Every point of the final four chapters of this book is crucial and vital to our present situation in the Lord’s recovery. In this chapter we want to see the matter of having one way for one goal. We must be deeply impressed that what is revealed in the four Gospels plus Acts is the one way to carry out God’s one goal. In the four Gospels, God’s Christ was completed. Then in the Acts this completed Christ of God was propagated. The spread of God’s kingdom was taking place according to God’s economy, and this spreading is by one way. There are not two ways to practice the New Testament economy revealed in the first five books of the New Testament. The one completed Christ was preached and propagated for the spreading of the kingdom of God by one way according to God’s eternal economy.
There is one way to carry out God’s unique goal. The saints in the early church life in the book of Acts were endeavoring to reach the one unique goal to complete God’s eternal economy. This one unique goal is the building up of the Body of Christ that God may have a corporate expression on the earth with a view to the coming New Jerusalem as God’s eternal corporate expression (Rev. 21:2). The New Jerusalem is the total conclusion of the sixty-six books of the divine revelation and is the eternal goal in God’s eternal economy. There is only one way to reach this goal. Peter was in this way with all his co-workers, and many of the saints at his time were in this way. Then Paul continued in this way with all his co-workers and with many Gentile believers. Paul’s co-worker, Barnabas, was in this one way for a while, and he was the one who brought Paul into this one way (Acts 9:26-27; 11:22-26). He and Paul were laboring in this one way until he dissented from Paul (Acts 15:35-39). After this incident Barnabas no longer appears in the divine record in Acts of the Lord’s move in God’s New Testament economy. After the record of Barnabas’s contention with Paul in Acts 15, we read the names only of Paul and his co-workers. Barnabas’s name is not mentioned again in the Acts. To be mentioned in the divine record positively, one had to take the one way for God’s one, unique goal.
The Epistles show us that different ways crept in among the saints and the churches. The first Epistle in the New Testament is the book of Romans, which is concerning the Christian life for the church life. At the end of this Epistle, Paul warned the believers to “keep a watchful eye on those who make divisions and causes of falling contrary to the teaching which you have learned” (16:17). The first chapter after Romans 16 in the New Testament is 1 Corinthians 1. This chapter of the New Testament shows us that divisions came into the church through different preferences (vv. 10, 12). Some of the saints preferred Paul’s ministry, others preferred Apollos’s ministry, and still others preferred Cephas’s ministry. These different, personal preferences brought in different ways. The different ways produced by man’s preferences and opinions always cause divisions.
Not only did different opinions and preferences come into the church life but also different teachings. In 1 Timothy 1:3-4 Paul charged Timothy to remain in Ephesus with the one purpose of charging certain ones not to teach differently. According to these verses, to teach differently is to teach things that are not according to God’s economy. Verse 3 speaks of different teachings, and verse 4 speaks of God’s economy. God’s economy is the unique thing in the Lord’s recovery. What we preach and teach should be God’s economy. We should not stress anything other than God’s economy. To stress anything other than God’s economy is to teach differently.
The truth of baptism is a part of God’s economy, but if this truth is stressed apart from God’s economy, it will cause division. The matter of baptism has caused divisions in today’s Christendom. The Presbyterians practice baptism by sprinkling while the Baptists practice baptism by immersion. Even among those who believe in baptism by immersion there are different concepts concerning the method of baptism. Divisions have been produced by the different ways, opinions, and arguments concerning baptism. All the different ways for Christians to serve and to do work for God have caused divisions. Whatever is recorded in the holy revelation of the divine Word is something concerning God’s economy. But many of these items have been stressed apart from God’s economy, and many of the Lord’s children have stressed different items according to their personal preference or taste. The result has been division after division.
In the early 1800s under the leadership of John Nelson Darby, the Brethren in England were raised up. Through the Brethren, the Lord was able to unlock many of the truths in His holy Word, and what the Lord accomplished through them was marvelous. Within a short period of time, however, the Brethren were divided again and again. Even while Darby was still alive, there was a division between him and Benjamin Newton. There was also a division between Darby and George Müller, who became famous for his work with orphans and his living by faith. Today there are many divisions among the Brethren. One sister who grew up in a Brethren family told me that the assembly she met with was divided into two assemblies over whether to use certain musical instruments in their worship service.
I came to the United States near the end of 1962 to begin the ministry, and the Lord began to move and spread. In the church in Los Angeles, there was a substantial increase. Among the believers whom the Lord was gathering in Los Angeles were four different groups: the brothers who had been in the recovery for years from China, the saints who followed the famous writers of the inner life line, the saints who came out of the Brethren, and the saints who were Pentecostal. One evening in Glendale, California, in the home of a Pentecostal brother, we were all meeting together, and the saints were happy. They were shouting and singing. Suddenly one of the brothers from the Pentecostal group proposed that all of the four different groups come together. All the saints happily said “Amen” to this proposal. They all turned to me for a response, but I was very sober.
I told them that it was very good for Christians to come together and that every Christian who loves the Lord wants to practice the Body life revealed in Romans 12. At that time the Body ministry was a popular term among many believers. I admonished them that anyone who wanted to practice the Body life according to Romans 12 needed to go on to Romans 14. Romans 14 tells us how we need to receive the believers according to God’s receiving and not according to doctrinal concepts. In verses 2 and 3 of this chapter Paul says, “One believes that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him.” Verses 5 and 6 say, “One judges one day above another, another judges every day alike. Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.” Paul wrote this to the saints in Rome so that they would not be divided over doctrinal concepts and preferences. They had preferences in diet and preferences in keeping days. I pointed this out to the saints who wanted to come together, and I questioned them about the matter of speaking in tongues. I asked them if those who spoke in tongues would be willing to receive those who did not speak in tongues, and if those who did not speak in tongues would be willing to receive those who did. They responded that they were willing to do this. Everyone was happy, and they declared that they were all one in Christ. They agreed to come together, but I admonished them not to forget my word concerning Romans 12 and 14.
I was able to be with the saints on the first Lord’s Day that they met together, and this meeting was very good. In a sense, that meeting was like a wedding day in which everyone was happy. The following Lord’s Day, I was away and could not meet with the saints. That Monday, I received a phone call from one of the brothers from the Brethren group. He said that he was unhappy about the Pentecostal activities in the meeting. The Pentecostal saints brought in their tambourines, and this offended the orthodox Brethren. When I came back to Los Angeles, this brother from the Brethren group told me that I had to do something about the tambourines in the meeting. This brother had no problem with having a piano in the meetings so I asked him, “In the eyes of God, what is the difference between a tambourine and a piano?” He responded that there was no difference in the eyes of God, but he still insisted that he did not like tambourines in the meeting. Eventually, these groups disbanded. Many of the saints could not stay in oneness because they could not give up their preference, their choice, their taste. This story illustrates the real situation of today’s Christianity. If each one of us practices according to his choice and his taste, how can we go on together? We must take one way for one goal.
From the very beginning of the recovery in 1922, we never changed the one way or the one goal. We have only had one way for one goal. The Lord’s recovery has suffered from different people’s opinions. Some brothers tried to take the way of the Lord’s recovery, but they eventually began to express their opinions. They came to the Lord’s recovery, and then they left because they wanted to take their own way. In order for us to be preserved in the Lord, we need to see the one way for the one goal.