Just as people have different tastes in food, so the Lord’s recovery also has a taste for the ministry that has built up the recovery over the years. The recovery was raised up with a certain taste. Those who have been raised with this taste will reject a taste that is contrary to it. This means that if you speak something contrary to the taste of the Lord’s recovery, your speaking will be rejected, and you will be the first to suffer loss. We have seen a number of examples of this in the past.
In 1964 I invited a certain brother to share a message in one session each day of a training. That brother’s teaching was very good. Otherwise, I would not have asked him to share that training with me. However, the speaking of that brother went against the taste of the saints. One brother told me that this brother’s teaching was too philosophical. This indicates that even though the recovery had been in this country less than two years, the saints had already acquired a taste for life.
Concerning a matter such as this, it is useless to argue about who is right and who is wrong. The point here is that saints have a taste, and they do not accept what is contrary to it. Let me give you an illustration of what I mean by a taste for the ministry in the Lord’s recovery. One day I encouraged a brother to try eating sea cucumber, a Chinese dish that I enjoy very much. Even though the sea cucumber had been prepared by an expert cook and I had strongly recommended it, the brother refused to eat it, because it was contrary to his taste in food. Likewise, you may think that your speaking is good, but it is not according to the taste in the recovery.
If you are wise you will know the taste of those to whom you are speaking. All the churches in the recovery were raised up through the ministry, and the saints have been “eating” this ministry for years and have a taste for it. Even though no churches have been produced by your speaking, you now begin to “serve” the saints with something different from the ministry, with something that is not according to their taste. If you do this, you will cause trouble for yourself. Just as parents will have trouble with their children if they force them to eat food that is contrary to their taste, so you will have trouble if you expect the saints to “eat” something against the taste in the Lord’s recovery.
Those who teach differently are not wise, for they do not know the environment, situation, and condition of the Lord’s recovery. The Lord’s recovery has been raised up in a particular way. Brothers who teach differently actually are trying to bring in a foreign element; they are trying to wedge in a foreign particle into the “body” of the recovery. The recovery will not accept any kind of foreign element or article. As we have strongly emphasized, the reason is that the saints have their taste.
Although the recovery is not controlled by any person, there is a controlling factor in the Lord’s recovery, and this factor is the taste in the recovery. The recovery has a particular taste because it has a certain life that came from its birth. Just as a human being is born with a life that gives him a certain taste, so the Lord’s recovery was born with the life that has its own particular taste. This taste is the controlling factor in the Lord’s recovery. No one can overthrow this controlling factor. If you try to overthrow it, you yourself will be overthrown. This means that you actually overthrow yourself, causing yourself to be separated from the Lord’s recovery.
I do not insist that all the churches use the Life-study messages. However, I wish to point out that this ministry brought the recovery to this country and has been helping and nourishing the recovery. The recovery has grown up with the “food” provided by this ministry. Now it is impossible for the saints to change their taste. If you try to change the taste of the saints, you will be foolish, you will waste your time, and you will cause damage. If you feel that your teaching is better than that in the Lord’s recovery, you should serve your “food” to those who have a taste for it. Those who have been raised on certain foods may occasionally eat something different. But for the long run in their daily living they will eat what matches their taste and reject what is contrary to it.
Since this is the situation among the saints in the Lord’s recovery, we should be wise to learn the basic truths and then serve these truths to the saints. If we do this, everyone will be happy, and we shall have a peaceful situation not only among individual saints but also between the churches and between the churches and the ministry.
If you can give messages that fit the taste of the Lord’s recovery without using the Life-study messages, that would be wonderful. Such messages will be profitable to the recovery. messages that fit the taste of the recovery are truly part of the New Testament ministry. No one should think that only what I minister is the New Testament ministry. Paul, of course, ministered the New Testament ministry. Martin Luther also ministered a part of the New Testament ministry. Many among us also minister the ministry of the New Testament.
Whatever we minister must be of the nature of the New Testament ministry. Whether or not a particular ministry is part of the New Testament ministry can be proved by applying three governing principles: one, the principle of the processed Triune God being dispensed into His chosen people; second, the principle of Christ and the church; and third, the principle of Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church. If your teaching can pass this threefold test, your teaching is part of the New Testament ministry. Any ministry that is part of the New Testament ministry will be welcomed by the saints in the Lord’s recovery. Any other ministry, however, will only cause trouble for the recovery.