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In the previous chapter we considered our need to study how to use the ministry of the word to uplift the meetings of the church. In addition, the ministry of the word should be living and practical; it does not depend on lofty subjects and deep content. We should not think that subjects such as regeneration and dealing with sins are too shallow simply because others have already spoken on these subjects. This concept is very wrong. The ministry of the word depends on the need. If some need to hear a message on regeneration, we should give a living word. I believe that even the apostle Paul sometimes liked to hear others preaching the gospel; he probably received the supply through their gospel preaching, because the preaching was living.
Some brothers feel that it is not easy to give a message in the church in Taipei, because the saints have heard good and high messages in the conferences. If the speaking is on a common subject, the saints have heard it, but if the speaking is on a high subject, the saints cannot come up to the standard. In ministering the word, the content should not be too high. It is wrong to go to the “high places” to find a way. It is not normal to walk on the rooftops. Those who try to walk on rooftops are looking for trouble. Rather, we should always choose a clear and unobstructed way when we walk, and since there would be no obstructions, the way can be taken repeatedly. Hence, we should not be afraid of old subjects; we should be afraid only of old utterances and old ways of speaking. The topic can be the same, but there must be different ways to present it so that it will be living. There is no profit in our striving for extra lofty messages. We should believe that among the ministers raised up by God in the church, some will function to supply the church with fresh and original things, and others will not.
The brothers and sisters do not need profound words in order to be supplied; they simply need ordinary words in order for them to be supplied. Ones are being saved every day, and they need to know how to consecrate themselves. Those who have already consecrated themselves, however, need to refresh their consecration. Therefore, we do not necessarily need to give lofty messages. We need to labor to receive a burden from the Lord. We should hold to this principle. We must see the need of the brothers and sisters. Instead of caring for whether a message is shallow or deep, we should care for the genuine need of the church. The speaking in regular meetings is always different from the speaking in the conferences. Conferences release messages at specified times to sow the need of the church into the saints. The saints should digest these messages. The speaking on the Lord’s Day, however, is to meet the general needs of the brothers and sisters. Hence, there is no need to consider whether the message is shallow or deep, and there is also no need to be concerned that it has been spoken by others. Our only concern should be whether it meets the need of the brothers and sisters. For a message to meet the need, our words must be living.
We should never be afraid that a common subject is too shallow for the saints. Actually, there is no such thing as a shallow message. Even a shallow message can minister deep things into people. In 1942 a brother who was meeting in a denomination often came to our meetings in order to hear the gospel messages. Even though the gospel is a very simple message by which unbelievers are saved, this brother eventually turned to the ground of the church because of these gospel messages. Those who bear the responsibility of the ministry of the word should have a change in concept. We should not consider whether a topic is profound or simple or whether others have already spoken on it. Instead of considering such matters, we should receive a burden to see exactly what the brothers and sisters need. Once we receive a burden, we should study to find a living way to present it. This does not mean that our words need to be lively, fluent, or persuasive but rather that we should speak words of life to touch, move, and uplift the spirit of the saints and to convict them in their spirit, thereby setting them free. This is where we should spend our energy and effort.
Hence, we need to fervently pray: “Lord, today I am speaking on regeneration. You must give me a fresh and living word.” Our speaking should be such that even the apostle Paul would say that our speaking touched his inner being. Our speaking should render even experienced believers a supply that is as fresh, cool, and watering as the morning dew. Even though regeneration is an “old” topic that has been spoken about many times, we should still give people a fresh supply in their spirit. This is the living word.
As those who are responsible for the ministry of the word in the local churches, we should learn to have a main point and at the same time be able to supply the word in all aspects. No one should say that he can only preach the gospel. We should seek out how to lead the responsible ones in the homes and in the small groups. We must seek to have a word for these responsible brothers, and we must seek to have a word to supply all the needs of the saints.
