Question: Philip went to Samaria by himself, and Peter went to Caesarea by himself. Were these individualistic activities?
Answer: I would like to see these kinds of fruitful individualistic activities. From now on we need to be very careful with this kind of expression—individualistic activities. There may be many brothers who live together with eight or ten other brothers, yet they can still act individualistically. Not acting individualistically does not mean that we have someone sleeping next to us, or that we have someone eating with us, or that we always buy two tickets when we travel. As long as one has not seen the Body of Christ, he still acts individualistically. He may do things with others physically, but in reality he has not learned to obey authority or to fellowship. This is the kind of person who acts individualistically. Philip could go out by himself, but not act individualistically. Others can go out with eight or ten, yet still act individualistically.
The matter of authority is a very wonderful thing in the church. When some workers of God or believers are together, they spontaneously are confronted with the matter of authority. God never does things in a disorderly fashion. Even between two persons, God sets one up as the authority.
The order of names in the Bible is consistent. There are special reasons when they are not consistent. For example, in the Old Testament God set up Moses as the authority; it was always Moses and Aaron. You cannot reverse the order to have Aaron and Moses. When they were together, one always represented authority and the other represented submission. Even with those sent out by our Lord two by two—those whose names are mentioned—one was before the other. If it was so with two, it is more so with many.
Whenever God’s children are together, they should immediately fall in line. This does not mean to line up physically, but that we realize that a brother is in front of us. Since the Lord is working among us, He must have a mouthpiece; therefore, we must believe in God’s presence. We should declare, “I believe in the presence of the Lord. I believe in the presence of the Holy Spirit.” Consequently, when several brothers have the presence of the Holy Spirit, you must believe that God has a mouthpiece among them.
The reason God’s authority cannot be established among His children is that His children are always criticizing others and always asking for perfection. To them there is only one man in the whole world whom they admire—the perfect man. That man has not existed before, does not exist today, and will not exist in the future. Therefore, they cannot submit. They want to submit to a perfect man, but that man does not happen to be around. Therefore, they will not submit to anyone. Yet God does not give His authority to a perfect man; He gives His authority to a man who is being perfected. God gives His authority to a person who is in front of you. This is a basic principle in the Bible. God gives His authority to a brother in front of you.
When God’s children are together, they spontaneously should fall into a good order. This is not a matter of organization. It does not mean that when several brothers are together, you need to elect a team leader or a person in charge. But you must realize that even when several go out for a walk on the mountain or when you all gather together, someone will be in front of you. In those five or ten minutes of walking, you need to learn to be a submissive person. Wherever God’s children are, regardless of the environment or occasion, there are those in authority and those who should submit. This is a very beautiful thing.
When a person is governed by such a principle, there will be no individualistic activity. When a person does not submit to authority, he will still act individualistically no matter how many others may be with him. What is individualism? Individualism means that you cannot be under authority. When a person is individualistic, he has no way to be under authority. Once he comes under authority, individualism has to go. Once you receive authority, individualism cannot exist.
It is not a matter of receiving one authority, nor a matter of receiving ten authorities; it is a matter of receiving authority.
Let me give you an example. I have used two servants. They started working for me at different times, one earlier than the other. When the first one came to my house, I charged him saying, “There is a basic requirement for you to be a servant—you need to obey. No matter how smart you are, just do whatever I ask you to do.” Later, I also told the other servant, “You need to learn to obey. You need to listen to me, and you also need to listen to the servant who came before you.” However, the servant who came later obeyed all of my words, but he did not obey the words of the servant who came earlier. He always tried to find ways to point out the mistakes of the other servant. Do you think that this person submitted to authority?
What is submission to authority? Submission to authority does not mean choosing the person to whom you will submit. If you choose the person to whom you will submit, you do not know authority. He who knows authority recognizes it whenever he encounters it. When he encounters it, he knows he should submit. If you cannot submit, it proves that you have never known authority. You may have submitted to man, but not to authority. At best you merely fear a man, and when you meet him you obey him. You have never been under authority because you have never known authority. Authority is not a matter of one place or another place. There is authority in every place and on every occasion. Regardless of where one may be, he who knows authority recognizes it whenever he encounters it.
When a person is under authority, individualism cannot exist. If you stand on the ground of individualism, you will have no way to submit yourself to authority. This is a very important matter as far as spiritual principles are concerned. A person needs to learn to know authority. For Christians it is not a matter of who a person is. Christians should submit to authority whenever we encounter it.