Local Body — Norman Crawford

To give you some idea of what the subject is tonight. You'll notice that it is significant distinctions between the body and an assembly. And if you do not have the outline for last night and Monday night, at least before the meeting there were some extra coffees there on the table in the vestibule, so you're welcome to take them.

Acts 2 and the Pattern of a Local Assembly

The passage we would like to read tonight is Acts chapter 2. We have read it each night of the meetings and have scarcely referred to it, so I would like to read it again tonight and maybe tonight we will refer to it.

But there are many, many verses that we want to look at tonight and that's one of the reasons for having an outline. What you do not get in the meeting, perhaps you'll be concerned enough to review it, and you can always look at the scriptures yourself.

Acts chapter 2, verse 39. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, which is a usual term for Gentiles, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he, that is Peter, testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward, this crooked generation.

Then they that gladly received his word, and there are seven distinct things here in verses 41 and 42. They that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers.

It isn't very often that a complete stranger comes to an assembly and asks for fellowship, comes for instance to a breaking of bread meeting and asks to be allowed to break bread. That isn't a common experience of assemblies.

And sometimes when we're dealing with a subject that is before us tonight, I think it is good to keep in mind that the very order of our meeting, the way we meet, who meets, and the fact that we have a within and a without of the assembly, that that requires explanation.

It requires explanation even to those of us who so gather. And for those who sit in the back, for unsaved ones, or for Christians who are not in the fellowship, there certainly needs to be an explanation of why we are functioning as we are.

And if we do not ask questions, I would say that's a pitiful state to be in, because I believe we learn from asking questions. And I've often said I do not believe there is such a thing as, and you'll excuse the language, a dumb question, if that question has arisen from a true desire to know the Word of God.

And many times when questions are asked, the person apologizes for the question. But anything I have ever learned, I have learned by questioning. And so it is obvious that we have a particular form of meeting, and if we cannot explain that from the Word of God, then we have no business functioning as we do.

Now, I'm certain that Acts chapter 2 is understood by all of us to be the pattern for a local assembly. In the past two nights, we've been looking at the church which is His body, that church that the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 16, I will build my church, verse 18 of Matthew 16.

And then we've been looking at the local assembly, and that local assembly is described for us, of course, in Matthew 18 and throughout the New Testament. And you'll notice that tonight the subject is significant distinctions between the body and an assembly.

Closed Communion and Reception into the Assembly

Now the reason we have to look at this subject is because we often meet Christians who say, surely you people do not practice a closed communion. Now the expression closed communion is not in the Bible, but the people who word their question like that, they are talking about the fact that everyone is not welcome to come and remember the Lord Jesus with us when we observe the Lord suffer.

And so of course their idea is that we have closed out some and received in others. Perhaps it would be more simple to say, if a person came to an assembly on a Lord's Day morning, and they appeared at the door as a stranger, without a commendation from an assembly, a person who does not fellowship regularly in an assembly, does not come with a letter of commendation, would they be received into the assembly here?

And the answer is simply no. But why not? If they are truly a believer, if they are truly in the church, which is his body, then why are they not in the assembly? Now the answer of course is our subject tonight.

The answer is that the body and assembly are very distinct things. Mind you, all of us here, or most of us at least, understand that. It would surprise you how many people do not understand it. As you know, at the present time I am working on a book, it is called Gathering Unto the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, or Gathering Unto His Name, and I have looked at many, many writings.

Some of them are a hundred and fifty years old, some of them are perhaps only a few months old, and it would amaze you how many there are who have even written on the subject, who do not understand the distinction between the body and an assembly.

So this is what we are charged with. If you look at your outline, I think it says this on the outline, that if we refuse fellowship to any member of the body of Christ, it constitutes a sect. Of course, there is hardly a denomination in Christendom that does not have restrictions.

