To
the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma
of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are
not, as so many, peddling the word of God. (2 Corinthians 2:16,17)
The
Lord has not called upon us to form churches. That is not our business. Would
to God men had recognized the fact! A very different situation would obtain
today from what exists, if that had been recognized. It is the Lord Who expands
His Church, Who governs its growth. What we have to do is to live in the place
of His appointment in the power of His resurrection. If, in the midst of
others, the Lord can get but two of His children, in whom His Life is full and
free, to live on the basis of that Life, and not to seek to gather others to
themselves or to get them to congregate together on the basis of their
acceptance of certain truths or teaching, but simply to witness to what Christ
means and is to them, then He has an open way....
The
Church is not increased by your going and taking a building and trying to get
people to come to it, and to your meetings, and then forming them, by a church
roll, into a local church. That is not the way. Growth is by Life, and this, to
begin with, may be by the entering into Life of but one soul, and then after a
long waiting time of another; or it may be more rapid. But the point is that it
is increase because of Life. That is the growth of the Church. For the growth
of His Church, the Lord must have Life channels, Life centers. I believe that,
given a Life center, sooner or later one of two things will happen, that it
will be abundantly manifest that Christ is fully and finally rejected there, or
else there will be an adding, a growth. There is tremendous power in Life, and
the Life of the Lord either kills or quickens. It depends on the attitude taken
toward it. He is a savor of Life unto Life, or of death unto death. Things can
never remain neutral.
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