Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 1:2; 6:17; 14:32; Eph. 5:18-19; 2 Cor. 2:10; Gal. 5:16, 25; Rom. 8:4
At the beginning of the church age, the saints were very simple. They did not yet have the New Testament, and very few had copies of the Old Testament. Furthermore, they did not have hymn books. However, one thing is certain: they all had the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. In the early days of the church life, there were not so many doctrines, practices, or ways to work for the Lord. Instead, the saints simply enjoyed the Spirit who lived and dwelt in their spirit. This made them a different kind of people. Before they were saved, they were in the condition described by Paul in Ephesians 2:1-3. But after they were saved, converted, and regenerated, they became another kind of people, a people indwelt by the all-inclusive Spirit.
Those in the early church were known by the fact that they called on the name of the Lord Jesus. Acts 9:14 says that Saul had authority from the chief priests to bind all who called on the name of the Lord. This practice of calling on the name of the Lord Jesus was the sign of a believer in Christ. The unbelievers could easily recognize a Christian by the fact that he called on the Lord’s name. I have no doubt that the early Christians daily called upon the name of the Lord.
In 1:2 Paul refers to this matter: “To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, theirs and ours.” This verse indicates that, on the one hand, the believers are a called people, for they have been called by God. On the other hand, they are a calling people, for they call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been called by God to call on the Lord’s name. According to this verse, the believers called on the Lord’s name “in every place.”
In addition to calling on the name of the Lord, those in the early church did a great deal of speaking about the Lord Jesus. They spoke about Him to one another and to the unbelievers. Their speaking was a way of prophesying, the kind of prophesying emphasized in the New Testament. Unlike the prophets in the Old Testament, those who believe in Christ do not need to wait for the Spirit of the Lord to come upon them in order to prophesy. From the time we first called on the name of the Lord, Christ as the living Spirit has been in our spirit. For this reason, Paul could say, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (6:17). How marvelous that the Spirit is mingled with our spirit! Furthermore, this spirit is subject to us (14:32). Because our spirit is subject to us, there is no longer the need to wait for the Spirit to come upon us. Instead, we simply need to exercise our spirit. Surely the Christians in the beginning of the church life exercised their spirit to speak to one another and to unbelievers on behalf of the Lord.
How simple were the saints in the early days of the church life! In their meetings there must have been a great deal of calling, speaking, singing, and praising. According to Ephesians 5:19, they spoke to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with their heart to the Lord.
Whenever we gather together in the meetings of the church, we should exhibit what we daily enjoy of the Lord. In an exhibition people manifest or display something they have or have produced. It is possible to exhibit only what we have, not what we do not have. The proper Christian meeting should be an exhibition of our Christian life. It should be a display of the riches of Christ we experience in our daily walk. If we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord daily, then in the church meetings we shall have something of Christ to share with the saints.
The Lord Jesus is not a religion or a set of forms, regulations, or teachings. He is a living Person whom we may contact day by day. As the all-inclusive Spirit indwelling our spirit, He is real and available. Hour by hour and even moment by moment, we should exercise our spirit to contact Him in an intimate way. We need to develop the habit of calling on the Lord’s name at all times and in all places. If we build up this practice, we shall be able to say, “O Lord Jesus, Your name is the sweetest name on earth.”
As we contact the Lord and call on His name, we must walk with Him, live by Him, and do everything according to the index of His eyes. The index denotes the area of the face around the eyes, the look as being the index of the inward thoughts and feelings to signify the presentation of the whole person. According to 2 Corinthians 2:10, Paul lived in the person, the index, of Christ. He did everything according to the expression conveyed through the index of the Lord’s eyes. We also should live according to this index of Christ. However, this is possible only when we are in His presence. If we are away from Him or if there is something between us and Him, we cannot live according to the index of His eyes. For example, a good wife will carefully watch the index of her husband’s eyes and live according to it. This is the way we should live in relation to the Lord. Everything we say or do should be in the index of the eyes of the Lord Jesus. As I am speaking to a brother, I should speak according to the indicators of the Lord’s index.