That is no reason for anything we practice, but it is interesting to us that most denominations at some time in their history, if this is not true of them now, at least it was true of them at one time, that they would reject people whose lives were immoral, or they would reject people who held that doctrine regarding the person of Christ.

Even though those people professed to be believers, if their life was immoral or their doctrine was wrong, then they would not be accepted. So it is not really true then, that just because a person says they are a Christian, that even denominations receive them.

But of course, what we are dealing with is something like this. There are those who claim that all who are truly saved, and are clean in life, and sound in doctrine, should not be refused. That statement needs examination.

I think there are at least thirty books in my office right now that say that all who are truly saved, who are clean in life, and are sound in doctrine, should be received when they come to an assembly, even though they are not known.

But, to me there is a tremendous problem. In America today, seventy percent of the people in America say they are evangelical in their faith. That must include a good many Catholic people, because there are not seventy percent in this country that are Protestants.

As far as I know, I think the breakdown is at least a few less Protestants than that. Therefore, seventy percent of the people say they are evangelicals, and fifty percent claim that they have had some kind of a personal experience with God.

So when a person comes, and they are a stranger to you, how are you going to know if they are really saved? How do you really know? Well, if I turn to the New Testament, there is only one way we can know.

By their fruits ye shall know them, the Lord Jesus said. And fruits are the result of growth, and it would be impossible to meet a stranger you had never seen before, and accept the fact that they are truly saved, unless you can see their lives.

And that takes time. So whenever it is claimed that all who are truly saved, a man standing at the door on the Lord's Day morning, or several brethren standing there, have nothing to guide them except the life of a person.

And that is the reason that the New Testament teaches that when a person comes to an assembly where they are unknown, they should come commended. They should bring a letter of commendation from those who do know them, because you cannot learn a person's life in a few minutes at the door.

Of course the same holds true for whether that person is truly clean in their life, and sound in their teaching. It would be literally impossible for brethren to have any kind of guidelines by which they could determine that in a few minutes at the back of a building.

So actually that whole thing that seems to have been used for a hundred years or more, that all who are truly saved and are clean in life and sound in doctrine should be received, because all we are doing is is asking for evidence of that.

Saving the Lost and Teaching the Teachable

But of course there are some very clear reasons why we believe there's a clear distinction between the body and an assembly. Mind you, when I speak like this, I always feel that we should make it very clear that we long to see people truly saved and baptized and gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And our business is not to see how many people we can close the door to. Our business really is to see how many there are that we can draw to the person of Christ and seek to show them the principles of gathering that are taught in the New Testament.

And godly brethren will do their utmost to guide and to teach those who are teachable. You know, we sometimes get charged with a kind of thing like this, that we believe that a person must have a certain degree of knowledge before they are received into an assembly.

But of course that's a question that needs to be examined, because there must be a certain degree of knowledge before you can even desire to be in an assembly. But we do not make a degree of knowledge the grounds of reception.

If a person has a teachable spirit, if they truly manifest a desire to be taught of God and they are open to teaching, then that is an excellent evidence of divine life. And you can expect such a person will learn what they do not already know.

But all that I'm saying merely shows that being in the body is not the same as being in the assembly. There is a verse, and I'm going to ask you to turn to it, because if I rush through this, I'm certain that I'll say a lot of things that you're not able to follow.

Romans 15:7 and the Law of Context

I'd like you to turn with me to Romans chapter 15, and I'm only using this one verse as an example of how the Word of God should be treated. Romans chapter 15 and verse 7. Wherefore receive ye one another, even, and the revised version has the even in there, wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

Now there are assemblies that give believers a letter of commendation when they are going to visit another assembly, or when they are moving their residence, and on those letters of commendation this particular verse is printed or written.

And there are many, many people who try to tell us that this verse is the grounds for reception to an assembly. And we said the other night that the law of context is a first principle of interpretation, and certainly the law of context applies to this verse as well as any other verse in the New Testament.

