The Grounds of Grounding
by Thurlow J. Switzer
What is the true “ground” for New Testament apostolic faith? In what should the true New Testament assembly of believers be grounded? Grounding is a little-thought about subject, but one of great importance. In what are we to ground our life and ministry?
The dictionary meaning of “ground” is “bottom, the lowest part, base, or bottom anything; foundation, the logical basis of a conclusion, action; valid reason, motive, or cause; first or elementary principles.” Consider the following seven issues in which believers and leaders should be biblically and logically grounded.
First: THE GROUND OF LOVE
The church must be grounded in the love of Christ. Love is the most powerful emotion and leadership dynamic in the world. As such, all actions must be grounded in the dynamics and reality of this most precious quality of life. Each and every believer is chosen in Christ to be “holy and without blame before Him in love” (Eph. 1:5). We are “accepted in the beloved” (1:5).
The effective, healthy church finds its ground in Christ’s love. “Being rooted and grounded in love,” we should have as our constant goal to “comprehend with all the saints, what is the width and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.” All this emphasis is with the goal that we “may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18-19).
Second: THE GROUND OF CHRIST
The church must be grounded in the reality of Christ. It seems ridiculous to state the obvious, that Christianity must be grounded in the reality of Christ. Unfortunately, the church has come to the place where the obvious is not so obvious and, therefore, must be clearly restated for a new generation.
What appears to demonstrate the outward success of many, if not most, church congregations, is based more on the personality of its senior pastor and the dramatic delivery of its platform performers, than upon the reality of the foundation of Christ in its members.
Paul’s desire for each congregation and its members was that they be “strengthened with might through His spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:16-17). “Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord (initial decision), so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6-7). “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:9-10).
Third: THE GROUND OF SPIRITUALITY
Prayer is at the heart of a vital relationship with God. The root of true spirituality is grounded in a life of prayer. Prayerlessness is a tragic condition of the church today. Those who are discovering that prayer is one of the most wonderful dimensions of local church life and effectiveness, wonder why they avoided it in the past. Paul said, “Praying always for you,” we “do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Col. 1:3, 8).
Fourth: THE GROUND OF CHURCH
The church of today must be grounded in the authority of church as Christ’s Body. God has incorporated all His children into one Body. Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” The Church of the Bible has no distinction as to time, geography, race or economic status. Ephesians 4:4-6, states in no uncertain terms and shows us the essential unity of the faith of all believers.
Life in an assembly expresses the life of the Body, and the gifts in the Church are expressed in the ministry of its members. Anything else, as a ground of fellowship over and above the seven essentials, becomes a basis for division and sectarianism. Rather than engaging in division within God’s church, instead, in the spirit of the above essentials, let us function as the children of God. God’s design was that all should live within the corporate life of the local church. We should see it as sharing life among the many members in a genuine display of unity.
Fifth: THE GROUND OF LOCALITY
The church must be grounded in the fact of locality. The Church in each city is one: many congregations, but only one Church. Each local assembly is part of the Church of Paul the apostle, of Tertullian, of Martin Luther, of John Wesley, and of all other true believers throughout history. It stands to reason that anyone, who desires to advance life in the Kingdom of God, must find practical expression in this most grandiose of concepts, that community called the “church.”
Each local assembly should stand on the ground of the unity of the Body, and should allow no division, since the local congregation exists as the manifestation of an indivisible life, the life of Christ. Local assemblies are local expressions of the Body of Christ in the City.
In I Cor. 1:10-13, the “Church of God that is at Corinth” was not to allow division, but to be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment. The brethren meeting at the household of Chloe reported that people were separating into factions, those of Paul, those of Apollos, those of Cephas, and those of Christ.
Paul’s words to these factions were simple: Christ is not divided and all were baptized into the name of Christ. The “gift ministries” of Christ in a city must work together, magnifying the unity of the Church in the City and at the same time building believers in each assembly in particular.
In I Cor. 12, Paul discusses the question of service and ministry within the church at Corinth. In verse 27, he specifies, “now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” In verse 28, he continues, “And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts” of various kinds. The appointed ministers in the Church of verse 28 are the individual members of the Body in verse 27. When a leader gathers people around himself, around a particular truth, or around some form of organization, that gathering leads to the development of a sect.
