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In these days, whenever I have the time, I have been considering the Lord’s recovery according to what I have seen all these past years. As you know, it began there in China some sixty years ago, in 1922. The first ten years I was not there, but later I heard the history. Then for the past fifty-one years I have been directly involved and have seen many of the things that have happened. What I fellowship with you tonight is based upon what I have seen and heard.
Why am I burdened to talk with you in this way? It is because of the present situation and the situation yet to come. You may wonder how we can consider our future situation when we do not know what it will be. Well, history does help us to visualize what may happen in the future. This is one factor. Another factor is that I am burdened to take care of some crucial matters, hoping to get them completed if the Lord wills. I want to concentrate my time and energy on these matters.
Because I do not have the time to visit the churches and help them directly, except in a limited way, I am burdened to put the things I have been considering into these practical talks and have them published. Then they will be useful not only for the present but also for the coming days. We do not know how long the coming days will be; only the Lord knows. But for as long as the Lord tarries, the recovery will be on this earth. Even though the scale of the recovery is small, it is nonetheless scattered throughout all the major continents and is still spreading. We all believe this spreading will continue, even though slowly. With these future days and future new ones especially in mind, I feel there needs to be a basic vision or basic knowledge of the Lord’s recovery.
Just five years ago a distraction came in which confused some dear ones who were concerned for the Lord’s recovery. Since such a thing could happen in the past right before our eyes, how can we have the assurance that such a thing will not be repeated in the future? Thus, while the Lord still grants me the days, I would like to do as much as I can to put things clearly into writing. Then the dear ones who are in and who will be brought into the Lord’s recovery can have a clear view about what it is.
What I would like to share I feel more free to say in these talks with you leading ones. I would not feel so free in a conference, speaking to a larger audience. These are not conference messages. Nonetheless, I want to have them printed for all the saints in the Lord’s recovery, whether old or new, experienced or newly saved. I hope everyone will have a copy to read now and later as well.
It is easy to think of the recovery as meaning a reformation. I think such an understanding of the Lord’s recovery today is inadequate. I would say that even the Reformation at Luther’s time was not an adequate recovery. While it may be considered as a part of the recovery, it is not what the Lord wants today. For today the Lord wants a recovery that is according to the complete revelation of the New Testament.
When we say the New Testament, we do not mean that the New Testament has nothing to do with the Old. The New Testament is the outcome of the Old. In a true sense, the New Testament includes the Old. To speak of a recovery according to the complete revelation of the New Testament is the same as to say that it must be according to the whole Bible.
From the entire Bible we know that God is unique. He is the only God, and He has a plan, which is also unique. Then, according to His plan, He has an economy, and this economy of His is also unique. Furthermore, in His economy there is His work, which is also unique, and to carry out His work, there is a way. This way is also unique. From this it is clear that what is revealed in the Bible is unique. God is unique. His plan is unique. His economy is unique. His work is unique, and His way to carry out the work is also unique.
In other words, as we have pointed out elsewhere, in the entire Bible there is only one line to carry out what God wants. Of course, there is another line, that of the evil work of God’s enemy. Yes, there are two lines in the Bible, but one belongs to God’s enemy. At the beginning of the Bible there are two trees, and at the end there is a city of water and a lake of fire. These two, the city of water and the lake of fire, are the consummation of the two trees. The tree of life will consummate in the city of water; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will consummate in the lake of fire. Between these two ends, throughout the entire Bible, are these two lines.
As those who have been saved, called, and separated by God unto His economy, we are not in the enemy’s line but rather in God’s line. That this line is one is clear even in the Old Testament, but it becomes even clearer in the New. There is the one line of the unique God, of His unique plan, of His unique economy, of His unique work, and of His unique way.
In the New Testament we see first the unique Christ. When Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers, he asked them in a rebuking tone, “Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor. 1:13). Of course, He is not. Christ is unique. His redemptive work is unique. The issue of His death and resurrection is also unique. This unique issue is the church, which is also unique.
The church is the one Body of Christ. This Body’s expression, wherever it may be, is also unique; this refers to the local church. Both the universal and the local church are unique. Even the way to carry out the churches is also unique. In the four Gospels not much is indicated of this, but in the Acts there is the unique way for the churches to be carried out. From chapters 1 through 28 one way is singled out. That way is by the Spirit. What is the Spirit? It is the pneumatic Christ. The way began from Jerusalem and then went on to Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, other cities, and Rome.
