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ISBN 978-0-7363-7162-9(volume 2, 1978 set)

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18 19 20 21 / 5 4 3 2

CONTENTS

The Collected Works of Witness Lee

1978 — Volume 2

Preface vii

LIVING CHRIST FOR THE LORD’S RECOVERY

Preface 2

1 Living Christ for the Recovery of the Lord’s Testimony 3

2 Living Christ for the Building Up of the Body 17

THE EXPERIENCE OF LIFE AND ONENESSFOR THE LORD’S RECOVERY

Preface 32

1 Needing a Vision of the Lord’s Recovery 33

2 The Central Lane of God’s Economy 41

3 The Experience of Life Being the Crucifiedand Resurrected Christ Living in Us 59

4 Life, Light, and Love Issuing InOneness for the Testimony of Jesus 75

5 Needing Much Prayer, Fellowship,and Waiting on the Lordbefore We Carry Out Any Burden 83

6 The Lord’s Recovery Being a Testimonyof Life and Oneness 87

7 Arriving at the Oneness of the Faithand of the Full Knowledge of the Son of Godby Growing 101

8 Growth in Life Causing the Believersto Be Built Up and Arrive at the Oneness 111

iii

THE TESTIMONY AND WAY OF LIFEIN THE LORD’S RECOVERY

Preface 126

1 The Vision of the Church Presented in Revelation 127

2 The Lord Desiring a Pure Testimony of Life 137

3 Taking the Way of Life in Our Labor for the Lord 145

4 Arriving at the Oneness of the Faithand Building the Church by the Growth in Life 153

LIFE MESSAGES, VOLUME 1

Preface 162

1 Building by Keeping the Onenessthrough Growing in Life 163

2 How to Grow in Life 173

3 The Vine—God’s Economy (1) 179

4 A Practical Way to Abide in the Vine (1) 189

5 Questions and Answers (1) 197

6 The Vine—God’s Economy (2) 207

7 A Practical Way to Abide in the Vine (2) 213

8 Abiding—Death and Resurrection 221

9 The Word of the Cross and the Word of Life 229

10 The Life Way to Take the Word 237

11 The Way That Leads to Life 247

12 Christ Our Portion and Our Life 255

13 God’s Gifts—the Word and the Spirit 263

14 The Recovery 271

15 Leadership among the Saints 279

16 Growing Up into Him 287

17 Oneness 293

18 How to Conduct Ourselves in the House of God (1) 299


20 Walk in Christ 317

21 The Law of Freedom 325


iv

23 The Life, the Reality, and the Way 341

24 God and His Word 351

25 Living by Another’s Life 357

26 The Tree of Life 363

27 Eating in Exodus 371

28 Eating in the Good Land 379

29 Eating in the Gospels 387

30 Eating in the Epistles and Revelation 395

31 The Heavenly Vision 401

32 Questions and Answers (2) 409

33 God’s Good Pleasure 417

34 Living a Divine Life—God’s Good Pleasure 425

35 The Resurrection of Christ—God’s Good Pleasure 433

36 In Our Spirit—God’s Good Pleasure 441

37 Strengthened into the Inner Man—God’s Good Pleasure 449

38 Worshipping in Spirit—God’s Good Pleasure 457

39 The Father’s Life and the Son’s Living 465

40 Two Persons with One Life and One Living 473

41 The Revelation of Life andthe Way to Take Christ as Life 479

CONTACTING CHRISTBY RECEIVING THE WORD

AND TOUCHING THE SPIRITIN ORDER TO EXPERIENCE

CHRIST’S DEATH AND RESURRECTION

Preface 490

Contacting Christ by Receiving the Wordand Touching the Spirit in Order toExperience Christ’s Death and Resurrection 491

THE PRESENT NEED IN THE LORD’S RECOVERY

Preface 500

1 Knowing and Preserving the Lord’s Recovery 501

v

2 The Present Burden concerning Life,the Truth, and the Headship of Christ 507

3 The Way for the Churches to Go On 519

LIVING, GROWING, AND PRODUCING CHRISTAS BRANCHES IN THE VINE

Preface 524

Living, Growing, and Producing Christas Branches in the Vine 525

CRUCIAL PRINCIPLES FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFEAND THE CHURCH LIFE

Preface 538

1 The Vine and the Word 539

2 The Functions and Constituents of the Word 551

3 The Anointing and the Conscience 563

4 The Church Being Christ 573

5 The Genuine Oneness of the Church 585

6 The Headship of Christand the Constitution of the Church 597

7 How to Conduct Oneself in the House of God (1) 611

8 How to Conduct Oneself in the House of God (2) 625

vi

PREFACE

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, volume 2, containsmessages given by Brother Witness Lee from May 13 through Novem-ber 26.

After returning to Anaheim, California, from Boston, Massa-chusetts, in the middle of May, Brother Lee remained in Anaheimthrough the first week in August. During that time he also minis-tered in San Diego and Fullerton, California. During the secondweek in August he traveled to San Jose, Sacramento, Berkeley, andSan Francisco, California, and returned to Anaheim for a few days.After the third week in August Brother Lee ministered in Boston,Massachusetts; Washington, D.C.; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia;Miami, Florida; Toronto, Canada; Cleveland, Ohio; and Chicago,Illinois, until the end of the third week in September. He then re-turned to Anaheim and remained there until the end of the first weekin November, after which he visited Spokane and Moses Lake, Wash-ington; Vancouver, Canada; Seattle, Washington; and Dallas, Texas.At the beginning of December he returned to Anaheim and, exceptfor a one-day visit to Irvine, California, remained there until the endof the year.

The contents of this volume are divided into eight sections, asfollows:

1. Two messages given in Costa Mesa and Irvine, California, onMay 15 and 18. These messages are included in this volume underthe title Living Christ for the Lord’s Recovery.

2. Six messages given in Anaheim, California, on May 13through June 22. These messages were edited into eight chaptersand are included in this volume under the title The Experience ofLife and Oneness for the Lord’s Recovery.

3. Four messages given in Anaheim, California, on June 27 and 28.These messages are included in this volume under the title The Tes-timony and Way of Life in the Lord’s Recovery.

4. Forty-five messages given in Anaheim, San Diego, San Fran-cisco, San Jose, Sacramento, and Berkeley, California; Boston, Massa-chusetts; Washington, D.C.; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Miami,

vii

Florida; Spokane, Moses Lake, and Seattle, Washington; Vancouver,Canada; and Dallas, Texas, on July 9 through November 26. Theywere previously published as part of a three-volume set contain-ing messages given by Brother Lee during the years 1978 and 1979.The messages in this volume were previously published in a forty-one-chapter book entitled Life Messages, volume 1, and are includedhere under the same title. The other two volumes of the three-volumeset were previously published as Life Messages, volume 2, and TruthMessages. They are contained, respectively, in The Collected Worksof Witness Lee, 1979, volume 1, and The Collected Works of WitnessLee, 1978, volume 3.

5. A message given in San Francisco, California, on August 15.This message is included in this volume under the title ContactingChrist by Receiving the Word and Touching the Spirit in Order toExperience Christ’s Death and Resurrection.

6. Three messages given in Anaheim, California, on July 27,August 17, and November 2. These messages are included in this vol-ume under the title The Present Need in the Lord’s Recovery.

7. A message given in Fullerton, California, on July 30. Thismessage is included in this volume under the title Living, Growing,and Producing Christ as Branches in the Vine.

8. Eight messages given in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 23through 28. They were previously published in a book entitled Cru-cial Principles for the Christian Life and the Church Life and areincluded in this volume under the same title.

viii

LIVING CHRISTFOR THE LORD’S RECOVERY

PREFACE

This section is composed of messages given by Brother WitnessLee to the churches in Costa Mesa and Irvine, California, on May 15and 18, 1978.

Living Christ for the Lord’s RecoveryLiving Christ for the Recovery of the Lord’s Testimony

CHAPTER ONE

LIVING CHRIST FOR THE RECOVERYOF THE LORD’S TESTIMONY

Scripture Reading: John 5:19, 30; 6:38; 8:26, 28; Acts 1:8

LIVING CHRIST AS SONS OF GOD

To be sons of God means that we have another life. We are humanbeings, sons of men, possessing the human life, but as believers inChrist, we have another life, the divine life, the eternal life of God(John 3:16; Eph. 4:18), in addition to the human life. Many Chris-tians know a little concerning the divine life, but their knowledge ismostly doctrinal; hence, they do not practice living by the divinelife. They have two lives—the human life and the divine life—yetthey live almost entirely by the human life. Today most Christiansare directed, controlled, and regulated either by moral and ethicalconcepts or by empty doctrines and religious practices.

Living by the Divine Life

Many believers may be able to recite verses such as Galatians2:20, which says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer Iwho live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” However, in practice it isstill “I” who live, not Christ. Today we need to realize that our dailyliving must be the living out of Christ. We need to be controlled bythe clear vision that we have the divine life and that we should liveonly by this life. We do not need to take care of outward behavioror empty doctrines, forms, and practices. We need to care only forliving by the divine life. Practically, our use of the telephone shouldbe regulated by the divine life. We may declare that it is “no longerI…but it is Christ who lives,” yet when we talk to someone on thephone, we may set Christ aside. We are able to set Christ aside atsuch times because making a phone call does not offend our moralbehavior or our religious doctrines, practices, and forms. In otherwords, we have peace in our conscience concerning a phone call, not

because our conscience is regulated by Christ as life but because it isregulated by morals and religious doctrines and practices. We mustbe under the governing vision in Philippians 1:21, which says, “Tome, to live is Christ.” If we are governed by this vision, we will checkwhether it is we who are making the phone call, or Christ. Much ofthe time we will discover that it is not Christ but we who are living.

Life Being the Crucified Jesus Living in Us in Resurrection

We were born and raised to live by our human life, and we arenow accustomed to living by this life. Thus, we spontaneously liveby our natural life and have no need to make up our mind to do so.Today, however, we have another life, the divine life as a wonderfulperson. This person is God, who became a man (John 1:14) and livedon earth a life in which He always denied His human life. In otherwords, He lived a crucified life even before He was nailed to the cross.From the time of His birth in a manger, He lived a crucified life bydenying His human life (5:19, 30; 6:38; 8:28; 12:49-50). Accordingto the Bible, the Lord Jesus possessed a perfect and sinless humanlife (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15); nevertheless, He still lived by denyingHis good, perfect, sinless human life. He lived in such a way becauseGod’s intention is to express Himself through man (Gen. 1:26).

Man has his own will, affections, preferences, choices, likes, dis-likes, and even his own life, but God, the divine person, desires tobe expressed through man. For one person to gain an expressionthrough another person is difficult because it requires that the otherperson exercise his will to deny his own life and live by another life.Such an exercise is what we see with Jesus. He was a man who pos-sessed His own life, yet He was willing to reject His human life andlive by the divine life. Actually, life is the crucified Jesus living in usin resurrection. The fact that He is the crucified Jesus means that thehuman life is rejected, and the fact that He is in resurrection meansthat the divine life is lived out.

In Acts 1:8, when the Lord Jesus charged His disciples with Hiscommission, He did not say, “You shall preach the gospel both inJerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost partof the earth.” He said, “You shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalemand in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of theearth.” Whereas preaching the gospel may refer to an activity, wit-nessing refers to testifying, and witnesses are testifying persons.

4 Living Christ for the Lord’s Recovery

The Lord charged His disciples to be witnesses, persons who beara living testimony of Him, the One who is God become man, wholived a life of denying, repudiating, the human life and living out thedivine life, and who was crucified on the cross and resurrected to belived out as the divine life through His believers. The disciples werewitnesses to such a wonderful person (v. 8; 5:32; 22:15, 20).

When we consider what happened at Pentecost from this perspec-tive, we will realize that Peter, John, James, and all the other discipleswere not trying to behave or keep any doctrines, forms, or religiouspractices. Rather, they were living another life, the divine life, which isa wonderful person, the One who always rejected His human life andlived by the divine life. This One terminated the human life throughHis death on the cross and entered into resurrection to be life to Hisbelievers (Rom. 6:6; Col. 3:4). This is the life that Peter, John, andall the disciples lived. Today this person must be our living and ourtestimony.

THE LORD’S RECOVERY OF HIS TESTIMONY

Eventually, the book of Revelation reveals that every local churchis a lampstand (1:12, 20). The church as a lampstand is significant inthree basic aspects: its unique standing; its pure unmixed goldennature, which is God’s divine nature; and its shining. These threeitems are the testimony. In the book of Revelation the churches arereferred to as lampstands, and they are considered the testimony ofJesus (1:2, 9). What the Lord desires in His recovery is not a work, amovement, or any kind of practice; He desires a living testimonybrought about by the believers living the divine life and denyingtheir human life. Even though our human life may be good, we stillneed to deny it. In our contacting and speaking to others and in thecarrying out of our daily activities, we should do nothing by ournatural life and do everything by the divine life. If we live in such away, the issue of our living will be the testimony of Jesus, and thattestimony is the Lord’s recovery.

Living the Divine Lifeas a Testimony for the Lord’s Recovery

Today we live in an evil generation. Thus, we need to live thedivine life as a testimony. Such a living is the Lord’s recovery. If weare under this vision, we will realize that today’s Christianity is far

Living Christ for the Recovery of the Lord’s Testimony 5

off, and its situation is incurable. We have been rejected, condemned,and criticized by many in traditional Christianity because the tes-timony of Jesus is a strange thing to them. They cannot understandit, and they do not want to understand it. When some tried to ex-amine us, we pointed out that concerning the Divine Trinity, webelieve the pure word of the Bible, which says that, on the one hand,God is uniquely one, and on the other hand, He is three—the Father,the Son, and the Spirit (1 Tim. 2:5; Matt. 28:19). Thus, He is triune—three-one. Moreover, we believe Isaiah 9:6, which says that the Songiven to us is called Eternal Father, and we also believe 1 Corinthians15:45, which says that the last Adam, Christ in the f lesh, becamethe life-giving Spirit (cf. John 6:63a). In addition, 2 Corinthians 3:17says that the Lord, Christ Jesus (4:5), is the Spirit, the unique Spiritin the Godhead (Eph. 4:4). Nevertheless, they did not receive thisword, even though it is strongly supported by the Bible. This illus-trates that traditional Christianity is altogether far off from God’sgoal.

We must hold to the clear vision in the Bible concerning theTriune God and the believers. The Bible reveals clearly that we be-lievers have been regenerated to have God’s life and His divine nature(John 1:12-13; 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:4). Thus, we are not adopted sons butgenuine sons who have been born of God. As sons of God who pos-sess the divine life, we should not care for religion, good behavior,vain practices, or empty doctrines; we should care only for the divinelife, for the growth of this life in us, and for the living of this life outof us.

As we have said before, the divine life is a person, the wonderfulresurrected Christ (John 11:25; 14:6), who commissioned the disci-ples in Matthew 28:19 and Acts 1:8. This One is God, who became aman, lived on earth by rejecting His human life and living only bythe divine life, and died on the cross and entered into resurrection.Now in resurrection He is the divine life. As such a life, He is now inus, and we must live Him and live by Him. As we live such a person,whatever we are, do, and say will not be a work or a practice but atestimony of a wonderful person. Corporately, such a living is thechurch life, the golden lampstand that the Lord is after today.

We all need to see that our goal is not merely to win souls orspread a certain work. We care only for the divine life and for ourliving by this life. When we love, we love not by ourselves but by the


divine life. This is not a matter of imitating Christ but of living bythe divine life. It is not a performance but our spontaneous dailyliving by the divine life. The Lord needs such a living for His recov-ery today, and all the thirsty, hungry, and seeking Christians alsoneed such a living.

As long as we live by the divine life, we do not need to be con-cerned about bringing people into the church life; our living will bea magnet to attract others. In His economy, on the one hand, Godis working on us so that we will live Christ, and on the other hand,He is preparing some seeking, hungry ones who will be attracted byour living. Thus, by living the Lord Jesus, others will gradually beattracted and brought into His testimony.

Regarding our living of Christ, we need to be simplified, notseeking any kind of feeling or sensation as evidence that we are liv-ing Christ. The enemy is subtle, and if we care for a certain sensa-tion, he will give us more sensations so that we will be distractedand eventually become discouraged and disappointed, concludingthat it is impossible for us to live Christ. Thus, we must give up rely-ing on our feelings and care for nothing but living Christ accordingto the vision that we have seen.

Practicing to Live Christ

The simplest way to practice living Christ is to stop and ask our-selves whether it is we or Christ who is carrying out whatever we aredoing. For instance, whenever we are about to speak to someone,we may ask, “Is it I or is it Christ who is about to speak?” Knowingwhether it is Christ may be difficult because the experience of Christis mysterious; nevertheless, to know whether it is we who are speak-ing is easy. The experience of Christ is mysterious, but the experienceof “I” is not. As long as we know that whatever we are doing is fromourselves and is being carried out by us, we only need to stop. Whenwe deduct ourselves, what is left is Christ, the mysterious One. Inour daily living, in whatever we do or say, we need to practice stop-ping ourselves when we are clear that it is we who are living; this isto deny the self (Matt. 16:24). This is altogether practical. We mustkeep the principle of stopping whenever we know that it is we whoare living and not Christ who is living. Regrettably, few practice this.

Every life, no matter what kind it is, has its sense. If there is nosense, there is no life. Moreover, the higher the life is, the higher its


sense will be. Since the divine life is the highest life, the sense ofthe divine life is the highest sense. The function of taste is a senseof the human life. No one needs to teach others whether a certainfood is bitter or sweet; as long as a person is living, the sense of thehuman life will make him aware of what is bitter and what is sweet.This is why babies, who know nothing about what is put in theirmouth, will spit out something that is bitter but will swallow some-thing that is sweet. Their reaction is based on the function of thesense of the human life. Just as there is a sense with the human life,so also there is a sense with the divine life. When we practice deny-ing the self and living Christ, the sense of the divine life within usbecomes keener. We should not be bothered by the temptation toanalyze whether we are practicing in the right way. We only need tobe simple and practice living Christ.

I wish to charge all the saints, especially the young ones, to prac-tice living Christ. Many things are easy for the young people tolearn. Two of my grandchildren were able to learn how to play thepiano and the violin within four years. However, if I tried to do thesame today, I would be unable to do it. Watchman Nee once said thatin order for a person to be rescued from his natural disposition, hemust be saved before he is fifty years of age, and he must immedi-ately begin to practice rejecting his disposition. He said that if sucha person does not practice rejecting his disposition, by the time hebecomes fifty years of age, it will be too late for him to be rescued.When I heard him speak that word, I had some doubt. I thought thatas long as a person has a heart for the Lord, no matter what his ageis, he can be rescued from his disposition. However, after thirty yearsof observation, I have become convinced concerning Brother Nee’sword. Even in spiritual practice, our physical age can have an effect.It is very difficult for an older brother or sister who loves the Lord tobegin practicing to deny the natural life, because they have been liv-ing by the natural life for their entire life. Thus, we need to begin thepractice of rejecting the natural life immediately.

Even though the young people can learn quickly, they are oftentoo sensitive and unstable. The older ones are too insensitive, andthe young ones are too sensitive. Thus, we all need to be balanced.Once we know our weakness, we are more than halfway to a solu-tion. I recently discovered a letter written over fifty years ago fromD. M. Panton, a great Bible teacher, to Brother Nee. At that time


Panton had contact with Sister M. E. Barber, who was helping anumber of young believers, including Brother Nee, in the spirituallife. When Panton wrote his first letter to Watchman Nee, he pointedout that if only four of the sixteen young people whom Sister Barbercared for would remain after ten years, that would be profitable.Panton wrote as he did because he had much experience. He real-ized that young people are unstable and that it is easy to stir themup or cool them down. Ten years after receiving that letter, BrotherNee counted how many remained—there were fewer than four; allthe rest were gone.

Keeping Certain Legalities in Life

If we know our weaknesses, we will be in fear and tremblingbefore the Lord, looking to Him for His mercy. Daily we may pray,“Lord, only You can keep me; only You can preserve me.” Such aprayer will be a salvation to us. We should not consider that prayingin such a way is to be legal. We need to be legal concerning manythings. For instance, we need to eat, sleep, and breathe every day; ifwe do not take care of these three practices in the human life as alegality, we will die. In a similar sense, we need to pray in a legalway. Every morning we may pray, “Lord, preserve me; I know thatI am too sensitive and that I am not steady.” Then, in order to over-come our sensitivity, we need to ignore it. We should not analyze orbelieve in our feelings, because it is easy for us to be up or down; allthe ups and downs are lies. Thus, we need to set our feelings aside.

No one can avoid having unstable emotions or being sensitive;moreover, the younger a person is, the more he will experience upsand downs, and the greater his level of sensitivity will be. All of thisis a procedure, and there is nothing wrong with it. It is typical for aperson to be exceedingly sensitive to his or her spiritual situation;nevertheless, that one must overcome his sensitivity. When we dealwith our sensitivity, our aim is not to become insensitive but to bebalanced. If we are insensitive, this also is a problem. Every goodChristian should have a proper level of sensitivity and should takecare of his inward sense. A person who does not seek the Lord maybe indifferent concerning spiritual things, but if a person seeks theLord, his entire being will rise up, and he will become very sensitive.If Satan is unable to stop such a seeker, he may encourage him to seekthe Lord yet cause him to be too sensitive. Thus, on the one hand,


we need to be sensitive, but on the other hand, we do not need topay too much attention to our sensitivity.

From another perspective, living Christ is a matter of taking Christinto us. In the human life we live by the food that we eat, the waterthat we drink, and the air that we breathe. The same is true in thespiritual life. In order to live Christ, we need to eat Him, drink Him,and breathe Him (John 6:57; 7:37; 20:22). The principle of eating isto receive into our being something that was previously outside of us.Today we eat, drink, and breathe Jesus mainly by praying, calling onHis name, pray-reading the Word, having fellowship with the saintsand the church, singing, and praising the Lord. These few practicesspontaneously cause us to receive something of the Lord into ourspirit. Thus, they are ways for us to eat, drink, and breathe the Lord.

When we receive the Lord with His riches into our being, weare nourished, refreshed, and strengthened. To live day by day andmoment by moment by receiving the Lord into us is to live Christ.Regrettably, we often go through an entire day without praying, call-ing on the Lord, having fellowship with others, praising the Lord,singing, or reading the Bible. To live without receiving anything ofthe Lord into us is to live by ourselves, by the natural life. However,even if we exercise to receive the Lord into us, whenever we carry outany action, we still need to ask ourselves whether it is we or Christwho is doing it. If we take the way of receiving the Lord into us andpracticing to ask who is living, the Lord will have a way among us.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Question: How can we bring new ones into the experience ofChrist?

Answer: If we live Christ, our new ones will spontaneously enterinto the same living. Children grow and develop by imitating theirparents. In the United States parents do not need to teach their littleones how to speak English; as long as the parents speak English, thechildren will speak English also. A child may be born into a Chinesefamily, but if he goes to an English-speaking school and watches Eng-lish television, he will spontaneously learn to speak English. This isbecause he will be surrounded by English speakers. In principle, thesame thing happens in the spiritual life; the new ones under our caregrow by imitating us.

We need the church life with the genuine testimony of Jesus. We


should not care to have a work or a movement; instead, we must carefor the Lord’s testimony. In the past a number of Christian groupsrose up and gained thousands of people in a short time through theirwork, but today many of these groups no longer exist. Regrettably,among the groups that have remained, there is no testimony of theLord. Many of these groups use worldly means in order to gain peo-ple; however, the kind of people whom they gain through such meansdo not count for the Lord’s testimony. According to Titus 2:14, theLord desires “a particular people as His unique possession” (cf. 1 Pet.2:9), that is, a people who live by the divine life and thereby live aheavenly life on earth. Such a living is the Lord’s recovery. For theLord to gain thirty who live in such a way is more valuable than gain-ing thousands who do not live out such a testimony. The Lord needsa genuine testimony, even if it is composed of only a small numberof believers. I have the assurance that as long as we are faithful to theLord as His genuine testimony, that testimony will attract people,and the Lord will add people to His testimony. Then, strictly speak-ing, we will have no need to teach the new ones how to experienceChrist or live by the divine life; they will know how to do this becausethey will be in the midst of a people who live Christ to be His testi-mony. They will imitate what they see, not as an activity or a perfor-mance but as their life.

Question: If we practice living Christ, will that practice increasethe level of life in our meetings?

Answer: We need to have living meetings, and we also needour meetings to be full of the divine riches. Our daily living by thedivine life will enrich our meetings. Whether or not our meetingsare living will make no difference if our meetings are short of con-tent. It is better if our meetings have the rich content and are fullof life. If we have only life without the riches, our meetings willbe poor, and they will lack weight. The Christian life has two as-pects: a meeting life and a personal life. If we have only the meetinglife and not the personal life, we will become like unturned cakes,burned on one side and raw on the other (Hosea 7:8). Thus, we mustspend at least ten minutes daily to have a personal time with theLord. Whether we pray, pray-read some verses, or contact the Lordin another way, we must spend time with the Lord. We need such atime, and nothing can replace that time. Similarly, nothing can re-place our meeting with the saints. These two things cannot replace


each other, and they cannot be replaced by anything. We need both.If we live in this way, our meetings will be enriched and enlivened.

Question: In addition to pray-reading the Word and reading theministry publications, how important is it for us to read the Bible?

Answer: It is very important for us to read the Bible. If possible,we need to read one or two pages of the Bible every day. The youngpeople especially need to do this. As human beings, we have ourspirit, our soul with the mind, and our body with its eyes and ears.In order to understand anything, we need all these organs. For in-stance, if we do not know or study any language, we will be unableto understand spiritual things, because we will be unable to read theBible. We must not consider that the knowledge of the Bible meansnothing; it means a great deal, and such knowledge is a basic re-quirement. Thus, along with pray-reading some verses in the Bibleand reading some spiritual publications for nourishment, we needto read the Word.

We need to read from the first page of Genesis in the Old Tes-tament all the way through to the last page of Revelation in the NewTestament. From this kind of reading, the knowledge of the Biblewill accumulate within us. If we practice to live by the divine life, thedivine life will lead us on the right track regarding all the matters oflife, such as reading the Word and spending time with the Lord. Wemust spend time to read the Bible rather than spending our time toengage in vain talk. Reading two pages of the Bible may take onlyabout five minutes. On the one hand, this is a very small amount oftime, but on the other hand, it is very significant. As we continue toread year after year, life will come forth. At times we may read with-out any intention to receive nourishment; nevertheless, the Wordeventually becomes nourishment to us. We need to spend time withthe Lord privately, and we also need to spend much time reading theBible.

Question: How can we help people who do not believe in God toknow Him?

Answer: If we love the Lord and live by His life, our living willspontaneously attract people to the Lord. This means that the Lordwill be with us and that He will use us to impress or inspire others.This is why the life that we live must be a testimony. To argue withpeople or to debate with them does not accomplish anything. How-ever, if we live by another life among our colleagues, classmates, and


neighbors, such a living will inf luence them. Our living by the divinelife is the best way to preach the grace of the Lord to others. How-ever, we should not expect that we will gain ten or twenty at onetime. Actually, if we are able to gain one person in two years, thatwill be profitable. If all the saints do this, the church may experi-ence a fifty percent increase every year. I believe that if we live by thedivine life, it will be easy to gain one person a year in a solid, remain-ing way. This is especially true for the young saints, since they contactmany people at their schools and places of work. In Acts 1:8 the LordJesus said, “You shall be My witnesses,” not “You shall preach,” indi-cating that He was concerned about the believers’ living, not aboutan activity. I am happy to see the increase and spread of the recov-ery and the living meetings among us, but I am concerned about thecontent of our personal life. I hope that the Lord will grant us thegrace to practice all the points covered in this chapter.

Question: I have a friend who considers that my living is highand unattainable. How do I show her that I am living Christ andthat she also can have this life?

Answer: Such a situation requires a testimony. Presenting a testi-mony to others takes time, and it should not be done in a plannedway. When an opportunity to speak is available, you may spontane-ously give that person your testimony, saying, “It is not I but Christwho lives this life; without Christ, I am worse than everyone else.”You need to let your friend know that you possess such a high livingnot because you live yourself but because you live Christ.

Question: What is the best way to bring new ones to the meet-ings?

Answer: If we practice all the points covered in this chapter, wewill be enriched and strengthened, and we will have some contentwith which to contact people. However, if we do not practice thesepoints, we may have a heart to contact people, but we will not havethe riches of Christ to minister to them. When we are enriched withChrist, we will have a way to gain people. Even if an infant is giventhe best way to do something, he will not be able to do it until he hasthe adequate growth. Bringing people to the meetings is not primar-ily a matter of having the best way but a matter of growth. When wegrow, we will be able to do many things.

Question: Does God reveal Himself to different people in differ-ent ways or in one way?


Answer: The Lord reveals Himself to people in different ways,but the principle of His revelation is always the same. The principleis that God’s revelation of Himself is mysterious. A person who hasbeen an atheist his entire life, always considering that there is noGod, may suddenly consider that there might be a God. Eventually,after half a day, he may believe in the Lord. No one will be able tounderstand why that one suddenly believed in the Lord. His believingwas the result of God revealing Himself mysteriously. Thus, our con-cern should be to live by the divine life so that our living becomes atestimony. Then whenever there is an opportunity, we can speak forGod. Through our living and speaking, some will believe, and otherswill remain unbelieving, because it is up to the Lord to reveal Him-self to them (Matt. 11:27; 16:16-17; Gal. 1:15-16).

Question: What does it mean to be built with other believers?Answer: Our concept of building is that we coordinate together,

and as a result we are built together. This is a natural concept, and itis wrong. According to the Bible, building means that each one growsin life unto maturity. Whenever mature believers are placed withothers who are mature in life, these believers are absolutely one.They may have never met before, but when they come together, theyare altogether one. When we grow in life unto maturity, we will beone no matter where we are or whom we are with. That is the build-ing, and this building is the bride (Rev. 19:7; 21:2, 9). This bride iswhat the Lord is waiting for.

The Lord’s desire is that we all grow unto maturity, that is, thatwe all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge ofthe Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature ofthe fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13). These three “arrivals” are the fullbuilding up. As long as we have not grown unto maturity, we willremain different, for we will all have different levels of growth. Weall need to progress in our growth in the divine life until we all ar-rive at a condition of full growth (Col. 1:28). Then wherever we go,we will speak, think, live, and practice the same thing because weare genuinely one.

This is the revelation of the building given in the Bible. Regretta-bly, we did not have this revelation several years ago; nevertheless, itis clear to us today. We all need to consider, read, and pray over Ephe-sians 4:13, which reveals the genuine building as the three “arrivals.”Eventually, verse 16 says that the Body grows unto the building up


of itself in love. To be “built together” in any other way will result insome groups of saints becoming exclusive. The genuine buildingmeans that we grow up to the standard of the three “arrivals.” Wheneveryone is up to this standard, we will not be different or dissenting;instead, we will speak the same thing, we will see the same thing, wewill practice the same thing, we will live the same life, and we willbe one in everything.


Living Christ for the Lord’s RecoveryLiving Christ for the Building Up of the Body

CHAPTER TWO

LIVING CHRISTFOR THE BUILDING UP OF THE BODY

Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:29; 12:4-5; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21a

God’s intention in His economy is to make human beings Hissons to constitute the Body of Christ (Rom. 8:29; 12:4-5). In orderfor human beings to become sons of God, these human beings mustpossess and live by another life. God’s economy is not to build up areligion but to impart Himself as life into us and to cause us, Hischosen people, to live not by the human life but by the divine life.

LIVING BY THE DIVINE LIFE

In human culture there is a concept of worshipping God, a con-cept of improving our behavior, and a concept of realizing that weare fallen, have become sinful, and thus need salvation. Whereas theconcept of being saved from our fallen condition is not wrong, itfalls short of God’s intention. The central point in God’s economy isthat we live by another life. We are human beings, who possess thehuman life; nevertheless, through regeneration we have become chil-dren of God, who possess the divine life (John 1:12-13). Having madeus His children, God requires that we live not by our natural life butby the divine life, which we received through regeneration. Regret-tably, most believers, including many in the Lord’s recovery, do notadequately understand this point.

Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is nolonger I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life whichI now live in the f lesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, wholoved me and gave Himself up for me.” Even though we may knowthis verse, it may remain merely words in letters to us instead of beingspirit and life to us (John 6:63). I am crucified with Christ meansthat we have been terminated. This being the case, it should be “nolonger I who live, but…Christ who lives in me.” We should not takethese words lightly; rather, we need to examine our living according

to them. We may ask, “This afternoon was it no longer I but Christliving in me?” When we ask such a question, we discover that eventhough we may be able to recite Galatians 2:20, the “I” who was cru-cified is still here in our living. Thus, we may know the verse but maynot practice it, because it is difficult for one who has a life of his ownto live by another life. Married sisters have some understanding ofthis difficulty. Before marriage a sister may have lived according toher own will. However, after marriage that sister, who may have astrong will, needs to live by another’s will. This is a very difficult task.Hence, if living by another will is difficult, how much more difficultis it to live by another life? The former is somewhat objective, but thelatter is an altogether subjective matter.

The genuine Christian life is to live not by our natural life but byChrist as life. In Philippians 1:21 Paul says, “To me, to live is Christ.”Can we say the same? If we are honest, we will admit that our realsituation is “to me, to live is just I” and that the standard for ourliving is mainly morality and ethics and not Christ. It may be diffi-cult for a brother to steal, not because he is living Christ but becausehe holds a certain standard of ethics. For such a brother to refrainfrom stealing is easy, but for him to live Christ is difficult. If he stolesomething, he would immediately condemn himself, but if he failedto live by Christ as his life, he would have no sensation that he waswrong, because he would have no concept that the requirement inGod’s economy is that we live by the divine life. According to thenatural ethical concept, to hate people and to steal are wrong, butthere is nothing in the natural concept that gives us a sense that weare wrong when we do not live Christ.

