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There are many aspects that we should pay attention to in perfecting the home meetings. Of these, the most important ones — the ones that enable people to be perfected in life, that supply life and cause people to grow in life — are the Spirit and the word. The Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord, and the word is the word of the Lord. The Spirit must be strong, and the word must be rich. Although we have paid much attention to these two aspects in the past, we are human and are still in our flesh, our natural feelings, and our natural thoughts. Even if we have been serving the Lord with our full time for a long time, our practice related to the Spirit and the word is still lacking.
Although the church has been on the earth for over two thousand years, it has borne little testimony for the Lord. Rather, it has borne much confusion and divisions stemming from confusion. This is why Christians today are divided into sects and denominations. All the sects and denominations come out of opinions, which are the root of all divisions. Every person has opinions, regardless of how knowledgeable he is or what his social status is. Only a man made of wood or stone would have no opinions. We have met many people. Some are high-class, and some are low-class. They are civilized or uncivilized, well educated or uneducated, capable or incapable, but none of them is without opinions. An employer has opinions, and so do his employees. A teacher has opinions, and so do the students; parents have opinions, and children have even more opinions. There is not a single person who is without opinions.
I hope that we would drop our own opinions and not bring them into the church. Once we allow opinions to come in, we will not only harm ourselves but cause trouble for others. Hence, we should not keep our opinions. As soon as opinions come in, all our previous work will be wasted. Not only our own efforts but even the efforts of all those who have been serving us in the church will be brought to naught.
We must realize that all the divisions in Christianity are the result of opinions. Over sixty years ago the Lord raised up His recovery among us. As a rule, in the recovery there are the Spirit, the truth, and life. We should be able to stand on the foundation of the Spirit, the truth, and life and go forward. To our shame, however, there has not been much multiplication and increase among us over the past sixty years. What is the reason behind this? The reason is our opinions. Although we are not large in number, everyone has opinions. Time and again I have seen people come in and leave due to the same reason, that is, due to opinions. Even in the days of Brother Nee the situation was the same, and he had no way to deal with it.
Brother Nee was one who never argued with others. When others did not argue with him, he was able to speak freely to supply them. However, when people argued with him, he preferred to not utter a word. I have witnessed people coming to him to plead with him many times, but he simply would smile and keep silent. After one such incident, I asked him why he refused to speak. He replied, “Even if I had spoken, he would not have listened to me. He came to seek approval from me for his opinions. If I were to agree with his opinions, I would be doing him harm, but if I were to disagree and say something else, he would not have been willing to listen to me. Therefore, what is the point of my speaking?” This was his attitude. By this we can see that it is difficult to deal with people who are absorbed in their own opinions.
During the first five or six years after the Lord’s recovery came to Taiwan, from 1949 to about 1955, all the brothers and sisters on the island were truly in one accord, just as Romans 15:5-6 says, “Be of the same mind...with one accord...with one mouth.” The number of people in the churches increased one hundredfold within those five or six years. Before that time there were only about four to five hundred brothers and sisters in the whole of Taiwan, from Taipei to Kaohsiung, but after those years the number increased to forty or fifty thousand. It was a pity, however, that some among us were seeking after so-called “spirituality,” which produced many opinions. Eventually, these ones invited a well-known evangelist from abroad, whose arrival brought even more opinions into the church.
This brother strongly disagreed with the practice of the church, particularly with the establishment of church meetings in one locality after another. According to his opinion, he wanted to establish his own ministry in order to gain a group of people through the messages he released. This group of people would stand with him, but they need not establish a meeting around him; they could still return to their various denominations and work secretly in their midst. Hence, this brother and his group of followers became the most unwelcome people among the denominations. This is because the denominations knew that they actually had another motive even though they appeared to be meeting happily with the believers.
This brother opposed the ground of the church to the uttermost, and he came to us with the intention to overturn this ground. He told people very clearly that the ground of the church was heretical and mistaken. He even wrote a letter to the young people among us expressing his opinions. From this you can see how strong this brother’s opinions were! This incident ushered in a big turmoil among us around 1960. From that time on, the one accord among the churches in Taiwan was never recovered to what it used to be before 1954. Doctors know that once damage has been done to the body, it is very difficult to recover it to its original condition.
