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Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:1-16; Psa. 68:18; 1 Cor. 3:9
The proper practice of the church life is revealed in almost a full way in Ephesians 4. However, this chapter has been mostly neglected by Christianity in the past. We must be clear about the main points in this chapter, and we must put all of them into practice. If we are not clear about these points or if we do not practice them, we are still not in the proper practice of the church life.
As we have seen, the last half of chapter 3 is Paul’s prayer. Paul makes such a prayer because, having presented a full revelation and vision of the Body, he is about to speak concerning the practice of the church. To have only the vision of the church is to have something “in the air.” We need the vision brought down to the earth and put into practice. When people today speak about the church in Ephesians, they are mostly limited to the first part, talking about the church in the way of vision. However, there are not many books and messages that deal with chapter 4. Even when people talk about oneness, it is still in the way of vision, not in the way of practice. We must realize that while the first section of this book is the section of vision, the second section is a matter of practice. That is why the writer, before he begins the section of practice, realizes the need of prayer. He bows his knees before the Father that we may be strengthened into the inner man and that Christ may make His home in our hearts, that is, that Christ may occupy our whole being (3:14-17a). After this prayer he goes on to speak concerning the practice of the church life.
We need to be clear about the main points in Ephesians 4:1-16, and we must put them into practice. Otherwise, we are not in the practical church life. What we are dealing with in these chapters is not merely a lesson or teaching. Rather, we are being trained and prepared for the future. Some may not have the proper discernment about the church. In the Far East, in Europe, and in the United States I have observed that not many Christians, even the seeking ones, are truly clear about the church life. It is difficult for people to understand what a division, sect, or denomination is. We ourselves may be clear about these things now, but when some go to start the church life in other places, they may lose their direction. Perhaps after being in a new locality for two years, they will create a division, a small denomination. Although they will do this only unconsciously, it will still cause damage.
In 1:17 Paul prays that we may have a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Revelation always comes from wisdom. We first have wisdom and then revelation. This is why we need training. This training affords the wisdom, and then the revelation can come. Sometimes people question why I repeat myself many times in my messages. However, even if I repeat something ten times, some people are still not impressed. If the audience would be properly impressed, there would be no need to repeat. It is the ministering Spirit, not my mentality, that knows the situation. The ministering Spirit is very sensitive, and we cannot cheat Him. When we come to a meeting with the ministering Spirit, we immediately realize what the actual situation is. There is no need for people to say that they do not understand. The ministering Spirit already knows that they do not understand, and the ministering Spirit also realizes when there is opposition.
The first main point in chapter 4 is the oneness. This oneness is related to the mystery of godliness, which is God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:9, 15-16). The seven “ones” in Ephesians 4:3-6 include four persons—one Father, one Lord, one Spirit, and one Body. These four persons become one. The Father is in the Son, the Son is the Spirit, and the Spirit is in the Body (John 14:11; 1 Cor. 15:45; 12:13; Rom. 8:9, 11). The Father, Son, and Spirit are the Triune God, who is three in one. Now this Trinity is in the Body, which is related to the flesh. Therefore, this is God manifested in the flesh. The Father in the Son, the Son as the Spirit, and the Spirit in the Body, which is composed of all the regenerated and transformed persons, is a universal unit, a universal person. This is the mystery of the faith and the mystery of godliness. The mystery of the faith is the very mystery of godliness, which is the Triune God manifested in the corporate Body. This is the real oneness. Nothing else constitutes the genuine oneness.
The other three factors of oneness in Ephesians 4 are one hope, one faith, and one baptism. The way the universal unit of the Triune God and the Body is formed is by faith and baptism. Faith is for being identified and joined with the Triune God, and baptism is to separate us from the old creation. By faith we are joined to the new creation, and by baptism we are separated from the old. Baptism is a burial (Rom. 6:3-4). The best way to have a thorough clearance is to be buried. To be buried means that we are finished with the old things. Faith brings us into an identification with the Triune God, and baptism separates us from the old relationships in the old creation. Now we are in the Body, and we are the Body. We need only one thing more—to be transfigured in our physical body. We have this hope ahead of us. We are the Body, and we hope for nothing but the Lord’s coming, in which our physical body will be transfigured into a glorious body (Phil. 3:21). The foregoing are the seven “ones” in Ephesians 4. All Christians agree with these seven “ones.” Thus, they become our oneness. We should not bring in anything else. We need only to keep these seven “ones.”
