The most powerful and leading characteristic of the church life is freedom. We might have come from very negative circumstances or from a very high background, but either way, when we cross the threshold of the church, our shackles can be broken, our bondage set free. The many things which once occupied our narrow hearts dissipate. And when our hearts are free, the Lord has room to move, to occupy, to expand this little human heart into something grand, transparent, shining, and new. This is the foundation for the going on of the church life.
But as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not come up in man’s heart; things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” / But to us God has revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. (1 Cor. 2:9-10)
The only difference between someone in the world and a believer is what we see, hear, and carry in our hearts. When we were saved, we told the Lord, “Lord, everything I have and everything I am is Yours. You are responsible for my life.” In that moment, we found freedom in being emptied of our sins and our failures, our good deeds and successes, our worst parts and our best. And in that washed being, the Lord deposited something new, something eternal: He made His home in our hearts (Eph. 3:17). And as He abides there, He makes what was once a small and narrow heart grand and expansive in His love (John 15:1-9). What we see, hear and carry in our hearts is no longer the shadowy things of the world and self, but the eternal and far-reaching things which He has prepared — things beyond our physical human life, things we once never could have imagined, things drawn from eternity to be deposited in us.
In this transparent and clear condition, the Lord is building His tabernacle, precious stone by precious stone (Rev. 21:19). No material that is opaque, sullied, dull, or dirty is useful for His house; no one with a heart that is bound, rough, or unable to be shined through can be used by the Lord in the church. Even if we have been in the church life for many years, we may still be an opaque stone; if so, it’s no mystery we haven’t grown and no mystery our hearts are constricted. Today, we have a choice to stay in darkness or to turn to the light. Only His light can free; only His light can transform, renew, and expand. And only believers living in freedom can breathe life, newness, and creativity into a dead and degraded situation. How much our church life needs such ones: able to see far, to generate life, to cut the path forward for the overcoming church!
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 9/4/2024, not reviewed by the speaker.)