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Today in any Christian group there may be two categories of people: the self-despising ones and the proud ones. Those who despise themselves think that they are nothing. As a result, they do not count themselves as part of the Body, and they do not function. The proud ones, to the contrary, consider themselves superior to others and seem to say, “I don’t need anyone else. I can do everything myself.” This combination of humility and pride is the source of the clergy and the laity. Those in the clergy class think that they can do everything and that they do not need others. But those among the laity think that they are nothing and that they cannot do anything. By means of this subtlety, the Body life has been killed. This is the reason we do not see the Body function in today’s Christian meetings. Instead, we see those in the class of the clergy doing everything. What a poor situation! Because we came from a background where there was the clergy and the laity and because we are still surrounded by this system today, we may not realize how ugly it is. Rather, we have been drugged to such an extent that we think such a situation is normal.
In the meetings of the church everyone must function, including the young ones, the new ones, and the weak ones. However, thinking that it is a waste of time for those who are new, young, or weak to function in the meetings, we may say, “What can the weaker ones do? What help can be rendered by the new ones or the young ones? It is better for them to be quiet. Let them save the time for those who are able to do something.” Our thinking has been saturated with this concept. This indicates that we have been drugged and do not have a proper sense regarding the function of the members of the Body.
When I speak, nearly every member of my body functions. It is not true that only my mouth speaks and that the rest of the members have nothing to do. As my mouth speaks, my whole body participates in the speaking. For example, my hands make certain gestures, and my shoulders move. Every part of my body is functioning. I am not a machine with a speaking mechanism called the mouth. When a mechanical mouth speaks, the other parts of the machine do not participate in the speaking. Because my mouth is a living part of my body, my entire body functions whenever I speak.
Even in some meetings in the Lord’s recovery, the situation still is not normal. Instead, due to the background and influence of Christianity, the situation is quite abnormal. Again I say, with respect to the matter of the functioning of the members of the Body, we all have been drugged. The purpose of these chapters is not to give you doctrine; it is to minister a de-drugging word to you. All of us, including me, need to be de-drugged. I was born, raised, and educated in Christianity. Because of this influence, at times I have said, “These people are too young. They don’t have anything to share with the saints. It is better for them to be quiet in the meeting.” This concept is wrong. The Body moves with all the members. Thus, from now on we must pray, “Lord, grant that whenever we meet together we shall have the move of the whole Body.” What a difference it makes when all the Body moves!
Due to our religious background, we may have the attitude that a certain meeting is not our meeting. This is the reason some saints have said to me, “Brother Lee, tonight’s meeting is your meeting.” This means that I am the one to run the show. How much we have been drugged! There is no meeting that is the domain of anyone in particular. All the meetings, even the ministry meetings, are the meetings of the saints. If you say that a certain meeting is my meeting, I would reply that it is not only my meeting but also your meeting. Whenever we Christian brothers and sisters gather together, we are the Body. The Body is in our gathering. However, if we are not spiritual in a practical way in our gathering together, if we are not exercising the functioning spirit, the Body will not actually be found among us. When the saints gather together without being spiritual according to the exercise of their spirit, such a gathering will be a gathering of dumb idols. But if we come together exercising our spirit and ready to function, we shall be like players on a basketball team. Everyone will participate as a member of the team. Then we shall have the Body. We need to be rescued from the fallen situation of Christianity. In the Lord’s recovery we are being brought back to the beginning. In the beginning, when Christians came together, they all functioned. Today, however, we have been drugged. Thus, we all must exercise ourselves to function. Even the youngest ones and the weakest ones must also function.
In his wisdom Paul touched the real problem of the practical Body life—the matter of the self-despising ones considering themselves inferior to others. Many of you still hold the concept that you are inferior to others. Moreover, some of the older ones think that they are out-of-date. Although they may not say this, such a subconscious thought is nonetheless within them. As you know, throughout the years my burden has been to promote the young people and to raise them up. This has caused some of the older ones to think that they are no longer needed. Hence, they have become deeply disappointed. Some of the older ones have said, “I have been in the Lord’s recovery from the beginning. Now it seems that, according to Brother Lee’s concept, all the older ones are through. He will not use the older ones on his team. We cannot learn the languages to go to Europe. In particular, we could never learn Hebrew to go to Jerusalem to have the church life there in preparation for the Lord’s coming back.” Because of this feeling of disappointment, some of the older ones consider themselves as only good for retirement. However, so many of the older ones are still eager to be trained. On the one hand, some older ones are disappointed; on the other hand, many older ones are still eager to be trained to be useful in the recovery. The Body is the Body. The young people are not the whole Body. Rather, they are simply part of the Body.
