Search
The book of Ephesians reveals that the church is also the new man (2:15; 4:24). Very few Christians, even Christian teachers, have seen that the church is the new man. Ephesians 2:15 says, “Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace.” Out of two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles, Christ created a new man. This proves that the new man in Ephesians is not an individual man but a corporate man. As the Body, the church needs Christ as life; and as the new man, the church needs Christ not only as life but also as the person. A man is not like a tree; a man needs a person. A tree needs life, but it does not require a person. However, we not only have life; we also have a person.
To have Christ as our person is higher and deeper than having Him as our life. What does it mean to take Christ as your person? We often say that we live by Christ. But in what way do you live by Christ? Is Christ only your life, or is He also your person? Suppose a brother’s wife gives him a difficult time. When such difficulties arise, most Christians would say that they need to trust in Christ and look to Him for help. In addition we may realize that we need to take Christ as life. We know that our life is no help in this situation, for our life easily loses its temper. But the life of Christ overcomes our temper. Therefore, in the midst of the difficulty this brother may say, “Lord, I trust in You. My life loses its temper, but Your life doesn’t.” Such a prayer is good, but it is not adequate. When my wife gives me a difficult time, I do not say, “Lord, I trust in You. Help me, Lord, with Your life.” Although I prayed like this a great deal in the past, I do not pray like this today. Rather, I say, “Lord, You are my person. If You are going to lose Your temper, then I will lose my temper as well. Lord, what will You do with my dear wife?” If the Lord says, “I still love her,” then I would say, “Amen, Lord, I love her too.” In this way I take the Lord as my person. This is not a matter of overcoming my temper by taking the Lord as life. It is absolutely a matter of living by Him as my person. If the Lord tells me that He still loves my wife when she is giving me a difficult time, within I am happy and I can say, “Lord, I am happy because You are happy, for You are my person. Hallelujah!” There is a great difference between taking the Lord as our life and taking Him as our person.
In my ministry in the past I often said, “Lord, strengthen me and give me power and utterance.” Although I still sometimes pray like this, many times I simply say, “Lord, the time for ministry has come. You are my person, Lord. Will You be speaking?” If the Lord says, “Yes, I shall be speaking,” then I say, “Lord, since You are speaking, I shall speak also. But if You don’t speak, I won’t speak either, because You are my person.” In the past I prayed, “O Lord Jesus, please tell me the message You want me to speak.” Before I left the United States to come to Germany, some of the saints asked me what I would be ministering in Stuttgart. I told them that I did not know. And truly I did not know. I did not know even after I had arrived in Stuttgart. I did not even know the night before this conference began. But I did realize that it was not I who would be speaking; it was Christ, who is my person. Thus, that night I had a sound sleep. The next morning I said, “Lord, what are You going to speak on at this conference?” In a few minutes the Lord said, “The kernel of the Bible,” and I said, “Amen, Lord.” From this experience of mine we see that Christ is not only our life but also our person. We are the new man, and Christ is our person.
It is not a simple matter to take Christ as our person. Ephesians 2:15 says, “Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace.” In order to create the new man, Christ had to die. Most Christian teachers say that Christ died on the cross to deal with our sins, the world, the flesh, and the old man. Although I have read a number of books on the cross, not one of them said that Christ died on the cross not only to deal with sin, self, and the old man but also to slay the ordinances so that the new man might be created. These ordinances separated the Jews from the Gentiles. The Jews keep the Sabbath and do not eat swine, but the Gentiles do not keep the Sabbath and do eat swine. In order to create one new man, Christ had to slay all the ordinances.
However, Christians today have many new ordinances. Although we may not be conscious of being under ordinances, we actually are under them. For some who were born and raised in Christianity, their concepts have become their ordinances. For example, according to their concept, a Christian service of worship must be quiet. If a Christian with this concept visits a meeting where there is shouting and praising, he will disapprove and withdraw from the Christians in that meeting. His ordinance concerning quietness in the meetings separates him from those Christians who enjoy praising the Lord and shouting.
One day a sister told me about a Brethren assembly in Vancouver, British Columbia, that was divided over the matter of using a piano or an organ in the meetings. One group was in favor of the organ but not the piano, and the other group favored the piano but not the organ. As a result, they were divided into two assemblies — the organ assembly and the piano assembly. This division came from their ordinances.