CHRIST, THE SPIRIT, AND LIFE

We must see that if we do not live Christ, we are far off fromGod’s intention. As believers in Christ, we need to live not by tradi-tion or morality but by another person, by Christ as our life. Someamong us may have a wrong concept concerning life. We may con-sider that the more we shout and are active outwardly, the more lifewe have. This is wrong. Life is neither a matter of being loud nor amatter of being silent; it is not a condition, a situation, or any out-ward activity. Life in the biblical sense is Christ Himself. Colossians3:4 says that Christ is our life, and the Lord said in John 11:25, “I amthe…life.” These portions of the Word are strong proof that life is


not a condition, a situation, or an activity but a person—the LordJesus Christ.

Today this person who is life is also the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). IfChrist were not the Spirit, He could never be life to us. However,because He is the Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, He can be life to us(1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:6). Moreover, since Christ as the life-givingSpirit is life (Rom. 8:2), to live by the divine life simply means to liveby the life-giving Spirit. Because the life-giving Spirit is the resur-rected Jesus Christ, He possesses both the divine nature and thehuman nature.

In incarnation Christ was God becoming a man, a God-man pos-sessing two lives—the human life, the life of Jesus, and the divinelife, the life of the Son of God. He was both the Son of Man with thehuman life and the Son of God with the divine life (John 1:51, 49).He had two lives, the divine and the human, and like Him, we, Hisbelievers, have two lives. The Lord Jesus lived not by His human lifebut by His divine life. The record in the four Gospels shows that whenthis person lived on earth, He always put His human life under thedeath of the cross (John 5:19, 30; 6:38; 7:18; 8:28). Thus, even beforeHe was physically crucified, He lived a crucified life, a life alwaysunder the cross, for the termination of the human life so that thedivine life might be expressed in resurrection.

Eventually, through the Lord’s crucifixion on the cross, Hishuman life was terminated, and His divine life was released (12:24;19:34). Today in His resurrection He is the Spirit within us, the re-generated believers, as our life. When we have Him, we have thedivine life, and whatever we do by the divine life is an expression ofthe divine life. If we weep by the divine life, our weeping is an ex-pression of this life, and if we laugh by the divine life, our laughingalso is an expression of this life. In order for God’s intention to beaccomplished, whatever we do, we must do it by the divine life. Whenwe do everything by the divine life, we spontaneously repudiate ournatural life.

Living Christ in a Practical Way

Whenever we want to do a particular thing, a practical way tolive Christ is to stop and ask, “Am I the one doing this, or is Christthe One doing this?” Before we speak to someone, we should stopand ask, “Am I the one who desires to speak, or is Christ the One

Living Christ for the Building Up of the Body 19

who wishes to speak?” If we practice to stop and check who is takingthe lead in our living, we will discover that in many things we arethe one who is living, not Christ.

Living Christ is a practical reality. We may know and even min-ister to others the doctrine concerning living Christ, but we maynot practice it in our daily life. It may be that most of us still live byour natural life. We were raised and trained to live by our naturallife. From the moment we were born, we began to live by our nat-ural life, and we eventually became accustomed to living by ournatural life. Even though we received the gospel and received Christas our life, we are not accustomed to living by another life. Ourbirth, habit, and upbringing have all made it difficult to live such alife. We are deficient in the practice of living Christ instead of our-selves.

Today our standard concerning our living may not be Christbut may be the consideration of whether our behavior is right orwrong. If I steal something from a brother, I will immediately becondemned, but if I love others with my natural love, people willappreciate me. This illustrates that our standard is not Christ but eth-ics, culture, and tradition. Some may ask, “What then must we doin order to live Christ?” The answer is that we must pray (1 Thes. 5:17;Eph. 6:18). Part of our problem is that we pray too little. If we are ser-ious concerning the matter of living Christ, we need much prayer.Then we need to learn to stop before we carry out anything andcheck whether our activity is being carried out by us or by Christ.This requires much practice, and without such practice we will haveonly the knowledge of living by Christ as our life without the livingitself.

Living Christ for the Church Life

Our experience of living Christ is not only for our Christian lifebut also for the church life. For the genuine enjoyment of the churchlife, we need Christ with His riches to be its content. Our meetingsare short of the riches of Christ, and we have little to speak in themeetings because we have little experience of Christ. Moreover, thespeaking of many of the saints is shallow because their experience ofChrist lacks depth. When a message that touches the deeper truthsin the Bible is presented, there may be only a few who speak a wordto match the message. However, when a message touches certain


exciting things, many saints may speak in response. The conditionof our meetings is proof that we are not rich in experiencing Christ,because we do not practice living Christ in our daily life. I believethat today the Lord is charging us to experience Him and to practiceliving Him.

We may seek the Lord’s leading without seeking to live by theLord. Living by the Lord is the primary thing. Actually, we do notneed to seek the Lord’s leading in our daily living, but we do need toseek to live by the Lord daily. When we live by the Lord, our livingwill become the Lord’s leading, for whatever we do will be done bythe Lord, and if anything is not according to the Lord, we will notdo it.

Some may ask, “How can I know when the direction that I amtaking is from the Lord?” We must realize that the experience ofChrist is altogether mysterious. Many times we may have genuineexperiences of Christ, yet we may consider that these experiencesare not genuine; at other times, when we have not experienced Christ,we may consider that we have experienced Him. This confusion onour part is due to the fact that the experience of Christ is myste-rious. To know whether or not we are experiencing Christ may bedifficult, but to know whether or not we are living by our naturallife, the old man, the “I,” is easy. Thus, as long as we know that weare the one who is living, we should not do anything.

REJECTING THE NATURAL LIFE TO LIVE CHRIST

For us believers, what remains after we reject the natural life isChrist. Nevertheless, to practice rejecting the natural life is difficult,because our preference is to carry out what we desire even when weare aware that it is we who are living, not Christ. We may feel that ifthe Lord does not allow us to do what we want to do, He is killing us.Thus, there is a struggle. In a real sense, to reject the natural life isto allow the life-giving Spirit to crucify the “I” in our experience. Inthe meetings we may declare that we love the Lord, but in our dailyexperience we may consider that it is difficult to love Him, becauseour preference and choice, which may not be sinful, are hinderingus. Our unwillingness to give up our preference and choice are themain reasons that we do not have much experience of Christ. Thus,we need to pray for the Lord’s mercy.


WORKING OUT OUR SALVATION

In Matthew 26:41 the Lord said, “Watch and pray,” and in 1 Thes-salonians 5:17 Paul says, “Unceasingly pray.” We need to pray con-tinually. Some may say, “I do not have anything to pray about.” Forsuch persons, one prayer is sufficient for them to pray all day long:“Lord, not I, but You.” Paul says in Philippians 2:12 and 13, “Workout your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God whooperates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleas-ure.” Regrettably, we have neither the proper fear nor the adequatetrembling. This means that we are off the proper lane and that wehave little reality. Our shortage and lack is that we do not have aprayer life. Paul’s charge that we work out our own salvation meansthat we need a practical salvation. Because we have our preferenceand choice, we need to be saved in everything that we do. In otherwords, we need to be saved daily from our preference and choice.Such a salvation is not received but worked out by ourselves, in co-operation with God’s operation, in fear and trembling.

Moreover, we must work out our salvation in fear and tremblingbecause it is easy for us to fall away. For instance, it is easy for adriver to move out of his lane on the highway if he is not watchfuland on the alert while driving. Only a little negligence on the driver’spart may cause the car to move out of its lane. Thus, in our Chris-tian living today we need the proper fear. We may pray, “Lord, grantme the proper measure of fear and trembling so that I do not fallaway from working out my salvation. I am a little concerned thatunconsciously I may have fallen away from working out this salva-tion.” If we spend time to read the New Testament before the Lord,we will see that our condition is far from the Lord’s desire.

There are many realities in the New Testament that we do nothave, because we pray too little. Despite the charges in the New Tes-tament to pray unceasingly and to watch and pray, we do not prayadequately. We may pray in the meetings and become excited whenwe are with others, yet we may pray little in our private life and mayhave no sense of fear and trembling concerning the fact that we stilllive ourselves and not Christ. Living by our self, our natural life, in-stead of by Christ is worse than committing sinful deeds.

God desires that we live by Christ as our life. Thus, we need tosee this vision and practice it with much prayer. We are individually


responsible before the Lord to live Him. Just as no one can drink,eat, or breathe for us, so also no one can live Christ for us. Todaywe need a great turn in our emphasis, toward more prayer and thepractice of living Christ in everything. We need to check whether itis we or the Lord who is living and acting in everything. Then wewill spontaneously experience Christ, and we will have some richesof Christ with which to infuse others when we contact them. I believethat this is a timely word from the Lord, who knows our lack.


Question: Is it possible to enjoy the Lord in our daily life and yetnot know what it is to live Christ?

Answer: Our main problem is that we contact and enjoy the Lordonly temporarily. After we pray-read the Word or call on the name ofthe Lord, we forget and continue to live ourselves and not the Lord.Paul says in Philippians 1:27, “Stand firm in one spirit, with one soulstriving together along with the faith of the gospel.” This means thatwe need to be one in spirit and one in soul. In the prayer meeting wemay declare that we are one, but immediately after the prayer meet-ing we may speak differently and even argue with one another. Thisindicates that even though we may be one in spirit, we are not one insoul. Furthermore, it shows that our contact with the Lord and ourenjoyment of Him are occasional; these things have not become ourdaily living.

How great our need is to make our contact with the Lord a dailymatter, a matter of our daily living! For the whole day we need tocontact Him, enjoy Him, and thereby live Him. In morning watch,in the meetings, and on other occasions we may contact the Lordand enjoy Him, but after that brief period of time we do not liveHim. What contact we do have with the Lord is better than nothing,but I wonder how many among us actually practice living Christ. InPhilippians 4:13 Paul says, “I am able to do all things in Him whoempowers me.” The words all things indicate that Paul did every-thing in Christ.

Living Christ with Fear and Trembling

Question: After many years of practice, will we ever reach thepoint where we are one with all the saints?

Answer: It does not matter how many years we practice; as long


as we are still in our old nature and in the f lesh, we have a problem.Hence, we need the proper fear and trembling in our daily livingwhile working out our salvation. No one should consider that hismany years of being a believer mean that he is altogether saved. Nomatter how many years we have been in the Lord, as long as we arestill in our natural man and in the f lesh, we need to work out oursalvation with fear and trembling by dealing with these two frustra-tions.

Our natural man is more difficult to deal with than our f lesh.We may realize that our f lesh is bad (Rom. 7:18), but we may not real-ize that our natural life also is bad. We may love our natural life andappreciate its good aspects, such as its humility and kindness. Tosome extent, we may all be humble. However, our humility may bemerely our good behavior. If we check with ourselves whether webehave by our natural life or by Christ as our life, we may find thatthe great majority of our behavior is by our natural life.

The Need to Practice Living Christ

Question: As long as we have the natural life, is it true that wewill need to continue to practice living Christ?

Answer: Yes. Before we do anything, we should pray, “Lord, is itI who am living, or is it You who are living?” If we practice this, wewill see that most of the time it is we who live, not Christ. This is whywe need to practice again and again and day after day. In 1 Timothy4:7-8 Paul charged Timothy, “Exercise yourself unto godliness. Forbodily exercise is profitable for a little, but godliness is profitable forall things, having promise of the present life and of that which is tocome.” Godliness is Christ lived out of us to be the manifestation ofGod. Today this very Christ is the Spirit dwelling in our spirit (2 Cor.3:17; Rom. 8:9-10; 2 Tim. 4:22). Hence, to exercise ourselves untogodliness is to exercise our spirit to live Christ in our daily life.

In carrying out such an exercise, we do not need to look at our-selves; we only need to live by another life. Our emphasis in the pastwas not adequate. How we pray, whether loudly or inaudibly, meanslittle; what matters is that we pray. Moreover, merely to call on theLord and pray-read the Word is not sufficient. We need to pray andpractice living Christ with fear and trembling all the time.

The truth in the Bible always has two sides, but we often preferto be on one side instead of taking care of both sides. It is easy for us


to have an unbalanced emphasis. Some may say, “To practice livingChrist is too difficult. Forget about it. The Lord will take care of it.”This is wrong. The Lord will not take care of our living Him if we donot practice.

Living Christ by Keeping Certain Legalities

Others may complain that to live Christ is a kind of legality.However, we must realize that in certain matters, we must be legal.Breathing, eating, drinking, and sleeping are four “legalities” in ourhuman life. Every day we must breathe, eat, drink, and sleep. If wedid not need to take care of these matters, we would have much moretime to do other things. Nevertheless, we must take care of these mat-ters as legalities; otherwise, our human existence will be terminated.

In our Christian life we need to have some legalities in order tomaintain good health. Mothers know that if their children are toofree in the matter of eating, they will not be healthy. Thus, motherstake great care to feed their children at specific times with a certainquantity of healthy food.

One legality that we, and especially the young people, need topractice is to read the Bible daily. If necessary, we need to force our-selves to do this. For the long run, if we do not have certain legalitiesin our Christian life, we will become undisciplined Christians whoare weak and who easily become spiritually unhealthy. Another legal-ity is that we must pray, and yet another is that we must practiceliving Christ with fear and trembling. Even though I am old, everymorning I pray a similar prayer with my wife: “Lord, thank You foranother day. How much we need You! We need Your keeping power,and we need Your preserving grace. Lord, cause us and help us tolive You with fear and trembling. Without fear and trembling, thisday may be a day of failure.”

Today the meetings in many of the churches are good, yet wecannot say that they are rich, because the saints have little experi-ence of Christ. Often the only kind of speaking that is given is relatedto external things. If someone presents a deeper, richer, higher, andmore profound experience or truth, many of the saints will be un-able to touch it or respond to it, because they have never enteredinto the deeper things. This illustrates that we are short in our expe-rience of Christ. If trials and persecutions befall us, many of us maybe in danger of falling away. An unhealthy child who is not properly


disciplined is at a greater risk of falling into danger. Thus, we needall the practices mentioned earlier to sustain us in living Christ.

We need to call on the name of the Lord, to pray-read His Word,to praise Him, to release our spirit, to develop a strong prayer life,and to read the Bible regularly from the first page to the last page.We must make our Bible reading a legal matter, just like eating anddrinking. We also need to practice in a legal way to live Christ. Whilesome may argue that living Christ is altogether a matter of grace, wemust never forget that the truth in the Bible has two sides. When wego to an extreme regarding our understanding and experience ofthe truth, the Lord will direct us to the other side of the truth. TheLord speaks to us through the Bible according to our situation. Oneday He may speak to us in one way, and another day He may speakto us a different way. If He did not take care of us in this way, wewould become unturned cakes, burned on one side and uncookedon the other (Hosea 7:8). We need to ask the Lord for His grace sothat we may practice praying, reading the Bible, and living Christ.

The Genuine Building Up of the Body of ChristBeing the Growth in Life

When we live Christ, the automatic issue of our living is thegrowth in life and the building up of the Body. This is a great matter.In the past, when I taught the saints that they needed to be built uptogether based on Ephesians 2:22 and 4:16, I charged them that theyneeded to be able to identify those whom they were built up with. Iillustrated this by pointing out that just as a brick built into a wallhas one brick beneath it, two on its sides, and another above it, soalso we need to have other believers around us on every side. Eventhough I presented that kind of teaching in the past, I no longerbelieve that such a teaching is adequate or right. After spending sev-eral years studying the Bible again to ascertain the genuine meaningof being built up, the light eventually came, and I received the reve-lation.

The genuine building is clearly mentioned in the Bible, yet wewere not clear about it until the Lord unveiled us to see it in a freshway. Ephesians 4:11-13 says, “He Himself gave some…for the per-fecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the buildingup of the Body of Christ, until we all arrive at the oneness of thefaith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown


man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Accord-ing to these verses, the saints are perfected unto the work of theministry, that is, unto the building up of the Body of Christ, untilwe all arrive at three things: the oneness of the faith and of the fullknowledge of the Son of God, a full-grown man, and the measure ofthe stature of the fullness of Christ. Thus, to be built up is to arriveat these three things.

Before we arrive at the three aforementioned things, we cannotavoid having differences among us; moreover, any attempt to removethe differences other than by further growth in life will lead to divi-sions. The phrase until we all arrive in Ephesians 4:13 indicates thatthe aforementioned three things that we must arrive at are destina-tions. According to this consideration, we may say that some saintsare closer to these destinations than others. Nevertheless, as long aswe have not yet arrived at these destinations, we are still in the proc-ess of being built up.

We must see that the church as God’s building is not like a build-ing with lifeless materials fitted together in physical proximity. Tobuild with lifeless materials is easy, but we who are living stones forGod’s spiritual house are not lifeless (1 Pet. 2:5). If we hold on to theold, natural concept of building, we will consider that when we arein one locality, we are built with the saints there, but when we go toanother city, we are no longer in the building and need to be built inagain. This old understanding of building is not satisfactory.

The Body of Christ is universal; thus, when we are built up inone locality, we are built up everywhere. Spiritual building is not amatter of having certain brothers and sisters in close proximity tous. Rather, the building up of the Body of Christ is altogether a matterof growing in the divine life in order to arrive at the oneness of thefaith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grownman, and at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Whenwe arrive at these three things, we are fully built up. Hence, the genu-ine building depends on the growth in life (Eph. 2:21; 4:16). Actually,the measure of our growth in life is the measure of our being built up.This is why we can say that transformation issues in building.

If two brothers have arrived at the oneness of the faith and ofthe full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at themeasure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, wherever these broth-ers go, they will be built up with the saints and will have no problems.


Those who have the greatest problems in the church life are thosewho have the least amount of growth in life. The genuine building upis the growth in life. We are still under the process of building, andwe will continue to be under this process until we all arrive. At thatpoint we all will be fully built up, but until we are fully built up, wewill have problems in the church life and will be in danger of be-coming dissenting. The more we grow, the fewer differences andproblems we have. Our differences and problems can be eliminatednot by admonition and advice but only by our growth in the divinelife. As we grow, our differences are gradually set aside, and ourproblems are put away.

We are not dead, lifeless bricks. We are living members of theBody of Christ who are full of activity and who are always movingfrom place to place. I say again that the genuine building up of theBody of Christ is the growth in life. This is the revelation shown inEphesians 4:11-16, which speaks of our arriving at a full-grown man,our growing up into the Head, Christ, in all things, and the Bodygrowing unto the building up of itself in love.

In previous messages I related the building up of the saints totheir seeing the same vision, living the same life, bearing the sametestimony, and speaking the same thing. These things cannot beaccomplished in the natural life. Only when we have been built upby growing in the divine life unto maturity can we have these fourthings among us. If we all see the same vision, live by the same life,bear the same testimony, and speak the one thing, we are fully builtup. Then wherever we go, there will be no problem. In the New Tes-tament Aquila and Priscilla were persons who saw the same visionas the apostle Paul, and they lived the same life, bore the same tes-timony, and spoke the same thing as the apostle did (Rom. 16:3-4;Acts 18:26). Thus, wherever they went, they were built up with thesaints.

The time is short, and the Lord is desperate to gain many whowill be built up by the growth in the divine life. I am concerned thatif we do not pay adequate attention to this matter, we may fail Him,and He will be forced to go to another people. It is difficult for humanbeings to live by another life. Thus, in traditional Christianity fewteachers, if any, speak concerning living Christ. Actually, some havelabeled as heretical the thought that we believers can live Christ. Inthe United States there is a battle concerning the practice of living


Christ. Some opposers do not believe that we believers possess thedivine nature or that Christ lives in us. They believe that Christ livesonly in the heavens. Furthermore, those who know that Christ lives inus do not practice living Him. Many among us fall into this secondcategory; we accept the revelation concerning Christ living in us, yetwe do not practice it. Thus, even we in the Lord’s recovery are indanger of moving off the central lane of God’s economy.

What the Lord Desires Today

What the Lord desires today is not merely a group of people whoare working for Him but a group of people who live Him. The pri-mary matter is to live Christ; all other matters are secondary. Aslong as we live Christ, there will be no problems or differences amongus. Today we are in danger of missing this basic point—living Christ.If we miss this point, we may be right in certain things, but we willmiss the mark of the Lord’s recovery and will become a commonwork in traditional Christianity. The Lord’s recovery today is to re-cover one thing—to live Christ for the church (Phil. 1:21a).

Today we need to turn our heart to the Lord and keep our heartright by praying with fear and trembling. Our heart is deceitful aboveall things, and it is incurable (Jer. 17:9). Thus, we need to have aproper measure of fear and trembling. We have pointed out that theLord desires to have a group of young people who go to the univer-sity campuses in order to gain other young people, but we shouldnot be deceived and consider that the Lord wants a movement. Ourgoing to the campuses must not be our work; it must be our living.We should be a people who are not carrying out a work but are liv-ing Christ.

My ministry is only for the testimony of Jesus Christ as life (Rev.1:2, 9). This does not mean that we do not preach the gospel or con-tact people. Rather, it means that our preaching must be our liv-ing of Christ, and our contacting people also must be our living ofChrist. This is the proper way for us to remain in the Lord’s recov-ery in the genuine oneness and with the testimony of life. When welive Christ, we spontaneously become a magnet to attract people tothe Lord and to His testimony. We should not work toward a certaingoal while neglecting our testimony, because we are not for any kindof work but for the testimony of Jesus in life and in the genuine one-ness. When we go to the campuses, to our offices, and to many other


places by living Christ, others will be drawn to the Lord throughour living and our testimony.

In His recovery today the Lord is recovering the living of Christ.If we take a way other than living Christ, we will become anotherpiece of Christian work in degraded Christianity. We must be care-ful especially concerning the young people’s work on the campuses.If we lose the nature of the Lord’s recovery and no longer care forthe testimony of Jesus as life, what we do on the campuses will be arepetition of the sad history of Christianity, and we will no longer bein the Lord’s recovery.

It is easy to miss the nature and the goal of the Lord’s recovery.Thus, we must see the vision of the Lord’s recovery clearly. We arenot for a common Christian work or a movement. We are uniquelyfor the Lord’s recovery in the genuine oneness to live Christ as thetestimony of Jesus. Our number may be small, but as long as we beara living testimony of Jesus, we are in the Lord’s recovery. Many othershave gained a large number of people, yet there is no testimony withthem. If we do not take the way of the Lord’s recovery but insteadseek only the increase in number, we will force the Lord to go toothers. What we need today is to see and be kept in the vision of theLord’s recovery. We are only for the Lord’s recovery in the genuineoneness for the producing of the living testimony of Jesus.


THE EXPERIENCEOF LIFE AND ONENESS

FOR THE LORD’S RECOVERY

PREFACE

This section is composed of messages given by Brother WitnessLee to gatherings of elders in Anaheim, California, on May 13 throughJune 22, 1978.

The Experience of Life and Oneness for the Lord’s RecoveryNeeding a Vision of the Lord’s Recovery

CHAPTER ONE

NEEDING A VISION OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY

CARING MORE FOR THE TESTIMONY THAN FOR THE WORK

Our work for the Lord should not be work centered. Of the manyprevailing Christian workers in China during my years of labor there,I saw only one who did not care primarily for building up his work.That was Watchman Nee. He began laboring in Shanghai in 1922.When I arrived there eleven years later, there were only about a hun-dred and twenty meeting in the church in Shanghai. However, timetests all things. The only work from that time that remains today isWatchman Nee’s. I am concerned that if we are not clear, we mayrepeat the negative side of this history.

When I was laboring with Brother Nee, I noticed that he nevermade a plan. However, after he resumed his ministry in 1948, at thefirst large training in Kuling, Brother Nee presented a definite planto evangelize all of China within twenty years according to fiveroutes. That was the first plan he made. This plan soon came tonothing because he was imprisoned, I was driven from the main-land, and the churches were forced to close their doors. We wouldprobably prefer to have seen Brother Nee be successful in the workfor another twenty years so that all of China would be evangelized.This shows that we are work centered. We do not know why theLord put Brother Nee into prison for twenty years instead of usinghim to evangelize China and save millions, but this was the Lord’sdoing.

We may have the same concept about Paul’s imprisonment. IfPaul had not been put in prison, he could have traveled throughoutEurope to preach the gospel and establish churches, but the Lorddid not allow that. There were vast territories and much work wait-ing for Paul when he was arrested in Jerusalem and put into prison.Our preference is different from the Lord’s. We desire a work, butthe Lord desires a testimony.

None of God’s servants throughout history, including the Lord

Himself while He was on the earth and the faithful witnesses inActs, ended their labor in outward success. Their consummationwas always death. When their work was f lourishing and had reachedits peak, they were imprisoned or killed, and their work ended. How-ever, today Watchman Nee’s ministry is prevailing throughout theworld. This is not because of his work but because of his testimony.

We need to be warned by history. The Lord may not allow us tohave a success in our work. Therefore, this should not be our inten-tion. The goal of God’s economy is not to have a work but to have atestimony. Because the churches are spreading today, there is a dan-ger. History shows us the Lord’s way and warns us that it is absolutelywrong to aim for a work instead of a testimony. I do not intend tohave my own work, and I will not be involved with anyone trying tobuild up a work. I care only for a testimony. Because we have wit-nessed, suffered, and learned much, we realize that what God wantsis not a work but a testimony.

I am very much in favor of the young people preaching the gospelon the college campuses, but this does not mean that I care primar-ily for the work. The Lord’s recovery needs young people, and theLord will gain some young people from the campuses. However, Hewill gain them not in the way of a work but in the way of a testi-mony. The work we carry out on the campuses must be absolutelydifferent from other Christian works because of the testimony webear. Others may gain many people by caring primarily for theirwork, but that will eventually come to nothing. Ten years ago the“Jesus people” gained many thousands of young people, especiallyon the West Coast. However, that movement has disappeared today.It was like a whirlwind, which comes quickly and goes away just asquickly.

Instead of caring primarily for the work, we must first take careof our daily living. We need to live a crucified life as the Lord Jesusand the apostles did instead of merely seeking to build up a worklike many Christians do. We need to be a living testimony. Of course,we hope to see the spreading of the Lord’s recovery and the rais-ing up of many churches, but every church should be a proper testi-mony.

The New Testament age began not with a movement but witha life, which can be seen in the four Gospels. Eventually, that lifewas killed and multiplied in resurrection at the end of the Gospels.

34 The Experience of Life and Oneness for the Lord’s Recovery

Another generation or crop grew up out of that life. Then it waskilled and multiplied again. All the apostles were martyred, killed,or crucified, which produced another multiplication. The third gen-eration was also killed, resulting in a further multiplication. The Lordhas never desired a work; He has always wanted a testimony. This isabsolutely different from the situation in today’s Christianity.

I have no intention in my ministry to spread or build up a work.I only wish to be a witness and for this ministry to be a testimonyuntil the Lord’s return. I am for spreading that is for a testimony,but I am not for spreading a work. This ministry is not for that. Wemust be watchful so that the Lord’s recovery does not lose its natureby becoming a movement or a spreading work instead of remaininga testimony. As long as we are a testimony, our numbers make nodifference. I saw this with Brother Nee. Other Christian workers whowere his contemporaries drew audiences of thousands to hear themspeak, but Brother Nee rarely spoke to groups of more than a hun-dred. Nevertheless, time proves all things.

The Lord’s recovery in this country should not be like a whirl-wind, which is powerful but only for a short time. We have seenseveral movements in Christianity gain large numbers quickly buteventually disappear. We are not for that kind of work. I would preferto see a small number live as a testimony like the lampstands in Reve-lation 1, which have a unique standing, are pure gold in nature, andshine with sevenfold brightness. Other Christian groups today havelarge numbers, but they are not the Lord’s testimony. If the Lordwere only seeking large numbers, the genuine local churches in Hisrecovery would not need to exist. Many of us came out of the denom-inations, which have millions of members and receive millions ofdollars in gifts. They are large and prevailing. If that is the Lord’stestimony, we did not need to come out of it. To begin somethingseparate that merely repeats the same thing is altogether meaning-less. Our human nature is no different than that of those who seekto build up a work in denominational Christianity. We can be dis-tracted in the same way. We all need to see a vision so that we can goon as the genuine recovery of the Lord in this time.

It is a real danger that the Lord’s recovery would lose its nature.We have to be very careful not to deviate. The Lord is not seekinga work. We must be enlightened to consider whether we are living acrucified life and living in resurrection or if we are for something

Needing a Vision of the Lord’s Recovery 35

else. If we are not living a crucified life and living in resurrection,we will easily deviate and lose the nature of the Lord’s recovery. Thisis serious. If we realize that this is our case, we need to pray in fearand trembling that the Lord would grant us a turn.

We all need a clear vision and must be before the Lord con-cerning the result of our work. First Corinthians 3:12-13 says, “If any-one builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood,grass, stubble, the work of each will become manifest; for the daywill declare it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself willprove each one’s work, of what sort it is.” We need to build carefully,checking with what materials we are building. Only gold, silver, andprecious stones will pass through the fire of the Lord’s judgment. Ihope one day to hear the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful ser-vant. Enter into the joy of your Master.” Until I hear Him say this, Iwill not have peace but will constantly consider whether or not mywork will withstand the fire.

I will not have full peace about the situation among us until I seeall the leading ones living a crucified life and living in resurrection.This is my burden. The leading ones are like the driver of a car. Weneed to be like an expert driver, who notices immediately when thecar begins to veer off and corrects it. We need to realize that theLord’s recovery is not a work or a movement; it must be a testimonyof life. The Lord does not care primarily for the number. While Hewas ministering on the earth for three and a half years, thousandscrowded around Him, and He fed thousands. No Christian workercould be more powerful or gifted than He was. We may think thatHe should have gained thousands or even millions, but after Hisdeath only a hundred and twenty remained faithful (Acts 1:15).

Almost all Brother Nee’s contemporaries had their own works.Probably only one other brother and I did not have our own work—we worked together with Brother Nee for the Lord’s recovery. Atfirst we bore the shame in China, because after many years of labor,others’ works were prevailing in numbers, but we were not. We min-istered to a small number with Brother Nee while other workersspoke to large groups. We were rejected by Christian denominationswhile the others were welcomed. We considered ourselves to bethose cast outside of the camp to bear the reproach with Jesus (Heb.13:13). However, today the other works have vanished while Brother


Nee’s work remains and is spreading prevailingly throughout theearth.

A work is the biggest temptation to Christians. We can easily bedistracted or sidetracked by the work. Although I am happy thatthe Lord’s recovery is spreading through the campus work and newchurches, I am concerned about our direction and nature. I hopethat we will remain the Lord’s recovery and not merely become aprevailing work. We have seen several Christian works on the collegecampuses become prevailing for a time and then disappear. It is pos-sible to be prevailing for ten years and then have nothing remain.What our situation will be ten years from now is determined by ourvision today.

I do not intend to discourage anyone. I am only concerned aboutthe nature of our work. We need to genuinely live a crucified life andnot remain natural in our gifts and ability. To be gifted and capableis good, but we must not remain natural or care more for the workthan for the testimony. If we are only naturally gifted and capableand only care for the work, we are absolutely off. This is my concernfor all the responsible ones in the Lord’s recovery, including myself.To only exercise our natural ability to do the work is to build withwood, grass, and stubble, which will be consumed by fire. We need tobuild with gold, silver, and precious stones. Those bearing responsi-bility in the churches in the Lord’s recovery need to see that we couldlose the nature of the Lord’s recovery. The genuine lampstands havea unique standing, a unique golden nature, and a sevenfold shining.We must maintain this unique standing and nature so that we willnot lose the nature of the Lord’s recovery.


Question: As responsible brothers, should we pass this burden onto the saints we are caring for?

Answer: If we have seen the vision, we will simply live it. Adriver does not need to tell his passengers that he has veered out ofthe lane. Instead, he only needs to make a small adjustment andcontinue driving. As the “drivers,” the responsible brothers do notneed to tell all the saints that we have deviated. If there is a problem,it is not with all the saints but with those who take the lead.

Question: We are open for you to adjust us. Is there somethingspecific in which we are off or need help?


Answer: I am clear that the Lord does not want me to touch anyspecific situation. The Lord has taught me that it is not healthy tomake an issue of anything. He has made it clear that I only need tominister life and be a pattern of living the crucified life and living inresurrection. Our need is a vision and the ministry of life. Outwardadjustment means nothing. We need to come to the Lord, see a clearvision, and take grace to go on in a crystal-clear way. Revelation 22:1says that the river of life is bright as crystal, which is transparent.We need such a f low of life that is clear as crystal in order to be in theLord’s recovery. I do not intend to stop or adjust anything; rather,I encourage you to go on. My burden is that we would open to theLord to receive a clear vision so that we can “drive the car” withoutmissing the mark.

It is not safe to be satisfied or contented with our situation. Afterthe apostle Paul writes concerning remarriage in 1 Corinthians 7, hesays, “I think that I also have the Spirit of God” (v. 40). He was notoverly confident to say that he definitely had the Spirit. It is good forthe brothers working on the campuses and in the churches to havethe feeling that the Lord is with them, but we still need to frequentlycheck our vision and aim. Otherwise, we may be deceiving our-selves. No matter how good our situation seems, we cannot be surethat it is fully satisfactory to the Lord. Paul says, “I am conscious ofnothing against myself; but I am not justified in this, but He whoexamines me is the Lord. So then do not judge anything before thetime, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hiddenthings of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts,and then there will be praise to each from God” (4:4-5). Paul did notfeel condemned, but he would not justify himself. He had not made amistake, but he still said that we must wait and let the Lord judge.Introspection is wrong, but self-contentment is a kind of deceiving.Because some things remain among us that are not positive signs, wemust endeavor to receive grace so that all these unnecessary thingswould be terminated.

Question: You recently shared based on the Epistle to the Phi-lippians concerning the problem of opinions. Does this apply to ourpresent situation?

Answer: This is possible. The Epistle to the Philippians is verydifferent from 1 Corinthians. The church in Corinth was full of thef lesh and sins; they were suing one another and were full of division


and disorder. The church in Philippi was in a good condition; it waswell pleasing to the apostle Paul. Philippians opens with a word in-dicating that there was a good order among them: “Paul…to all thesaints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers anddeacons” (1:1). This Epistle speaks of many positive points, such asfellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel (v. 5). No other churchtook care of the apostle’s need, but the Philippians sent the supplymore than once (4:15-16). Nevertheless, the Philippians had differ-ent opinions, for they did not think “the one thing,” which is theexperience of Christ for the church. They did not think the samething or have the same love. Their love for one another was on dif-ferent levels. Hence, they were not joined in soul (2:1-2). To be onein the spirit is not sufficient. It is easy to be one in the spirit when weexercise our spirit, but we are not one in our soul if we still hold dif-ferent opinions.

