BRIEF PRESENTATION OF THE LORD RECOVERY
To Keep the Universal Oneness of the Body of Christ
This fellowship is to keep the universal oneness of the Body of Christ (John 17:11b, 20-23; Eph. 4:3-6). Ephesians 4:3 charges us to be diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit. We can keep this oneness because it is our possession already. We have this oneness; thus, we only need to keep it. Regardless of how weak we may be, we still have this oneness. This is because we still have the circulation of the “blood,” the circulation of the Spirit. If we did not have this circulation, we would be spiritually dead. As long as we have life, regardless of how weak we may be, we have this oneness. It is the possession of every believer. What we need, then, is just to keep this oneness. When we keep this oneness, we are in the unique fellowship of the Lord’s recovery.
The Fellowship of the Local Churches
Now we come to another aspect of the fellowship, that is, the fellowship of the local churches. It seems that there is no problem with the universal fellowship of the Body of Christ; however, when we put this fellowship into practice, immediately it becomes a local fellowship, the fellowship of the local churches.
The Local Churches Being Many in Different Localities
The local churches are many in different localities (Rev. 1:11). The Body of Christ as the church, the unique universal church, is expressed through the local churches. It is impossible for the Body of Christ to be expressed without the local churches. The local churches, which are the expressions of the unique Body of Christ, are scattered on this earth in the localities where the local churches exist to express the Body of Christ.
The Local Churches
Being Locally Kept Away from One Another
but Not Being Divided Universally
The local churches are locally kept away from one another by their being in different localities. I do not say that they are separated from one another; the word separated may carry the connotation of division. I have used the term kept away because to be kept away is not to be divided. The churches are kept away from one another only by their localities, not by anything else. However, they are not divided universally.
The Local Churches Needing to Fellowship
with All the Genuine Local Churches
on the Whole Earth
The local churches should fellowship with all the genuine local churches on the whole earth to keep the universal fellowship of the Body of Christ. Any local church that does not keep this universal fellowship of the Body of Christ is divisive and becomes a local sect. Some so-called local churches are not genuine and have become divisions; we do not need to fellowship with such “churches.” But we should have fellowship with all the genuine local churches on the whole earth to keep the universal fellowship of the Body of Christ. If not, we are no longer a church but a sect. A church is one that remains in the Body; a sect is a group of believers who divide themselves from the Body. When my arm remains in the body, it is a part of my living body. If it is cut off and separated from the body, it becomes a dead thing.
Every Local Church Needing to Receive
All Kinds of Genuine Believers in Christ
Every local church should receive all kinds of genuine believers in Christ (Rom. 14:1-6; 15:1-7). We have no right to give up any believer, unless he is divisive. When a believer becomes divisive, he is divided from the church already. But as long as a believer is not divisive, we should not give him up. If a believer prefers to keep the Sabbath whereas we keep the Lord’s Day, or if he eats only vegetables whereas we eat every kind of food, we still must receive him. We must receive him because God has received him (14:3) and because Christ has received him (15:7). We must receive every believer in Christ according to Christ (v. 5).
We should not receive the believers according to their diet or according to our preference. Whether we like a particular believer or not, we have no choice but to receive him. Suppose you were born into a family of twelve brothers. You might like only yourself and one of your brothers and not like the rest. However, the fact that the other ten are in the same family is not up to you; it is up to your parents. They begot those peculiar ones. Therefore, you have no choice but to receive them as your brothers. Likewise, in the church a particular brother may have certain characteristics that are offensive to us. But we need to realize that our Father has begotten him and has received him. If we give up this brother, we would give up our Father. Thus, we must receive all kinds of genuine believers, not according to anything of ourselves but according to Christ. We must receive them because they have Christ; Christ is in them. If a church does not receive all kinds of genuine believers, it is divisive and becomes a sect.
A Believer to Be Kept Away
from the Fellowship of a Local Church
because of Only Three Things
A believer can be kept away from the fellowship of a local church, that is, the fellowship of the Body of Christ, because of only three things.
Being Divisive
The first thing is being divisive, making divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the apostles’ teaching (16:17). In Romans 14 Paul says that we must receive all kinds of genuine believers, whether they keep certain days or consider every day alike, whether they eat vegetables or eat meat (vv. 1-6). Then, in chapter 15 Paul says that we must receive genuine believers according to Christ (vv. 5-7). In these portions of the Word, Paul is very broad-minded, very generous, and, in a sense, very liberal. But at the end of chapter 16 Paul says, “I exhort you, brothers, to mark those who make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them” (v. 17). These two things—the making of divisions and causes of stumbling—have been and still [423] are going on among us. Thus, we need to mark those who make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to what we have learned of the apostles, and we must turn away from them.
In dealing with the divisive ones, we must also take Paul’s word in Titus 3:10: “A factious man, after a first and second admonition, refuse.” A factious person is a divisive and sectarian person. According to Paul’s word in Romans 16:17 and in Titus 3:10, after a first and second admonition, we must reject such persons and turn away from them. To do this is to quarantine such persons. To quarantine a person does not mean that we hate that person. If one member in a family became ill with a contagious disease, the rest of the family would need to quarantine him for the safety of the whole family. Otherwise, the entire family would be affected. Likewise, to practice Paul’s word in Romans 16:17 and in Titus 3:10 is to quarantine the divisive members in the Body of Christ. This is not my teaching; it is my presentation of the holy Word to you.
Being Heretical
The second thing for which a believer can be kept away from the fellowship of the church is being heretical, denying that Christ came in the flesh (2 John 7-11). This implies the denying of Christ’s redemptive work, which was accomplished by Christ in His flesh (Rom. 8:3; Col. 1:22). Teaching heresy is not merely a matter of teaching wrongly or differently. In 1 Timothy 1:3 Paul says that he had exhorted Timothy to remain in Ephesus in order that he might charge certain ones not to teach differently. However, in 2 John 7-11 John is not referring to those who teach differently but to those who teach heretically, denying that Christ came in the flesh, that is, denying Christ’s person in His humanity, and denying His redemptive work. They do not believe that Christ is both God and man who came in the flesh to accomplish redemption for us, the sinners. The apostle John says that if such a one comes to us, we should not receive him into our home, and we should not even greet him. Then John says that if we greet him, saying to him, Rejoice, we will share in his evil works. This is not my word but the word of the apostle John.
Committing Gross Sins and Living in Them
The third thing for which a believer can be kept away from the fellowship of a local church is the committing of gross sins and living in these sins, not being willing to repent of them and forsake them (1 Cor. 5:9-13). A person who commits gross sins in this way should be removed from the fellowship of the church. But once such a one would repent and forsake his sins, the church should forgive him and receive him into the fellowship of the church, that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan (2 Cor. 2:5-11). In his first Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul charged the church in Corinth to remove a sinful brother from the fellowship of the church. Later, this one repented, and the news came to Paul. Immediately, Paul wrote the second Epistle, charging the church to forgive this one and to receive him back. If we do not do this, we may be taken advantage of by Satan in that he might devour such a repentant one
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