Question: In the coordination of the Body, how can we know clearly what our portion is and carry it out properly?
Answer: Concerning the coordination of the Body, we need to stress that every brother and sister must carry out their function. However, while functioning, we should not trample others and step beyond our limit. If we do not function, the coordination of the Body will be lost, but if we step over our limit and trample others, the coordination of the Body will also suffer loss. How can we focus on functioning only according to our portion and not stepping over our limit? Many brothers and sisters do not know their portion. Whenever they serve, they all come. If it is for the preaching of the gospel, they all do it together. Whatever they do, they all do it together. Everyone is “a jack of all trades” and everyone wants to be able to do everything. Thus, no one is clear about what is their own portion. It is not easy for a person to know his portion, and those who claim that they know probably do not know.
In the past some brothers and sisters spoke clearly that they truly knew what their portion was before the Lord. After eight or ten years, facts showed that they did not know what they thought they knew. We cannot be clear concerning our portion simply by analysis and observation. The function, or the portion, of a member in the Body cannot be discovered by one’s analysis and observation. Our analysis and observation are often wrong because they are outward and therefore tend to be inaccurate. When we have been broken, torn down, and built up by the Lord, our portion is manifested spontaneously. How much our portion can be manifested depends on how much the Lord has been built in us. If we have not been sufficiently torn down by the Lord, the portion that we carry out will not be ours. If what we are carrying out has been torn down and built up by the Lord, then that is our function. When we allow the Lord to tear us down and build us up, the portion in us will be manifested.
Concerning knowing what our portion is, we do not need to know too much. We should be responsible for only one thing—if we sense we are doing something that is not the result of God’s tearing down, it is better to avoid it; if we sense that we are trampling others and stepping over our limit, we should stop. We do not need to analyze too much about what the Lord desires us to do. The result of analyzing is often wrong. We should simply receive the Lord’s breaking and tearing down and allow the Lord to build us up. Then our service will come out of what has been torn down. If we feel that what we are doing is trampling on others and replacing them, we should stop and deal with it. We should never look at whether the result will be good or bad. We often think that if we stop doing, we will be in a bad situation. Consequently, in order to maintain a good situation, we continue doing what we are able to do. Thus, in many respects it is easy to step over our limit. Instead, we may need to take our hands off and allow the situation to get worse. We need to take our hands off and allow the work to fall apart. If God desires the work to fall apart, that falling apart is much better than maintaining a “good” situation with our own hands.
Hence, the outward situation should not concern us. The important question should come from our inner sense: Are we doing the work in ourselves, or are we doing it after being torn down? Do we stay within our portion, or do we trample others? Although this is difficult for others to judge, we will have a sense within us. We do not need to ask what our portion is. We should only ask whether we have been torn down. This is the basic question. If we are willing to ask ourselves this question, we will discover that there are many things we should not have. We will also discover that many of our activities exceed our limit and that we are not functioning according to our actual portion.
We may be doing the portion of others which we should not be doing. If we are doing something natural, which we are not supposed to do, we should not do it. The Head never wants any kind of replacement in the Body. Replacing other members is not only stepping beyond our limit; it is also fake and counterfeit. If we are willing to go to the Lord and consider everything we do from the viewpoint of tearing down, we will see that there are many things we need to drop. Then our portion will spontaneously come out from us.
Few people are clear outwardly concerning their portion; if a brother or sister is clear, then he or she must be quite mature in the Lord and must have passed through a lengthy process. Such a person can be clear concerning his portion, because it is the result of growth, not analysis. It is not the result of outward observation but of being built from within. Because he has passed through some dealings, tearing down, and building up by the Lord’s hand and has quite a number of years in the Lord, spontaneously there is something in him that is a special portion, which is his ministry, his function. This portion in him was not produced in merely one or two years, and maybe not even in three or five years. Rather, this person has passed through quite a lengthy process in the Lord for his portion to be manifested. There are not many such people among God’s children.
Most of us do not need to consider this matter because our function is not manifest. We simply need to focus on what has been torn down by the Lord and avoid what has not been torn down. Whenever we sense that we are trampling on others, regardless of how good and necessary that function may be, we should take our hands off and accept the restriction of the Holy Spirit. We should believe that the Holy Spirit and the Lord are responsible and not be overly concerned about the situation. We need to learn the lessons under the Lord’s hand so that the Body can have a good coordination. The situation may be bad, but the coordination of the Body will gain the benefit. By our not restricting and trampling the brothers and sisters, others will be raised up in our locality, and the Body will spread. The Body will spread when we allow the Body to grow as it is supposed to grow.
May the Lord graciously enable us to not receive these words as doctrine. May we be humble inwardly to open and allow the light to shine. As soon as we are illuminated, we need to ask the Lord to be merciful to us so that instead of arguing, we would immediately receive and submit. This will enable us to receive stronger light and deliverance. In holding the Head, carrying out our function, not overstepping, living under authority, and being conscious of the Body, as soon as we receive light, the sense, we should humble ourselves immediately. In this way, the light will shine brighter and brighter, and we will be delivered. The Body of Christ will spread and be built up among us. As long as we do not restrict Him, the Body of Christ will increase and build itself up.