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Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 2:8-10; 3:2-3, 8, 11, 14-15; 4:12; 5:1-2; 2 Tim. 4:22
In the local church the main feature is the service. But when we say service, we do not mean a kind of Christian meeting. This is not our service. When we say church service, we mean the practical serving in the church by many functions. For example, church service includes the functions of the elders, who care for many things in the responsibility of the church. The function of the deacons, who care for the church business and church affairs, is also included in the church service.
All those who know the Bible agree that the two books written by the apostle Paul to Timothy cover this matter of the church service. These books help us to know the way to behave in the church, and this is quite practical. Paul says that he writes these things that we may know how we ought to conduct ourselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God. Hence, the entire two books to Timothy are simply to reveal how we must practically conduct ourselves in the church.
If we pray-read all the above verses which we have chosen from these two books, we will realize that they are all related to the matter of humanity. In Christianity today most seeking ones pay their attention to the heavenly side. They say that we need power, the manifestation of the gifts, and the miraculous things. I recognize that in the Lord’s economy there is a place for the miraculous. I myself have experienced a good number of miraculous things in my Christian life. But in these two books to Timothy, which are written that the serving ones may know how to conduct themselves in the church, there is nothing miraculous. Rather, these two books are very much related to the proper humanity.
In 1 Timothy 3 Paul gives us the qualifications of an elder. He does not say that to be an adequate elder you must have power, with all the gifts and miracles. No, in his writings concerning the qualifications of an elder, he does not even mention these things. Listen to what he says: “The overseer then must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, of a sober mind, orderly, hospitable, apt to teach; not an excessive drinker; not a striker, but gentle, not contentious; not fond of money” (vv. 2-3). All these qualifications are the virtues of humanity that are so necessary for the eldership. Paul did not say a word about power and gifts.
In the past years of my Christian life and work, I have seen a good number of able persons with miraculous gifts and power. But eventually what they were and what they did became a distraction and damage to the building up of the local church. In the long run, the local church can only be built up by persons like those whom Paul has described in this chapter. Through these persons the church will gradually be built up in a solid way. I believe that many of us have seen able persons who were powerful and miraculous in gifts yet eventually were of no benefit for the building up of the church. They were capable persons, yet they did not have the qualifications mentioned by the apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 3. They may build up twelve inches by their spiritual capabilities, but eventually they tear down fourteen inches by what they are. They may build up something by what they do, but they tear down more by what they are.
The building up of a local church requires the proper humanity. It does not depend on our work as much as it does on our humanity. To be temperate, soberminded, and gentle is not a small thing. A local church does not need powerful elders, because sooner or later the church will be torn down by them. The church needs forbearing, gentle elders who do not give themselves to anything but the humanity of Jesus. I do not believe that it is necessary to mention all these aspects. We all know what it means to be temperate, to exercise self-control, and to be forbearing, gentle, patient, and to make allowances for others. It takes the proper humanity to leave some margin for others. Out of this, there will be the real building up. We need the proper humanity for the building up of a local church.
I am so happy for the last verse at the end of these two books: “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you” (2 Tim. 4:22). If there were not such a verse, we would only have some good teachings; we could never fulfill them. Who can be such an elder? There is not one among us. Only the Lord Jesus Christ has such a humanity, and praise the Lord, He is in our spirit! We must learn to turn to our spirit to take the very humanity of Jesus. He is in our spirit, and where the Lord Jesus is, there is grace. Even He Himself is the grace. All we need for the building up of the church is the humanity of Jesus. We need all the virtues of His humanity. I cannot be such a person, but by enjoying His humanity in my spirit, I can. It is not my duty; it is an enjoyment.
There is also something concerning the deacons in these two books. First Timothy 3:8 says, “Deacons must similarly be grave, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for base gain.” The first virtue that the deacons should have is to be grave. This means to be weighty and not so light. We all need to be grave in what we say and do. There must be some weight in everything we express. And we should not be double-tongued. This really calls for the humanity of Jesus.
Then Paul mentions something about the wives or deaconesses. “Women similarly must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things” (v. 11). Not only must the brothers who are the serving ones be grave, but also the sisters. They must be weighty and not slanderers. To slander is to say something in a light way. Our mouths should not be shut in the meetings; neither should they be too open in our talking. If we are too free in our talking, spontaneously we may slander or speak lightly of others. The Lord Jesus never slandered. He never spoke anything lightly. We need the humanity of Jesus.
Not only must the deacons and the deaconesses have these virtues, but so must all the brothers and sisters. Paul says, “I desire therefore that men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and reasoning” (2:8). Wherever we have wrath or reasoning, we are finished as far as prayer is concerned. When we turn away from wrath and give up all our reasoning, then we are ready to pray. But we cannot do this by ourselves. We need the Lord Jesus in our spirit to be our humanity. Then we will have the proper church service.
