When I was first saved, I loved the Lord and His Word. As a young man, I loved the Bible and made up my mind I would come to understand every verse of it. I would spend my whole life on this! Now I have learned that the Bible is too profound for me ever to fully grasp. At the beginning I thought I was progressing quite well in my efforts. I would hunt for books on the Bible and would go wherever the Bible was taught. Eventually I was caught by the Brethren. When I started going to their meetings, they were preaching on the seventy weeks in Daniel (9:24-27). In all my years in Christianity, from the time I was born, I had never heard of these seventy weeks. I was fascinated. Later on, I heard about ten toes, four beasts, and ten horns. I began to study these strange, yet very scriptural subjects. In the years I spent among the Brethren I do not recall ever hearing a message on Christ. One day I realized how poor my condition was. I had learned all about the prophecies, but I was dead. I was powerless. In my disappointment I turned. The Lord gave me a turn away from the ten toes, the ten horns, the four beasts, and the seventy weeks!
I turned to Christ, to the Spirit, to life, and to the church! Since 1932 my attention has been focused on these matters. In message after message these are the subjects you hear in the Lord’s recovery. I must warn you young people not to be distracted from these to other things. You may be approached by some who will ask you what the meaning is of the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls. If you do not know, they will make you feel your knowledge of the Bible is too restricted, that you know only about Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church. Young people are eager for knowledge. If you are distracted by prophecy, you will not hold the Head. I do not mean that you should not study other things in the Bible. You should study them, but you must see that all these other things are minor. The major things in the Bible are Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church.
It is easy to be distracted. I know of some who have been distracted to keeping the Sabbath. Instead of caring for Christ, the all-inclusive Spirit, the divine life, and the church, they talk about the seventh day. Others are distracted about the way of baptism. You may be asked by some preacher what kind of baptism the church practices: sprinkling or immersion, in what name, forwards or backwards, how many times. How would you answer? Will you be distracted? A sister who attended a Lord’s table meeting in Los Angeles afterwards wrote me a letter objecting to our use of wine. How would you have answered her? I have spent quite some time studying whether wine or grape juice should be used for the Lord’s table. There is something to be said on both sides. You cannot make a firm decision. What is the use, then, of arguing about such matters? Head coverings for the sisters is another question you may well be asked about. If you say you believe in head coverings, they may go on to ask what color, what shape, and what size. Turn away from all these distracting considerations!
My word to you is: hold the Head! Christianity is in thousands of divisions because of these distractions. When any such questions are presented to you, you can inwardly pray: “Lord, have mercy upon me. Help me to hold You as the Head. I don’t want to be ensnared by these distracting questions. I would hold the Head.”
When Paul wrote of “not holding the Head” in Colossians 2:19, he was referring to those who were distracting the church in Colossae with Judaism, Greek philosophy, and Gnosticism. It is only when you hold the Head that you are kept from such distractions and can correspond to the ministry of Christ in the heavens. As long as you hold the Head, you will grow. The reason so few Christians correspond to Christ’s heavenly ministry is that they have been distracted from holding the Head.
Ephesians 4:14 says, “That we may be no longer babes tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error.” The wind that carries the babes about is teaching. It is not a wind of heresy, but even proper, scriptural doctrine, which can carry us away—away from Christ, the Head, and away from the church, the Body. This wind is part of Satan’s system to deceive the believers and lure them from Christ. How important it is to hold the Head and not allow any doctrine, however biblical, to distract us from Him!
As we hold the Head, we shall grow up into Him (Eph. 4:15). Gradually we shall see that, in one thing after another, we are not in Christ. As we see, we can pray, “Lord, take over. In this matter I give You the ground.” This is the practical growth in life. We belong to Christ, but in many things we are not in Him. In those things He has no ground in us. In our way of talking, He may have no ground. As we hold the Head, we shall realize that our speaking is not in Christ. If we ask the Lord to take over in this area, we shall grow in life regarding our talking.
Many Christians love the Lord, but He does not have the ground in them because they are not holding Christ. When they hold Him, the Spirit within may speak to them about their clothing. If they say, “Lord, I give You the ground to deal with my way of dressing,” then He will come in and take over. The same may be true of the way a brother treats his wife or of a sister’s attitude toward her husband. They may love the Lord, but in their marital relationship they will not give Him one inch. If they hold the Head, the Spirit within will tell them that Christ has no ground in their attitude. As they open and give the Lord the ground, He will occupy them more and more.
To thus give ground to the Lord in your daily life is the proper way to grow in life. You do not grow by gathering scriptural knowledge. To grow in life is to let the Lord take over in every practical matter. As you do this in matter after matter, attitude after attitude, you will grow in those particular areas. The Lord will gradually fill you and possess your whole being. Then you will mature. By this growth in life your function will emerge, and the Body will be built up. This is a deeper and finer correspondence to the Lord’s heavenly ministry. It is by this means that the churches are being built up.
May we all see that in God’s economy nothing counts but Christ. We have been transferred into Him. He is our portion, our enjoyment, and our life. He is the life-giving Spirit. He is to be everything to us. Such a vision will preserve us. We shall not allow any doctrine to distract us; doctrines are like wild beasts waiting to devour us! We must hold the Head with fear and trembling. Then the Spirit day after day will keep speaking to us: “In this thing you still keep the ground for yourself. In that other thing you have never given in to the Lord. In this area you have not given the Lord an inch of ground. In that area you are still holding out.”
If we are holding the Head, we shall respond, “Lord, in this I give You the ground. In that I open for You to take over.” Such a response results in our growth in life. Christ increases in us by His being able to take more ground. Then our function will come forth, and the Body will be built up. This vital correspondence to the Lord’s heavenly ministry is finer than the outward move in life to bring people into God’s move. To correspond to Him in this deeper way makes possible the building up of His Body.