We are focused in our ministry of the word. We can speak concerning Christ, the Son of God, the cross, dealing with the flesh, and other topics that supply the saints. However, we also need words that can take care of the serving ones. Although the speaking in a local church may have Christ, the Son of God, the cross, and the dealing with the flesh as the focus, there is also the need for speaking concerning other aspects. For instance, if we eat beef in the morning and in the evening, sooner or later we will be in trouble. Since human beings need nutrition from different vitamins, we need all kinds of food. Not only so, the northern Chinese like garlic, and the Westerners like coffee. Some like soy sauce, and others like vinegar with their meals. We must learn how to supply the various needs of the saints; otherwise, the saints will know only one truth, and they will become unbalanced. Thus, the church will suffer a great loss.
When the brothers and sisters are strong in a certain item but weak in other items, it is difficult for the church to advance. We can speak on the same point if we are ministering to many churches and not caring for only one church. If I am in Tainan for two months, I can concentrate on serving the saints the subject of dealing with the flesh. If I then go to Taichung for another two months, I can serve the saints the same thing. This is acceptable, because every church needs to learn how to deal with the flesh. But it is not acceptable to stay in one locality and speak every year concerning dealing with the flesh. Such speaking will cause the church to become unbalanced.
Therefore, those who minister the word need to learn to be versatile. This is similar to a military expert who is also capable of handling financial matters and a financier who is also good with educational issues. An economist who specializes in economics and knows nothing about military affairs cannot lead an army. General Tseng Kuo-fan was a literary writer, but he was able to overturn the rebellious government called the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace. He combined military tactics with politics and therefore succeeded in winning the victory. Hence, no one should say that he can speak only about the cross and specialize in dealing with the flesh.
Those who stress dealing with the flesh should learn to preach the gospel and to teach the brothers and sisters how to function in the meetings. We should be multifaceted; otherwise, the church will be unbalanced. A good housewife can prepare many different dishes. Even though carrots are good, she does not serve only carrots every day. Similarly, we should not speak on dealing with the flesh in every meeting. We should speak concerning prayer in the prayer meeting, concerning worship in the bread-breaking meeting, concerning service in the fellowship meeting, and concerning bearing responsibility to a small group of saints who bear many burdens in the service. In these various meetings the ministry of the word is supplementary. The main focus may be how to deal with the flesh and to know Christ, but it is still necessary to supply the word in other aspects.
The church should not have supplemental speaking without focused speaking. We need to take care of both. This principle applies to the Bible. No book covers only one subject. For instance, although the book of Romans focuses on justification by faith, it also has a greeting in the beginning, a blessing in the end, and many other aspects of the truth, such as presenting our bodies and receiving the saints. These aspects have nothing to do with justification by faith, yet they are attached to justification by faith, the central message. The book of Ephesians is profound, but it includes topics concerning honoring parents, submitting to husbands, loving wives, not letting the sun go down on one’s indignation, and stealing no more (6:1-2; 5:22, 25, 33; 4:26, 28). This book focuses on the church being the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all (1:23), but there are many other supplemental topics.
In the church we are building up the Body of Christ; hence, we focus on helping people know the all-inclusive Christ, the cross, and dealing with the flesh. But our speaking should also supply the many other needs of the saints. Sometimes there is a practical need for a word of comfort or a word on suffering even though such a word is not as important as the central message. For instance, after praying in a prayer meeting for a family who was going through some trials and for some brothers and sisters who were unemployed or sick, I used the remaining ten minutes to speak concerning sufferings and trials. This comforted and encouraged the hearers. They then shared those words with their family so that the family was also encouraged and strengthened.
This shows that the ministry of the word should be living and multifaceted. We should never think that after giving a message on the Lord’s Day, our burden is gone, and we can relax until Thursday night when we again go “to the cross” and speak. This is not acceptable. We must learn to be versatile to meet various needs. We might not have considered speaking on afflictions, but because we heard the prayers of the brothers and sisters in the prayer meeting and saw the tears shed for the suffering and sorrow of a family, we may realize that there is a need. Consequently, after the prayer meeting we should rise up to share a word according to inspiration. Such inspiration is a result of daily exercise. The Spirit of God cannot move a stone. We must be constituted by reading verses or messages concerning suffering. Then when we feel in our spirit that the brothers and sisters need such a word, we will be able to comfort, strengthen, and instruct them in their suffering. This requires much preparation.