The Epistles show us the unique focus of God’s economy. What is this unique focus? Forty or fifty years ago this focus was not as complete, as crystal clear, to me as it is today. You may say that Christ is the unique focus of God’s economy. But, brothers, if you think back over all the trainings we have had on the Epistles, you should have an impression. The focus of God’s economy is not merely Christ. Of course, it depends on how you define the term Christ.
Colossians 2:9 says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” In one of our hymns we say, “The fulness of God dwells in Thee” (Hymns, #501, stanza 2), but Colossians 2:9 says “the fullness of the Godhead,” not the fullness of God. Godhead means God Himself. The Godhead is triune. That the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ really denotes that the Divine Trinity is dwelling in Christ in full. The fullness of the Trinity dwells in Him bodily.
Fullness, in New Testament usage, means more than riches. John 1:16 does not say, “Of His riches we have all received”; it says, “Of His fullness we have all received.” Ephesians 1:23 does not say that the church is the riches of Christ; it says it is His fullness. In fact, it says that the church is “the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” The church is not only the fullness of Christ; it is also the fullness of God (3:19). Fullness is greater than riches. You may have riches without having fullness. The fullness is the riches in full expression. When the riches are expressed in full, that expression is the fullness. I can illustrate it for you with a cup. A cup may hold a lot of water, but there is not the fullness of the water until the water overflows the brim. When this happens, there is not only the riches but also the fullness.
The expression in Colossians 2:9, the fullness of the Godhead, is a strong one, telling us that the fullness of the Trinity dwells in this One bodily. If we say that Christ is the focus of the New Testament, then, our understanding of Christ must include the realization that in this One is the fullness of the Trinity. It is such a Christ that is the focus of the New Testament.
Why is the Trinity not clearly revealed in the Bible until after the Lord’s resurrection? In Matthew 28:19, while He was charging His own to go and disciple the nations, He added in clear words, “baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Before Christ’s resurrection the Trinity was not fully revealed to God’s people.
John 7:39 says, “The Spirit was not yet.” The Spirit was not yet, because Jesus at that time had not yet been glorified, resurrected. Something concerning the second of the Trinity was not yet accomplished, not yet glorified. Jesus, the second of the Trinity, was not yet resurrected, glorified. For Him to be glorified was for Him to bring His humanity, His part of the old creation, into resurrection. When He became flesh, He took humanity upon Him. That flesh, that humanity, was of the old creation and remained such until it was brought through death and into resurrection. When that part of His being which was of the old creation was brought into resurrection, Jesus was glorified. Until this glorification was accomplished, the second of the Trinity had not finished the process that He should go through. The process was not fully accomplished until His resurrection.
Let us come back to John 7:39. Because Jesus was not yet glorified, the Spirit was not yet. As the process of the second was not yet accomplished, so neither was that of the third. With Christ’s resurrection, the process of both the second and the third was fully accomplished; thus, after His resurrection He could reveal the Trinity in full by speaking of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
If we go on from Matthew to the Epistles, we can see that the entire book of Ephesians is composed with the Trinity as its basic structure; every chapter, from chapter 1 through chapter 6, is constructed in this way. Second Corinthians 13:14 also indicates the Trinity when it says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Consider also the Trinity unveiled in the first few verses of Revelation. The entire Bible gives us a complete revelation of the Divine Trinity. (See footnote on v. 14, Recovery Version, regarding the Trinity as revealed throughout the Bible.) This revelation is the focus of the Epistles. Even Revelation is an epistle, written to the seven churches. The Divine Trinity, then, is the focus of the Epistles.
What is the circumference? It is the Body of Christ, the church, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem.
There is one more unique point to cover. In the first four books of the New Testament there is the one Christ. Then out of this Christ the apostles are produced. Then these apostles are the ones who bring the churches into being. One Christ produces the apostles, and the many apostles produce the churches. Now the final point is the unique ministry.
