Today God needs a remnant, a small group of overcomers, to take the stand that was lost by the whole church and, seeing a vision of God’s original purpose, go outside the camp unto Christ. (Quote from, Witness Lee)
If we see that the only thing God is doing and caring for today is the building up of the church, the Body of Christ, we will give ourselves to cooperate with Him for His building. If the Lord is merciful to us to show us His building, we will realize that He cannot build His church in today’s Christianity.
Many seeking believers throughout the ages have seen the vision of God’s building and they left the organized Christianity to join themselves to God for His building work.
Today’s Christianity is not the church God desires to have; rather, the church today has been degraded to become Christianity, a religious system composed of religious people who belong to the Lord in name and honor Him with their mouth but their heart is set on something other than the Lord.
Today we are at the end of the age of the church and what God is looking for is a remnant, a small group of overcomers who see a vision of God’s original purpose and take the stand that was lost by the whole church.
May we be those who are open to the Lord, those who have a clear sky between us and Him to see a vision of the building of God, the church, as the only thing He cares for in this age. If we realize that the building up of the church is the aim of God’s eternal purpose and plan, we will be willing to go outside the camp unto Christ for the building up of the church, the Body of Christ.
In the Lord’s recovery today we are those who have been shown mercy by the Lord to see the church, the Body of Christ, and to give ourselves to come out of any religion and denomination to be the remnant God is looking for to accomplish His purpose.
We are members of the Body of Christ, and there are millions of genuine believers in Christ and members of His Body in religion with all its denominations; however, we do not seek to identify ourselves with them (by being where they are now) but we aspire to be the overcomers the Lord needs, those who listen to the voice of the rejected Lord and go to Him outside the camp being governed by the heavenly vision to build up the church as the Body of Christ!
Today God needs a Remnant to Go Outside the Camp unto Christ
But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ. (Phil. 3:8, Recovery Version. Photo credit: VersifyLife)
According to all the visions and revelations in the Scriptures, the central point and the ultimate aim of God’s purpose is the building up of the church (see Matt. 16:18; Rev. 21:10-11). God focuses today only on one thing: He wants a building, a corporate dwelling place, the mingling of God with man for God to have a corporate expression in humanity.
He revealed this to Jacob in a seed form in his dream, He obtained David to care for His heart’s desire for a dwelling place in his time, and He spoke through the prophets concerning the recovery and even the enlargement of His dwelling place.
Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead all the believers in Christ were regenerated to be the many members of His Body, and today we are in the age of the church.
However, the church in general has become degraded, failing to fulfill God’s purpose; now the church has become the degraded Christianity as a religious system made up of religious people who have their heart set on many things other than the Lord (even though they say they belong to the Lord and honor Him – with their mouth).
Today the Lord needs a remnant, a small group of people who are His overcomers, to take the stand that was lost by the whole church and go outside the camp unto Christ (see Phil. 3:4-8; Heb. 13:13; Rev. 2:7).
Today we are in the age of the overcomers, the age of the remnant; today God wants to gain a group of people who see the vision of God’s original purpose and give themselves to Him for His building.
These go out from the camp of religion unto Christ, seeing that the church has lost her stand, position, and even her nature before God, and they stand one with other overcomers on behalf of the church to give God the ground to gain His building on earth.
Throughout the ages God has gained a few who saw His original intention, His building – the church, and they came out of the camp of Judaism, Catholicism, or Protestantism, to join and follow the rejected Lord outside the camp and within the veil.
On account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ and of the church such ones gladly suffered the loss of all things so that they may gain Christ and be found in Him (Phil. 3:8), paying the price to build up the church.
Once they were active in their respective denominations as Paul was zealous for the law and for Judaism, but now they have come out to be part of the local churches in the Lord’s recovery, the remnant who have seen something of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ and the church, God’s masterpiece.
Such ones pray fervently concerning their brothers and sisters in denominations,
Lord Jesus, shine on many of Your seeking believers and unveil them to see a clear vision of the church, God’s building. Have mercy on so many of Your people in the denominations who genuinely love You and seek You. Lord, gain Your overcomers and call them out from the camp unto You to bear Your reproach and be one with You for Your building! Oh Lord, we stand on the ground of the church and on behalf of the church we join ourselves to You for Your purpose, the building up of Your Body!
