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Scripture Reading: 2 Tim. 2:19-21
After seeing something of the church ground, we must go on to see the fellowship of the church. Fellowship is based upon oneness, and fellowship is equal to oneness. Oneness includes and covers all the saints, regardless of the background from which they come.
Today there are many different backgrounds of the saints. Some have a Presbyterian background, some have a Baptist background, and some have other kinds of background. But regardless of the background, if they are saved, they all have the same faith, for they all believe in the same Lord Jesus Christ. They all have been redeemed by the same blood; therefore, they all have the same life within. We all are one in this all-comprehensive faith.
Fellowship is based upon this oneness. We have fellowship with one another because we all have the same divine life, we all have the same Lord, and we all have the same redemption. Do not ask what kind of baptism others have had. Do not talk about all those doctrines. As long as they are saints who are not sinful according to 1 Corinthians 5, we must recognize all of them as dear brothers and sisters. We believe in the Lord Jesus, and they do also. We have the same divine life as they. We have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, and they also have been redeemed by His blood. We are all the same.
We may be quite different from other Christians in background and in many other things. They may not believe in partial rapture, and we may be for it. But regardless in which kind of rapture we believe, as long as we believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, who was incarnated as a man, died on the cross for our sins, and resurrected from the dead, we are all redeemed, justified, regenerated and saved. We all have the divine life within us. Therefore, we are all one Body. It is based upon this that we have fellowship with one another. We may speak somewhat regarding certain things, but we must not go too far, and we must not argue. We must base our fellowship only on the Lord Himself.
But the problem is this: if one believes in a certain kind of rapture, he will try day and night to convince others of this doctrine. This is wrong. If some speak in tongues, we should not say anything to criticize them. Though they speak in tongues and we do not, we are still brothers. Tongues should not divide us. We may differ in the matter of tongues, but we are the same in life. We are all born of the same Father; so we must be one. We should not look down upon them for speaking in tongues, and they should not look down upon us for not speaking in tongues. But this is the problem. Could we receive grace from the Lord to be so general in our attitude? We must all realize that they are our brothers regardless of how much they differ from us in certain things. We must love them because we are the same as they are in redemption and in life. This is the basis and ground of our fellowship.
We may even take the unique ground of the church while others do not. But regardless even of this, we still can have fellowship with one another. However, this really requires grace. We must say, “Lord, by Your grace and mercy, I do not care for all the differences. I simply care for You. I only care for Your redemption and Your life—nothing else. Regardless of how much this brother differs from me, I still love him.”
Of course, we cannot go along with any divisions. But that should not hinder our fellowship. Regardless of whether others are in the divisions or not, we must recognize that they are our brothers. This does not mean that we go along with their divisions. No, we cannot do this, but we must love all the saints, even those in the Roman Catholic Church. There are some real believers in the Roman Catholic Church, and they all have the same divine life as we. They may wear their clerical robes, but in redemption and in life we are all the same.
Why must you look down on those who speak in tongues? And why must you look down on those who do not speak in tongues? If you think speaking in tongues can help you, do it. But do not look down on those who do not do it. If you do not speak in tongues, do not look down on those who do. We really need grace to be one in this way. The fellowship of the Body and of the church is based upon one thing: that is, we all are redeemed by the same blood and regenerated by the same divine life.
Our practice is one thing, but to take our practice as a basis for fellowship is another. Our practice may be according to our need, but we should not make our practice the basis of fellowship. For instance, we love to practice pray-reading because it helps us to enjoy the Lord, but we should never make pray-reading the basis of fellowship. Whether you like pray-reading or not, we do not care. We simply love you because you are a brother.
Some who speak in tongues always like to convince others to speak in tongues. This is the problem. Some who practice baptism by immersion always like to convince others to take immersion. But we must be willing to drop all of these things as a basis for fellowship. We may practice certain things because they help us, but we should not make any practice a basis for our fellowship. We really need grace for this.
Even our way of doing things should not hinder our fellowship. The way we do things may differ from that of others. If this is the case, we should not say a word. Our way of doing things is not the basis for fellowship.
There have been some in the past who have tried to adjust us. But we have told them that since we do not adjust them, they should not adjust us. Could everyone drive a car in the same way? This is why we have “backseat” drivers. When the car is driven by you, you must drive it. But when it is driven by others, you should let them drive it. Could you do this? Could you let others drive and not say a word? It is not so easy. If you drive a car in a certain way, you should not expect others to drive it in the same way as you. Therefore, we told the dear ones who tried to adjust us that as far as we were concerned, it was quite all right for them to do things in their way. We only asked that they would please give us the same freedom to do things in our way.
We must learn the lesson of grace in this way. We may practice many things for the Lord, yet we should not make any one of these things the basis for fellowship. When we practice the church life and take the standing of the unique ground of oneness, we must not be so particular in any thing. If we become particular in any one thing, we become a sect. If you prefer to speak in tongues, you should not expect the church to speak in tongues. If you expect the whole church to speak in tongues, you will make it a sect of speaking in tongues. The church is general, very general. It cannot specialize in any particular thing. But the problem is that if the church does not take your opinion or your way, you will say that the church is narrow. But really, it is you who are narrow. We cannot take anything special. We must be general. Then we are really not narrow, but, in fact, broad.
