«　WEEK 3　DAY 2　»

　　Matt. 16:18-19 ...Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in the heavens.

　　When the Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church,” He immediately added, “I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens” [Matt. 16:18-19]. The keys of the kingdom are given to make the building of the church possible. Where the authority of the kingdom is absent, there the building of the church will be lacking. Anyone who refuses to submit to the authority of the kingdom can at best be a saved person; he will never be built into the structure of the church. (CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, “The Kingdom and the Church,” pp. 261-262)

　　Where the kingdom of the heavens is in authority, there a church will be built up. A church comes into being where a company of people accept the government of heaven.

　　The Scriptures present [a] profound aspect—that the church has been secured through the sovereign rule of heaven. Because the kingdom of heaven is able to assert its authority over a company of men, that company of men can be built up into a church....How was the church brought into being? It was by means of the authority of the kingdom. God's purpose was to bring His heavenly dominion to the earth, and apart from the church His goal could not be attained. He needed a people who would subject themselves to the dominion of heaven so that under that dominion they might be built up into the church.

　　If there is to be a building, the one indispensable condition is submission to the authority of the kingdom. Our Savior has been exalted to be Head of the universe, and all authority has been given to Him in heaven and on earth. God has put all things under His feet and has made Him Head over all things to the church. In the first place this implies that the church must come under His headship. What is headship? It is the government of the Head. We need to realize that in order for the church to be built up, we must submit to the authority of the Head. Where there is no Head, there is no authority, and there the question of church building cannot even arise. In Ephesians 4:15-16, which speaks throughout of the building of the church, it is shown to be of primary importance that we “grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ.” In how many things are we really growing up into Him? Even our humility, even our love, and even many of our other good qualities are not necessarily a growing up under His headship. We have not yet understood what it means to have our affections governed by Christ and to have all those other desirable qualities developed under His headship. Where there is truly a growing up in all things into the Head, there will follow the building up of the Body as these two verses show. “All the Body, being joined together and being knit together...causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” Colossians 2:19 speaks of “holding the Head.” What does that mean? It means that in all things we submit to the authority of the Head. Note that it does not say, “Holding the Savior,” nor does it say, “Holding the life.” It is when we submit to the government of the Head that there will be the building of which the same verse speaks—“All the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.” If we have subjection to the authority of the Head, we have the building up of the Body. Where the government of heaven is secured, there the church is secured. The extent to which the church is built up in our midst will depend entirely upon the place given in our midst to the church's Head. (CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, “The Kingdom and the Church,” pp. 262-263, 265-266)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, “The Kingdom and the Church,” chs. 7-9; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” ch. 1; Life-study of Matthew, msgs. 47, 51