To say these things is easy, but it is not easy to put them into practice. This word is very simple, but the matter itself is very complicated. We may illustrate this with the cup in the Lord’s table meeting. Concerning the cup, there are two problems. The first is how many cups there should be. Should we have one big cup or many small cups? The second problem is the content. Should it be juice or wine? In the United States there are many people who are addicted to alcohol. In their physical body there has been a chemical change that requires them never to contact actual wine. Therefore, some prefer to use grape juice in the Lord’s table. However, others may say that according to history the ancient Jews used grapes to make wine, not juice; thus, it is not possible that the Lord Jesus used juice on that night. Suppose a brother comes to us to speak about this matter. What attitude must we take? The best way is to check with the seven “ones.” The problem of how to serve the cup is not included in the seven “ones.” Therefore, we can be liberal in this matter. If a matter is not among the seven “ones,” it is right to be general.
We need to learn to be liberated from our opinion. We all have our own opinion in spiritual things. If our opinion is to have one cup, it will be hard to go along with those who want many cups. This may cause us to dig in the Scriptures until we find Luke 22:17, which says, “Take this and divide it among yourselves.” Then we may say, “See? This means that we should start with one big cup and then divide it into many cups.” Someone may raise another argument, pointing out that since medical science is so advanced, we all know that we spread germs when we drink from one cup. The one who is in favor of many cups will have many things to say, and the one whose opinion is in favor of one cup will have more arguments to give. We should realize that underneath the arguments is our favorite practice. We must be liberated from our favorite practice. If we are in favor of one cup, we need to be liberated. It is better to learn the lesson to go along with the brother who is in favor of many cups. At the same time, he should also learn to go along with those who favor one cup. Eventually, we will all go along with the Lord. Then we will be liberated. Do not insist on one cup or on many cups. Again, to say this is easy, but to practice it is not easy. This is not a small matter.
There are many items that are subject to argument. Many people argue about the Trinity. Some say that we should not teach that the Son is both the Father and the Spirit. If we do not say this, however, what should we do with Isaiah 9:6, which tells us that a Son is given, but His name is called Eternal Father? Moreover, what should we do with 1 Corinthians 15:45, which says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit,” and 2 Corinthians 3:17, which says, “The Lord is the Spirit”? You must give me the liberty to say that, according to these verses, the Son is the Father and the Spirit. However, I also must not demand that others speak in the way I do. Others should not demand me to speak one way, and I should not insist that they speak another way.
It is the same with the gift of speaking in tongues. If a brother speaks in tongues, we should not oppose him. Before the Lord, I must admit that I do not like to speak in tongues. I had this experience in the past, but now I do not want it anymore. Nevertheless, if someone speaks in tongues, I will not oppose him, and if I do not speak in tongues, he should not oppose me. It is too much for anyone to impose speaking in tongues on those who do not practice it. If you like to eat English muffins, then eat them. I prefer another kind of bread. If you eat your muffin, and I eat my bread, neither of us should oppose the other. None of these matters are included in the seven “ones.” Speaking in tongues is not among the seven “ones,” and particular truths concerning the Trinity are also not clearly stated in the seven “ones.” We all need to learn this lesson.