There are many opinions among us. I cannot deal with specificopinions, because my dealing would become another opinion. I willnot make an issue of issues that others have made. The best andonly way to be rescued is to forget about the past and drop the opin-ions. We do not need to interpret or dispute concerning what otherssay. Opinions should not be passed from church to church. If theleading ones in all the churches would practice to forget about thepast, drop the opinions, and make no issues, there will be no prob-lems. We do not even have to encourage the other saints in our locali-ties to do this—the elders need to deal with this problem mainly inthemselves.

Ten years ago when many saints came together in Los Angeles,there was no seeking of information about others. The situation todayof passing much information among the churches is unhealthy. Fel-lowship concerning the experience of Christ is healthy. If we speakmuch concerning other things, we may unconsciously lose the natureof the Lord’s recovery. Our gatherings are a help to all who attendwhen they are filled with the ministering of life. However, whenthere is the spreading of opinions, this is no longer the case. To dealwith the current situation we mainly need to see the vision of theLord’s recovery. Only this vision can save us (Prov. 29:18).


The Experience of Life and Oneness for the Lord’s RecoveryThe Central Lane of God’s Economy

CHAPTER TWO

THE CENTRAL LANE OF GOD’S ECONOMY

We need to stay in the central lane of God’s economy. A lane ismarked by two lines. The central lane of God’s economy has two such“lines.” The first line is caring not for a work or a movement but fora testimony of life. The second line is caring more for the personthan for the way. If we care for these two lines, we will be protectedand preserved in the Lord’s recovery.

CARING NOT FOR A WORK OR A MOVEMENTBUT FOR A TESTIMONY OF LIFE

In the previous chapter we saw that God’s New Testament econ-omy is not a work or a movement but absolutely a matter of testi-mony. We need to bring this matter to the Lord in personal prayerso that we may receive light. This is a basic governing principle. Eventhe most spiritual ones need to be reminded that God’s economy isnot carried out by a work or a movement. Church history has morethan adequately proven this. Through twenty centuries of church his-tory there have been all kinds of practices, doctrines, organizations,works, and movements. We should not be so foolish as to repeat thishistory.

On the one hand, I appreciate what the Lord has been doingamong us in the gospel preaching and the raising up of churches,but on the other hand, I hope no one will be distracted and becomea sacrifice. In the past fifty years I have seen many dear ones, whohave come into the Lord’s recovery and have seen something of therecovery, become distracted and leave. Time always vindicates theLord’s recovery. I do not like to see anyone become a sacrifice. Thisis not my personal work or my personal way. According to my deepconviction, this is the Lord’s recovery. Whoever touches this in anegative way will become a sacrifice.

Nothing will damage the Lord’s recovery as much as division. Ifthere is division among us, we are finished, for we have become acontinuation of denominational Christianity. Therefore, we must

be very cautious about anything divisive. In 1 Corinthians 11:18-20Paul told the saints in Corinth that because they were divisive, theirbreaking of bread was not partaking of the Lord’s table. He said,“You come together not for the better but for the worse” (v. 17) and,“He who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if hedoes not discern the body” (v. 29). In 1:13 Paul asked the Corinthi-ans, “Is Christ divided?” We need to be careful not to touch any-thing with a divisive nature, even unconsciously or unintentionally.If we care mainly for a work or a movement, we may easily touchsomething with a divisive nature or element in it without knowingit. Once we are distracted by a work or a movement, we cannot avoiddivision.

If we do not have the fellowship, our work is divisive. Paul wasjoyful whenever he remembered the Philippians and mentioned themin prayer, because they were in the fellowship (Phil. 1:3-5). He com-mended them for their fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel.There is much gospel preaching among today’s Christians but no fel-lowship, which means no oneness. Every work is separate. Almost allBrother Nee’s contemporaries in China had a separate work. Todayno other country has as many different Christian works as the UnitedStates, but there is no fellowship. If we are carrying out a work, weneed to check if there is fellowship.

In spite of the Philippians’ fellowship unto the furtherance of thegospel, at the end of chapter 1 Paul says, “Only, conduct yourselvesin a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, that whether comingand seeing you or being absent, I may hear of the things concern-ing you, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul strivingtogether along with the faith of the gospel” (v. 27). This means thatalthough they were carrying on a gospel work, they were in dangerof losing the fellowship, that is, the oneness. In verses 15 through 17Paul indicates that there is more than one kind of preaching. Somepreached because of good will and out of love, but others preachedbecause of envy, strife, and selfish ambition.

We need to check whether we have the fellowship in our work.This is not merely the fellowship among a few co-workers but thefellowship of the Body. Fellowship among a famous preacher and hisemployees is not real fellowship but division. All denominationalChristian works are divisions. We must see that the Lord did notraise us up for this kind of work. He sovereignly allows some to work


in denominational Christianity, but we cannot take that way, be-cause the Lord is seeking a testimony of life. Therefore, we need toforget about our past situations, seek the Lord in prayer concerningHis desire, and ask Him to show us the difference between a workor a movement and a testimony of life. In this way we will receivethe benefit and be safeguarded.

CARING MORE FOR THE PERSON THAN FOR THE WAY

The first mention of something in the Bible establishes a princi-ple. Strictly speaking, Moses was the first servant of God who wasordained and prepared by God to build His house. Joseph and Noahcame before Moses, but they were not involved in building thehouse of God. God did not commission Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob tobuild His dwelling place. According to the Old Testament and theNew Testament, nothing on the earth is as crucial as God’s house.The whole record in the Bible is the history of God’s house. The firstone who was ordained to build this house was Moses. We have thesame commission today. We are here to build the house of God. Weare all builders.

As the first one commissioned to build God’s house, Moses isthe right example. At the age of forty he was bold and burdened todo something to save his people. However, he failed and was disap-pointed. Then God set him aside for the next forty years in thewilderness. According to Psalm 90, which Moses wrote, eighty yearsis the longest a person should expect to live (v. 10). Therefore, whenhe became eighty, according to his realization, it was time for him todie. However, at that time God came in to call him. It is quite mean-ingful that God did not call Moses until he was eighty. It was whenhe considered himself good for nothing but death that God came into call him. In order to carry out something of God’s building, ournatural life must be dead.

The way that God called Moses was very particular. First, Godgave him a vision. Exodus 3:2 says, “The Angel of Jehovah appearedto him in a f lame of fire out of the midst of a thornbush. And whenhe looked, there was the thornbush, burning with fire; but the thorn-bush was not consumed.” It is quite extraordinary for a bush to beburning but not consumed. The bush signifies Moses, and the firesignifies God. This indicated to Moses that God needed him as avessel and channel, but God would not use anything of Moses as

The Central Lane of God’s Economy 43

“fuel.” God desires to use us as a vessel and channel, but He will notuse anything of our natural being, such as our talent or ability, as“fuel.” Everything that originates with us must come to an end inorder for God to use us. God Himself must be the “fuel” that burnswithin us.

Exodus 4:2 says, “Jehovah said to him, What is this in yourhand? And he said, A staff.” A staff is something that supports us,something that we rely on. As an eighty-year-old, Moses relied on astaff to help him move about. Verses 3 and 4 say, “[Jehovah] said,Throw it on the ground. And he threw it on the ground, and itbecame a serpent; and Moses recoiled from it. And Jehovah said toMoses, Stretch out your hand, and take it by its tail—so he stretchedout his hand and seized it, and it became a staff in his hand.” Thissign indicates that whatever we rely on apart from God, such as ourability, talent, family, or education, is actually the hiding place ofSatan, the usurping serpent. After we have been called, we shouldpick up these things “by the tail,” which is opposite to the practiceof the worldly people, by using them for God’s purpose and not forourselves.

Verse 6 says, “Jehovah further said to him, Now put your handinto your bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom, and when hetook it out, there his hand was, leprous, as white as snow.” Thebosom signifies what is within us, and leprosy signifies sin. There isnothing good in us but only sin, corruption, and uncleanness. Therod becoming the serpent was an exposing of the enemy, Satan, andthe hand becoming leprous after touching the bosom was an expos-ing of the f lesh. Verse 7 says, “He said, Put your hand into yourbosom again—so he put his hand into his bosom again, and whenhe took it out of his bosom, there it was, restored like the rest of hisf lesh.” We were born leprous; whatever we are is nothing but lep-rosy. Only the Lord can cleanse us from leprosy.

Verse 9 says, “If they will not believe even these two signs orlisten to your voice, then you shall take some of the water of theRiver and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you take outof the River will become blood upon the dry ground.” This signshows that in the eyes of God the earthly supply and worldly enjoy-ment, signified by the water of the Nile, are nothing but death,signified by blood.

In this one contact the Lord exposed three things to Moses:


Satan, the f lesh, and the world. Today if we mean business to coop-erate with the Lord for the building of His house, we need a clearvision of Satan, the f lesh, and the world. We need to realize thatwhatever we rely on apart from God, such as our spouse, education,money, position, reputation, and ability, is Satan’s hiding place. AtGod’s word we need to throw it down and then pick it up to use itdifferently than we did in the past. We also need to realize that ourf lesh is the embodiment of leprosy, that there is nothing good inour f lesh. We also must see that the world is nothing but death.

The Lord did not call Moses by telling him what to do or whatnot to do. We may like to know what is the best way to take the leadin the churches. However, the Bible reveals that God cares more forthe person than for the way. Actually, the person is the way. We cansee this not only with God’s calling of Moses in Exodus but alsowith the Lord’s training of the apostles in the four Gospels. TheLord never told them what way they should take to build and takecare of the church. Instead, for three and a half years He dealt withtheir persons. Today the principle is the same. We may think thatwe have the best way, but if we are not right in our person, that is notwhat the Lord wants. Regardless of what we know or do not know, aslong as we are a right person, the Lord can use us. If we are a properperson, there will be no problem with the way. To stay in the centrallane we first need to care not for a work or a movement but for thetestimony of life. Second, we need to see that the Lord does not wantto teach us any way, but He wants to show us what we are so that wewill be a proper person.

We need to realize that Satan is hiding in what we rely on, that weare full of leprosy, and that the world is full of death. These are seri-ous matters. Even though Moses saw these matters in three signs, hestill failed. Numbers 20:12 says, “Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron,Because you did not believe in Me, to sanctify Me in the sight of thechildren of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregationinto the land which I have given them.” Moses failed to sanctify Godbecause he misrepresented Him by being angry with the children ofIsrael and wrongly struck the rock twice (vv. 10-11). Because of this,he lost the right to enter into the good land. Moses’ experience isrecorded in the Bible as a warning to us.

The Lord cares more for the person than for the way. We will bepreserved in the central lane if we take care of these two lines—the


line of life and the line of being a person dealt with by the Lord.Otherwise, we will deviate from the central lane. We need to pray,“Lord, keep me in the line of life. As I do anything, such as preach-ing the gospel or taking the lead in the church, keep me from caringmainly for a work and preserve me in the line of life. Lord, I have notrust in a way. The way is my person. When my person is right, thereis a way. When my person is not right, there is no way. In myselfI am full of leprosy. Whatever comes out of me is nothing but lep-rosy.” One day the Lord will cause us to see what is within us. Wewill be exposed and see that we have nothing in ourselves but lep-rosy. God caused Moses to see Satan’s hiding in what he relied on,the leprosy in the center of his being, and the death in the worldlysupply. This is a vision that we all need to see. If we see this, wewould never boast in ourselves but would recognize that there isnothing good in us. This will preserve us in the central lane.

The Lord dealt with Peter in much the same way that He dealtwith Moses. When Peter expressed his natural opinion from the self,the Lord said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Matt. 16:23). Thisand other cases exposed to Peter that in him was nothing but lep-rosy. If we are truly in the Lord’s hand, He will expose us in thesame way. One day we will realize that there is nothing good in usand that we should never rely on or esteem ourselves. We need avision of life and a vision of our corrupt nature.

The three signs shown to Moses are full of meaning for thosewho serve the Lord today. In the light of the New Testament we seethat these signs expose Satan, the f lesh, and the world. Those whoare drinking of worldly pleasures are drinking death. It may be easyfor us to see the death in the world, but it is difficult for us to realizethat we are full of leprosy. In taking the lead in the church, it is diffi-cult to stay away from the self, but we need to see that the self is thehiding place of Satan. If we contact others in the self or the f lesh, wewill corrupt them instead of edifying them because we are leprouswithin. Certain kinds of food taste good but are harmful. As serv-ing ones, we minister spiritual food to the saints, but what we feedthem may not be pure. It may be contaminated with poison fromour f lesh or self. For this reason, it is possible that our contact withothers in the church may damage them rather than give them theproper nourishment.

The problem is not with all the saints, who are the “eaters,” but


with those taking the lead, who are the “cooks.” If the leading onesdo not hold any opinions, opinions will not be a problem in thechurch. Sometimes we poison people unintentionally. We may havea good intention to feed them, but because of our carelessness, weunconsciously minister something damaging from our self or ourf lesh. If this did not happen, there would be no opinions among us.The opinions that have caused problems among the churches camefrom the leading ones. We need to forget about the past, drop ouropinions, and not have any trust in ourselves. Every time I speak, Iam fearful that I may minister something that is not pure. In ourspeaking with other saints, we should first be purified from ournatural leprosy.

We need to see these two lines—the line of life and the line ofthe exposed self. Day by day we need to pray, “O Lord, keep meunder Your exposing so that I may continually see that I am no goodin myself, that within me is nothing but leprosy.” If we see this, itwill cut the root of all the problems, which is the poison of the natu-ral self. If all the leading ones would cut off the self, there would beno problem in the churches. When the leading ones have no prob-lems, the church has no problems. The problems of the leading onescome from the self.

I have learned that we can be preserved in the central lane onlyby heeding these two lines. Otherwise, the problems among us willincrease. Although some have asked me to deal with particular situ-ations, I do not think that will work out well, but to cut the root ofthe problems may help us. Now that I have presented to the leadingones what the Lord has shown me, the responsibility is upon them.If we take this word, we will be preserved. If we do not take this word,sooner or later many of us will be a sacrifice. We need to remem-ber that Moses was mostly successful in leading God’s people, butbecause of one failure, he became a sacrifice in the Lord’s way.

We are not touching an ordinary Christian work but the Lord’srecovery. An ordinary Christian work does not expose people as muchas the recovery does. When we touch anything of the Lord’s recov-ery, this is serious. Only these two lines can keep us in the centrallane. Regardless how much blessing there is with our work of caringfor the church or laboring on the campus, we must keep in mindthat if we care more for the work than for life, we are in a very dan-gerous situation. Life is not defined according to our interpretation


but according to the Bible. Anything that is not life, even a goodgospel work, may be a temptation. We are also in danger of damag-ing the Lord’s recovery and becoming a sacrifice if we do not realizethat in ourselves we are full of leprosy.

The work and the self are two serious temptations. The work is atemptation among all Christians. Very few can overcome this temp-tation. Our self is the strongest temptation. Unless we see the visionconcerning these two temptations clearly, we are in danger. We needto pray, “Lord, I am not here for the work or the self. I fear these twothings.” This word is based on decades of learning from experience.We can be preserved in the central lane only by knowing these twotemptations—the work and the self.

It is easy to veer out of our lane while driving a car. We do notneed to intend or make up our mind to deviate. We only need to be alittle careless in order to make a serious mistake. Therefore, we mustpay careful attention to staying within the lines. In the same way, weshould not be overly confident that we are in the central lane ofGod’s economy. We must always be fearful of deviating. In Philip-pians 2:12 Paul says, “Work out your own salvation with fear andtrembling.” The need of fear and trembling indicates that there issomething serious to avoid. There is only one central lane. Outsidethe central lane, we can go in many different directions. This is thesituation of Christianity today. The central lane is a narrow way.Only a little carelessness will cause us to be off. We must remainwatchful, fearful, and trembling so that we might be kept in the cen-tral lane.


Question: What is the definition of the work as a temptation?Answer: Anything that is not by life is this kind of work. Even

taking the lead in the church life is such a work if it is not by life.Many Christians are doing a work but not living the crucified life,not living the resurrected life, not living by Christ, and not livingChrist. Hence, they cannot say as Paul did in Philippians 1:21, “Tome, to live is Christ.” For most, to live is not Christ but the self orthe world. We need a vision concerning this. Even when we aregoing to contact a fellow believer, we need to be fearful and trem-bling, praying, “Lord, I do not like to contact this brother by theself. I am fearful that something of my self may get into this brother.


Lord, purify me.” If we keep this kind of attitude, we may be saved.However, if we contact and care for others not in much fearful prayerconcerning our self but only according to our plan, we are doing awork.

There is a great difference between merely doing a work and liv-ing a life as a testimony, even in taking the lead and contacting thesaints. No human teaching, regulation, or human adjustment canhelp us. Only a vision can preserve us in the central lane. In order tohave a way to go on among us, the Lord must gain a leadership thatcares for the testimony of life and fears the self. Otherwise, we willeventually be a problem to the Lord. If we go on not by life but bydoing a work and without a fear of the self, the more we do, the big-ger the problem will become.

Question: Why is it that if we are not in fellowship, anything wedo is divisive?

Answer: The fellowship is the fellowship of the apostles and thefellowship of the Body (Acts 2:42). There is only one true fellow-ship in the universe, just as there is only one circulation of blood inour body. However, there are thousands of so-called fellowships intoday’s Christianity. We need to check whether our fellowship is thefellowship of the Body, which means that we need to consider whatour attitude is toward other Christians. If our attitude is divisive, weare not in the fellowship of the Body but a sectarian fellowship. Thisrelates to the ground of the church. Our fellowship must not be divi-sive, exclusive, or selective but open, inclusive, and general. The fel-lowship in a denomination is not the fellowship of the Body but thefellowship of the denomination. Neither is the fellowship of an inde-pendent group the fellowship of the Body; it is the fellowship of asmall division. We must choose to be in a fellowship that is the fel-lowship of the Body, which is not divisive or selective but inclusive.This is a serious matter. To see the ground of the church is not easy.Although we may have a doctrinal understanding, it is possible thatwe have not seen it. The fellowship we are in must be general, opento all the saints. If some do not join us, that is their business, but onour side, there must be no barriers. We need to be open to all believ-ers. This is the fellowship of the Body.

We also must be careful not to have another fellowship withinthe fellowship of the Body. If we do this, our fellowship is not thefellowship of the Body. This is why Paul says, “Make my joy full, that


you think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul,thinking the one thing” (Phil. 2:2). Our natural understanding ofthe fellowship is merely our contact with one another. Fellowshipinvolves contact, but we need to check the nature of our contact.Merely contacting each other may not be the fellowship but a falsekind of fellowship. Thus, our fellowship may have two problems—aproblem toward those outside the local churches and a problemtoward those inside the local churches.

If our fellowship is smaller than the fellowship of the Body, itwill create a problem. The co-workers may serve the Lord full timeand bear more responsibility, but we should not consider ourselvesto be a special class that has a particular kind of fellowship. This willdamage the Body. Much less should there be a small circle thatincludes only certain co-workers. Nor should there be a special fel-lowship among certain elders in a locality from which other eldersare excluded. Each elder needs to pray that the Lord would havemercy upon him so that he could forsake the self. If we have thisattitude, we will forsake any special fellowship, and only the genuinefellowship will remain. We should not think that because of ourexperience or knowledge, others should change their attitude andcome to us for our fellowship. This attitude will only drive othersaway and cause us to be outside the fellowship even if we still con-tact others.

We must keep our fellowship open, general, and inclusive, neverhaving something exclusive, which may happen unintentionally.The mystics had good experiences, but in the Catholic Church theybecame secluded. Among them there was an even more exclusivegroup, which included only two persons—Madame Guyon andFather Fenelon. Because only they could talk to each other and un-derstand each other, they were not in the fellowship. Therefore, ifwe read their books, we must do so with discernment, because thereis some poison in their teachings. One result of taking in that poisonis becoming exclusive. We have seen this in history. All the inner-lifepeople, who were mystics, became exclusive. For example, thirty orforty years ago no group of Christians knew the spiritual things asmuch as those at Honor Oak did, but they became exclusive andconsequently became fruitless. Because they were not in the fellow-ship, the Lord did not honor their work. Eventually, that so-calledtestimony was terminated. Brother T. Austin-Sparks, who took the


lead among them, had the highest ministry for a time. His booksare quite helpful to those who know how to read with careful dis-cernment; otherwise, they convey poison with the nourishment. Allthe inner-life people became exclusive. History shows that the Lorddid not honor that. We must remain open to all believers. Everydrop of blood in our physical body is for the whole body. If it is not,it becomes a problem to the body. Our blood circulates quicklythroughout every part of our body. This circulation illustrates thefellowship of the Body of Christ.

Because there were some opinions and dissension in the churchat Philippi, Paul wrote, “I exhort Euodias, and I exhort Syntyche, tothink the same thing in the Lord” (4:2). As long as these two leadingsisters, who were co-workers, were not thinking the same thing, theywere not in the fellowship (v. 3). As long as we are not thinking thesame thing, we have a problem with the fellowship. If we are in thefellowship, we will think the same thing. This is a serious matter.

The word fellowship is used several times in the book of Philip-pians. Philippians 1:5 speaks of “your fellowship unto the further-ance of the gospel.” Philippians 2:1 mentions “fellowship of spirit.”Philippians 3:10 says, “To know Him and the power of His resurrec-tion and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Hisdeath.” In order to remain in the fellowship of the gospel, we mustbe in the fellowship of spirit, and in order to remain in the fellow-ship of spirit, we must be in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings,which is to deny the self. Christ’s sufferings, as recorded in the fourGospels, were a continual death of the natural life in obedience toGod’s will. If we have the fellowship of these sufferings, we will be inthe fellowship of spirit and the fellowship of the gospel. The fellow-ship is not merely our contact with one another but is altogether aBody matter. Without it, as the apostle Paul indicated, there will bedivision in the Body.

Question: How can we bring the churches together in fellowship?Answer: In the New Testament there was never an outward uni-

fication among the churches. The churches under Peter’s ministry,which were composed mostly of Jewish believers, were different fromthe churches under Paul’s ministry, which were composed mostlyof Gentile believers. Although Peter’s ministry and Paul’s ministrytestified of the same thing—Christ for the church—in the outwardpractices there were differences among the churches. History shows


that whenever someone tries to unify the churches, he only dam-ages them. As the Lord’s recovery is spreading throughout the earthin these days, we cannot expect the churches in one continent to bethe same outwardly as those in another continent. The churches inJudea were different from those in the Gentile world because the en-vironment and many other elements were different. If anyone triesto unify everything, it will eventually cause problems.

We should allow the churches to help one another, but we shouldnot do anything to try to unify all the churches organizationally.This will only make trouble and cause damage. The best way to helpa body grow is not to touch it. If someone tries to help it grow byoutward interference, he will only cause damage. The churches inJapan and the churches in Korea can receive help from one another,but if anyone tries to unify these two regions, there will be trouble.Even the churches in different parts of the United States cannot beunified so that they are absolutely the same. Throughout history theLord has not unified the churches. To unify the churches may rendersome profit, but it will cause much more damage. Some churchesmay initially receive the help, but when certain elements or factorsare touched, they will reject the help.

Among the members of our physical body, there is a balance. Wedo not need to unify the churches, because there is a balance. We arelimited and balanced in the Body, for no one can gain an organiza-tional, hierarchical position to control all the churches. No one isunder my control, and there is no organizational unification amongthe churches or the elders and co-workers. This is impossible, andtrying to bring it about will only cause damage. We need to drop thiskind of concept. However, this does not mean that the churches donot need the fellowship, nor does it mean that the churches shouldnot be blended with one another.

The Lord will never allow outward unification. Paul was impris-oned because of his being outwardly conformed to the church in Jeru-salem. The Lord was sovereign in allowing this to happen, but Paulwas arrested because he made a mistake. His being imprisoned wasdue to his attempt to be conformed to the Judaistic way of the churchin Jerusalem. The Lord took care of the problem by allowing Paul tobe put in prison. Soon thereafter, Titus came and destroyed the wholecity of Jerusalem, which dealt with the Judaistic way practiced by the


church there. The Lord did not tolerate the Judaistic concept in thechurch.

Brother Nee could not get through everywhere in China. He neverunified the churches in China. At least one brother who claims thathe was an intimate co-worker with Brother Nee was always dissent-ing, especially in the matter of appointing elders. When we encountersuch dissension, we should not do anything to try to create unifor-mity. The more we do this, the more we cause damage. Surely, wecannot do anything better than the apostle Paul, and his writingsindicate that the churches during his time were a mess. I do notthink that among us there is a church with problems like the churchin Corinth.

Our physical body is not simple. Good surgeons know that it isoften better not to operate on a body. If an operation is not donevery carefully, it will damage the body more than helping it. In somecases a good surgeon will recommend allowing the body to takecare of a problem itself rather than intervening. It is not easy to dealwith an organism. As the Body of Christ, the church is an organ-ism. Therefore, it is altogether not easy to touch it. Even if we have agood intention, we can easily damage the Body, and it is not quicklyhealed. We may initially accomplish something, but suffering, loss,and other problems will eventually emerge.

In order to take care of ourselves, our time, others, and thechurches, we should not have the concept that we can unify thechurches. This cannot work and will only cause damage. There maybe some benefit, but there will be more damage. It is regrettable thatsome churches may not follow the ministry or the other churches,but we should not think that we can accomplish something that theapostle Paul could not. It is better to take the way of life.

Question: How could there be one flow on the earth if thechurches are not unified?

Answer: There being one f low does not mean that all the churchesmust have the same practices. This concept is wrong. The one f lowis experiencing Christ for the church. Trying to have the same prac-tices in all the churches will cause problems. Some today are enthu-siastic in preaching the gospel, but we should not expect that everychurch must be the same in this matter in order to be in one f low.

If one church begins a new practice in the meetings, we should notexpect that all the churches on the earth must also begin practicing


this in order to be in one f low. Another church may have a verydifferent kind of meeting. The saints in each locality can meet how-ever they feel is the best way for them, but none should try toconvince others to follow them. The only thing we are “selling” isthe experience of Christ for the building up of the church.

Question: How can we help others in our locality who do notwant to change their way of meeting?

Answer: To try to help others by encouraging them to changetheir way of meeting only causes damage. This is not the way. Ourbook How to Meet purposely does not present a certain way to meet.There is no right way. I helped bring in the practices of calling onthe Lord and pray-reading, but I do not agree that anyone shouldinsist on these things. Insisting will not work. If we do this, we willcause division. It is better to drop our way in order to keep the one-ness with others in our locality. Because the church is a living Body,we must take care of the other members’ feeling. In order to avoidmaking an issue, it is better to do things in a spontaneous way. Grad-ually, if some of the things we see and practice are truly of the Lord,He will work them out. However, the Lord does not work things outaccording to our opinion. He sovereignly allows some to practicedifferently from us. Nevertheless, this is still the church. Not only isit impossible to unify all the churches, but it is also impossible tounify all the saints in one locality. Trying to do this will only createproblems.

On the one hand, when we begin to change our practice, wemust take care of others’ feeling. The Lord may give us the freedomto do it, but we should not do it in a way that causes an issue or areaction. On the other hand, if some begin to do something new orstrange according to our feeling, we need to learn to not make anissue of it. This means that if some do something unusual in a meet-ing, we should not talk about it afterwards. Making an issue bytalking about things is the source of many problems. In most cases,there is nothing wrong with what others do in the meetings. Bothsides are responsible—no one should insist on something new, andno one should make an issue of something new. If we all hold thiskind of attitude, there will be no problems.

We can be preserved only by learning to care for the testimony oflife and to reject the self. We also must not make an issue of any-thing but should always let things go. This is the spirit in Matthew


18:21-22. Peter said to the Lord, “How often shall my brother sinagainst me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (v. 21). The Lordanswered, “I do not say to you, Up to seven times, but, Up to sev-enty times seven” (v. 22). It is easy for us to make mistakes, and it iseasy to be offended. When these things happen, we should forgetabout it, not make an issue of it, go on together, and learn together.We need to take care of others’ feeling and give others the freedomto follow the Lord’s leading concerning what to do in the meetings.As long as it is not sinful or idolatrous, it is fine.

We must not forget that we are brothers and that we are in theLord’s recovery. There is nothing to be gained from making an issueof anything. If we do not make an issue out of something, it will goaway. Even a serious mistake will disappear. However, if we make anissue out of something, we keep the mistake present, for we will notlet it go. We must let everything go and not make an issue. We arebrothers in the Lord’s recovery caring for His testimony. Day by daywe need to help each other to learn. This is the only way to go on.

Question: Is it helpful to keep short accounts with one another—quickly repenting and apologizing to one another?

Answer: Yes, this kind of confession and restitution is needed,but we should not require it of others. Suppose I offend you. On myside, it is altogether good for me to confess to you, but on your side,you need to let it go. It is better not to require anything but tosimply forget about it.

Question: What should we do if we know that another brotherhas a problem with us, but we have no problem with him?

Answer: If there is a problem, it is best to resolve it, but we needto consider whether trying to resolve it would cause more problems.If it would, we should simply let it go. This also involves our con-science. Sometimes our enlightened conscience will not let us go,but we still must be careful not to go too far. Our conscience mayforce us to make a thorough confession to a brother and ask for hisforgiveness, but if we say too much, we may cause more damage. Insituations like this it is difficult to draw a line. Sometimes it is notgood to make a public confession, because doing so will cause prob-lems by stirring up questions among others who do not know thesituation. We should not care only for our own inward peace whenconsidering how to make a confession. We may be full of peace butdamage many others.


We must trust in the blood. Because I realize that I need theblood, whenever I pray, I first apply the blood. In the Old Testamenttype, whenever God’s people came to contact Him, they had to offerthe sin offering or the trespass offering. No matter how much we arein the spirit or sanctified, as long as we are still in the old creation,we are still unclean and need the Lord’s cleansing blood.

Question: How should we deal with our conscience when it both-ers us?

Answer: When our conscience is enlightened, we first need topray, “Lord, thank You for Your enlightening. Cover me with Yourprevailing blood.” Then, under the Lord’s blood, we need to followHis leading, not our preference or choice, concerning how to con-fess to others. In our confession we should not do anything apartfrom the Lord. This does not mean that we should be reluctant toconfess anything to anyone, but we must do it with the Lord, fullyfollowing His clear leading and guidance. Even in the matter of con-fession and restitution, we must follow the Lord, doing nothing onlyfor our own peace but considering the saints and the entire situa-tion. We must be willing to confess anything in obedience to theLord, but the Lord sometimes leads us to limit our public confessionin order to avoid damaging others.

Question: If I hear that one brother has offended another andthat it has not been cleared up, is there anything I can do to helpthese brothers resolve it, or would I damage the situation more bygetting involved?

Answer: This needs much prayer. We first must be sure that whatwe are going to do is of the Lord. If we do something good apartfrom the Lord, it does not have spiritual worth or weight. If the Lordleads us to do something to help two brothers be reconciled to oneanother, we must first pray that the Lord would do something amongthem. If we do something in a light way, the result will often not begood. Therefore, we sometimes need to let it go, not even keepingit in our mind. Even if we know two brothers have a problem, wesometimes should not pay attention to it. The enemy likes for prob-lems to accumulate in the church month after month and year afteryear. Therefore, our way must be to let things go. Otherwise, wehave no way to go on. As long as we are on the earth in the old cre-ation, it is not easy to be one with others without any problems.Thus, we must learn the lesson to take grace and let things go. We


should try our best not to offend others and to always forget others’offenses. We should not pay much attention to or talk about prob-lems between brothers. If we have the burden or are led by the Lordto help the situation, we should pray and follow the Lord’s leading.Otherwise, we must let it go. There are many lessons in this realm.


The Experience of Life and Oneness for the Lord’s RecoveryThe Crucified and Resurrected Christ Living in Us

CHAPTER THREE

THE EXPERIENCE OF LIFE BEING THE CRUCIFIEDAND RESURRECTED CHRIST LIVING IN US

Prayer: Lord, we pray that You would touch us and that wewould touch You. We want to gain You and lay hold of that for whichwe have been laid hold of by You. Lord, cover us and grant us openand profitable fellowship for Your recovery. Lord, defeat the enemy,the present evil age, and the degradation of Christianity. ProsperYour way and vindicate Your recovery. Lord, grant us a clear sky.Lord, thank You that from Your throne f lows a river of water of lifebright as crystal, pure and clear. Make us clear as crystal. We needYour mercy to see Your economy.

We need to see more concerning life and knowing the self. As wehave seen in the preceding chapters, these two matters are the linesthat can keep us in the central lane of God’s economy. In order tobe preserved in the central lane, we must remain right in regard tothese two lines. Most Christians are not clear concerning the defini-tion of life. Although we may know that life is Christ, we still needto see what kind of person Christ is.

Life is first mentioned in Genesis 2:9, where we see the tree oflife. Psalm 36:9 says, “With You is the fountain of life.” The fact thatlife is with God indicates that apart from God we do not have life.The New Testament revelation concerning life is clearer. The LordJesus said that He is the life (John 11:25; 14:6). This clearly revealsthat life is Christ. In Colossians 3:4 Paul says, “Christ our life.”Christ is our life. In John 14:19 the Lord said, “Because I live, youalso shall live.” This verse alone may be misunderstood to implythat Christ’s living and our living are separate. However, in the Epis-tles we can see that Christ lives within us and that we live by Himand in Him. Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who live,but it is Christ who lives in me.” Christ living in us means that Heis not only our life but also our living. In God’s wonderful salvationwe have been made one with Christ. First Corinthians 1:30 says, “Of

Him [God] you are in Christ Jesus.” We are in Christ, and Christ isin us. Christ being life to us is altogether a subjective matter. Christcould not be life to us if He was outside of us—He must be inside ofus in order to be life to us.

We need to see Christ as a person. In order to see and know thisperson, we must go to the Gospels. The four Gospels give us a clearportrait of what kind of person Christ is and of what kind of life Helived on earth. We need to be uplifted from our understanding andenvironment to another realm as we look into the four Gospels. Weshould not consider the Gospels merely as stories and doctrines. Thefour Gospels give us a view or a vision of Christ as a person living acertain kind of life. They reveal that this person was God and becamea man, having two lives and two natures—the divine life and natureand the human life and nature. He was the God-man. God and manbecame one in Him.

