The Local Church and the Kingdom

The Reality of the Kingdom in the Local Church

While the physical manifestation of the kingdom will accompany the second advent of Christ, the believers have the opportunity to partake of the spiritual reality of the kingdom in this age in the local churches. Once a person repents to God (Matt. 3:2), he enters into the kingdom by being born anew, or regenerated (John 3:5). God forgives him of his sins through Christ's redemption and transfers him out of the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son (Col. 1:13-14). A believer who is poor in spirit, that is, humbly emptied and unloaded in his human spirit of all preoccupying things, can possess today the reality of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 5:3), and thus be a present partaker of the kingdom (Rev. 1:9). The invisible reality of the kingdom in this age can be likened to a small seed sown into the earth (Mark. 4:26, 30-31) which grows and blossoms into its fullness in the next age. Once a believer's entrance into the kingdom is secured through regeneration, he is then called to live in the practical reality of the kingdom in the local church life. As mentioned in the previous section, the practical reality of the kingdom in the local church life is defined and illustrated in Romans 14, where Paul associates many of the practical matters in the local church with the kingdom of God. In this chapter Paul admonishes the believers in a local church to live righteously to the Lord and to live in peace with one another, “for the kingdom of God is not eating or drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Witness Lee expounds on this verse:

In Romans 14:17, we see that the kingdom of God as the living of the church is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. When the authority of God's kingdom operates in us, righteousness, peace, and joy will characterize our daily life.

Righteousness, peace and joy are actually the expression of Christ. When Christ is expressed, He is our righteousness toward ourselves, our peace toward others, and our joy with God. As the believers live the kingdom life in the church, they will live righteously toward themselves. This means that we must be strict with ourselves and make no excuses for ourselves.

To live the kingdom life in the church also means that we live peacefully toward others. Our relationships with others must be characterized by peace. Toward others we must endeavor to pursue peace, continually seeking to be at peace with them. This peace is Christ Himself lived out from our being.

Living the kingdom life in the church also requires that we live joyfully to God in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of joy. If we are not joyful, this indicates that we are not in the Holy Spirit. If we are truly living the kingdom life, we shall be joyful with God, praising Him. Whenever we live righteously toward ourselves and peacefully toward others, we shall live joyfully to God in the Holy Spirit. Such a living is the kingdom of God as the living of the church.

(Witness Lee, Conclusion of the New Testament, 2238-2239)

As Witness Lee indicates above, to live out righteousness, peace, and joy in the local church is to live in the reality of the kingdom. The kingdom of God has not been suspended, as some suppose, until the next age. Neither is the kingdom of God meant to be something superimposed upon present human government through religious activism. Rather, according to Witness Lee, the reality of the kingdom must exist in the local church today, and the believers in the local churches are living in the kingdom of God when they experience righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Righteousness

Righteousness is a principal attribute of the kingdom. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness (1 Cor. 6:9, 2 Pet. 3:13). Unless the believers’ living in the local church life is characterized by a righteousness which surpasses that of the law-keeping Jewish scribes and Pharisees, they are not in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 5:20). Actually, this surpassing righteousness is not the Christians’ own righteousness, but is simply Christ Himself (Phil. 3:9) lived out through them (Phil. 1:21). To experience such a righteousness, the believers, as the constituents of the kingdom of the heavens, must live in the local churches under the Lord’s heavenly rule. Witness Lee uses a few simple illustrations to demonstrate the practicality of living in righteousness in the local church:

Do we Christians in the church life still need the outward ruling of the government or the police? It is a shame to us if we do need such an outward ruling, for we have the heavenly ruling within. Suppose you purchase some food at a fast-food store and the cashier gives you too much change. Would you be able to eat your food peacefully? No. You would have to return the extra change, for the heavenly ruling over you and within you would not allow you to take advantage of others. You would not need a policeman to order you to return the money. We, the church people, are under the heavenly ruling of God. There is the reality of the kingdom among us.

(Witness Lee, LS of Genesis, 474)

In Romans 14:17 the Apostle Paul tells us that the kingdom of God is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Righteousness refers to your relationship with others. As to yourself you must be righteous. With others you must be peaceful. With God you must be joyful. If you are not joyful before God and with God that means you are wrong. Our daily living must match Romans 14:17.

