The book of Acts shows us the spreading of the church for the enlargement of Christ on earth, and at the same time it shatters our natural concepts, it shows God’s sovereignty, and the blending of all races and kinds of people in the church, the Lord’s testimony.
The basic principle of the church is that it is eternal and universal, so the church must constantly spread on earth. The church is universal, but it needs a solid expression on earth wherever there are people.
Christ died for the church, He delivered us from Satan’s usurpation for the church, and everything He is doing today is for the building up of the church.
As those who are saved by the Lord, regenerated by Him, and called to serve Him, we live in the continuation of the book of Acts, and our goal today is the spreading of Christ, the spreading of the church as the corporate expression of Christ.
There must be the constant spreading of the church as the Body of Christ. In John 15 Christ said that He’s the vine and we are the branches, and our need is to abide in Him and He abides in us.
Christ is a universally great vine which branched out in humanity through incarnation, and through His death and resurrection He branched out even further in millions of believers, those who believe into the Lord.
Now all believers in Christ are the many branches of the universally great vine, Christ, and wherever we are, there Christ is, branching out through us. This is an organic matter, a matter of our growth in life, being filled with the divine life, and overflowing with the divine life.
The spreading of the church is brought about by the growing of the Lord’s life and the flowing of this life through all His members, the many believers in Christ.
The genuine spreading of the church is not matter of organisation or merely gospel preaching but the Lord’s life growing in the saints and overflowing through them for the bringing forth of fruit.
When there’s a flow from us, a flow from our inner being, and there’s a flow among us in the church life, the Lord is spreading through the spreading of the church.
However, this spreading is not according to our natural concept but according to God’s way, in His time, and under His sovereignty. The book of Acts is full of examples of how the Lord wanted to do something in a certain place and with certain people, but His disciples did not understand or cooperate at first, so He had to give them a vision or speak to them directly.
We need the Lord’s mercy to be one with Him in His move, and we need to allow Him to shatter our natural concepts and remove all our close mindedness.
Our Narrow, Erroneous Human Concept are Shattered through the Spreading of the Church
In Acts 9 we have the story of Paul’s conversion, and his conversion and calling was against the human concept of the disciples at that time.
Here was Saul, a strong opposer of the church, who went and obtained letters from the elders and the priests in Jerusalem to arrest, bind, and bring to Jerusalem to jail those in Antioch who called on the name of the Lord.
But he was met by the Lord on the way and he was saved; and the Lord came to Ananias to ask him to go lay his hands on Saul, to identify him with the Body. But Ananias actually tried to argue with the Lord, for Saul came to Damascus to bind those who called on the name of the Lord…
This shows us that we are narrow and erroneous in our human concept, and many times our good and right opinions hinder God’s counsel and plan.
Eventually Ananias went and Paul was brought into the fellowship of the Body, and he became a chosen vessel.
Our narrow, erroneous human concept needs to be broken and shattered through the spreading of the church.
We must believe that God is able to turn a fierce persecutor of the church into the greatest apostle, and a person is persecuting the church one hour can become one who is preaching the gospel in the next hour (Acts 9:10-22). This is how the Lord works, irrespective of person.
Sometimes we may be troubled and we may not agree with the Lord’s choice of who He uses to lead or to serve in His spreading, but if we are obedient to Him and allow Him to shatter our natural human concept, we will be part of His spreading on earth.
God can choose anyone, He can use any person He wants for His spreading, and He has His choice; we need to respect His sovereignty in His spreading.
Lord Jesus, we want to be one with You in Your move and Your spreading on the earth. Shine on us, Lord, and expose and shatter our narrow and erroneous human concepts. We don’t want to hinder Your spreading by our good opinions. Oh Lord, break through in us. Have a way to advance in the spreading of the church all over the earth! We respect Your sovereignty in whomever You choose to use and whatever You wish to do on earth. Amen, Lord, we’re here for Your spread on earth!
The Lord’s Spreading is under His Administration to Save Many kinds of People
In Acts 10 we have the story of Peter having a trance and seeing the great sheet with many unclean animals, and a voice telling him, Peter, rise, slay and eat!
Even though it was the Lord who spoke to him, Peter still argued back and said, No, Lord, for I cannot eat unclean animals.
Later he realised, as he was speaking to Cornelius in his home, that, even though it is unlawful for a Jewish person to be in contact with or visit a Gentile family, he should not call unclean those whom God has called clean.
This again shows that in the Lord’s spreading He shatters our natural concepts, for many times our good, scriptural, and lawful concepts are a great hindrance to the Lord’s spreading.
In Acts 10 we see that the Lord’s evangelistic move on earth is under His administration on the throne in heaven, and that the gospel needs to spread to the whole earth.
Peter was given the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 16:18-19), and he used one of the keys on the day of Pentecost to usher in the Jewish into the Body, and he used the second key in the house of Cornelius to usher the Gentiles into the Body.