And what is the context here? Well there were at least three assemblies in the city of Rome, and those assemblies were made up of Jews and Gentiles. Many of them had come from the Roman provinces and had moved to the city of Rome and lived there, and were in those three assemblies.

And Jews had dietary laws, they had food laws, and those food laws made it very difficult for them to sit down at a table with Gentiles and eat a regular meal. And the whole subject of chapter 14 and 15 of the book of the Romans is how we should act toward others who have a different background, who perhaps have Jewish teaching, while we have been saved out from the Gentiles and we have never had that background of restriction that was common to the Levitical law.

And if you were to go through Romans chapter 14 and Romans chapter 15, again and again you would come across this expression, one another, one another, one another. And in every case where it is found, either in chapter 14 or in chapter 15, it means one another of these believers who are in the assemblies.

It has nothing to do with receiving people into an assembly at all. The reception that is mentioned in verse 7 of Romans 15 is not a reception to an assembly. In fact, the word that is used to receive to an assembly is a totally different word.

And by the way, it is found in the beginning of the next chapter about Phoebe, who was received by one of the assemblies enrolled, which it came with a letter commending her, and this is the actual letter of her commendation.

But the word that is used here in Romans chapter 15 and verse 7 literally means to receive to your heart or to your home. In other words, the Gentiles were not to do things that would offend Jewish people who were visiting in their home.

They were not to reject other people because they had different ways of eating and different customs. They were to receive one another as they were received when they came to Christ as sinners. Now that simply is the context, but it's amazing to me how many there are who are careful readers of the Bible who are so anxious to find some simple verse to say you should receive anyone that Christ has received, and they try to use Romans 15 and 7 to prove that.

Of course it doesn't work. There are similarities between the body and an assembly, and if you look at your outline you'll see that those similarities are outlined for you. The similarities are in name, because similar names are used for both the body and an assembly.

Biblical Names for the Body and the Local Assembly

Now first of all, of course, the word church. We read the other night in Ephesians 1 and 22, the church which is his body. And the church which is his body, very clearly, is the large aspect of the church.

I know people usually talk about the universal church, but because that is not from the Bible and is a term of convenience, I don't use it. Some have called it the general church, but I would find the same difficulty with that.

Some have called it the church militant, I would find the same difficulty with that, or the church triumphant, I would find the same difficulty. Better to stick to the language the Bible uses, and the language the Bible uses is, the Lord Jesus calls it my church, and Ephesians and Colossians refers to it as the church which is his body.

But the church which is his body is made up of all believers. It began on the day of Pentecost, in the very chapter from which we have read tonight. And yet, what also began that day was a local assembly in the city of Jerusalem.

Now, the body, of course, is made up of all believers, but the local assembly is called the church of God. Thirteen times in the New Testament, it is called the church of God. I don't think you have the expression the church of God referring to anything but a local assembly.

There are two verses that give people difficulty out of the thirteen. Eleven of them are crystal clear that it is a local assembly when it speaks of the church of God, but there are two verses that have been a problem to some.

One is 1st Corinthians 10 and 32, where Paul writes to the Corinthians, give not offense neither to the Jew, nor to the Gentile, nor to the church of God. But very simply, that is the church at Corinth.

The other passage that people find problem with is Paul's statement that he persecuted the church of God. But the church of God that Paul persecuted was the church at Jerusalem. And those Jerusalem believers, through the persecution that he spearheaded, were scattered throughout Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, and even as far as Damascus.

And he hounded some of those believers from the Jerusalem assembly as far as Damascus. When Saul of Tarsus was saved, assemblies began to multiply. The first time you have the multiplication of assemblies is Acts 9 and 31, after the conversion of Saul.

So the assembly that he persecuted was the Jerusalem assembly, and when he says I persecuted the church of God, he is referring to the assembly of Jerusalem. And therefore every single time that the church of God is mentioned in the New Testament, it is the local assembly.