One does not become a renowned actor, singer, or musician overnight. One must devote his entire being in order to become successful and famous. An actor must study how to walk and how to laugh. He must learn to laugh so that his laughter touches the feeling of others. Then when he laughs on the stage, the audience will be touched with the same feeling and also laugh. When he cries on the stage, the audience will also cry. But this skill cannot be acquired in a month. He must daily spend the time to study, practice, and learn from the famous performers of the past and the present. He needs to learn from them and add his own ideas to produce something new. In this way he can create a unique style of his own.
I am not encouraging us to become great teachers; rather, my desire is that we endeavor to do things in a respectable manner. We should never think that because our truths are rich, we have enough content for one hundred and four weeks. If we think this way, we will become sloppy and perfunctory. Instead, we should spend time to daily consider and study the condition of the brothers and sisters and the situation of the church. We should not merely copy the messages that were given by others without studying. If we endeavor to study, we will exercise our spirit, receive a burden, and minister to people according to the need. When we exercise our spirit in a wedding meeting, we will know the need of the couple and share a word to meet the need. When we are in a memorial service, we will know whether the family needs comforting or strengthening and supply them accordingly. Such an exercise requires much preparation.
Our ministry of the word should have a focus, and we should be versatile. We need to learn how to minister the word to meet different needs. We should not regard this as an easy matter. When we minister the word, we must always have a focus, and we must take care of the various needs. Otherwise, our ministry will be unbalanced, and the church will suffer a great loss. Since most of the co-workers stay in one place, taking care of one locality, the ministry of the word must cover many aspects, or the church will suffer a loss.
Those who release the word must learn to pay attention also to their manner of speaking. This refers to posture and is related to our temperament. Of course, we do not pay attention to outward things, but the way we speak can greatly affect the release of the word. It is possible for our posture to reduce the weight of our message. For example, too many hand gestures can be distracting and should be corrected. We can correct this by practicing to speak in front of a mirror. Then we will know how to correct ourselves.
A worker of the Lord should not pretend; however, every worker should maintain proper deportment. Deportment refers to one’s manner of speaking. The first lesson a diplomat must learn is deportment. A diplomat cannot act like a child in the midst of a major event. Even an athlete maintains proper deportment. He has a certain bearing whether he is walking or running. When an athlete stands, he has a certain bearing that enables others to recognize that he is an athlete.
A worker should never pretend but be genuine. Nevertheless, we should have proper deportment. The sisters should have a bearing that is proper for a sister. This is different from the bearing of a brother. The elderly ones should have a deportment that is appropriate to them. The same applies to new ones. Some elders are careless when they contact the saints; they do not have proper deportment. An elder should not carry himself like a bureaucrat, being special and above others. An elder should behave becomingly. He should be sincere, unpretentious, and artless, not putting on airs. At the same time he should be neither light nor loose. People should feel that he is weighty and that he has the deportment of an elder. These qualities are related to a person’s birth, disposition, education, environment, and family background.
Every diplomat needs to learn three important lessons. He must first learn proper deportment. Then he must improve his language ability. A diplomat must be good with words. He should be able to turn any situation around with a few words. We are all ambassadors of the kingdom of God, diplomats, who interact with the devil’s kingdom on earth every day. We have had the experience of turning those who oppose us with just a few words. They even receive the Lord after a few words even though they initially had no desire for Him. Therefore, the second thing a diplomat must learn is how to speak.
Third, a diplomat must learn magnanimity. A magnanimous person does not necessarily let others know when he is happy or sad. A magnanimous person always allows others to retreat. For instance, when he is offended, he does not immediately become angry. Instead, he exercises magnanimity to withdraw and consider the situation to see if he has the basis to give a clear response. He does not become angry immediately after he has been offended, nor is he willing to do things for others based on his mood. A magnanimous diplomat always consults many experts, such as his advisors, supervisors, secretaries, and counselors to examine the advantages and disadvantages of a situation before responding.
