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The service of the Body in the church is a matter of coordination and a matter of authority.
A Christian has several statuses before God. In receiving grace in God’s house, every saved one is a child of God. In loving the Lord Jesus, every saved one is like a virgin presented to Him. Concerning service, however, every saved one is a member of the Body of Christ. Therefore, the matter of Christian service and the matter of coordination in the Body always go together, because it is impossible for a member to exist and live by himself. Once a member is alone and by himself, he immediately loses his existence and function. Christian service is a corporate service, not an individual service. Hence, we must be freed from our independence.
In service we not only need to be freed from sins and the self; we also need to be freed even more from our independence. Our problem is that we have our own views and opinions and therefore have no way to coordinate with others. On the surface our service may appear to be corporate and not individual, but in reality there may be very little that is truly corporate in our service. Apparently, our service may be corporate, but in actuality, it may be the service of a few individuals. The reason for this is the lack of the reality of coordination.
Service is especially manifested in the Body of Christ. Once service to God in the church is mentioned in the Bible, it is immediately linked to the members of the Body. Every saved one is a member. While you are serving God together with the brothers and sisters, do you feel that there is a relationship between you and the other members? When you coordinate with a brother in the church, do you feel as if you are the hand and he is the arm? Do you feel that it is impossible for you and him to be freed from one another, that there is no way for you to become detached, independent, or separated? We must admit that we seldom have this kind of feeling.
In our service to God we must be brought by God to the point where we have the consciousness of the Body and do not serve individually but in coordination with the brothers and sisters. We must be brought to a point where the brothers’ move is our move, and our move is the brothers’ move. Regardless of the circumstance we are in, our feeling should always be that what the brothers are doing is no different from what we are doing. The two should be the same.
Not only so, whenever there is a problem in our coordination with the Body, we should sense it immediately. When our coordination with all the members is normal, we may not have much feeling that we are in coordination. This is similar to the coordination in our body. In a normal situation the members of our body do not have much feeling about each other’s existence. However, when a certain member has a problem, then there is a consciousness. Therefore, if we sense the existence of a certain member, then that member must have a problem. When we are particularly conscious of our eyes, something must be wrong with our eyes.
For instance, when we begin to learn how to serve, we may constantly feel that we are unclean. We may pray, “O Lord, cleanse me. Forgive me of all my offenses.” Later, going a step further, we may feel that we are peculiar, that we do not have any strength, and that we have not accomplished anything in our service. A person who serves the Lord should have feelings of this kind. It is abnormal to not have feelings. If we can quarrel with our spouse at home yet serve God without any feeling, this indicates that there is a big problem in our spiritual condition.
In serving, one may have the deep experience of feeling isolated. There are two reasons why one may have this sense. One reason is that as we are advancing spiritually, others may be unable to keep pace with us. Thus, we become isolated even though this is not our desire. A negative reason is that there is some factor in us that makes us unable to coordinate with others or that makes others unable to coordinate with us. Hence, we become isolated. If we feel isolated not because we desire to be isolated but because others are not able to keep pace with us, then there is nothing wrong with our feeling isolated. However, if we are isolated because we have a problem with coordination, then there is something wrong. Although this feeling is not a good feeling, it is nonetheless deep and real. This feeling that causes us to be aware of our problems is a feeling that a serving one should experience.
We must realize that there are two kinds of coordination. One kind is the coordination involved in outward arrangements, such as sweeping the floor, cleaning the chairs, and dusting the windows. This kind of coordination is not very deep. The other kind of coordination is a coordination that grows out of the life within and is spiritual. This coordination is deeper and more real. This kind of coordination requires that our natural being, the world, our disposition, and our flesh all be dealt with so that the Lord can grow out of us. When He grows out of you and me, we are spontaneously in coordination.
While learning to serve the Lord, many have had the experience that as soon as they were put in the coordination, their condition was exposed. When they were at home praying, reading the Word, or pursuing the Lord, they did not sense their own condition very much. When they went out by themselves to preach the gospel and distribute gospel tracts, they also were not very conscious of their condition. However, once they began to serve together with the saints, their self immediately became manifest, particularly in their opinions, because opinions are the best representative of a person’s self.
