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Scripture Reading: Mark 16:15; Matt. 28:19; Acts 5:42; Eph. 4:11-12; Rev. 21:2; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Acts 2:42; 1 Tim. 6:3; Eph. 3:9
Every point of the final four chapters of this book is crucial and vital to our present situation in the Lord’s recovery. In this chapter we want to see the matter of having one way for one goal. We must be deeply impressed that what is revealed in the four Gospels plus Acts is the one way to carry out God’s one goal. In the four Gospels God’s Christ was completed. Then in the Acts this completed Christ of God was propagated. The spread of God’s kingdom was taking place according to God’s economy, and this spreading was by one way. There are not two ways to practice the New Testament economy revealed in the first five books of the New Testament. The one completed Christ was preached and propagated for the spreading of the kingdom of God by one way according to God’s eternal economy.
There is one way to carry out God’s unique goal. The saints in the early church life in the book of Acts were endeavoring to reach the one unique goal to complete God’s eternal economy. This one unique goal is the building up of the Body of Christ that God may have a corporate expression on the earth with a view to the coming New Jerusalem as God’s eternal corporate expression (Rev. 21:2). The New Jerusalem is the total conclusion of the sixty-six books of the divine revelation and is the eternal goal in God’s eternal economy. There is only one way to reach this goal. Peter was in this way with all his co-workers, and many of the saints at his time were in this way. Then Paul continued in this way with all his co-workers and with many Gentile believers. Paul’s co-worker, Barnabas, was in this one way for a while, and he was the one who brought Paul into this one way (Acts 9:26-27; 11:22-26). He and Paul were laboring in this one way until he dissented from Paul (15:35-39). After this incident Barnabas no longer appears in the divine record in Acts of the Lord’s move in God’s New Testament economy. After the record of Barnabas’s contention with Paul in Acts 15, we read the names only of Paul and his co-workers. Barnabas’s name is not mentioned again in the Acts. To be mentioned in the divine record positively, one had to take the one way for God’s one, unique goal.
The Epistles show us that different ways crept in among the saints and the churches. The first Epistle in the New Testament is the book of Romans, which is concerning the Christian life for the church life. At the end of this Epistle, Paul warns the believers to “mark those who make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching which you have learned” (16:17). The first chapter after Romans 16 in the New Testament is 1 Corinthians 1. This chapter of the New Testament shows us that divisions came into the church through different preferences (vv. 10, 12). Some of the saints preferred Paul’s ministry, others preferred Apollos’s ministry, and still others preferred Cephas’s ministry. These different, personal preferences brought in different ways. The different ways produced by man’s preferences and opinions always cause divisions.
Not only did different opinions and preferences come into the church life but also different teachings. In 1 Timothy 1:3-4 Paul charged Timothy to remain in Ephesus with the one purpose of charging certain ones not to teach differently. According to these verses, to teach differently is to teach things that are not according to God’s economy. Verse 3 speaks of different teachings, and verse 4 speaks of God’s economy. God’s economy is the unique thing in the Lord’s recovery. What we preach and teach should be God’s economy. We should not stress anything other than God’s economy. To stress anything other than God’s economy is to teach differently.
The truth of baptism is a part of God’s economy, but if this truth is stressed apart from God’s economy, it will cause division. The matter of baptism has caused divisions in today’s Christendom. The Presbyterians practice baptism by sprinkling, and the Baptists practice baptism by immersion. Even among those who believe in baptism by immersion, there are different concepts concerning the method of baptism. Divisions have been produced by the different ways, opinions, and arguments concerning baptism. All the different ways for Christians to serve and to do work for God have caused divisions. Whatever is recorded in the holy revelation of the divine Word is something concerning God’s economy. But many of these items have been stressed apart from God’s economy, and many of the Lord’s children have stressed different items according to their personal preference or taste. The result has been division after division.
In the early 1800s under the leadership of John Nelson Darby, the Brethren in England were raised up. Through the Brethren the Lord was able to unlock many of the truths in His holy Word, and what the Lord accomplished through them was marvelous. Within a short period of time, however, the Brethren were divided again and again. Even while Darby was still alive, there was a division between him and Benjamin Newton. There was also a division between Darby and George Müller, who became famous for his work with orphans and his living by faith. Today there are many divisions among the Brethren. One sister who grew up in a Brethren family told me that the assembly she met with was divided into two assemblies over whether to use certain musical instruments in their worship service.
