressive the structure we build is. What counts is what kind of materials we use in the construction.
The scriptures also mention other types of building materials: gold, silver and precious stones. These items represent materials of supernatural origin. These the not works which man does for God, but works which God Himself does through man. When we are constructing with divine materials it is no longer us doing the work but God living in and moving through us to accomplish His purposes.
Many men have a lot of ability. Some can build a shed or house. Others possibly could make a car or airplane. Still others are able to design and build spaceships or giant computers. There are some really remarkable things which men have built.
But there is still one thing which man cannot build. He cannot make a living being. No man can join cell to cell, connect the various cells with nerves, make bones and muscles, the various specialized organs and then cause all this to live and breath. Only God can give life and make a living being.
The house of God in which He will dwell for eternity is a living house. We, His people, are the “living stones” in this house (I Pet 2:5). God’s house is not a static, physical structure like some king or president on earth would build. Instead, it is a construction which is alive with the life of God. It will be a living, breathing tabernacle. It will be a vessel in which He will be seen and through which He will live, move and express Himself to the universe.
Since no man can make something living, it is clear that we cannot build anything for God on our own. The best we can do is co-labor together with Him (I Cor 3:9). By following His leading moment by moment and relying completely upon His power, we can be used by Him to construct something which pleases Him.
Even if we have had a revelation of the finished product, we still do not have the supernatural ability to make what we have seen. We may have had a divine vision. We might have had a glimpse of His eternal house. But we are and always will be, completely dependent upon God to do the work in us and through us. Revelation never makes us capable of doing things ourselves. Instead, like little children, we must walk hand in hand with our Creator and cooperate with what He is doing every day.

GOD DESIRES A BRIDE

We learn from the scriptures that our Lord is constructing a bride for Himself (Rev 21:19). In the Old Testament, reading about the creation of Adam and Eve, we encounter a prophetic picture concerning the future bride of Christ. Here we can understand quite a lot about what kind of materials God wants to use. We are told that Adam was created from “the dust of the ground” (Gen 2:7). He was made from common, earthly materials.
But when his bride, Eve, was formed, God used something different. Eve was made from something which came out of the side of Adam. Nothing else was added. No “dust,” no wood, leaves or rocks were used. God only used what He had taken from Adam’s side to make his bride. This ancient story still speaks to us today.
Just as Adam was put to sleep and God performed the first surgery on him to extract materials for a bride, so too Jesus “fell asleep” on the cross. There God’s surgical assistant, the Roman soldier, made an incision in Jesus’ side and something very precious flowed out – blood and water (Jn 19:34). The blood and water, representing the poured out life of Christ, are the very substances which the Father is using today to build a bride, His church. Just as in the case of Eve, nothing earthly can be added. Nothing human, no other ingredients and be used. Only the life of Jesus Christ, can be used to build up the bride which His heart desires.

THE LIFE OF GOD

Since this Life is the substance, in fact the only substance, which we can use to properly construct God’s holy habitation, perhaps it would be good for us to spend a little time here and investigate exactly what this is. Although some readers may already be familiar with this material, for many it will cover some very new and important ground.
In the New Testament, which was first written in the Greek language, we find at least three different Greek words which are translated as one English word “life.” Evidently the Greeks had a kind of philosophical culture, with a richer, broader understanding of life than we have today. So they used several different words to express these ideas.
There are three Greek words which will hold our attention at this moment. They are, “BIOS,” “PSUCHE,” and “ZOE.” These three words are translated as one English word “life,” yet they have distinctly different meanings. Therefore, it is important for us to know the meaning of these words and differentiate between them as we read the Bible. In this way we can have a better understanding what the Bible is saying. Please bear with me as we review the meanings of these three Greek words together.
The word BIOS seems to approach most closely what we mean in English when we say “life.” It includes such ideas as the duration of our life, our job or livelihood, and our moral conduct.
The word PSUCHE generally means our psychological life or our soul life. This includes our emotional life and our thought life. In fact, this word is often translated “soul” and is contrasted in Hebrews 4:12 with our spirit. Here we read that one function of the word of God is to make a clean and definite division between our (PSUCHE) soul and our spirit.
The Greek word ZOE is most frequently used in the New Testament to refer to a very special kind of life, the life of God. The New Testament writers chose this Greek word to express something supremely exalted – the very life of God Himself. Since He is the only eternal, uncreated being in the universe, His life is really something special.
It is this supernatural life which was in Jesus Christ (Jn 1:4). It is this without-beginning-and-without-ending life which flowed out of His side at Calvary. It is this all-powerful, triumphant life which He is freely giving to those who believe. And it is this very life of God Himself which is the substance which He is using to build up His church, His bride.

