Some brothers and sisters are crazy lovers of Jesus. They do not care for movies, bars, or dancing; they care only for Christ. Day and night they do nothing but pursue Christ. At home, at school, and everywhere they care only for Christ. As branches in the vine, they do nothing but live the vine. As branches of Christ, we should do nothing but live Christ.
Another Christian may try to discourage such crazy lovers of Jesus, saying, “You do not need to be so religious, caring for nothing but Christ all the time. To go to the Lord’s Day morning meeting every week is to be religious. It is better to stay in bed.” Such speaking has been heard even in some local churches. Some even say, “The more you sleep in the morning, the more spiritual you will become.” Others say, “You do not need to be so legal. You are bound by a legality to not go to the movies. Not all movies are bad; some movies are very good. You need to be liberated to go to the good movies.” If someone speaks to us in this way, we need to be clear that this person is sent not by God but by God’s enemy. Both going to the Lord’s Day morning meeting and not going may be legalities. We should not care for either legality; rather, we should care only for Christ. However, it is doubtful that we can receive more of Christ by sleeping in on Lord’s Day morning. If we care only for Christ, we will rise up early in the morning to contact the Lord and prepare to meet with His church. Likewise, if we care only for Christ, we will see that we certainly cannot receive more of Christ by going to a movie. Attending sporting events may not be sinful, but our experience tells us that we do not receive more of Christ by going to sporting events. We should not care for whether something is legal or not. We should not care for any particular ways or concepts. We should care only for Christ. We need to go only where we can receive more of Christ, and we need to take only the way by which we will receive more of Christ.
Some young people recently asked me concerning a certain kind of speaking they heard. Some saints told them not to go to movies, but others said, “Do not be so legal; go to the movies.” Some also told them not to be religious by always coming to the Lord’s Day morning meeting, but others told them that they needed to come. I explained to the young people, “Religion is to serve or worship God without Christ.” In other words, anything we do for God apart from Christ is religion. Anything that has Christ in it is not religion. To go to a Lord’s Day morning meeting without Christ is religion, but to stay home on Lord’s Day morning to try to be spiritual or liberated without Christ also is religion. What matters is not whether we go to the meeting or stay home but whether we do all things with Christ. It is not a matter of what we should or should not do; it is a matter of Christ.
When we contact Christ, live Christ, grow Christ, and produce Christ, Christ surely will not lead us to a theater, a bar, or a dancing club. However, we cannot assume that Christ is in a certain thing simply because it is practiced in the church life. If we shout in the meetings without Christ, our shouting is not the Lord’s recovery. If our singing is void of Christ, our singing is only a musical activity, not the Lord’s recovery. Every bit of everything in the Lord’s recovery must be Christ. We do not care for any way or any concept; we care only for Christ.
If a brother is weak, he may occasionally slip into a theater to see a movie, but he should not promote this activity. We should preach only Christ, not our private life and certainly not our weaknesses. Going to movies is a sign of weakness in one’s Christian life. I believe that a saint who is strong in life would refrain from going to a movie theater, even if only to avoid the appearance of sin. We may go to a movie out of weakness, but we should never promote this, make this a teaching, or bring this into the church as a practice, telling others that to go to the movies is a liberation. I know of many young people who have been influenced by this kind of teaching. In our conscience we know that this is not liberation but looseness. We need to realize that any kind of looseness may lead to the indulgence of lust.
A dissenting concept is held by some who say that the church should not meet in large general meetings. They think that it is better to have small family-style meetings in the homes. Concepts always damage. We should not care about the kind of meetings we have; we should care only for Christ. If we would like to have some saints meet in our home, and if we have the assurance that Christ is in this, we should simply do it. However, we should not promote it. If we promote it, we will make trouble. Everyone has different opinions. Certain kinds of meetings suit certain people’s personal preferences. To insist on meeting in a certain way is to mix Christ with our preference or taste. In a meeting that we have insisted on according our taste, our conscience will tell us that our enjoyment of Christ is not pure. If we would bring all things to the Lord and pray without insisting on anything, I believe that the Lord will tell us, “You may have this kind of meeting, but do not insist on it.” We need to consider whether our motive is pure. If our motive is purely for Christ without our preference, any kind of meeting is good. The Lord’s recovery is not to recover big meetings or to recover small meetings. All the ways and concepts must be buried. In the Lord’s recovery we care only for Christ. We care only for wherever, whenever, and however we can receive more of Christ and minister Christ to others, not for our concepts, opinions, or personal tastes. Everything must be Christ.
Everyone prefers his way, but no way is the right way. Only Christ is right. Our purpose is not to recover a certain way of meeting. We should not care for any way of meeting; we should care only for whether Christ is in our meeting. This is the major object. If we drop our teachings, our concepts, our ways, and our activities, we will have the genuine oneness. If some insist on having a certain kind of meeting according to their concept, this will cause division. We should not hold on to any concept. If some brothers feel to meet in their homes, we should not oppose them, but neither should they impose or promote their kind of meeting. To promote our concept only causes trouble.
A brother may not be eloquent, but his awkward speaking in a meeting may be full of Christ. Another brother who is very eloquent may capture the attention of the whole congregation after only two sentences, but there may not be much of Christ in his speaking. Rather, his speaking may be full of his personal influence and impact. Regrettably, many saints prefer the speaking of an eloquent brother because it is full of excitement. We need to see that such speaking without Christ is vanity. We may experience excitement during such speaking, but when we go home, nothing goes with us. However, after listening to an awkward brother speak for a few minutes, something of Christ may be wrought into us. Even if we shake our head at his poor words, we can never shake away the Christ he ministers into us. Years later, the Christ ministered through this awkward brother will still be in us. The Lord’s recovery is not concepts, ways, doctrines, practices, eloquence, or activities, but only Christ.
I enjoy hearing beautiful singing in the meetings, but if we care mainly for the music in a meeting, we have fallen back to the condition of degraded Christianity. I would rather hear simple singing that is full of Christ, singing that is sincere and with the exercise of the spirit. The Lord’s recovery is not the recovery of good singing, good meetings, shouting, or excitement. The Lord’s recovery is the recovery purely, wholly, and uniquely of Christ. Everything must be Christ. We should not care for beautiful musical voices or instruments. If we care for the proper singing from our spirit, even if our voices are off key, our singing is still precious to the Lord.
The Lord’s recovery today is absolutely different from Christianity. Christianity is composed of various concepts, ways, activities, and organizations. In the Lord’s recovery we do not have any concepts, ways, activities, or organizations; instead, all we have is Christ. Every “letter” and every “word” of our “language” is Christ. We have nothing but Christ. We do not care for different ways of meeting, singing, or releasing our spirit. We care only for Christ. In the church life Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:10-11). By the Lord’s mercy and grace, we need to drop all our concepts. We should not bring in any concept, whether good or bad, right or wrong. We must keep only Christ so that we may come together to have the church life as a living testimony of Jesus shining in this dark society. This is the Lord’s recovery.
Throughout the past fifty years of the Lord’s recovery, we have never promoted any way. We care only for a living person, Christ. Christ is our singing and our way to meet. He is the gospel and also our way to preach the gospel. Christ is our life, our living, and our conversation. Christ is everything in our Christian life and church life. The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of Christ as everything to us so that we may have the proper church life and the genuine oneness, both of which are simply Christ Himself. Only when we live Christ and drop all the different teachings and concepts can we have the genuine oneness, which is the very Christ whom we are living. I hope that this word will help us to be clear concerning the Lord’s recovery.