We have mentioned before that in doing anything, the person who is doing the work must be the right person. If we do not have the proper person, or if the person is not the right person, we cannot expect things to be done well. All the important matters in the world can testify to this principle. For example, the constitution of a country may be good and its system of government excellent, but if the executives are not qualified, the country cannot be administered properly. When the executives are replaced, even if the constitution and the system of government remain the same, the outcome will be completely different. The same is true with spiritual things. For this reason, we have to see that the administration in the church depends firstly on the person. We are not saying that methods are not important, but methods depend upon the person. If the person is off, methods are of no use, no matter how good they may be. The person must be right before the methods will work.
In addition to the problem of the person, there is also the problem of the heart, which also needs much dealing. Whereas in the world it is possible to consider only the person, in the church there must be a certain standard with regard to the heart as well. The reason for this is that in the church everything is transparent and in the light. There cannot be any inconsistency between the outward condition and the inward condition. Strictly speaking, even in the world, for a person to be right, he must have a very proper heart. This shows the absolute relatedness between the heart and the person. If a person's heart is off by just a little, that person is not an honest and genuine man.
In order for a man to be right, his heart must be right. If the heart is off, the man will be off also. Especially with those who are elders, the heart must be dealt with until it is very proper. As long as the heart of an elder is slightly off, we can never expect the person of that elder to be right. I believe all those brothers who have had considerable experience in their responsibilities as elders will tell us that as an elder, everyone has to go through severe lessons of brokenness. However, brokenness only deals with the person of the elder. In taking up the responsibility as an elder, a person's heart constitutes a serious factor. If a brother who is an elder loves the Lord very much and fears Him, and if he has learned many spiritual lessons and is willing to be broken in almost everything, yet he neglects the dealing with his heart, it is still easy for such a one to cause problems.
I wish to speak with the brothers and sisters in this way: while it is true that a man's spirituality can affect the condition of his heart before God, spirituality itself cannot make up for the condition of man's heart. It is one thing to be spiritual and another thing to have a right condition of the heart. Of course, we admit that these two things affect each other. But this does not mean that as long as a person is spiritual, he will definitely have no problem with his heart. There is no such thing. We must strongly emphasize that there is a considerable difference here.
I do not want to mention much about being spiritual in these messages that deal mainly with the administration of the eldership in the church. We have spoken much about this subject in the past messages. Today, I want to seriously bring up the question of the heart. For an elder, the problem of the heart is a very serious matter; it is an important factor in his function as an elder. No matter how spiritual a person is, if his heart is not right, he will not be able to be a good elder. We can fully testify to this from our experience.