OTHER MATERIALS

So when we begin to to co-labor with God and construct His dwelling place we must use the proper material. We must build with His ZOE life. We must use this and only this divine substance. Nothing else can be added. Anything earthly or human cannot be used. This means that our natural abilities are excluded.
For example, our ability to organize people to follow us needs to be laid aside. Our gift for influencing others and persuading them to do what we want done must also be discounted. Our charismatic personality which we have so often used to charm others and attract them to our work, is rejected. Our ways of politically manipulating others, our techniques for seeming to be everybody’s friend and so attract them to our group, our commanding presence which we have used to impress people – all these things must be thrown out. More than this our knowledge, the things which we have learned about “how to” build up a group or church, must be discarded.
Why are these things rejected? It is because they have their origin in the soul. They are an expression of our PSUCHE life and not a revelation of God’s ZOE variety.
When we desire to work together with God and build up His eternal house, we must first humble ourselves and empty ourselves of all our preconceived ideas and plans. We must lay aside that which we have learned from other merely human constructions. In fact, we must repent from all that we have been doing which has been only earthly and natural efforts. Then,we must learn how to build according to His heavenly plan. As we have been seeing an essential aspect of this plan is that no other materials may be used besides that which He has provided which is His own supernatural Life.
It may be that some will argue that God since made us a certain way, with certain aptitudes and talents, He would surely would want us to use these natural abilities for His glory. However, this is not the case. Nothing natural can be used in His construction. He will not live in a temple made with your hands, no matter how talented you imagine you are. Your construction of wood, hay and straw may be beautiful, but it is not God’s house.
The question here is not whether or not we have abilities but rather is “who is in control of these abilities?” Who is really doing the work? Is it truly God or is it the natural man trying to work for God? Is it us doing our best to work for Him or Him moving and flowing through us? Nothing natural within us can be used by Him until it has been thoroughly and completely broken by His hand. Our self-confidence in our capacity to do things must be totally brought to an end. Our personal capabilities and qualifications are of no use to God as long as they are under the control of the natural man.
Paul, the apostle, was a strong natural man. He had many human abilities. Yet God worked in his life to break down his confidence in himself. After years of experience following Christ he could write: “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (II Cor 12:10). And again: “For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God towards you” (II Cor 13:4). He quotes for our benefit what Jesus had taught him, “My strength is made perfect in [human] weakness” (II Cor 7:9). God brought Paul to the place where he no longer had “confidence in [his] flesh” (Ph 3:3). Human capabilities get in the way of God, but in human weaknesses He is glorified because He finds a way to exhibit His power.

OTHER KINDS OF ANIMALS

Before God made a bride for Adam, He and Adam together examined all the animals and Adam gave them names. But when we read this passage carefully (Gen 2:18-20) we see that this was not merely an animal naming session. God and Adam were looking for something specific. They were searching for a bride for Adam (vs 20). But none could be found.
Although these birds and beasts were no doubt cute, fuzzy, friendly or attractive in their own way, they were not the same kind of being as Adam. They did not have the same kind of life as he had. Therefore they could not qualify to be his wife. They were rejected. In the same way, God Himself can only marry someone who is of His same life and nature. This means, just as in the case of Adam, she must be constructed out of what comes out of His side.
Perhaps the group you are putting together is “successful.” It may be that large numbers are attracted to your work. Possibly your different programs for the youth, the singles, the married couples, etc. are being well attended. It could be that your organizational and managerial skills (or those of your wife) are amazing and you are reaching your goals. Perhaps your apparent attainments are attracting the attention of others and your “ministry” is expanding rapidly. It is possible that you have recently joined up with a “Christian” movement which is popular today and so your “church” is growing rapidly. Maybe you are gaining fame and even an international audience.
But in all this there is one important question which needs to be answered. Is this a product of the Divine life or of human ambition and ability? Is this a product of what is flowing from Jesus’ side or something natural and earthly, clothed in Christian words and phrases? Is what you are building really the bride of Christ or is it just some other kind of furry, cute little animal? Or worse yet, is it some kind of religious monstrosity? Only the one kind of work will stand the test of judgment day. The others will be burned (I Cor 3:15).
I am not the judge of your work for God. It is He who will analyze what we all do. Each of us will stand before His throne along with all of our works and there God’s judgment will be executed upon them. With this in mind, we ourselves are exhorted to carefully examine our own work in the light of God (Gal 6:4).
My job, as your brother in Christ is not to approve or condemn what you are doing in Jesus’ name. It is only to share with you the things which He has shown me and to urge you, in the fear of the Lord, to hear what God might be speaking to you and to respond to it with your whole heart.