During the years between 1949 and 1954, all of us were of one heart and one mouth, sharing the same burden and the same goal. At that time we did not hear any opinions, whether we were at a co-workers’ meeting, church meeting, or training meeting. Not a single person expressed any opinions. Instead, everyone received the Lord’s leading among us, and this eventually brought in God’s blessing. Around 1960, though, this turmoil was stirred up by that particular opinion with the result of inflicting great damage on our spirit. Of course, we also realized that Satan’s fiery darts are always directed at the leading ones, and the leading ones will always be the target of Satan’s attacks.
Later, the Lord’s recovery came to the United States. The truth concerning life was released with much revelation. Not a single message was empty or meaningless; all the messages were full of the light of life and the supply of life. Because of this, they were very much welcomed by those who loved the Lord and pursued Him with a pure heart. Therefore, during the first twenty years the situation among us was overwhelmingly positive. At that time the Lord’s recovery spread across the whole of America, from the east to the west and from the north to the south. Although our numbers were not very large, there were still a number of saints who were raised up to follow this ministry, to take the way of the recovery ordained by God, and to go on according to the revelation of His divine word by the supply of life in His word. At that time there were no opinions in the church.
However, this good condition did not last for long. Opinions gradually emerged. There were some brothers who were regarded as proper, honest, and without guile, and they had some thorough fellowship with us. Nevertheless, they began to have opinions. They felt that the way to build up the local churches under our leading was not the most excellent way. Rather, they felt that their way was the most excellent way, but what they considered to be excellent was entirely contrary to the scriptural way. One example was their opinion about the breaking of bread. They overemphasized the correct time for breaking the bread, and they stressed the “universality” of the breaking of bread. This means that everyone, including adults, children, toddlers, and even babies should receive a share of the bread. They claimed that this was the most excellent way to build up the local churches. Due to their strong opinions they left in 1974, and a small group of others left with them. Such circumstances weakened the Lord’s recovery.
Over the years, we have seen the danger brought about by opinions in various localities. For this reason we have held several trainings to present again the truth of the divine revelation. We believe that the truth is unalterable, like the multiplication tables in mathematics. Two times two is four; no one can change it at will to be more or less. The numbers are fixed and cannot be altered. Likewise, as long as the truth is presented, it will prevail.
We do not allow any room for opinions in our training. If you have opinions, please do not come to the training. If you cannot drop your opinions in the training, we would ask you to withdraw. If we hold on to our opinions, the training will be a waste of effort; the opinions and the effort will offset one another. The truth that we speak and the instructions that we give have all undergone a long period of research and study. We hope that everyone will receive them with a humble heart, drop his own opinions, and go on with one accord.
In the first twelve chapters of the book of Acts, we see Peter as the main leading one among the churches. We cannot see any opinions at that time. In the latter part of the book of Acts, from chapters 13 through 28, Paul was in the lead, and again we mostly do not find opinions. However, in Acts 21 James had certain opinions when Paul arrived at Jerusalem. James told Paul, “You observe, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed.” Then he went on to speak concerning the multitude of the Jews. On the one hand, they believed in Jesus, but on the other hand, they also kept the law of Moses. When they heard that Paul had taught people throughout the nations not to keep the law of Moses, they were deeply troubled. Hence, James felt that there was a need for Paul to clarify his standing to them (vv. 20-25). In this example we see James’s opinions.
The Bible tells us that it was because of this opinion that Paul was arrested and put in prison. On the surface Paul’s imprisonment appeared to be negative, but in actuality it was God’s salvation, rescuing him from the chaotic situation in Jerusalem. It was for this reason that Paul was sent to Rome. Some years later in A.D. 70, God destroyed the entire city of Jerusalem through Titus and his Roman army. The church in Jerusalem and all that belonged to the church were completely destroyed. This reveals to us how terrible opinions can be.
Therefore, we have “sounded the trumpet.” In this ministry we have only one leading without any opinions. However, this does not mean that everyone in the Lord’s recovery has to receive this leading. Certainly not! If someone receives this leading, he is in the Lord’s recovery, and if he does not receive it, he is still in the Lord’s recovery. This sounding of the trumpet is similar to that of Gideon in Judges 7. In the Old Testament Gideon came out to sound the trumpet for the sake of fighting the battle, but not every Israelite was able or willing to follow. Many people came to Gideon, but God told him that he could not use them all and that he had to test their true condition by their drinking of water. Eventually, God chose only three hundred among them. Gideon took this three hundred with him, won the battle, and saved the Israelites. Our deep burden is to sound the trumpet to all of you in the hope of gaining those who will be like the three hundred warriors who went with Gideon. Everyone should hear only one calling and receive one leading without any opinions.
