Thus far, we have seen that in God’s economy there is one goal and that God has ordained one way to reach this goal. Furthermore, to have the one way for the one goal we must be in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles. One way for one goal cannot be seen in today’s Christianity because they are not in the sphere of the apostles’ teaching and fellowship. There are many different teachings in today’s Christianity. All these different teachings bring people into different fellowships, and the different fellowships are divisions in confusion. In the Lord’s recovery, we have been brought to the one way for the one goal according to the teaching of the apostles to be in the unique fellowship of the apostles. The preserving factor of our being kept in one way for one goal is the apostles’ teaching and fellowship. If we remain, live, and have our being in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, we can have one way for one goal. Otherwise, we will be misled into a divisive situation and have no sensation that we are in something wrong. We can serve God according to His New Testament economy only by taking the teaching of the apostles and by remaining in the fellowship of the apostles.
In this chapter we want to fellowship concerning the New Testament ministry and ministers. The ministry of the New Testament economy is singular and unique, but the ministers of the New Testament economy are plural. In January of 1937 Brother Nee gave a series of messages on the church life in which he told us that all the gifted ones, such as the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers, were given by the Head to the Body for the work of the ministry. He spoke strongly concerning the work of the ministry. In 1969 I was invited to a certain locality where the responsible brother stressed that he accepted all ministries. I enumerated some different “ministries” and asked him if he could receive them. He was forced to say that he accepted all ministries selectively. Although he would not say it, this was an admission that he did not receive all ministries. Even the denominations in Christianity do not receive all ministries. The Southern Baptists could never accept the ministry of the Presbyterians, while the Presbyterians could never accept the ministries of the Episcopalians or Lutherans. Neither would the Roman Catholic Church accept the ministries of the Protestant denominations.
As the recovery is increasing and spreading because of the new way to visit people by knocking on their doors to get them to believe and be baptized, the door is wide open for different opinions and different teachings. Some may ask how our present situation can be managed. From the very beginning of the recovery the Lord has shown and instructed us not to control the saints. Thank the Lord that we have never controlled the saints through the years. I can testify that in all the years I was with Brother Nee, he never controlled anyone. I hate control. I gave three elders’ trainings from 1984 through 1986, in which I charged the elders repeatedly not to control others. To control others is ugly. To control others is not a glory, but a great shame.
Some may wonder, “Since we don’t exercise control, won’t there be confusion?” We must always remember the Lord’s word in Proverbs 29:18: “Without a vision the people cast off restraint” (ASV). We need a clear vision. Man should not control, but the vision of God’s New Testament economy should exercise control over each one of us. We all have to be under the control of the revelation of God’s New Testament economy.
God has an economy to accomplish something for His eternal plan. God revealed His economy to His chosen ones such as Peter, John, James, Paul, and others who were working with Paul. These apostles and prophets received a commission from God. God charged them with a commission, and this commission is the ministry. The ministry is God’s commission both in the Old and the New Testaments. In the Old Testament God came down to Mount Sinai and charged Moses with His commission to decree the law. That commission, the ministry of the law, was the ministry of the Old Testament. The ministry of the law in the Old Testament was singular and unique. It was the ministry, not the ministries. In 2 Corinthians Paul calls the ministry of the Old Testament the ministry of letter (3:6) and the ministry of condemnation (3:9). From the time of Moses many taught the law. The teachers of the law and the prophets carried out the one ministry of the law in the Old Testament, not many ministries. In 2 Corinthians 3 Paul compared that ministry with the New Testament ministry. The ministry of the law was singular and unique and the New Testament ministry is also singular and unique. The ministry of the law was the ministry of condemnation, while the New Testament ministry is the ministry of the Spirit and the ministry of righteousness (justification).
When the Lord Jesus was on this earth, He chose twelve apostles and gave them a commission, which was the ministry. In Acts 1 Peter refers to the commission the Lord gave them as “this ministry” (vv. 17, 25). Though the apostles were twelve in number, their ministry was uniquely one. All the apostles carried out the same ministry to bear the testimony not of any religion, doctrine, or practice, but uniquely of the incarnated, resurrected, and ascended Jesus Christ, the Lord of all. The apostles did not have twelve respective ministries, but they all had one ministry. In 2 Corinthians 4:1 Paul said, “Therefore, having this ministry, as we have received mercy we do not lose heart.” Paul and his co-workers, the apostles of Christ, had one unique ministry—the ministry of the new covenant for the accomplishing of God’s New Testament economy. In recent years the Lord has made the matter of the unique New Testament ministry very clear to us (see Elders’ Training, Book One: The Ministry of the New Testament). In the New Testament economy of God there is only one ministry. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:11-12 that even the perfected and equipped saints, not only the gifted persons like the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers, do the work of the ministry. The gifted ones perfect all the saints to do the work of the ministry that they are doing. We all are doing one work. Although there are millions of members of Christ, we all are doing the unique work of the ministry. The many members do not bear their own ministry. There are many ministries in today’s degraded Christianity, but there are not many ministries in the New Testament. There is only one, unique New Testament ministry.
The ministry is to minister the very essence, the very substance, of God’s New Testament economy. The New Testament ministry works to minister the very substance of God’s New Testament economy into people’s spirit, and this ministry is the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of justification, and the ministry of life. This ministry is unique. You cannot say that you have a ministry different from the ministry Paul had. If you do have a ministry different from the apostle Paul, your ministry will result in division. If each of us had different ministries, this would mean that we were building something of ourselves for ourselves. These different ministries would cause many divisions. In today’s Christianity different ministries become divisions.