GOD’S TRUE HOUSE

The true house of God is build by the ministry of ZOE life, flowing out to us and through us by the Holy Spirit. We are being built into a habitation of God through the Spirit (Eph 2:22). It is the “...Spirit of [ZOE] life in Christ Jesus” (Rm 8:2) that is doing the work in us and through us. This is not a work which the natural man can do. There is nothing within us, apart from the Holy Spirit ministry of life, which can serve to be used in the building.
Therefore, it is essential for every believer to be able to distinguish when they are in the Spirit and when they are merely operating by the soul. They must be able to discern when they are acting and speaking by the flow of divine life or when something natural is at work. We desperately need to discern what is from on high and what is from the earth.
The key here is that the new life from God lives in our human spirit. The Holy Spirit has become joined to our spirit and the two spirits have become one (I Cor 6:17). Therefore, what is flowing to us from our spirit is from God. On the other hand, what has its origins in our soul is natural, earthly and rejected as useful in the construction of God’s holy temple.
How much we, God’s people, need to experience the dividing asunder of our soul and our spirit (Heb 4:12)! How desperate is the necessity in this hour for us to know when it is merely our soul acting for God and when it is actually God acting through us! This subject of distinguishing between the soul and the spirit is vast. There is not time in this writing to go into these things in great detail. But I would like to urge all readers to take some time and review two chapters of my book From Glory to Glory. These two chapters, 10 and 11 regarding the dividing the soul and spirit, may be of some help in understanding this essential subject.
There are however, a couple of aspects of the soul, that need to be examined in a little more detail since they very easily enter into our building projects for God. Firstly, we will speak about our mind. The mind forms part of our soul. When our mind is under the control of the Spirit we find the flowing of ZOE life and peace (Rom 8:5). But when our mind is being motivated by the flesh, this means that the life of the soul is filling our mind and flowing through our mind. The result is death.

THE HUMAN MIND

Often the carnal use of our mind is a result of acting according to our accumulated knowledge. Many believers, perhaps without realizing it, have “learned” how to act like a Christian. They have experience in what to say and do and how to treat various situations. Perhaps they have been trained in some school or by others about how to live and act in a Christian environment. It is possible that they think that they know how to build up a church or group and are busy implementing what they know among their circle of Christian acquaintances.
Thus they are trying to build the house of God with earthly, carnal materials. They are using the natural wisdom of the human mind. This perhaps should remind us of Paul’s words where he says, “If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know” (I Cor 8:2). What we really need to know is how to build with and by the Holy Spirit which conveys to us the life of God.
Do you remember the garden of Eden? There was a tree there called “the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” This tree was full of knowledge. Perhaps we should expand our understanding of this tree a little bit to see that it represents much more than simply the knowledge of evil. We should be aware that there is also “good” knowledge exhibited by this tree. This tree was and is full of all kinds of good, human, earthly knowledge and wisdom. This “good” knowledge includes the knowledge of: how to build up a church, how to counsel people in this or that situation, how to organize various ministries of the church, how to do this and how to do that in a “Christian” way and much, much more.
The results of eating the fruit of this tree was death. The same is true also today. Yes, the mind used by the natural man produces death. The human mind, filled with all kinds of knowledge of how to be a Christian, how to act and react in every situation, how to form a group, etc., results in spiritual death. The natural mind, being animated and used by the life of the soul produces death wherever it is manifested. Truly the scriptures says that, “knowledge puffs up” (I Cor 8:1) but it does nothing to build up God’s spiritual house.
Possibly you have some experiences which can verify this truth. It may be that you have sat through any number of worship services which did not edify your spirit. It may be that your mind was stimulated, but your spiritual man was not fed. Possibly you have received counsel and/or “ministry” which did nothing to penetrate to the root of your need or to ministry ZOE life. Your spirit was left without the true spiritual food.
There are innumerable men of women today who, although they are regularly participating in some kind of organized Christian group, are actually dying from spiritual hunger. If the ministry they receive is merely mental, if it is simply a transmission of biblical knowledge, they cannot receive nourishment. Any ministry which is not the expression of God’s divine life flowing through the Holy Spirit cannot build up the bride. Jesus’ bride is only made of that which flowed out from His side on Calvary.