Experience tells us that things often start off well, but gradually as opinions creep in, the situation changes. This is terrible and very dangerous. We must realize that what has caused divisions in Christianity is nothing other than opinions. It is opinions that have frustrated the Lord’s work, causing Him to have no way on the earth. Consider the Lord’s work on the earth today. There is absolutely no way for the Lord in Protestantism and Catholicism. In their early days the Brethren saw the truth in the Bible. The Bible was no longer closed but gradually was opened, made clear, and illuminated. However, less than two centuries later they became divided into more than a thousand separated groups. This was the result of opinions. The Lord’s recovery has been on the earth for sixty to seventy years, and it faces the same problem of opinions that have frustrated the Lord’s work and limited His multiplication and increase on the earth.
For this reason, it is important especially for all the young people who take the way of the Lord’s recovery to learn the lesson of not expressing their opinions loosely. We must realize that the recovery has had more than sixty years of history on the earth. It has passed through many obstacles, turmoils, and sufferings. During these years, there has also been much research and study. While we cannot say that we have exhausted all the Christian publications, we have at least studied in great depth the important church histories, autobiographies, and core messages in Christianity. We have also thoroughly studied the ways to practice the church life. What we are doing today is presenting, to those who seek the Lord out of a pure heart, the things that we have learned, the things that we have come to know, and the things that the Lord has commissioned us with, as well as the revelation and vision that we have received from His word.
In the past we presented thirty items concerning the training of our character. Each point causes our soul to be subdued, submissive, and restrained in order that we may mature. We often describe a certain person as being “barbaric” to indicate that his character has not been properly trained. Man consists of three parts — spirit, soul, and body. All these parts need to undergo much training. However, when we go out to minister life to others, the source of supply does not depend on our perfect physique, our trained and non-barbaric soul, or even the condition of our human spirit. Our going out to minister life to others altogether hinges on the Spirit of God and the word of God.
We must pay attention to the Spirit of God and the word of God regardless of how old or young we are. How much ground the Spirit of God has within us, the condition of the Spirit of God in us, and how much we are being equipped and perfected with the word of God are the secrets to our ministering life to others. Many in Christianity often think that the prevailing of the Lord’s work in the age of the apostles was due to the power of the Holy Spirit. This is somewhat the case, but if we study Acts carefully, we will find out that it is not only the Spirit of God that is mentioned; the word of God is mentioned as well. Everyone seems to think that the most important matter in the book of Acts is the Spirit of God. They do not realize that the word of God is also very important.
There are three portions in the book of Acts that speak in the same way. Acts 6:7 says, “The word of God grew,” and 12:24 says, “But the word of God grew.” Then again 19:20 says, “The word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.” However, we cannot find a verse in Acts saying that the power of the Holy Spirit resulted in an increase in the number of people in the church. Instead, it says that the word of God flourished, multiplied, increased, and greatly prevailed.
The problem in Christianity is with opinions, and the poverty in Christianity is due to the lack of the word of God. When we visit various groups of Christians today, we find that there is a great lack of the word of God. Even among those who have the proper interpretation of the word in the Bible, what is spoken is often shallow and superficial. Many have not seen the profound truth and revelation of God and the eternal economy of God that are revealed in the Bible. They have a great lack as far as the word is concerned.
Christianity has become a religion, an organization, that practices the clergy-laity system and cares for rituals and regulations but does not have much of the word of God. At a certain point the charismatic movement was raised up because some people felt that Christianity was short of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Spirit. These people greatly promoted and publicized, in every possible human way, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, miracles, and so forth. Although they have close to two hundred years of history, their numbers remain small. What is the reason for this? It is because they too do not have much of the word of God.
