Living and Serving according to God's Economy concerning the Church - 8

Message Title: The Function of the Church (1) The House of the Living God and the Pillar and Base of the Truth

we need to receive this burden from the Lord, to live and serve in God's economy, so that the church can come up to God's standard, for the fulfillment of God's purpose. 

1 Timothy 3:14 These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly.

1 Timothy 3:15 But if I delay, I write that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.

the house of God modifies the church, and the pillar and base of the truth also modifies the church; the house of God and the pillar and base of the truth describe what the church is. if we are reminded and governed with the vision of the church as the house of God, we will take heed to how we conduct ourselves here in the church, the house of God. 

1 Corinthians 1:2 To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, who is theirs and ours:

"the church of God" indicates that the church is possessed by God, and that the church has the nature of God and is constituted with the element of God. 

the house of God is :

1. the household of God

Ephesians  2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

as the house of the living God, the church is also living, living in Him, by Him and with Him. therefore, we need to be living and vital, delivered from the deadness of Sardis, the lukewarmness of Laodicea, and the barrenness, the unfruitfulness. 

2. the dwelling place of God

Ephesians 2:22 In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.

the church as the dwelling place of God is the place where God can have His rest and put His trust. this should be the place which satisfies God's desire, not our own desire. 

3. the Father's house

John 14:2 In My Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

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

Truth means "reality" denoting all the real things revealed in God's word, which are mainly Christ as the embodiment of God and the church as the Body of Christ. the church is built with the divine life in Christ, as life that is indestructible, unconquerable, and able to withstand decline into death from any source. both the truth and the life are Christ Himself. because the church is built with this indestructible life of God, the church is able to withstand any attacks from the enemey, or any turmoil caused by the enemy. 

V. the church is the supporting pillar and the holding base of the truth

the church needs to be the testimony of Triune God. this requires us to experience and enjoy Christ so that this Christ will spotaneously be lived out through us. in this way, we will be the expression and enlargement of the Triune God, and the church will declare and testify to the whole universe.