Furthermore, everyone who has a heart to learn to serve must understand the divine truths. He must read the Scriptures diligently, and in his reading he must seek out the basic principles in them. While reading the Scriptures, he must enter into the spiritual reality of the Scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten him before God so that he may see the mystery of the faith. In this way he will become apt to teach. How can a person teach others if he does not know the mystery of the faith? He cannot. Therefore, everyone who has a heart to learn to minister to the church should pray a prayer similar to that of Solomon, saying, “O Lord, I am only a little child raised up by You. I do not know how to rule over the people. Lord, give me wisdom, not for myself but for You and for Your kingdom, that I may be able to discern between right and wrong” (cf. 1 Kings 3:7-9). Solomon’s prayer was pleasing to the Lord, and because Solomon did not pray for longevity or wealth for himself, God answered his petition. If we all prayed this kind of prayer every day, then we would not despise the service of the church, and would not consider what we do to be less weighty than the work of a king. Then when the Lord returns, we will all see that what we were doing was much higher and weightier than what the kings on the earth were doing.
What we do today may affect hundreds and thousands of souls. Thus, it is quite possible that due to a small mistake in our judgment, someone might be weakened. If this happens, there is no telling how great the effect of it will be. It may be likened to throwing a stone into a lake, producing wave after wave of ripples. We do not know how far-reaching the effect will be.
We must not fall into a situation of being unable to administer the affairs of the church because we do not have sufficient light of the truth or adequate knowledge of the mystery of the truth, or because we are not clear concerning the principles in the Scriptures. We need to spend time to study the basic principles, not merely the teachings, in the holy Scriptures. We must do our best to determine these principles.
If we do this, then when we are about to make a decision concerning a certain matter, we will be less likely to make a mistake because we will know the basic principles. The responsible ones in the churches all have a burden upon them. The souls of thousands of people are hanging upon them. If they make a mistake, thousands of souls will be affected. Therefore, every time they make a decision or a judgment, they must not be careless. They need to have the insight of the faith. We are not establishing a nation with a constitution. We are shepherding the church by the Scriptures. This is not an easy thing to do. Today the reason we can stand firmly on the foundation of the truth and not be shaken by anyone is because we hold on to the intrinsic principles in the Scriptures. This pathway is not our creation or invention, for God has shown us the basic light of the revelations in the Scriptures. Regardless of how much we are opposed, we have these basic revelations as our solid ground.
The Lord said that if our work is not established upon His words, then it is like the house built upon the sand that fell when the rain descended, the rivers came, and the wind blew. If our work is established upon the Lord’s words, then it is like the house built upon the rock which could not be destroyed by the water or wind (Matt. 7:24-27). Therefore, whenever we make a decision in the church, we must not be careless. Rather, we must have the Scriptures as the base.
The portion of the Scriptures that we quoted at the beginning of this chapter tells us to hold the mystery of the faith. It does not say that we should hold the faith but that we should hold the mystery of the faith. Some may consider head covering to be an item of the faith, but what is the mystery of this matter? The mystery is that we human beings should subject ourselves to God’s authority. The covering of the sisters’ heads represents our being in subjection to God’s authority. God is our Head, and we are under Him. Let us consider the matter of baptism, which some may also consider to be an item of the faith. When we go into the water and come up again, this is not merely to keep the faith of baptism but even more to hold the mystery of the faith of baptism. The mystery is that in baptism we die with Christ, are buried with Him, and are raised together with Him, resulting in the Lord’s life entering into us.
Today many people in Christian denominations and organizations hold only the faith but do not hold the mystery of the faith. Instead, some may take in the mystery of Satan. Therefore, everyone who serves in the church must understand the mystery of the faith. Otherwise, when he serves God’s children, there is no telling where he will lead the saints. In regard to the sisters’ head coverings, we should not merely advise the sisters on the selection of the style, color, and size of the head covering. Rather, we should serve them in a way that would bring them under the headship of Christ. In this way we are not merely holding the faith but holding the mystery of the faith. This requires us to have experiences in our daily life and to take the Bible and the principles contained in it as our foundation. On the one hand, we should have the experience, and on the other hand, we must have the biblical truths as the confirmation of our experience. Every one of us who serves the Lord must learn these two aspects.
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