In the earlier chapters, we have seen what the New Testament ministry is and what the vision in the Lord’s recovery is. This is why we must see how to carry out the vision. To carry out the vision, we need to be constituted with the New Testament ministry. The New Testament ministry must be our constitution. As long as you can teach something different from the New Testament ministry, this indicates that you have never been constituted with it. From my youth as a Chinese child I have been constituted with the Chinese language. In one meeting I intended to speak English, but unintentionally Chinese words came out of my mouth. This is because I have merely learned English, but Chinese is my constitution. Whatever you have been constituted with will come out sooner or later. The Lord’s recovery has never been constituted into your being. If it were, you could never teach anything different. This is just like a person’s native language being constituted into his being. What he is constituted with, he speaks. This is why I am burdened. We need to see where we are and what the Lord really wants us to be in His recovery.
Since the first century, many of God’s chosen people came into the New Testament ministry and many left. Who would have ever thought that Barnabas would leave? He was wonderful and he was the one who brought in Saul of Tarsus to be a great apostle (Acts 9:27; 11:25-26). Barnabas initiated Saul and then he left (Acts 15:38-39). Peter was also in danger of leaving the New Testament ministry. Even before Peter shrunk back from eating with Gentile believers out of fear of those of the circumcision (Gal. 2:11-14), he was on the border of the New Testament ministry in Acts 10. Through his three and a half years with the Lord during His earthly ministry and through Pentecost Peter got into the New Testament ministry in full. He was the central figure of the New Testament ministry in Acts 2—5, but in Acts 10 he was on the border, even “on the fringe of the roof.” He was on the verge of falling away from the New Testament ministry. The Lord was merciful because He had to use Peter. The Lord came to him in the Old Testament way of a vision to move him from the “fringe of the roof” of the New Testament to the center. Thus, he was preserved.
We also have seen that there was a problem with James in Jerusalem and that Peter was influenced. Galatians 2 shows us that Peter had fallen away from the truth of the New Testament ministry, so Paul rebuked him. This is because the New Testament ministry was not that thoroughly instituted into Peter as it was into Paul. Paul received a kind of constitution so that his entire being was for the New Testament ministry. We may not preach differently, but some of us may have a little doubt about the recovery. Even that little doubt is an indication that the institution of the New Testament economy into you may not be that thorough. In other words, you may still not be thoroughly constituted with God’s New Testament ministry.
I saw much opposition to the Lord’s recovery for twenty years in mainland China. Later, I was sent out from Taiwan to southeast Asia and then to the United States. I personally have confronted opposition even from saints among us. Over the years, though, I must testify that I have never had a bit of doubt about the Lord’s recovery. Before I came out of mainland China, the New Testament ministry had been thoroughly constituted into my being. I know many doctrines, but I cannot teach those doctrines. My person has become a constitution of the New Testament ministry. Whenever you ask me to speak and wherever you ask me to speak, whether it is at a wedding, at your dining table, to your family, to the old, to the young, to the brothers, or to the sisters, what I can speak and what I will speak is the New Testament ministry. How do we carry out this ministry? We need to be a person constituted with God’s New Testament ministry. If you mean business with the Lord and if you love the Lord for His recovery and you love His recovery for the Lord you must get yourself constituted with this New Testament ministry.
Our constitution should not be something gilded. It must be something inwrought into our being. The Great Babylon is gilded with gold (Rev. 17:4), but the lampstand is golden by its intrinsic essence. It is golden intrinsically, basically, and essentially. With many of us, our being golden is somewhat by gilding. Something that is gilded with gold cannot pass the test of “scratching.” A little scratch exposes the real nature of the thing. If we are really gold, “scratching” will expose that we are gold. Even if someone were to “break us up” and “grind us into powder,” it would show that we are not only golden but gold. If our intrinsic nature is golden, this can stand any kind of test. The Lord’s recovery does not treasure any gilded thing. We treasure the basic things, the intrinsic things, the essential things.
Please do not think that I am encouraging you or charging you to learn the Life-studies. The Lord Jesus indicates in John 6 that His Word is the bread of life (vv. 48, 63). To receive bread is not to learn about it but to eat it. To eat something means to receive it into your organic body. The food that you have received into your stomach becomes your blood, cells, fiber, and tissue. It becomes you. Merely to learn the messages does not mean much. We must take in the Word and let the Word be organically assimilated into our entire being. Then when you speak and when you give messages in the principle of the teachings conveyed in the Life-study messages, you will not merely speak from the printed page. You will speak out of your “fiber.” Then your speaking will stir up much interest and the impact will be there. This is not eloquence. Eloquence means nothing. You must become constituted with the New Testament ministry.