To have the Lord’s recovery is not merely to have the doctrine of the recovery. No, we must be in Romans 12, offering our body, being transformed in our being—our soul with the mind as the leading part—and being burned in our spirit all the time. It is based on these three items that we will have the capacity for grace. Grace will come in to fill us, and from this grace and according to this grace, certain functions will be given to us as gifts. We all will have a gift, that is, a function, and we will be equipped with this gift. Then we ourselves will become living gifts given to the Body. It is by these living gifts given to the Body that the Body will be built up. I do ask you to pray for this. I do not want merely to be a teacher, passing on a teaching to you. Rather, I want to burden you with this matter. Please bring this to the Lord in prayer.
We have to dress ourselves neatly and properly, but we, especially the sisters, should not be preoccupied with our dress. To many women dressing becomes an occupation. We should care for our dress and use our money and energy only to the extent of being proper and neat, and no more (1 Tim. 2:9-10). Dress is a real temptation to women. It is the same throughout the whole world. Sisters, if you love the Lord and if you mean business with the Lord, simply dress yourselves to a proper and neat extent. Never spend one cent more or one minute more for dressing. In terms of money, time, and energy you have to limit yourselves. Then you will be released. You will see how much grace you will receive and how much your capacity to receive Christ will be enlarged, and you will see a bigger, higher function given to you as a gift. You will be equipped by this gift, and you will become a living gift to the Body. Then the Body will be enriched by you. The whole Body will be built up. This is something different from today’s Christianity. We are speaking here about the Lord’s recovery.
We must keep the practical things among us. We should dress ourselves properly, care for our home properly, raise our children properly, and do our business properly. However, we must always keep a limit, do these things only up to a certain extent, and not be tempted by the enemy to go further. We must keep ourselves within a limit in order to set ourselves free from any kind of occupation or preoccupation. Then the body will be offered completely, and our soul will be transformed. We will have the time to contact the Lord, and we will always be on fire in our spirit. Then we will have the capacity for more grace to come in.
While Brother Watchman Nee was studying in college, he gave at least half of his time for the Lord’s service and still excelled in his studies. We have to be balanced and limited. Then we will have more capacity for the Lord and His grace. Otherwise, we are merely speaking doctrines, listening and learning but without practice. All these things will be proved and tested by the Lord’s coming and at His judgment seat (2 Cor. 5:10). We must not reckon that our business is something only for ourselves. We need to say, “Lord, I am not here for my business. I am here for Your service. I am doing a business not for myself but for Your service.” I do believe that the Lord will recover a group of people who live on the earth in this way. They will come together to exalt Christ. They will experience Christ in a practical way, and all kinds of functions will come out.
Ephesians 4:7 seems to say something contrary to Romans 12. Romans 12 says that the gifts are according to grace, but this verse in Ephesians says, “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Here grace is given according to the gift. The gifts mentioned in Romans are the functions given to the members, but the gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4 are the members given to the Body. Gifts as functions are according to the grace, but grace is given according to the persons as gifts. Because you are a certain member, you need a certain amount of grace. If you are a big member, you need a bigger quantity of the “blood supply.” The blood supply is given according to our gift as a member.
This chapter also tells us that the bigger gifts are for perfecting the smaller ones (vv. 11-12). The bigger members are to perfect the smaller ones, not to replace them. In turn, the smaller members must learn to receive the perfecting of the bigger ones. Do not think that this is easy. It is easy to let others replace us, saying, “I do not want to do this. It is too troublesome. Let us hire a pastor to do it for us.” On the other hand, though, if we do something, we do not want to receive any kind of perfecting from others. If we do it, we feel that we know how to do it, and we want to do it by ourselves. If someone tries to perfect us, we may say, “I quit. You do it. Otherwise, keep away, let me do it, and don’t say anything.” It is the same with the brothers, the sisters, and even the younger ones. In the home the children never like the parents to say something. They want to do things independently. In the church, however, we must do things by being perfected by the bigger members. We need to function, but we must do it by being perfected by others.
In Ephesians 4 we again see the need for growth. Verse 13 speaks of a full-grown man, and verse 15 says that we grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ. In this chapter we also see the coordination of the Body and that all the functions, regardless of what kind they are, must be for the building up of the Body (v. 16). Grace is given according to the gift, the bigger gifts are for the perfecting of the smaller ones, and the smaller gifts have to function under the perfecting of the bigger ones. Moreover, all the members must grow, function in coordination, and be for the building up of the Body. Then we will function properly. This is on the positive side. Then on the negative side, there are the winds of teaching that blow the members away from the Head and the Body (v. 14). This is not the wind of heresy, but the wind of correct doctrine used too much in the wrong way to blow and carry away. To no longer be little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, we need to grow up into Christ. This is to have Christ increase in us in all things until we attain to a full-grown man.