Our attitude must be liberal, and we should not be divided. Nevertheless, to practice the oneness is not very easy. When some came among us with the practice of speaking in tongues, I begged them not to insist on or impose this practice. I said, “If you want to speak in tongues, then do it, and if others do not want to speak in tongues, let them not do it. If you impose this on others, you will cause a division.” At that time only about twenty percent of the saints agreed with speaking in tongues. I told those certain ones that to insist on their practice would frighten away the eighty percent. Then only those who agree with speaking in tongues would be left. What then would be the need to come together to practice the church life? They might as well have stayed where they had been before. Eventually, some stopped meeting with us because we would not impose speaking in tongues.
Many brothers can testify that I was not bothered by their practice. We could go along even with their playing of the tambourine. However, they should have taken care of others’ feeling. This is not any person’s meeting. It is a meeting of the church, and the church includes all the believers. We need to bear the responsibility in this matter. We should not be persons who insist on a practice. We need to be liberated from all these things. Unless something is actually sinful, we can go along with it, because all these items are not touched by the seven “ones.”
Do not think that this is a small matter. We need to know the proper teaching concerning many different matters. However, knowing the teaching is one thing, but our attitude is another. According to Romans 14, the apostle Paul was very clear about the keeping of days and the eating of foods. However, his attitude was very liberal. He did not tell people what was right and what was wrong. As far as teaching was concerned, he was very clear, but as far as attitude was concerned, he was liberal. We know that baptism by immersion is proper, for example, but if someone insists on baptizing by sprinkling, we will not fight with him. If he feels the peace to do it, he can do it. We are liberal in this matter because the method of baptism is not included in the seven “ones.” In order to keep the oneness we need to drop certain things. If we do not drop them, we will cause divisions. We may be one with those who do not agree with immersion. However, they may not be at peace, always thinking of how to convince us to go along with sprinkling. We should not be this way. We have no intention to convince others to go along with us, so they likewise should not try to convince us.
We must be very liberal, while always keeping the oneness and holding the mystery of the faith. We must be willing to sacrifice our lives to keep the faith, but as for other matters we need to be liberated. If we do this, we will have the oneness. Otherwise, we may say that we have oneness, but our real oneness will be in doubt. On the one hand, we strictly hold the mystery of the faith that God is the Triune God who was incarnated as a man to mingle Himself with us through His redemption. Even to the sacrifice of our lives we must hold to this. As to other things, however, we must be liberal. All the divisions, denominations, and sects come from holding to things other than the seven “ones.”
The second main point in Ephesians 4 is concerning the gifts, that is, the gifted persons. The purpose of all the gifted persons ultimately is the building up of the Body. This thought can be found even in the Old Testament. Ephesians 4:8 is a quotation of Psalm 68:18, which says, “You have ascended on high; You have led captive those taken captive; / You have received gifts among men, / Even the rebellious ones also, / That Jehovah God may dwell among them.” Darby’s New Translation reads, “Thou hast received gifts in Man,” that is, as man, in connection with mankind. When Christ ascended to the heavens, He was still a man, and in man and as man He represented man. As the representative of man, He received gifts from God, even the rebellious ones, so that Jehovah God may dwell among men. Even in the Old Testament there is the thought that the gifts which Christ received from the Father and gave to the church are for the purpose of building up a dwelling place for God. Christ in His human nature as a man, representing man, received gifts of men, and He gave them to His church that God might have a dwelling place.
All the gifts are for the building up of the dwelling place of God. The reason that many sects, divisions, and denominations have come into existence is that the gifted persons were not clear about this purpose. If we observe the situation and read the history of the church, we will find that most of the time, where there was a gifted person, a division was created. I do not like to criticize D. L. Moody, for example, because he did not carry out his work for a denomination. Today, though, we can still see a so-called Moody church. Many gifted persons were not clear that their gifts, or they themselves as the gifts, were not for their own work but for the building up of the church. Consider the situation today. Almost every gifted person has a certain kind of work. Their ministry is for that work, and that work becomes the center of their ministry. This is wrong. The center of the ministry must be the local churches.