A person who cannot learn these three matters cannot become a good diplomat even if he has a wealth of knowledge. Knowledge is secondary for a diplomat. The most important matter is his deportment. Then he must have an ability to speak and to be magnanimous. When he is provoked, he will not lose his temper, and when he is praised, he will not freely oblige others. Every serving one should learn these three matters. It is absolutely inappropriate for us to lose our temper when we are offended by a brother. It is also not suitable for us to readily agree to a brother’s request when he is favorable to us.
We must pay attention to our deportment when we contact others and when we minister the word. It is rather difficult for others to correct us in this matter. It is best for us to stand before a mirror, observe ourselves, and make the necessary corrections. For example, there is a brother who always frowns, with one eyebrow cocked high and the other low, when he stands up to speak. Then he shakes his head twice before he utters his first sentence. This brother has been doing this for more than twenty years. He has never changed his deportment in speaking throughout all these years. There is another brother who is often nervous and excited when he receives foreign guests, and even though he is warm, his behavior is unbecoming. It is possible to remain calm and dignified when we shake hands. If we behave unbecomingly, we give others a poor impression.
Furthermore, we should not all have the same posture when we speak. For example, there was a preacher who wore a robe and did not move much when he spoke, but when he opened his mouth to say, “God so loved the world...,” it was full of touching power. Another preacher would run down from the platform, around the meeting hall, and then back up to the platform when giving a message. He would cry and laugh, shout and yell, and kneel or lie down. Sometimes he would mimic the way women walk and the way they talk to show that it was unbecoming. People usually found it difficult to accept his behavior, but after listening to the message, they were subdued and conceded that his behavior was right; it was not unbecoming. Therefore, everyone who ministers the word has his own deportment.
This matter of deportment is a problem to nearly everyone. Ten years ago there was a brother who continually lifted his trousers while speaking. Another brother was oblivious to the fact that his belt was crooked whenever he finished speaking. Still another brother liked to grab his tie when he spoke. Although these are not important issues, they can affect our speaking of the word. A brother who likes to frown should not speak in a wedding meeting or a memorial service. Weddings are happy occasions, and his frowning would not be appropriate. Likewise, people are sad enough in a memorial service; they do not need his frowns. In fact, it is unseemly for such a person to speak in any occasion.
Some people always have an appropriate deportment. On a happy occasion their speaking is proper even though they do not speak concerning happiness. When they speak in a memorial meeting, the relatives of the deceased are greatly comforted. They may not speak much, but their deportment has much weight.
At one time I thought that Brother Nee was too spiritual to pay attention to a matter as small as appearance. One day, however, as he was teaching me how to typeset hymns in Chinese, he said that if we printed the hymns horizontally, they would be less effective in touching people, but if we printed them vertically, there would be more impact. We then typeset a hymn horizontally and vertically. When we read and sang the hymn, we found that there was indeed a difference. As human beings, we are affected by many things. The ability to touch people is basically the work of the Holy Spirit; however, certain things can frustrate this work. Reading something horizontally can frustrate this work, whereas reading the same thing vertically can assist this work. In the same way, proper deportment not only removes people’s resistance to the Holy Spirit but also assists the work of the Spirit. If our deportment is poor, it will become a cause of resistance to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes our poor deportment can completely nullify the impact of our speaking. When people do not like our deportment, they do not listen to what we say; their heart is closed, and they cannot receive anything from the message.
In addition, young people should never behave like old people. They should be proper and natural, maintaining an appropriate and proper deportment. We should be beside ourselves before God and sober-minded before men (2 Cor. 5:13). However, being sober before our parents is different from being sober before our children. Even though we are sober, our behavior is different. Being sober before our parents expresses one kind of deportment, but the deportment before our children is different. We need to study this matter.
In the administration of the church, there is one matter that has been neglected by all the churches. In our understanding, the administration of the church is related to the administration of business affairs. Some may even understand that administration means to administrate, to manage people. Even though this is not wrong, it is not the real meaning of the administration of the church. The administration of the church is mainly for the building up of the believers corporately, not individually. The administration of the church is mainly to build many individuals up together. Where there is no administration, there is no building, but if there is administration, there is also a need to build people up together.
