Truth and Life: the Church needs to Know the Lord as the Truth and Enjoy Him as Life

The Lord wants His church to know Him as the truth and to receive and enjoy Him as life; both truth and life are Christ Himself, and the content of the church should be the growth of Christ in us as truth and life. Amen!

On the one hand, the church is the house of God, the manifestation of God in the flesh to be the dwelling place for God for His rest, satisfaction, and trust.

On the other hand, the church is the pillar and the base of the truth, holding the truth in this universe. This is what the church is in God’s eyes.

We may not see the church in this way, but we need to pray for the Lord to renew our mind and uplift our vision of the church.

We need to see the high standard of the church and be infused with a vision of what the church is and what is the function of the church.

We live in the age of the degradation of the church, and many things that were there at the beginning of the church life, are no longer with us.

There are many truths in the Bible concerning the church which were lost, misunderstood, and put aside throughout the ages.

May the Lord have mercy on us to unveil us from any religious concept and personal opinions concerning the church so that we may see that the church is the house of God and the household of God, even the house of the living God.

May the Lord be so subjective to us that He and us, we and Him, would be the living church and the living God doing everything in oneness.

The apostle Paul also lived in an age of the degradation of the church, and especially his last epistles were written to counteract the degradation of the church and to inoculate Timothy against the decline of the church.

In Paul’s time there was Aquila and Priscilla, a dear couple who, wherever they went, the church met in their house.

It doesn’t say anywhere that they were eloquent and preached the gospel to raise up churches, but there are quite a few places where they are mentioned, together with the church which is in their house.

At the same time, there was another person called Apollos who knew only the baptism of John, so his ministry was incomplete.

Aquila and Priscilla took him and discipled him, but even though they did it, it still seems that Apollos created some division, for in the church in Corinth there were some who said they were of Paul, others of Cephas, and others of Apollos.

On one hand, we need to know the church and have a clear vision of the function of the church.

On the other hand, we need to be up-to-date with the Lord in the truth, being in the healthy teaching, so that we may preach the gospel according to the Lord’s present truth.

We don’t need to aspire to be eloquent and do great things for the Lord, for it may not be our portion to lead others in the ministry.

But we can be those who know the Lord as the truth and receive and enjoy Him as life, giving ourselves to increase in truth and in life to be the church of God, the pillar and the base of the truth.

We need to Know the Lord as the Truth and Receive and Enjoy Him as Life

In the gospels and in the Epistles we see that the Lord wants His church to know Him as the truth and to receive and enjoy Him as life (1 John 1:1-2, 5-6; John 11:25; 14:6; 18:37).

The church as the house of God emphasizes the matter of life, for we need to receive and enjoy Christ as life in order to be part of the church as the house of God.

The church as the pillar and base of the truth emphasizes the aspect of the truth, for we need to know the Lord as the truth in order to uphold the truth in and as the church.

Truth means “reality”, denoting all the real things revealed in the word of God, which are mainly Christ as the embodiment of God and the church as the Body of Christ (1 Tim. 2:4; Col. 2:9, 19).

These are not doctrines; this is the truth.

2 Tim. 2:19 speaks of the firm foundation of God that stands; the foundation here refers not to Christ as the foundation of the church but to the church as the foundation of the truth (see vv. 15, 18, 25).

The church is the pillar and the base of the truth, holding the truth (1 Tim. 3:15), especially the truth of the resurrection of Christ (Acts 4:33).

The church is built with the divine life in Christ; this life is an indestructible and unconquerable life (Heb. 7:16; Acts 2:24).

This life that constitutes the church is able to withstand decline into death from any source.

Because the church is constituted with the indestructible life of Christ, the church is the firm foundation of God, standing forever against any heresy.

The enemy may bring in many heresies and gangrene may spread, but the church as the firm foundation still stands. Praise the Lord!

The church is built with the divine life in Christ and is able to withstand decline into death from any source (1 Tim. 1:16; 6:12, 19; 2 Tim. 1:1, 10; Titus 1:2; 3:7).

We need to come to the full knowledge of the truth, even lay hold of the eternal life.

On one hand, we need to know the Lord as the truth and on the other hand, we need to enjoy the Lord as life. Both life and truth are the Lord Himself.

We need to pay attention to the truth and we also need to experience Christ as life.

We cannot take sides, being on the side of life and not paying attention to the truth, or being focused only on the truth but not paying attention to life, for both the truth and the life are Christ Himself (John 14:6).

The Lord Jesus said that He is the way and the reality and the life; the reality here is the truth.

Life is something intrinsic and inward; it is the inward and intrinsic element of God dispensed into us.

Truth, however, is something outward and seen, for truth is the outward definition and explanation (see John 1:4; 18:37b; 8:12, 32, 36; 17:17).

The experience of the Lord as life is contained in the Lord as the truth; in order for us to experience Christ as life, we must know the truth (14:6; 11:25; 8:32, 36).

We cannot enjoy and experience Christ as life without paying attention to the truth.

Rather, the explanation and base of our experience of Christ as life is in the word as the truth.

Life is the inward and intrinsic content, and the truth is an outward definition and explanation.

Christ is in us as our life, and the way we understand and explain this is by means of the truth.

To experience and enjoy the Lord Jesus as life, we must know the truth.

The experience of Christ as life is contained in the Lord as the truth.