In 1963 in Los Angeles the leaders of at least three particular groups came together with the desire to practice the church life. When this was proposed to me, I said, “It is wonderful for us Christians to come together. However, I must remind you that believers have been divided by different teachings, opinions, and ordinances.” Among these groups one had a Brethren background, and another had a charismatic background. As every Christian knows, these two kinds of groups could never get along together. Nevertheless, at that time they all agreed to meet together. Then I said, “Both those with the Brethren background and those with the Pentecostal background must drop their opinions, practices, and ordinances. If not, you will never be one.” Those in all the groups agreed to drop their opinions and ordinances. Thus, they came together. The first meeting was held the first Lord’s Day of March 1963. I was present in that meeting, and it was rather good. There were no ordinances. The following Lord’s Day I was in New York. In that meeting the ones with the Pentecostal background began to speak in tongues, and those with the Brethren background attempted to stop them. This resulted in a fight in the meeting. The next day I received a phone call telling me to come back to take care of the situation. The brother who called was one from a Brethren background. He said that some sisters had not only spoken in tongues but even played tambourines. I asked him what was wrong with the tambourines, and I told him to come together with the others and forget about the ordinances. I reminded him that they all had said Amen to my word about dropping their ordinances. However, the brother said that he could not tolerate this situation. Soon I returned to Los Angeles. Those from the Brethren background told me that they could not tolerate the playing of the tambourine in the meeting. I said, “Brothers, in the eyes of the Lord, what is the difference between a piano and a tambourine?” When they admitted that there was no difference, I said, “Since there is no difference in the eyes of the Lord between a piano and a tambourine, why would you accept the playing of the piano but refuse to tolerate the playing of the tambourine?” They said that they did not like it and that they would not take it. They would accept a piano but not a tambourine. I said, “Brothers, if this is your attitude, then our joint meeting is through.”
After this, I spoke with those who practiced speaking in tongues. I said, “Brothers, I have learned that last Lord’s Day some of you spoke in tongues and played the tambourine.” When I said this, they became very touchy and replied, “Brother Lee, those brothers don’t know their spirit. When we spoke in tongues, they called a hymn to stop us.” I replied, “Brothers, from the very beginning I told you that in order to have a joint meeting with the leaders from different backgrounds, we all had to drop our practices and opinions. But if you insist on speaking in tongues and playing the tambourine, eventually the others will stop coming to the meetings, and you will be the only ones left. What then would be the use for us to come together?” Then they said, “Brother Lee, do you like the playing of tambourines and speaking in tongues?” I said, “It is not a matter of what I like or don’t like. It is a matter of having the church life. If I had the church life according to my preference, that would not be the church life. Rather, it would be something according to my choice.” Eventually, those on both sides took my word and agreed to come together again. However, when we came together, those from the Pentecostal background still cared only for speaking in tongues and playing the tambourines. They had forgotten what I had said to them and their agreement. Those from the Brethren background looked down upon those who spoke in tongues and did everything possible to control the meeting. As time went by, the tongue-speakers gradually departed. What remained was a group of people talking about the Bible in the way of dead knowledge. They killed everything.
The problem today is that every group of Christians has its own ordinances. Some, turning the question to me, have asked, “Don’t you have pray-reading and calling on the name of the Lord?” I said, “Yes, we do, but these are not our ordinances. Sometimes we practice pray-reading in the meetings, and sometimes we don’t.” But some began to oppose the matter of pray-reading and calling on the name of the Lord, saying it was the release of the soul, not the release of the spirit. When I heard that a particular brother had opposed pray-reading and calling on the Lord, I said to the brother who had informed me of this, “Please ask him this question: While you are condemning pray-reading and calling on the name of the Lord, are you speaking from your spirit or from your soul?”
By giving these illustrations I simply wish to point out our need to drop all the ordinances. If some saints desire to speak in tongues, give them that liberty. Although you may not like it, you should not stop them. If some saints receive profit from calling on the name of the Lord, we should not criticize them. We have no ordinances regarding this matter. If we still have ordinances, we cannot have the new man. To have the new man all the ordinances must be slain. It is not a matter of a loud meeting or a quiet meeting. It is a matter of a meeting according to Christ. We should have no preferences. When I am hungry, I have no preference; I simply desire to eat. One day the Lord’s disciples were hungry and broke the Sabbath by eating grain. Today the saints must have the same liberty. We should not keep any regulations. Because the Brethren observe certain regulations, they kill their meetings. But we in the Lord’s recovery must never set up regulations in the church life. Rather, we must come together as the Spirit leads. We do not have regulations; we have the living Spirit. As He leads, we move and act. But this also requires our cooperation.
