There is a different teaching regarding “autonomy” which originated with some of the Brethren teachers. The teaching of autonomy says that once the apostles establish a church and appoint the elders, the apostles should keep their hands off the church and not touch the saints. If this were the case, how could the apostles perfect the saints? This is altogether a strange teaching, a wind of teaching. How can saints be perfected if the perfecting ones stay away from them? By reading the New Testament you can see that the truth is that the apostles were always with the saints and contacting the churches. Paul established the church in Ephesus and appointed the elders there, but he never abandoned Ephesus. He visited Ephesus again and again; even once he stayed there for three years (Acts 20:31). Surely he did not keep his hands off the church. This teaching of autonomy was published in a book by one Brethren teacher, and we rejected it years ago.
Paul did not stay away from the churches. He not only visited the churches, but also wrote many epistles to the churches. After establishing a church with the appointment of the elders, the apostles repeatedly went back to the churches they had established. When they could not go to visit for a period of time, they cared for the churches by writing letters. They never gave up their care for the churches.
In Acts 20 while Paul was going back to Jerusalem the last time, he could not forget about the church in Ephesus, having labored so much on them. He was very concerned about them. Therefore, when he came to Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church (v. 17). He reminded them, saying, “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and to teach you publicly and from house to house” (v. 20). He also said, “I did not shrink from declaring to you all the counsel of God” (v. 27) and “for three years, night and day, I did not cease admonishing each one with tears” (v. 31). Surely the apostle did not take his hands off the church; rather, he continued to perfect them by teaching them, admonishing them, etc., all the time. The teaching of autonomy is a wrong teaching, and we must reject it.
The result of the perfecting work of the apostles and the other gifts is that the perfected ones are able to do the same things that the gifted persons do. We must all be perfected to do the same work as the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. After a college student learns for four years, he is able to do what his professor can do. The Apostle Paul was the first generation “professor.” Then Timothy became the second generation “professor.” Now we must also become “professors.”
We all need to enter into the practice of the God-ordained way to organically build up the church as the Body of Christ. We are short in our practice of the New Testament priesthood of the gospel with the proper preaching of the gospel by going forth to visit people in their homes. We are short in caring for the newborn believers with the proper feeding. Also, through the years we have mostly had general teaching; we have not had much teaching in the way that perfects people. We do not have the real practice that is revealed in Hebrews 10, 2 Timothy 2, and Ephesians 4. We do not have the proper group meetings. Finally, we are short of the proper prophesying in the church meetings as revealed in 1 Corinthians 14. We fall far short in all of these four steps.
The New Testament priesthood of the gospel, the home meetings for feeding the new believers, the perfecting of the saints for the work of the New Testament ministry, and prophesying for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ are the four steps of God’s ordained way as revealed in the Bible. We all have to humble ourselves and ask the Lord to forgive us of our negligence in the past. Through the years we have been influenced by the old traditional Christianity, and we are still under its influence. We have not properly carried out our New Testament priesthood of the gospel. A priest has to offer sacrifices. In the Old Testament, the priests offered animal sacrifices. In the New Testament, Paul offered the Gentiles as acceptable sacrifices (Rom. 15:16). Then he charged the young believers to grow that they themselves could be priests to offer themselves as living sacrifices directly to God (Rom. 12:1). In Colossians 1:28-29 Paul still had the intention to offer every man to God in maturity. As New Testament priests, it is not enough to offer our prayers and our giving of the material things; these are not the mail offerings. In the Old Testament, there were the main offerings-the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. These were the main offerings, and all of them were types of Christ. Today we are not offering bulls and goats as types of Christ; we are offering sinners who have become the members of Christ. In the Old Testament, Christ was offered in type, but today in the New Testament, the members of Christ are offered. Our prayers and material giving in themselves are not adequate. We must offer some saved living persons as Christ’s members.
God’s priests both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament were to offer Christ. The Old Testament priests offered Christ typified by the animal sacrifices, but today the New Testament priests offer Christ in a corporate way, an enlarged Christ. Therefore, you must go out to get sinners saved to be Christ’s members for your offering (Rom. 15:16). Otherwise, you will not have anything to offer to God as a part of the enlarged Christ.
If we are genuine believers, we must go visit people in their homes to help them believe and be baptized. This is to make sinners into sons of God and members of Christ. Then we must go to these new believers’ homes to feed them for about two to three months. Then we must perfect them; but if we want to perfect others, we first need a deposit. If we do not have any deposit in the bank, how can we write checks? To help others, we need a good deposit. If some are willing, I would like to give them such a deposit. We all need a deposit that we can spend to help others.
In this message I have been quite frank, but please understand that my frankness is my faithfulness. I have told you the truth, not only for your sakes but for the Lord’s sake. I am responsible to Him. What I have shared as the new way is the God-ordained way. I have no doubt about this. We have suffered much and are still suffering from our old way. Look at the number of saints attending the prayer meeting. It is very small. Some say, “We do not care for numbers.” Do not say this; the Lord cares for numbers. The Bible says that on the day of Pentecost three thousand were baptized (Acts 2:41), and at another time there were five thousand (4:4). Later it says that multitudes both of men and women believed (5:14), the number of disciples in Jerusalem multiplied exceedingly, and a large number of the priests obeyed the faith (6:7). This is the biblical record. If we only raised up our children and gained our close relatives, we could have at least a five percent increase yearly. This is a shame to us because we have not even gained this small percentage of increase. Barrenness is a shame. Fruitlessness is a shame. But it is better for us to be ashamed today than in that day when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of our service. If we will receive this warning, we can avoid standing there without any fruit to show Him. We have to go out to get persons saved for the Lord. Otherwise, we have no way to meet Him.
If you cannot go out, you can pray for those who do. But it is altogether wrong for anyone to oppose those going out. If you oppose this, you will surely be condemned by the Lord. Who are you to oppose the Lord’s servants? Not everyone can go out, but everyone can pray. Even when you are sick in bed, you can pray for those who love the Lord and would be willing to sacrifice their faces by knocking on doors to gain people for Him. You should pray for them.
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