When elders encounter problems, they must also be able to discern whether the matter is according to the truth. For example, a brother may suggest something to you and may enumerate many reasons to support himself, reasons which seem to be very good. But is the matter according to the truth? At such times, the elders need to have the ability to discern the truth.
The same principle applies in questions related to the church. The elders should have the ability to discern the truth concerning the way of the church, the ground of the church, the nature of the church, and the position of the church.
In addition, discernment concerning spiritual gain and loss is also very important. For example, when you make a certain decision, you must be able to discern whether or not your decision will cause a gain or a loss to the brothers and sisters spiritually. Sometimes there is both gain and loss. In such cases, you have to discern whether there will be more gain or more loss, whether the gain can counterbalance the loss. All these matters depend on your discernment.
I can never forget how a brother who had helped us was sitting down with us one day. We were talking about the pressing circumstances that we were under at that time; we could not stop, but there was no way to go on. We had to turn either to the right or to the left, but either way we could turn would be difficult for us. What should we do? On that day, this brother gave an illustration. He said that it was like driving a car with another car coming head on from the opposite direction. The two cars were about to crash into each other. If you turn to the side, you would knock the rickshaws down. But there was not enough time to stop the car. Should you hit the car in front of you, or should you knock the rickshaws down? It all depends on your instant decision at that moment. Within the twinkling of an eye, you have to make the decision, to hit the car, or to knock the rickshaws down. Please remember that the church can sometimes be pressed by Satan to such an extent that it must, so to speak, either hit the car head on or knock the rickshaws down at the side; there is no way to escape a collision. At such times, you have to exercise your discernment of loss versus gain. If it means that you have to be decisive and that you have to "knock the rickshaws down," you should not be hesitant because you are caught in such a quandary. You should be able to make a swift judgment and to say that by so doing, you gain more than you lose. Of course, the gain and loss that we are talking about here refer to spiritual gains and losses.
Furthermore, you must be able to discern what kind of result this kind of action will lead to. You should be able to discern if these dealings with matters and people, and such settlements will be a gain tomorrow even when they are a loss today. You should also be able to discern if these dealings with matters and people, or such settlements will cause irreparable loss tomorrow despite their gain today. All these depend on your discernment. Some churches in the hands of some brothers have passed through some very difficult times. Yet in the end they found themselves in a broad land. Some other churches in the hands of other brothers went through easy times for a while, but suffered more and more difficulties as time has gone on.
During these years, among a few churches, often I have emphatically charged the brothers and sisters that they must take care of the young people. Because I emphasize this point, it makes the older ones feel very uncomfortable. Sometimes some of them say: "Brother Lee is simply causing the young people to rebel!" Today I speak this before the Lord. The reason I purposely encourage young people is that I clearly realize one thing: if a church cannot raise up the young people, this church has no future. If a local church that has been meeting for many years is not able to raise up the new ones to serve the Lord, it will be like a couple who have been married for many years without children. When this couple have grown old, what would happen to the family? This is why I conclude that a church must have young people at all costs. The church needs the second generation. The future of the church hinges on the young people. Here obviously there is a matter of discernment. You should not merely look up some old brothers for fellowship and find some old sisters with whom to pray; every day you work on the old brothers and sisters and leave the thirteen- to fifteen-year-old young ones to their studies. If you do this, the brothers and sisters in the church will all be old ones, and the elders, the deacons, and the responsible ones in the district will also be old ones. If this is the way you work, you will have sold out the church of God and will have hurt the brothers and sisters. Those who are thirteen will become twenty-three in ten years, and those who are in junior high school will be Ph.D.s in ten years. At the same time, do not forget that those who are in their fifties and sixties will soon be in their sixties and seventies. There is a real need of discerning ability here.
Brothers, let me repeat that it is not a simple thing to be an elder in the church. If we miss a little, we lose a soul. If we are off a little, a hundred will not be saved. You can see the seriousness here. Salvation and perdition hinge on the one thought of the elders. How then can you act properly and judge accurately? It all depends on your ability to discern. If you have discernment, the church will be brought onto the proper track. Only then will you have the real administration.