Many schools hold three-legged races during field day. In this race the legs of two schoolmates are tied together, one student’s right leg being tied to the other student’s left leg. Thus, two persons with four legs become two persons with three legs. If the two do not coordinate properly in the race, for example, if one walks quickly while the other walks slowly, then they will not only be unable to walk but might even fall down. Then they may begin to blame each other. Similarly, until two persons are put together in coordination, they will not realize how strong they are in their disposition. Once we are put in coordination with the saints, we discover how much of the self we have and how strong we are in our disposition.
Suppose five of us are serving in coordination to dust the chairs, and suddenly I suggest that we turn the chairs over with the legs pointing upward. How would you react? This would be a test to you. Immediately, opinions and thoughts would rise up from within you. You must realize that the most important thing in the church service is not that we perform our tasks successfully. Rather, the important matter in our serving together in coordination is how much our flesh, our disposition, and our individualism are being dealt with. When we who serve the Lord are coordinating together, the main thing is that our flesh and our disposition are dealt with. The emphasis of our service in coordination is not on whether a certain matter is right or wrong nor on whether the reason behind a matter is right or wrong. Rather, the emphasis is on whether or not our person is right and on whether or not the life is right.
In the service of the church, to be able to bear responsibility together for a year or so without any opinions is a rare and commendable thing. Usually, in order to keep opinions out of the service, everybody tries to be polite to one another. However, when we become truly serious in bearing a certain responsibility, our opinions quickly come out. The reason is that our flesh and disposition have not been broken, and the Lord has not yet touched our individualism.
There is a common Chinese saying: “Politeness maintains peace, but seriousness creates hostility.” In the church service, if we can refrain from being angry when the brothers get serious with us, this indicates that our flesh has been dealt with to a great extent. In the book of Galatians, when Paul saw that what Peter did was inconsistent with the truth of the gospel, he rebuked him to his face (2:14). Both of them were very serious, but neither of them turned hostile toward the other. The biggest reason the church service is not strong and does not have much blessing is that the reality of coordination is missing. Our coordination in service has to be so real that it surpasses human organization and is as organic as the human body.
We all know that in the service of the Body the first thing is coordination, and the second thing is authority. Some people think that authority pertains to only a few, such as apostles or elders — special kinds of people with authority. However, this is not the authority we refer to. We are referring to the authority in the Body. On the one hand, the head is the only authority of all the members of our physical body. Besides the head, no other member can exercise authority over the other members. On the other hand, every member has a member to which it submits, and at the same time every member also exercises authority over some other members. A hand has to submit to the authority of the arm, and at the same time this hand is also the authority over many fingers. Therefore, the fingers are under the authority of the hand, the hand is under the authority of the arm, and the arm is under the authority of the shoulder. However, the shoulder can only be the authority to the arms, the hands, and the fingers. It has no way to be the authority to the legs. It is the same way in the service in the Body of Christ.
If we have been dealt with properly before the Lord and have properly learned our position, we will know who is before us as our authority and who is behind us — the ones to whom we are the authority. In a family with five siblings, does the family have to vote for someone to be the eldest brother, the second, and so on? There is no need to vote to see who is to be the oldest brother or who is to be the second. When we are placed among the brothers and sisters, immediately we know our seniority and position among them.
The life of the Lord is not an individualistic life but the Body life. In God’s ordination we are all members. Since we are members, we cannot escape being in coordination with others. Since we are in the coordination, how can there not be someone over us as our authority? Suppose an arm says, “The body imprisons me. I would like to escape so that I will not have to submit to its authority.” If this arm escapes, it will surely die. You may feel comfortable if I shook your hand. However, if I cut off my hand and placed it on you, would you still feel comfortable? When a member is severed from the body, it becomes something dreadful and becomes altogether useless.
As Christians in the Body, we should know who is our authority. When we are serving in the church, there are some brothers and sisters whom we may not have to take heed to, but there are others whom we cannot disregard. The hand may contend with the ear and the nose. As a matter of fact, it may argue with almost any member and still be all right, but there is one member with whom it may not dispute — the arm. Once it has a conflict or a dispute with the arm, it is finished. Who is our authority? Others cannot decide for us. We know it in our heart. Once we know who our authority is, we have no choice but to submit. Perhaps two brothers who are neither elders nor deacons are our authority. We still have to submit to them. This is the authority in the coordination of the church service. The greatest problem in the church is our independence. The requirement in the church service is coordination. Therefore, in the church service we should not be in the self, nor should we be independent. Only then can we have normal service in coordination.
