God’s Desire to Have the Church, and Our Oneness in Christ • The Way of the Church (2)

“And I also say unto you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
— Matthew 16:18
As soon as Simon declared that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord revealed something more to him. First, He changed his name to “Peter,” meaning “a stone,” and then He told him He would build His church upon that “rock” which is the revelation of Christ given to men. This shows that the Lord viewed Peter as a living stone for the building up of the church.
Like Peter, once we’ve received the revelation of Christ, we must go on to see the vision of the church and of ourselves as stones for God’s building (cf. 1 Peter 2:4-5). Only when we see God’s desire to build up the church can we know the meaning of our Christian life, or what the goal of our salvation and Christian service must be.
And we also need to be clear regarding the nature of our oneness with Christ and with our fellow believers. So, in the second half of this episode we look briefly at several portions of the word (John 17, Ephesians 4, Psalm 133, and Psalm 23) which show us it is not merely an administrative or organizational oneness. Rather, it is something profoundly organic, namely, the manifestation of the fact that, through our believing in Christ, God has brought all of us into Himself:
“And I have given to them the glory You have given to Me, that they may be one, even as We are one—I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.”
— John 17:22-23
If we are clear about this, we will surely also be clear regarding how we should simply gather together where we live to meet as the church with our fellow believers in Christ.
To download the pamphlet we use as
the basis for this study, go to this page:
“What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”
To view the pamphlet online,
go to the “Look Inside” page.

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Bible Verses for this Episode
See Episode #138: “God’s Desire to Have the Church, and Our Oneness in Christ • What Is the Church? (10)”
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RESOURCES
Pamphlet: “What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”
Look Inside: “What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”

Previous Episodes in this Series:
Podcast Series: “What Is the Church?”
Video: “How I Found the New Testament Fellowship.”

Books
E.H. Broadbent, The Pilgrim Church
Witness Lee, The All-Inclusive Christ
Witness Lee, The Genuine Ground of Oneness
Witness Lee, The Life and Way for the Practice of the Church Life
Witness Lee The New Testament: Recovery Version
Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Church Life 

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Recorded…
in Chicago, Illinois on Thursday, 12 June 2025