According to the New Testament, the apostles did not carry out any work for their own ministry. Whatever they did was for the building up of the local churches. Some gifted ones may argue and say, “We too are building up the church, not the local churches but the universal church.” This is too much “in the air.” If we do not have the local church, how can we have the universal church? Is the universal church not on the earth? We cannot practically see the universal church. To build up the church is to build up the church in Ephesus, the church in Smyrna, the church in Thyatira, or the church in some other locality (Rev. 1:11). We do not find in the New Testament that the apostles built up only the universal church. What they did was to build up the local churches. If we pay our attention to work for the local churches, not our own ministry, then all divisions will disappear. This is not a small matter. Are you working for the local churches, or are you working for your ministry?
The third point in Ephesians 4 is that the gifted members do not build up the church directly. Rather, they perfect the saints for the building up of the church. We may think that we know how to work, but we may not know how to perfect the saints. It seems that we know how to preach the gospel, and it may be easy to teach the Bible, but as evangelists and teachers we may not know how to perfect others. I have seen a gifted person working in one place for thirty years, but not one person was perfected by him. For thirty years not one young co-worker or elder was produced. The one brother simply served as a “pastor,” not knowing how to perfect others.
The gifted ones need to raise up some elders and perfect them. A brother may be good “raw material” for being an elder, but a certain kind of work must be carried out on this raw material to perfect him to become an elder. In order to work as gifted persons, we must learn how to perfect others. If a gifted person notices that a certain brother is good material to be a deacon, he needs to perfect him, just as a carpenter works on his material to perfect it to become an item of furniture. However, not many gifted persons work in this way today. This is why a group may meet together for fifteen years under a single worker, without producing even one useful person. This is wrong. Consider the history of the apostle Paul. The more he worked, the more young ones were produced as his co-workers and the more local elders and deacons were established, trained, and perfected.
A brother may be sent by the Lord to work in a certain place. After two or three years, however, there may be only a group of people meeting around him. He may say that he has brought people to meet around the Lord Jesus, but in fact they are meeting around him. It may also be that not one elder, deacon, or deaconess has been produced. Eventually, this will cause a division, because the more that brother works there, the more the work is not for the perfecting of the saints and the building up of the Body but for his own work. In that case, that meeting will not be a proper church. It will be merely that brother’s work. This may seem clear now, but after a brother works for two years, this may no longer be clear to him. There may always be the excuse, the pretense, that he cannot trust the saints. Because they do not know how to carry out things, he may feel that he has to do them. He will not be able to put matters into their hands, because he will fear that they will damage them. Therefore, he will keep everything in his hand, thinking that only he is the right person. In one sense, he may do this with a good motive, but he is wrong nevertheless.
We need to let the brothers do something. If they do it wrongly, they will learn the lessons. If someone has a small child, he should not say to him, “You do not know how to walk. Because you cannot walk as well as I can, I will walk for you.” Rather, he should simply let the child walk. We sacrifice many things for our children. Children break things and make mistakes all the time. However, to let them do things is worthwhile for the sake of their practice. In the same way, we should be willing to sacrifice things in the church life. We must consider the church to be a family with persons of every kind—old ones, young ones, babyish ones, stronger ones, and weaker ones. The church is not a college with a single high standard. If anyone is not up to the standard of a college, it will not receive him. We are not a “college church.” If we become a “college church,” we will be the strictest sect.
Some may say that if all the members function, the church will be a mess. Homes with children are often a mess. The more children we have, the bigger the mess is. This is not a bad thing; it is good. A brother may go to work in a place for two years. When we visit there, we would see a mess but we would say, “Praise the Lord!” This means that there is much practice and learning in that place and that the brother working there knows how to raise up and perfect the saints. After five years he will have the peace to leave that place, because a local church will have been built up there. This is the right way.
The more gift a person has and the bigger the gift is, the more danger there is. He will be tempted by the gift. He may think he can do everything, so it will be difficult for him to trust others to do anything. We need to stress this because we have learned from the past. Some of the local churches in the Far East have the proper practice. We can see persons produced there all the time. Co-workers are raised up, elders are built up, and deacons and deaconesses are produced because the work is carried out in the proper way. However, in some local churches this is not the case. For many years they have had only “pastors,” even though they do not call them that. In fact they are simply pastors, doing everything for the congregation. This is the wrong way to take. In name they are not a division, but in fact they become a division, because what is there is merely a work, not a local church built up by the work.