How should the administration be carried out in order for there to be the building up? The twelve elders in the church in Taipei may arrange to have twenty-eight brothers responsible for the group meetings. To a certain extent such an arrangement is focused on building, especially if there are brothers and sisters who love the Lord and pursue spirituality but have no practical coordination among themselves. In order to have practical coordination, there is a need for the administration of the church. But the elders should not stop at appointing responsible brothers who could bear responsibility for the home meeting. This administration clearly has the nature of building. However, they should advance.
The elders may observe that a brother who should be responsible for a group meeting has problems that need to be taken care of; otherwise, he will be unable to bear responsibility with others in the future. The elders should spend time considering this brother, praying for him and fellowshipping with him. They should continue in prayer and fellowship until they are able to speak with this brother concerning the problems. If this brother receives the fellowship, the problems will be removed, and there will be no problems when he coordinates with others for the group meeting. This is building.
This can be compared to building with stones. In order for one stone to be upon another, the bottom stone must be flat. Any part of the stone that protrudes needs to be ground away in order for another stone to be secure when it is placed on top of it. This shows that building involves more than placing one stone upon another. It also involves removing the protruding parts of a stone so that it can be built upon another. This is the meaning of administration. When those who administrate the church see that a brother who could bear responsibility is lacking something, they should make up the lack for him. This can also be compared to looking for stones to build a house. A suitable stone may have a protruding edge that needs to be ground away. Then the stone can be built upon others securely.
It may also be that a responsible brother may not speak much and may not be apt to minister the word, but his administration in the meeting can still have the flavor of building. He observes the brothers and sisters and knows when they are ready to bear responsibility or when they need some training. Eventually, the saints in his meeting will be able to bear some responsibility. This is building, and this is administration. Therefore, the elders should spend one-fourth of their meeting time to discuss business affairs and three-fourths of the time to discuss the condition of the brothers and sisters. They should not gossip about the strengths and shortcomings of the saints. Rather, they should study the saints to know if they are fulfilling their duties or have problems. There may be a brother who seems to be very useful, but he has a problem. Likewise, another brother may be able to minister the word, but he is not mature enough to be a deacon. Consequently, the elders should consider the best way to help these brothers. An elder may be burdened to spend six months with them so that they may be perfected and continue to function in the ministry of the word. This type of administration of the church has value and weight. Administration does not merely deal with business affairs. It is to build the believers up.
Regrettably, our administration of the church is still lacking. When a saint has a problem, the elders should study the situation and take care of it according to the building. If the problem is not properly taken care of, other saints will also have problems, and the building will be frustrated.
When I bore responsibility in a local church in northern China, we did much in the aspect of administrating the church. Material offerings were also included in the administration of the church. We did not give our offerings indiscriminately. The giving was done under the leading of the administration of the church, ensuring that the recipient would truly benefit from the offering. The way we render help to a needy brother is part of the administration. This is what elders should do. Elders are shepherds, teachers, and administrators. These three functions are interrelated and should not be separated. Some brothers are good at handling business affairs, and some are good at perfecting the saints. However, the elders should not work separately; they should coordinate together as one person to observe all the sides of a situation. When the majority of the time and energy in the elders’ meeting, which is for the administration of the church, is spent on business affairs, the church suffers a loss, because the spiritual needs of the saints are not touched. When the administration of the church does not touch the spirit of the saints, the church suffers a loss.
Three-fourths of the time and energy in the elders’ meeting should be spent on the spiritual situation of the saints. We cannot do without the business aspect of the administration of the church, but we need more practice on how much to use our time on it. Administrating the spiritual needs of the saints requires much more effort and time than the mere management of business affairs. It requires our patience, wisdom, and strong will to do everything in love, not according to natural affection. This can be compared to the situation of a doctor and a patient. A doctor prescribes what his patient needs in love. When the patient needs medication, he prescribes it; if the patient needs an operation, he performs it. Therefore, in the administration of the church, the elders should learn when to be soft, hard, quick, and slow. They should be balanced in every situation. They should not handle every situation the same way. One situation may require severity, and another may require leniency. All these matters require learning.