We need to see by what life and nature Christ lived. He ate, slept,walked, talked, wept, and did many things as a man. Because Helived as a man, He used His human life and nature, but He did notlive by His human life. There is a great difference between using thehuman life and living by the human life. Christ lived by the divinelife. He used His human life, but He lived the divine life, expressingdivinity in His humanity. Therefore, He could say to Philip, “Hewho has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). This means thatHe lived out not Himself but the Father. He lived not by Himself butby the Father. As a man from Nazareth, He did not live by Hishumanity but by the Father. This point is difficult for Christians tounderstand.

Although Christ was a genuine man, He did not live by Hishuman life. He was a man living by the divine life, living out Godthe Father. In Him people saw not only a man but also somethinghigher, something that was difficult for human language to describe,because as a man He lived the divine life. In John 14:10 the Lordsaid, “The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, butthe Father who abides in Me does His works.” He also said, “I havecome down from heaven not to do My own will but the will ofHim who sent Me” (6:38; cf. 5:30; 4:34). Christ never did anythingof Himself, for whatever He spoke and did was absolutely of theFather. All that He did was the Father’s will. He had His own humanwill, but He did not live according to His will to make His choices.


Nevertheless, He did not nullify His will but used it strongly tochoose the Father’s will. Before His crucifixion He prayed in Geth-semane, “My Father,…not as I will, but as You will” (Matt. 26:39).In such a difficult, suffering environment, to pray such a prayer re-quires a strong will. The Lord exercised His will in a strong way todo the Father’s will. He did not live according to His own will butaccording to the Father’s will. In other words, He did not live thehuman life but the divine life. Most Christians do not adequatelycomprehend that Christ was a man who did not live by His humanlife but instead used His humanity, including His mind, emotion,will, and heart, to live by the divine life.

Another point concerning which Christians understand little isthat in order for a human being to live the divine life as Christ did,there is the need of crucifixion and resurrection. This is somethingvery mysterious and deep. Before the Lord was crucified, He alwayslived under the cross. Even before He went to the cross, He dailywalked, behaved, lived, and had His being continually under thecross. The crucial significance of the cross in the Bible is the termina-tion of the human life (Rom. 6:6). Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucifiedwith Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who livesin me.” The old “I” has been crucified, and it is no longer I meansthat the old “I” has been terminated. Before Christ was crucified,He continually lived a crucified life. Since He never did anythingby Himself, His self was under the cross; His human life was cruci-fied.

The first half of Galatians 2:20 indicates that we have been cruci-fied, but then it says, “And the life which I now live,” indicating thatwe still live. Our being crucified means that our natural life hasbeen terminated, but our still living means that our personality andfaculties are still present. The Lord lived, acted, spoke, and inter-acted with others under the cross. He did not do anything by Hishuman life but did everything by the divine life; His human life wasunder the cross. This is what He meant when He spoke of taking upthe cross and carrying the cross (Matt. 10:38; 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke9:23; 14:27). Dying on the cross and taking up the cross are two dif-ferent things. To take up the cross means to put oneself under thecross. Christ continually lived and walked under the cross. The crossterminated His human life, but His human personality and faculties

The Crucified and Resurrected Christ Living in Us 61

were not terminated. He did not live by His human life but by thedivine life.

In the Lord’s living we see not only crucifixion, which termi-nates the human life, but also resurrection, which germinates thedivine life. Christ lived a crucified life and a resurrected life. Underthe cross His human life was terminated, and in resurrection Hisdivine life was released. We need to see this vision clearly.

Eventually, this One who continually lived under the cross andin resurrection was physically nailed to the cross and put to death.The divine life can never be terminated, but as a human being withthe human life, Christ was physically crucified and buried, whichwas a full termination of His human life. After three days He res-urrected, and in His resurrection the divine life was released. Ournatural mind cannot understand the Bible. First Corinthians 15:45bsays, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” In resurrectionChrist became a life-giving Spirit. It is Christ as the life-giving Spiritwho is our life.

In order to understand who the life-giving Spirit is, we mustsee who Christ is—He is both God and a man who lived a crucifiedand resurrected life. His human life was terminated, and He was inresurrection, living out the divine life. As a man of Nazareth, Helived this way until one day He was physically crucified, which fullyterminated His humanity. Then He entered into resurrection, and thedivine life was released. At this juncture, He became the life-givingSpirit. Now the life-giving Spirit, who is the crucified and resurrectedChrist, is our life. We need to live by this life.

Our experience today should be the same as Christ’s experienceon earth. As God, He became a man, and we are men with God’s lifein us. Hence, like Him, we have the human life and nature as wellas the divine life and nature (2 Pet. 1:4). He had the human natureadded to His divine nature, and we have the divine nature added toour human nature. We need to consider by what life we are living.We should not live by our natural human life but by the divine life.

As human beings, in order to live by the divine life, we need cru-cifixion and resurrection, just as Christ did. This is why Paul saysthat he was crucified with Christ, and this is what the Lord meantwhen He said that we should take up our cross. To take up our crossis to remain in crucifixion. We have been crucified with Christ, and


now we must remain in crucifixion, living under the cross, keepingour natural human life under the termination of the cross.

If we remain under the cross, we will realize the power of Christ’sresurrection. The power of Christ’s resurrection can avail only whenwe are living a crucified life. Without death, resurrection cannot bemanifested or avail. When we take up the cross, living a crucifiedlife, the power of the resurrection of Christ will avail for us to liveout the divine life. When we speak of life, this is what we shouldmean. The experience of life is the crucified and resurrected Christliving in us. Christ’s human life was terminated, and His divine liferose up out of death. This person is living in us, and we need to takeHim as our life, live by Him, and live Him out. If we see this, weunderstand what life is.

The above definition of life is the basis of many specific points inthe New Testament. For example, 1 Corinthians 6:17 says that we areone spirit with the Lord. Furthermore, Romans 8:4 indicates that weshould walk according to this spirit. When we walk by Christ as oneperson with Him, there is no need to pray for His leading or guid-ance. When we live by Christ as our life, everything we do is Hiswill. This shows the inadequacy of the common Christian conceptthat we should seek to know God’s will without living by Christ orwalking according to our spirit, in which we are one with Him. Itis far off the mark to seek to know the Lord’s leading while livingand acting independently from Him. The New Testament revelationis that because we are one spirit with the Lord, we should live, act,and speak not according to His external leading but according tothe mingled spirit. By fellowshipping with the Lord and praying toHim, we can live by Him. Because our living is His living, whateverwe do is His will. This is what is meant by life.

All the saints need to see this, and the elders need to see it first.We should take the lead to have such a living. If the elders live thiskind of life, the rest of the church will follow. We need to see how toapply this vision, even in the eldership. We should not put aside thisvision in our eldership. It is wrong to think that our eldership is akind of doing or activity and that matters related to our life andliving do not relate to dealing with the many difficult situationsfacing an elder. Our dealing with matters in the eldership shouldfirst be through our living. Even our functioning in the meetings


should be based on our living. If we do not live this way, our func-tioning in the meetings will not be genuine.

Our shepherding should also be our living. If we do not live thisway, when we try to shepherd a brother who has a problem, ourshepherding will be merely an outward activity. This kind of shep-herding cannot minister life. It is only when we live by the crucifiedand resurrected Christ that we can minister life and spiritual nour-ishment to those whom we are shepherding. This is absolutely dif-ferent from an activity. Anything we do that is not from our living isnot the ministry of life. When we live a crucified and resurrectedlife, many times we do not need to say much; simply by our visitinga brother, life will be ministered to him because we live this kind oflife.


Question: How can we avoid becoming loose when we are tryingto live by Christ?

Answer: As fallen men, we often take care of one side and neglectthe other, and we tend to extremes. In this chapter we first coveredthe matter of crucifixion and then the matter of resurrection. Cruci-fixion terminates our human life, including the self and the f lesh,and resurrection releases the divine life. Crucifixion and resurrec-tion are elements of Christ, who is now the life-giving Spirit. If welive by this One, we will spontaneously be persons always under thecross. If we are not under the cross, we are not experiencing lifebecause life is Christ, who is constituted with crucifixion and resur-rection.

In order to live by the Spirit, we need to know who the Spirit is.Many Christians do not know that the Spirit is the crucified andresurrected Christ. Some may even think that it is wrong to say this.Traditional Christian teachings are far off, and our own under-standing may also be incomplete. We need a vision to see that life isa person—Christ—and to see who Christ is and what He has accom-plished. We need to consider His history, which is recorded in thefour Gospels. He possessed the divine life and the human life. Healways lived by the divine life and repudiated the human life by tak-ing up the cross and being brought into resurrection. His human lifewas under the cross, and His divine life was released. Eventually, Hewas crucified and resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit. Thus,


the life-giving Spirit is the crucified and resurrected Christ, whois our life. We need to live by this life. This implies that we need totake up our cross, which is for our human life to be crucified. Withcrucifixion comes resurrection. When we are crucified with Christ,we apprehend the power of His resurrection, which is the release ofthe divine life.

When we live by Christ as life, everything we do is His will. Hisleading is altogether a matter of life and is versus merely seeking toknow what He wants us to do in a particular situation, which is thehuman concept of many Christians. If we are living this life, therewill be no looseness, because this life is the crucified Christ, andthere will be no disappointment, because this life is the resurrectedChrist. We can live such a life when our human life is under thecross and the divine life is released.

Although we often talk about life, we may not know what life is.Life is not a condition or situation but a person—the crucified andresurrected Christ, who is the life-giving Spirit. Because life is thisperson, our having life does not depend on outward activities, evenin the meetings. Paul’s words in Colossians 3:4 are unmistakablyclear: “Christ our life.” However, our understanding of Christ maybe quite superficial. We need the entire New Testament to see whoChrist is. He is a person who has the human life and the divine life,is continually crucified and resurrected, has become the life-givingSpirit, and as such indwells us as our life and life supply so that wecan live by Him.

Whatever we are in our natural man is crucified, and where cru-cifixion is, resurrection is also. Crucifixion terminates the naturalhuman life, and resurrection releases the divine life. When we expe-rience this, we have not only life but also a crucified and resurrectedliving. From such a living comes power, holiness, righteousness, life,love, light, and all kinds of divine virtues. This explains how Christcan be our righteousness and sanctification. According to 1 Corin-thians 1:30, we are in Christ, who has become our righteousness,sanctification, and redemption. This is not something objective butsubjective, for it is Christ wrought into us and lived out of us. Whatis lived out of us is the righteousness of God. Philippians 3:9 says,“Be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is out ofthe law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousnesswhich is out of God and based on faith.” Christ lived out of us is the


righteousness of God, and this righteousness is first our justifica-tion and then our sanctification, or holiness.

The leading ones in the churches need to see this, and we need tolive this life so that the whole f lock can follow our lead to live thislife. In this way the Lord will have a testimony that is altogether dif-ferent from organized Christianity. The situation among the denom-inations does not match the Lord’s vision of life and its expression inour living. Organized Christianity today is nothing but a heap ofhuman concepts.

Question: How do practices such as calling on the Lord andpray-reading relate to living by Christ?

Answer: We are altogether short of vision. If we see the vision oflife, our prayer, functioning, shepherding, calling on the Lord, pray-reading, praising the Lord, and release of the spirit will be different.In our gospel preaching we need to pass on a vision to others in ad-dition to asking them to call on the Lord’s name. Without a vision,calling on the Lord is empty. Our preaching should give others avision of their sinful and pitiful situation so that when they call,their calling means something. Vision, calling, and the Spirit shouldalways go together. Our release of our spirit may often be empty. Inorder for our calling on the Lord to have content, we must first seethe vision and second have experience. We can release only what isalready within us. Therefore, we need to see and be filled with theriches of Christ in order to release these riches when we exercise ourspirit.

We are short of the proper experience of life, which is the experi-ence of Christ. All the things we practice, such as calling on theLord, are found in the New Testament, but there are many riches inthe New Testament that we are short of. Therefore, we need a vision.On the one hand, I rejoice that the Lord has revealed His economyto us. We cannot deny that a divine scenery has been unveiled to us.On the other hand, the situation among Christians today is dis-heartening. It is difficult to find a group of Christians who walkaccording to the spirit and know real oneness. We need a turn notmerely to have certain practices but to have reality. We may have asmall amount of reality, but what we have is inadequate. Our meet-ings should be enriched to the extent that they are convincing andsubduing to newcomers. If others see only our outward practiceswithout touching anything of reality, we have become sounding brass


(1 Cor. 13:1). This is what it means to care for a work without havinglife. Even our meetings may be in the realm of work without life.

An elder in Shanghai once told me that when he first came to achurch meeting there in 1927 and heard Watchman Nee softly utter-ing the Lord’s name when he prayed, it was sweet, attractive, andinspiring. Because of this, even before Brother Nee gave a message,the visitors were already subdued and attracted. When he gave amessage, the atmosphere in the meeting remained calm and quiet,because everyone was focused on what was being ministered. In thefirst few years of the church life in Shanghai, there was not much inthe way of outward practices, but everyone who came to a meetingwas convinced, subdued, supplied, and nourished, because BrotherNee had a real testimony in his living. This is what the Lord wantstoday.

Question: How can we have the proper vision and experience?Answer: In God’s way in His economy we have the Holy Spirit

and the Holy Bible. These two things are actually one way used byGod to dispense and infuse Himself into us. Through the genera-tions most Christians have fallen short of this way by going to oneextreme or the other—either emphasizing the Bible while neglectingthe Spirit or emphasizing the Spirit while neglecting the Bible. Thosein Pentecostalism, who emphasize the Holy Spirit, lack the revelationand vision in the holy Word. They only propagate the manifestationof gifts, such as healing and speaking in tongues. Those of us whospent time among them can testify that there are no riches therebecause they neglect the Word. Other Christians pay much atten-tion to the Bible but neglect the Spirit. Moreover, the Bible is closedto them; they have only the dead letters of doctrines.

I recently helped some young saints to begin reading a page ortwo of the Bible every day consecutively from Genesis to Revelation.It helps to read and reread the entire Bible in this way. We need boththe Spirit and the Word. We should not be like unturned cakes, whichare overcooked on one side and raw on the other. In my whole lifeI never met a Christian as balanced and complete as Watchman Nee.No one knew the Bible as much as he did or was as filled with theSpirit as he was. As a result, his speaking was profound in the truthand full of the Spirit.

We are off of the central lane if we consider certain practices,situations, or conditions as life. Life is a person—the crucified and


resurrected Christ, who has become the life-giving Spirit. We maytry different ways because we are short of vision. We should not beconcerned about outward practices but should always emphasize life.If we have the real experience of Christ as our life, we will have theproper practices but not in a legal way. Any kind of practice is notlife in itself. Even calling on the name of the Lord is not life, for lifeis a person. The proper practices are channels to bring in life, but ifwe do not have life, there is no use in having these channels. Havingpractices without life is like having many pipes without water. Thepipes are not the supply itself; only the water is. We may live with orwithout pipes, but we surely need water. Of course, the best way toreceive water is through pipes, but the main thing is not the pipesbut the water. In the Lord’s recovery today we must see what is real,vital, and crucial. The leading ones in all the churches must learn tobe inclusive, see the vision, pray much, contact the Spirit, and readthe Bible and helpful books.

We all need to be balanced, be in the one central lane, and stressonly the one thing. The experience of Christ is the most mysteriousthing in the Christian life. It is difficult to explain what the expe-rience of Christ is or how to experience Christ. Because it is mys-terious, it is often missed. Most Christians lack the experience ofChrist. Although we can tell others how to be sanctified, godly, andrighteous, we may not be able to tell them how to experience Christ.Actually, to experience Christ is a new phrase we invented when Icame to the United States. We are in the Lord’s recovery, but wemust admit that our experience of Christ is still lacking. We havecovered many things in our publications, but not much has becomeour experience. Many of these things merely remain in our booksand may not even be mentioned in our meetings. We need to spendtime to read the publications and listen to the recorded messages.

Question: How can we lead the saints into a spiritual life inwhich they adequately know the Bible and digest the ministry pub-lications?

Answer: We cannot lead the church into a spiritual life if we lackthe Spirit and a vision. Very little of the Word and the ministry pub-lications has been wrought into the saints. If the saints do not havean appetite for these things, it is not a healthy sign. We need muchprayer, and we each need to go to the Lord every day to have per-sonal contact with Him. Even five to ten minutes daily will be a


great help. I fear that few saints in the churches practice to have reg-ular personal contact with the Lord. In the past we have stressed thecorporate side and may have neglected the personal side. Every elderneeds a time of at least five to ten minutes every day to remain in theLord’s presence, have personal fellowship with Him, and be enlight-ened, touched, examined, and searched by Him. In these times weshould tell the Lord our problems and our real situation. If we areshort in this matter, we are bankrupt. Our basic capital is our per-sonal, intimate, direct contact with the Lord.

We need to touch the Lord and let Him speak to us every day, andwe need to read the Bible. These things may seem to be legalities,but a few things must be done legally for the maintenance of life. Forinstance, our physical life requires that we eat, drink, breathe, andsleep in a legal way. In fact, the more legal we are with regard tothese things, the healthier we will be. If we neglect these principlesof life, we will have trouble with our health. The spiritual life has sim-ilar principles. If we spend time with the Lord and read the Word, wewill accumulate spiritual riches. It is also helpful to build up a habitof reading the Life-study messages or some other nourishing, edify-ing materials. This is our spiritual eating.

If we do not contact the Lord personally and read the Bible andministry publications daily, we will be finished. We may come to themeetings to listen to messages and try to function, and we may evenfellowship with the saints and invite some to our home for fellow-ship, but we will not remain healthy for the long run. We must goback to the basic foundation of life by helping the saints to have apersonal contact with the Lord and read the Word and ministry pub-lications every day. Even those who are busy can spend at least five toten minutes with the Lord and then read something.

Philippians concerns the experience of Christ. The language inthis book seems simple. We may think that it is easy to understand,but if we check with our experience, we may realize that we do notunderstand several points, such as being found in Christ, havingthe righteousness which is of God, knowing the power of Christ’sresurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, and being con-formed to His death (3:9-10). To be found in Christ is to live inHim. If we are living in Christ continually, others will find us, orobserve us, in Christ. If a brother is arguing with his wife when wearrive at his home, we will find him in his temper. However, if he


lives and conducts himself in Christ, we will find him in Christ. Weneed to live in Christ so that we will be observed by men, the angels,and the demons in Christ.

Being found in Christ corresponds with magnifying Him (1:20).When others observe us in Christ, Christ is magnified in us. Paulwas endeavoring to live in Christ so that in every situation otherswould find him in Christ. Previously, when he was a leading one inreligion, he was found by others in the law, but when he was writingthe Epistle to the Philippians from prison, he was found in Christ.We are short of this experience because we do not pay attention toor understand these simple words.

Being conformed to Christ’s death corresponds with living a cru-cified life. The Lord lived a crucified life even before His death on thecross. He lived in a way that terminated His human life and broughtHim into resurrection. Our living and being need to be conformed toChrist’s death, which means that our natural life and our natural manmust be terminated. Whatever we are, have, and can do must be ter-minated so that our living will bear the form, the image, of Christ’sdeath. In this way we are conformed to the death of Christ. This isrelated to knowing the fellowship of His sufferings. Grammatically,being conformed to His death in 3:10 belongs to the preceding phrase,to know…the fellowship of His sufferings. By participating in Christ’ssuffering, we are conformed to His death.

In 1:21 Paul speaks of living Christ. We do not have much expe-rience of living Christ. Paul experienced Christ in many ways and toan increasingly higher degree until in 2 Timothy 4:7 he could say, “Ihave finished the course.” Earlier, in Philippians 3:12 he says, “Notthat I have already obtained or am already perfected, but I pursue, ifeven I may lay hold of that for which I also have been laid hold of byChrist Jesus.” In verse 14 he says, “I pursue toward the goal for theprize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward.”

Question: Paul speaks of having the same love, being joined insoul, and thinking the one thing in Philippians 2:2. Are these expe-riences of Christ?

Answer: Yes. Paul stressed this “one thing.” Philippians 2:2 says,“Make my joy full, that you think the same thing, having the samelove, joined in soul, thinking the one thing.” In the original Greekthere is a definite article before one thing, indicating that there isone particular thing. According to the context of this book, the one


thing here refers to the subjective knowledge and experience of Christ(1:20-21; 2:5; 3:7-9; 4:13). At the time this Epistle was written thesaints in Philippi may have been one in spirit, but they were notjoined in soul, because they did not think the one thing. It is possi-ble to think different things that are good and right but are not theone thing. We need to be joined in soul by thinking the one thing. Itis easy to be one with others in the spirit but not in the soul. In themeetings we may declare that we are one, but at other times we talkdifferently because we are different in our soul. Philippians 3:13 alsospeaks of “one thing.” Verses 13 and 14 say, “One thing I do…I pur-sue toward the goal.” If we pursue Christ and take Christ as our goal,we will think about nothing else. To think the one thing is to pursueChrist in order to experience Him.

Question: Philippians 4:2 says, “I exhort Euodias, and I exhortSyntyche, to think the same thing in the Lord.” How could this beworked out?

Answer: The same thing and the one thing in Philippians are thepursuit of Christ (3:12-14). This is how we stand firm with one soul,striving together (1:27), and think “the same thing” and “the onething” (2:2; 4:2). According to 3:13-14, the one thing is to pursueChrist. If we all think the “one thing” by pursuing Christ to expe-rience Him, there will be no problems in the church life.

Question: It seems that we mostly experience Christ when we arenot found in Him or when we go against Him, and He checks us,rebukes us, or gives us a “red light” within. Is this normal?

Answer: Our experience of Christ is too much on the negativeside. We need more positive experiences of Christ. For this, Philip-pians can help us greatly. Verse 12 of chapter 4 says, “I know alsohow to be abased, and I know how to abound; in everything and inall things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to hunger,both to abound and to lack.” In this verse I have learned the secretis literally translated as “I have been initiated.” The metaphor hererefers to a person’s being initiated into a secret society with in-struction in its rudimentary principles. To be initiated means to beinstructed with secret knowledge in a new field. If I have not studiedelectronics, in order to enter into the field of electronics, I wouldneed to be instructed with some special knowledge. Saul of Tarsuswas in the field of the law. When he was saved, he was put into Christ,and Christ was altogether a new field to him. In this new field he


needed the instruction with secret knowledge, which was how toexperience Christ. If Paul needed the instruction with this secretknowledge, we need this kind of instruction even more. Regrettably,we may be a Christian for years yet not be instructed with the knowl-edge concerning how to experience Christ. Even many among us stillneed to be instructed with secret knowledge concerning how toexperience Christ. Without this instruction we do not know howto experience Christ. In verse 13 Paul says, “I am able to do all thingsin Him.” To do all things in Christ is to “be found in Him” (3:9). Ifwe do all things in Him, we will surely be found in Him. This is thesecret Paul spoke of.

Philippians may be familiar to us, but if we consider it point bypoint, we will realize that we do not understand or experience muchof what it reveals. In order to lead the churches on, we need this rev-elation and experience. Otherwise, we may fall into empty forms.Only experiencing Christ as revealed in Philippians can rescue usfrom the snare of forms.

Question: It seems that the Lord’s move in past centuries usuallybegan in a strong and prevailing way but eventually fell into forms.Is it possible that this would happen with us?

Answer: Regrettably, this has nearly always happened in the past,and it can easily happen to us. The experience of Christ is real butmysterious; therefore, it is easily missed. With any new group ofgenuine Christians, there is something real of Christ at the begin-ning. However, because the experience of Christ is mysterious, mostChristians do not pay attention to it, and every group has eventuallyfallen into empty forms. We need the Lord’s grace to forsake theforms and come back to the experience of Christ. The more we expe-rience Christ, the less danger there is that we would fall into forms.Even scriptural practices and ways of meeting can become forms ifwe do not come back to the central lane of God’s economy. We shouldnot care too much for the way of meeting. This is childish, likecaring more for a nice box than for the diamond ring that it con-tains. Adults would pay much more attention to the ring. Of course,it is good to have a proper box to contain a diamond ring, but thediamond ring is much more important than the box. The box is forthe ring. We need to experience and enjoy Christ as the “diamondring” rather than care only for the “box” of outward practices asmost Christians do today.


Question: What did you mean when you said that it is difficultto find a group of Christians who walk according to the spirit andknow real oneness?

Answer: Organized Christianity today is in a pitiful state. Evenwhen we consider ourselves, it seems that our vision is not clear.During the past thirty years in the Far East, several co-workers whowere strong for the Lord’s recovery eventually brought in division,dissent, and damage to the Lord’s recovery. This situation causes memuch sorrow. Some of the saints among us have behaved in a waythat causes us to be very concerned. In the Lord’s recovery our visionmust be clear.

One brother who claims to have been a close co-worker ofBrother Nee is spreading dissenting opinions. In 1937 Brother Neemade clear in The Normal Christian Church Life that in this age Godstill has sent ones and that these sent ones are apostles who can es-tablish churches and appoint elders. Now forty-one years later, thisso-called co-worker still holds a different opinion and has createdconfusion and problems. He is not a co-worker but a dissenter. Thispoint concerning apostles and elders is crucial. He bases his dissent-ing opinion on J. N. Darby’s concept that because of degradation,there is no official church today, and everything is not “official” butonly spiritual. Someone who teaches this today is not in the Lord’sup-to-date recovery. Worldly people can live their life as they please.However, as a Christian, I must take the way of the Lord’s recovery.There is no need for another ordinary Christian work, for there arealready too many of every kind. What distinguishes us is the visionof the Lord’s recovery.

Question: Is there a danger that we would make the same mis-takes as the past co-workers who left the way of the Lord’s recovery?

Answer: This is exactly my concern. None who have left havebuilt up anything that remains. They even have no direction. Theseones are sacrifices. Thank the Lord for the leading brothers in theLord’s recovery today. I love all of them and hope that not one willbecome a sacrifice. I do not like to correct or adjust others, but I donot want anyone else to become a sacrifice. We may be in the recov-ery for a long time and still become a sacrifice. It is as if in the Lord’srecovery we are running a race that began with many brothers, but Ihave seen them falling away one by one. It seems that only a few willreach the destination. In 1 Corinthians 9:27 Paul says, “I buffet my


body and make it my slave, lest perhaps having preached to others,I myself may become disapproved.” The King James Version rendersdisapproved as “a castaway.” In the forty-six years since I came intothe church life, I have seen many brothers become castaways. There-fore, my heart is concerned for the leading ones among us today. Itis easy to run the race, but it is difficult to stay in the race to the end.There are many ways that we may fall away. Only a little carelessnessmay cause us to fall away. This is why I am having this fellowshipwith the leading ones. I have prayed countless times, “Lord, preserveevery brother.”


The Experience of Life and Oneness for the Lord’s RecoveryLife, Light, and Love Issuing In Oneness

CHAPTER FOUR

LIFE, LIGHT, AND LOVE ISSUING IN ONENESSFOR THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS

Prayer: Lord, by Your mercy and grace we worship You and thankYou for Your presence and Your anointing. What we need is only You.We want to move and act in Your presence; we do not want to haveour being apart from You. We offer ourselves anew to You for Yourwill, Your purpose. Lord, grant us Your speaking. We need Your un-veiling. Come in, examine us, search us within, and expose us—bring whatever we are into Your light, the light that is Yourself. Lord,grant us a thorough fellowship so that we may enter into the depthsof Your being. Save us from being shallow. We want to be up to Yourstandard. Lord, thank You that we are in the last days, in a timewhen You are going to complete Your work to accomplish Your pur-pose. We thank You that You have opened the heavens, Your Word,and Yourself to us. We thank You that we are in Your recovery andunder Your preserving hand, which day after day keeps us in Youand in Your recovery. We look unto You that something of Yourselfwould be revealed to us, transfused into us, and wrought into ourbeing. Grant us a thorough openness. We do not fear anything otherthan You. We thank You for Your redeeming and cleansing blood.Under this blood we have the boldness to come to You and to dealwith our conscience. Thank You for the constant and instant cover-ing of Your prevailing blood. Lord, apply Your blood to our presentsituation. Thank You that under the blood we enjoy Your abundantanointing. Lord, grant us the proper understanding, the proper utter-ance, and the grace to be built up. Lord, cause us to see the oneness,the building, the Body, and Your up-to-date recovery. Defeat theenemy. We realize that Your recovery is still in the battle because theenemy hates this recovery. Lord, rebuke the enemy for us. Under Yourprevailing blood and in Your mighty name, we command You todestroy every work of the devil. We bind him and his power of dark-ness. Lord, we pray that Your recovery will be fully preserved and

kept in You from any activity of the enemy. We pray for the lead-ing ones and all the saints in the recovery. Lord, move on in all thechurches in Your way—in the way of Christ as life, light, love, andoneness. We pray this in Your precious name.

LIFE, LIGHT, AND LOVE ISSUING IN ONENESS

The Gospel of John is the last of the four Gospels, John’s Epistleswere the last to be written, and Revelation is the last book of theentire New Testament and the Bible. Therefore, John’s writings arethe concluding books of the Bible. Furthermore, John’s ministry wasa mending ministry and the last ministry in the Bible, because allthe others from the first group of apostles had departed by the timeJohn wrote his books. The center of these concluding books and ofthis last, mending ministry is life.

The Gospel of John opens in this way: “In the beginning was theWord, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1).Verses 3 and 4 say, “All things came into being through Him…InHim was life, and the life was the light of men.” The way in whichthese verses are composed shows that John’s intention was to empha-size the matters of life and light. In no other Epistles or Gospels arethe matters of life and light stressed as much as in John’s writings.In the Gospel of John the Lord said, “I am the light of the world; hewho follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall havethe light of life” (8:12). First John 1:5 says, “God is light.” Only Johnclearly wrote that life and light are one (John 1:4). Life is light.

As the Gospel of John goes on, it speaks of love (e.g., 3:16, 35; 8:42;14:21, 23). In this Gospel we can see that life, light, and love areclosely related to one another. Without life, there is no light. With-out light, there is no love. There is not a verse that tells us that life islove or that light is love. However, in John’s first Epistle light andlove cannot be separated. After stating that God is light, he says,“God is love” (4:8, 16). If we are in the light, we have love. First John2:9 says, “He who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother isin the darkness until now.” This means that if we are void of love,there is no light but darkness. Thus, love is the expression of light.Life is light, and when light shines, it is love. If there is a lack of loveamong us, this means that we are in darkness. If we are full of love, itis a sign that we are in the light, and light comes from life. The Gos-pel of John emphatically tells us that we need to love one another


(13:34). No other book stresses loving one another as much as theGospel of John. The Lord said, “By this shall all men know that youare My disciples, if you have love for one another” (v. 35). Others canrealize that we are the Lord’s followers by our loving one another. Inthe apostle John’s writings we can see that life, light, and love are one.

The Gospel of John also speaks of oneness (17:11, 21-23). Life,light, love, and oneness were on John’s heart in writing his Gospel.Eventually, on the Lord’s last night on earth He prayed for the be-lievers’ oneness. The oneness in John 17 is threefold. The first aspectof the oneness is our oneness in the Father’s name by the eternal life(v. 11). We have all been born of the same Father and therefore havethe same life (1:12). Because we are all the Father’s children, we areone. Oneness is the normal situation among the believers, not by or-ganization or any other human way, such as compromise, but by thedivine life of the Father. As a young believer in a denomination, Ioccasionally heard others speak of oneness. However, I never heardthat oneness is the issue of life, since we are all children of the sameFather and have His life in us. The Lord prayed for His disciples tobe one based upon the fact that they were children of God, havingthe Father’s name. We need to be kept in oneness in the Father’s name.

The second aspect of the oneness in John 17 is oneness throughsanctification by the holy word (vv. 14-21). This is a further step ofoneness. We have the Father’s life within us and the word of Godoutside of us to separate us from anything that is not holy, which isto be of God, for God, and containing God. Only God is holy; any-thing that belongs to God is holy. Even a piece of ground where Godis present becomes holy. As Moses was approaching God in the burn-ing bush, God warned him, “Remove your sandals from your feet, forthe place on which you are standing is holy ground” (Exo. 3:5). Thatground was holy for no other reason than God’s presence was there.Anything that belongs to God, is for God, and contains God is holy.In Exodus we see many holy things, such as the Holy Place, the holyanointing oil, the offerings, the furniture in the tabernacle, and thetabernacle itself, because all these things belonged to God and werefor God. Aaron and his sons were holy because they were separatedunto God; they became persons of, for, and with God. The word ofGod works to separate us unto God, to make us persons belongingto God, for God, and containing God. Believers who do not care forthe Word and remain in the world cannot be one with those who

Life, Light, and Love Issuing In Oneness 77

are separated unto God by His sanctifying word. The first group isfor the world and filled with the world, but the second group is forGod and filled with God. Hence, even though all believers have theFather’s life within, worldliness without separates some. The holyword not only nourishes us but also sanctifies us. Actually, as theword nourishes us, it sanctifies us by separating us from the worldunto God. When we receive the nourishment from the Word, weare sanctified by being separated from anything that is common,worldly, and not of and for our Father God. Thus, the second aspectof the oneness that the Lord prayed for in John 17 is oneness by theFather’s sanctifying word.

The third aspect of the oneness in John 17 is oneness in the divineglory for the expression of the Triune God. The Lord prayed to theFather, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them,that they may be one, even as We are one” (v. 22). Glory is the expres-sion of God, God expressed. The Lord’s speaking of Himself and theFather indicates that the glory in John 17 is the glory of the Trinity,the glory that is the expression of the Triune God. This last aspect ofthe genuine oneness depends on the maturity in life, because we ex-press only God when we are mature in life. In this expression, whichis the glory of the Triune God, is the oneness. Before we are matured,we may express different things. For instance, some Christians ex-press gifts, enthusiasm for missionary work, or their appreciation ofthe truth in the Bible. Because such ones lack the maturity in life,what they express is not mainly the glory of the Triune God but theirown interests. Proper oneness eventually reaches the glory of the Tri-une God. As a result of having the divine life within and the sanc-tifying, separating word without, glory is manifested. The genuineoneness is perfected in the divine life, the holy word, and the gloryof the Triune God.