Therefore, leaders must seek to humbly reject the way of self-promotion and, instead, affirm the way of unity within the Church-of-the-City.
Sixth: THE GROUND OF COVENANT
The church must be grounded in the covenant table of the Lord (breaking of bread). “We, who are many, are one bread” (I Cor. 10:17). “We” includes all believers.
There is only one loaf. From the local church point of view, there may be thousands of loaves around the world, but from the viewpoint of Christ, there is only one loaf of bread before God. The bread which believers break worldwide may amount to thousands of loaves, but the Body of Christ, which the bread represents, is only one.
One key to the life of a congregating group of believers is the breaking of bread. This is the central experience of the Church where we remember the Lord and are totally focused upon Him.
Before the Bread is broken, we see the Lord Jesus as the only begotten Son because He alone is the Son. After the bread is broken, we see the Lord Jesus as the firstborn Son, for we now have a part in the Son as the many sons.
Before the bread is broken, we see the Son in the Upper Room as the grain of wheat. After the bread is broken, we see the grain of wheat that has fallen into the ground (the cross and burial). Through the fact of death, life is released in many grains. Through the reality of resurrection life, Christ’s life is reproduced in countless people throughout the ages.
The Lord as the Firstborn leads many sons into glory as declared in Hebrews 2. When one believer moves from one assembly to another, he or she is received on the basis of a common life in Christ. We must discern the Body of Christ. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (I Cor. 10:16). These important symbols speak of the covenant nature of Christian faith and community and the specific need to examine ourselves and to judge ourselves, so that we would not be judged.
Seventh: THE GROUND OF AUTHORITY
The church must be grounded in the authority of the biblical scriptures. With so many ideas of mankind floating around, the only sure basis of common authority is that of the Bible, the Holy Scriptures. Many today are diminishing the authority of the Bible. True Christians “ground” their daily life and their conscientious convictions in the authority of the Bible. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (II Tim. 3:16). Our souls are purified by “obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren…having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and abides forever” (I Peter 1:22-23).
The dictionary meaning of “ground” is “bottom, the lowest part, base, or bottom anything; foundation, the logical basis of a conclusion, action; valid reason, motive, or cause; first or elementary principles.” Consider the following seven issues in which believers and leaders should be biblically and logically grounded.
First: THE GROUND OF LOVE
The church must be grounded in the love of Christ. Love is the most powerful emotion and leadership dynamic in the world. As such, all actions must be grounded in the dynamics and reality of this most precious quality of life. Each and every believer is chosen in Christ to be “holy and without blame before Him in love” (Eph. 1:5). We are “accepted in the beloved” (1:5).
The effective, healthy church finds its ground in Christ’s love. “Being rooted and grounded in love,” we should have as our constant goal to “comprehend with all the saints, what is the width and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.” All this emphasis is with the goal that we “may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18-19).
Second: THE GROUND OF CHRIST
The church must be grounded in the reality of Christ. It seems ridiculous to state the obvious, that Christianity must be grounded in the reality of Christ. Unfortunately, the church has come to the place where the obvious is not so obvious and, therefore, must be clearly restated for a new generation.
What appears to demonstrate the outward success of many, if not most, church congregations, is based more on the personality of its senior pastor and the dramatic delivery of its platform performers, than upon the reality of the foundation of Christ in its members.
Paul’s desire for each congregation and its members was that they be “strengthened with might through His spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:16-17). “Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord (initial decision), so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6-7). “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:9-10).
Third: THE GROUND OF SPIRITUALITY
Prayer is at the heart of a vital relationship with God. The root of true spirituality is grounded in a life of prayer. Prayerlessness is a tragic condition of the church today. Those who are discovering that prayer is one of the most wonderful dimensions of local church life and effectiveness, wonder why they avoided it in the past. Paul said, “Praying always for you,” we “do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Col. 1:3, 8).