If we work in the wrong way, sooner or later there will be a division. The more we work, the more the work must be passed on to the saints, and the more the responsibility must be in the hands of the local saints. The local saints need to be raised up. Some will learn to be the called ones, called by the Lord to work for Him. Some will be built up as the elders, and some will be perfected as the deacons and deaconesses. Then whether or not workers are there, they will be able to go on by themselves. Eventually, all the matters of the church must be in the hands of the local saints.
If we are not clear about this, then the longer we work, the more things will be in our own hands. On the contrary, it must be that the more we work, the more things are out of our hands. After three or four years, everything should be out of the worker’s hands. Even if he is raptured, the church still can go on, even in a better way, because the local saints will improve it. First, the saints are perfected by the worker, and then eventually according to how they are perfected, they can build upon the work and make some improvements. This is the right way, and in recent years we have been practicing this way. Sometimes people come to me and ask, “These brothers are too young. They cannot do this job. Why do you let them do it?” We must let them do it. We cannot stay here for our whole life, and our ministry is not to build up our work. Our ministry is to build up the local churches. Only this way can save us from making divisions. Eventually, a local church must be built up under the hands of all those persons who have been perfected by the gifted ones. All the gifted persons must learn this lesson. Otherwise, the many gifted persons will make many divisions.
We have learned this lesson in the past. For many years there were many prevailing co-workers with Brother Watchman Nee, but no divisions were formed among us because we all learned the lesson not to keep any work in our own hands. We do not work for our own work. There is no work that belongs to us. We work only for the local churches. I can testify from the depth of my heart that Brother Nee kept nothing in his hand. His work was wholly for the local churches. It was to perfect others. I was perfected by him very much. He perfected many by his ministry. He raised up, perfected, and trained the saints to be the elders, deacons, and deaconesses in different places. We all have to learn to do this. I am not merely giving a lecture here. Rather, I beg you to put these things into practice. Always learn to do things to perfect others, not simply to do things by yourself. While you are doing things, you need to perfect others.
In certain large local churches in Taiwan, twenty to fifty co-workers were produced after only five or six years. In addition, many elders, deacons, and deaconesses were established. If you go there, you will realize that these are genuine, proper elders, not in position or name but in reality and in bearing responsibility. Likewise, the deacons and deaconesses have a genuine service. In other places, however, even after fifty years it is still difficult to find a co-worker who was produced there. There may be ten or twelve elders, but many are elders only in name and position. There are also deacons and deaconesses there, but they do not know how to serve. The responsibility is still in the hand of the one worker. Does this mean that the Lord had only one person He could raise up there? We cannot believe this. The Lord would have raised up more saints. The only problem is that the co-worker there took the wrong way, working all the time without perfecting others.
I look to the Lord. I must exercise my spirit to have the assurance that after five years in the locality where I am, there will be a good number raised up, some as co-workers, some as elders, some as deacons, and some as deaconesses serving in a practical way. Moreover, after five years some must go out from this country to other countries. It is not right for us simply to meet together and fellowship without anyone being raised up by the Lord to go out for Him. After a certain time there must be some who would be willing to sacrifice everything for the Lord to go out to other countries. By the Lord’s mercy and grace we must work this out. We cannot work it out ourselves, but if we coordinate and cooperate with the Lord, He will work this out through us.
There is a proper technique to learn, but first we need to be purified in our motive. If our inner motive for working in a certain place is to build up something for our own desire or purpose, it is not pure. This motive must perish. It is wrong. It is even an idol; we are building up an idol for ourselves. We need to be dealt with in our motive. We must be able to say, “We are working here not for ourselves but for the Lord’s testimony, His Body.” In this way many saints will be perfected. We all have to learn this, and we must also learn how to be perfected by others. This is why we have our trainings. The trainings are simply for the purpose of perfecting. I believe that after a certain number of years my responsibility will be discharged. I will be innocent before the Lord, and you all will be responsible because all these matters will be passed on to you.