In order to achieve genuine oneness, we need life, light, and love.There is no other way for us to realize the oneness that the Lordprayed for in John 17 than by life, light, and love. This revelationshould convince us that the Bible is absolutely inspired by God. Nohuman mind could compose such a thing.

THE TESTIMONY OF JESUSAS THE LAMPSTANDS AND THE NEW JERUSALEM

In John’s last book, Revelation, the local churches are seen as


golden lampstands (1:11-12, 20). There being one unique lampstandfor each city indicates oneness. Each lampstand is gold, indicatingthat its nature is uniquely divine, having no mixture or impurity. Theone standing and one nature of the golden lampstands show the gen-uine oneness. The shining of the lampstands gives light. Additionally,the situation of the lampstands also indicates life and love (vv. 18, 13).The consummate conclusion of all John’s writings is the church as ashining lampstand. In Revelation the church is called the testimonyof Jesus (1:2, 9; 12:17; 19:10; 20:4).

If we see the significance of the lampstand, we will realize whatthe Lord’s recovery is. The Lord’s recovery is such a lampstand, whichis constituted of life, light, and love, issuing in oneness. The lamp-stand is the embodiment of oneness as the issue of life, light, andlove. The lampstand shines with sevenfold brightness, vanquishingall darkness. The shining of light is a situation of love. Where dark-ness is, there is no love (1 John 2:9). Love is the expression of light.We should not try to grasp this by doctrinal understanding. If welove one another, our situation will be full of light. Where love is,others see a glorious shining.

As the testimony of Jesus, the lampstand is the embodiment ofthe genuine oneness, which is the issue of life, light, and love. Thishas been lost in organized Christianity. Instead of oneness, we seedivision and confusion. Instead of mutual love, we see murmuring,criticizing, despising, and backbiting. Since this is the situation,there is no light but only darkness, and where darkness is, there isdeath. Instead of love, light, and life, there is death, darkness, andanimosity. Because this is the situation among Christians today, thereis no lampstand, no testimony. However, the Lord is recovering thesethings. The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of this lampstand as Histestimony.

Although Exodus clearly presents the dimensions of most of thefurniture in the tabernacle, the Bible does not tell us the size or meas-urements of the lampstand. This indicates several things: First, theLord’s testimony is unlimited, immeasurable. Second, with the Lord’stestimony, the Lord does not care for quantity but quality. A Chris-tian worker may build up something great, but if it does not havethe unique standing and the unique nature, it is not the lampstand.A physical lampstand is never very large or high. The genuine lamp-stand is small, but it is unlimited, immeasurable. The genuineness


of a lampstand does not depend upon its size but upon its nature.It has the unique standing of oneness and the divine nature, and itshines brightly. This is the testimony of Jesus. We need to see this.

The concluding books of the Bible—the Gospel of John, theEpistles of John, and Revelation—reveal life, light, love, and one-ness. These matters are fully pictured by a single entity, which is thelampstand in this age and the New Jerusalem in eternity. In the NewJerusalem we see the tree of life (Rev. 22:2). There is also the shiningof light, for Revelation 21:23 says, “The city has no need of the sunor of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God il-lumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” God Himself is fully shiningthere. Those who inherit the New Jerusalem are the sons of God(v. 7). Thus, the New Jerusalem is the full sonship. We are the sonsof God who will inherit what God is, which is consummately theNew Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the consummate, universal,unique lampstand. The whole city is a lampstand, because it is agolden mountain as a stand with the Lamb as the lamp on top, andGod shines through the whole city (vv. 16, 18, 23). Furthermore,just as there is only one lampstand in each locality, there is only oneNew Jerusalem in the universe. It is one in standing and nature, andit shines brightly (v. 24).

The Gospel of John, the Epistles of John, and Revelation—theconcluding books in the Bible—reveal life, light, and love, issuing inoneness. The embodiment of this oneness is the lampstands in thisage and consummately the New Jerusalem in eternity. This is whatwe should become and where we should be. If we see this vision, wewill be joyful within, but we will weep over the present situation ofChristianity. The testimony of Jesus, which is fully portrayed as thelampstand, cannot be found among Christians today. Moreover, noone cares for it or even knows about it. Christians do not have thisconcept and are instead busy with many outward activities. We needmore fellowship, training, and prayer concerning these things. Life,light, love, and oneness portrayed in the lampstand and the New Jeru-salem are the conclusion of God’s speaking—His final, concludingword. In His wisdom God has condensed His revelation in the pic-ture of the lampstand. This lampstand, which will be the New Jerusa-lem in eternity, is the condensation of God’s oracle through the ages.

In order to satisfy the Lord’s heart, we must become this testi-mony. We have no other choice. This should mean everything to us.


If we see this, it will change every part of our life, including our homelife, family life, marriage life, and church life. Although most Chris-tians do not see this revelation, it is the substance of the concludingbooks of the Bible. Without life, light, love, oneness, the lampstand,and the New Jerusalem, John’s writings are empty. The testimony ofJesus is the lampstand, which is the embodiment of the oneness thatissues from life, light, and love. We need to see this vision. First, theleading ones in the churches must see this. Then all the f lock willfollow in their steps.

QUESTION AND ANSWER

Question: How can we practically take care of our present situa-tion?

Answer: Practically speaking, the best way is not to talk aboutthe past. Talking about the past or about others is a strong indica-tion that we are not under the cross and not under the control of theSpirit. We may understand the teachings, but we do not live in theseteachings. The situation among us should force every one of us to goto the cross. There is unnecessary talk not only about the past butalso about differing interpretations or applications of my messages.Some say that I am rebuking certain ones, and some say that I amvindicating them. If we are all under the cross, we will listen to theword for ourselves without interpreting it to apply it to others. Iregret that some of what I have recently ministered concerning theyoung people and the campus work wrongly impressed the saintsthat we are for a kind of movement or a method. Any method in thechurch life causes trouble. After exposing and enlightening me, theLord led me to not make an issue of anything. We should not talkabout any situation but should only pray. We need to forget aboutthe past. Being limited by the Spirit especially in our talk is a test todetermine if we are truly under the cross and walking in the Spirit.We will have no regrets if we are limited by the Spirit and live acrucified life.

When the saints ask us what to do in certain situations, weshould tell them that the best way is to bring the matter to the Lordin prayer but not to talk to others. This is not merely human advicebut a test concerning whether we are walking in the Spirit. We mustnot forget that we are on the battlefield with the enemy, the evilpower. The best remedy for the present situation is to stop talking


and each go to the Lord to learn the lesson, seek His desire, andreceive a vision of what we should be. Talk does not help but onlykills. Trying to correct others, even in love, will not work. The bestway is for every one of us to go to the Lord.

Because the “car” of the churches has veered slightly from thecentral lane of life, the Lord warned me to quickly make a turn sothat we would not go farther off. The 1970 migration was done inthe right way. It was not a movement. We had been praying continu-ally for six years, since 1964. Eventually, all who participated in thatmigration did not have any sense that it was a movement; rather, itwas a move of the Lord in the saints, by the way of life. We must donothing in a careless way, even when passing on a burden from theLord. Any carelessness will open the door for the enemy to come inand cause damage. The only way to go on is to come back to thecross and learn the lesson of life. The saints in all the churches in theLord’s recovery will gradually have a turn. I am full of hope thatthe Lord’s recovery is returning to the right way.

On the negative side, the leading ones in the churches shouldnot talk about any situation. On the positive side, we all need to goto the Lord and to go to the cross. If we do this, there will be life,light, love, and oneness among us. We must forget about what wassaid and done and who was right or wrong. We need to let every-thing go and have a fresh start, holding on to nothing from the past.This is the practical way to go on. If we are careless and do notreturn to the way of life, we will become a movement and a sacrifice.We may do a good work, but as far as the Lord’s recovery is con-cerned, we will be through, which is to become a sacrifice. Not caringfor the oneness but only for our work and success will also cause usto be through with the Lord’s recovery. Any one of us can become asacrifice. The best way is to not talk, let the past go, and go to theLord in prayer.


The Experience of Life and Oneness for the Lord’s RecoveryNeeding Much Prayer, Fellowship, and Waiting on the Lord

CHAPTER FIVE

NEEDING MUCH PRAYER, FELLOWSHIP,AND WAITING ON THE LORD

BEFORE WE CARRY OUT ANY BURDEN

As leading ones, we must be careful about two main things in theLord’s recovery. First, we must be careful not to stir up a movement,which brings in great damage and death. Second, we must not rec-ommend methods. Humanly speaking, people need a method indoing anything, but in the Lord’s recovery any method will causedamage.

We may have a burden that is of the Lord to do something, butwe must be careful concerning whether it is the right time to share itwith all the saints, and we must share it in the way of life. It is easyto neglect these matters unintentionally. Before we share a burdenwith the saints, we need to wait on the Lord, allow adequate time forprayer, and gradually fellowship to release the burden to the saints.Otherwise, our sharing may cause a stirring up and give others theimpression that we are starting a movement. This is a peril that maycause the “car” of the Lord’s recovery to veer from the central laneof God’s way, which is the testimony of life, to a kind of movementor work.

When we receive a burden from the Lord, we should pray muchand wait on the Lord, seeking His way and His time so that thesaints are burdened by the Lord and not by our stirring up. The mi-gration in 1970 came out of prayerful seeking and waiting for sixyears. As a result, in the migration there was no loss or damage tothe Lord’s recovery but only gain. Although many received the bur-den to migrate from Los Angeles in 1964, they received the mercyand grace to stay for six years. As a result, when the migration tookplace in 1970, it was supported by much prayer and fellowship.

As leading ones, we need to remember that we will stand beforethe Lord at His judgment seat and give an account of how we led thechurches. Therefore, we must not be careless in anything. We should

not do anything quickly or without much prayer and waiting on theLord. We have suffered great loss from activities that began withoutprayer, fellowship, and adequate waiting on the Lord and seekingHis way and His time. As a result, many saints have become con-fused, discouraged, and uncertain. In contrast, during the six yearsleading up to the migration in 1970, we did not have any activityor propose any methods. We only went on in life and received theburden to migrate.

Although we may not have the intention to stir up a movement,if we lack adequate prayer, fellowship, and waiting on the Lord, whatactually comes out will be a movement. This will offend the Lord.When we are bold, we are often careless and unintentionally giveothers the impression that we are for a movement or a method. If weinstead go on by living a crucified and resurrected life, praying andfellowshipping much, and waiting on the Lord, the saints will spon-taneously grow and spread without much arrangement or activity,we will have much increase, and the situation will be healthy.

We should avoid talking about the past, but we need to learn thelesson of the past. When we see that we have made a mistake, wemust go to the Lord and find the lesson. The present lesson is to becareful to not have any movement but only to live as a testimonywith much prayer, fellowship, and waiting on the Lord in order toallow Him to lead us concerning what to do. We also need to learnthat any method will cause damage by allowing negative things tocome in. When others came to our meetings in the early days in LosAngeles, they were convinced because they saw the oneness. If welose this oneness, we will suffer unseen loss by not gaining the newcontacts who come to our meetings but are not convinced becausewe lack the oneness. The remedy for our present situation is to go tothe Lord in prayer, return to the way of life, live as a testimony oflife, and allow the saints to grow. If we wait on the Lord, He willgradually and spontaneously take care of the increase and the spreadof His testimony in the way of life. Otherwise, although we may domuch, we will unintentionally cause damage, veer from the centrallane, and suffer loss.

Our present situation is a sickness, and the only way for us to behealed is to each go to the Lord in prayer and have a turn. The morewe try to correct or adjust, the more trouble we will have. The bestway is to cease from doing and not make an issue of anything. What


has happened is in the past. We should confess our mistakes to theLord and offer ourselves anew to Him for His recovery. We need morelessons, and we need the Lord to deal with us to be broken and cru-cified.

We should not be disappointed. There is still a great opportunityfor us to go on. Because it is not easy for the Lord to pick up anotherpeople, He is forced to be patient with us. When we make a seriousmistake, we must be willing to be set aside, but we also must be will-ing to go on for the sake of the Lord’s recovery.

Our recent mistakes and suffering occurred mainly because weare short of life. For this reason I presently have no other burden orinterest than to learn the lesson of life and to minister life. Only theLord knows what the future holds, but if we are void of life, we arethrough. We will be sacrificed because we will be out of the centrallane of God’s way, and the Lord will be forced to use others for Hismove. We will become another ordinary Christian movement, doingthings by methods. We need to make a turn so that we care only fora testimony of life. This does not mean that we will not do anything,but what we do will not be a work, movement, or method but part ofour living as a testimony.

As leading ones, we must never be careless but always allow ade-quate time for much prayer, fellowship, and waiting on the Lord.This is an honor to the Lord. If we act quickly to do what we feel isright, this is an offense to the Lord. We need to realize that the Lordhas no way to go on unless we are faithful to Him in the matter oflife. We have seen in the past that the increase will come simply bythe saints living as a testimony. Methods are only a frustration. Theproper testimony is a shining golden lampstand that attracts others.We thank the Lord that there are always gifted ones among us, andthey can help the saints not by any method but by building up in theway of life. The only way that works is life. Thus, we need to live as atestimony of life.

Needing Much Prayer, Fellowship, and Waiting on the Lord 85

The Experience of Life and Oneness for the Lord’s RecoveryThe Lord’s Recovery Being a Testimony of Life and Oneness

CHAPTER SIX

THE LORD’S RECOVERY BEING A TESTIMONYOF LIFE AND ONENESS

Scripture Reading: John 11:25; 14:6; 17:11, 21-23; Col. 3:4; Eph.4:2-3, 13-14; Rom. 12:4-5, 10, 15-16; 1 Cor. 12:20-27

THE CONTENT OF THE LORD’S RECOVERYBEING CHRIST AS LIFE AND GENUINE ONENESS

In the preceding chapters we have stressed the matter of life. Thecontent of the Lord’s recovery is only Christ, who is life to us. Lifeis not a condition or situation but a person—Christ. We need toremember who and what this person is. Two books in the New Tes-tament plainly state that Christ is life to us—John (11:25; 14:6) andColossians (3:4). Both of these books are very profound and myste-rious. The Gospel of John opens by revealing that Christ is the Wordand God. Furthermore, He became a man, lived on the earth, wascrucified, resurrected, and became the holy breath (1:14; 19:17-30;20:1-9, 22). Many other items of Christ are revealed in John. Colos-sians presents still more items of what Christ is. In Colossians 1 theapostle Paul speaks of Christ as the portion of the saints, the image ofGod, the Firstborn of creation, the Head of the Body, and the First-born from the dead (vv. 12, 15, 18). Chapter 2 mentions more itemsof Christ, including the sphere and ground in which we have ourbeing and the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead (vv. 6-7, 9).Christ has been crucified and resurrected, is now at the right handof God, and is coming again (vv. 12-15; 3:1, 4). This all-inclusiveChrist is our life (v. 4).

We need to see what life is. When we use the word life, we use itaccording to its New Testament definition. Life is the all-inclusiveChrist, who is the content of the church. Most problems with Chris-tians today relate to the church. The Lord’s recovery today is therecovery of the proper church life. Since the unique content of thechurch is Christ, who is our life, the content of the Lord’s recovery islife. Therefore, as the Lord’s recovery, if we miss life, we have lost

our content and are empty. It is impossible to overemphasize thematter of life as the content of the Lord’s recovery.

The opening word of the Gospel of John speaks of life. John 1:4says, “In Him was life.” John’s intention in his Gospel is to ministerChrist as life. Toward the end of John’s Gospel, when the time wasapproaching for the Lord to be crucified, He prayed concerning theoneness of His believers (17:11, 21-23). This prayer is the conclusionof His life and ministry on the earth. Thus, the Gospel of John beginswith life and ends with oneness. This implies that oneness comes outof life; life issues in oneness.

According to the revelation of the entire New Testament, onenessis crucial to the church. It is as crucial to the church as life is. If we donot have life, which is Christ, what we have is empty and is not thegenuine church life. In addition to life, we also need oneness, whichis a check and a safeguard concerning life. If we lack oneness, the lifewe have is not genuine, proper, or balanced. If we have the genuine,proper, and balanced life, we will have oneness, which contains thelife. Without oneness, life is not safeguarded, because there is no wayto prove and discern that the life we have is genuine. Because life ismysterious, we need oneness in order to prove, test, and discern thatthe life we have in the Lord’s recovery is genuine. This is similar towhat we have seen before concerning building being a check of genu-ine spirituality. We may think that we are spiritual, yet if we are shortof building, this puts a question mark on our spirituality. Real spiri-tuality is confirmed by building. Spirituality is the experience of life,and building is oneness. Thus, life needs to be checked by oneness,and oneness is the safeguard of life.

In his Epistles Paul stresses the all-inclusive Christ, who is ourlife. Colossians emphasizes that Christ is the Head and our life (1:18;2:10, 19; 3:4). In Ephesians, which concerns the church as the Bodyof Christ, the apostle Paul stresses oneness (4:3, 13). With the Headthe emphasis is life, and with the Body the emphasis is oneness. InEphesians 4:3 the apostle Paul uses the term the oneness of the Spirit,which joins life and oneness, because Christ, who is life, has becomethe Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17).

Ephesians 4:3 speaks not of the Holy Spirit but of the Spirit. TheSpirit is also spoken of in John 7:39, which says, “The Spirit was notyet.” This Spirit is the inner f low of life as rivers of living water (v. 38).The Spirit is not merely the Holy Spirit of God but also includes


Christ’s processes of incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, andascension. The title the Holy Spirit is first used in the New Testa-ment in the record concerning the conception of the Lord Jesus(Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35). Thus, the Holy Spirit indicates the Spiritof God coming forth to reach man. The title the Spirit signifies theHoly Spirit who has been processed through Christ’s incarnation,crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to be experienced by man.When the Holy Spirit is experienced by us, it is the Spirit. Romans8:2 speaks of the Spirit of life, and Ephesians 4:3 speaks of the one-ness of the Spirit. Thus, the Spirit brings together life and oneness.

Life is of the Head, and oneness pertains to the Body. Life isChrist as the Head, and oneness is the church as the Body. Life andoneness are crucial to the Lord’s recovery. If we do not have thesetwo things, we are empty. The problems in Christianity for the pasttwenty centuries have been due to life being missing and the onenessbeing damaged. It is difficult to find life among Christians today,and there is no oneness.

Life is also seen in the last book of the New Testament. In Rev-elation 1:18 the Lord said, “[I am] the living One; and I becamedead, and behold, I am living forever and ever.” The oneness is sig-nified by there being only one lampstand in each city (vv. 11-12, 20).Life and oneness can also be seen in the consummation of the newheaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem. The river of water oflife and the tree of life, which is Christ, are there (22:1-2, 14, 17, 19).The expression of the New Jerusalem is oneness, for there is onlyone city. Thus, the New Testament reveals life and oneness not onlyin plain teaching but also in the picture of the lampstands and theNew Jerusalem.

Life and oneness have both been lost in Christianity. After twentycenturies the Lord has not returned because life and oneness are stillmissing. Without these two things, the Lord cannot accomplish whatHe desires. Apart from life and oneness, whatever we do is only reli-gion or a movement, an activity, or a human endeavor, not the Lord’srecovery. We need the Lord’s mercy to see that His recovery today isabsolutely and definitely a matter of life and oneness.

Because of our natural being, it is easy to unintentionally andunconsciously neglect life and damage the oneness. We may beginto focus on the spread and increase rather than life because of somesuccess in these matters. It is not wrong to seek the best way to spread

The Lord’s Recovery Being a Testimony of Life and Oneness 89

to new cities and gain an increase, but this should not distract us.We must be aware of the danger of missing the real content of theLord’s recovery, which is life and oneness.

We need to forget about the past, but when we make a mistakeor are negligent, we must repent, have a turn, and learn the lesson oflife. When we are sick, we need to admit that we are sick and findout the reason for our sickness so that we may receive healing. TheLord’s recovery must not lose life and oneness. Losing life and one-ness, which are the Lord’s testimony, would be more damaging thanany outside opposition. Therefore, the leading ones must be on thealert. The oneness in the Lord’s recovery is the oneness of the Body. Ifwe lose the oneness of the Body, we have lost our testimony, and weare no longer the Lord’s recovery, no matter how much increase wemay gain. A gifted evangelist may lead thousands of people to besaved, but that kind of work alone cannot be the Lord’s recovery.Our number makes no difference if we do not have the testimony oflife and oneness. The leading ones must make the saints clear thatthe Lord does not care mainly for spreading or increase but for atestimony of Himself as life in genuine oneness. If the churches losethe focus of life and oneness, we should not seek for someone toblame or talk about the situation; instead, we should each go to theLord, praying, “Lord, have mercy upon us. We need life, and we needYour oneness.”

THE GENUINE ONENESS

We need to see what the genuine oneness is. Ephesians 4:13 says,“Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowl-edge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of thestature of the fullness of Christ.” Verse 3 speaks of the oneness ofthe Spirit, and verse 13 speaks of the oneness of the faith. Concern-ing the oneness of the Spirit, verse 3 says that we need to keep it,which is to preserve, safeguard, and maintain it. This indicates thatwe already have it. However, concerning the oneness of the faith,verse 13 says that we need to arrive at it, which indicates that a proc-ess is required for us to attain to this oneness. Within all believers isthe oneness of the Spirit, but they still have not arrived at the one-ness of the faith. The oneness of the Spirit is the inward essence ofthe oneness, and the oneness of the faith is the expression and appli-cation of the oneness of the Spirit.


The faith in verse 13 is not the subjective faith, which is ourbelieving ability, but the things in which we believe, the objectivefaith. This faith mainly concerns the divine person and redemptivework of Christ. Actually, the oneness in verse 13 is of two things: “ofthe faith” and “of the full knowledge of the Son of God.” The Son ofGod refers to the Lord’s person as life to us, whereas Christ refers toHis commission to minister life to us. The full knowledge of the Sonof God is the apprehension of the revelation concerning the Son ofGod for our experience. The oneness is of the faith and of the fullknowledge of the Son of God because there is one Son of God, andwhat genuine Christians believe concerning Him is one.

Until we arrive at this oneness, divisive things may come in, suchas winds of teaching. Verse 14 says, “That we may be no longer littlechildren tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teach-ing in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system oferror.” Almost every Christian today is carried about by a wind ofteaching. This keeps us from the oneness of the faith.

If we are carried about by winds of teaching, this is a strong indi-cation that we are childish, immature in life. Verse 15 speaks of ourgrowing up into Christ, and verse 13 speaks of a full-grown man.This is in contrast to the little children in verse 14. When we arriveat a full-grown man, we will no longer be children. Being tossed bywaves and carried about by every wind of teaching proves that we arespiritually immature in life. If we are full-grown, no wind of teach-ing will affect us, and we will care only for the oneness.

Any teaching, even a scriptural one, that distracts believers fromChrist and the church is a wind that carries believers away fromGod’s central purpose. If a teaching does not seem to be good, wewould not be affected by it. Thus, what matters is not mainly whethera teaching is good, bad, right, or wrong but whether it carries usaway from the oneness. If we care for a teaching rather than the one-ness, we lack maturity in life.

NEEDING TO CARE MAINLY FOR A TESTIMONYOF LIFE AND ONENESS

My burden for the Lord’s recovery and especially the leading onesis that we would care for the testimony of life and oneness. Concern-ing the present situation among us, although I have heard aboutmany problems, the Lord has clearly led me not to make an issue of


anything. If we love the Lord’s recovery, the best way is simply topray for the saints involved in any situation.

As leading ones, we must not be careless or negligent about thesituation among us. We should be careful not to give the churchesthe impression that we care mainly for the spread or increase. Thereis nothing wrong with spreading and seeking increase as long as wemaintain life and keep the oneness. However, if we do not take careof life and oneness, whatever we do is wrong. If there is a migration,we should make it clear that we are going out not for the sake ofspreading and increase in themselves but for the sake of the Lord’stestimony.

Our main burden should be for the testimony of life and one-ness. It is better to have a small number of saints and local churchesas a testimony of life and oneness than to be distracted by spreadingand increase. It is up to the Lord to do something if He desires tospread His testimony to a new city or country. Anything we do apartfrom Him or without caring first for His testimony will be a devia-tion. I hope that no one would be disappointed but that all would beencouraged to go on. I do not control others. Anyone may carry outa personal burden to spread the churches or gain an increase. How-ever, my burden is absolutely for the testimony of life and oneness.According to the vision I have received of the Lord, this testimony iswhat He desires.

It is helpful to consider church history. Martin Luther andKaspar Schwenckfeld were both faithful to the Reformation, butthey disagreed with each other. Luther cared mainly for doctrine,and Schwenckfeld cared mainly for experience. Luther even calledSchwenckfeld a fool possessed by the devil. They fought for refor-mation not in the way of life and oneness but in a doctrinal way. Allthe reformers fought in this way not only against Catholicism butalso against one another. We should not repeat this history. My fiftyyears of experience in the way of the Lord’s recovery have taught methat if we repeat this kind of fighting, we are working for nothingand wasting our time. We must have a turn in order for the Lord tohave a way on the earth. I do not blame anyone, I am not againstanyone, and I will not interfere in anyone’s work. I love all the leadingbrothers and want to be one with them in life and oneness accord-ing to the vision we have seen. We have many warnings from churchhistory and from the Lord’s recovery in the past fifty years. We should


not repeat any negative part of this history. To struggle for power oreven to think of it is evil, damages everyone involved, and delays theLord’s work. I will not adjust or correct any saint or local church butwill instead spend time in prayer, in the Word, in positive fellowshipwith the saints, and ministering life to the churches.

A FURTHER WORD ON THE ONENESS IN EPHESIANS 4

The Lord prayed to the Father in John 17 for oneness among thebelievers by the Father’s life, His sanctifying, separating word, andthe glory, the expression, of the Triune God. In Ephesians 4 Paulwrote according to his experience of oneness for our experience. Be-cause the oneness in John 17 is profound, we may not fully under-stand it, but the oneness Paul wrote of in Ephesians is very practicaland applicable in our experience. Of course, we still need the Lordto reveal the real significance to us.

To translate oneness in Ephesians 4 as “unity,” as some versionsdo, is not accurate. Oneness differs from unity. Unity is the state inwhich many people are united together. Our oneness is not a uniting,because it is not anything of us. We do not have oneness in ourselves.Our oneness is the essence of the Spirit, who is the Holy Spirit com-pounded with Christ’s processes of incarnation, human living, cruci-fixion, resurrection, and ascension. These processes have dealt witheverything of the natural man that came in through the fall.

Incarnation is the Son of God coming into fallen man. John 1:14says, “The Word became f lesh.” Flesh is a negative term. Thus, Christbecame a man in man’s fallen state but without sin (Rom. 8:3). God’sintention with the Son of God entering into fallen man in incarnationwas to rescue man out of the fall. Christ was crucified on our behalfas our Substitute; He suffered condemnation and bore the judgmentfor us and our sins. Because He entered into fallen man, He alsobore fallen man to the cross and nailed every negative thing in theuniverse there, because all negative things are related directly or in-directly to the fall of man, including Satan and the ordinances. Forthis reason, Colossians 2:14 says, “Wiping out the handwriting inordinances, which was against us, which was contrary to us; and Hehas taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.” Ephesians 2:15says, “Abolishing in His f lesh the law of the commandments in ordi-nances.” By Christ’s nailing the f lesh to the cross, the ordinances wereabolished. His death also destroyed Satan. Hebrews 2:14 says, “Since


therefore the children have shared in blood and f lesh, He alsoHimself in like manner partook of the same, that through death Hemight destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the devil.”When Christ nailed fallen man on the cross, all the things related tothe fall of man were crucified there.

After His crucifixion Christ brought all the negative things withHim into the tomb. He came out in resurrection, but everything elseremained buried. Everything of fallen man remained buried, buteverything of God and the new creation came out in resurrection.What Christ accomplished in His death, burial, and resurrection wassealed, accepted, confirmed, and approved in His ascension. Christ’sascension demonstrated the highest standard of God’s approval, sig-nifying that God approved everything that came forth in Christ’sresurrection.

The incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ isnow the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b); He is the Spirit (2 Cor.3:17). In the New Testament the Spirit refers to this incarnated, cru-cified, resurrected, and ascended One. Christ is the Spirit for ourexperience. Because the Spirit has come into every believer throughregeneration, the Spirit is our oneness. For this reason Ephesians 4:3calls our oneness “the oneness of the Spirit.” We do not need to beunited, because we have oneness within us already. This oneness is aperson, the indwelling Spirit, who is Christ processed through in-carnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Because we havethis oneness inwardly, Paul exhorts us in verse 3 to keep it, whichmeans to preserve, safeguard, and maintain it. In other words, wehave it and should not neglect, despise, or disregard it.

Paul indicates that the way in which we need to keep, to pre-serve, the oneness is “in the uniting bond of peace” (v. 3) and “withall lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one anotherin love” (v. 2). Long-suffering implies endurance and patience. Be-cause these virtues are not found in our natural humanity, they mustbe the virtues of Christ. This means that the oneness cannot be keptby the living of the natural man but only by the living of Christ.Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longerI who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” When this is our experi-ence, we will have Christ’s virtues, such as lowliness, humility, meek-ness, long-suffering, endurance, patience, and love, in order to bearone another. Because these virtues are not in our natural life, only


when we live a crucified and resurrected life can we have the virtuesthat qualify and equip us to preserve the oneness. In order to keepthe oneness that we have within, we need the virtues of Christ as ourequipment. This implies that we need to be crucified. If we are notcrucified, it is impossible to have Christ’s virtues. We may have somevirtues temporarily, but they will not last. To preserve the oneness,we need the virtues of the life of Christ.

If we live a crucified and resurrected life to be equipped withChrist’s virtues for the preserving of the oneness of Spirit, we willgrow. Ephesians 4:13 speaks of a full-grown man, which impliesgrowth. Verse 15 says, “We may grow up into Him in all things, whois the Head, Christ.” We grow by dying; we die to live. As we grow,we will attain to, or reach, something—we will arrive at the onenessof the faith. This faith is the objective faith, the things in which webelieve, and is the application of the divine person and work of Christto us. Christ is applied to us by being this faith. Whoever believesthat Christ is the Son of God is saved. In this sense, the faith, theobject of our believing, is the application of what the Lord is as theSon of God.

Since we were saved, we have had the oneness of the Spiritwithin, but we lack the oneness of the faith without. Christiansargue and are divided because of winds of teaching, which are doc-trinal concepts and not the faith (v. 14). Luther and Schwenckfeldwere both genuine believers and useful servants of the Lord, butbecause they insisted on their teaching, they quarreled. They werenot one in the faith but were divided by teachings. In this sense,Luther and Schwenckfeld were not full-grown men but were stillchildren, because they were tossed by waves and carried about bywinds of teaching. This is serious. The Lord honored the truth Lutherrecovered, which was justification by faith, but the Lord did nothonor what Luther did concerning the church. What he did regard-ing the church was a defeat and a shame. Most Christians prefer notto talk about this negative side of Luther’s history, because they ap-preciate justification by faith and do not care for the church.

When we grow, we will gradually drop the different teachings,which are like toys that children cling to and fight for. The more wegrow, the more we will drop these toys. All the different teachingsapart from the faith will eventually be dropped. Thus, we will even-tually not only have the oneness of the Spirit within, but we will also


arrive at the oneness of the faith. Verse 13 speaks of three destina-tions: “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the fullknowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measureof the stature of the fullness of Christ.” The fullness of Christ is theBody of Christ. Every body has a stature, and every stature has ameasure. The measure of the stature of the Body implies being fullgrown. When we are full grown, we will have not only the onenessof the Spirit inwardly but also the oneness of the faith outwardly.Although we already have the oneness within, we need to grow toarrive at the oneness without. By growing we will drop every doc-trinal teaching and arrive at the oneness of the faith. All that remainswill be the faith.

In order to learn what we should do until we arrive at the onenessof the faith, we can observe how children are cared for. Childrenneed toys, but they also need to be limited and controlled. At a cer-tain time children need to give up the toys. This is why we need avision. Although we have not yet fully arrived at the oneness of thefaith, when we have the vision, we will realize where we are and whatwe have. Although we may play with the teachings as toys, we shouldknow what they are and be limited and warned, knowing that theyare not the goal. The goal is the oneness.

This is a clear vision concerning the two aspects of the onenessamong the believers. These two aspects are like two ends—a startingpoint and a destination. The first aspect is the oneness of the Spirit,which we already have within us, and the second aspect is the one-ness of the faith, at which we need to arrive and to which we need toattain. Until we reach this oneness, we must be alert and should notlet anything come in to damage or frustrate the oneness.

THE PRACTICES RELATED TO ONENESSIN ROMANS 12 AND FIRST CORINTHIANS 12

In order to see the practices related to oneness, we need to lookinto Romans 12 (vv. 4-5, 10, 15-16) and 1 Corinthians 12 (vv. 20-27).The main practice is to be inclusive. First Corinthians 12:23 says,“Those members of the body which we consider to be less honor-able, these we clothe with more abundant honor; and our uncomelymembers come to have more abundant comeliness.” We must takecare of the weaker members. Because we want to advance quickly,we may not want to take care of the weaker ones, since we think that


doing so will slow us down. However, if we neglect the weaker mem-bers, we will lose the oneness and will not be able to go on (v. 25).When Jacob returned from working for Laban to his father’s land,he came back not by himself but with wives, children, servants, andcattle. He told Esau that for this reason, he was forced to go slowly(Gen. 33:13-14). In the church life we may feel like Jacob in this situ-ation. According to 1 Corinthians 12, we have no choice but to takecare of the weaker ones. This indicates that the church life must beall-inclusive.

In order to gain the younger generation, we need to labor on thecollege campuses, but in doing this, we must be careful not to dam-age the oneness of the Body. We should not make any division amongthe saints based on age, condition, or preferences. We must not beselective, exclusive, or divisive. It is easy to be selective or exclusive.When we have a preference for a particular group or category ofsaints, that is being selective. We also should not have preferencesfor certain churches over other churches. If our church is weak, weneed to bear the burden to strengthen it. If we move to a localitybecause we consider the church there to be better than others, it willbe damaged because of our going. It is better if we go to a churchthat is in a poor condition, because the Lord will be pleased by thisand bless us.