The ministry is one. In Acts 1:17 Peter says regarding Judas, “He was numbered among us and was allotted his portion of this ministry.” This is a strong indication that the twelve apostles had only one ministry. We may consider that the twelve each had their own ministry, but it is clear from this verse that they had only one ministry. That one ministry was to dispense the Divine Trinity to produce the church, the circumference.
After the twelve apostles, more were added, especially Paul. Timothy and all the co-workers were also added. In 2 Corinthians 4:1 Paul says, “Having this ministry as we have been shown mercy, we do not lose heart.” We refers to the apostles and their co-workers; they, plural, have received this ministry, singular. In the previous chapter of 2 Corinthians it is clear that even the Old Testament ministry was one (3:7-11). That ministry was one of condemnation and death. Now in the New Testament the ministry of righteousness and the ministry of the Spirit are also one.
Why is this so? It is because God is unique. His plan is unique. His work is unique. His way to carry out His work is unique, and the very instrument used for His way is the ministry. Thus this ministry is also unique. In the New Testament there is the unique Christ, the unique way, and the unique focus to carry out the unique circumference, the church, by the unique ministry.
On the one hand, the ministry is unique, but on the other hand, there are individual ministries referred to (2 Tim. 4:5); the same word is used for both in Greek. It is the word used for the service of deacons (Col. 4:17). We all have our own service, but all our services should be part of the New Testament ministry. Not only an apostle but even a deacon, serving for example in the business affairs of the church, is part of the ministry. In the Old Testament type, where the focus was on the tabernacle, the ministry there was also unique: caring for the tabernacle and carrying it from place to place. That ministry was composed of the priests and the Levites. Most of the Levites took care of business matters. Such services were a type.
Today there are the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers. In addition, there are the elders, the deacons, and also many others who are neither gifted ones nor responsible ones yet who are serving the church. Each has his own service. Every one, even if he is not an elder or a deacon, as long as he serves in the church, has his part in the ministry, which is properly called the service. If we add all these services together—those of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers, as well as the services of the elders, deacons, and all the other saints—we have the New Testament ministry. This inclusive ministry is unique.
Let us look at the situation in Christianity. The Catholic Church has a ministry. The Anglican Church has another. The same is true of the Baptists, Presbyterians, and all the other denominations. Each one has its own ministry. The Catholic Church has thousands of priests, but they are all doing one thing. There are Jesuits, Dominicans, and Franciscans, yet all three groups are carrying out one objective, that is, to build up the Catholic Church. There is only one ministry among them. Yes, each one has his own service. Every Jesuit, every nun, every priest, has his own service, but all their services serve the purpose of the unique ministry of the Catholic Church. This principle is true even with a small denomination; each has its own ministry.
To have a separate ministry, then, is an indication of division. Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered” (1 Cor. 3:6). These are one ministry. Different ministers work on one thing for one goal; thus their ministry is unique. It is not that Paul took care of the entire plantation. He only did the planting; Apollos did the watering. Of course, Peter did another part. But all they did was part of one ministry, that is, the ministering of the focus, the Divine Trinity, to produce the circumference, the Body of Christ. It is only one ministry.
What is the Lord’s recovery today? It is a recovery of the unique plan, the unique economy, the unique way, the unique word, and the unique focus by the unique ministry. I hope this is clear to all of us and even that it could be printed in a clear way for others who are not here and for the future.
In the past on the mainland of China I saw some who were in the Lord’s recovery but who eventually began to do a separate work. This same thing also happened on the island of Taiwan. I still have some copies of the publications of some of these dissenting ones. They claimed that they saw the Antioch light, that the recovery was too old, that it was of Jerusalem, and that what they saw was something new of Antioch. They condemned James and even to some extent denied the Epistle of James. That “Antioch line” became a division.
Since the recovery came to the United States in 1963, there have been a few groups who were among us but who remained as a group until they left. There were those who said they saw the “Ephesian line.” This group still exists today. The second was with us like a drop of oil in water; then they left and have dispersed. A third group was with us for some years; they remain somewhere in the Midwest in another work. A fourth group was with us for a while, but they also stayed as a group until they left; they believed, among other things, that children should participate in the Lord’s table.