Throughout the years saints from various backgrounds have come to our meetings and tried to convince us to take their way. We told them that we could not take their way. If we did, we would be sectarian, just as they were. Although we did not ask them to change, we told them that they could not expect us to take their way. Neither would we expect them to take our way. Deep within, you may feel that you do not like our kind of meeting. Who are you to criticize? Are you the Lord? Are you sure that you are one hundred percent right? None of us can be sure of this. Thus, we must learn to let others have their liberty. Those who criticize us are narrow-minded. In the past a number have tried to convince us that we need to speak in tongues. We replied, “If you like to speak in tongues, feel free to do it in the meetings. We will not stop you, but neither will we be convinced by you to practice a meeting centered on speaking in tongues. If we did this, we would lose our ground of being general.” Others may enjoy pray-reading and calling on the name of the Lord. Who are you to criticize it or to say that only your way is the right way? This is neither right nor fair. If you are not happy with the practice of pray-reading and calling on the name of the Lord in the meetings, then do not do it. But do not criticize others for doing it. Have you never read Romans 14? A very clear word is given in Romans 14:2 and 3: “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.” If we do not drop the ordinances, it will be impossible to have the new man. Rather, we shall be a sect.
Some who read this may already have been poisoned by the rumors that we are narrow and that we like to convince all others to be like us. This is an absolute lie. We have no intention of convincing others. Our expectation is that other Christians would give us liberty and that we would give them liberty. This surely is a fair attitude. If you do not like to speak in tongues, then do not speak in tongues. But if I want to do it, please give me the liberty to do so. I may be profited by my speaking in tongues. What is wrong with this? You may not agree with the matter of calling on the name of the Lord. But why must you criticize us for calling on His name? We are nourished when we call on Him. There is no reason for you to reject it. Look at today’s pitiful situation. Where is the new man? Instead of the new man, there are ordinances everywhere. Some of our brothers attended certain meetings, and at the beginning they were charged not to say a word. They were told that if they said anything, they would be disciplined and put out of the meeting. What a sectarian spirit this is! This is dictatorship. How could anyone with such an attitude have the new man? Throughout the years thousands of people have visited our meetings. We have not forbidden anyone to speak; our meetings are open. If you want to say something, you are free to do so. If I attend your meeting, will you have the same attitude? If I began to speak, would you stop me?
It is those who are narrow themselves who condemn others for being narrow. Brother Nee once told us that only robbers are afraid that others would steal from them. If you are not one who steals from others, you will not have the fear that others will steal from you. If I am afraid that the brother standing near me will steal my wallet, surely I must be a thief myself. Likewise, those who accuse us of being narrow are the ones who are narrow. Examine the situation of their meetings to see if their meetings are open.
Although today’s situation is so pitiful, by the Lord’s mercy we have been recovered. We do not care for ordinances. We care for the new man. Brothers, do you still hold to certain ordinances in your locality? You may say that you have learned the way of Anaheim. But after a few months Anaheim may change. I have been condemned for constantly changing. Twenty-five years ago I was forty-seven years of age; today I am seventy-two years of age. Certainly I have changed during the past twenty-five years. I changed because I am growing. But a stone image like those of Mary in front of Catholic cathedrals will not change. During the twenty years I was with Brother Nee, he had four great changes. If necessary, I can prove the fact that he changed by his writings. He told me that it was necessary for us to change. As the years go by, we expect to have further changes. Eleven years ago we did not have pray-reading. In Los Angeles from 1967, we began to have it. Perhaps in the future we shall dig something more out of the deep mine of God’s Word. Then we may have another change. If we would change, our critics would probably condemn us for it. Hallelujah, we are changing! We do not expect to stop changing until we reach eternity. Until then, we are growing and changing. Praise the Lord that we are the new man! As the new man, we do not need ordinances. Rather, we have Christ as our life and as our person.
The human spirit is mentioned in each of the six chapters of Ephesians. Ephesians 1:17 says, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.” The spirit here is not the Holy Spirit but our human spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 2:22 says, “In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” This verse also refers to our human spirit, not to the Holy Spirit, as the dwelling place of God. God’s dwelling place is in our spirit. The Holy Spirit of God is the Dweller, not the dwelling place.