EMOTIONS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Some of course sense this lack of the flow of life. They discern that they are not receiving spiritual food. But all too often their solution is also carnal. Sensing the spiritual lack, they resort to emotional stimulation to try to fill the void. Their worship music becomes louder and louder. They are urged to clap, jump around or dance. Some of the preaching becomes merely shouting of various commonly accepted words or phrases. All this and much more is merely an effort to stir up the emotions of the attendees trying to substitute for the lack of the flowing of the Holy Spirit. This too has its origin in the soul.
Emotional stimulation does nothing to feed the human spirit. When a Christian meeting is composed of a lot of screaming and shouting, a casual observer might be led to conclude that either the God of this particular group is deaf, or that He is a very long way away.
Another common tactic in the church of our day in an attempt to compensate for the lack of the flow of Life through the Holy Spirit, is to resort to various entertainments. Of course there are the standard choirs or solos. But even more popular today are the dance routines complete with flags and costumes, theater presentations, mime and ever more professional bands. Fancy lighting and special effects may also be employed. It may be that these things are bringing to our group some apparent success. It is possible that more and more people are flocking to our meetings. Perhaps we imagine that we are building up the house of God with our different methods.
But we need to pause a minute and ask ourselves some very serious questions. Could it be that these things are merely earthly and human? Are they producing truly spiritual results? Are the men and women who are flocking to our meetings really being changed into the image of God? Are they being freed from sin and filled with God’s life and nature in a visible, verifiable way? Are they being transformed into such sanctified people that God is pleased to dwell in them? Are their lives being changed, their marriages being restored and their families being governed by God’s grace?
Is our ministry a result of the flow of divine life or a human substitute? Is this a work we are doing for God or a work which God is doing through us? And is this work truly fireproof and so will pass the test of judgment day or something which appears good but is really made of wood, hay and stubble? The true bride of Christ is being constructed of only that which is flowing out of His wounded side.

WALKING BY FAITH

Many people, when discussing how to build up the church want to know what steps to take. They seem to want some kind of formula or program which they can follow. They like to have something tangible in their hands which they can do, something they can implement in their group. They feel very insecure with simply trusting in Jesus to do the work.
But God’s house is a spiritual house. It is nothing which can be made with plans, programs and formulas. Since it is spiritual, it is also mysterious and intangible. The natural man with his natural mind cannot comprehend it. Our physical eyes cannot see it. And our human hands cannot build it. Only the poured out life of Christ can accomplish this work.
God’s house is a living house. It is not something static which we can plan, implement or control. Since it is living, it is always new. Jesus, the architect of this house is alive today! When He was on this earth, His words and actions were always unpredictable. When His disciples awoke every morning, they had no idea where He would go, what He would say or what He would do next. They simply had to trust Him to lead them and they followed where He went.
Nothing has changed. Jesus does not reveal to us a program for building His house. We, in childlike simplicity, must walk with Him every day. We too must walk with Him without knowing what will happen next. We must believe that as we follow Him and obey Him, His house is being built up.
Co-laboring with God to build His house is a walk of faith. It is not something fixed or preprogrammed. Unless we know how to walk with Jesus in faith, we cannot construct His house. Through faith, we are able to sense His leadership day by day and cooperate with Him in the things which He is doing.
If we think we know that to do, then there is a great probability we will try to do it. If we imagine that we know the plan, then it is very easy for our natural man to try to implement it. The minute we think we know what God is doing, we stick our human hands in there to try to help. For this reason, our Lord does not show us everything. His plan is that we would simply walk with Him and obey Him. The necessity to walk in childlike faith never stops. If we are to work with God in building His house, this is the only way.
As soon as we imagine that we know what to do or how to do it, this is evidence that we have lost our spiritual direction. The minute we think we know how or what to build, this is proof that Jesus has moved on and we are simply holding on to the empty shell of what He did in the past. How many men of God are in this position. They are trying to hang onto or recreate something which God did in the past. But it just doesn’t work.
It is true that God can give us some future direction. Occasionally He will show us how to accomplish some thing or other for Him. However, these thing are always subject to change. Our Lord is “new every morning” (Lam 2:23). We must never take our eyes off of Him and begin to look only at the thing or things which He has shown us. We must always be ready, like the children of Israel in the wilderness, to pack up and move on at a moments notice. We must not lose contact with Him. In this way, we will be fruitful in our work to build His eternal house.