It is difficult for the older ones to contact young people on the campuses. If I, an elderly person, were to go to the campuses, the young people would not be interested in talking to me. People gather together according to age. For example, it is difficult for a child of twelve to play with a child of five. The five-year-old would prefer to associate with those of his own age. The same is true of the twelve-year-old. For this reason, the older ones are not useful for going to the campus to contact young people. The Body, however, is not composed only of young ones. Although the older ones are not suitable for work on the campus, they are the ones to bear the burden to pray for the young people. However, it would be very difficult for the young people to stay home and pray, because they are eager to get on the campus and contact people. The matter of praying for the work on the campuses is a function of the older ones.
I use this one illustration to point out that the Body is not composed of just one class of people. On the contrary, it is a composition of many age groups. The young people should be strong and aggressive to work on the campuses. But the older ones need to be very exercised to pray for the young people. Furthermore, the older ones can invite all the young laborers to their homes for dinner. However, if the older ones gossip and complain about being useless, our situation will be pitiful, and we shall not have the Body. But I believe that many will say, “Praise the Lord for raising up so many young people! The Lord is using them for the work on the campuses. Let us pray for them and let us do certain practical things to help them.” If this is the situation, the whole Body will be moving toward the goal of gaining this generation.
In all the meetings, including the meetings of the ministry, all the saints need to exercise together. If you are indifferent or dissenting while I am speaking, it will be difficult for me to speak, and my speaking will be weakened and lack weight. However, if you exercise yourself to function as a member of the Body and use your spirit and your whole being to participate in my speaking, my speaking will be strengthened and become weighty. It will not simply be the speaking of the mouth but the speaking of the Body.
In these days we have a definite goal. This goal is to carry out the Lord’s recovery. One of the main things to be recovered is the functioning spirit. We all, including the new ones, the young ones, the weak ones, and the old ones, need to be restored to the functioning spirit. Now is the time for us to come together to function. We all are players on the team; none of us is a spectator. If we gather together with the burden to function and with the attitude that we are players on the team, the meetings will be greatly uplifted, and the enemy will be driven away. Everyone who attends such a meeting will be subdued and convinced. The visitors will say, “How different this is from Christianity! This meeting is different from any kind of gathering I have attended before.” All the church meetings must be like this. It is not a matter of a good speaker; it is a matter of the functioning of all the members.
We all need to be recovered back to the functioning spirit, back to the genuine practice of being spiritual. To be spiritual is to exercise the functioning spirit. We need to be stirred up to hate our habit of not functioning. If you function even a little in the meetings, your spirit will be stirred up, and you will be nourished, strengthened, and refreshed. When you go home, you will realize what a difference it makes to function in the meetings. But if because you are so cautious you do not function, you will sense when you return home that you are lacking in inward strength. Furthermore, you will not have the sense of inner satisfaction. Functioning in the meetings has a great effect on our daily living. Whenever you function in a meeting, no matter whether the meeting is high or low, rich or poor, that meeting is rich to you. However, if you do not function in the meeting, that meeting will be poor to you. Whether a meeting is rich or poor as far as you are concerned depends on whether or not you function in that meeting. If you function, you will be strengthened, refreshed, and stirred up. But if you do not function, the meeting will not be meaningful to you. This can be proved in our experience. If we all function in the meetings, we shall all experience a rich meeting.
How good it would be if in our meetings there were no particular speaker, but every one was a speaker! People often ask who the speaker will be in the meeting. From now on, when you are asked about the speaker, you need to answer, “I am the speaker.” If the person does not believe you, tell him, “Come and see. I will stand up to speak, and I will speak especially to you.” We all must be prepared to say that we are the speaker in the meeting. How wonderful this would be! We need to drive away the old influence of Christianity from our meetings. We should have no clergy or laity but the functioning of all the members of the Body.
The functioning of all the members depends on two things. First, the inferior ones should not despise themselves or be humble; rather, they must learn to be aggressive. Second, the superior ones must learn to be limited. They should not think that they can do everything but should realize that they need others. If we learn these lessons, the Body will be tempered together, and there will be a proper balance. This is what we need for the genuine Body life.