Hallelujah, God wants to spread the gospel to the four corners of the inhabited earth to collect all kinds of unclean (sinful) people, and He wants to cleanse them with the redeeming blood of Christ and wash them with the renewing Holy Spirit (Acts 10:11-15, 28; cf. Heb. 8:1; Acts 7:56).
The Lord constantly exposes our human concept and shatters it so that we may be open to His new move, His further spread on earth.
As the believers in Christ who are Christ’s continuation on earth, we need to cooperate with Christ by carrying out the heavenly commission for the spreading of the gospel of the kingdom of God to all men, irrespective of person!
Hallelujah, the Lord’s spreading and His evangelistic move on earth is under His administration on the throne in heaven! Praise the Lord! Amen, Lord, we want to cooperate with You so that the gospel would spread to the four corners of the inhabited earth to collect all kinds of sinful people and bring them to be washed by the redeeming blood of Christ and washed with the renewing Holy Spirit! Lord, we open to You and allow You to shatter any concepts that hinder Your move and Your spread!
The Church is Composed of All Races and Classes of People, and Each one Functions as Given by the Spirit
Acts 13 is a significant step in the Lord’s move to spread Himself on earth; here we see that in the church in Antioch there were five prophets and teachers who were ministering to the Lord and the Holy Spirit set aside two for His work.
These five prophets and teachers were composed of Jews and Gentiles, each having a different background, education, and status; this indicates that the church is composed of all races and classes of people regardless of their background (Acts 4:35; Rom. 16:21; Acts 13:1).
Among the five two were Jewish, two were of African descent, and one from another source; each of them, however, had particular spiritual gifts and functions given by the Head irrespective of their background or class.
The spiritual gifts and functions are given to the members of the Body not based on their natural status but on the Lord’s choosing and preference. In the spreading of the Lord on earth we need to put aside our natural status, our natural background, and our education and class.
We are in the new man, members of the Lord’s Body, and we all are given certain functions to cooperate with the Lord for His spread; none of these functions are based on our natural ability or status, but on the Lord’s giving.
We simply need to minister to the Lord and pray together, functioning together, and the Lord will have a way to spread.
Through these five faithful and seeking members of the Body of Christ, the Lord took a great step to set apart Barnabas and Saul for His work and move to spread the gospel of the kingdom to the Gentile world.
It was absolutely a move by the Spirit, in the Spirit, and with the Spirit through the coordination of the faithful and seeking members of the Body of Christ on earth with the Head in the heavens (Acts 13:1-4).
In the genuine move and spread of the Lord on earth, a move in the Spirit, by the Spirit, and with the Spirit, we as members coordinate with the Head, and the Lord has a way to spread on earth. This is what we further see in the book of Acts, with Paul’s gospel trips.
On the apostle Paul’s first trip to spread the gospel, he went to Cyprus and then to Asia Minor to establish many local churches (v. 1—14:28; Rev. 1:4).
Then, after Paul separated from Barnabas, he went out on his second ministry journey to Europe (Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, and returning through Ephesus back to Antioch) (Acts 15:35-40; 16:6—18:22).
Paul’s third journey was from Antioch to Galatia, Phrygia, Ephesus, Macedonia, and Greece to Jerusalem (v. 23—21:17). Amen, may we cooperate with the Lord for His spreading throughout the earth!
Lord Jesus, thank You for putting us in the Body and giving each of us a particular function and gift for the building up of the church. Amen, Lord, we praise You for giving gifts and functions in the Body not based on the natural status of the saints but on Your choosing and preference. We want to cooperate with You, Lord for Your spreading on earth, so that whatever we do would be a move in the Spirit, by the Spirit, and with the Spirit, a move in the Body and for the increase of the church. Amen, Lord, have a way to increase!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Three Aspects of the Church, Book 2: The Course of the Church, ch. 2 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Propagating the Resurrected, Ascended, and All-inclusive Christ as the Development of the Kingdom of God (2018 fall ITERO), week 6, Keeping Ourselves in the One Flow of the Lord’s Work for the Spreading of the Church, and Receiving the Lord’s Mercy to Be Saved from Satan’s Schemes.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Deeper, Lord our turn must be to You; / We would move by life in everything we do; / All our concepts refute, / For Your life be absolute— / Grant us grace to turn much deeper day by day. (Song on, There’s a life that’s deeper than our mind)
# Churches spread throughout the earth / As a stand of living trees, / Full of life and full of fruit, / Comfort, healing in their leaves. / May we plant in thirsty hearts / Living kingdom gospel seed; / May we water, may we build / And Your great commission heed. (Song on, Lord we yearn for Your display)
# We’re Thy total reproduction, / Thy dear Body and Thy Bride, / Thine expression and Thy fulness, / For Thee ever to abide. / We are Thy continuation, / Thy life-increase and Thy spread, / Thy full growth and Thy rich surplus, / One with Thee, our glorious Head. (Hymns #203)
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