The Kingdom is the Reality of the Church; the Kingdom Life issues in the Church life

The reality of the church today is the kingdom of God, and apart from the kingdom life, we cannot live the church life. We were once alienated from the life of God – we were alienated from God and His life, being outside of the kingdom of God.

When we heard the gospel and believed into the Lord, we received the life of God and entered into the realm of the kingdom of God, a realm where we enjoy God as life and we are under the rule of the divine life.

Believing the gospel didn’t only cause us to receive God’s redemption and be reconciled to God, but also to be brought into God’s life, that is, to be regenerated to be in the kingdom of God. Regeneration is the only way we can enter into or see the kingdom of God.

The kingdom was sown into us as a seed through the word of God to regenerate us, enlighten us, put God’s life into us, and bring us into God’s kingdom under the rule of God. The more we grow in the divine life, the more we are under God’s rule and the more we enjoy all the riches of what God is.

The more mature we are in the divine life, the more the rebellion within us is removed and the more we are one with God, in subordination to God, being ruled by God.

The seed of life, the kingdom of God is in our heart and spirit, and together we are formed as the church of God, those who live in the reality of the kingdom today. The kingdom of God today is the church life in which the believers live, and it will develop into the coming kingdom as a reward inherited by the overcoming saints in the millennium.

We need to live in the reality of the kingdom of God today so that we may inherit the kingdom in its manifestation in the next age. If we are subject to the kingdom’s exercise and discipline, we will receive the reward of the kingdom of God in the next age, that is, we will rule and reign with Christ.

We need to see the relationship between the kingdom and the church: the Bible first presents the kingdom, and then the church, for the presence of the kingdom of God produces the church.

The kingdom of God is the realm of the divine life for God to move, work, rule, and govern so that life may accomplish its purpose. May there be such a realm of the kingdom as a reality in all the local churches today, and may we live the kingdom life in the church life today!

The Kingdom is the Reality of the Church – without the Reality of the Kingdom, the Church is Empty!

The kingdom of God is the reality of the church; apart from the kingdom life, we cannot live the church life (Matt. 5:3; 16:18-19; Rev. 1:9). If there are arguments and contention among the saints, there’s no kingdom of God present among us.

When the reality of the kingdom is not present in the church life, the church is falling apart – the church still exists on the local ground, but it is as if the lampstand has been removed.

The gospel preached at the beginning of the New Testament concerns not only salvation but the kingdom. We need to realize that we have been saved by the Lord to be citizens of the kingdom of God, and we were regenerated into the kingdom; this means that in the church life we should live the kingdom life.

Regeneration is our entrance into the kingdom of God, and God’s salvation is the supply for us to live the kingdom life. We need to participate in God’s kingdom so that we may enjoy His salvation, and we need to enjoy Christ’s organic salvation to live the kingdom life in the church today.

The kingdom and the church are interrelated, and so are the kingdom and God’s salvation. Even more: the reality of the kingdom of the heavens is the content of the church life. Without the reality of the kingdom, the church is empty.

What is the reality of the kingdom of the heavens? It is Christ Himself as our life. Christ as life is the essence and substance for us to live a proper kingdom life so that we may be built up with other believers to bring in the real church life, which is a glorious expression of Christ! Amen!

Christ as life is the essence, the substance, for us to live a proper life so that in this life we may be built up with other believers to bring in the real church life, which is a glorious expression of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God. Because Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, when Christ is expressed, the entire Triune God is expressed. This expression depends on whether or not the believers live a life that is the reality of the kingdom, a reality that is fully revealed and described in chapters 5 through 7 of the Gospel of Matthew. These chapters are a complete message on the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens, and this constitution is the reality of the kingdom life. This reality is the genuine content of the church life. W. Lee, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 157

The Lord Jesus spoke concerning the kingdom of the heavens in Matt. 5-7, where He laid out the constitution of the kingdom people, the living of the kingdom people, and the influence of the kingdom people.

In these chapters we see how to handle wealth, how to relate to each other, how to live before God and men, and how to live by faith; all these principles in Matt. 5-7 are the reality of the kingdom, which we should live, and without which the church is empty.

