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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 4:5; 8:1-2, 4, 6-7, 9; 1 Cor. 15:10; Gal. 2:20; Matt. 20:26-27; 23:11-12; 1 Tim. 1:3
The central lane of the divine revelation in the Bible is the Triune God living in the believers so that they may live Him. However, in a sense, the Bible has many complications. For instance, Acts 2:44 records that after the day of Pentecost the first believers had all things common. This practice was not a legality (5:4), nor did it continue for the long run (11:29). Nevertheless, the brief record in Acts of this early practice has become a distraction to some Christians and has been misused as a basis for promoting mandatory communal living among certain groups. The focus of God’s economy is not communal living but the Triune God living in the believers so that they may live Him. Moreover, our living of God does not require a legalistic communal living.
The practice of having all things common became a distraction and cause of murmuring among the early Christians (6:1), and it ended even before the ministry of the apostle Paul began. Paul was commissioned to complete the word of God (Col. 1:25), and he does not teach or even mention this practice. Instead, he says, “Concerning the collection for the saints...on the first day of the week each one of you should lay aside in store to himself whatever he may have been prospered” (1 Cor. 16:1-2). In 2 Corinthians 8:7 he says, “Just as you abound in everything...abound in this grace also.” Grace here refers to the act of love shown in the giving of material things to the needy saints. The believers’ grace was the issue of God’s grace, which was motivating them. In the fellowship concerning the ministry to the saints, the apostle refers to the grace of four parties: (1) the grace of God, which was given to the Macedonian believers to motivate them and enable them to give with liberality (vv. 1-2); (2) the grace of the apostles, which allowed the believers to participate in the ministry to the needy saints (v. 4); (3) the grace of the believers, which was their ministering of material things to the needy ones (vv. 6-7); and (4) the grace of Christ, that He became poor that we might become rich (v. 9). This indicates that the believers’ offering of material possessions to the Lord for any purpose should be absolutely a matter of grace, not of human maneuvering.
Grace is powerful. In a sense, to have a legalistic communal living is easy, although complaints and murmurings will soon arise. However, to faithfully set aside a portion of God’s material blessing for His needs requires grace, which is the Triune God enjoyed by us. The focus of God’s economy in the Bible is the Triune God living in us so that we may live Him. Paul says, “I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me” (1 Cor. 15:10). This verse expresses the same thought as Galatians 2:20, which says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Not I but the grace of God means “I cannot do it; it is not I but the Triune God who lives in me.”
Seeking Christians are easily attracted to communal living. However, this practice is not what God desires. What He desires is to live in the believers so that they may live Him practically to the extent that they desire to give financially to Him. To faithfully set aside a portion of our income for the Lord requires grace. To make any long-term sacrifice, such as Brother Watchman Nee’s twenty years of imprisonment, requires the Triune God living in us and our living Him.
The matters of material giving and communal living show that it is easy for us to be distracted from the central lane of the Bible, even by other things in the Bible. We need to realize that no practice will last long if it is not based on the Triune God living in us and our living Him. God’s intention is not to have a group of people living together and having all things common. We should not be distracted from the central lane of the Bible. God’s desire is for a people who live Him. As long as we live God, He will spontaneously lead us to give when it is proper. Our living of God balances us. To impose outward regulations is easy, but to live a balanced life requires the Triune God as grace to us.
God’s intention cannot be fulfilled merely by our good works, such as baptizing new believers or raising up churches. God’s unique desire is for a people who live Him. Because most Christians have missed this focus, today’s Christianity is mainly a matter of doctrines, regulations, rituals, forms, organizations, and hierarchies, including many positions, titles, and ranks. Even many who have left the denominations to meet as local churches are still under the influence of organized Christianity.
The apostle Paul did not appoint a successor. Timothy was his fellow worker and child in the Lord but not his designated successor (Rom. 16:21; 1 Cor. 4:17). Timothy is not prominent in history because he did not succeed Paul as one who wrote Epistles and cared for all the Gentile churches. The genuine spiritual giants in history have not had successors. Neither C. H. Spurgeon nor J. N. Darby chose successors. Only the Lord can raise up someone to continue His work. The fallen thought of having a successor in the Lord’s work is due to distraction from the central lane of the divine revelation in the Bible.
All the regulations, rituals, organizations, and hierarchies in Christianity have come into being because God’s people have been distracted from the central lane of His revelation in the Bible. After many saints moved from Los Angeles to Anaheim in 1974, a subtle system of hierarchical organization came in through so-called service groups. When I became aware of this, I strongly advised the elders to give up this system and to instead allow the saints to serve as they are led by the Spirit. The elders received my word, and that system was removed. The Lord’s way and His unique desire are to live in His people so that they may live Him. The leading ones need to take the lead to live Him and to minister Him into the saints so that all the saints may live Him. We must reject all the things that have come in to distract God’s people from His focus. The principle of Babylon is to reject God and instead rely on human hierarchy and organization. We must be careful to avoid this principle.