To be broad does not mean that we take in everything. To be broad means to be general, not opposing anything nor imposing anything. If you are of a certain opinion, you should realize that not all the brothers will have the same concept. We cannot expect others always to hold the same opinion as we.
We must be general. We should not be particular in anything. Wherever you go, do not make demands upon others. Perhaps their way is better than yours, or yours better than theirs, but this is not important. We must be general so that we may have the proper fellowship. The proper fellowship is not based upon a way or a practice. It is only based upon the same life within us.
Why must we always attempt to convince others? Why must we make them the same as we? As long as we all believe in the same Lord and are on the ground of oneness, any kind of practice which is not sinful is tolerable. We must learn to give others the freedom to do things in their way.
We should never make anything a basis of fellowship. We must respect every local church, realizing that it has its own jurisdiction. San Francisco may prefer to use wine at the Lord’s table, but another place may prefer grape juice. We must give them the freedom to use whatever they choose.
Why do we need to draw attention to this matter? It is because we have seen in the past that these things have created much trouble. That is why we must be general. Only the Lord Himself can be our basis for fellowship.
There is another problem which we must notice. Some brothers who have seen the ground of the local church feel that if they take this ground, they will be cut off from the fellowship of other groups of Christians. Not too long ago, a brother asked me this question: “How can we take the ground of the local church yet still be identified with all the people of the Lord?” I answered that it is impossible. Why is this so? It is simply because today is a day of division.
For example, we know that before the captivity, all the people of Israel lived in the land of Canaan. At that time, it was possible for everyone to be identified with all the people of God. But at the time of captivity, some were carried away to Egypt, some to Syria, and the majority to Babylon. Thus, they were divided. In this kind of situation, how could one Israelite be identified with all the people of Israel? If he were identified with all those in Babylon, he would be cut off from those in Egypt and Syria. If he were identified with the group in Egypt, he would be cut off from those in Babylon and Syria.
Today it is impossible to identify ourselves with all believers. Do you think you could be identified with the saints in the Roman Catholic Church? It is impossible. However, it is not a matter of being identified with all saints. It is a matter of taking the command of the Lord to return to the proper ground. At the expiration of the seventy years, the Lord commanded all the Israelites to return to Jerusalem. We also must take the Lord’s command to return to our “Jerusalem.” We can never be identified with all the Lord’s people today, because so many will not obey the Lord to come back to the ground of oneness.
Even if we did not take the ground of the church, we could never be identified with all the children of God in the present situation of division. It is impossible, because all the children of God are divided, separated, and scattered. What we must do today is not to be identified with all the Lord’s people but to take the way of the Lord’s recovery by coming back to the original ground. We would like to fellowship with all the saints, but the situation today does not allow us to do so.
There is really no need of taking this matter into consideration. As long as we are willing to be general and ready to fellowship with all the saints, that is sufficient. Whether or not we can identify with all the saints is not our responsibility but their responsibility. They all must come back to “Jerusalem.”
If all the saints would return to “Jerusalem,” there would be no problem. The problem is that some are willing to come back, but the majority are not willing to come back. Should we remain then in the divisions? No, we must come back to the ground of oneness. Others will say that by so doing we create more divisions. They will say that before we came back to the proper ground, there were not as many divisions, but after we returned, there is a further division. They will say that we have increased the number of divisions. But we should not take this kind of accusation. Actually, we are not causing a division but rather recovering the proper oneness. The proper oneness can only be on the proper ground. To remain in the denominations is to keep the divisions. When we return to “Jerusalem,” we return to the proper oneness and are not responsible for any division. Who then is responsible? It is those who will not come back to the original ground of oneness.
In 1937 in Chefoo, north China, I was invited to a dinner with some Christian leaders. Nearly all the leaders of the denominations of that city were there. After a time they said, “Brother Lee, we have heard you say that we all must be one. But the more you speak about oneness, the more you create division.” Then I answered, “Brothers, we all know that the believers in Corinth were divided. Some said they were of Paul, some of Apollos, some of Cephas, and some even of Christ. But all were rebuked by the apostle Paul. In the light of this I would ask you if you think it is right for me to call myself a Presbyterian or a Lutheran or a Baptist?” They replied, “No, we would not ask you to do that.” So I said, “What then shall I do? Since you do not ask me to be a Presbyterian, a Lutheran, or a Baptist, what shall I do, and where shall I go?” They could not answer me. I continued: “Since I love the Lord, I must preach the gospel, and undoubtedly there will be some who will be saved through my preaching. Since you have said that I should not be in any denomination, should I send those who have been saved through me to a denomination which I cannot join?” Still they could not answer me. Then I boldly said, “So you see, we are forced to take the ground of oneness so that we can meet together in the proper way. You say that we cause division, but who is responsible for the divisions? If all of you will promise me to drop all the denominational names and divisive elements and come together as the local church in this city, I will immediately ask the brothers to close our meeting hall. At this they shook their heads and said that this would be impossible. So I said very strongly, “Who then is responsible for the divisions?”
We must not take this kind of accusation. People insist on their divisions, yet they condemn others for creating more divisions. A number of the Israelites did go back to Jerusalem. Apparently, they increased the number of groups. But actually, they did not bear the responsibility for divisions. It was those who insisted upon remaining in captivity and not obeying the command of the Lord to go back to Jerusalem who were responsible for the divisions among the Lord’s people.
