3. LORDSHIP AND BECOMING HIS TEMPLE

The apostle is addressing the saints as a whole when he expresses thanks for their faith in the Lord Jesus. He is emphasizing the corporate function of the local church in the words:

Ephesians 2:21 "in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,"

The thought is followed through, showing that the temple of local saints gathered under the Lordship of Jesus, becomes the "habitation (or dwelling) of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22 ). Personal acceptance of Christ's Lordship finds corporate expression in living in unity with other saints in a locality, and becoming the Lord's temple. Because this is an important aspect of His governmental rule, let us examine more closely what is being said by the apostle.

"In whom" (Ephesians 2:21 ). This is how the true Church may be distinguished in any geographical location - a Church where it is evident that there is a special obedience to the rule of the Lord Jesus. The true Church is tightly tied in and held fast by the Lord, who is the precious cornerstone on which the whole spiritual temple is reared (Ephesians 2:20 ).

The Lordship of Jesus is at the very foundation of the true local church. It does not rest upon some important foundational members - that would be very precarious indeed. No, the foundation of the true local church must be, and indeed is, the Person and Lordship of Jesus. It is founded upon His Person, that He is truly God and truly man, and that He is the Son given:

Isaiah 9:6 "... And the government will be upon His shoulder... "

It is founded upon the eternal Word that became flesh to become the sinner's substitute and redeemer, who rose from the dead according to the Scriptures, and is now the living Head of the Church. He makes the Church the alternative redeemed society, demonstrated through the local church. It is His kingdom in the power of the Holy Spirit, here on earth; which Church shall ultimately reign over the earth with Him, the returning King of kings, the Lord of lords.

Unless a local church is founded upon, and functioning under His Lordship, it is no real church at all. Rather, it is the mere equivalent of a local club banded together by cultural, social or economic ties alone. The ineffectiveness of many a local church is accredited to a trick of the devil who has diverted them from the foundational position of "in Whom", bringing them to put in its place religious forms or man-made traditions, or man-made rules that hold back from obedience to the Lord. The only hope of a local church of that kind becoming a true kingdom church, is by clearing away all the rubble of dead religious forms and man-made rules and traditions, and getting right down to the foundational Lordship of Jesus - "in Whom" they will find full release and refreshment and God-given renewal.

The apostle also said: "Being joined together, grows" (Ephesians 2:21 ). The developed thought in this statement is that each local member, through individual faith in the Lord, is corporately joined together as a building for and under Christ's Lordship. Where you have a gathering of people under Christ's rule, there you have a little bit of heaven upon earth, and a foretaste of the answer to the prayer taught by the Lord Jesus:

Matthew 6:10 "... Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven."

The word "grows" brings out the additional fact that the true local church has the growth of a living organism. The very building is a spiritual house built up of "living stones" (1 Peter 2:5 ), growing continually. A living organism cannot be other than growing. Even more so, a body of people living under Christ's governmental control, cannot be a dead, lifeless building. That is impossible because He has given His Holy Spirit to be His executor in the Church, and where the Spirit is Lord, there is life, and reproduction of that life.

Man-made and maintained institutions have the order of death upon them. Where the Holy Spirit is working, there He works as the re-creator and imparter of eternal life: each member "he made alive" (Ephesians 2:1 ). He "made us alive together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:5 ). Should there be no continuous growth in a local church, the question may well be asked: "Has the Spirit of the Lord departed?" It is questionable whether Christ may be called the Head of a lifeless, unproductive, so-called church. It is better to find and become part of a living local church where Jesus is Lord and the Holy Spirit of life is at work. It is a scandalous thing to advise newly born-again believers to stay in a dead church. Death can only impart death. New life needs to be where there is life and where the Spirit of life and growth is actively at work.

The apostle goes on to give a description of what happens to a gathering of people who are "in the Lord". It is very important that we understand what is being said.