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As human beings, we are still in the old creation. We exercise to walk according to the spirit, but we are still in the old creation, and our spirit is not so strong. Consequently, it is easy for us to depend on methods. Even when we drop an old method, we look for a new method. Whether the method is old or new, it is nonetheless a method that we depend on and are reluctant to drop.
It is easy to adopt a method. Even though we have dropped the old methods, we adopt new methods, and as long as we depend on a method, it can become an ordinance. For example, calling on the name of the Lord loudly has become a popular method for exercising the spirit. Our meetings can be considered to be calling meetings. This seems to be our practice. We should not criticize this calling, because it is beneficial, just as it is beneficial for those who box to punch with their fists. However, a person who knows only how to punch will not be a skillful boxer. Our spirit is much more agile than our body, and the exercise of our spirit should not be limited to calling loudly.
The Spirit is like the wind that blows where it wills. Sometimes the wind is fierce, and at other times it is gentle. A hurricane can tear a steel roof off a house, but a gentle breeze is pleasant. Sometimes the wind blows from the south in the morning, from the north in the afternoon, and from the west or the east in the evening. Likewise, the Spirit blows as He wills.
We tend to take the easy way to release the spirit. We want the Spirit to blow from only one direction. It is not easy for us to follow the Spirit when He blows from different directions. Our spirit is not limited to calling loudly. The Spirit will not lead us to call only in this way in every meeting, including the Lord’s table meeting. Calling loudly has become a method we use to exercise our spirit.
The Spirit leads us in many ways. For example, in Psalms sometimes there is a cry of “O Lord” (35:17; 57:9). Some psalms are long, some psalms are short, and some psalms have a selah, which is a pause, a quiet interlude. This shows that the saints in the Old Testament expressed their inspiration in different ways. In the New Testament the believers prayed, praised, called on the Lord’s name, and sang. We need to practice exercising our spirit in many ways. Calling loudly and short prayers of three to five words have become a regulation.
The Spirit blows where He wills. He can lead us to be loud, to cry, or to be quiet when we praise or pray. We must be freed from ordinances. We should not keep any ordinance when we sing the hymns. In the meetings we usually sing an entire hymn. After we sing a hymn, we also pray it. We do not need to follow a set procedure. We can pray a few phrases from a hymn before we sing it. After we sing one stanza, a brother or a sister may give a testimony. Then another saint may suggest that we sing the stanza again. After singing there may be further prayer. There is no need for us to wait until we sing the entire hymn before we pray. We can pray after singing one stanza, and we do not have to follow the lyrics of the hymn rigidly when we pray. We can use the lyrics to develop our prayer.
We are human beings; we are not robots. A robot is mechanical. We do not need to call on the Lord or call mechanically in the meetings. We do not need to be rigid. We were rigid with our old practice, and now we are rigid with the new practice. Formerly we were rigid in a dead practice, and now we are rigid in a living practice. After a period of time, however, being rigid in this way will become unbearable. May the Lord have mercy on us, and may we receive His mercy.
Some saints may say that we are Chinese and that our character is conservative. We should not be too considerate of ourselves or say that the Chinese character is conservative. If we hear that there will be an explosion, we will run for safety faster than anyone else. The Chinese people who went to the United States to mine gold were able to endure much hardship.
Within us there is a new life with a new nature. The Lord’s Spirit dwells in our new spirit, but we limit the Lord. It is as if we are in a room with many windows, but we always open the same window. Today we open the window that faces east, and tomorrow we open the same window even though we could open any window. Since the wind does not blow from only one direction, we should open all the windows.
In whatever we do, we should be flexible; we do not need regulations. The churches should no longer have regulations. Every saint should be released. This does not mean that we practice anarchy. As long as the citizens of a country observe the law, no one interferes with their freedom. As soon as they commit a crime, however, the police enforce the law. This can be applied to our meetings. As long as the saints live in the spirit and walk by the spirit, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17). However, if anyone causes trouble in the meetings, the responsible ones should stop them.
