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According to the present situation, among all the meetings of the new way, the group meeting is a very complicated one. In the group meeting there are those who have been saved for a longer time as well as the newly baptized ones; those who attend the district meetings as well as those who do not attend them; those who break bread in the homes, and those who break bread in the group meetings. The group meetings are composed of different sorts of people. Besides this, we have the goal of bringing all the students into the district meetings and even into the group meetings. At present, the church in Taipei can be compared to a large chop-suey mixing pot. Not only is the number of serving ones great; the items of services are also many. Hence, in practice we need much of the Lord’s grace that we may meet all the needs when we serve and that we may be able to coordinate the serving ones from all the different areas together.
We all know that it is much easier to do anything if we have only one line of action. If there are many lines, it will be rather difficult. We are now facing a situation with many lines. Besides those attending the district meetings, we still have over five thousand people to care for. Among them there are two thousand who were recovered from the gospel festival and three thousand who were brought in from the door-knocking during the past two years. They came from every part of society. They have meetings every week, and their condition is quite good. But they only like to meet in the homes; they do not want to come to the district meetings. From this aspect, our burden in taking care of them is too heavy. Besides this, among our trainees, we also have a very complicated situation. There are the local ones and also those from overseas. Among those from overseas, most are from America, and some are also from Southeast Asia. The lengths of the training periods they have attended are also different. Some are already in their third term, whereas some have been here only a few days. Besides this, there are the one-week trainings, the two-week trainings, the six-week trainings, the housewives’ training and the older saints’ training. It is very difficult to sort out all these aspects and have them in order.
The church in Taipei has been here for thirty-eight years. It surely is qualified to be called an “old church.” Superficially speaking, our number is quite large. Actually, it is not large enough. Throughout the past years, according to our statistics, we have had only one hundred fifteen thousand people under our care. This is not a large number. The reason for this is that our former system of meeting was wrong. We were not able to perfect the functions within all the brothers and sisters. As a result, although our number grew larger and larger, those whose function has been truly manifested are few. This is our big lack.
Our training here has a definite goal. This goal is to recover God’s New Testament economy. The content of God’s New Testament economy is that God is working Himself into a group of people so that they may become the Body of Christ as God’s expression. This is the local churches in the different localities today and the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth in the future as His ultimate manifestation. Although this word is simple, its content is very rich. In order for us to have a clear vision, we need to first see what kind of God our God is. Next, we need to see how He is working Himself into a group of people. Then we want to see what kind of people are those into whom He is working Himself.
As to God, He is the Triune God. In order to work Himself into man, He needs some steps. These steps are the various processes He has gone through, which include the Father’s choosing and predestinating and the Son’s incarnation. When the Son came to earth, He came with the Father and by the Spirit, and He lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years. In the end He willingly went into death, gave up His soul-life, was nailed to the cross, and accomplished redemption. After that, He walked into Hades and death and came out from there and entered into resurrection. In resurrection He became the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. He then breathed this Spirit into those who believed in Him to become their life, their content, their supply, and everything to them. From then on, those who are chosen and called by God and who believe into Him can receive and possess Him. Not only are they regenerated; they are sanctified and transformed as well. To the Father they have become His many sons, and to the Son, His many members. In this way the many members of the Son are constituted one Body. When this Body is expressed in the different localities, they are the local churches.
Now what kind of life these in the local churches should live in order to express the Body of Christ is what we want to take care of in this training. Our training is to regenerate, sanctify, and transform those who are chosen and called by God so that they would become the Body of Christ to be expressed in the different localities. It is not a simple question as to how this group of people should live and meet in the various places to become the corporate expression of Christ. For two thousand years Christians have not been able to understand this fully. Today, the whole of Christianity is still probing in the dark. There are few who know the direction and the goal. For this reason, we began to have this training one year ago.
The first thing that this training does is to turn you over like a cake. We all know that in baking a cake, we need to turn the cake from one side to the other repeatedly. If we do not turn the cake, the underside will be burnt while the upper side is still raw. Therefore, we need to keep turning the cake until both sides are done. Our training here is to keep you from becoming an unturned cake. Sometimes I am afraid that when we turn too hurriedly, you cannot bear it. I advise you to take these turnings because they help you to get rid of your old concepts and ways and to deliver you from your old background and habits. Every one of us has three layers of inheritance from tradition. The first layer comes with our birth. Although we were created by God, we were born fallen. Whether we are Chinese, American, or Japanese, we were born into Adam’s race. We all have many problems with our character: laziness, sloppiness, and looseness. These are our nature. The second layer comes from the tradition in Christianity. We were born into human society. Because Christianity came to the East along with Western culture, we have more or less been influenced by the traditions in Christianity. The third layer comes from the practices among us that have been inherited from Christianity. All these three layers, whatever they are, are not scriptural. More or less, they have been utilized by Satan to annul what God is doing and what He is going to gain in man.