Today the life pulse of the Lord’s recovery is the word of the Lord. But to have only the word of the Lord without the Spirit is like having the outward shell of a body without the inward content of life. This is emptiness. Thus, the word and the Spirit must work together. There must be the word of the Lord as well as the Spirit of the Lord. We must keep ourselves in a condition in which we have continuous fellowship with the Lord. We should spend at least twenty minutes each day to come before the Lord to contact Him, to empty ourselves, and to deal with ourselves thoroughly so that He can possess our entire being and so that the Holy Spirit can fill all our inward parts. Moreover, we should exercise to remain in such a state throughout our daily living. This will keep us in union with the Spirit of the Lord.
On the other hand, we must be equipped with the word of the Lord. In particular, we need to have an in-depth knowledge of the New Testament. We should endeavor to be soaked in the word of the Lord and to let the word saturate us so that we have the word of the Lord within and without in order to cooperate with His Spirit. In this way, when we go out to perfect a home meeting, it will not matter much whether or not we have prepared any materials. As long as we are those who are full of the Spirit of God and the word of God, we will be able to supply life to others through our singing, praying, and reading the Scriptures with them. On the contrary, if we take this fellowship as a mere regulation, the result will be that there is no Spirit or life.
We have received the New Testament ministry not according to the letter but according to the Spirit. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3:6). Therefore, when we go out, we need not only the word but also the Spirit. To have only the Spirit but not the word is abstract and empty. We need to have the word as the reality and content in order to supply life to others and cause them to grow in life. We need both the Spirit and the word. Although the Lord has led us to compile some concise, practical, and useful materials for the perfecting of the home meetings, we cannot depend wholly on such materials. What we rely on are the Spirit of God and the word of God. Concerning the Spirit of God, we must be rich in experience and knowledge and have much reserve. Concerning the word of God, we must enter into its depth and be saturated and equipped with it. In this way we will be those who are filled with the Spirit of God and the word of God.
If someone is a person who is filled with the Spirit and the word of God, wherever he goes and whomever he meets, as soon as he speaks to people, the spirit will come out, and they will receive life. At the same time the word will also come out, and life will be ministered to them. The result is that people are enlivened and enabled to grow. If we can be such persons, our visiting new believers’ homes every week for fifty-two weeks a year to perfect their home meetings will have a great impact. However, if we lack these two items, no matter how good our materials and methods are, we will be giving others only doctrines and letters. We will not be ministering life to enliven them or to enable them to grow. We should bear in mind that it is the Spirit of God and the word of God that can enliven others and cause them to grow.
The Bible is truly wonderful. Through our experience, we eventually realize that the word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the word; the two are simply one. The Lord Jesus Himself once testified, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). The word is life, and the word is the Spirit. Initially, we experience only that the word is life. However, Ephesians 6:17 says, “The sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God.” Those who know Greek understand that word refers not to sword but to Spirit. It is not that the word is the sword, but that the word as the sword is the Spirit. Thus, this verse reveals to us clearly that the word has become the Spirit, and the Spirit is the word.
If we are those who are filled with the Spirit of the Lord and the word of the Lord, then when we go out to contact people, what we speak to them will be the word, but when this word is received into them, it will become spirit and life. What the Lord Jesus speaks to us is His word, but when this word enters into our being, it becomes spirit and life. Hence, the words which He has spoken to us are spirit and are life. Because the words we speak come from the Spirit, these words become spirit when they enter into people. Then when the spirit comes from them, it becomes word, and when this word enters into others, it again becomes spirit. This shows that in order to be useful in God’s hands we must have the word and the Spirit, the Spirit and the word. What we hear is the word, but what we receive into us is the Spirit. Then what we speak forth is the word, but what others receive is the Spirit.
The word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the word; the two are one. It is the Spirit who gives life (John 6:63). To give life means to enliven someone and to cause him to grow. Someone may have a dead spirit, but when we open our mouth to supply the Spirit to him, he is enlivened. This is to give him life. Someone else may be enlivened in his spirit, but he may lack the supply and not have enough life. When we supply him with the word, this word brings with it life that enters into him to supply him. The result is that he grows in life. First Peter 2:2 says, “Long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation.” The milk of the word enables people to grow in life. We all know that whatever food we consume — whether it is milk, bread, meat, vegetables, or fruit — is able to supply us life and cause us to grow. That is why a small child who weighs only a few pounds at birth will weigh over a hundred pounds after a number of years. Growth altogether hinges on eating.
The Spirit gives life and enlivens; the word supplies life and causes the growth in life. It is by the word and the Spirit that we can perfect others.