I came to the United States near the end of 1962 to begin the ministry and the Lord began to move and spread. In the church in Los Angeles there was a substantial increase. Among the believers whom the Lord was gathering in Los Angeles were four different groups: the brothers who had been in the recovery for years from China, the saints who followed the famous writers of the inner-life line, the saints who came out of the Brethren, and the saints who were Pentecostal. One evening in Glendale, California, in the home of a Pentecostal brother, we were all meeting together, and the saints were happy. They were shouting and singing. Suddenly one of the brothers from the Pentecostal group proposed that all of the four different groups come together. All the saints happily said Amen to this proposal. They all turned to me for a response, but I was very sober.
I told them that it was very good for Christians to come together and that every Christian who loves the Lord wants to practice the Body life revealed in Romans 12. At that time the Body ministry was a popular term among many believers. I admonished them that anyone who wanted to practice the Body life according to Romans 12 needed to go on to Romans 14. Romans 14 tells us how we need to receive the believers according to God’s receiving and not according to doctrinal concepts. In verses 2 and 3 of this chapter Paul says, “One believes that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables. He who eats, let him not despise him who does not eat; and he who does not eat, let him not judge him who eats, for God has received him.” Verses 5 and 6 say, “One judges one day above another; another judges every day alike. Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind. He who regards that day, regards it to the Lord; and he who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who does not eat, does not eat to the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.” Paul wrote this to the saints in Rome so that they would not be divided over doctrinal concepts and preferences. They had preferences in diet and preferences in keeping days. I pointed this out to the saints who wanted to come together, and I questioned them about the matter of speaking in tongues. I asked them if those who spoke in tongues would be willing to receive those who did not speak in tongues, and if those who did not speak in tongues would be willing to receive those who did. They responded that they were willing to do this. Everyone was happy, and they declared that they were all one in Christ. They agreed to come together, but I admonished them not to forget my word concerning Romans 12 and 14.
I was able to be with the saints on the first Lord’s Day that they met together, and this meeting was very good. In a sense, that meeting was like a wedding day in which everyone was happy. The following Lord’s Day I was away and could not meet with the saints. That Monday I received a phone call from one of the brothers from the Brethren group. He said that he was unhappy about the Pentecostal activities in the meeting. The Pentecostal saints brought in their tambourines, and this offended the orthodox Brethren. When I came back to Los Angeles, this brother from the Brethren group told me that I had to do something about the tambourines in the meeting. This brother had no problem with having a piano in the meetings so I asked him, “In the eyes of God, what is the difference between a tambourine and a piano?” He responded that there was no difference in the eyes of God, but he still insisted that he did not like tambourines in the meeting. Eventually, these groups disbanded. Many of the saints could not stay in oneness because they could not give up their preference, their choice, their taste. This story illustrates the real situation of today’s Christianity. If each one of us practices according to his choice and his taste, how can we go on together? We must take one way for one goal.
From the very beginning of the recovery in 1922, we never changed the one way or the one goal. We have only had one way for one goal. The Lord’s recovery has suffered from different people’s opinions. Some brothers tried to take the way of the Lord’s recovery, but they eventually began to express their opinions. They came to the Lord’s recovery, and then they left because they wanted to take their own way. In order for us to be preserved in the Lord, we need to see the one way for the one goal.
We need to see that the Lord’s new way is the one way, the God-ordained way, and that this way is to visit people for the preaching of the gospel and to establish home meetings for the building up of the church (Mark 16:15; Matt. 28:19; Acts 5:42). From the beginning of the Lord’s recovery in mainland China, we studied the Bible and the history of the church thoroughly so that we could see the proper practice of the church life. Brother Nee set forth the proper practice of the church life in his book The Normal Christian Church Life. We have said that we are taking the Lord’s new way, but actually this new way is an ancient way. Peter and Paul both took this way, and we are following them to take the same way.
The way of Christianity is the way of confusion. Confusion prevails in Christianity. We are living in the midst of this confusion, but we have been brought into the Lord’s recovery through His mercy to practice the one way to carry out His New Testament economy. In this new way there should be no control. No one needs to get someone’s permission or approval to visit others by knocking on their doors. Because of the new way, however, there is an open door for us to think that we are free to do whatever we desire. We need to be impressed that we have only one way, and that this one way is the controlling factor among us.
Some saints have been in the Lord’s recovery for many years. They love the recovery and the church to the uttermost. When I began to share about visiting people for the preaching of the gospel and establishing home meetings, however, they were concerned about dropping our old way of meeting. Our old way of meeting was a product of the traditional practice of Christianity. We practiced to have big meetings all the time with big speakers delivering good messages. I pointed out to the saints who have been with us for many years that there is nothing wrong with having big meetings on the Lord’s Day with a good message given by a good speaker. Many of them had been listening to good messages for over thirty years, but I asked them how much fruit they had born in the years that they had been listening to those good messages. Some told me that they had brought ten to the Lord within the many years they had been in the church life. Then I told them to look at the actual situation today. When I left Taipei in 1961, the number of saints there was over twenty thousand. When I came back twenty-three years later, there were less than eleven thousand saints. I asked the saints, who said that they had brought some to the Lord during the years they had been in the church life, where these ones were today.