We have said that God’s economy is to work Himself into a group of people that they may be regenerated, sanctified, and transformed, so that they may become the sons of God and the members of Christ to be constituted as the Body of Christ. If we compare every point of this vision with the practices of today’s Christianity, we will realize that the practices of Christianity have either reduced or annulled these points. For example, a person hears the gospel and is saved. After he is saved, he does not need anyone to tell him, but spontaneously he has the concept to do good, to worship God, to attend Sunday services, to listen to the pastors preaching, and to learn doctrines. He will join a congregation and become a church member and come to attend services every Sunday. This can go on for twenty or thirty years, and eventually he becomes an old Christian. As far as God’s economy is concerned, although he is regenerated, there is no sanctification expressed in him, nor is there any transformation, much less any functioning. His organic function in the Body of Christ is altogether annulled. There are many believers among the different denominations in Christianity who are all chosen, redeemed, and regenerated by God. But their life function is completely annulled by the practices of traditional religion. We do not see much sanctification and transformation in them, nor do we recognize in their daily walk the mark of the sons of God. Furthermore, we could not see that they are the members of the Body of Christ to be constituted as the Body of Christ. On the contrary, we only see some religious formalities and worship activities.
Among us, although we have left degraded Christianity to come into the Lord’s recovery, it is not easy to stay in the recovery. I am afraid that our real situation has been gradually declining. This was especially true at the end of 1984 when I came back to Taiwan. There were brothers and sisters meeting everywhere. Few came prepared to function; rather, most of them came with a mentality to listen to messages. The responsible brothers in all the meeting halls tried their best to arrange for speakers to release messages week after week. Our practice was still to have those who came to the meetings sit there and listen to one man speaking. It is true that the messages did render people some help. But this help eventually made people dumb in speaking and paralyzed in their function.
In the old practice, the more the people listen to messages, the more they like to listen, and the less they function. When a person is first saved, he may still want to give testimonies in the meetings. But due to the atmosphere of the meetings, gradually the speaking function is annulled. This practice nullifies the life of the Son of God in the believers and buries the organic function in the members of Christ. After the brothers and sisters are accustomed to listening to messages, they become settled. As a result, the condition of the whole church is stagnant; there are not many positive activities taking place. It is like a man over sixty years of age, lacking youthful vitality. The brothers and sisters still love the Lord and love the church, and they still stand on the ground, are learning to live in the spirit and are neither backsliding nor cold, yet there is no more drive. They are not like a youth of eighteen or nineteen years old, full of vitality and vigor. On the contrary, they are half dead, like the situation in Christianity.
I have been exploring the situation among us. Generally speaking, the brothers and sisters are all very good; especially those who are stable are quite seeking. But why is there a condition of stagnation? The reason is that our system of meeting and service is wrong. This is why I have come back to the Bible again to look at this matter. The meetings spoken of in the Bible are occasions for people to be encouraged, to be stirred up, to speak, and to function (1 Cor. 14:24-25, 31). When you want to speak in the meetings, you may discover that your personal condition is not right. Hence, you must seek for a revival; you must pray, confess, and consecrate yourself to God, and you must adjust your spiritual life so that you would have a new beginning before the Lord. You will see that you are in the Lord’s recovery, yet your family life is loose and sloppy, and your spirit is not strong and aggressive. Therefore, you will not be able to function in the meeting. For this reason you must live an overcoming life every day.
Brothers and sisters, please remember that the way of meeting as revealed in the Bible is one that enlivens people. It revives man’s spirit and develops the organic function in man. It develops from within man the initial gift received from God. This initial gift is the divine life of God, which is capable of growing within us in the same way that the life within a baby will grow. When this life grows, the functions of life are developed from within the baby gradually, causing the baby to see, to hear, to speak, to work with his hands, and to walk with his feet. However, the system of meeting in today’s Christianity does not develop the spiritual function of life within us, the regenerated ones. On the contrary, it restricts, limits, and suppresses our spiritual functions, with the result that they are reduced or annulled.
The way to meet as revealed in the Bible establishes and builds up the function of life in us, and it stirs up all the gifts of the divine life that the saints received from God; the result will be that they are nourished and supplied. By this the saints grow, and the growth of the saints is the building up of the church. However, I have seen some brothers and sisters among us who come to every meeting, who participate in all the services, who are very faithful in listening to messages, and who love the Lord, yet we do not see much growth in life in them. The reason is that there is not much supply and nourishment in the meetings, and also there is the lack of the release and exercise of life. For this reason, in the meetings under the old system, it is difficult to see any growth in life, and there is very little building.