Even though we are Christians, we are degraded in many ways. First, we are fallen by nature, and our spirit is deadened. We were born with a fallen nature, we grew up in a family with a fallen nature, and we live in a society with a fallen nature. We did not know how to use our spirit or how to fellowship with God. We have a fallen nature.
Second, Christianity is deformed and has become a religion without the Spirit and without life. In its practices, regulations, and system, Christianity is void of the Spirit. Whether or not we were in a denomination, we have been influenced by Christianity. Before we were Christians, we did not care for the things of the Lord, but now that we are Christians, we cannot escape the influence of Christianity. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we are influenced by the rituals, regulations, methods, organization, and even the atmosphere in Christianity.
Third, although we cannot say that there is no exercise of the spirit in our meetings, our exercise has decreased. We also lack a full understanding of the truth, even though our understanding of the truth is greater than our exercise of the spirit. Nevertheless, we have also developed methods and traditions.
These three aspects of degradation and oldness make it difficult for us to have a change of concept. If we want to be delivered from degraded concepts, from the influence of Christianity, and from our old situation, we need to be taken up to a “high mountain,” like the apostle John was, in order to see that God’s economy, His redemption, His dealings with us, and His work on us are absolutely a matter of the spirit.
God has no intention to give us regulations and methods, which can only serve a temporary purpose. Circumcision in the Old Testament is a good example. God’s focus was not on cutting off a piece of flesh. Circumcision is a picture of the New Testament believers’ need to deal with the flesh. This temporary matter in the Old Testament expressed a deeper truth in the New Testament. The Sabbath is another example. In the New Testament God is not interested in our keeping a special day. Whether or not we keep the Sabbath makes no difference. For this reason, when the Lord Jesus was on earth, He did not care for the Sabbath. God used the Sabbath to indicate that we must rest in Him. There are many examples in the Old Testament that bear New Testament significance.
There are several matters in the New Testament that God is not focused on, such as baptism, breaking bread, head covering, and foot-washing. These items should not be mere practices to us; rather, we should stress the spiritual reality behind them. God does not care whether or not there is a piece of cloth on the head of a sister. He does not care for this practice; rather, He uses it to indicate a spiritual reality. God does not care for ordinances, rituals, ceremonies, or practices. However, this does not mean that an outward practice is wrong. When a sister wears a head covering, she should remember that it is worthless if her head covering is merely outward. She needs to be in the reality of the experience of head covering. By itself, head covering is merely a sign. Let me illustrate. Suppose I am invited to dinner and served a delicious meal with beautiful dishes. The dishes are needed to serve the meal, but I have not been invited to eat the dishes. When I receive an invitation for dinner, I am not concerned about the dishes; I care for the meal. As long as I am fed, I will be happy. Whether the dishes are made of porcelain, gold, or wood does not matter to me, because I cannot eat them. My focus is on the food, which is the reality. In the same way God does not care whether or not a sister wears a head covering. He cares for the reality, which is the Spirit. Without the Spirit there is no reality. God cares only for the Spirit. This is the concept we need.
Baptism is another example. Some saints still regard baptism as a regulation. Their concept is that baptism is a procedure for a person to join the Christian religion or to be admitted into the church. They say that a person who is not baptized has not completed the procedure to join the church. This concept comes from Christianity. It is a pity that God’s children have such a concept concerning an item of truth. As a result of this concept, they oppose a person’s being baptized a second time in order to bury his oldness, because they think that being baptized a second time is against the truth. Although we cannot find a statement or an example in the Bible of a person being baptized a second time, there is the type of the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea and the river Jordan.
The New Testament ministry is of the Spirit, not of the letter (2 Cor. 3:6). The Old Testament says that we should keep the Sabbath (Exo. 20:8). A person who did not keep the Sabbath was stoned to death (Num. 15:32-36). However, Romans 14:5 and 6 say, “One judges one day above another; another judges every day alike...He who regards that day, regards it to the Lord.” The principle in the New Testament is that we should not criticize or despise one another.