It is possible for us all to experience this. We can live in such intimate contact with the Lord Jesus that in every detail of our daily life we can behave according to the index of the Lord’s eyes. As I am about to put on a particular tie, I spontaneously know whether or not the Lord likes that tie. If He approves of it, I shall put it on. But if it displeases Him, I will gladly get rid of it. Oh, how sweet it is to live in the index of the eyes of Christ!
We have been emphasizing the need to have intimate contact with the Lord, even to live according to the index of His eyes. When we live in this way, we find out how real, living, and present the Lord is. However, the tragedy is that in the meetings we proclaim, “It is no longer I — Christ lives in me,” but in our daily living we may not allow the Lord to live in us. For example, we may insist on going to the department store, even though we sense deep within that the Lord does not approve. We may bargain with the Lord, asking Him to let us go just this one time and promising Him that we shall not go again. When we speak this way to the Lord, we are not honest or truthful with Him. Whenever we say, “Lord, let me do it just this once,” there will always be a second time. If we do not contact the Lord daily and live by Him, what shall we have of Christ to exhibit in the church meetings? Surely we cannot show forth our disobedience to the Lord, or testify concerning how we went shopping in spite of the Lord’s inward protest. Because they have nothing of Christ to exhibit, many saints are silent in the meetings. But if we enjoy the Lord in our daily life and testify in the meetings of this enjoyment, we shall have even more enjoyment of the Lord. The more we speak of Christ, the more we enjoy Him and the more we are filled unto all the fullness of God.
My burden in this message is to impress you with the simplicity of the early Christians. May the Lord restore such a simplicity among us in His recovery today! If we are brought back to this simplicity in our meetings, we shall not use the hymnal or even the Bible to replace the all-inclusive Spirit. Sometime we may have a meeting in which we use neither the hymnal nor the Bible. Instead, we may simply show forth Christ through the exercise of our spirit. I can be deprived of my hymnal and of my Bible, but I cannot be deprived of the all-inclusive Christ in my spirit. However, if some Christians did not have a hymnal or Bible, they would have nothing. They know how to sing from the hymnal and how to use the Bible, but they do not know how to exercise the spirit to experience Christ as the life-giving Spirit. Oh, may the Lord cause us to put our trust in nothing other than the living Christ Himself!
We have seen that although the Christians in the early church did not have the Bible or a hymnal, they did have the living Christ. They called on His name and spoke a great deal of Him and regarding Him. They also sang and praised the Lord. Therefore, whenever they gathered together, they could exhibit what they had experienced and enjoyed of Christ in their daily living. By this we see that a proper Christian meeting should be an expression of the Christian life. We should not make the meetings something different from or apart from our daily walk. If we do this, our meetings will become a performance, the meeting hall will become a theater, and the saints will become performers. Our meetings should not be performances — they should be exhibitions of the way we live at home, at school, and at work. They should be an expression of the Christ by whom and in whom we live day by day. In order to have proper meetings, we must first have a proper daily life.
If we would have a proper Christian daily life, we need to walk according to the spirit. It is significant that the New Testament does not charge us to walk according to the Scriptures, but to walk according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4). In Galatians 5:16 Paul says, “Walk by the Spirit.” In verse 25 he goes on to say, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” We are to conduct ourselves not according to teaching or doctrine, but according to the Spirit. Today the Spirit is the very Christ who has come into our spirit and who is now mingled with our spirit. Our need is to live according to this mingled spirit. The more we live by walking according to the mingled spirit, the more we shall be filled in spirit unto all the fullness of God. Then we shall know how to call on the name of the Lord, how to speak to others, and how to sing and testify. If we develop these habits, our meetings will spontaneously be an exhibition of our daily walk. How different are such meetings from the formal religious services of today’s Christianity!