This brings us to 1 Timothy 2:9-10. These verses are for the sisters. “Similarly, that women adorn themselves in proper clothing with modesty and sobriety, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, what befits women professing godly reverence, by good works.” The sisters must adorn themselves in proper clothing. The Greek word for proper means that which is arranged in a befitting way. Everything is very well arranged. Today we have two extremes. Some women need two or three hours to dress — that is one extreme. The other is that some do not care for their appearance at all. They dress in a sloppy way. The proper humanity is lacking in both extremes. Neither way of dress is arranged in a suitable way. For this reason Paul says that the women should adorn themselves in proper clothing with modesty.
The King James Version uses “shamefacedness” for modesty. It really means to have a sense of shame. Sisters need to have such a sense. The women in the world have no sense of shame. According to God’s creation and according to His natural law, women should have a sense of shame. God created them in this way. Satan’s subtlety has encouraged women of today not to be shameful. The world says that it is a glory to be shameless. But a young lady without modesty and a sense of shame has lost all safeguard. A sense of shame is a kind of protection for the young ladies. Hence, Paul says that the sisters should adorn themselves with modesty or a sense of shame.
The way some women dress today is certainly not of a sober mind. Some young ladies wear their dresses too short, while others wear them too long. I do not believe that either way manifests sobriety. If the sisters take the humanity of Jesus, this humanity will give them a sober understanding in the way they should wear their clothing. There is not one verse telling us how long or how short our clothing should be, but there is this verse in 1 Timothy 2:9 telling the sisters to adorn themselves in proper clothing with modesty. I am not giving any regulations; I am just ministering something of the humanity of Jesus. If we really mean business to take Jesus as our humanity, He will tell us how we should dress.
At this point I would like to mention another verse in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 22:5 says, “A woman shall not put on a man’s clothing, nor shall a man wear a woman’s garment; for everyone who does these things is an abomination to Jehovah your God.” Just last week while riding with a brother in his car, I was asked whether certain ones who were walking on the street were men or women. I answered that I simply did not know. I could not tell the difference. This is not a joke; this is a kind of abomination to the Lord. This kind of apparel leads to much fornication.
I say again that I am not giving any regulations for the church life. My burden is to minister the real, genuine, proper humanity of Jesus. I could never believe that the humanity of Jesus would allow any sister to adorn herself in a man’s way, nor any brother to dress in a woman’s way. The Lord says in His Word that this is an abomination to Him. It is not a small mistake or wrongdoing; it is an abomination to the Lord. We are fighting for the kingdom, and if we lose the ground, how can we fight the battle? The enemy will laugh at us. We will already be in his hands.
We all need to be solid men and women with a proper humanity. In the New Jerusalem there is not one piece of clay. All the materials are precious stones, very solid and strong. This is the humanity of Jesus. We all need to be very solid in the Lord’s humanity. We should not remain as a piece of clay, but be transformed by the Lord’s humanity into precious materials for God’s building. The transforming element under the work of the Holy Spirit is the humanity of the Lord Jesus. If we are light and loose, without realizing the humanity of Jesus in our daily walk, there will be no standing of the church life and no spread of the Lord’s testimony. For the standing of the Lord’s kingdom and for the spreading of the local church, we all must be very solid. Then the church will be exceedingly strong to fight the battle.
The future of the Lord’s recovery today does not depend so much upon the older brothers and sisters. It stands or falls with the young people. How much the church life will spread and be prevailing depends upon what kind of humanity the young people practice in the church life. If they will all take the humanity of Jesus, I can assure you that hall after hall will be added to the local church in Los Angeles. We will not only be a strong testimony to human society but also a strong protest to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. Furthermore, this may result not only in the spreading of the church life in Los Angeles, but this also might be the rescue of the U.S.A. In the past five or six years, Satan has sought to destroy this country because he knows that the Lord needs it for His recovery. But I believe that the Lord in His sovereignty will preserve this country to recover and spread the church life all over the world.
I have no intention to simply give some teachings concerning the five kinds of offerings in Leviticus. I have been speaking many messages on the humanity of Jesus because my burden is for the Lord’s recovery. We must exercise the authority of the Lord to control the situation of the world. The world situation is not under the hand of the enemy but under the hand of Christ, and we are His Body. We must claim and declare that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all the earth. The Lord needs cooperation. He needs a beachhead on the earth. He needs a place to put His feet. We must learn to cooperate with the Lord by taking His humanity. We should not be like so many defeated Christians who say that it is impossible to have the proper church life. This is a shame to the Lord and a glory to the enemy. We must tell the enemy that even before the Lord comes back, there will be something solid on this earth. We all need to pray, “O Lord, before You return, You must do something to put the enemy to shame — even here, in the city that is famous for Hollywood, the center of darkness. Praise You, Lord, that You are going to build up a strong church in this city that will really shame the enemy.”
The young people in the church are extremely important today. How much they experience the humanity of Jesus means very much for the Lord’s recovery. The church today does not need the teachings; the church is short of the real realization of the humanity of Jesus. So the young people must stand up by His grace to satisfy the Lord’s requirements with His humanity. The devilish subtlety of the enemy is corrupting the young people today. Each of the young people in the church must be a different kind of person with a different kind of humanity. We must not care for the course of this age but learn to experience the Lord as our proper humanity. This will build up something strong on the earth before the Lord comes.
