Our problem today is related to the matter of fellowship. We are in the fellowship of the recovery, but do we fellowship? For example, do the brothers in Sacramento fellowship with the brothers in Chicago, Cleveland, or Wichita? Among the churches in the Lord's recovery, there is not much fellowship. We have seen that the problems between Barnabas and Saul were probably due to a lack of proper and adequate fellowship. If we are not in fellowship, problems can come in among us.
The circulation of blood in our physical body is a good picture of the fellowship, the flow of the divine life, in the Body of Christ. If our blood circulation is not proper, this can cause much sickness to our body. The proper blood circulation swallows up all kinds of germs. I was in Taipei for about five years beginning in late 1984. After about three of those years, trouble came in among the churches. The trouble in the churches today is due to the shortage of the fellowship, the circulation of the blood. This lack of fellowship gave the enemy an opportunity to come in.
We are even very short of fellowship with the churches who are close to us geographically. There is very little circulation. If my shoulder were not participating adequately in the blood circulation of my body, it would be sick. No part of my physical body can be separate from the other parts since all the parts must participate in the one blood circulation. Some may think that they are wise to keep themselves separate. But if any part of the Body of Christ is separate, that part will eventually die. The best way to stay healthy is to "receive more blood and to give more blood," that is, to stay in the fellowship, the circulation of life. Then we will save ourselves and promote the healing of the Body. In some places there has been no peace because of a lack of fellowship. The more fellowship we have, the more peace we have.
The reason why many people are weak physically is because they sit too much. They do not move. It is the same spiritually. We are sick and weak because we remain with ourselves, in ourselves, and for ourselves. We are sick because we are so much in ourselves. We need to get out of ourselves by fellowshipping with the other churches. If we want to get helped, the secret is to go to see some brothers in another locality. The brothers in Texas should not have traffic among themselves only. They need to go to Chicago, Cleveland, and Seattle, and break the boundary of Texas.
I would like to make a proposal to the leading brothers. Perhaps ten days from today, fifty brothers from fifty cities can go to a certain church to be in their Lord's Day morning meeting at 10 a.m. I can assure you that you will receive the help and that the church will be helped. Today there are many opinions among the churches concerning the churches. Other churches have opinions concerning the church in Cleveland and the church in Anaheim. The church in a certain city may have many opinions about other localities. Each local church may have some opinions about other local churches. All of these opinions need to be thrown away. How can they be thrown away? They can be thrown away by the circulation, the fellowship. If the waste in our physical body is not discharged regularly, we will die. The circulation of blood within our body is like a river that always carries away the waste in our being so that it can be discharged. In like manner, the fellowship in the Body carries away all the negative things.