Fourth: THE GROUND OF CHURCH
The church of today must be grounded in the authority of church as Christ’s Body. God has incorporated all His children into one Body. Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” The Church of the Bible has no distinction as to time, geography, race or economic status. Ephesians 4:4-6, states in no uncertain terms and shows us the essential unity of the faith of all believers.
Life in an assembly expresses the life of the Body, and the gifts in the Church are expressed in the ministry of its members. Anything else, as a ground of fellowship over and above the seven essentials, becomes a basis for division and sectarianism. Rather than engaging in division within God’s church, instead, in the spirit of the above essentials, let us function as the children of God. God’s design was that all should live within the corporate life of the local church. We should see it as sharing life among the many members in a genuine display of unity.
Fifth: THE GROUND OF LOCALITY
The church must be grounded in the fact of locality. The Church in each city is one: many congregations, but only one Church. Each local assembly is part of the Church of Paul the apostle, of Tertullian, of Martin Luther, of John Wesley, and of all other true believers throughout history. It stands to reason that anyone, who desires to advance life in the Kingdom of God, must find practical expression in this most grandiose of concepts, that community called the “church.”
Each local assembly should stand on the ground of the unity of the Body, and should allow no division, since the local congregation exists as the manifestation of an indivisible life, the life of Christ. Local assemblies are local expressions of the Body of Christ in the City.
In I Cor. 1:10-13, the “Church of God that is at Corinth” was not to allow division, but to be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment. The brethren meeting at the household of Chloe reported that people were separating into factions, those of Paul, those of Apollos, those of Cephas, and those of Christ.
Paul’s words to these factions were simple: Christ is not divided and all were baptized into the name of Christ. The “gift ministries” of Christ in a city must work together, magnifying the unity of the Church in the City and at the same time building believers in each assembly in particular.
In I Cor. 12, Paul discusses the question of service and ministry within the church at Corinth. In verse 27, he specifies, “now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” In verse 28, he continues, “And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts” of various kinds. The appointed ministers in the Church of verse 28 are the individual members of the Body in verse 27. When a leader gathers people around himself, around a particular truth, or around some form of organization, that gathering leads to the development of a sect.
Therefore, leaders must seek to humbly reject the way of self-promotion and, instead, affirm the way of unity within the Church-of-the-City.
Sixth: THE GROUND OF COVENANT
The church must be grounded in the covenant table of the Lord (breaking of bread). “We, who are many, are one bread” (I Cor. 10:17). “We” includes all believers.
There is only one loaf. From the local church point of view, there may be thousands of loaves around the world, but from the viewpoint of Christ, there is only one loaf of bread before God. The bread which believers break worldwide may amount to thousands of loaves, but the Body of Christ, which the bread represents, is only one.
One key to the life of a congregating group of believers is the breaking of bread. This is the central experience of the Church where we remember the Lord and are totally focused upon Him.
Before the Bread is broken, we see the Lord Jesus as the only begotten Son because He alone is the Son. After the bread is broken, we see the Lord Jesus as the firstborn Son, for we now have a part in the Son as the many sons.
Before the bread is broken, we see the Son in the Upper Room as the grain of wheat. After the bread is broken, we see the grain of wheat that has fallen into the ground (the cross and burial). Through the fact of death, life is released in many grains. Through the reality of resurrection life, Christ’s life is reproduced in countless people throughout the ages.
The Lord as the Firstborn leads many sons into glory as declared in Hebrews 2. When one believer moves from one assembly to another, he or she is received on the basis of a common life in Christ. We must discern the Body of Christ. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (I Cor. 10:16). These important symbols speak of the covenant nature of Christian faith and community and the specific need to examine ourselves and to judge ourselves, so that we would not be judged.
Seventh: THE GROUND OF AUTHORITY
The church must be grounded in the authority of the biblical scriptures. With so many ideas of mankind floating around, the only sure basis of common authority is that of the Bible, the Holy Scriptures. Many today are diminishing the authority of the Bible. True Christians “ground” their daily life and their conscientious convictions in the authority of the Bible. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (II Tim. 3:16). Our souls are purified by “obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren…having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and abides forever” (I Peter 1:22-23).