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Part 8
I am burdened now to share some of my observations and inner exercises for our going on and our future. We should not remain in limbo or in spiritual no-man’s land, but go on to satisfy the Lord and fulfill our calling.
One has said that the greatest thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history, and thus we are destined to repeat it. May the Lord be merciful to us that we may break out of that well-trodden path. We have spent countless hours analyzing not only our past but our inner being as well to discover by the Lord’s mercy where we have missed the way and how we should return to Him and walk in His light and truth. Surely we have very much to learn. Having invested our lives, our families, and our futures for decades in a way which at the beginning held so much promise, and then seeing it eventually turned aside and in a state of departure, how much we need the Lord’s grace so that all we have experienced and passed through may not be in vain! We need His mercy that we may learn some precious lessons and not repeat history, but rather go on to satisfy Him and fulfill His purpose before His coming!
Our greatest indictment, undoubtedly, is that we have been away from the Lord. Hence, our urgent need in these days is to return to the Lord Himself, to focus on Him, and to care supremely for our relationship with Him. Even more than attempting to correct abuses and unbalances we need to center on our Lord Jesus and pursue after Him. This has been the greatest lesson the Lord is seeking to teach me. To those who were caught in a religious system while He was on the earth Jesus said, “Come to Me!” That was His central call, and He voiced it again and again. He surely exposed the system and spoke scathing rebukes to its leaders, but He also gave those with an ear a door out and a very positive direction: “Come to Me!” “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). What a precious word for today! “Let us therefore go forth to Him outside the camp….” (Heb. 13:13). To come out and yet not pursue Him so that He becomes everything to us is indeed vanity. Then we simply fall into another camp, call what we may.
This is a day characterized by “the passing of the hero.” It should be for us a day of the passing of all the heroes, of all those who rival the place of the Lord Himself. Isaiah said, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up” (Isa. 6:1). It is best for all the kings to “die” as far as we are concerned so that we may see the Lord Himself high and lifted up. to see Him in such a way has a mighty life-changing and life-compelling effect, as it did on Isaiah (see Isa. 6:5-8). Our problem is that when one king dies, we replace him with another. When one hero passes away, we find another hero that suits our taste. If it is not someone else, it may sometimes be ourself. May the Lord deliver us from any form of hero worship and bring us wholly back to Himself. This is surely a great lesson and a continual exercise.
On the mount of transfiguration Peter saw with Jesus the two Old Testament heroes, Moses and Elijah, and would memorialize them along with Jesus. To Peter they were still heroes, as they were to all the Jews of his day. The Father then removed the heroes and pointed Peter to His Beloved Son. May He so the same for us. And “they saw on one except Jesus Himself alone” (Matt. 17:8). Strangely enough, after the Lord’s death and resurrection, Peter himself was made a hero, along with Paul and Apollos, by the saints in Corinth, and the Lord had to speak again through His servant Paul to recover the saints to Himself. Paul said, “Neither is the one who plants anything nor the one who waters, but the One who makes to grow, God” (1 Cor. 3:7). What a blessed day when we see no one but Jesus Himself alone! The Lord is indeed jealous of our affection and wants it all.
Fang Lizhi, the noted Chinese dissident and promoter of the current democracy movement in China made the following statement recently: “If the Chinese want a heroic person to tell them what to do and to lead them, I am not that man, because I think when people put such hopes and faith in a single leader, it is not only unhealthy but also dangerous.” Although these words were not spoken I the realm of spiritual things, I consider them to be words of great wisdom and understanding and a most appropriate comment on the situation we have addressed. O that all the Lord’s people could be so clear!
This is not to say that we do not need proper leadership. The Word of God refers in a number of places in the New Testament to leaders among God’s people. Heb. 13:17 says, “Obey those who lead you and submit to the, for they watch over your souls as those who will give account….” The outstanding characteristic of true leaders, however, is that they lead not just by teaching, but much more by example. Peter said very pointedly that the elders should shepherd the flock, not seeking gain by base means or lording it over them, but becoming patterns of the flock. (1 Pet. 5:2-3). Heb. 13:7 says concerning the leading ones that we should consider the issue of their manner of life and imitate their faith. Proper examples and patterns of the flock are sorely needed today. Paul said, “Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1)
In the light of recent scandals involving TV evangelists, reporters asked Billy Graham (who is now commendably as “Mr. Clean”, since he has preserved a reputation untainted by improper conduct) how such despicable behavior as evidenced in current Christian leadership could be avoided I the future. Billy Graham responded with three notable points:
1. Make public the financial statements of your organization.
2. Do not have family members on your Board of Directors.
3. Practice what you preach.
The first two points are undoubtedly of signal importance and should be observed by every Christian organization, but I believe that the third, although somewhat of a cliché, is the greatest. We certainly would all subscribe to that; but how exposing that Christian leaders “Take heed to yourself [first] and to the teaching…for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Tim. 4:16). May we all freshly heed such counsel for ourselves. We have received seemingly endless teaching and have accumulated much knowledge, but we have stunted growth and corresponding practice.
