In order for us to be the overcomers of today, we must maintain the ground of oneness, God’s unique choice, elevating Christ and Christ alone so that we may be the church with Christ as all.
We need to tear down anything that replaces Christ and that rises against Him.
This is similar to what we see in Deut. 12, where God expressed His clear feeling and desire concerning the place of His choice: He wanted His people to meet at the place where He chooses to put His name.
And before this, the children of Israel had to be aware that the pagan tribes in the land of Canaan have their own gods, they do what is good in their own sight, and they worship these gods in their own way and according to their own customs.
So the children of Israel were to destroy the idols of the Canaanite tribes, cut them down, tear down their pillars, destroy their altars, and burn them with fire, even destroying the name of these idols from the land.
Then, they had to go and worship God at the place of His choice, that is, in Jerusalem with Zion, where the temple was built.
Three times a year all the males in Israel had to go up to Jerusalem and worship God, bring their firstfruits there, and offer their sacrifices; this kept the oneness of God’s people.
On one hand they could enjoy the riches of the land wherever they were by labouring on the land and reaping its produce.
On the other hand, however, God told them that they had to come to Jerusalem three times a year and worship God corporately with the firstfruits of their crops and offer Him the sacrifices, to rejoice with God and with one another before God.
Spiritually speaking, we need to labour on Christ, that is, labour on the good land to reap its rich produce, so that we may have something to bring to the meeting and offer to God and to the saints.
Our meetings in the church life shouldn’t merely be in the homes of the saints or at the meeting hall; they have to be in the mingled spirit, in the name of the Lord, and through the cross, keeping the oneness of the Body.
It is such a mercy from the Lord that we can see the genuine ground of the oneness of God’s people, and it is His grace that we can meet in the oneness of the Body of Christ, being one with the Head and also with all the members of the Body.
In God’s eyes there is only one Body in the universe, and in every locality there is only one testimony of Jesus; all believers are members of the Body of Christ, and in every locality we can have only one local church where the universal church can be expressed, and this local church is in fellowship with the other local churches in the Body.
Our Christ is rich beyond measure, and we all have been allotted a portion of this all-inclusive One for our enjoyment both personally and corporately.
Utterly Destroying all Idols and High Places, and Exalting only Christ in the Church Life
Before the children of Israel could have the full enjoyment of the riches of the good land, they had to first utterly destroy the heathen places of worship, the idols, and the names of the idols.
These were on the high mountains and on the hills and under every flourishing tree (Deut. 12:2).
Often the pagan centers of worship were located on mountains, hills, or under flourishing trees; mountains and hills signify the exalting of something other than Christ, and the flourishing trees signify things that are beautiful and attractive.
God has only one center of worship – not many; before we can worship God at the place of His choice, we need to utterly destroy all the idols and high places.
Many times in Christianity today there are other things being exalted besides Christ; praise and worship is exalted, a certain person is given the preeminence, and some Christian practices are being elevated as “high places” to exclude those who don’t practice the same thing from the fellowship.
According to God, however, His people need to come to Mount Zion, the unique place chosen by Him for their corporate worship; any other high place is a factor in the dispersion of the children of Israel (Deut. 12:1-5; 1 Kings 11:7-8; 12:26-31; Num. 33:52).
If we insist on our own choice and preference, we will do what is right in our own eyes, and we will not choose what God chooses; if we give up our choice and fear the Lord, we will go to the place which He has chosen, and we will keep the oneness.
Our God is a God of love, compassion, and kindness, but when it comes to the matter of the idols and the high places, He is very strict: He wants His people to destroy all idols, overthrow all the high places, and tear down the altars for the idols; He wants His people to wipe out even the name of the idols from those places.
The Canaanites would make an altar under a flourishing tree; they would worship Asherah, and be involved in immorality.
The customs of the nations are vanity, for their God is a tree cut from the forest, the work of a craftsman with an axe, adorned with silver and gold, fastened with nail and hammer.
This sounds very familiar: a television is stuck on the wall, ready to impart the world to all those who watch it.
It is becoming now very normal and not strange to have the TV on at home, “for the sake of the children, for them to watch something”, watching the news, or a TV show, or something entertaining.
We may not want our children to be estranged or deprived from what is going on today, so we give them some “innocent enjoyment on the TV”.
But we need to tear down all the idols, anything that replaces God Himself.
Our God is very narrow; it’s not that He doesn’t want us to “have fun” or “be happy” – He really knows what will make us happy, and He wants us to be a kingdom of priests – and this includes our entire family.
We need to be aware that there’s only one corporate worship center for God’s people, and we need to give up any spiritual idolatry.
If we read the book of Hosea we see that God wants to court us, His people, and have us as His wife, but it is so easy for us to go after other gods, the idols, and leave Him as our first love.
We should not allow anything else to replace God and to have the first place in us; may we be with fear and trembling before God concerning our corporate worship of Him, so that we may give Him the worship He desires in the place of His choice.