Our old way to practice the church life may be good, but it is deadening. We must not take that way. When we are driving a car down the street and realize that it is a dead end, we will turn back. None of us would be foolish enough to keep driving through a dead end. When we see a dead end sign, we need to make a U-turn. Our old way to practice the church life is a dead end. We must take the new way, the God-ordained way, to practice the New Testament economy.
In the last two terms of the full-time training in Taipei, twenty-four thousand people have been baptized. Those who meet in the halls in Taipei are less than four thousand, but outside the halls there are over eight thousand meeting in homes. The number of saints meeting in the homes in Taipei is increasing. There are thousands of homes with small groups of saints worshipping God, preaching the gospel, teaching the truth, breaking bread, and fellowshipping one with another. All these home meetings make the Lord happy. These facts along with our history are convincing and subduing. Within ten years, I expect that there will be ten thousand homes meeting in Taipei.
Recently, one young sister among us went out to visit people for close to a week without getting anyone baptized. She fasted, repented, and cried out to the Lord for a breakthrough. When she went out the next evening, she baptized six people. Her fasting prayer was heard by the Lord, and she gained six new ones. The God-ordained way to practice the New Testament economy is the unique way, the biblical way, and the most effective way.
If we love the Lord and do not want to take the Lord’s new way, we are foolish. The Lord Jesus did tell us, however, that no one who has drunk the old wine desires the new, for he says that the old is better (Luke 5:39). Actually, the new wine is better. When we get into the taste of knocking on doors to turn people to believe and be baptized, we will become addicted to this gospel service. When we establish home meetings and see the new ones growing in the divine life, we will be happy. These new ones whom we have baptized will be like our children whom we love and care for. We will be like nursing mothers (1 Thes. 2:7) who enjoy seeing their children grow. One leading one in the United States who was a trainee in the full-time training in Taipei told me he became addicted to knocking on people’s doors to get them baptized and to setting up and having home meetings.
All the new ones who have come into the Lord’s recovery through door-knocking and through home meetings occasionally need to hear a proper message of truth related to the vision of the Lord’s recovery. The whole church needs to come together to give the Lord an opportunity to solidly root the new ones through their hearing of a proper message of God’s revelation. Providing the new ones with a vision cannot be done properly or adequately in small homes. We need the big meetings to perform this task. The new ones can meet in the homes during the week, and once a month they can come together to hear a proper message on God’s economy and on God’s divine revelation. In this way all the new ones will be solidly rooted and founded in truth. Some brothers need to give messages on the Lord’s recovery, on God’s economy, and on the divine revelation. They have to learn the truth and learn how to present the truth in a proper way in the Lord’s unique New Testament ministry. In the Old Testament there was only one ministry, the ministry of the law, and in the New Testament there is only one ministry, the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of life, the ministry of righteousness (2 Cor. 3:6-9). We all are working for God’s purpose in this one ministry, so we have one way for one goal by one ministry.
The one goal in the Lord’s recovery is not merely for the spreading of the gospel, not merely for the release of the biblical truths, not merely for saving sinners, and not merely for edifying the believers but mainly for the building up of the Body of Christ that God may have a corporate expression on the earth, even in this age, for the building up of the coming New Jerusalem as God’s eternal, corporate expression (Eph. 4:11-12; Rev. 21:2). We need to take this one way for one goal without opinion both in theory and in practice.
Furthermore, we take this one way for one goal without different teachings (1 Tim. 1:3-4). We take only the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42) as the healthy words of the Lord Jesus (1 Tim. 6:3). First Timothy 1 speaks of the teaching concerning God’s economy, and chapter 6 speaks of the healthy words of the Lord Jesus. All the teachings of the apostles are for God’s economy, and these teachings are the healthy words of the Lord Jesus. The apostles learned these words from the Lord and followed the Lord to teach the same thing that He did. The apostles’ teaching is the teaching concerning God’s economy. We must preach and teach concerning Christ’s unsearchable riches and God’s New Testament economy. In Ephesians 3:8 Paul speaks of the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel, and in verse 9 he speaks of God’s eternal economy. We must preach and teach these two items. May the Lord preserve us in the one way for one goal without opinion and without different teachings.
