First, we need to see the vision of Christ; second, the vision of the church; and third, the vision of the Body. With respect to each of these visions, there is a particular hindrance.
Formerly you did not see the vision of Christ, but now you see this vision. What kept you from seeing the vision of Christ before now? What hindered you, and what hinders others today, from seeing the vision of Christ? The answer is that people are hindered from seeing Christ by the various substitutes. Many things are substitutions for Christ, and these are the hindrance to seeing the vision of Christ.
Some may say that divisions are what hinder them from seeing the vision of the church. To speak like this is to speak in a doctrinal way. I prefer to talk about this matter in an experiential way. People oppose the church, especially the ground of the church, because of the cost involved in coming to the church ground. Some claim that they cannot understand this matter of the ground of the church. Actually, they do understand it, but they are unwilling to pay the price to meet on the church ground. They may offer an excuse, saying, "I do not like to be so narrow. I love all the children of God, and I want to be broad-minded. I cannot understand this strange speaking about the ground of the church." This sounds good, but it is actually a cloak that covers the unwillingness to pay the price. People talk like this because of the cost involved. The Lord knows and their conscience knows that they are not faithful to the Lord in the matter of the cost of practicing the church life on the proper ground.
We should not argue with such people. When people came to argue with Brother Nee, he would smile and say, "You can argue with me, but there is something within you that agrees with me." Today, people may argue with us about the ground of the church, but something within them takes sides with us regarding this. Their conscience knows that they are hindered by the cost, by the price. For more than thirty years we have seen people come and go. In each case they were frustrated by the cost.
Whereas the substitutes are the hindrance to seeing the vision of Christ and the cost is the hindrance to seeing the vision of the church, the hindrance to seeing the vision of the Body and to practicing the Body life is the self. Yes, we are practicing the church life on the proper ground of the church, but are we built up together? Are we rightly related to one another? Are we fitly framed together? We meet together, but we may not be built up together. We have the meeting, but we do not have the building. We need a vision of the Body, but this vision is at the cost of the self. If we are to be built up in the Body, the self must go. This is why we also need to see (in the next chapter) the vision of the self. The self is a problem to the Body.