Distinct Membership, Entrance, and Discipline

If you look at the outline that you received tonight when you came in, you notice that the scriptural answer is that being in the body and being in an assembly are different things. There are many distinctions, of course, between the body and an assembly.

If any one of the four things that follow were true, and could be proven to be true, any one of those four things that are mentioned, there are distinctions as to who are in each, there are distinctions in the time of entrance, in the means of entrance, in the means of being kept in the body and in the assembly.

If any one of those distinctions is true, any one of them, then the body and the assembly are not the same thing. And of course the very first one is true, because there have been people in assemblies, sad to say, who never were in the body at all.

In other words, unsafe people have crept into assemblies. There have been people who have gathered with believers, both in the early church, in early churches, in early assemblies, and in present-day assemblies, there have been people who have never been saved.

So that in itself would tell you that the body and the assembly are not the same thing. Of course there are many people who are truly in the body who have never been in an assembly. They have never gathered in a scriptural way.

And that very first fact would be enough to convince me that the body and an assembly are different. Of course the time of entrance, the means of entrance, and the means of maintenance are all distinctly different.

In other words, the distinctions are so great that the similarities are really the small part of the story. Now if you look at these similarities in the names, you'll notice that of course the church which is his body is called the body, a local assembly is called body, 1st Corinthians 12 and 27.

The large aspect is called a holy temple, and the assembly is called temple of God without the article in 1st Corinthians 3 and 16. The large aspect of the church is called a habitation of God by the Spirit in Ephesians 2, and a local assembly is called a house of God in 1st Timothy 3 and 15.

In John 10 and 16 the Lord Jesus speaks of the flock, and that the word for the flock there is the large flock, whereas in Acts chapter 20 and verse 28 the local assembly is called a little flock, as it is in 1st Peter chapter 5 and other places in the New Testament.

So even though the terms are similar, the distinctions are even seen in those similar terms. But of course our subject tonight actually is, what are the distinctions? And while this subject may not be the most heartwarming, certainly there are subjects about which I would much rather speak that would give my own soul a great deal more joy, yet it is necessary to be taught from the Word of God just why we meet as we do, why we have a backseat, why we believe that there are a number that make up a local assembly.

There actually are a number, that is a number of saints, a number of believers that make up an assembly. They are called the within of the assembly in 1st Corinthians 5 and 13. There are those who may be saved, but they are without, they are not within the company.

And that very clear and obvious teaching has a great deal to do with what we practice. It has been said that you could actually count over 40 distinctions between the body and the local assembly in the New Testament, and I have Mr. Fisher Hunter's list of the 40 things that are distinct.

But I believe on the list that you have tonight, there are at least 10 distinctions which are very important to us. Now, before we look at those distinctions, let me say that the similarities are important.

The Assembly as an Expression of the Body

For the similarities tell us something. They tell us that the assembly is an expression of the body. And when I say it's an expression of the body, I hope you understand what I mean. It is not a miniature of the body.

I heard that many times when I was a young Christian. I attended those very meetings where Mr. J .R. Littleproud taught a Bible class. And from that Bible class, the book was written, and is very popular today still, by J .R. Littleproud, The Assembly of God.

Many times I heard even in that Bible class that an assembly is a miniature of the body. But I do not believe that the assembly is a miniature of the body. If you'd stop for a moment and think what a miniature is, it is a facsimile.

A miniature should be all that the real large thing is, only on a smaller scale. Now, is that true? Isn't an assembly all that the body is, but on a smaller scale? I do not believe it. In fact, the distinctions that we're going to look at in a few moments will of course tell me that that cannot be.

A word that is quite often used today is a microcosm. And there are those who, in speaking about an assembly, use that word and say an assembly is a microcosm of the body, which simply means that it partakes of all the characteristics of the body, only it is on a very small scale.

And as far as I'm concerned, it means the same thing as miniature. But that is not what an assembly is. You see, if an assembly was a miniature of the body, then all that is true of the body would be true of the assembly.