This survey, from the mainland of China to the United States, helps me to see what the Lord’s recovery is. It is unique in everything. It has the unique God, the unique plan, the unique economy, the unique work, the unique way, the unique Lord, the unique focus, and the unique ministry.
Let us consider the prominent apostles like Peter, John, Paul, and James. Since last year my view has been much clearer than it was in the past. Formerly, I had an unconscious understanding that Peter’s ministry was not the same as Paul’s. However, while working on the Life-studies of 1 and 2 Peter, and in these recent days on the footnotes for John’s Epistles, I have found out that these three great writers of the New Testament were all carrying out the one ministry. Now that we have had the training on the Epistles of Peter, I think we can all see that although the terminology and presentation are different from Paul’s, the ministry, or the focus of the ministry, is the same. In other words, they were all doing one work. Paul was not doing one work to carry out one objective and Peter another work to carry out a different objective and John a third work with a third objective. No, they were all doing one work to carry out one thing.
What is division? What is a denomination? It is the doing of another work, the carrying out of something else. This is not to say that Paul’s preaching and teaching have the same terminology and presentation as Peter’s. Nor does John have to preach and teach in the same way as Paul or Peter. All of them used different terminology and different ways of presentation, yet they were all doing the one work. They were all participating in the one ministry.
Years ago in New York the claim was made that they accepted all ministries. At the end of 1969 when I was invited there, I went to that brother’s home and faced him. I told him, “You don’t accept all ministries. At least, you don’t accept my ministry.” He said, “We accept all ministries selectively.” I said, “What is this? If you accept all ministries selectively, that means you select, doesn’t it? As long as you select, you don’t accept all.”
There have no doubt been some great preachers and teachers raised up in today’s Christianity, but they are for the most part in different ministries because they are working for different denominations, for different works. In the Lord’s recovery, however, we are doing one work, carrying out one ministry. We are serving one Lord, worshipping one God. We are in His unique plan, in His unique economy, in His unique work, in His unique way. We minister His unique focus. While we participate in this unique ministry, we fully realize that each one of us has an individual service. Not only the so-called gifted ones, even all the saints have each his own service, like the Levites. A Levite had his own service, yet the ministry to care for the Ark was unique. There was no ministry other than that one. All the services of the different Levites were just for the unique ministry of caring for the Ark.
To me the picture is more than clear. From past experience we realize that there is a peril that some of the brothers gradually, even unconsciously, may get into a work that is different from the ministry’s goal. It is not easy to stay in the unique focus, that is, in the focus of the Divine Trinity. It is not easy to stay in the unique ministry. Nonetheless, the entire New Testament presents us this unique ministry to minister the Trinity as the unique focus and to produce the church as the unique circumference.
When I met Brother Nee, I realized that his work was in the same ministry as Paul’s. Because of this, from the day that I met him, I did everything as part of the one work. In the early days in China many among us did not know this principle. All they saw was how one I was with Brother Nee in the work; they did not realize the principle I took.
When we published the first issue of The Stream, the first message was on the one flow. I pointed out this principle. I was one with Brother Nee because I saw that in the entire New Testament there is only one flow on this earth. To say “one city, one church” is right, yet this alone is not adequate to keep us in the genuine oneness. The “Ephesian line” would also set up one church, one city, but that is another line.
Our ministry, like that of the apostles, is focused on the Divine Trinity. All the Epistles reveal this focus. Prophecies and the interpretations of the Old Testament are covered, but all these prophecies and interpretations are for the focus. The New Testament does not have prophecies apart from the focus. It does not interpret the Old Testament apart from the focus. The prophecies are defined, the Old Testament is interpreted, all in the way to carry out the focus, which is the Divine Trinity.
Whatever we preach or teach in the Lord’s recovery must be focused on the Trinity. Otherwise, what we preach and teach will unconsciously produce another work. Then such preaching and teaching will become a separate ministry. Only one thing can preserve our preaching and teaching in the one ministry: the unique focus.
Here is the burden. We brothers who are taking the lead in the churches must see this focus clearly. Otherwise, what we are doing here eventually will become a distraction to produce another work, and spontaneously there will be another ministry. Whatever we preach, whatever we teach, must be focused on this.
The hardest thing for us to do is to experience the things we ourselves preach and teach. We not only teach or preach, but we practice. Furthermore, we help the individual saints in every local church to practice these things.