The New Testament says, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them” (Matt. 28:19), and “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). These are clear statements. The New Testament does not state whether a person should be baptized only one time or several times. However, believers make baptism a regulation because they have the tendency to keep regulations. Needless to say, if baptism is regarded as a ceremony to join the church, it should be conducted only once. How can a believer join the church more than once? Baptism is not a ceremony to join the church. It is not easy for us to break away from this concept.
Worshipping quietly has become another regulation. Many saints prefer to be quiet in the meetings; they do not like to call loudly. This is a religious concept from Sunday worship in Christianity because a person who enters a chapel has to be quiet.
First Corinthians 12:1-2 says, “Concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that when you were Gentiles, you were always being led away to dumb idols, whenever and however you were led.” Before we were saved, we served dumb idols, and as a result, we were also dumb; that is, we did not speak. Dumb people worship dumb idols, and their worship is dumb worship. Now that we serve a speaking God, we must open our mouth and let our voice be heard. The concept of having quiet Sunday worship is a Christian tradition. Today the Lord is taking the way of recovery. May we all receive mercy to drop our ordinances.
We often want to use methods in our service. These methods are ordinances. The co-workers often ask me for methods. We do not want to base our service on methods. Even though it seems that we cannot do anything without a method, we need to give up and drop the methods.
It is difficult for us to come out of our fallen situation, because we are always looking for methods in whatever we do. It seems as though we do not care for anything other than having a method. Many saints want to visit the church in Los Angeles because they want to see if there are any good methods there. We should never bring a method back to our locality and expect the church to follow it. We must have a change in our concept. Our service is not a matter of methods but of the Spirit. The Lord is the Spirit, and our spirit is our most precious and valuable possession. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Our service is altogether a matter of the spirit.
This does not mean that we do not use methods. In these meetings there are rows of benches. The sisters sit on one side, and the brothers sit on the other. We also have a podium with a microphone, and behind the podium is a blackboard. These items can be considered as methods, but we do not focus on them. Our main purpose is to have a training meeting so that the saints may learn to exercise and release their spirit and thereby grow in life. In order to meet this need, we have to put the benches in rows, prepare the microphone, and clean the blackboard, but we do not meet for these things. We can forget about them, but we must know our spirit. If instead of exercising our spirit, we focus on whether the writing on the blackboard is neat or whether the saints are sitting in an orderly manner, the cart is pulling the horse.
Some brothers may say that if we should give up methods, we do not need the elders and deacons anymore. Dropping methods does not mean that we do not need the elders and deacons. This is the age of the stars, and we should all be stars. Every saint can be a star. The elders will not stop the saints from being shining stars. We still need the elders and the deacons. If there are no elders and deacons, who will make arrangements for the meetings and who will give announcements? We thank the Lord that there are elders and deacons in the churches who make arrangements for the church and announce things. If the elders and deacons do not shine brightly, the saints should be strengthened and shine in their spirit.
May the Lord change our concept from emphasizing arrangements to emphasizing our spirit. This does not mean that we should reject or oppose arrangements. A person who is against outward things is not in the spirit. When a person is in the spirit, the outward things do not matter to him. The stars in the sky do not care whether the earth is flat or has valleys or whether the mountains are high or low. The stars care about whether they shine in the sky. The stars shine whether or not the earth is flat. Even if there is a storm, the stars still shine. Nothing affects them; they simply continue to shine. In the same way, we should not care for any methods or regulations; rather, we should care only for our spirit being strong, fresh, and living. We should transcend the earth and shine like a star. Others may be in darkness, but we shine forth light. No matter what the condition of the elders is, if a brother releases his spirit in a meeting, the sky will be clear, and the other saints will all begin to shine. Then that brother is a star. This is the age of the Spirit, and God cares for the Spirit. We should not focus on whether or not we should be quiet in a meeting or whether we should be baptized once or twice.