We must admit that we are still under the influence of traditional Christianity. We were born into this environment and raised under this influence. But in the Lord’s recovery we must cast off traditional Christianity, especially the traditions related to formal meetings. Our meetings should not have a formal beginning. Instead, they should begin spontaneously through our exercise of the spirit. However, I say again that this kind of meeting is the product of the exercise of our spirit to experience Christ in our daily life. If we do not exercise our spirit in our daily living, whatever we do in the meetings will be a performance, not the spontaneous exhibition of our daily Christian life. If we walk in spirit day by day, no one will be able to predict how the meetings will begin. We shall simply gather together to have a spontaneous exhibition of the riches of Christ for the building up of the church. Because of the influence of tradition and the natural concept, it is very easy for us to meet in a systematized way. The meetings may be formal and altogether devoid of the spontaneity of the Spirit. Oh, we need release! We need liberation! But this release and liberation cannot begin with a performance in the meetings; it must begin with the exercise of the spirit in our daily walk. In our daily living we should be a certain kind of person, one who contacts the Lord, calls on His name, speaks to others about Him, and who sings praises to the Lord. Then when we come to the church meetings, we should continue to be this kind of person. In this way our activity in the meetings will exhibit our exercise in our daily walk.
We do not realize how much we are still under the killing influence of religious tradition. Be assured, we are still too much under the tradition of Christianity. You may ask what we can do about it. The only thing for us to do is to exercise our spirit to have intimate contact with the Lord as a living Person day by day. We should not try to adjust ourselves or improve our behavior. Furthermore, we should not endeavor to be spiritual or holy. Forget about all these things and simply pay attention to the index of the Lord’s eyes. Instead of trying to be spiritual, we should simply live in the Lord’s presence. We need to make a declaration to Satan and to the whole universe: “I don’t know the meaning of holiness or spirituality. I only know that Christ is my life and my person. Today He is living within me, and I am living according to the index of His eyes. My only desire is to be one with Him. I do not care whether I love or hate, whether I am angry or calm. I care only to take Christ as my person and to be one with Him in everything.”
In our Christian dictionary there should be just one word — Christ. Christ is our humility, our patience, our everything. What sweetness there is in our daily life when we take Christ as everything! How marvelous to live according to the index of His eyes! Such a living is filled with calling, speaking, singing, and praising. If this is our daily experience, then in the meetings there will be no performing. On the contrary, we shall release our spirit spontaneously to exhibit Christ. If all the saints have such a daily living, the meetings will be genuine, rich, and uplifted, altogether different from anything we have experienced before.
Let us set aside our natural concept of what a meeting should be. The Lord has shown us clearly that a proper meeting is the exhibition of our daily living as Christians. In the meetings we should not focus our attention on singing, preaching, or teaching. Our focus must be the exhibition of our daily walk.
If we are clear about this, we shall realize that no one can teach us how to have a meeting. Teaching will lead only to a performance, never to an exhibition. Let us all look to the Lord for mercy and say, “Lord, we have been veiled by religion and distracted from Yourself. Lord, bring us back to Yourself, back from so many good, spiritual, and even scriptural things. Cause us to know Christ and Christ alone.”
I have the full assurance that the Lord intends to recover our intimate daily contact with Himself and our living by Him. In particular, I expect the Lord to gain the young people in this regard because they are less under the influence of tradition. Let us all rise up to repudiate traditional Christianity. If we repudiate the religious traditions and care only for the living Christ, we shall have a proper spirit, a spirit of power, love, and a sober mind. Then in the meetings we shall bubble over with the Spirit. The more we speak of the Lord, the more we shall have to say.
Oh, may we all be simple and return to Christ Himself! Let us forget the religious traditions and all formal practices. The Lord is calling us back to the Spirit. Our urgent need is to live and walk in the spirit and then to exhibit corporately our daily living in Christ.