All these matters are not insignificant, and we all need to learn them. On the one hand, we are working, while on the other hand, we are perfecting others by our working, not simply doing things by ourselves. We do things in a coordinated way so that others can be perfected by us. This is the right way. If we work in this way, eventually all the saints will be brought into their function.
The fourth and fifth points in Ephesians 4 are growth and holding to truth, that is, holding Christ as the reality (vv. 13-15). By the proper growth we drop many things. We should not think that to grow mainly means to gain something. Rather, the more we grow, the more things we drop. The younger the children are, the more things they try to grasp. They like to collect and hold on to everything. However, the more children grow, the more things they drop, including many of their toys. To arrive at a full-grown man is to drop the doctrines and teachings.
The sixth item in chapter 4 is our function. Verse 16 says, “Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” When we hold Christ as the reality, we grow up into Him. Then we receive something from Him to minister to others. We all have received something from the Head to minister to the Body. This is our function, which depends upon our growth and our receiving.
When we grow into Christ, we receive something from Him. Then we function effectually with what we receive. Our experience of Christ becomes something real to minister to others. I do not wish to criticize others, but we must realize that many Christians today are not clear about the real meaning of function. The genuine function is the ministry of the experience of Christ. We grow in Christ, and we grow into Him. When we partake of Christ, we have some experience, and we receive something of Christ. Then when we come to the church meeting, we share with others what we have partaken of. This is the real way to function.
When I was young, I had the natural concept that function is a matter of gift. In Ephesians 4, however, this kind of gift is not mentioned. When this chapter speaks of gifts, it denotes the gifted persons. Here the gift is a person, such as the apostle himself. The two sister books of Ephesians and Colossians deal with the universal man—Colossians with the Head and Ephesians with the Body. In Ephesians, the book that deals particularly with the Body, there is no mention of the gifts. Rather, this book speaks of growth. Verse 15 of chapter 4 says, “Holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ.” Then verse 16 begins, “Out from whom,” indicating that we receive something of life from Him. We can never build up a local church by the so-called gifts. Apart from life and the growth of life, the more gifts we have, the more divisions there will be. Gifts create divisions unless they are balanced by the growth of life. We cannot find such gifts in Ephesians. Rather, this book is full of life and growth.
In the whole of Christianity today we can hear almost no messages telling us that our function depends on the growth of life. People mostly say that function depends on the gifts, that if a person is gifted, he knows how to function. In actuality, we build up the Body not by the gifts but by the growth. We need to grow. If a person has only gifts without the growth of life, he will cause a problem in the Body.
I appreciate verses 15 and 16. In verse 15 there is the growth into Christ, and in verse 16 there is the function. How much we can function and minister to others depends on our growth. The more we grow up into Christ, the more we have something of Christ to minister to the Body. If we have no growth, it will be impossible to have any building.
Verse 16 speaks of “the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” The Body builds up itself. The building of the Body is not carried out by others but by the members of the Body directly. Christ the Head does not build the church directly. He builds the church through the gifted persons, but neither do the gifted persons build the church directly. They build the church indirectly by perfecting the saints. Then it is through the perfected saints directly that the church is built up. However, all these saints need to grow. This is why 1 Corinthians 3:9 speaks of two aspects—God’s cultivated land and God’s building. The apostle Paul learned how to plant, how to water, and how to help people to grow, and he also learned how to build. The building depends upon the growth. For this purpose we cannot merely talk about coordination and the building up. We must help people to grow. The more growth we have, the more building we will realize.
If we do not know how to carry out all the above matters, we can have no confidence that we are in the real and proper church life. We will be only a group meeting together. For the proper church life we must have all these items.