The ordinances belong to the Old Testament. Circumcision, keeping the Sabbath, and dietary regulations belong to the Old Testament, not the New Testament. When the Lord Jesus came, He did not keep the Sabbath. In Acts the Lord led Peter to give up the ordinance concerning dietary regulations. In the Epistles Paul put aside circumcision.
There are some basic principles that cannot be changed. In the Old Testament the children of Israel were commanded not to bow down to idols, and in the New Testament we are charged not to worship idols. This commandment concerns God’s person. There is a commandment against worshipping idols. We should not say that we will not keep this commandment because we are in the New Testament. Once we remove this item, we violate the Godhead.
One of the Ten Commandments says that we should keep the Sabbath, and another commandment says that we should not commit adultery. When the Lord Jesus came, He broke the commandment concerning keeping the Sabbath, but instead of abolishing the commandment related to adultery, He strengthened it. The Old Testament charges us not to commit adultery, but the Lord Jesus charges us not to have even a lustful thought (Matt. 5:27-28). When the Pharisees asked why Moses commanded them to give a certificate of divorce, the Lord Jesus said, “Moses, because of your hardness of heart, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so” (19:7-8). Instead of abolishing the commandment concerning adultery, the Lord Jesus strengthened it.
When we read the Bible, we see that there is only one God; hence, man should not bow down to idols. Furthermore, God values man; hence, man should not commit adultery, murder, or steal. Since God values man, He does not allow anything that violates the basic rights of a human being. In the Old Testament God did not allow man to steal, and in the New Testament He does not allow man to steal. Fornication, stealing, extortion, and lying are not permitted among the children of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10; 5:9-11). These regulations were not abolished in the New Testament; instead, they are strengthened. God does not allow man to worship idols, because this offends His person, and He does not allow man to do anything that offends the rights of others. These two principles cannot be changed.
Furthermore, God never allows division among His children. For this reason, the New Testament says, “A factious man, after a first and second admonition, refuse” (Titus 3:10). God cares for the Body of Christ. God cares for Himself, man, and the church, which is the Body of Christ. God does not allow man to offend His person, to violate others’ rights, or to divide the Body of Christ. In the Old Testament God did not permit the children of Israel to establish a second worship center. They had only one center of worship, which was Jerusalem. God repeatedly charged the Israelites that when they entered the land of Canaan, they could not offer sacrifices and worship Him in the place of their choice; they had to go to the place designated by God (Deut. 12, 14—16). This was to keep the oneness among God’s people.
God’s person, man’s rights, and the oneness of the church are three matters that we must not offend or change. Besides these three matters, God does not care for anything else. We must take care not to worship an idol, which offends God’s person, not to commit a sin that violates others’ rights, and not to form a division, which causes the Body of Christ to suffer loss.
There is another condition that we must take care of; we should not go against an explicit statement in the Bible. If the Bible says that we should be baptized only once, we should adhere to this. If there is no such statement, it is not necessary to establish an ordinance. On which day should we break the bread? Acts 20:7 says, “On the first day of the week, when we gathered together to break bread,” but in Acts 2:46 the disciples met and broke bread every day. When they first came into the church, many saints in Taiwan broke bread every Lord’s Day evening. For this reason, to break bread on Lord’s Day evening has become an ordinance. It may be that we will change this practice and break bread on Saturday morning. This would train us not to keep any ordinances.
May the Lord have mercy on us so that instead of being bound by rituals and ordinances, we would be in our spirit. If a sister feels burdened to cover her head, she should cover her head. If she covers her head but does not have the burden to do so, it has become an ordinance to her. If I feel that I would like to be baptized again in order to bury my oldness, others should not criticize me. We do not have any rituals or ordinances; we only have the spirit. There is no formality in our meetings. We should not say that it is correct to be quiet or that it is correct to be loud, nor should we say that it is correct to sing a hymn first, pray first, or give a message first. We know only to follow the Spirit. What matters is that we are in spirit, not in ordinances. In order to avoid chaos and not be bound by ordinances, we must learn to exercise our spirit. Then we will be free in the spirit and will be the one Body.