(Witness Lee, A Brief Definition of the Kingdom of the Heavens, 32)

Peace

Peace is the fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:11). When a believer lives righteously before God and man with a pure conscience, he will spontaneously be at peace with God and with his fellow man. Furthermore, while a believer living in the local church should on the one hand be righteously strict with himself before God, he should on the other hand be lenient and merciful to others, receiving all the believers in love. This is the underlying principle revealed in Romans 14 for dealing with believers in the local church with divergent views and practices. In this way, the kingdom people are able to maintain a situation of peace in a local church. Witness Lee shares an enlightening word concerning this principle:

To ourselves, we must be righteous and strict, serious and sober. But toward others we must be merciful. In Himself God is righteous. However, if He were righteous to the uttermost in dealing with us, we would all be killed. Although God is righteous in relation to Himself, he is full of mercy in dealing with us. As fallen sinners, we surely need God's mercy. We also must learn to be righteous with ourselves and merciful toward others.

The kingdom people are both righteous and merciful. When you are righteous, you must be absolutely righteous; and when you are merciful, you must be very merciful. Although righteousness and mercy are two opposite poles, they must meet in your experience. Your righteousness must come together with your mercy.

(Witness Lee, LS of Matthew, 193-194)

Joy

A believer living a life of righteousness and peace in the local church will experience as a result the joy in the Holy Spirit. Joy in the Holy Spirit is a sign that a believer in the local church is living in the reality of the kingdom. Witness Lee explains:

Romans 14:17 says, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” First Thessalonians 1:6 also tells us that the believers “received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit.” These two verses show that the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of joy. Our inward, genuine love comes from the indwelling Spirit. The overcoming life that we live in the church today is the kingdom life, which is constituted of the joy of the Holy Spirit with righteousness and peace. If we are righteous and right toward others and toward God, we will have a peaceful relationship with others and with God. Thus, we will have joy in the Holy Spirit, proving that we are living in the reality of God's kingdom and are under God's rule and thereby have the practical church life. In Matthew 5, 6, and 7, in the decree of the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens and the portrayal of the nature of the people of the kingdom of the heavens (5:1-12), the Lord Jesus concluded with this word: “Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens.” This tells us that joy is an evidence of our living in the reality of the kingdom.

We need to rejoice, but it does not mean that we wait for some pleasant things to happen for us to rejoice. The indwelling Lord is the cause of our rejoicing, and the Holy Spirit who moves within us is the motivation of our constant rejoicing. If we live in the fellowship of the Triune God and experience and enjoy the Spirit, we will have the joy that is brought to us by the Spirit.

(Witness Lee, Truth Lessons, 60-61)

Joy should characterize our personal Christian life as well as our local church life. As Witness Lee mentioned above, genuine Christian joy is not circumstantial joy derived from situational ease and comfort; our joy must simply be the Lord’s joy in us (John 15:11). Paul always kept himself in the joy of the Lord (Phil. 4:4) even when he was imprisoned in Rome, for he exercised to always be found in Christ (Phil. 3:9a). To live in the reality of the kingdom in the local church is to live a joyful Christian life. As Witness Lee indicates above, as believers in the local church, we should beware of the quasi-religious somberness, sometimes mistaken for deep spirituality, and live a joyful Christian life in the Lord's presence (Acts 2:28) in the local church.

The New Testament shows us, and Witness Lee confirms, that for believers in this age, to live according to God’s purpose is to live in the reality of the kingdom within the context of the local church life. Witness Lee points out that according to Romans 14:17, such a Christian life lived out in the local church is characterized by righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Actually such a life was first lived by the Lord Jesus Himself, who was blamelessly righteous (Luke. 23:4), who was ever at peace with His fellow man (Matt. 12:19), and who lived joyfully in the Father's presence (Acts 2:28). Today, Christ is our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:9), He Himself is our peace (Eph. 2:14), and His joy is in us (John 15:11). As the believers in the local churches experience Christ and live Christ (Phil. 1:21) in each local church, these attributes of the kingdom will increasingly be manifested and expressed in the local churches. In this way, the local churches become the practical reality of the kingdom of the heavens.

The Kingdom—A Brief Overview | The Church and the Local Churches as the Kingdom | Reality of the Kingdom in the Local Church | Its Organic Development in the Local Church | Bibliography | Links

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