If we are not in the focus and if we do not experience what we preach to others, we face two perils. One, sooner or later there will be divisions. Two, if we do not practice the focal points, the saints have no way to practice them. The things we teach will eventually become doctrines in the Lord’s recovery. There will be no reality. The recovery will just be empty. Then in the sphere of the so-called recovery there will be divisions and emptiness. The only thing that can keep us permanently and absolutely one is the unique ministry to minister the unique focus. The only thing that can keep the Lord’s recovery full of reality is to practice what we now preach and teach and to help the saints in every locality to practice the same thing.
If we expect an increase either by evangelism or by the spreading of the doctrines we teach, we will surely face these two perils. If we do not care for the Lord’s recovery by paying heed to all these unique points, then we will care for the spreading of our work. To care for the spread of our work is dangerous. It will produce different works to build up different ministries. Then division will result. We can foresee this. Furthermore, if we do not pay full attention to practice these things in our daily life and to bring all the saints in our local church into these practices in their daily life, the churches will be empty. I am fearful and trembling of these two perils: the peril of different works being produced to cause division and the peril of emptiness. We will have the ground of one church, one city, and we will have the scriptural teachings, yet there will be no real experience of Christ in our daily life.
We need to build up a local church in a very particular and fine way. It is not enough to bring new ones in, to have an increase; we must build them up by helping them to practice the focal things that we ourselves practice. We must be a pattern. The elders should not lord it over the flock but be an example, a pattern, of how to live Christ, how to practice the focal things (1 Pet. 5:3). This will create an atmosphere in the church that will influence all the saints to practice these focal things.
Such a living will also save us from being a movement. We grow in life and help the saints to grow in life, without paying much attention to the spread of the work. This does not mean that we do not preach the gospel or spread the truth. We have to preach the gospel. We have to spread the truth. But these things are not our goal. Our goal is to minister to others the Divine Trinity as the unique focus. At the same time, we ourselves practice the one spirit with the Lord and live Christ.
In the Bible everything is unique. Have you noticed that Barnabas eventually was gone? He went away. He had a good start. Actually, he brought Paul in, but eventually he left. There is no more word concerning him. This indicates that the Bible does not keep a record of two ways. According to the record in Acts, there is only one way. Paul did not do another work. His work was a part of the New Testament ministry, just as Peter’s was.
You remember Paul’s word to Timothy: “I exhorted you...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 is to minister something other than God’s economy, as Paul mentions in the next verse. Today on Christians’ bookshelves and in Christian bookstores there are many books on teachings, on doctrines, but there are very few books that are on the focus.
The perils of division and emptiness are crouching here. If we are not alerted by the revelation, it is easy for us to be ensnared either by one or by the other. We can easily be ensnared by emptiness and by the unconscious divisions.
We can be kept in the genuine oneness all the way to the end only by not doing another work. Watchman Nee never did a work other than Paul’s. He was very careful about this. He was on guard to do only Paul’s work. Just a little carelessness will bring us into this snare of division.
Also, if we do not practice the focal things experientially, spontaneously we will fall into the snare of emptiness. We may boast that our teachings are scriptural, that we do not have forms, rituals, or organization. It may be true that we do not have these things, but we do not have the reality either. What we have is just emptiness. This is quite serious, brothers. We have to be alerted to stay in the central lane, practicing all the focal things ourselves daily. We must also be burdened to help the saints in our locality practice these things, to grow in life that they might be genuinely and practically built up in the Trinity.
If we get into these things and see the central vision, and preach and practice it, and help others to get into the practice of these things, spontaneously all the other things will be adjusted. Just to adjust is still empty. What we need is not adjustment but focus.
There is a natural tendency to want big numbers, good meetings, good service, and a good appearance for our local church. If we are not on the alert, we will unconsciously fall into this natural tendency. We do not need to adjust these things. All we need to do is to pay full attention to the focus. I believe, brothers, that the only thing needed to preserve us in the recovery all the way to the end is to see all these unique things that I have mentioned. Just to see one church, one city is not adequate. As I said, that group practicing the “Ephesian line” also stresses one church, one city.
May the Lord bring us all and keep us all in the focus.