Not going Along with the Religious Thought but Obeying the Heavenly Vision of the Building up of the Church
In the church life in the Lord’s recovery we are those who have been shown mercy by the Lord to see something of His purpose, His economy; we are not better or stronger than any other believers, but in His mercy the Lord has shown us the heavenly vision and we had to get outside the camp and unto Christ in the church life to be joined with Him for His building.
But there may still be some saints among us who consider how to identify themselves with all the members of the Lord’s Body, trying to be with them where they are so that “they may also see what we see”.
As saints in the church life in the Lord’s recovery we believe that there are many saved genuine believers in Christendom and we love them and acknowledge them to be God’s children and our brothers and sisters in Christ.
However, because of that system in which they dwell, because of the condition, situation, and degradation in religion in which they are, we cannot but take a stand for the sake of God’s testimony on earth NOT to identify with that camp and with those in that camp.
Some may accuse us of being yet another division in the Body of Christ, the “division of the Lord’s recovery”; but we are NOT a division! We separate ourselves from others, but we have the vision of God’s building, we see what God is after, and we give ourselves to go outside from the camp unto Him for His building.
We have seen something through the ministry of the age that we cannot deny: we’re captured and subdued by this vision; now we have no choice but to take this way! It is a difficult way to take and it is hard to explain, but we want to be the overcomers God needs in this age.
We take the way of the Lord’s recovery for the sake of the whole church, bearing the reproach of Christ for all the people and giving ourselves to the Lord for Him to get His building.
The nature of the present age is not for us to “be inclusive”; it is the time for some overcomers to listen to the voice of the rejected Lord, the One who is outside the camp. Instead of us trying to identify with the ones still in the camp, we should come out of the camp and go unto the Lord to follow Him for His purpose (2 Tim. 1:9; Eph. 3:11; Rom. 8:28).
The Lord Himself is inclusive: He receives all men, but He cannot stand sin or division, both offending His nature. We don’t exclude people and we don’t reject men, but we are one with God to be intolerant of things that offend His nature.
We should not go along with the religious concept and the human thought but go along with the heavenly vision of the building up of the church as the Body of Christ and go outside the camp unto Christ (see Prov. 29:18; Eph. 4:16).
We need to see the heavenly vision, reject our human concept, and not stand with any religious thought but follow our rejected Lord to be one with Him for His building. Once we have the heavenly vision of God’s building everything changes, and we will be fully one with the Lord for His building today.
Regardless of how people condemn us or criticize us we should follow the Lord, the One who has been rejected and even crucified by the religious people holding the Scriptures in their hands in His time.
Lord Jesus, we refuse to go along with the religious thought and we choose to come out of any religious camp unto You for Your building! Lord, make us the overcomers You need today to build up Your church and consummate this age. Save us from trying to identify ourselves with others or with the religious system. Oh Lord, may we follow the heavenly vision of God’s building and come to You to be joined to You and with the saints in the church life in Your recovery for Your building!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 1, “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” pp. 151-152, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Vision, Practice, and Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, week 7 / msg 7, The Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ (1) – The Vision of God’s Building and the Test of Our Spirituality.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Go to Him “without the camp,” / Though the path be lone and grim; / Let all human friends desert, / I am satisfied with Him. / Go to Him “without the camp,” / There to walk with Him, how blest! / E’er to see His smiling face / Ever in His presence rest. (Hymns #583)
# Now in the church life, we have left / The world, religion too; / Now we’re the river-crossing ones, / Enjoying Christ so new! / Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! / We have passed / From the oldness, Hallelujah, / Into Christ—one new man. / And now we’re one with Him! (Hymns #1270)
# Will you be an overcomer? / Testimony bear! / Keep away from false religion, / ”Hidden manna” share. / Will you be an overcomer? / Will you make this choice? / Christ is calling, Christ is calling, / Listen to His voice! (Hymns #894)
We need to see the vision and not merely have a general concept. Regardless of how people condemn and criticize us, we should disregard their speaking. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was always criticized by the religious people, by those who had the Scriptures in their hands. He was also crucified by those people according to their understanding of the Scriptures. We should not be affected by all the criticisms. We need the vision of God’s building. Without a vision, all the things we have spoken here are in vain. Once we have the vision, everything is different; the whole universe is changed. I am limited in my ability to speak these things, but I trust in the Lord according to my prayer that what I have spoken here is not my own word but the revealing Spirit unveiling the vision of God’s building. The Holy Spirit will unveil these things to you so that you may see the vision of the building. There is no other vision in the Bible. All the visions in the Bible are for the building, which is the very aim of God’s purpose. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 1, “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” pp. 151-152)