The elders should not consider that they have an elevated position or any authority in themselves. The Lord said, “Whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you shall be your slave” (Matt. 20:26-27). He also said, “The greatest among you shall be your servant. And he who will exalt himself shall be humbled, and he who will humble himself shall be exalted” (23:11-12). Every elder and co-worker should consider himself simply as a brother. The word apostle in Greek means “a sent one.” Therefore, whoever goes out with the gospel is an apostle sent by God. The co-workers and elders do not have higher positions than others; they are only servants. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:5, “We do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.” This was Paul’s spirit. Only Christ is the Lord and the Head. No one else has authority over others. In the Lord’s recovery we should not agree that anyone has authority in himself. We must remember that there is only one thing that counts and only one thing that God wants — our living of Him.
If all the believers in a region live Christ by walking according to the spirit, their living will be a preaching of the gospel with great impact. There will be no need to organize the rapidly growing number of believers, because the believers will spontaneously gather in each locality as local churches. In large cities of several million, groups of believers may gather separately, but these groups will be one with all the other similar groups in each city and will not claim to be separate churches but merely various gatherings of the one church in that locality. Thus, there is no need for organization or hierarchy. If we care about rank and hierarchy, this proves that our view is off. Genuine local churches are not organized and hierarchical but spontaneous and organic.
We need to see what a local church is. First, a local church is all the genuine believers in a locality. Second, in a local church there is no organization, position, or hierarchical rank. It is wrong to think that the elders have a special rank or are a special class among the saints. If anything, the elders should consider themselves to be lower than the other saints because they are the servants of the saints.
Many believers are not meeting on the proper ground of locality, but they are all still members of the local churches. We should not become a sect by considering that we are special and that those who are not meeting with us are inferior. All the believers are our dear brothers and sisters. We should never use the term local church with capital letters to separate ourselves from other believers. Whenever believers gather simply as believers, that is a gathering of the local church in that city. There is no organizational requirement for a group to be part of a local church.
If we are concerned about who will be the head of such spontaneous groups of believers, our view is off. In the church there is only one Head — Christ. None of us is a head. Our position is to be under Christ, who is our unique Head. We should not exercise authority over others, because we do not have the position to do this. We should follow the example of Paul, who did not preach himself but Christ Jesus as Lord, and himself as the slave of the saints. It is not easy for the elders to consider themselves as slaves. Because we are all fallen and have the fallen nature, we desire to have a title and a position to control and rule over others. However, if we truly live Christ by walking according to the spirit, we will not have this desire.
If an elder seeks to control the church in his locality, he is not walking according to the spirit. My ministry supplies hundreds of churches, but I do not control anyone. I do not answer letters that ask me to say something in a controlling way. I know only to labor for the churches by ministering the living Christ to the saints. I do not desire to control anyone. It is a great shame to control others, and it proves that the controlling one is not walking according to the spirit.
The Lord’s return may be delayed because of the church’s condition. For the sake of the Lord’s recovery, the elders in the local churches must see that human authority, headship, and control are wrong. We must reject all the false replacements of the one thing that is real and that counts — the Triune God living in us so that we may live Him. These replacements include doctrines, rituals, forms, and hierarchical positions and titles. Nothing matters or will last other than the Triune God living in us and our living Him. We must refuse hierarchy, self-assumed authority, and human organization and care only for God’s desire and the focus of His revelation in the Bible.
We also should not teach differently. Paul wrote to Timothy, “I exhorted you, when I was going into Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus in order that you might charge certain ones not to teach different things” (1 Tim. 1:3). To teach different things does not mean to teach heresy but to teach things different from the apostles’ ministry. Since the time of the first apostles, the unique ministry in the Body of Christ has ministered Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God who became the Spirit to produce His Body. This is the only thing that we should teach. If we teach differently, different ministries will eventually emerge and produce sects and divisions. Every denomination has its own ministry, but Peter, Paul, and the other apostles had only one ministry. I do not mean that every speaking brother has to repeat my exact words. Nevertheless, we all have to see one thing — that the goal of the Lord’s recovery is to recover Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God to be our life and who is the Spirit to live within us and make us His living members so that His Body will be built up on the earth. This is the unique New Testament ministry.
It will take thousands to carry out this unique ministry. Therefore, many brothers need to participate, but we must be vigilant lest we be distracted from the central revelation that the Triune God desires to live in us so that we may live Him. If we truly live Him, human organization and hierarchy will disappear. All the positive things will issue from such a living, and all the negative things will be swallowed up by such a living. Thus, everything depends on our living. If we are not living Christ, the more we do, the more we are in danger of being distracted. The only thing that can keep us and preserve us is to see and practice the vision that God wants to live in us so that we may live Him.