Once, I was invited to a certain group that supposedly had the Body ministry. But what this group meant by Body ministry was to have several speakers instead of one. I told them that this certainly was not the Body. To have several speakers does not mean that you have the Body, for the Body is not made up of several members but of all the members. Consider how many members there are in your body. Eventually, that group began to realize that they did not truly have the Body ministry.
Let us now consider 1 Corinthians 12:22 and 23. These verses say, “Much rather the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we consider to be less honorable, these we clothe with more abundant honor; and our uncomely members come to have more abundant comeliness.” What are the members that we think to be less honorable and that we clothe with more abundant honor? As you consider your own body, do you know what members these are? Those members of the body that seem to be less honorable are the feet. In 1948 I was staying with Brother Nee in his hometown. At a certain point in our conversation, he said, “Witness, the more cultured people are, the more they adorn their feet. Whether your culture is high or low is indicated by the way you adorn your feet. You northerners have higher culture than the southerners. You never go around with bare feet. Rather, you beautify them with socks and shoes.” I replied, “Brother Nee, the northerners adorn their feet because the weather there is cold. The southerners may simply wear a pair of slippers because the weather here is usually very warm.” Brother Nee replied, “No, don’t say this. Even among the southerners, the highly cultured people do not go around with bare feet. They always spend money to beautify their feet.”
One day I was reading 1 Corinthians 12:21, where Paul says that the head cannot say to the feet, “I have no need of you.” The head should not say, “Feet, because you are so low, I don’t need you.” Because the feet are so low, they need more adornment. Suppose I were fully dressed with a suit and tie but had no shoes and socks on. Would you not say that it was shameful for me to be barefooted? However, you would not consider it shameful for my head or my hands to be uncovered. This indicates that the feet are the less honorable members of the body. Because they are less honorable than the other members, we need to adorn them properly.
However, we often damage the principle of the Body by adorning the head with many “hats” but not caring for the lower members, the feet. We need to bestow more honor on the feet. From now on, in all the churches and in all the meetings we must learn to clothe the lower members with more honor. Do not buy more “hats” for the head. Instead, purchase “shoes” for the adornment of the feet so that you may beautify these less honorable parts of the Body.
Today, however, we often follow the despicable practice of crowning the eloquent speakers with honor. Sisters admire eloquence. Certain sisters may place several crowns upon the head of an eloquent one. If I were an eloquent speaker and my speech were like music, the sisters would find it entertaining and would say, “Let us go to hear Brother Lee. His speaking is so pleasant.” All the sisters would purchase crowns for me. But suppose I spoke in a very halting way. Finding listening to me unbearable, everyone would want me to sit down. Instead of clothing me with honor, they would deprive me of whatever adornment I had for my uncomely feet. They would strip me in order to suppress me from speaking in the meetings. Nevertheless, we must thank God that He has brought so many halting speakers into the church. Which do you prefer—the head or the feet? Throughout the years of the church life in California, we have not spent a penny to adorn the head. However, we have spent a great deal to buy socks and shoes to beautify the feet. This is precisely Paul’s meaning when he says that the members that seem to be less honorable are clothed with more abundant honor.
We all need to learn to exercise ourselves as the Body. From now on, we should no longer regard eloquence so highly. Instead, we should honor those who speak haltingly. When you hear this, you may say, “Brother Lee, this is too difficult. Eloquence is so sweet and musical. But I cannot tolerate listening to halting speech.” If you cannot tolerate it, it is an indication that you are natural and not spiritual. In the Body life every member is needed. In order to have the church life, the Body life, we need all the members. The services in Christianity today are a form of entertainment. Both the singers and the speakers entertain the congregation. In the seminaries men are taught to speak eloquently and are taught how to attract people and to entertain them. What a shame it is to speak eloquently to entertain people! We are not here for this. Instead, we must either crucify people or resurrect them. Instead of entertainment, we have the experience of the cross.
Eloquence does not express Christ. On the contrary, an eloquent sermon is a form of entertainment. If we exercise to have the practice of the Body, so many halting ones will begin to speak. If the members exercise their spirit to be spiritual and to speak for Christ, something of Christ will be manifested, although their speaking will not be eloquent. This is the Body. For the long run, we need meetings filled with speaking that is not eloquent, yet speaking through which Christ is expressed. This kind of meeting edifies the saints and builds them up. We all need a change of taste. We are accustomed to a diet of eloquence and musical messages. What we need now are words spoken haltingly that manifest Christ. I believe that this is Paul’s meaning in this portion of the Word.