If some refuse to come to the meetings, it indicates that theyhave not seen the church. If we have truly seen the church, we willcome to the meetings for the Lord and for the church. If we come tothe meeting because we want to hear good speaking, this indicatesthat we have not seen the church. If we decide to come or not tocome to the meetings based on whether a certain person is there,this is also a problem. First Corinthians 11:29 speaks of discerningthe body, which implies that we need to realize that the bread at theLord’s table signifies the entire Body of Christ. To touch the one loafwhile we have a problem, even inwardly, with another member is tofail to discern the Body. In order to discern the Body, we must eitherput aside our inward problems with others or refrain from takingthe bread. Otherwise, our participating in the loaf is a false perfor-mance, for we are not actually one.

We must be careful to discern the Lord’s Body when we take thebread at the Lord’s table. The saints should not criticize one anotherand then come to the table to partake of the same loaf. The situation


among the saints should be that we all love one another, cover oneanother’s weaknesses, and make up for one another’s shortcomingsin love. This is the Body. If we do not discern the Body but cometogether in division, we have lost the oneness of the Lord’s testi-mony. To oppose or criticize the ministry in the Lord’s recovery isespecially serious. We should not do anything outwardly to correctthe saints. Instead, we must bring the matter of our actual onenessto the Lord in prayer. When any part of the Body is sick, the wholeBody is sick. When this is the case, we need to pray in order to re-ceive healing. We also need to cover one another’s weaknesses andshortcomings in love. If we genuinely care for the Lord’s recovery, wemust bear the burden to pray for and treasure the oneness. The subtleenemy can creep in, attack, and cause damage if we are negligent.

The apostle Paul’s spirit in 1 Corinthians 12 was to care for theless honorable ones. Every saint is a member of Christ, and everylocal church is a part of His Body. We should not give up what theLord as the Head would not give up. This is related to the keeping ofthe oneness. We must avoid any feeling of selectiveness or exclusive-ness and should instead express the feeling that all the saints aredear to us and the same to us. In this way the oneness will be pre-served. If we have seen the church, we will practice this. Moreover, ifwe treasure the oneness and love the Lord’s recovery, we will cometo the meetings no matter what.

QUESTION AND ANSWER

Question: What should we do in a situation in which the onenesshas been damaged?

Answer: When a physical body is sick, we first need to deal withthe sickness cautiously according to its severity. Second, we need tofind out the reason for the sickness so that we can avoid it. Thereason is the source and is what allows germs to come in. If we donot avoid the reason, the sickness will return. We must avoid any-thing that could increase the sickness. The reason for our presentsituation is caring only for the spreading and increase. Other prob-lems have come in because of this reason. Therefore, we need toavoid this and have a turn to remain in the way of the Lord’s recov-ery. When we are physically sick, we also need to take in the propernourishment so that the life in our body will spontaneously swal-low up the sickness. If we only do something to try to deal with the


sickness directly and do not receive nourishment for the life in thebody, the sickness will become worse.

In order to deal with our present situation, as leading ones, weneed to pay our full attention to life and avoid dividing the saintsaccording to age groups even in our speaking. There is no need tocall a meeting to tell the saints that we are having a turn. Instead,from now on, in our understanding, realization, and practice, weshould not promote any particular kind of local church. Every churchis a genuine church. If some have the burden to labor on a nearbycampus, they should do so, but we should not seek to promote theidea of a local church that is composed primarily of young people.

We also need to take care of all the weaker ones. The Lord willhonor this. His thought is different from our thought. We may thinkthat it is better to have only younger and stronger ones like an army.However, this is not the church, and if we seek this, we will offendmany. This will greatly frustrate the blessing. The Lord does nothonor our endeavoring to be the best. If the Lord does not give usthe blessing, whatever we do means nothing. When the Lord honorswhat we are doing, even the lame, weaker, and smaller members canaccomplish much by His blessing. When we are under the Lord’sblessing, all the saints feel joyful and peaceful. When we do not havethe blessing, it is because the Lord does not honor what we are doing.According to the human concept, the weak ones are not important,but caring for these ones is the Lord’s way, and we must take His way.The Spirit within the saints confirms when the leading ones are tak-ing the Lord’s way by giving the saints peace and strengthening themto pray positively, which prompts the Lord to pour out His blessing.

From now on we should pay our full attention to life, avoid ex-pressing a preference for any age group, and take care of all thesaints. If we do this, the life within the Body will spontaneously dealwith any sickness. The way for us to go on is by life. We should notcare mainly for the work. If others do this, we should not oppose ordespise them, but that is not the way the Lord has ordained for Hisrecovery. We need to ask the Lord to grant us a turn to life. No otherway will work. Christianity has been on the earth for twenty centu-ries, and countless different practices have emerged. However, theLord has not been satisfied. Caring mainly for a work, the spread,and increase is the way of degraded Christianity. Because this way isvery close to our natural being, it is easy for us to unintentionally


slip into it without any effort. In contrast, to take the way of life isaltogether against our fallen human nature; it is something abso-lutely foreign to us. Nevertheless, if we do not care for life and thegenuine oneness, we will become a repetition of degraded Chris-tianity no matter what we claim to be. We need to ask the Lord togrant us a vision and pray, “Lord, purify us, and rescue us by bring-ing us back to the way of Your recovery.” It is better to have a smallnumber of churches that are pure and full of life and oneness asa testimony than to have something great in number but withoutthis testimony.

Prayer: Lord, we need the covering of Your blood. Cover us,cover all the points that we have touched, and cover every situa-tion, church, and saint. We ask for nothing but blessing for themall. O Lord, have mercy upon us. We have no merit and no stand-ing except for Your blood with Your mercy. Lord, grant us a clearvision and a proper inward turn to You as life.


The Experience of Life and Oneness for the Lord’s RecoveryArriving at the Oneness

CHAPTER SEVEN

ARRIVING AT THE ONENESS OF THE FAITHAND OF THE FULL KNOWLEDGE

OF THE SON OF GOD BY GROWING

Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:2-3, 13-16

Prayer: Lord, thank You that we are under Your precious blood andenjoying Your presence. You know our weakness—we have nothing inourselves, and our trust is fully in You. Freshly open Yourself, YourWord, and Your riches to us so that we may be brought into theriches of Yourself. Lord, bind the strong man; defeat the enemy.Deliver us from the darkness. Lord, we need You. Thank You thatYou have brought us into Your recovery. We believe that You are withus. We love You, we love Your recovery, and we love one another.Cover us with Your prevailing blood. We are hiding in You. Lord,rebuke the enemy for us. We praise You that You are the Lord oflords, the Head of the Body, and the head of every man. We honor,respect, glorify, and worship You for all that You are.

ARRIVING AT THE ONENESSBEING A PROCESS OF GROWTH

The Lord has shown us more concerning the oneness revealed inEphesians 4 than we have seen in the past. However, we need to seestill more. Verses 2 and 3 present the way to keep the oneness of theSpirit: “With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bear-ing one another in love, being diligent to keep the oneness of theSpirit in the uniting bond of peace.” Humanly speaking, we mayknow what lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, bearing one another,love, and peace are. Leaders sometimes charge others to have thesevirtues in order to preserve society. In a natural sense, families needthese virtues. Yet by reading verses 13 through 16, we can see thatthe apostle Paul was not using these terms according to their naturalmeaning. Therefore, we should not understand them according toour natural concept.

The Lord has shown us that we need to go on from the onenessof the Spirit until we arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the fullknowledge of the Son of God. There is only one oneness, but it hastwo aspects, which are like two ends. The beginning is the onenessof the Spirit, and the end is the oneness of the faith and of the fullknowledge of the Son of God. On the one hand, we need to keep theoneness, which implies that we have it already. On the other hand,we need to go on to arrive at the oneness. Although it may be dif-ficult to comprehend why we need to arrive at oneness when wealready have oneness, if we practice to keep the oneness, we will seethat it is altogether necessary to arrive at the oneness of the faithand of the full knowledge of the Son of God.

Verse 13 uses the term a full-grown man, and verse 14 usesthe term little children. These terms imply growth. When we arenewly saved, we are spiritual children. Even after being saved formany years, we are still not full grown. Thus, we are in the processof growth. Verses 15 and 16 also convey the thought of growth.Verse 15 speaks of growing up into the Head in all things. We mayhave grown up into Christ in many things but not yet in all things.To be a full-grown man means that we have grown up into Christ inall things. Verse 16 speaks of the growth of the Body. These versesclearly reveal the need of growth, which is a lengthy process.

Verse 13 uses the word at three times; it says that we need toarrive at three things. The grammar indicates that these three thingsare one, for they are in apposition to one another. Arriving at theoneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of Godequals arriving at a full-grown man, which equals arriving at themeasure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Thus, the oneness ofthe faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God is the fullgrowth, which is the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Contrary to what some Bible expositors teach, the fullness of Christis not the same as the riches of Christ (3:8). The riches of Christ areobjective to us; that is, they can exist outside of us. However, accord-ing to 4:13 and its context, the fullness of Christ is fully subjective,experiential. Thus, the fullness of Christ is not the riches of Christobjectively but the church subjectively. According to 1:23, the full-ness of Christ is the Body of Christ. The fullness of Christ havinga stature also indicates that it is the Body. The riches of Christ arelike groceries, which do not have a stature, but a body has a stature.


The measure of the stature of the Body of Christ as His fullnessequals the full-grown man. The full-grown man in 4:13 is the newman in verse 24. Verse 23 says, “Be renewed in the spirit of yourmind.” This renewing, which is related to the new man, is a process,just as growth is (cf. Col. 3:10).

We need to see that the oneness of the faith and of the fullknowledge of the Son of God is not something that we receive oncefor all but something at which we will arrive through a process. Wehave the oneness of the Spirit as soon as we are saved, and we needto keep this oneness. However, we have not yet arrived at the one-ness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God. We aregoing on, proceeding, toward this goal. One day we will arrive atthis oneness, which will be the full growth and the full measure ofthe stature of the Body of Christ—the fullness of Christ. A youngchild has a body, but the measure of the stature of the child’s body isnot in full. Because it does not have full growth, it does not have thefull measure. It will grow until it reaches full growth, and then itwill have the full measure of its stature. The Body of Christ is grow-ing in this way.

GROWING UP INTO CHRIST TO GAIN HIS VIRTUESFOR THE KEEPING OF THE ONENESS

The oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son ofGod is the goal toward which we are proceeding. We have the one-ness of the Spirit, but we have not yet arrived at the oneness of thefaith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God. While we are onthe way, we need to keep the oneness of the Spirit, which we can doby growing. Our growing is our proceeding toward the goal of thefull growth—the full measure of the stature of the Body of Christ.Whatever happens in this process is the keeping of the oneness ofthe Spirit. This is a great help.

Based on Ephesians 4:2 it is easy to see that we need to be lowly,meek, long-suffering, and loving toward others in order to keep theoneness. However, we also need to see that the way to keep the one-ness is in verses 13 and 14. Verse 3 speaks of the oneness of the Spirit,which we need to keep, and verse 13 speaks of the oneness of thefaith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at which we needto arrive. Between these two ends we need the way to keep the one-ness in the first aspect so that we may arrive at the oneness in the

Arriving at the Oneness 103

second aspect. The way to keep the oneness is by growth, which isrevealed in verses 13 through 16. By growing up into the Head in allthings, we gain His virtues.

Our natural lowliness does not work to keep the oneness; onlythe lowliness of Christ works. We gain this lowliness by growing. Themore we grow up into Christ, the more lowliness, meekness, andlong-suffering we have. I still need more meekness, but I have moremeekness today than I did thirty years ago. This is not my meek-ness but the meekness of Christ into whom I have grown to a certaindegree. The degree of our growth in Christ is the measure of themeekness that we have. This is not natural meekness but the meek-ness of Christ, which is the only meekness that will enable us to keepthe oneness.

In verse 2 the virtues for the keeping of the oneness are not ournatural virtues but the virtues of Christ, into whom we are growingup. The more we grow up into Him, the more we have His virtues.When we have been a Christian for many years, we realize that wecannot love others by our natural life or by our natural love. How-ever, we can love others by the love of Christ, and we gain this virtueby growing up into Him. Therefore, the way to keep the oneness ofthe Spirit until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the fullknowledge of the Son of God is to grow up into Christ.

THE FAITH AND THE FULL KNOWLEDGEOF THE SON OF GOD

It is not easy to understand the real significance of the onenessof the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God. The faithand the full knowledge of the Son of God are two different things,but they are closely related. The faith here is not our believing abil-ity but the things in which we believe, such as the divine person ofChrist and His redemptive work accomplished for our salvation.When we believed in Christ, we received Him. However, we did nothave much knowledge of Him. A small child can receive a diamond,but she will not know what it is or its composition. Similarly, al-though we have received Christ, we do not know Him adequately. Tohave the full knowledge of the Son of God is not easy or simple. InMatthew 11:27 the Lord said, “No one fully knows the Son exceptthe Father.” Although we have received this profound One, we stillneed the full knowledge of Him. We have the faith as the object of


our believing, but we do not have the full knowledge of this object.A mature believer has more of this knowledge than one who is newlysaved, but we all still lack the full knowledge of the Son of God.

The full knowledge of the Son of God is the apprehension of therevelation concerning the Son of God for our experience. The morewe grow in life, the more we will cleave to the faith and to the appre-hension of Christ, and the more we will drop all the minor andmeaner doctrinal concepts that cause divisions. Then we will arriveat, or attain to, the practical oneness. Christians fail to keep the one-ness because they lack the full knowledge of the Son of God. Whenwe gain the full knowledge of the Son of God, we will be able to keepthe oneness because we will drop the childish things, such as doc-trinal knowledge, seeking miraculous gifts, and insistence on certainpractices. The only way that Christians will drop such things is bygaining the full knowledge of the Son of God. Arguing with themwill not work, but if we have some genuine knowledge of the Son ofGod, we can help them to receive more of this knowledge.

Not long after I was saved, I learned that the scriptural form ofbaptism is immersion in water. As a result, I would argue stronglyfor this and would bring up the matter whenever I met anotherChristian. I studied this truth thoroughly and learned the best wayto argue for it. I even became well known among the pastors in mysmall town as a young man who was strong for this truth. Eventu-ally, what helped me to drop this “toy” was not argument but thefull knowledge of the Son of God. As I came to know the Son of Godin a fuller way, at a certain point this toy was gone. Later, I picked upother “toys,” such as scriptural doctrines concerning the rapture,head covering, and the way to have the Lord’s table. All these gradu-ally fell away through more knowing of the Son of God.

We have the faith, but we still need the full knowledge of the Sonof God. The faith is like a prescription for medicine, and the fullknowledge of the Son of God is the dose itself. In a sense, the pre-scription and the dose are the same thing. The prescription is theexplanation and description of the dose. Receiving the actual dosehelps us to understand the prescription. To read the prescription iseasy, but to fully understand the dose requires much medical andscientific knowledge. The objective faith, which is the things in whichwe believe, is the definition and description of Christ.


GROWING BY GAINING THE FULL KNOWLEDGEOF THE SON OF GOD FOR THE KEEPING OF THE ONENESS

To grow is to know the Son of God more fully every day. Day byday and bit by bit we come to know Christ not in a doctrinal way butin an experiential way. It is by this kind of knowledge that we cankeep the oneness. Thirty years ago I loved others according to mypreference, but by the Lord’s mercy I have gained some knowledgeof Him by growth. As a result, I now love all the brothers with thesame love. However, I still need more growth.

The more we grow, the more we will possess Christ’s virtues.Moreover, the more we know Christ experientially through growth,the more we will realize that He is the most precious One. As werealize this, we spontaneously drop all the inferior things. I do notcare for anything except the preciousness of the experience of theSon of God. By our experiencing Him, His virtues become ours, andwe know what the treasure is. This is the way to keep the oneness.

If we are easily offended by other believers, this indicates that weare lacking in growth. As long as we can be offended by any saint,this proves that in some aspect we are void of Christ. If we are full ofChrist, we cannot be offended. Matthew 18:21-22 says, “Peter cameand said to Him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against meand I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not sayto you, Up to seven times, but, Up to seventy times seven.” For yearsI was troubled by this because I wondered how it was possible to for-give my brother so many times. To forgive means to forget. In orderto keep the oneness, we need to forgive our brother every time.

If we try in ourselves to tolerate others, the enemy will eventu-ally exhaust our patience. For this reason, some advise people not tospend a long time with the same person. If we simply avoid otherswhen they have exhausted our patience, we do not have the oneness.To be long-suffering is to endure mistreatment. The use of this wordin Ephesians 4:2 indicates that Paul knew that the Body life is notalways easy. At some point our church life “honeymoon” will end.Then we must be long-suffering. Because in ourselves we cannot bearsuffering, we need Christ. Even if we can bear something in ourselves,we should not, for this does not please God. These things force us todepend on the Lord; in other words, they force us to grow.

Before we came into the church life, we were probably never sopressed and bothered by others. In this way the church life kills us,


but because we cannot leave, we must be long-suffering. We do nothave this virtue in ourselves; it is a virtue of Christ. The Lord waswith His disciples for three and a half years, which was a time ofsuffering to Him. The disciples may have caused Him more suffer-ing than the Pharisees did. However, the Lord never changed Hischoice of disciples. After appointing them, He did not replace any ofthem, even Judas, because He was long-suffering.

Verse 2 says, “Bearing one another in love.” To love only whatfits our taste is not the way of love but is self-preference. Genuinelove is a love for all the saints without preference or choice. We canhave this love only by growing in Christ.

All believers have the oneness of the Spirit from the time theyare saved; the problem is that they do not keep the oneness. Manydo not even think about keeping the oneness. Furthermore, becausethey do not see the need to keep the oneness, they do not see theneed to grow. When we were in the denominations, we did not needto grow, but in the Lord’s recovery, after our “honeymoon” is over,we see the need of keeping the oneness. If we do not keep the one-ness, we will repeat the history of divided Christianity. In order toremain in the recovery, we must keep the oneness, which has a highrequirement. Keeping the oneness requires every virtue, includinglowliness, meekness, long-suffering, and love. We cannot fulfill thisrequirement by ourselves. This forces us to pray, “Lord, have mercyupon me that I may grow in You.”

NOT BEING DISCOURAGEDWHILE WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF GROWTH

We should be comforted and encouraged by the realization thatalthough we have not yet arrived at the oneness of the faith and ofthe full knowledge of the Son of God, we have experienced somegenuine building in oneness. We are in the process. Since we are inthe process, we should not expect that there will be no problems.While someone is cooking a meal, the kitchen will be somewhatmessy. That is part of the cooking process. Because we are in theprocess of growing, we should not be disappointed or discouragedby anything. Instead, we should praise the Lord because of whatHe is doing to bring us along in this process. There is no basic fac-tor among us that prevents us from being one, as is the case withdenominations that are divided by disagreements concerning their


major teachings. However, because we are in the process of the Lord’s“cooking,” the “kitchen” is somewhat messy. As we are in this proc-ess, we need to forget about the past and not talk or even think aboutany negative situation in the church life. When we hear a message,we should listen only for ourselves and apply the word to ourselvesonly in a positive way.

GROWTH ISSUING IN BUILDING

Because of the high requirements for the keeping of the oneness,we need to grow in order to gain Christ. The consummate oneness isthe building. Verse 13 speaks of our arrival at the oneness, whichis the full growth and the measure of the stature of the fullnessof Christ. Verses 14 and 15 further reveal the way and the need ofgrowth. Then verse 16 concerns growth and building: “the growthof the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” The real buildingis the arrival at the oneness, the full growth, and the measure ofthe stature of the fullness of Christ. Our being built together is theprocess of our arriving at the oneness.

Ephesians 2:21-22 refers to the building locally as a dwellingplace of God and universally as a holy temple in the Lord. Univer-sally and locally, the building is one unique corporate entity. Inevery locality there is only one dwelling place of God, and in thewhole universe there is only one holy temple in the Lord. The build-ing is not merely a few saints built together but a unique corporateentity in each locality and in the universe. None of us can say thatwe have finished being built. We are still being built because we havenot yet arrived at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledgeof the Son of God—we have not reached full growth.

The Lord has shown us in Ephesians 4 that we need to go on fromthe oneness of the Spirit to arrive at the oneness of the faith and ofthe full knowledge of the Son of God. This is a great matter. We havealso seen that the proper way to keep the oneness of the Spirit is togrow up into Christ and that this growth issues in building.

QUESTION AND ANSWER

Question: Can you say something further about holding to truthin love so that we may grow up into Christ in 4:15?

Answer: This verse implies that we should hold Christ as thetruth and deal with the saints according to this truth. As we brothers


are living together—contacting, fellowshipping, and dealing withone another—we need to do it truthfully, which means with reality.Reality is not our sincerity or faithfulness but only Christ Himself.Thus, the phrase holding to truth implies the fact that Christ is thereality with whom we must deal one with another. When we talk to,fellowship with, love, or even correct one another, we must contacteach other truthfully, that is, with Christ as the reality. As membersof Christ’s Body, we must relate to one another not in ourselves butin Christ. This is confirmed by verse 15, which speaks of growing upinto Christ in all things. By relating to one another with Christ, weare growing up into Him in all things.

We should not contact one another without Christ, for anythingother than Christ is a falsehood. If we love a brother with our ownlove, our love for him is not real love. Likewise, if we contact thesaints in our natural humility, our being humble is false. Everythingof our natural life is false. We must learn to contact one another withChrist as everything. This encourages the growth and the building.We cannot build the church with anything natural of ourselves;rather, we can build the church only with Christ. Therefore, Christmust be our everything, including our virtues. Because we are stillquite natural, even when we do not have the intention of acting inourselves, our self is still spontaneously involved. This is why weneed to grow. We are in the process.


The Experience of Life and Oneness for the Lord’s RecoveryGrowth in Life Causing the Believers to Be Built Up

CHAPTER EIGHT

GROWTH IN LIFE CAUSING THE BELIEVERSTO BE BUILT UP AND ARRIVE AT THE ONENESS

Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:13-16

Prayer: Lord, thank You for Your Word. Under the cleansing ofYour blood we claim Your anointing. Lord, grant us Your enlighten-ment and nourishment. Graciously touch our heart and our spirit,infusing something of Your riches into our being. Through YourWord bring us into Yourself.

BUILDING COMING FROM GROWTH IN LIFE

Ephesians 4:13-16 concludes with the matter of building. Theseverses are a continuation of verse 3, which charges us to be diligentto keep the oneness of the Spirit. Verse 13 says, “Until we all arriveat the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son ofGod.” Then these verses go on to reveal that the way to keep theoneness of the Spirit and to arrive at the oneness of the faith and ofthe full knowledge of the Son of God is by growth in life. The endof verse 16 speaks of “the growth of the Body unto the building upof itself in love.” Because this verse ends with building, it is clearthat growth is also the way to be built up. Building comes fromgrowth.

Many of us have been somewhat puzzled by the matter of build-ing. We have long wondered what the real building is and how we canpractically be built up together. In some messages given in 1954 Ishared that we need to be built up together according to Ephesians4:16. At that time I saw that in Matthew 16:18 the Lord said that Hewould build His church. However, as the Head, He does not buildthe Body directly; instead, He gave the gifted persons—the apostles,prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers (Eph. 4:11). Christdoes not build directly but indirectly by giving the gifts. I pointedout that the gifted persons also do not build directly but rather per-fect the saints, who are the parts of the Body, to do the building

directly. The saints in Ephesians 4:12 are the parts of the Body inverse 16, which operate to cause the growth of the Body unto thebuilding up of itself.

I saw these points in 1954, but at that time I did not receive theadequate light to see the practical way to carry out the building. Iused the illustration of a physical building to point out that each pieceof a building is joined to other pieces on each side. Based on this,I said that we need to find out which saints are the pieces joined tous. In the twenty-four years that have passed since I shared this, myexperience and observation have not confirmed this concept. First,we are not physical stones in a physical building but living stones ina living building. Second, we sometimes move to different locali-ties, which makes it impossible to know where we fit in the buildingaccording to the physical illustration. In the New Testament, Aquilaand Prisca were in the church in Rome for a time and then moved toEphesus, where they were with different saints (Rom. 16:3-5; Acts18:18-19, 26). Therefore, the illustration of pieces being joined to-gether in a physical building is not practical.

Because this concept of building did not work, I still wonderedwhat the real, practical building is. When we are puzzled by a pointin the Bible, we should not try to understand it according to ournatural concept. For instance, what it means to believe in the Lordcannot be understood according to the natural concept, because inthe Bible to believe into is to receive, be transferred into, and bejoined to another person (John 1:12; 1 Cor. 1:30; 6:17), which is alto-gether different from the natural concept concerning belief. Theprinciple is the same with the matter of building—we cannot under-stand it in a natural way. It is impossible for living stones to be builtup in the same way that physical pieces are built together.

Because I was still wondering what the real building is, I lookedto the Lord and spent time to study this matter in the Word. Eventu-ally, the light came after I spent much time in the presence of theLord considering Ephesians 4:13-16. These verses reveal that build-ing comes from growth. The degree of our growth determines thedegree of our being built. How much building we have dependsupon how much we grow in life. This is not a natural concept butis according to the context of these verses. Verse 16 says, “All theBody…causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself.”This light brought me much help.


There is no building among Christians today. The millions ofChristians on earth are divided into countless denominations, andeven the Christians in each denomination are not built together butonly organized. Every denomination and independent group is anorganization. Thus, Christianity is full of organization but not build-ing. Moreover, no one even cares for building, for there is no speakingor teaching on the topic of building. We may be the only group thatis talking about what it is to be built.

ACCEPTING THE DIFFERENCES AMONG BELIEVERSWHILE THEY ARE GROWING

In the preceding chapter we saw that the way to keep the onenessof the Spirit until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of thefull knowledge of the Son of God is to grow. Besides the growth inlife, there is no other way. We also saw that growth is not a quick,once-for-all occurrence but a long process. In this process there willbe differences among the believers. Just as there are differences inage in a family, there are differences in stages of growth in everylocal church. Therefore, while we are keeping the oneness of theSpirit and going on to arrive at the oneness of the faith, we need toaccept all the differences. If we do not accept the differences, we willbe divided. A family may have young children and older ones whoare married. The oneness of this family can be kept only by accept-ing all the differences. To accept only those at a certain stage ofgrowth is to be divisive.

The divisions among Christians come mainly out of refusing toaccept differences. Soon after the Lord’s recovery came to the UnitedStates, I shared that we must have unity with variety and varietywithout uniformity. In order to preserve the unity, we must acceptvariety. If we exclude anyone, we are divisive. If we contend for cer-tain doctrines or practices, we are opposing variety and fighting foruniformity. This is the situation of degraded Christianity. In contrast,the apostle Paul was very liberal in this regard. Seeking Christiansvalue Romans 12, but many neglect Romans 14. However, if we donot care for the receiving of all believers according to Romans 14, wecannot have the Body life revealed in Romans 12. In chapter 14 we seethat there are differences among believers. Paul taught that we shouldnot dispute concerning doctrines or practices, such as the keeping

Growth in Life Causing the Believers to Be Built Up 113

of days or eating. We must be indifferent regarding these things andaccept the differences among believers.

Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians sometimes seems to contradictitself. For instance, in 11:5 he says, “Every woman praying or proph-esying with her head uncovered disgraces her head.” This indicatesthat sisters may speak in the meetings. However, 14:34 says, “Thewomen should be silent in the churches, for they are not permittedto speak.” Another apparent contradiction is between 12:29, whichindicates that not everyone is a prophet, and 14:31, which says, “Youcan all prophesy.” Paul may have written in this way purposely toexpose and terminate the legal, human mentality, which insists onuniformity. Nevertheless, in 14:40 Paul says, “All things must bedone becomingly and in order.” Thus, he was not unrestrained indealing with the human mentality. This is a further indication thatwhile we are in the process of growing and keeping the oneness, wemust learn to permit differences.

We can learn much from our own history. Beginning in 1957, agroup of young ones in the churches in Taiwan became dissenting.They were all about the same age. They did not care for the saints inother stages. They thought that they were one in uniformity. How-ever, by 1965 they were divided into three groups, and today theyhave divided many more times. This shows that uniformity is notthe way to keep the oneness.

The way to keep the oneness is by permitting differences. Thiswas the apostle Paul’s way; he did not exclude any difference. InRomans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8—10, we can see what a broadenedmind the apostle Paul had. He knew the truth thoroughly, yet hewas very liberal concerning differences among the believers. When Iread Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8—10 as a young believer, I wastroubled because I could not understand Paul’s teaching concerningeating meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Eventually, I under-stood not by exercising my mind but by experience. Paul was nothappy that some ate carelessly, which stumbled others. He was alsounhappy with those who were legal by insisting on a certain prac-tice. In Ephesians 4:14 Paul says, “That we may be no longer littlechildren.” In 1 Corinthians 13:11 he says, “When I was a child, Ispoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child; sinceI have become a man, I have done away with childish things.” Chap-ters 12 through 14 indicate that Paul was referring to gifts, especially


speaking in tongues, as childish toys. Some believers are in the stageof being children. It is not wrong for children to play with toys. Weshould not bother them or be bothered by them. The apostle Paulfully realized that while we are all in the process of growth, we are indifferent stages, which means that there will be differences. We haveto permit the differences.

GROWING IN ORDER TO BE BUILT UPAND ARRIVE AT THE ONENESS OF THE FAITH

To permit differences among the believers is right and necessary,but this is not the goal. We should not stay at this stage. We need togrow. How much we grow is the measure of our being built. The morewe grow, the more we will be built. If we stop growing, we ceasebeing built. On the one hand, we have to accept differences; on theother hand, we need to grow. As we grow, our differences will be leftbehind. The less growth in life we have, the more differences we willhave. The more we grow, the fewer differences we will have. Differ-ences are hindrances to building. However, we cannot force anyoneto forsake differences, because this will cause division. We must per-mit differences, but we also need to grow.

The goal of our growth is to arrive at the three destinations inEphesians 4:13, which refer to the actual building. One of these des-tinations is the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of theSon of God, the second destination is a full-grown man, and thethird destination is the measure of the stature of the fullness ofChrist. When we arrive at these three destinations, the differencesamong us will be gone, and we will have the full building. While weare still in the process of growth, we have the building to a certaindegree, and this degree differs with each believer. Those who aremore mature are more built, and those who are less mature are lessbuilt.

Verse 13 begins with the word until. Until we all arrive at thethree destinations, we are in the process. We need to see the wholesituation of this process in two aspects. On the one hand, we mustbe content to permit differences, and on the other hand, we need togrow so that we will grow out of these differences and arrive at theoneness. Toys are not forcibly taken away from children; instead,children grow out of them. The younger a child is, the more toys he


needs. A new believer may have many “toys,” but a mature believerwill have none. Our growth causes us not to care for “toys.”

We must be content to permit differences because the saints arein the process of growth. We should not be bothered by differences.However, we should not be satisfied with these “toys” but shouldseek to grow and help others to grow. The more we grow, the morewe are built up. We have discovered this not only through studyingthe Word but also through many years of experience in the churchlife. This is the only way for us to take. On the one hand, we mustpermit and even be content with differences. On the other hand, weneed to go on to grow continually into the building.

Verse 14 speaks of certain negative things: “That we may be nolonger little children tossed by waves and carried about by everywind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view toa system of error.” We need to be on the alert for these things. Weshould not be deceived to think that winds of teaching and thesleight of men can come only from the outside. Peter was used bySatan immediately after he saw the heavenly revelation from theFather concerning Christ in Matthew 16 (vv. 16, 21-23). If we are noton the alert, we may be carried away by a wind of teaching, and wemay even bring in a wind of teaching that carries other saints awayfrom the growth in life for the building. Any of us could bring insuch a wind that causes damage. I am fearful concerning this everytime I share something new with the saints. Although we have a goodheart, the sleight of men may be hidden in it. Peter had a seeminglygood heart when he spoke in Matthew 16:22, but the Lord recognizedthat Satan was concealed in that heart (v. 23). Only the Lord can seethrough this craftiness.

The teachings that become winds, carrying believers away fromthe central lane of Christ and the church, are deceptions instigatedby Satan in his subtlety, with the sleight of men, in order to frustrateGod’s eternal purpose, which is to build up the Body of Christ. Thedividing teachings are organized and systematized by Satan, the sub-tle one, to damage the practical oneness of the Body. The sleight isof men, but the system of error is of Satan and is related to the deceit-ful teachings that are designed by the evil one to distract the saintsfrom Christ and the church life. Organized Christianity has falleninto this system. We need to learn the lesson so that we do not repeatthe mistakes.


The system of dividing teachings is the subtle snare of the enemy.Christians who are carried about by winds of teaching and usurpedby Satan’s system of error cannot grow. They may have some out-ward improvement, but they cannot grow in life. We need the Lord’slight to see through this system and avoid winds of dividing teach-ings. Because we are still in the process of growth and are not fullytransformed, we are still in our natural man. It is therefore possiblethat we could be used by the enemy to bring in such damaging winds.

Growth is the safeguard against the damaging things spoken ofin Ephesians 4:14. We need to see that growth is a process, that ithas a goal, and that the goal is the building. In the process of growththere will be differences, which we must be content to permit. Nev-ertheless, we must also seek to grow, for growth issues in building,which is the goal. If we are clear about these things, we will be safe-guarded. We will not delay the growth, frustrate the building, or beinvolved with any division. Spontaneously, we will keep the onenessand be on the way to arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the fullknowledge of the Son of God. If we do not see this and take this way,we will inevitably repeat the history of degraded, divided Christian-ity and become a continuation of it. This is what happened to theBrethren, who had a good start but eventually became another partand a furtherance of organized Christianity. On the one hand, I amgrateful to the Lord that He has shown us the way, but on the otherhand, I am fearful that through carelessness or indifference we wouldunintentionally become a repetition of divided Christianity. We maybe doing quite well outwardly but still become such a repetition.


Question: How can we practice the church life in oneness withmany differences among us?

Answer: In a family the children frequently fight. However, soonafter the children fight, they become friends again. This is a cyclethat goes on and on. It is up to the parents to maintain order. In thesame way the younger and less mature ones in the church life mayoften disagree with one another concerning minor points of prac-tice, but the elders should not join in any arguing. They should bethe mature ones who maintain order and harmony.