Ephesians 3:5 says, “Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in spirit.” The revelation of God’s mystery is given to our spirit. In order to see or touch anything, we must use the proper organ. In order to see the revelation of the mystery, we need a spirit. In this matter our mentality does not work, for the more you think about the mystery, the more you will be in darkness. In order to see spiritual things, we need the spirit.
Ephesians 4:23 says, “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” Ephesians 4:22 tells us to put off the old man, and verse 24 speaks of putting on the new man. The way to put off the old man and put on the new man is to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. The spirit of your mind is a special term. It means that the spirit has spread into our mind, thus becoming the spirit in our mind. It also proves that our mind has been taken over by the spirit. In other words, it reveals that our natural mind has become a spiritual mind, for in our mind there is the spirit. It is by the spirit spreading into our mind that we are renewed. We need to be renewed in our mind. Then we shall put off the old man and put on the new man.
Ephesians 5:18 says, “Be filled in spirit.” We do not need to be filled with wine; we need to be filled with the Lord in our spirit. We should not have an empty spirit. Rather, our spirit must be filled with God.
Ephesians 6:17-18 says, “Receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit.” Verse 18 reveals that we must pray at every time in our spirit.
In this book concerning the church there are these six verses regarding the spirit. If we would see the church, we must learn to be in the spirit. Anyone who is dissenting is certainly in the mind. However, if such a one would turn from the mind to the spirit and remain in the spirit, he would be a different person. In the mind you are one kind of person, and in the spirit you are another kind of person. Suppose I begin to think that my wife is not treating me very well, that she is not taking proper care of me. The more I think these thoughts, the angrier I will become. But if, as I am thinking these things concerning my wife, I turn from my mind to my spirit, I shall immediately become another person. In principle, it is the same concerning the church. You may be a rather thoughtful person and think, “Is this the Lord’s recovery? If it is, then why is the number so small? I see very few people among them who have doctoral degrees.” However, if, instead of exercising your mind, you turn to the spirit, you will say, “Praise the Lord!” The church is absolutely in the spirit. It is not in our mind or understanding.
All the saints who come into the church enjoy a church life honeymoon. When they are on their honeymoon, they say, “Praise the Lord! I am in the Lord’s recovery! I am in the church and I am for the church! Hallelujah!” However, no honeymoon lasts very long. Sooner or later, your honeymoon in the church will be over. At that time your mind will be very active, and you will begin to examine the brothers. When you were on your church life honeymoon, everyone was wonderful. It seemed that all the saints were angels. But when the honeymoon is over, everyone becomes a turtle in your eyes. It seems that no one is good. Do not stay in the low valley of the mind filled with turtles, frogs, and snakes. Get yourself to the mountaintop in your spirit. Whenever you turn to the spirit, you find yourself on the top of a mountain where you hear the singing of birds and see the leaping of hinds. However, if you stay in the valley filled with turtles, frogs, and snakes, you will question the Lord’s recovery. You will ask why there are so many turtles and frogs. Then you will say, “If this is not it, then where shall I go?” If you go anywhere, you will go from one valley full of snakes to another. The only place to go is to your spirit. When you call on the name of the Lord Jesus, you will be on the top of the mountain. We need to pray, “O Lord Jesus, give us a spirit of wisdom. Lord, help us to stay in our spirit where Your habitation is. O Lord, fill our spirit.” If we do this, we all will be new. We shall not only be a new church but also be a new man. Daily the oldness will fall off, and the ordinances will be dropped.
The church is in our spirit. Never be bothered by outward things. The church is all-inclusive, open to all Christians. Do not be troubled by those whose practice is different from yours. Give them liberty. Instead of being bothered, turn to the spirit. The more we turn to our spirit, the more Christ will increase within us. Eventually, the riches of Christ will come out of us to nourish the new ones and to transform them. There is no need to adjust others, for this rich Christ will transform them. Eventually, they will become tired of playing with their toys. I have seen many who spontaneously dropped their toys after receiving the nourishment of Christ. The church life is just Christ filling us, changing us and others, and transforming the whole Body. We do not have regulations, creeds, or ordinances. We have only the living, rich Christ in our spirit. This Christ is growing, increasing, changing us and others, and building the church as the new man. This is the church life.