Leading people to salvation does not require much learning. Likewise, edifying people does not require much learning. However, if we desire to administrate the church and to minister the word to build up the children of God for the manifestation of God’s dwelling place and the functioning of the Body of Christ, we need to learn many lessons. If we do not learn the lessons, we may save sinners and perfect the saints but be unable to build them up to be the Body of Christ, the dwelling place of God. It is even possible that we ourselves will not be built up. If this is the case, we can serve as elders or in the ministry of the word, but our administration of the church and our ministering of the word can only cause the saints to love the Lord zealously and be individually spiritual. It cannot build them up together to be filled with the presence of God inwardly and the authority of God outwardly so that they become the dwelling place of God, the Body of Christ, God’s desire. If we endeavor to properly carry out the administration of the church, the power and effect of our gospel will increase, and the effect of our edification of the saints will also increase.
God’s blessing is in the Body, His dwelling place. This is the age of grace. God gives grace to all believers, even to those who are Catholic. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45); this is grace. But we cannot say that the believers in Catholicism can satisfy God’s heart’s desire and need in this age. In the same principle, we can save many people and perfect them to become spiritual, but this cannot satisfy the desire of God’s heart. The desire of God’s heart is to obtain a built-up Body in this age. This is what He is doing.
If God’s chosen ones are not built up today, they will still need to be built up one day. There are no scattered believers in the new heaven and new earth. Rather, all the believers are built together into a city in which the foundations and wall are precious stones, and the gates are pearls. We should not wait for the future to be built. We might not know how to be built, but God wants His believers to be built. God tells us clearly that after we are saved, we should be built. We are the house built by God (Eph. 2:22; 1 Pet. 2:5). God gives different gifts for the building up of the Body (Eph. 4:11-12). If we earnestly desire gifts, we should desire the gift of building up the church. God desires a dwelling place, a Body, but He has encountered many difficulties during the past two thousand years. It is not difficult to lead people to salvation; it is also not difficult to help them to be spiritual. However, it is truly difficult to build up a group of people as a spiritual Body, a corporate dwelling place. For this reason not much building has taken place in church history.
Brother T. Austin-Sparks once asked me my feeling concerning the Lord’s second coming. I responded that my inward feeling was that the Lord’s coming was not yet near. According to Revelation 14:15, the harvest of the earth needs to ripen so that it can be reaped. The ripened harvest and the imminent reaping refer to the Lord’s reaping of His mature believers at His coming. However, God’s people, His harvest, are not ripe. There are only tender shoots. The Lord of the harvest cannot return when there is nothing to reap. This matter involves the rapture of the believers and the maturity of life. If the church aggressively pursues the building up, the believers will mature sooner, and the Lord of the harvest can return to reap the harvest. Those who grow rice know that everyone likes to harvest early if the rice is ripened. However, if the fields are still green, there is no way to harvest.
Two thousand years ago the Lord said, “Behold, I come quickly” (22:7, 12). He desires to come back, but the harvest on earth is not ripe. How can He come before the harvest is ripe? Revelation 14:15 does not depend on a timetable; it depends on life. The quicker our life matures, the sooner the Lord will return. If we require a longer time to mature in life, the Lord will return later. From the aspect of maturity in life, the church is full of green fields and even desolation. Because there is no building, those who are enlightened will mourn over the desolate situation; they will not rejoice. What makes us most sorrowful is the condition of the church with regard to building. We mourn daily for this because no one speaks concerning the building up of the church and because there is not much building among us. Surely we should pay attention to the propagation of the work, but we should pay even more attention to the building. Otherwise, the Lord has no way, and our work has no way. If we do not have a way, the saints do not have a way.
