Page 67 - The Christian Life and the Church Life_Government of God

The Church as the Kingdom of the Son of God’s Love 66

Without the kingdom as the reality of the church, the church cannot be
built up. The church is brought into being through the authority of the kingdom.

The Keys of the Kingdom Being Given to Make
the Building of the Church Possible

The keys of the kingdom are given to make the building of the church
possible. This is why after the Lord said, “I will build my church” (Matt.
16:18); He said, “I will give you the keys” (v.19).
When the Kingdom of the Heavens is Able to Assert
Its Authority over a Company of Believers, Those Believers Being
Able to Be Built Up into the Church
When the kingdom of the heavens is able to assert its authority over a
company of believers, those believers can be built up into the church. When I
came to this point, I was really considering my church life in Anaheim. How
much of the authority of the Lord is being taken by us? The point says, “When
the kingdom of the heavens is able to assert its authority over a company of
believers.” Yes, we can be a company of believers, but are we allowing the
Lord to assert His authority on us? If we are able to allow the Lord to assert
His authority on us, then we have the kingdom of the heavens. Then we, as
the believers who are under the authority of God, can be built up into the
church. It will be very, very sad if after years and years of trying to build up
the church, we find out in the judgment seat that what we are doing are all
wasted time. What we are doing is not building up the church, because we are
not doing it under the authority of God.

I really love all the outlines we are speaking this time, because it really
reminded me so much that if we want to serve the Lord, we have to serve Him
under His authority. There is no other way. We are serving the Lord. This Lord
is the Almighty God. He is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. We cannot
serve Him in our natural life. We have to serve Him under His authority.
How do we serve Him under His authority? Colossians 2:19 says that
we need to hold on to the Head. Colossians talks about Christ, but when Paul
came to Colossians chapter 2, right away he seems to switch. He does not say
we need to hold on to Christ, but that we need to hold on to the Head, because
Paul wanted to make sure that we understand that we are members of the
Body of Christ. When we say we are building up the Body of Christ, we must