What then shall we do? It is exceedingly clear to many that the Lord needs a new beginning. Throughout church history He has had many new beginnings, and it seems that the time has come for another. But how to go on is the great question. How can there be a new beginning where we live and where we are concerned? The greatest need, I believe, is a genuine and deep return to the Lord Himself in our personal and daily lives, and then a coming together with others of like vision, perhaps just one or two, to pray earnestly for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth where we are. The need of prayer at this time for the Lord’s testimony in our lives and among His people is very great – prayer with “earnest insistence and resolute persistence”, believing the Lord to answer our prayer for His will. The first and greatest effect of our prayer will be a renewing work in us.
We need a new beginning, I believe, in a very simple way, meeting together with a small number, as the Lord leads us, not in any sect or division, but seeking to keep the oneness of the Spirit that we may have a true expression of His one Body. It is a relief not to try to do a great work or to expect large numbers or to look for something to develop quickly according to our concept. I am very thankful for the Lord’s word to the meager remnant struggling to have a new beginning in the Old Testament: “Not by might, or by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of Grace, grace to it!...For who has despised the day of small things?” (Zech. 4:6-7, 10). What a blessing to be in such a simple company to receive these words! For my part, I just want to be a brother among brothers, not in any special class, but focusing on Christ, loving Him, trusting Him, receiving the portion of others and sharing whatever I may have, caring for the saints, and rebuilding the Lord’s house. I believe that such companies of saints, through they be small, will be very effective in bringing in His kingdom and testimony.
Certainly we should still hold and seek to walk in all that the Lord Himself has shown us concerning Christ and His Body the church, at the same time seeking further light and adjustment where necessary. May the Lord save us from throwing out what is purely the truth; rather we should throw out the malpractice of the truth. Most of all we should throw out our self and deny our self. We need discernment with a sober mind to distinguish the things that differ. The truth itself should not be faulted or blamed or abandoned just because it has been abused or misused. Indeed, the truth may well need some clarifying (not changing), and our practice of it will certainly need adjusting. Let us hold the truth in love and seek to experience its reality. I believe that if we focus on Christ Himself and His living Word, many things will fall into place spontaneously, and we will have more reality and walk in it. How much we need this!
May we bring people to the Lord and to His pure Word, not opposing anything just because a certain person spoke that thing, or because that was something practiced in the past. I am afraid that if we focus on certain practices, whether old or new, and make issues of them, we will be distracted from the Lord Himself. This is what we did in the past. Of course, we should not be confined in any old mold, but seek to be truly free in the Spirit. The essential factor is not new or different methods (though we should be open to anything of the Lord), but the Spirit. We should not be shaken or distracted from our vision by anyone’s malpractice. May the Lord grant us the grace to overcome all kinds of reactions and follow Him in the Spirit with others.
Thus we need to return to the Lord Himself and to His Word. We have paid too much attention in the past to the interpretation of the Bible rather than to the Word of God itself. We have acquired much knowledge of the Word as it were from a second-hand store, relying excessively on the messages and writings of others, whereas we need to seek light and personal revelation from the Word for ourselves. This does not mean that we despise ministers of the Word who lead us by the Word to Him – we thank God for them. I am impressed that we need to pray much for the Lord’s timely speaking to His people. There has been a shortage of the undeniable prophetic word that makes the mind of God for the present day known to His people. May the Lord have a further recovery of the genuine prophetic speaking, not merely touching on external events, but communicating and unveiling the will of God in spiritual reality so that His purpose may be accomplished among us and His kingdom come. Thank God there is some amount of this.
I believe many will agree that we also need a recovery of genuine love and care for the saints. They have suffered much and have been neglected. Many are scattered and wounded and seemingly forgotten, like the man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho who was robbed, stripped, beaten, and desperately needed a “neighbor” (Luke 10:25-37). That man typified the Lord’s people. I pray that the Lord will transform many of us from lawyers to neighbors who minister much-needed help to the saints, and that He will raise up “inns” where these can be cared for.
The Lord undoubtedly desires to do a purifying work in us, not only removing any residue of bitterness we may have due to the past and every fleshly reaction, but giving us a single and pure heart for Himself and His testimony. To come out of a system is relatively easy, but to have so many fallen things removed from us requires the Lord’s great mercy and deep work. I have deeply sensed my need for the Lord’s purifying work, and have realized that the Lord can only have a new beginning by making us new.
There has been an intense spiritual warfare raging to destroy and then to oppose the recovering of the Lord’s testimony. This is the intrinsic meaning, I believe, of all that we have passed through and are continuing to experience. It is illustrated by the destruction of Jerusalem (which had its root in the inner corrupting elements), and the al-out opposition to the building of the walls of Jerusalem, as seen I the book of Nehemiah. I believe we are in that stage now, when there is resistance and antagonism, both violent and subtle, from without and from within, to the raising up of the Lord’s testimony. The present situation surely requires some with the spirit and heart of Nehemiah, willing to lay down their lives for the Lord’s purpose, and not wanting anything for themselves; not fighting with the arm of flesh, but standing unshaken in the Lord, watching and praying. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood.” To react in any way in our flesh, or to dwell forever on the past, licking our wounds, accomplishes the enemy’s designs as well as any other deception, for the Lord still does not get His testimony. May the Lord give us intelligence in the spiritual warfare that we may go on very positively to provide Him with His heart’s desire, His dwelling place. May He shepherd His sheep and gather them together. and may His great and exhaustless grace be with us all.