The apostle Paul had a broad view in writing his Epistles. He didnot try to correct the saints regarding every minor doctrine and


practice. He knew that it was impossible not to have differences,because we are in the process of the growth in life. We too must seethis. Otherwise, sooner or later division will come in. Divisions fromdifferences among Christians indicate that they do not know thegrowth in life. The one f low is not certain practices but Christ andthe church. If we see this, we will care only for the growth, and wewill realize that while we are in the process of growth, there will bedifferences. If we are growing and have some maturity in life, we willnot be bothered when childish ones insist on certain things.

Question: Should we apply this principle to the work? Appar-ently, Paul did not allow for differences to exist in the work when heseparated from Barnabas in Acts 15:37-39.

Answer: Barnabas insisted on bringing his cousin, Mark, on ajourney to care for the churches. Paul’s view of the work was morelike that of an army than of a family. Many Christians wrongly con-sider the work to be the same as the church. Those who take thelead in the work may discipline and exercise authority over theyounger workers. This is not a church matter. In the church we musttolerate and even bear everyone no matter what, but this is not thecase in the work. Eventually, the Holy Spirit vindicated Paul, becauseafter this incident Barnabas no longer appears in the divine recordin Acts concerning the move in God’s New Testament economy. Thatsituation was not a matter of the church but of the work. Paul wasvery strict that time. The work should be dealt with in a strict waylike an army. Dealing with an army is different from dealing with afamily. In a family we must bear everyone no matter how childish orweak they are, but in the work we cannot.

Question: What should our attitude be regarding differencesamong the churches?

Answer: To insist on following the practices of another localchurch is childish and has caused problems. This signifies that welack growth and are like playing children. It is all right for childrento play, but like parents in a family, the elders should avoid makingan issue of differences. We should permit the differences and minis-ter life to others. In this way we will not cause problems.

Not long after I moved to the United States, I was invited tospeak to a Pentecostal group. Before I gave the message, I followedalong with what they were practicing in the meeting in order to pre-serve a peaceful atmosphere in which I could minister to them. If all


Christians would conduct themselves in this way, there would be nodivisions.

I regret that other Christians are not at peace with the Lord’srecovery. They do not understand us, but we cannot give up the re-covery. The responsibility lies with them. If they would give up theirdivisions and not insist on others following their particular prac-tices, we would be one with them, and I would gladly minister totheir groups. In 1967 the elders in a certain locality visited three in-dependent groups, and then we invited the leaders of these groupsto have a time of fellowship with us. We told them that we were will-ing to step aside as elders and hand over everything of the church tothem if they would drop the divisions. However, they would not doit and preferred to have their own groups. Thus, they had to admitthat the responsibility for the division between them and us was theirresponsibility. Some say that we are narrow, but it is actually they whoare narrow. We embrace all differences among believers. The onlything we cannot accept is division. However, others are not willingto drop the divisions.

We are not happy that others criticize us in the Lord’s recovery,and if it were not for the Lord’s testimony, we would no longer meetas the local churches. I am concerned that the saints in the Lord’srecovery may be somewhat sectarian because they do not understandthe recovery in the right way. No matter how much others oppose us,in our heart and in our practice we must recognize that they are gen-uine believers and our brothers. Many Christians misunderstand ourattitude toward them. When we give messages concerning the truth,we are bold and strong in condemning denominations. For this rea-son others think that we consider them to be our enemies. Actually,however, when they have come to us, we have been genuinely lovingtoward them. Watchman Nee condemned the denominations, but hewarmly welcomed a pastor who came to join him. Other co-workersdid not understand and were even jealous of the love that BrotherNee showed to this pastor. Brother Nee explained, “I love him be-cause he is a brother. Because you are already close to me, you donot need me to show love to you as much as this one needs me toshow love to him.” The outsiders in China thought that we hatedthem, but we did not. What we did in the messages was to presentthe truth, which is that denominations are wrong, and to be in that


system is wrong. Nevertheless, because the believers in the denomi-nations are our brothers, we must love them.

If it were possible, I would prefer that the local churches not meetseparately from other groups as the Lord’s recovery. However, this isimpossible because we have no other way to practice the genuinechurch life. Nevertheless, this does not mean that we are sectarian.This depends upon our vision. We need to see that because the Bodyis one and because the expression of the Body in each locality like-wise is one, we have no other way to take. We are forced to take thisway because we cannot go on in any other way.

We must permit all the differences among the believers. The onlythings that we cannot allow are idol worship, immorality, heresy,and division. Besides these four things, we must permit everything.We also need to grow. The extent to which we grow is the extent towhich we are built with others. If we do not grow, we cannot be builtup. We may have a group of believers around us, but that is not build-ing. Building comes from the growth in life. The more we grow, themore we will drop our differences and permit others’ differences.

One brother may insist on a certain form of baptism, and anothermay insist on a practice related to the Sabbath. If these brothersgrow for a few years, they will set aside their insistence on thesepractices. Because of their growth, they will realize that these thingsare not important. As a result, wherever these brothers go, they willbe one with others. Otherwise, by insisting on particular practices,they will cause problems. As long as we grow in Christ for the expres-sion of His Body, our differences will spontaneously vanish.

The real building is the growth. It is not a matter of having agroup of believers around us in our locality but is absolutely univer-sal in the Body. If we cannot be one with saints in other localities,this indicates a lack of growth and building. If we grow in the life ofChrist, we will be one with others in His life wherever we go; noth-ing will bother us. We need a clear vision concerning this.

When saints complain to me about a local church that theyhave visited, this indicates a lack of growth in life. Our concernshould not be whether a church is in a good or bad condition buthow much life we minister to them and receive from them. Whenthe Lord brings us to a new locality, He does not want us to deter-mine the condition of the church but to minister life to the saintsand be one with them. This may expose our shortage of growth and


building. If we have grown in life, wherever we go, we will not care forthe differences or others’ condition. We only care that because thisis the Lord’s Body, the church, we must be one with the saints andby the Lord’s grace, according to our measure, minister life to themand receive what they minister according to their measure. Ephesians4:16 speaks of the operation in the measure of each one part.

The Lord is building His Body not by certain practices but onlyby the growth of His life. Therefore, we can participate in His build-ing only through the growth in life; the Lord cannot use anythingelse for His building. We can be built up only to the degree of ourgrowth in life. Building does not depend upon our locality, becausewe can grow and be built up anywhere. We are being built up withthe local saints and also with all the saints universally—not onlywith the saints with whom we meet but also with saints of previousages and in other parts of the world. Although the building is uni-versal, we still need the fellowship with the saints in our locality. Aswe are being built up by the growth in life, we need the fellowshipwith all the saints in different stages of growth in our locality.

In the denominations and independent groups there is no op-portunity for the saints to grow in the Lord’s life. By the Lord’s mercythe best opportunity for the saints to grow in life is in the recovery.However, we need to see that if we stay together, this does not meanthat we are automatically being built up together. The real measureof building is our growth. If we are growing, although we are in dif-ferent localities, we are being built up together.

Only growth in life can produce the measure of the stature of thefullness of Christ. Therefore, only growth in life is the building, andonly growth in life will cause our differences to spontaneously fallaway. The more we grow, the less differences we will have, and theless we will be bothered by any differences. We will not try to adjustor correct others but will realize that “children” need “toys” and thatthese things will fall away as they grow. We should care only for thegrowth in the life of Christ for the expression of His Body. In thisway we can keep the oneness, grow, and be built. There is no otherway. We must have this vision. We should not be sectarian toward thebelievers in the denominations but should realize that only growthcan bring us into the building. If we do not grow, the Lord has noway to build. Therefore, we are responsible for this. We need togrow.


Question: What would you say to saints who are concerned thatyou have changed what you teach concerning what the building is?

Answer: Whenever problems arise, there are lessons that we needto learn by spending time in the Lord’s presence and in His Wordso that the Lord’s recovery can go on. Otherwise, it may becomestranded. We must be continually learning. What I have seen recentlycomes not only from studying the Word but also from experiencesand situations. When someone is sailing a boat, the boat may becomestuck or blocked. In order to get through, the person must learnsomething. New light often comes in when we face difficult situa-tions. Everything we see is in the Bible, but without experiences andsituations, we would not see the light. When a problem occurs, it isfor our learning, and our learning is for the future. By the Lord’smercy and grace we need to gradually help the saints to realize this.By the Lord’s mercy we now see more than we did in the past, andwe are going on accordingly. What we see concerning the buildingwas not as clear in the past as it is now.

When there is a problem, we must consider the reason. We havebeen seeing more and more in the Lord’s Word for our practice, andit was the same with Brother Nee. In The Assembly Life, which waspublished in 1934, he said that in this age there are no “official apos-tles” or “official elders.” However, three years later in The NormalChristian Church Life he taught that today there are still apostles,who should appoint the elders. He received this further light becausetrouble arose among the churches, which caused him to restudy theNew Testament concerning this point. This kind of thing happenedwith Brother Nee on other occasions as well.

After I taught in 1954 that the practical building is a matter offinding out who is built around us in our locality and being built upwith them, eventually divisive parties developed in some churches.Certain ones isolated themselves in groups with those whom theythought that they were being built. This caused serious problems.Therefore, I had to go back to the Word in the Lord’s presence toconsider the real meaning of building.

The first stage of the present practice of the Lord’s recovery was inmainland China. I learned much from our experiences there. Whenwe moved to Taiwan, which was the second stage, I dropped some ofthe things that did not work in China. There was an improvementbecause it was the second stage. Eventually, because other problems


arose in Taiwan, I learned still more. Therefore, when I came to theUnited States in what may be considered as the third stage of the Lord’spresent recovery, there was a further improvement in our practice.

By all the things that we have passed through over many years ofpractice, we have learned that there is no remedy or rescue otherthan life. If we do not have the growth in life, no matter what we do,nothing works. Nothing works but life. According to my experienceand realization, I do not care for anything other than helping thesaints in the matter of life. Only this kind of labor produces a posi-tive, lasting result. Through all the years, I have seen only one cate-gory of saints remain in the Lord’s recovery—those who are in life.This is also the only way for us to keep the oneness. The recoveryhas been among us for half a century. Nearly every year somethinghas happened to test us. Only the way of life works. Nothing elseworks or remains. Other than life, everything else will vanish.

I learned this lesson from Brother Nee, although I did not fullyrealize what he meant at the time. Now that I have passed throughcertain things, I fully realize that he was going on only by life in vari-ous difficult situations. Especially in his final years of ministry, hestressed nothing but life. Whatever we do, if it is not by life, it meansnothing.

Question: Can you say something further about how we are re-lated to other saints?

Answer: Relatedness is building. According to Acts and the Epis-tles, Paul was not often physically close to Aquila and Prisca, but hewas very related in life to this couple. Only this can last. We shouldnot have any relatedness based on natural affection or friendship.That does not work and will eventually vanish.

Relatedness in life is pure. The river of water of life that f lows outof the throne is bright as crystal, having no mixture, dimness, oropaqueness (Rev. 22:1). When this water of life f lows in us, it puri-fies us and makes us transparent. We need to see something of thepureness and transparency of the f low of life. The relationship amongus must be pure and clear, having no mixture or opaqueness.

If we see these things, we will weep for the situation of Chris-tians today. Those in the denominations will not heed these things.The more we see, the more we should sense the weight of the respon-sibility we bear for the Lord’s economy. Otherwise, the Lord has noway to go on.


THE TESTIMONYAND WAY OF LIFE

IN THE LORD’S RECOVERY

PREFACE

This section is composed of messages given by Brother Witness Leeto a group of elders in Anaheim, California, on June 27 and 28, 1978.

The Testimony and Way of Life in the Lord’s RecoveryThe Vision of the Church Presented in Revelation

CHAPTER ONE

THE VISION OF THE CHURCHPRESENTED IN REVELATION

Scripture Reading: Rev. 1:12; 12:5, 10-11; 14:3-4; 19:7-8; 21:2, 9-11;22:1-2

Prayer: Lord, we thank You for all that You are. We worship Youand treasure You. You are a great attraction to us. We long to knowYou more. Grant us the excellency of the knowledge of Yourself. Grantus to experience You and to express You so that we would attractothers to You. Lord, we lay ourselves upon the altar and offer our-selves to You as a burnt offering for Your satisfaction. We claim thecleansing of Your blood in order to enjoy You under Your anointing.Lord, reveal more and more to us. We need You as a wonderful per-son to be our life and our everything. Thank You that You are ourreality. You are our inner gold and our outer robe—our treasurewithin and our expression without. Thank You for anointing our eyeswith eyesalve. In this time of darkness we thank You for placing usunder a clear sky where nothing is dim or opaque. Thank You forgiving us a vision. We look to You to show us more concerning thiscontrolling vision, which supplies us, corrects us, and saturates uswith Yourself. Grant us a clear word, a full and rich utterance, and asober mind so that we may understand Your intention. Lord, take awayall the shadows and veils. We do not agree to holding on to anythingthat is a barrier between You and us or among us. Thank You that Youhave broken every barrier down. Lord, we thank You for Your pres-ence and Your up-to-date speaking. We worship You, trust in You,and hand ourselves over to You. Thank You for Your cleansing blood,Your gracious forgiveness, and the rich and abundant anointingunder which we experience You. Grant us the rich and full experienceof Yourself so that we will become Your building, the holy city.

THE FIVE SYMBOLS OF THE CHURCH IN GOD’S FINAL WORD

In the last book of the Bible, Revelation, five symbols are used to

signify the church: the lampstands, the man-child, the harvest withthe firstfruits, the bride, who is the wife of the Lamb, and the holycity, New Jerusalem (1:12; 12:5; 14:3-4; 19:7-8; 21:2, 9-11). If wespend time to consider these five symbols with much prayer, we willsee that they are full of meaning and significance. These symbols,which reveal more than many words could, are God’s final word inthe Bible.

Throughout the centuries Revelation has never been opened toChristians. Most preachers and teachers do not like to touch thisbook. Although they occasionally borrow verses from it for theirsermons, they never truly enter into it because the symbols are pro-found and mysterious. Nothing in this book can be understood bythe natural mind or the natural concept, because everything revealedin it is far beyond the natural realm.

Revelation 1:12 says, “I turned to see the voice that spoke withme; and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.” The lamp-stands have three outstanding features: the unique standing, thegolden nature, and the shining function. The church should havethese three outstanding features. First, it must have a unique stand-ing in each locality and in the universe. Locally and universally, thechurch stands as one; its ground is oneness. There is nothing ambig-uous about its standing; it is solid and definite in its uniqueness.The second outstanding feature of the church as the lampstand is itsnature, which is divine, signified by gold. This indicates that some-thing of God has been wrought into humanity. Humanity has beentransformed into something divine. The human mind cannot fathomthis. Nevertheless, the nature of the church must be divine. Third,the function of the church as the lampstand is not to work but toshine. The church does nothing but shine forth what it is, which isgold. The church is a lampstand standing in oneness and shiningforth the divine nature with sevenfold brightness.

Revelation 12:5 says, “She brought forth a son, a man-child, whois to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod; and her child wascaught up to God and to His throne.” The man-child is not for work-ing but for dealing with God’s enemy. When the man-child comes onthe scene in chapter 12, we also see a great dragon, who is God’s ad-versary and the accuser, Satan, prevailing on the earth and in heaven.The man-child comes forth to deal with this accuser, to defeat God’senemy. When the man-child is caught up to God and to His throne,

128 The Testimony and Way of Life in the Lord’s Recovery

the enemy is quickly cast down (vv. 5, 8-9). Therefore, wherever theman-child goes, there is no room or ground for the enemy. Verses 10through 11 say, “The accuser of our brothers has been cast down,who accuses them before our God day and night. And they over-came him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the wordof their testimony, and they loved not their soul-life even unto death.”The believers who constitute the man-child overcome the devil bythe blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and by notloving their soul-life even unto death. Thus, the man-child is not fora movement or an organized work but altogether for the defeating ofGod’s enemy.

Revelation 14:3-4 says, “They sing a new song before the throneand before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one couldlearn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand, whohave been purchased from the earth. These are they who have notbeen defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they whofollow the Lamb wherever He may go. These were purchased fromamong men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.” The firstfruitssignify the mature ones of God’s harvest. The church is God’s farm(1 Cor. 3:9). The harvest on a farm requires the maturity of the crops.The firstfruits of God’s harvest are those who take the lead to mature.They are the leading ones not in working but in maturing early, whichis absolutely a matter of life.

Revelation 19:7-8 says, “Let us rejoice and exult, and let us givethe glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and Hiswife has made herself ready. And it was given to her that she shouldbe clothed in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is therighteousnesses of the saints.” Revelation 21:2 says, “I saw the holycity, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, preparedas a bride adorned for her husband.” The bride signifies readiness forChrist’s satisfaction. Without the readiness of the bride, the Lordcannot be satisfied. A bridegroom longs for his bride; nothing elsecan satisfy him. The groom’s satisfaction comes from the readiness ofthe bride. When the bride is ready, the groom is fully satisfied. Whatmakes the bride ready is not her working. She does not need instru-ments of labor or weapons of warfare but only to be clothed in finelinen, which is the righteousnesses of the saints. These righteousnessesare the righteous acts in our living—our lived-out righteousness. This

The Vision of the Church Presented in Revelation 129

living is the bride’s adornment. This symbol of the church is alto-gether not a matter of work but of readiness by our living.

Revelation 21:9-11 says, “One of the seven angels…spoke withme, saying, Come here; I will show you the bride, the wife of theLamb. And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and highmountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming downout of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was likea most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.” Thiscity is the consummation of the church. When the church reachesits consummation in completion and perfection, it is a holy city, auniversal building. Second Timothy 2:15 speaks of being a workman,and 1 Corinthians 4:1 speaks of servants of Christ, but in Revelationthe church is symbolized by the lampstands, the man-child, thefirstfruits, the bride, and a building, the holy city.

NEEDING TO APPLY THESE FIVE SYMBOLSTO THE CHURCH TODAY

These five symbols are a solid and clear vision of what the churchis, what the church should be, what the church should do, and whatthe Lord’s recovery is. This vision prevents us from being in an un-certain situation. In Christianity today there are countless practices,opinions, and concepts, which are confusing. However, when wecome to the holy Word, particularly God’s final word in Revelation,we can see these symbols. Like the apostle John, who was carriedaway in spirit onto a great and high mountain (21:10), we need to becarried away from our natural concept. We should not remain inour natural status or understanding. We need to be carried awayfrom where we have been in order to see something new. The apostleJohn previously knew of the lampstand in the temple, but he hadnever seen a lampstand on a mountain. This was something unusualand extraordinary. In this principle, we need to see that the localchurches today can be unique, golden, shining lampstands in a darkenvironment.

Likewise, the man-child is born into a situation and environ-ment in which the enemy is prevailing in heaven and on earth.Nevertheless, the man-child defeats him and causes him to have noground. This is not a work or a movement in the way of organiza-tion but a victorious life and a prevailing living that chase awayGod’s adversary. If we see this vision, we will weep over the situation


in Christianity today, for there is no such man-child but only organ-ization, movements, works, and activities. The enemy is prevailingbecause there is no man-child to deal with him. Christians have beenfully occupied, possessed, and carried away by outward activitiesand movements. The Lord needs a recovery so that the man-childcan come on the scene. The purpose of the Lord’s recovery is to pro-duce the man-child to deal with God’s enemy.

The scene of the firstfruits in the field is a beautiful picture inwhich there is no activity, work, or plan but only the growth in life.In a field of grain before the harvest, there is no outward activity butonly silent, gradual, and continual growth. We need to see this visionof the church as God’s growing farm. Paul says, “I planted, Apolloswatered, but God caused the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6). This is altogetherbeyond our natural concept. Farmers know that they cannot do any-thing to make their crops grow except to fertilize and water them.This is the only kind of work that we should do in the church—aplanting, fertilizing, and watering work—not a movement seekingoutward achievement. The Lord desires for us to see this vision sothat we will not deviate from the goal or lose the nature of the Lord’srecovery. Because of the situation in today’s Christianity, the Lordneeds a recovery in which there is nothing but the growth in life untomaturity. My heart is yearning and my spirit is burdened, becauseby the Lord’s mercy I have an encouraging and glorious vision beforeme. After much prayer and much time in the Lord’s presence, I amclear that this is what He wants. Our goal is not an ordinary Chris-tian work but the Lord’s recovery. We all must see this vision.

We also need to see the bride. Suppose a woman is capable, skill-ful, and talented, but does not care for her husband. This is not thekind of wife that a husband desires, but this is what the church islike when it is full of activities instead of being adorned to satisfyChrist by having a proper living. We should not be concerned withanything other than living in a way that satisfies the Lord as ourHusband so that we will be ready to be taken by Him to His mar-riage dinner. We are made ready not by works but by a living thatsatisfies Him. The church needs to be like this. I long to see all thechurches in the Lord’s recovery being made ready by having a properliving in order to satisfy the coming Bridegroom. The brothers whoare taking the lead in the local churches should take the lead to bemade ready by living a life that satisfies our Bridegroom. In the past


we have talked about bringing the Lord back, but activities, move-ments, or zeal for work cannot bring Him back. He will come backonly for a prepared bride. No bridegroom would come for anythingbut the bride. If the bride is ready, no matter what the environmentis like, the groom will come to where she is. We must see that ourreadiness will bring the Lord back. This is the cry of the Lord’s heartaccording to His deep desire. His heart’s desire is calling us to be theprepared bride by having a living that satisfies Him.

As the last symbol, the holy city is the all-inclusive consumma-tion, completion, and perfection of the church. This consummatesymbol comprises all the positive aspects of the foregoing symbols—the lampstands, the man-child, the firstfruits, and the bride. We cannever exhaust the riches of Revelation 21—22. This consummate pic-ture reveals that the Triune God has been wrought into His redeemedones. Revelation 22:1-2 says, “He showed me a river of water of life,bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of theLamb in the middle of its street. And on this side and on that sideof the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding itsfruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of thenations.” The traditional teaching of the Trinity may veil us fromseeing the Triune God in this picture as God, the Lamb, and the riverof water of life. John 7:38-39 says that after Christ’s crucifixion andresurrection the Spirit would be rivers of living water.

John 1:29 says, “The next day he saw Jesus coming to him andsaid, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”The Lamb took away the sin of the world by being slain. Revelation13:8 speaks of “the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of theworld.” Although He was slain, Christ as the Lamb is in heaven be-cause He resurrected. Thus, the Lamb on the throne in Revelation22:1 indicates crucifixion and resurrection. According to John 7:39,before Jesus was glorified, the Spirit was not yet, but in Revelation 22the Spirit is, because Jesus has been glorified. We know that Jesuswas glorified, because the Lamb is on the throne in heaven, signify-ing not only the glorification of Jesus but also His resurrection andascension, which are the only way that the slain Lamb could be inheaven.

In Revelation 22:1 the first of the Trinity is God; the second isthe slain, resurrected, ascended, and glorified Lamb; and the thirdis the Spirit f lowing out as the river of water of life to carry forth all


that the Father is and all that the Lamb has obtained and attainedto saturate God’s redeemed ones. According to this clear picture, allGod’s redeemed ones are soaked and saturated with what the f lowingriver brings. In this way divinity enters into humanity, and humanityis saturated with divinity. As a result, the whole city bears the imageof God, for it has the glory and the light of God and thus expressesGod (21:11).

What will be in the New Jerusalem should be today in the localchurches. There are no works, movements, or activities in the NewJerusalem. The Lord mercifully opened my eyes to see these things,and my burden is to share what He has shown me. We need to seethis clear vision and forget the past—the good, the bad, the high,and the low. Today is a new day. In order to have a new beginning,we need to see the New Jerusalem, where there is only the saturatingf low of the Triune God—God and the Lamb in the river of water oflife, conveying the life supply with the tree of life. The tree of life isanother expression of the Lamb, the second of the Trinity (John 14:6;15:1). The Lamb was slain on the cross to issue forth life (19:34).Eventually, the Lamb on the throne reaches us as the tree of life. Thef lowing river of life issues out of the Lamb, and the tree of life isconveyed in the f lowing river. This is the church life.

We all need to see this vision and be rescued from any otheroccupation. We may be occupied with other things that we thinkare good, but when the vision comes to us, we will pray, “Lord, havemercy upon me. Rescue me from the other occupying things. I wantto be emptied, unloaded, and liberated from any other occupationso that I can be fully available for Your saturation.” My burden is notto pass on teachings but to help all the saints enter into this vision.This is what the church must be—God and the Lamb on the thronef lowing out the river of water of life with the life supply of the tree oflife to meet the need of all God’s redeemed ones. We need this satu-rating and soaking. For this, we need to pray, “Lord, empty me of anyother occupying thing. I only want to receive Your saturating supplyof life in order to absorb all that You are.” This is the church life.

LIFE PRODUCING GOD’S BUILDING ANDTHEREBY FULFILLING GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE

The real building comes out of the scene in Revelation 22:1-2.The picture here portrays clearly that from the throne of God and of


the Lamb in the center of the city, f lows the river of water of life tosaturate the whole city. This city is a building that is the completionand fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose, because it is the expressionof the Triune God. If we see this vision, we will be willing to set asideeverything else in order to be fully available for the saturation—tobe an open vessel to soak in all that the Lord wants to saturate uswith.

My only concern is that we would all see the vision. Our need inthe local churches is not to gain great numbers but to be a foreshad-owing miniature of the New Jerusalem. Only this will make theLord happy. Having a great number of people who are not part ofHis real building means nothing to the Lord. However, for a localchurch to be a miniature of the New Jerusalem will make the Lordhappy and will terrify the enemy.

The believers becoming God’s building is what the enemy fears.In the Song of Songs there are many figures and symbols. First, theseeker of the Lord is likened to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots(1:9), which signifies an active, natural person living in the world(Egypt) and usurped by Satan (Pharaoh). However, this horse even-tually has eyes like doves (v. 15), which signifies that her view andher concept have been transformed. The first step of transformationis to change our view and our concept. Next, the seeker becomes alily (2:1-2), one who lives a pure and trusting life (Matt. 6:28). Thenshe becomes a dove (S. S. 2:14). Since previously only her eyes werelike doves, this indicates that she has grown. She then becomes apillar, a bed, a palanquin, a crown, and a garden (3:6-7, 9, 11; 4:12).Eventually, she becomes a city, at which point she is terrifying to theenemy and shining as the sun and the moon (6:4, 10). She alsobecomes an army (v. 13). It is after all this that the seeker is initiatedinto the work. She says, “Come, my beloved, let us go forth into thefields; / Let us lodge in the villages. / Let us rise up early for the vine-yards; / Let us see if the vine has budded, / If the blossom is open, /If the pomegranates are in bloom; / There I will give you my love”(7:11-12). Thus, the work comes after the seeker has become a cityand an army to terrify the enemy and is shining as the sun and themoon. We need to be like this, first satisfying the Lord not with ourwork but with what we are.

We need to understand that life is nothing less than a wonder-ful all-inclusive person—Christ Himself—who includes the entire


Triune God. Such a wonderful person, who is our life, needs to bewrought into our being and continually f low through our being sothat we are saturated with Him. This is life. Those who take care ofthe churches must take the lead to seek and experience this so thatwe will have something to minister to the saints and to build thechurch. This is what the Lord wants.


The Testimony and Way of Life in the Lord’s RecoveryThe Lord Desiring a Pure Testimony of Life

CHAPTER TWO

THE LORD DESIRING A PURE TESTIMONY OF LIFE

Scripture Reading: Rev. 1:12-16; 3:8, 17-18; 22:1-2

THE CHURCHES’ NEEDACCORDING TO REVELATION 2 AND 3

According to the picture of the lampstands in Revelation 1, thechurch is not for working but for shining in a strong way—withsevenfold brightness. The lampstands are needed because we are ina situation of darkness. Accordingly, our goal in every city is not towork but to shine upon the people there. This shining is based onthree things: the unique standing, the divine nature, and the shin-ing function of the seven lamps. In 4:5 we see that the seven lampsare the seven Spirits (cf. 5:6). We need the standing of oneness, thedivine nature, and the sevenfold intensified Spirit not so that we canwork but so that we can shine. The lampstands in Revelation 1 arepure gold; they have no mixture or impurity. In order to shine as thelampstands, we need to be purified in our nature so that our testi-mony is purely the nature of God. We should only testify of our God,in a pure and single way without any mixture.

In the lampstands we see nothing but a unique standing, a goldennature, and a sevenfold shining. This is the church according to theLord’s view for His eternal purpose. However, chapters 2 and 3 con-tain a record that shows us much mixture in the actual situation ofthe churches. In 1:13-16 and 2:1 the Son of Man is seen walking in themidst of the seven lampstands. His walking among the lampstandsis quite significant; it is the walking of Christ among the churchestoday. His eyes are like a f lame of fire for enlightening, judging, pur-ifying, and purging by burning (1:14). A sharp two-edged swordproceeds out of His mouth, which is the Lord’s judging word to kill,cut, and trim (v. 16). Because the churches in Asia were full of mix-ture, there was need of the f laming eyes to observe and search andthe slaying word to cut off the negative things. The Son of Man isclothed with a garment reaching to the feet, signifying the complete

perfection of Christ’s virtues, conduct, and being (v. 13). There is nolack in Him; He is the right One to observe and search the situationof the churches and to speak in a discerning and judging way.

In the seven epistles in chapters 2 and 3 the Lord did not appre-ciate any works. Of the seven churches, two were good. The secondone, the church in Smyrna, was a church under persecution—notworking for the Lord but suffering for Him. This church was praisedby the Lord. The other good one was the church in Philadelphia.Even with this church the Lord did not directly praise her work. Hesaid, “I know your works; behold, I have put before you an openeddoor which no one can shut, because you have a little power andhave kept My word and have not denied My name” (3:8). The churchwas praised not for working but for not denying the Lord’s name,which signifies His person. This indicates that the church held on tothe Lord’s person, not caring for anything else. Also she had a littlepower and kept His word, caring for what the Lord said. If a wifedoes not care for her husband’s name or his word, although she maybe diligent, capable, skillful, clever, and wise, even doing many thingsto help others, she will not please her husband. Sometimes we fallinto this snare, doing many good things based on our skill and abil-ity but not caring for the Lord’s person or His speaking.

It is meaningful that in these seven epistles the Lord did notpraise the churches’ works. The first church, the church in Ephesus,did many works, because the Lord said, “I know your works” (2:2).He somewhat praised these works but not much. Eventually, Herebuked her because she had left her first love for the Lord (v. 4).This shows that what matters most is not our working for the Lordbut our loving Him in our living. A proper wife loves her husband,cares for his person, and listens to his word.

The Lord is walking among the lampstands as the High Priesttrimming the lamps. The wicks need trimming. His trimming is notaccording to our concept. He trims off negative things, such as idola-try and hierarchy (vv. 14-15), but according to chapters 2 and 3, whattouches His heart the most is our living. We must love Him, care forHim, and keep His word, even with our little power.

In the last epistle the Lord said, “Because you say, I am wealthyand have become rich and have need of nothing, and do not knowthat you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire that you may be


rich, and white garments that you may be clothed and that theshame of your nakedness may not be manifested, and eyesalve toanoint your eyes that you may see” (3:17-18). These verses indicatethat the church was missing three things: gold, white garments, andsight. The gold is the same as the nature of the lampstands, signify-ing the divine nature. As a local church, even if we are successful inworking, we may be short of the divine essence within. We need topay the price to gain this.

Outwardly, we also need the white garment. This corresponds tothe long garment that Christ wears in 1:13. This means that His vir-tue, conduct, and being must be our expression. If we do not havethis white garment—the expression of Christ—we are naked, whichmeans that our natural self is exposed. The Lord’s virtue and conductmust be our white garment, which covers us and causes us to expressHim. The church in Laodicea had and did many things, but withinshe was short of gold, and without she was naked, indicating that shedid not have much of Christ within, and she did not express Christwithout.

The third problem with the church in Laodicea was that she wasblind. She needed the eyesalve to heal her blindness so that she mightsee. The eyesalve needed to anoint our eyes is the anointing Spirit(1 John 2:27), who is the Lord Himself as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor.15:45). In order for us to be a pure, shining, golden lampstand, weneed the golden essence within, which is Christ made solid in us byour experience of Him; we need the expression of Christ as the whitegarment; and we need our eyes to be healed so that the light can shinethrough and we may see.

The emphasis in Revelation 2—3 is not on a work but on a liv-ing. We need the inward reality of the solid experience of Christ,the outward expression of Christ, and healed eyes so that we maysee clearly. This will make us the shining golden lampstands. If wesee this vision, we will realize the lack among Christians today ofa living that is filled with gold, covered with the white garment, andhealed by the eyesalve. Instead, there are many activities, move-ments, and practices. What the Lord desires is a Body that lives Himout, taking Him as the inward essence, expressing Him with Hisperfection, and keeping a clear view concerning everything. Weshould not be distracted by anything else. This does not mean thatwe should not preach the gospel or contact others but that we should

The Lord Desiring a Pure Testimony of Life 139

preach Christ and contact others with Christ and as His living tes-timony.

THE LORD DESIRING A PURE TESTIMONY OF LIFEIN THE CHURCHES TODAY

At the end of Revelation is a city, which indicates oneness, be-cause there is only one city. In the center of the city is the throne ofGod and of the Lamb (22:1). This Lamb-God is the redeeming God.Out of His throne f lows a river of water of life. What comes forth isnot power but life. This f low is not a powerful waterfall like NiagaraFalls but a river of life. I have visited Niagara Falls more than once,and I never saw a person drinking from it. When I was there, I wasfrightened by the force of the water. However, the water within theholy city f lowing out of the throne does not signify power but life.Revelation does not say how fast or forcefully it f lows. Instead, itsays that it is “bright as crystal,” indicating pureness and transpar-ency (v. 1). The conclusion of the whole Bible is not a movement ofpower but a f low of life. This f low is pure—without mixture. Thefinal word of the Bible is a picture showing a river of water of life,which f lows in a gentle and pure way.