Now is the time when we urgently need the building. Since we are attending to the Lord’s work, in everything we do, whether in the administration of the church, the ministry of the word, or visiting the saints, we should hold on to the principle that our work should result in the building up of the believers. We should be able to build the believers up one by one into the Body of Christ, into a corporate vessel of God on earth. God desires a corporate vessel, not an individual vessel. If our desire is merely to edify people for their individual spirituality, there is not much more for us to learn. However, if we desire to participate in the work of the building, there are many lessons to learn, and we need to be corrected in many areas. Our administration of the church needs to be corrected, our ministry of the word needs to be corrected, and the way we visit people needs to be corrected. We need to diligently learn the lessons. There is not much of the element of building in our administration of the church and our ministry of the word.
From now on, the administration in all the churches should focus on people, not only on business affairs. We should focus on all the believers, not on specific individuals, so that they might become a corporate vessel. We are being built up in our coordination with others, and we are learning how to administrate and help others. We will learn to make up the lack in some and remove the excess from others, or add to those who have little function and help those who already function to develop in their function even more. We will also learn to help others to coordinate so that there will be no spiritual individuals who manifest their function individualistically. Instead, all the believers should be joined together to manifest their function in coordination. By doing this, we will prepare an excellent way for the Lord to return.
In order for the Lord to advance in these last days, we cannot merely speak about the ground of the church. If we desire to have the building, we must be sure to have the proper ground. As long as our ground is uncertain, nothing can be worked out. We must also recognize the enemy’s scheme. Without the proper ground, we can be spiritual, but we are in Babylon. We may be as spiritual as Daniel, but we will be unable to build up the holy temple. If we desire to be built together to become the holy temple, the holy city, we must return to Jerusalem. Therefore, we must be sure of the ground; otherwise, we will not know where to build. We can be spiritual in Babylon, Aram, Syria, and Samaria; we can be spiritual in a scattered way. However, the temple of God is not built in Babylon, Aram, Syria, or Samaria. It is built in Jerusalem. We cannot build according to individual opinions. We need to return to the foundation on which the forefathers built the temple — Jerusalem.
This matter is not according to our opinion. It is according to the light seen by the apostles. We should return to the same ground on which the apostles built the churches. All the things related to the church ground should be according to the Bible. This is similar to baptism. It is not a matter of baptism by sprinkling or by immersion but of returning to the practice in the beginning. In the beginning the saints were baptized in water. They were buried with Christ. Similarly, the practice of the Lord’s table is not a matter of a big cup or a small cup but of returning to the practice in the beginning. The apostle Paul says, “Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body; for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10:17). Though we are many, we are one bread. We must go back to the practice in the beginning.
In the beginning there was one ground of the church, the ground of locality. We must return to the Bible. The Bible speaks of the church in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1; 11:22), the church in Antioch (13:1), the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1), and the church in Ephesus (Rev. 2:1). This shows the ground of the church. We cannot follow other proposals. We must have a definite ground, and then we can labor unreservedly to build up God’s house. We can concentrate on the building work. We cannot speak of the building work if the ground is uncertain. We may speak about saving sinners and spiritual matters, but we cannot speak about the building.
We need to see both sides. We cannot have only the ground of the church. We must also have the building. However, if we lack the Lord’s presence and His authority and if we are short of prayer and the dealing of the flesh, we will only have the local ground and nothing else. We need spiritual reality, and we also need the ground and the building. This is a twofold principle that we must grasp firmly.
The Lord raised us up with a great purpose. The ground of the church that we have taken has great impact on the children of God. We cannot lose our aim, neither should we forget our ministry and the work we are doing. If we are faithful on the ground to receive more dealings and to learn more lessons, relying on the Lord’s grace to labor on the building, we will have great impact. Not only will we have the ground, but we also will have something solid and spiritual built on the ground. The impact of such a testimony to the church of God is beyond estimation, and the impact is even greater on the children of God. We believe that the Lord raised us up for this. Therefore, with our eyes bright and our goal clear, we must see what the Lord desires us to do. We need to see that in this age and in this universe, God intends to do a work of building, and this building work must be on a ground. We should stay on this ground, and keep up with God’s leading today.