All of you as trainees must understand that this training is to bring us back to the way of meeting as revealed in the Bible. By this the saints will be supplied and nourished in the meetings, and they will have the opportunity to exercise and to develop their functions. As long as the saints are supplied and nourished in a timely way and as long as they have the proper exercise and development, the life in them will spontaneously grow. The result will be building. This building, strictly speaking, is not individual but corporate, for it is in the meetings that we are built up together. In other words, as we grow together in the church, the Body will be built up. Individually speaking, we grow by being nourished and exercised in the spiritual life; corporately speaking, we are built up in the Body. By this the testimony of the Body of Christ will be manifested.
We all must see that the development of the organic ability and function within the saints is the most crucial item of the way to meet as revealed in the Bible. In the process of this development of their organic ability, the activities of the brothers and sisters may not be on the right track. But we should not limit them too much, neither should we be too restrictive. The less we restrict and limit them, the more they will have the development. When their functions are developed, we can then guide them into the proper way to function. Then their activities in the meetings will be proper.
The way to meet as revealed in the Bible requires us to do three things. First, we must be revived. In order to have a revival, we must live daily in the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, and conduct ourselves according to the Spirit. Only then will we be able to have any activity in the way of meeting as revealed in the Bible. Our activity is based on our being living, and this livingness is not a performance. Rather, it is the result of our fellowship with the Lord in our daily life. Formerly, in the old way, even though we might have been dead for years and might not have prayed for three months, we could still come to the meetings. However, in the new way, you cannot afford to be out of the spirit for even half a day, not to say a whole day. If you had a good morning but were out of the spirit in that afternoon, you would feel inadequate when you come to the meeting in the evening. Hence, the new way requires that we be spiritual and that we live in the spirit all day long. The success of the new way does not depend on how much we know the techniques, and it does not depend on us teaching others about the Word, the Spirit, singing, and prayer. Rather, it depends on us being a living person before the Lord, one who lives in the spirit. Second, we must enjoy the Lord’s word. The Lord has given us not only the Holy Spirit within but also the Bible without. The Bible is a wonderful book that enables us to enjoy the Lord. Therefore, we must learn to enjoy the word of the Lord daily. If our spirit is living and we have the Lord’s word, we can learn to sing and pray. This is not an outward method. Rather, it is a matter of being living, of living in the spirit, fellowshipping with the Lord, and enjoying the Lord’s word constantly. Third, if we are this kind of person, surely we will love to go to meetings. In the meetings we will be able to function freely. Whether it is a home meeting, a group meeting, or a district meeting, we will be able to meet the needs of others.
Our training here is not to teach you a method. Neither are you here to learn any new methods to take back to your locality. That is worthless. If you do this, it is not “the new man walking the new way.” Rather, it is the dead man changing the coffin. The goal of our training is to enliven the old man that he may become the new man to function in the meetings. As long as the saints would supply life by functioning in the meetings, the result will be the growth of life and the building up together. Furthermore, the individual building up will issue in the building up of the Body.
I hope that these words will give you a deep impression so that you will have a new beginning and be revived from within: those who did not taste the Lord before will now be able to taste the Lord; those who did not enter into the Lord’s words before can now enter in. In this way your spirit will be strong, and you will be rich in the enjoyment of the Lord’s word. Then when you come to the meetings, you will speak the Lord’s word. Strictly speaking, the Lord’s word does not start in the meeting. It starts from the time you wake up in the morning. You should speak to the Lord, and you should pray-read the Word of the Lord. By the time you go to work and meet your colleagues or when you go to school and meet your classmates, you should speak the word of the Lord at any time. During the day, whenever you meet someone, you should speak the word of the Lord. Do this until the evening when you come to the meeting.
If you are such a person, whether you go to the home meeting, the group meeting, or the district meeting, you will be a supplier. You will always be one who nourishes others. Actually, when you nourish others, you will be the first one to be nourished. In a meeting the first one to be nourished is always the speaker. If you do not speak, you are depriving yourself of any nourishment. The minute you speak, you nourish yourself and you nourish others. As a result, all the saints nourish one another and are nourished by one another. This kind of meeting brings out the riches of the Lord’s life in us, like digging gold from the mine. Such meetings also develop the organic ability and function within each one.
This morning I am like a crowing rooster. I am giving all of you trainees a warning. First, I hope that you would change your concepts and would have a full understanding of the new way. Do not go to the home meetings or group meetings with the thought that you have seniority. You must be renewed continually. Every day you should be living and fresh. Then when you go to work, you should forget about the old ways. Do not ask what the new method is, for it is not a matter of the method but of the person, whether or not your person is living. Within us, we all have the vigorous life of the Lord, which is the Triune God. Also, we have a living Bible in our hands. As long as our spirits are living and bubbling and as long as we enjoy the Triune God through the Bible daily, we will surely be able to practice the new way.