Without the reality of the kingdom, the church is empty; the church may have a lot of activities, but without the living of the kingdom life, it is empty.

Lord Jesus, we want to live the kingdom life in the church life today. May the reality of the kingdom of the heavens be the content of our church life. May we be those who are poor in spirit, pure in heart, hungry and thirsty after righteousness, meek, merciful, peacemakers, and perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect. Make us the salt of the earth and the light of the world in our being and in our living. May our daily living be uplifted according to the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens so that we may become the corporate expression of Christ in the church life.

The Kingdom Life issues in the Church Life, and the Kingdom of God is the Living of the Church

Merely “going to church meetings” doesn’t make us those who live the church life; we experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity corporately by living in the kingdom life in the church life. To live the church life is to live in the kingdom of God, for the kingdom is the reality of the church.

It is easy to be on the outskirts of the church life, just joining meetings from time to time, but it is not so easy to live the kingdom life as we meet with the saints or as we are not able to meet too often with the saints.

It is only when we live in the kingdom of God as the reality of the church that we can be built up. For the building up of the church, we need the kingdom as the reality of the church.

The kingdom life issues in the church life; when we live out Christ as our life according to the constitution and principles of the kingdom of the heavens, the church life spontaneously comes into existence, and the Body of Christ is built up.

The church is built up in a sphere, a realm, which is the kingdom of God as our daily living in the church life. The church life is not a social life for believers; the reality of the church should be our living the kingdom life.

Rom. 14:17 tells us that the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking (we do a lot of eating and drinking in the church life, but this is not the reality of the church) but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. This shows us, first, that the kingdom of God is here in the church life, and second, that we need to live in the kingdom life in order to live the church life.

The reality of the church life is the kingdom, and the kingdom of God is the living of the church. In the church life today we are in another realm: we are not merely in the physical realm coordinating with others about meetings, food, new ones, and transportation, but we are in the realm of the kingdom of God, the realm of the divine life, where we live by the divine life of God in our spirit.

In the realm of the kingdom of God, the realm of the divine life, we enjoy the righteousness of God, the peace of Christ, and the joy of the Holy Spirit.

We need to encourage one another to live in the kingdom of God and pray over the word of God so that we may be infused with God’s element and nature and live by it.

May we be saved from merely doing a lot of necessary activities in the church life yet not living in the reality of the kingdom! May we be those who live the kingdom life in the church life, and may the kingdom of God be the living of the church!

Lord Jesus, gain the reality of the kingdom life in the church life today. May we be those who live corporately in the kingdom life so that the proper church life would spontaneously be our living. Lord, save us from merely taking care of the necessary outward arrangements in the church life without living the kingdom life. Keep us in the realm of the kingdom of God, the realm of the divine life, as we fellowship, coordinate, speak and do things in the church life.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother Minoru C. for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 157, 160, 209 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Direction of the Lord’s Move (2016 Thanksgiving Conference), msg. 5 (week 5), To Bring In the Kingdom of God (1) – The Kingdom of God as the Spreading of the Divine Life for God’s Eternal Administration.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # God’s Kingdom on the earth is now / His sovereign government within; / ’Tis Christ Himself in us to live / As Lord and King to rule and reign…./ Here in this heav’nly realm we live, / And with this heav’nly pow’r possessed / We walk and fight in heav’nly light / Until the Kingdom’s manifest. (Hymns #942)
  # With a life strict to self we must righteousness hold, / Kind to others in peace, and with God joyful, bold; / In the Kingdom’s reality e’er to remain, / For its manifestation prepared thus to reign. / Then Christ when He comes with the kingdom from God / Will to us grant His kingship to share as reward; / Thus the Lord will His righteousness thru us maintain / And His wisdom to heavenly powers make plain. (Hymns #947)
  # But now the kingdom to us has been shown, / It is no less than our Jesus alone. / It is the Person of Christ in us all, / And it begins as a seed when we call. (Hymns #1301)