The more we read the Word and pray over the Word, the more we are infused with faith, and we will have a way to experience and enjoy Christ as life.

But if we are not clear concerning the truth and we do not understand or know the truth, we will not have a way to enjoy the Lord as our life.

This is why we need to spend time in the word of God, reading the Bible, being in the Lord’s presence, and paying the price to be constituted with the truth.

The Lord wants us as His church to know Him as the truth and to receive and enjoy Him as life.

We need to be balanced in this matter by being in the word of God to be familiar with God’s eternal economy and His divine purpose and also exercising our spirit to contact the Lord so that we may enjoy Him and experience Him in our daily life.

The reason Christianity is degraded today is because it has lost the truth and it is short of life.

May we be saved from any degradation and be brought into the enjoyment and experience of Christ as life according to the truth in the Word of God so that we may be the church as the pillar and base of the truth.

Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy the Lord as life and know Him as the truth in our Christian life. Amen, Lord, we come to You in Your word to be infused with You and to know the truth. We want to come to the full knowledge of the truth so that we may be constituted with the truth and have a rich enjoyment and experience of Christ as life. We want to know You, Lord, as the way, the reality, and the life. May our enjoyment and experience of Christ be based on the truth in the word of God. May we be those who cut straight the word of the truth and lay hold of eternal life. Amen, Lord, may the church be built up with and by the divine life in Christ as shown in the truth contained in God’s word. Hallelujah, we have a life that is indestructible and unconquerable, and we’re able to withstand decline into death from any source, for we as the church are the pillar and base of the truth!

The Content of the Church should be the Growth of Christ in us as Truth and Life

The content of the church as the house of God and as the pillar and base of the truth should be the growth of Christ in us as truth and life.

When we speak of enjoying Christ and experiencing Him in our daily life, we do not speak of some sort of mystical or mysterious experience that has nothing to do with the word of God.

Rather, the divine life that is in us as believers in Christ (John 3:16) is matched, defined, and explained by the truth in the word of God.

The experience of the Lord as life is contained in the Lord as the truth, for we experience Christ as life according to the truth revealed in the word of God.

If we look at our daily experience, however, we have to admit that we do not enjoy and experience Christ that much; it may be that 99% of the time we do not experience Christ.

Thank the Lord, He has not left us in darkness; His truths are contained in the Bible, and we can come to the word of God to obtain light and truth.

The Bible is a book of life; the reason for this is that the content of the Bible is truth.

We all can confess that we can’t enjoy Christ as life unless we understand the truth and know the truth in the Bible.

Admittedly, just as a person accidentally flips on the switch in a dark room, we may suddenly have an experience of Christ or touch the Lord without the truth in God’s word; this, however, is rare.

We need to come to the Bible to receive the truth that is contained in it, and based on this truth that enters our inner being through our mentality, we can experience and enjoy the Lord as life.

The truths contained in the Bible are food for our spiritual life.

We do not read the Bible merely to get more knowledge or to find out what God wants from us; we come to the Lord in His word to obtain the truth and receive spirit and life (John 5:38-39; 6:63).

As those who love the Lord and pursue Him daily, we need to come to the Bible not only to study the letter but even more, to touch the Lord so that we may receive more of His life.

When we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord as we read the Bible, we receive spirit and life from God’s word, and the truth is constituted into our being.

Once we see the truth in God’s word, once the Lord shines on His word and we see the truth conveyed in it, we will spontaneously touch life.

This is the content of the church life.

The content of the church life is the growth of Christ in us as truth and as life (Col. 2:19; 3:4).

The Lord’s recovery today is a recovery of the truth and of life.

On one hand, the truth in God’s word is opened up by the ministry, especially through the life studies and the Recovery Version Bible.

If you read John 3:16 and the footnotes, you will receive much light.

If you read the life study of the book of Matthew, for example, you will be infused with light and life.

The ministry opens up the word of God and cuts straight the truth, ushering us into the enjoyment of Christ as life.

Then, according to the truth that we enjoy and receive, we can experience Christ as life.

If we do not have the truth in the church life, we will fall into degradation, and what is left is organization, doctrines, and empty practices and ordinances. Oh, Lord.

The Lord is not after practices, customs, and human effort to please God; He wants the church to know Him as the truth and receive and enjoy Him as life.

May we be such ones today. May we enjoy the Lord as life and know Him as the truth so that the content of the church would be the growth of Christ in us as truth and life.

Lord Jesus, thank You for not leaving us in darkness but giving us Your word, which is truth. Hallelujah, all of God’s truths are contained in the Bible, and the Bible is a book of life! We come to You in Your word again and again, dear Lord, to just enjoy You, know You, and be infused with You. We want to obtain not just Bible knowledge but even more, we want to gain more of the truth constituted into our being. Save us from reading the Bible without contacting You. Save us from being formal and nominal Christians who dutifully read the Bible and attend the meetings without experiencing Christ as life according to the truth. Oh Lord Jesus, it is Your desire that Your church would know You as the truth and receive and enjoy You as life. Make us those who daily pay the price to know You as the truth and receive and enjoy You as life. May the content of the church be the growth of Christ in us as truth and life!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1984, vol. 5, “Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—the Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery,” pp. 415-416, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 8, entitled, The Function of the Church (1) The House of the Living God and the Pillar and Base of the Truth.
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