And I think you'll see that that is not so. But the assembly is an expression of the oneness of the body. And there are three passages in the New Testament that deal with that subject. As far as I know, there are only three New Testament passages that tell me, and tell you, that the body truth is expressed in an assembly.

The first one is Ephesians chapter 4, where you have the great truth of the one body, and we are to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit, not the unity of the body, but the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

And I take it that simply means that the unity of the body is to be expressed in the oneness of the assembly. And when an assembly is divided within itself, when there are believers who are opposed to other believers, you are not carrying out that principle.

And that body for which the Lord Jesus died, that is truly one, that is truly united, that cannot be divided, the oneness of that body should be expressed in the unity of saints. In fact, John 17, where the Lord Jesus prayed and spoke about the oneness of believers, is not some kind of a corporate unity.

If you were to carefully read the prayer of John 17, and it is a wondrous prayer, the Lord Jesus is not talking there about a corporate, visible unity, or union I suppose would be really the right word to use for people who think that the Lord Jesus is talking about something that was visible, something that was a corporate thing, or an organized thing.

The Lord Jesus is talking about a spiritual oneness. And that spiritual oneness is not made by us. It is the work of God, so that all true believers are united in Christ. And that body is perfect. It has never had a sin in it.

It has never been flawed. It has never in any way been damaged by Satan. But the local assembly is quite different. Now, the other passages are perhaps just as important. Because on the Lord's Day morning when we sit down to remember the Lord and the breaking of bread, we have one loaf upon the table.

We don't have soda crackers broken up into crumbs. Long before I was in an assembly, I was taken by a friend to a denominational place. I cannot remember how I ever got indignaled into going, but however I was there.

And it happened to be a Thursday night as far as I can remember. And on that Thursday night, suddenly they said, we're going to have the Lord's Supper. And of course, I knew that I was not fit to partake of the Lord's Supper.

So I didn't participate in it at all. But a silver tray was passed around, and on the silver tray were literally broken up soda crackers. And of course, there were individual cups that the people drank of.

Now I knew that wasn't right. But if you had said to me that night when I came out of that place, what's wrong with that? I couldn't have told you. But I couldn't tell you what's wrong with it now. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 17 clearly says that the loaf which we break is because there is one body.

Now verse 16 is dealing with the communion of the body of Christ, that is the body in which he suffered. 1 Corinthians 10 and 16. But the next verse says, for we being many are one loaf. Now that one loaf on the Lord's Day.

And the reason we have one simple loaf is because that is a high truth. And in the partaking of that one loaf, we are all confessing that we are one in Christ. With all who love his name, with every true believer, wherever they may be found, there is but one loaf, for we being many are one loaf.

Now the truth of the body is its oneness. That's the truth of Ephesians 4 and 5 and 6. Ephesians chapter 4 verses 5 and 6. And that oneness is expressed in the one loaf that we partake on the Lord's Day.

I have to confess that in the city I came from, where there are many assemblies, they have a United Conference, and on the Lord's Day morning at that conference they have a number of loaves on the table.

It has been a real problem to me. I wish with all my heart that they did not do it. I would have to tell you that I have spoken at that conference about that subject, and said I believe it is contrary to the teaching of 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 16 and 17.

I believe there should be one loaf. And I believe on the same ground that there should be one cup. But that principle of the one loaf is because of the body. Now there is one other passage, it is chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians.

And in chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians you have a verse, verse 13, that says for by one spirit, when we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we are bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit.

Now that particular verse 13 of 1 Corinthians 12 refers to the large aspect of the church that began at Pentecost, and into that one body every true believer has been baptized in the spirit by the Lord Jesus.

But if you were to look at the verse that just precedes it, and the verse that follows it, and this is a very complicated thing and I wouldn't have time to deal with it tonight, you would find that the whole context of 1 Corinthians 12 is a human body.