This picture at the end of Revelation should be seen in miniaturein the church life in the Lord’s recovery today. The Lord does notwant mere power in His recovery. Christians who seek for outwardsigns of power do not understand the river of water of life in Revela-tion 22. Few Christians today pay attention to Revelation 21—22,but we need to realize that this is the conclusion of the divine revela-tion of the entire Bible. The final, concluding piece of the divinerevelation is a gentle and pure f low of life. This is what the Lordwants. It is not a movement full of power, activity, and outwardachievements but a gentle, pure, and clear f low of life, supplying theneed of the whole city. The tree of life as the life supply grows onlyalongside this f low (22:2).

The shining of the lampstands in chapter 1 is strong; however, theemphasis is not on power but on the brightness, the light. In chap-ter 22, the last chapter of the book, the emphasis is on the f lowingwith the life supply. We should not seek outward success through ac-tivities or movements but should supply the need for life in a gentle,pure, and transparent way, without mixture or opaqueness. Today’s


church life should be a ref lection of the New Jerusalem. What willbe there should be here today.

When we make mistakes, our main need is not outward correc-tion but a clear vision, which will rescue and uplift us. This does notmean that we should not do anything outwardly, but we first musthave a daily living, which includes our home life and church life, inthe shining of the lampstand and the f low of the river of water of life.This will be a testimony that attracts the Lord’s seekers. The Lordwill honor this, and the Spirit in the spirit of the Lord’s seekers willconfirm this. When they see this, they will be attracted. Whether ornot they are attracted is not our responsibility. Our responsibilityis only to live such a life. For this reason we must come back to thevision, which is altogether different from religion. Because we areeasily distracted and led astray, we need to come back to the visionagain and again.

When I was with Brother Nee in mainland China, I never sawhim develop a schedule for the work or for the spreading of thechurches. In other words, there was no organizational plan. We neverhad a conference of the co-workers to talk about a schedule or plan.However, near the end of Brother Nee’s ministry, at the end of hisfirst training in Kuling, he released a schedule to preach the gospelthroughout all of China within twenty years according to five geo-graphic routes. At that time, accomplishing such a plan seemed verypossible. The whole situation was in favor of this. Nevertheless, soonthe political situation changed, and instead of evangelizing all ofChina in twenty years, I was forced to f lee, and Brother Nee was im-prisoned for the last twenty years of his life. For many years I wasgreatly bothered by the loss of mainland China, because our workhad been so prevailing there in 1948, and everyone was surprised athow quickly the country fell to the Communists. Only recently didI see why the Lord allowed this. We would surely have preferred theevangelization of China rather than imprisonment for Brother Nee.However, for the sake of the testimony, the Lord chose imprisonment.The result of the Lord’s choice has been a strong testimony. Godcannot be mistaken, and no one is wiser than He.

If we are doing an ordinary Christian work, our plans may workout, but in the Lord’s recovery the Lord will not allow an organiza-tional schedule or plan for the work. He will blow on such plans andcause them to come to nothing. He does not want a movement in


His recovery. To have a plan for the work is the way of degraded Chris-tianity. Such a plan is altogether against the way of the Lord’s recovery.

Brother Nee was a great gift, and by 1948 he was full of experi-ence, having established hundreds of local churches. That was seem-ingly a golden opportunity and the right time. He was about fiftyyears old, and from fifty to seventy is the time we are most useful tothe Lord. Brother Nee was fully equipped, qualified, and edified toaccomplish something, but the Lord came in and instead causedhim to be imprisoned. During his twenty years in prison, BrotherNee must have prayed much for the Lord’s interests. I believe that ineternity we will see that much of what the Lord has gained in Hisrecovery during the past two decades was due to Brother Nee’s prayerin prison.

We would choose the great achievement of evangelizing China,but the Lord did not. Throughout history it has always been likethis. The apostle Paul intended to go to Spain after passing throughRome (Rom. 15:28), but he was never able to go. At that time Spainwas the uttermost part of the earth; Paul’s goal was to evangelize thewhole civilized world. However, the Lord instead allowed him to beimprisoned. He arrived in Rome in chains. If we study history, wecan see that between the time of Paul and Brother Nee, many otheruseful servants of the Lord have experienced the same thing underthe Lord’s sovereign hand. Nearly every great servant of the Lordwas eventually martyred or imprisoned. We need to see a visionregarding the Lord’s desire for a pure testimony of life rather thanan outwardly successful work. Otherwise, we are in danger of goingagainst the Lord’s way.

Today I am no longer bothered by the loss of mainland China.Instead, I thank the Lord for His testimony. Brother Nee and nearlyall our co-workers were martyred there by being killed or impris-oned until death. The Greek word for witness is the same word thatis translated “martyr.” Thus, martyrdom signifies a testimony. Wemay prefer outward achievement in the work, but we must see thatGod prefers a testimony. My burden is heavy concerning this becausethe Lord’s blessing is in His recovery—it is spreading, and the doorsare open. Therefore, it is very possible that instead of caring for thetestimony, we would be distracted by working according to organi-zation.

We need to learn from history. All the first twelve apostles became


martyrs. Since the first century this kind of martyrdom has been re-peated again and again. We must take the warning. The Lord’s bless-ing is with us, and the doors are open. We must not choose the wayof outward achievement but the way of a testimony. We only need tolive a life of testimony. Our testimony should be the shining of thegolden lampstands and the pure f lowing of the river of water of lifeto supply man with life. This is what the Lord wants. This is thevision at the end of the Bible as its conclusion, and this is what weshould be today. If we see this vision, it will direct, control, govern,and safeguard us. It will rescue us from wasting time doing manythings that the Lord does not care for. What He cares for is a life oftestimony.


The Testimony and Way of Life in the Lord’s RecoveryTaking the Way of Life in Our Labor for the Lord

CHAPTER THREE

TAKING THE WAY OF LIFEIN OUR LABOR FOR THE LORD

Scripture Reading: Matt. 13:23; 24:45; 1 Cor. 3:2, 7, 9, 12-13

Prayer: Lord, by Your mercy and grace make us poor in our spiritand pure in our heart to seek after You. We ask You to speak to usand reveal Yourself and Your way to us. Apart from You, we do nothave anything or know anything. Lord, we trust in You. Come in toanoint, inspire, impress, infuse, and saturate us with Yourself. Lord,cleanse us and hide us in You. Although there is a battle, You are theOne who fights for us. We place ourselves into Your hand and rest inYou. Lord, cover us. You are our hiding place.

NOT FOLLOWING THE WAY OF THE DENOMINATIONS

In the preceding chapters we saw the importance of life. Since wehave been impressed with the matter of life, we now need to see howwe should go on in the local churches. First, we must avoid the inf lu-ence of degraded Christianity. The denominations are typified by thenations in the Old Testament (Gen. 10:1—11:9). The Lord chargedthe children of Israel in the Old Testament not to learn the ways, orcustoms, of the nations (Exo. 23:23-24). According to 2 Kings 21:2,the ways of the nations are abominations in the eyes of God. There-fore, in the Lord’s recovery we should not follow the ways of thedenominations. God even restricted the diet of His people in theOld Testament because He did not want them to eat in the same wayas the nations. The children of Israel ate, and the nations also ate, butthey did not eat in the same way. Similarly, we read the Bible, pray,preach the gospel, and establish churches, which the denominationsalso do, but we should not follow their ways in these matters.

MINISTERING TO THE CHURCHAS GOD’S FARM AND GOD’S BUILDING

We must come back to the pure Word, where we are told that the

church is God’s cultivated land, God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9). Forthe farm we need seed. After sowing the seed, we water it, and Godcauses the growth (vv. 6-7). For the building we need the right mate-rials. First Corinthians 3:12 says, “If anyone builds upon the founda-tion gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble.” In this versethere are two categories of materials. The first is the transformed,precious materials of gold, silver, and precious stones; the second isthe natural materials of wood, grass, and stubble. Because the mate-rials in the second category cannot withstand the test of fire, theywill be consumed (v. 13). Gold, silver, and precious stones not onlycan withstand the test of fire but also are made more precious by it.We must know these basic principles in order to properly establishand take care of the churches.

Since the church is God’s farm, it needs the seed, sowing, andwatering. Eventually, what comes out is the growth, which is not in ourhand but in God’s hand. Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, butGod caused the growth” (v. 6). We need to consider what we sow inour work, ministry, and functioning in the meetings. We cannot ex-pect to produce something other than what we sow. If we sow wheat,we will harvest wheat. It is a law that we reap what we sow. Therefore,we must be careful about what we sow in our ministry. It should notbe emotion, excitement, or zeal. If we sow according to our naturalskill and ability, we can only expect to reap natural skill and ability.Each of us will stand before the Lord at His judgment seat to answerconcerning what we have sown. Even today we should be beforeHim concerning this. As the leading ones in the Lord’s recovery, weshould not sow anything other than Christ. Zeal, skill, and ability arenot bad things, but we cannot reap Christ if we sow these things.

In Matthew 13:3 the Lord said, “Behold, the sower went out tosow.” The Lord is not only the Sower but also the seed. Verse 19 saysthat the seed is the word of the kingdom, which is the embodimentof Christ as life. Christ and the word are actually one, because theword is His embodiment. In another parable that the Lord spoke inMatthew 13, the seed is the sons of the kingdom (v. 38). Thus, Christis the seed, the word of the kingdom is also the seed as His embodi-ment, and this word produces the sons of the kingdom, who are alsothe seed. In this sense, Christ, the word, and the sons of the king-dom are one and should be the seed that we sow. We need to sowChrist as the word. Whatever we speak, preach, or teach must be


the embodiment of Christ to convey Him to the listeners. This seedwill produce sons of the kingdom.

In the New Testament we can see that the apostles did not sowanything other than Christ. However, some preachers today sow theiremotions by stirring people up in an emotional way. That kind ofwork cannot produce sons of the kingdom. We must check concern-ing what we sow in our ministry and allow the Lord to correct us inthis. We should not blame the listeners if they receive the wrong im-pression. If they misunderstand us, it is because we did not sow theright seed in the right way. We must pray, “Lord, check and exposemy ministry in the light of the judgment seat. Am I sowing You? AmI sowing the word that embodies You? Am I sowing something thatcan produce living sons of the kingdom?”

If we are not checked by the Lord concerning what we minister,we may labor in vain. In Philippians 2:16 Paul says, “Holding forththe word of life, so that I may have a boast in the day of Christ thatI did not run in vain nor labor in vain.” Although we labor much, itmay be in vain. If we build with wood, grass, and stubble, what weproduce will be burned, no matter how large it is. The leading onesin the Lord’s recovery must bring this matter to the Lord in prayer.It is much better to be checked and exposed today than to wait forthe judgment seat.

NEEDING TO LABOR IN THE WAY OF LIFE

According to the Lord’s word in Matthew 13, the church is God’sfarm. Therefore, our labor should only be to help the harvest togrow. Whatever we do that is not related to the growth of life doesnot count in God’s economy. There are four kinds of earth revealed inverses 3 through 8 and 19 through 23. Verse 23 says, “The one sownon the good earth, this is he who hears the word and understands,who by all means bears fruit and produces, one a hundredfold, andone sixtyfold, and one thirtyfold.” Besides the good earth bearingfruit in life, nothing counts. We need to realize that in God’s econ-omy, nothing counts except the growth of life. We may do much,which in our eyes and in others’ eyes is a big success, but it will notcount in God’s eyes if there is no growth in life. According to Mat-thew 13, the growth in life to bear fruit is what matters. We need tosee this vision.

The way of organized Christianity is to seek a quick result by

Taking the Way of Life in Our Labor for the Lord 147

gaining hundreds of new converts at once. However, after severalyears, nearly none of these remain. Thousands of Protestant mis-sionaries went to China. Years later nothing of their work remains.All that is left came out of the seed sown by Margaret E. Barber.When she went to China the second time, she made a firm decisionnot to travel but to “bury” herself in a small town, praying daily andministering to those whom the Lord brought to her. That “seed”eventually produced Watchman Nee, whose ministry is helpingChristians throughout the world today. He was not raised up by themission organizations. Rather, his publications condemned thesemissions and the denominations, and they eventually rose up againsthim. However, what remains in China and on the whole earth todayshows the Lord’s approval of Brother Nee’s ministry.

Leland Wang, a brother who was five years older than BrotherNee, resigned from the Chinese navy to be a full-time preacher.While Brother Nee was still a student, in 1922, the first meeting of alocal church began in this brother’s home with his wife and BrotherNee. Leland was a very good speaker. He became a popular evan-gelist and was invited by many denominations to give messages.He, Brother Nee, and a few other young believers recognized thatM. E. Barber had something to minister to them and placed them-selves under her training. Brother Nee told me that one day SisterBarber advised Leland to stop traveling to speak to many groups.She warned him that if he continued traveling, she would stop pray-ing for him. Not long after this, Leland traveled to Shanghai andagreed to be officially ordained by a missionary organization so thathe would be invited by more denominations. That became a cause ofdivision and eventually caused Leland to take the lead in excommu-nicating Brother Nee.

When Brother Nee was excommunicated, the Lord told him notto do anything to resist. Therefore, he went away and stayed in asmall place near M. E. Barber. He spent much time in prayer andbecame burdened to publish The Christian magazine, to release thetruth concerning the church. Leland became a popular preacher.The missionaries called him “the Moody of China.” Eventually, hecame to the United States and was given an honorary Doctor ofDivinity degree by Wheaton College. Today Watchman Nee andLeland Wang have both gone to be with the Lord. Only Brother Nee’sministry remains and is prevailing throughout the earth. In a sense,


M. E. Barber by her labor of many years produced only one person.Only one fruit came out of that buried seed, but it was Brother Nee,whose ministry was a great supply not only for his generation inChina but also for Christians in every part of the earth down totoday. He did not live to see the great number of saints and churchesthat would eventually be raised up as a result of his ministry. Theresult of our labor depends upon what we sow and how we sow it.

If our ministry is proper, it will bear fruit for generations. AnotherChinese Christian worker of Brother Nee’s generation was Dr. JohnSung. Wherever he preached, a great crowd gathered. The denomina-tions welcomed him and even cooperated in gathering audiences ofthousands to hear him speak. In contrast, when Brother Nee spoke,there were rarely more than a hundred people present. Nevertheless,nothing is left of John Sung’s work, while the ministry of BrotherNee remains, because the seed he sowed was not emotion, a method,or a movement but Christ for the church, and he sowed in the rightway.

In 1 Corinthians 3:2 the apostle Paul says, “I gave you milk todrink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it.” Wemay think of Paul primarily as a great apostle and teacher, but heconsidered that what he was doing was feeding and planting (v. 6).We need to check whether what we are doing is feeding and plantingor something else. Matthew 24:45 says, “Who then is the faithful andprudent slave, whom the master has set over his household to givethem food at the proper time?” We need to consider if we are givingfood to the churches at the proper time. We must evaluate our min-istry and our work.

TAKING THE WAY OF LIFE BY EXPERIENCING LIFE,BEING DEALT WITH BY THE LORD, AND PRAYING DAILY

A farm and a building cannot be produced quickly. The crops ona farm grow gradually, continually, and quietly. We must allow thechurch to have such quiet growth without constantly disturbing it.A healthy farm produces fruit yearly. If we patiently work by plant-ing and watering while the crops gradually grow, we will see thefruit in due time. Otherwise, although we may work much, in theend we will have no result.

The church is not a factory but a farm. Artificial f lowers can beproduced quickly in a factory by much labor. However, real f lowers


must be grown in a garden by patiently and faithfully tilling theground, planting, and watering. Eventually, the plants begin to grow,and at a certain stage of growth, f lowers are produced. This is whatthe Lord wants in the church. Nothing that is produced quickly isgenuine. Moreover, the higher the life, the slower it grows. Con-versely, the lower the life, the quicker it grows. It takes about twentyyears for a human being to reach full growth, but dogs grow morequickly. Insects in my garden grow and increase overnight, but mygrandchildren look about the same every day. We cannot expect tohave a quick work in the church. For this reason, we cannot followthe way of the denominations. Instead, we must take the way of life.

The way of life first requires that we have, know, and experiencelife. Second, we need to daily deal with the Lord and be dealt withby Him not only in big things but also in small things, such as howwe shine our shoes. I have learned this from many years of experi-ence in the Christian life. If someone is learning to play the piano,when he plays, an expert will know by listening how often he hasbeen practicing. This illustrates the importance of daily practice. Ifwe do not live a daily life of experiencing life and being dealt with bythe Lord, we cannot minister such a life to others. Third, we musthave a daily prayer life. Especially the brothers who are taking thelead in the churches must spend time to pray daily.

We should not be busy doing many things but not have a dailytime of prayer. If our prayer is lacking, the result of our ministry willbe equally lacking. Our lack of prayer is the limiting factor for theresult of our ministry. No ministry can produce more than theprayer that is behind it. If we do not pray, our ministry may seem tohave a result, but it will not be a genuine issue of life. The issue of liferesults only from our prayer. Each co-worker and elder need to makea decision before the Lord, promising Him that he will pray for atleast fifteen to twenty minutes every day no matter how busy he is.This kind of prayer must be a private time in which we personallycontact the Lord.

If in the Lord’s recovery the leading ones do not have a prayerlife, we have little hope for the future. I am more concerned aboutthis matter than about any outside opposition. If we defeat the op-position but do not have a prayer life, we will still have nothing.However, if we all pray privately for one hour a day, no matter if the


whole world rises up against us, the Lord will eventually gain whatHe is after.

Every day we may be busy with many things, such as taking careof the meetings, the practical arrangements, and contacting others,but not have an adequate prayer life. Much business without prayeris an abomination in the eyes of God. This offends the Lord becauseit implies that we can do everything without Him. If this is our case,we should reduce our doing and increase our coming to the Lord,confessing, “Lord, without You, I can do nothing, and I do not wantto do anything. I rely wholly on You. I do not care for how much I dobut for how much You deal with me. Lord, I need Your dealing. If myperson is not right, You do not have a way to use me for Your pur-pose. So, Lord, I come to You before I do anything. I would even setaside my doing and simply stay in Your presence until I see what Youare doing.” Nothing honors the Lord as much as this. We need sucha prayer life.

The ones who take the lead must have a life of prayer—a lifeof continually contacting the Lord and being dealt with by Him.Otherwise, we have no way to go on, and the Lord has no way to goon with us. Eventually, He will be forced to go to others. We will nolonger be suitable for His recovery. The Lord’s recovery has been inthe United States for only one generation. We should strive to pass iton to the following generations. There is no other way but the way oflife.

We must go to the Lord to seek the way of life. We do not need tobe overly concerned about what we should or should not do—this issecondary. The primary thing is to go to the Lord in prayer to becontinually enlightened, checked, examined, tested, and dealt withby Him. We should be under His dealing even in the details of ourdaily living. Then we will be right in our person—we will be a per-son of life who can minister life to others.

We must forsake the denominational way of organization, be-cause the church is God’s farm. If we sow the proper seed and laborby planting and watering, something will be organically producedin the Lord’s time. The same principle applies to the church as God’sbuilding. We cannot complete a building work quickly. Actually, thereal building is our growing (Eph. 4:16). If there is no growth in alocal church, there is no building. There may be organization, but


that is not genuine building. The church as God’s building is notsomething organized or arranged but something that grows.

If we do not see this, we will suffer loss. Many cases in historyconfirm this. We should not repeat the same mistakes. Instead, weshould take the way of life according to the principle ordained byGod. Even in nature there are principles ordained by God. Farmersmust labor according to these principles. If not, they will not gain aharvest. In the Lord’s ministry we must see God’s principle and goon according to this principle so that we will have a positive result.Otherwise, we are wasting our time—running in vain and laboringin vain. We need to bring these things to the Lord in prayer, fellow-ship concerning them, and receive mercy and grace to see thingsclearly. In this way the Lord will gain something for the long run.


The Testimony and Way of Life in the Lord’s RecoveryArriving at the Oneness of the Faith

CHAPTER FOUR

ARRIVING AT THE ONENESS OF THE FAITH ANDBUILDING THE CHURCH BY THE GROWTH IN LIFE

Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:3, 13, 16

Prayer: Lord, thank You that we are enjoying Your presencethrough Your cleansing blood. We ask You to bring us into Yourheart’s desire and into Yourself. We long to have Your feeling. Lord,we are waiting on You in the expectation that we would be saturatedwith Your feeling and Your desire. We want to be one with You in apractical way concerning the church life. Our prayer is not for oursake but for Yours. Lord, thank You that the recovery is Yours. Lord,cover us; we hide ourselves in You. Grant us the openness and theability to receive. Open our eyes so that we may see where we shouldbe. We want to have a clear sky with the heavens opened.

THE ONENESS OF THE SPIRITAND THE ONENESS OF THE FAITH

AND OF THE FULL KNOWLEDGE OF THE SON OF GOD

Two things are crucial to the Lord’s recovery: life and oneness.Without life and oneness among us, we would no longer be the Lord’srecovery but would become a part and a continuation of confusedand degraded Christianity. Therefore, life and oneness are the twocrucial characteristics of the Lord’s recovery. In the preceding threechapters we have mainly covered life. In this chapter we will con-sider oneness.

Ephesians 4 reveals two aspects of oneness. Verse 3 speaks of theoneness of the Spirit, and verse 13 speaks of the oneness of the faithand of the full knowledge of the Son of God. These two aspects ofoneness are two ends—one at the beginning and the other at theend. Verse 3 says that we need to keep the oneness of the Spirit, whichmeans that we already have this oneness, since we cannot keep any-thing that we do not have. When we were regenerated, we receivedthe Spirit, and by having the Spirit, we have the oneness of the Spirit.

Actually, the oneness of the Spirit is the Spirit. The same Spirit is inevery believer, and this indwelling Spirit is our oneness. What wehave is not merely a unity, which is a state in which many are unitedtogether, but a oneness that is a person—Christ Himself, who is theSpirit dwelling within us. To be united is actually to remain separa-ble and easily divided. We do not need to be united, because we areone by having the same Spirit within. This Spirit within us, who isour actual oneness, is the Spirit—the all-inclusive Spirit of Christ,the life-giving Spirit. In this indwelling Spirit we are one with everybeliever. Because we have this oneness, we need to keep it. We gainthis aspect of oneness at the beginning of our Christian life, as soonas we are regenerated.

Verse 13 says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith andof the full knowledge of the Son of God.” This aspect of oneness is adestination at which we need to arrive. We gain the oneness of theSpirit at the beginning of our Christian life, and we arrive at theoneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God asthe destination of our Christian life. We need to keep the beginningaspect so that we may arrive at the final aspect. In order to under-stand the matter of oneness, we must see these two aspects. Theapostle Paul talked about oneness in this way. In the first aspect weare already one, but concerning the second aspect, we are on theway.

The first aspect of the oneness is the Spirit, and the second aspectis two things: the faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God. Weneed to consider what these two things are. The faith does not referto our act of believing but to the things in which we believe—not toour believing ability but to the object of our belief—such as theperson and work of Christ. Concerning the relationship of these twoaspects of the faith, we need to see that the action of believing, orthe ability to believe, actually comes from the object of belief. Be-cause we spontaneously appreciate a precious physical object whenwe are viewing it, we may say that our appreciating ability comesfrom the object of our appreciation. Likewise, our believing abilitycomes from Christ, who is the object of our belief. When we see themost precious One in the universe, the ability to believe is sponta-neously produced in us.

The faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God are twoaspects of the oneness at which we must arrive. The faith is like the


outside of a garment, and the full knowledge of the Son of God islike the inside of the same garment. When we repent and believe inthe Lord, we are saved, and He comes into us. At that time we havethe faith and the Son of God, but we do not have the full knowledgeof the Son of God. It takes our whole Christian life to gain this fullknowledge. Paul speaks of “the excellency of the knowledge of ChristJesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8) and desiring “to know Him” (v. 10). Wemay own a good watch for many years and appreciate it but still nothave much knowledge of it. Similarly, all believers have the faith,but we lack the full knowledge of the Son of God.

When we believed in the Lord, the Spirit came into us as our life.In this way we received the oneness of the Spirit at the very begin-ning of our Christian life. However, as we began to go on in ourChristian life, many things other than the faith came in from ourconcepts, background, natural make-up, and culture. We all havethese four things, and they are different for each of us. In addition,many differences come in from our contact with Christians of dif-ferent denominations. When we were saved, we were one, but after-ward, different things come out from within us and come in fromorganized religion. All these different things are the source of divi-sions among Christians.

In 1 Corinthians we can see such differences leading to divisions.We can also see these differences in Romans 14. Some ate only vege-tables, but others ate all things (v. 2). Some regarded certain days asbeing special, but to others every day was the same (v. 5). Since suchdifferences are the source of divisions, we may think that we shouldforce the believers to forsake all their differences in order to dealwith the divisions, but the apostle Paul did not teach us to do this.Instead, he said that we must receive all the believers with their dif-ferences. When I began to understand this truth in Romans 14, I wasgreatly surprised, because I realized that the apostle Paul knew thatdietary restrictions and observing certain days were not doctrinallycorrect. However, I eventually understood that my view was narrow,exclusive, divisive, and sectarian. As a result, I repented and made athorough confession. Since that time I have not insisted on, foughtfor, or even taught many doctrinal matters. I realized that thesethings are like the toys of small children. The younger a child is, themore he needs toys. In this principle, we must allow childish Chris-tians to play with their “toys.”

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We should not be bothered if other saints in our locality beginpracticing something with which we do not agree. This is a test. Weshould not be required to follow the practice, but neither should weoppose it. We must honor the oneness of the local church by contin-uing to meet with the other saints and tolerating the different prac-tices. We cannot tolerate things that God condemns as sin, such asidolatry, fornication, or division, but practices like different formsof baptism do not constitute a sin. We must tolerate anything that isnot sin. For the sake of harmony, when we are visiting another groupof believers, it may even be best to join in with what they are doingas long as it is not idolatrous, immoral, or divisive. This was theapostle Paul’s attitude (vv. 13, 21; 15:1; 1 Cor. 9:22).

Paul knew that we do not need to regard any day and that whatwe eat means nothing (Col. 2:16). He says, “Concerning the eatingof things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in theworld” (1 Cor. 8:4). Romans 14:14 says, “I know and am persuadedin the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself.” To worshipan idol is sinful, but to eat something sacrificed to an idol is notwrong for one who is strong in the faith. However, for the sake ofthe weaker ones’ conscience, Paul would not eat these things (1 Cor.8:12-13).

Christians today are divided by minor, unimportant things, likethe outward forms of baptism. It is difficult to understand Paul’sopinion in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 concerning the eating ofthings sacrificed to idols. It seems that in some verses he says yesand in other verses he says no. Actually, what he says is that both areright—eating or not eating. What is wrong is criticizing someonewho has a different practice than we do. What eventually helped meto understand Paul’s teaching in this regard was much experience.By the growth in life our capacity to understand the truth increases,and we come to know what is important and drop what is not. Thisis our arriving at the oneness of the faith.

THE CHURCH BEING BUILT ONLY BY THE GROWTH IN LIFE

In the preceding chapter we saw that the church is God’s farmand God’s building. It is clear that a farm needs growth. Actually,the building also needs growth. Ultimately, growth is for the build-ing. This is implied in 1 Corinthians 3. Verse 2 indicates that Paulfed the believers, and feeding is for growth. In verse 6 Paul says, “I


planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.” In verse 9 hesays, “You are God’s cultivated land, God’s building.” Then he says,“Let each man take heed how he builds” (v. 10). Together these versesimply that the farm with the growth is for the building. In the phys-ical realm, farms need growth, and buildings need to be built; but inthe spiritual realm, our growth is the real building.

First Corinthians speaks of the church not only as God’s farmand God’s building but also as the Body (12:12-27). The Body is theconsummate aspect of the church in 1 Corinthians. With a physicalbody there is growth and building. Actually, in a body, growth andbuilding are one thing. A body is built up by its growth. Ephesians4:16 speaks of “the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself.”This clearly reveals that growth is for building. Thus, growth andbuilding are one.

The doctrine concerning growth and building is clear, but wealso need to see in a practical way how the church can be built up bygrowing. If we do not know how to help the church to grow, yet wetry to build the church, we will inevitably take the way of organiza-tion. Building by organizing is not organic. The church does not needorganizational building but organic building, which is the growth inlife. As long as we take care of the growth, the building will sponta-neously take place. If we try to arrange the church in any way, this isa matter of organization. In a sense, organization works—in religion,politics, and business large organizations are prevailing throughoutthe earth. However, no matter how well organization works, what itproduces is false. The Lord does not want an organization but a gen-uine, living, organic Body.

Organizations may be very large, but organisms are relativelysmall. According to this principle, the local churches should not seekto be great in size, because they are organic. The Lord likened thechurch to a harvest (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43). A harvest may be large,but it is made up of many small plants. A harvest is never one largeplant. Anything that grows cannot be very large. The building up ofthe church is the growth of the saints.

We must see that we build up the church not by organizing butby feeding, planting, watering, and fertilizing. As leading ones, weourselves first need to grow. We must take the lead to grow in life. Ifwe do not grow, we will not know how to help others to grow and willnot have anything to minister for their growth. Therefore, taking


the lead depends upon our growth. It does not depend on our abil-ity or gift. We may be very gifted and have much talent, yet if we donot grow, we cannot help others to grow. Someone may be a famouspreacher in Christianity yet not have any growth in life. His skill inspeaking, organizing, and managing will increase, but he may haveno genuine growth. This is why we should not learn from the denom-inations. The customs of the nations are abominable in the eyes ofGod. We must forsake that way and come back to God’s ordainedway.

We should be content to be small and should not try to be great.According to the Lord’s word in Matthew 13:31-32, we should notbe a great tree but a small herb that is nourishing food. The para-ble in these verses speaks of a mustard seed that becomes a greattree. According to Genesis 1:11-12, every plant must be according toits kind. Because mustard is a small herb, a mustard seed that be-comes a tree is no longer according to its kind and thus violatesthe controlling principle. We naturally desire to be great, but for thechurch this is against God’s principle. However, organized Christian-ity seeks to be great. If we become like that, we are through with life,we have violated God’s principle, and we cannot be nourishing foodto feed others like the small mustard plant. We are constantly underthe temptation to be great. Especially in the United States the youngpeople are taught to seek to be great by developing their talents andabilities. After Brother Nee was excommunicated, he wrote a hymnthat says, “My heart’s desire is not for fame / Nor profit in these days.”Few Christian workers can say this.

Because it violates God’s principle of every living thing beingaccording to its kind, anything that is great in Christianity lasts foronly one generation. A mule is neither a horse nor a donkey but ahybrid between the two. A mule may be stronger than a donkey ora horse, but because it violates the principle in creation, it cannotproduce offspring and survives for only one generation. OrganizedChristianity produces “mules.” In the church we should all be smallsheep, because the church is the f lock of God (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet.5:2-3). As the Lord’s “little f lock” (Luke 12:32), the church shouldbe full of life and feeding (John 21:15, 17). Although this is clearlyrevealed in the Bible, few Christians today pay attention to this. Itseems that there is no f lock of sheep and no feeding.

The brothers who take the lead in the local churches must be


feeders. In order to feed others, we first must feed ourselves andgrow. If we do not grow, we cannot feed others. In order to growproperly, we should not seek to be great. If we become great, we arenot good for feeding others. Shepherding does not mean only to visitothers but to feed them (vv. 15-17). If a Christian worker becomesfamous, he is through with shepherding. He may be a king, but hewill not be a shepherd who feeds the sheep. Every elder must be asmall, humble feeding one. This is to be a shepherd. The portions ofthe Word concerning the qualifications of the elders indicate that theelders must be gentle and humble (1 Tim. 3:3; 1 Pet. 5:3), implyingthat we should not seek to be great. If an elder becomes great, he isthrough with the eldership because he cannot feed himself or growin order to feed others.

We must have a prayer life and grow in life in order to live a lifeby which we can minister life to others and help them to grow. If wemean business with the Lord in these things, we first must be reducedand should not try to be great, to be the first, or to be the leader,which will altogether spoil us (3 John 9; Matt. 20:25-27; 23:11-12).The Lord said, “Whoever wants to become great among you shall beyour servant” (20:26). When we are willing to be a servant to others,we will be full of growth and able to minister life to others. As a manin the f lesh, I have passed through many tests. Because of our satanicnature, every person wants to be great. However, by the Lord’s mercyI have been warned, and through His grace I do not want to be greator take the lead. Those who have labored with me for years can tes-tify that I do not exercise authority over or try to control anyone orany church. I fear becoming great because I know that if I becomegreat, I am through with the growth in life and cannot minister lifeto others.

Not seeking to be great is necessary for the growth by which thechurches can be built. If there is no growth, there can be no building.This is the truth revealed in the Bible and confirmed in our experi-ence over many years. I am greatly burdened for the churches in theUnited States, which are part of the second generation of the Lord’srecovery. I do not want any of the leading brothers to be spoiled un-consciously. In order to build up the local church, we must see thatonly growth in life is real building. This is the indisputable, divinelyordained principle. The Bible clearly reveals that the building of thechurch is by growth in life. The matter of growth is first revealed in


Matthew 13. Then in 16:18 the Lord spoke of building the church.Eventually, 1 Corinthians 3 and Ephesians 4 reveal that growth equalsbuilding and that building must be by growth. Without growth wecan only have organization, which is the way of the Catholic Churchand the denominations. However, the church is not an organizationbut an organism, which does not need organization but growth inlife. There is no genuine building in organized Christianity. Historyproves that we cannot build up the church in this way. Neither canthe church be built by natural zeal, outward excitement, or miracu-lous gifts. The church can be built only by the growth in life.

In order to build the church by life, we must take the lead togrow in life, which requires that we be reduced. Gardeners andfarmers know that in order for plants to grow properly, they must betrimmed. This kind of trimming is not to kill the plants but is fortheir growth. When I was young, my family lived near a vineyard.Every fall, after the harvest of the grapes, the workers trimmed allthe vines for the sake of the following year’s fruit-bearing. To grow inlife requires that we be reduced. We must see this principle ordainedby God. As an elder, we should not try to become great. Instead, weshould allow the Lord to reduce us so that we will grow. In this waywe will have a measure of life to minister to others, and the churchin our locality can be built up.


Documents

CWWL, 1978, vol 2stream11.lsmwebcast.com/office/TodaysReading.pdf(3-volume 1978 set) ISBN 978-0-7363-7162-9 (volume 2, 1978 set) Published by Living Stream Ministry 2431 W. La Palma