BUILDING UP IN LIFE

Our calling from God is to edify the individual members of Christ’s body. This requires that we must minister the life of Jesus Christ to one another. But in order to do so, we ourselves must be full of this supernatural life. How then can we be filled with the Life of God? Let us spend a little time here together investigating this all important matter.
The basic necessity of all life is food. Every living thing, whether it be plant or animal must have food to live. Therefore, we can conclude that in order to be full of this spiritual life, we too must be receiving some kind of spiritual nourishment. Our spiritual life does not grow by learning. It is not a product of mental or emotional effort. There is no other way to be full of life than to eat. Further, we must eat often and consistently.
The food which our spiritual man needs is a Person, Jesus Christ. He explains to us: “...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no [ZOE] life in you” (Jn 6:53). This is quite simple. To be full of His divine life, we need to be partaking of Him. We must be eating and drinking of all that He is. Biblically speaking we call this communion.
When we “take communion” in a Christian meeting, we are eating some bread and drinking some wine together. These things are symbols of our spiritual nourishment. But also, this word “communion” means to have some intimate fellowship with someone.
Linking these two ideas together, a picture emerges. When we are in intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ in the Spirit, we are eating and drinking of what He is. When we have times of prayer, worship, Bible meditation or in other ways spend time in His presence, we are being nourished with heavenly food. He is “the bread of God” “who comes down from heaven and gives [ZOE] life to the world” (Jn 6:33).
Therefore, the first step which we must take to build up the house of God is to fill ourselves with all that He is. We need to spend time, lots of time, in His presence. We need to eat, drink and breathe in all the facets of His life and nature. We need to saturate ourselves to overflowing with this abundant ZOE life. This must become our daily experience.
In the book of Revelation chapter 22 verse 1 we read about a river of water of ZOE life. This river is bubbling up right under the throne of God and of the Lamb. So we see clearly that the presence of God is the source of the life that we need. Therefore, the closer we get to the throne of
God, the more we can drink of this water. The more time we spend in His presence, the more this water of life will fill our being.
Then, when we speak to others, this is what we will have to share with them. When we are with them, they will sense the sweet aroma of Christ. When we minister, teach, counsel or help, what will come out of us will be what we have been taking in. It is “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt 12:334). If we have not been feeding on the Lamb, we will have only something human to share. If we have not been filling ourselves over and over with the divine substance, our “ministry” will be only earthly, soulish and mental.
This then brings us to a crucial point in our considerations. In order to live in this kind of intimate communion with our Savior we must have a life which is completely consecrated to God. To walk in such proximity to Jesus, requires that He is truly the Lord of every aspect of our life. If there are any issues between us and Him, if there is any resistance to His will in our hearts, if we have not settled the question of who is to govern every aspect of our being, then we will have trouble walking in the Spirit. We will not succeed in being full of God’s life and we will not have an abundance of this life to minister to others.
When we lack this ZOE life to minister, the only alternative is to rely on the flesh. We then come to depend on our Bible knowledge. Our education, our personal appeal, our natural abilities, our persuasive talents then come into play. When we do not have the true Lamb to offer, we are left, as Cain was, with mere vegetables. These things do not and cannot build up the eternal house of God.

WHAT ARE WE WORKING ON?