According to our natural concept, we admire eloquent speakers. But to admire eloquence is to damage the Body. This is the reason that God has had to temper the Body together. I thank God that He has been tempering the Body. He has humbled the eloquent speakers, and He has raised up the halting ones to speak for Him in order that there should be no division in the Body. In today’s Christianity there is division everywhere. Most of these divisions have been caused by eloquent speakers. Every eloquent speaker will draw a group to himself. Those who admire various kinds of musical speech will gather around the eloquent ones. I do not appreciate such “music.” Instead, I prefer to listen to the little ones speaking in a halting way. We in the church life must no longer exalt eloquence, because the eloquent speakers create division and draw a following. In Christianity today there is a great deal of competition in speaking. Whoever is an outstanding speaker will have a large following. But this will cause a big division. This trend still influences the churches. Thus, we must rise up to oppose it and learn how to adorn the less honorable ones, the ones who speak haltingly. We need to say, “Praise the Lord for this brother! He speaks haltingly, but he has a life-giving matter to share with us. We wish to adorn him, beautify him, and honor him.” This is the Body life.
In these chapters I am not teaching you mere doctrines. I am passing on to you what I have learned through the years so that we may have the proper Body life. Suppose an eloquent speaker comes into the meeting. Will you still admire him? If you do, it means that there is no Body life. Rather, by admiring the eloquent one, you create a division and kill the Body. You will help to produce an atmosphere in which those who cannot speak well will be despised. We should not give so many crowns of honor to the eloquent speakers. Rather, we need to buy shoes to adorn the halting and stammering ones. We need to encourage the less honorable members to speak again and again. This will build up the Body life and establish the genuine Body ministry. In the long run, eloquent speakers damage the Body life, but the halting speakers build it up. This is utterly different from the practice in today’s Christianity, and it absolutely contradicts our natural concept. Nevertheless, for the sake of the proper Body life, we must all learn this lesson.
Eloquence does not express Christ. On the contrary, an eloquent sermon is a form of entertainment. If we exercise to have the practice of the Body, so many halting ones will begin to speak. If the members exercise their spirit to be spiritual and to speak for Christ, something of Christ will be manifested, although their speaking will not be eloquent. This is the Body. For the long run, we need meetings filled with speaking that is not eloquent, yet speaking through which Christ is expressed. This kind of meeting edifies the saints and builds them up. We all need a change of taste. We are accustomed to a diet of eloquence and musical messages. What we need now are words spoken haltingly that manifest Christ. I believe that this is Paul's meaning in this portion of the Word.
According to our natural concept, we admire eloquent speakers. But to admire eloquence is to damage the Body. This is the reason God has had to temper the Body together. I thank God that He has been tempering the Body. He has humbled the eloquent speakers, and He has raised up the halting ones to speak for Him in order that there should be no division in the Body. In today's Christianity there is division everywhere. Most of these divisions have been caused by eloquent speakers. Every eloquent speaker will draw a group to himself. Those who admire various kinds of musical speech will gather around the eloquent ones. I do not appreciate such "music." Instead, I prefer to listen to the little ones speaking in a halting way. We in the church life must no longer exalt eloquence, because the eloquent speakers create division and draw a following. In Christianity today there is a great deal of competition in speaking. Whoever is an outstanding speaker will have a large following. But this will cause a big division. This trend still influences the churches. Thus, we must rise up to oppose it and learn how to adorn the less honorable ones, the ones who speak haltingly. We need to say, "Praise the Lord for this brother! He speaks haltingly, but he has a life-giving matter to share with us. We wish to adorn him, beautify him, and honor him." This is the Body life.
In these messages I am not teaching you mere doctrines. I am passing on to you what I have learned through the years so that we may have the proper Body life. Suppose an eloquent speaker comes into the meeting. Will you still admire him? If you do, it means that there is no Body life. Rather, by admiring the eloquent one you create a division and kill the Body. You will help to produce an atmosphere in which those who cannot speak well will be despised. We should not give so many crowns of honor to the eloquent speakers. Rather, we need to buy shoes to adorn the halting and stammering ones. We need to encourage the less honorable members to speak again and again. This will build up the Body life and establish the genuine Body ministry. In the long run, eloquent speakers damage the Body life, but the halting speakers build it up. This is utterly different from the practice in today's Christianity, and it absolutely contradicts our natural concept. Nevertheless, for the sake of the proper Body life, we must all learn this lesson.
