We will continue to consider the administration of the elders.
On the side of perfecting, the fifth point on which the elders have to render help is the knowledge of resurrection. What is resurrection? Resurrection means that God has passed through incarnation, death, and resurrection, and has terminated the fallen elements within man, mingling Himself into man to become man's life, so that the created, fallen, and redeemed man can live in God and take God as life. Resurrection means that a man has reached a stage before God where he lives in Him, takes the Lord as his life, having been led by Him and having some experience, and knows the matter of resurrection. In terms of life, such a person has reached the peak. He is at the pinnacle in life. He is not only saved, and he is not only living a normal Christian life; he is not only consecrated, and he has not only learned the lessons of fellowship and is living in the fellowship, but he is a person who accepts the cross, who is delivered from the old creation, and who has entered into resurrection. He knows what it is to have the created man redeemed by God, to be mingled with God, and to take God as life. When a brother or sister has reached the stage of knowing resurrection, he or she has been brought to God and is living in God and taking God as life. This is the highest peak in life.
However, it is not enough to know resurrection alone; a person must also know the church. The reason the elders lead others into the realm of resurrection is to fulfill the goal of knowing the church. God's goal is fully the church. The reason man is brought into God, mingled with Him, takes Him as life, and lives in resurrection, is for the purpose of having the church. The church is the center of God's goal. It is also where God's goal rests. It is here that God's will can be accomplished. Hence, in their administration the elders have to help the brothers and sisters to know the church. Every item of management in this administration is laborious. This is especially true with the knowledge concerning the church. I hope that the elders would not only know this matter themselves, but would bring the brothers and sisters into this knowledge. Now we want to mention eight main points concerning the knowledge of the church.