Lord Jesus, we want to be Your overcomers today, the overcoming ones in the church life who remain on the ground of oneness and elevate Christ and Christ alone! Amen, Lord, shine on us and expose anything that rises up in us against the knowledge of God. We want to cooperate with You, Lord, to tear down and destroy any idols, any replacement of Christ, anything that is elevated in us beside the Lord. We return to You, Lord, and to Your ordination concerning the worship of God, to worship You in spirit and in truthfulness on the genuine ground of oneness!
We Elevate only Christ to be the Church with Christ, the Unique Place of God’s Choice
The ground of oneness is not simply a matter of having one local church in one locality; it is deeper, richer, higher, and fuller than this.
In this universe today God has chosen only one place, and that place is the church; in the church Christ is everything and everyone, and we elevate only Christ in the church.
The unique place of God’s choice is the church with Christ as its Head, life, center, and everything.
If we want to be today’s overcomers, we must maintain the ground of oneness, God’s unique choice, without elevating anything or anyone other than Christ (Col. 1:18; Rev. 2:4; 2 Cor. 4:5; 10:5).
Anything that is not Christ and rises up needs to be put down and even destroyed. Every high place needs to be destroyed; every idol needs to be terminated; every other thing that rises up and is elevated besides Christ has to be destroyed.
Anything in the church that is not Christ has to be terminated.
As we enjoy Christ as the good land, we are planted in the house of the Lord, we grow with the growth of God, and we flourish; we are rooted in Christ, we grow in Christ, we grow with the growth of God, and our growth is unto the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
When we are on the genuine ground of oneness – the church with Christ and only Christ – it is not possible for us to have division, for the very basis of division has been destroyed.
In the church with Christ as the only elevated One, in the church with Christ as the Head, center, life, and everything, anything of our temperament, disposition, natural characteristics, and preferences are eliminated.
In the church with Christ we have nothing else but Christ; we are becoming Christ, all the saints are full of Christ, and anything of our religion, culture, and particular ways are put aside and destroyed.
The church that God desires to gain is the one according to Col. 3:10-11, where Christ is all and in all.
As we enjoy Christ before God, our enjoyment is our worship to God, it is our church life, and it will even be our Christian daily living; then we grow and mature on the ground of oneness.
When we remain on the unique place of God’s choice – the unique ground of oneness, the church with Christ as its Head and everything – we have no indulgence of lust or the exercise of ambition.
In the proper church life on the ground of oneness we elevate nothing and no one else but Christ; Christ is the only One elevated among us, and we all are learning to be one with Him and be filled with Him until we become Him.
If we maintain the ground of oneness without elevating anything other than Christ, it will not be possible to have division. May we all learn to elevate only Christ and Christ alone.
We may enjoy the matter of the divine life and we may love to exercise our spirit to call on the name of the Lord and receive more life, but this is not what we emphasize or elevate – we only emphasize Christ.
May we not take our good, solid, sound, and healthy Christian practices and make them “a high place”; may we elevate Christ and Christ only, and may we remain on the genuine ground of oneness in all our Christian meetings.
We may speak a lot about life and may be very much helped by the life practices, but we don’t elevate life or the life practices to the point of making these a high place.
The intrinsic reason for the desolation and degradation of God’s people is that Christ is not exalted by them; they do not give Him the preeminence, the first place, in everything (Psa. 80:1, 3, 7, 15-19; 74:1).
Degradation creeps into the church when we exalt something other than Christ; for us to overcome the degradation of the church, we need to give the Lord the preeminence, the first place, in everything.
The way for us as God’s people to be restored from desolation is to exalt Christ; the enjoyment of Christ with God on the ground of oneness can be maintained and preserved only when Christ is properly appreciated and exalted by God’s people.
When we exalt Christ and properly appreciate Him, when we elevate Christ and only Christ, we are recovered from any desolation, and we are the church with Christ as our Head and everything.
Lord Jesus, we exalt You! We give You the first place, the preeminence, in everything! We want to enjoy Christ with God on the ground of oneness by properly appreciating and exalting You! Make us the overcomers of today, those who deny the self, put aside our preferences and selfish ambition, and reject any division by elevating Christ and only Christ. We want to remain on the genuine ground of oneness – the church with Christ as its Head, life, center, and everything! Amen Lord, we want to cooperate with You to remove any high places, destroy any idols, and elevate Christ and only Christ in the church life and in our daily Christian life!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” chs. 5, 8, 10, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 9, Enjoying Christ with God on the Ground of Oneness.
- Hymns on this topic:
– The Lord’s eyes o’er the whole earth / Are running to and fro; / Those seven, burning, searching, / Our heart’s desire to know. / His purpose—many churches, / Built up in one accord; / This golden testimony / Will thus express the Lord. (Hymns #1265)
– Exercise the spirit! / Natural sense renounce; / Serve with one another, / Christ the Lord announce. / Exercise the spirit! / Soulish life deny; / Helping one another, / On the Lord rely. (Hymns #866)
– The Father we would glorify, / Exalting Christ the Son, thereby / The meeting’s purpose satisfy / That we exhibit Christ. (Hymns #864)
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