And when it gets down to verse 27 of chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, it says about the assembly, we are body of Christ. Not the body, but body. Not a body either. You see, there is no indefinite article in the Greek language.

And when we try to put our English indefinite article into it, we are liable to be making a mess of it. Because if an assembly was a body of Christ, then every assembly would have the right to say it is a body of Christ, and you would have one head with many bodies.

And that cannot be. That is absolutely ridiculous. So the assembly is not a body of Christ. The assembly is body-like in its character. What does that mean? Well, it means just as the Lord Jesus baptized me in the spirit and put me into the body, and I am a fellow member with every other believer in the body, that truth is expressed in the assembly in its body-like function.

So that each member functions in fellowship with each other member. So that there is no schism in the body. Just as my hand and my head work in unison, in harmony. So in the assembly we should be functioning as a body functions in harmony, in fellowship, and not in confusion, and not in opposition to one another.

Now that is the simple teaching of 1 Corinthians 12. You see, in those three cases, Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 10, and 1 Corinthians 12, the unity of the body is to be displayed in the local assembly.

In fact, dear believer, I don't know else to display the unity of the body. Not in the New Testament. That is the place where the unity of the body is displayed. You see, the great ecumenical movement of our time is telling us that they are trying to fulfill John 17.

But they are not fulfilling John 17. What they are trying to produce is a corporate unity, or a corporate union. They are trying to bring together great organizations, and bring them all under one head, and make them one united thing.

And that will happen, likely. But the trouble is that the name of that great confederation of organizations will be called Babylon the Great, the Mother of Horrors and Abomination of the Earth. So it will actually come about eventually.

Ten Distinctions Between the Body and the Assembly

Now, the distinctions, and if you look at the rough line, it will help you to follow me at this point. I hope I have not confused you, and I hope I have made it clear why the distinctions are important.

And there are only ten listed here, and I'm going to go through them with you. And remember, the reason these are important is because this is how we function in an assembly. This is the very principle on which we gather.

There are those who profess to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they claim that they gather on the ground of the one body. Not that they are just an expression of the one body, but they gather on the ground of the one body.

That particular expression was coined many, many years ago, and many have taken it up. And if you want to know what it means in the simplest of languages, it means that those places profess that if you're in the body, you're in the assembly.

So that there is no distinction between the body and an assembly. And that is why they have no backseat, and that is why they practice an open reception. Anyone who comes who says they love the Lord is received by them to the breaking of bread.

But as far as I understand the New Testament, people are not received to the breaking of bread, they are received to the fellowship of the assembly. And the breaking of bread is one of the greatest privileges of that fellowship.

And as far as I understand the New Testament, there is no such thing as enjoying privileges and not sharing responsibilities. I have never found in the New Testament that there is such a thing as a person saying, I would love to enjoy the privilege of remembering the Lord with you, but I want none of the responsibilities related to it.

That's totally contrary to New Testament teaching. So a person who enjoys privileges shares. Otherwise it is not a partnership, it is not fellowship at all. And what we seek to express in the assembly is a spiritual fellowship.

And the fellowship that we read of in Acts chapter 2 and verse 42 is actually the fellowship of a local company. And that fellowship is dealt with much more fully in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. So we believe that only those who are within the fellowship share responsibilities and share privileges.

That is what fellowship is all about. And it is not a one-way thing. In other words, the assembly just doesn't receive me, but I receive the assembly. It's mutual. The fellowship must not only be the assembly receiving the individual, but it must be the individual receiving the assembly.

The Body Is Spiritual and the Assembly Is Practical

So now the distinction. Number one, the body is spiritual. Now that's a very important truth. I tried to express that to you the other night, perhaps very poorly, but the truth of the body is positional.

The truth of the body is spiritual. It is not practical teaching, it is spiritual positional teaching. And I think you know the difference between what is positional and what is practical. What is positional is true of me at all times regardless of my state.