The most precious thing to a Christian is that we have not only the Bible outwardly, but the life of God inwardly. Every life has its particular demand and taste. As God’s children, we have God’s life with its demand and taste in us. For example, a chicken has a life with a demand to eat. If we try to feed a chicken unclean things, however, it will refuse to eat because they do not match its taste. A duck likes water, and its life demands that it be in water because water matches its taste. Every life has its particular demand and taste. Similarly, as saved ones, we have Christ’s life in us, and His life demands that we receive supply and satisfaction in the church; furthermore, this demand also has a taste.
After I was saved and began to read the Bible, I compared the denomination where I was with the Bible, and I found that there were many situations that were not according to the record in the Bible. I still went to meetings, but I felt depressed and uneasy after every meeting. Before I was saved, I had always felt quite good after a meeting because the chapel was very quiet. It was much better than the theater. After I was saved, I began to pray, pursue, and have fellowship with the Lord, and I realized that the life in me truly had a demand and taste for receiving the supply of life. The messages in those meetings, however, could not supply me inwardly; I could not receive food there, and I was not satisfied inwardly.
One winter at Christmas, everyone was celebrating in the chapel. Although I was saved, because I was still young, I went to see the show with everyone else. Afterward, however, I felt very sad inwardly, and I decided that I would never go there again. This was due to the taste and demand of the life in me.
Within every saved person, there is a taste and demand related to life. This is just like the life in a little child that spontaneously causes him to want to eat. Furthermore, he has a certain taste. If he is given food that is stinky and tastes bitter, he will spew it out, but if he is given food that smells good and is sweet, he will eat all of it. The taste of life in genuine Christians tells us where we should meet to please the Lord—where there is spiritual food, where there is the Lord’s presence, and where God feeds His children. There is a demand and a taste in us. We cannot merely judge the matter of the church outwardly according to the doctrines of the Bible, but also we must judge it inwardly according to the taste and demand of life.
When I gave some messages in Tsingtao, someone asked, “Which Christian group is right? Every group says that they are right, so how do we judge?” I answered that we first need to measure a group with the Bible. If we cannot find anything wrong in this regard, we must judge it according to the demand and taste of life. For example, there are many groups in Tsingtao. If a group preaches the gospel, has the Lord’s name, and helps people to be saved but lacks the element of the Lord within, its testimony will not be bright. When a person is newly saved, he may feel good about going there because the Lord’s name is there and because he received help to be saved and know salvation. Nonetheless, since it gives only a little ground to the Lord, he cannot receive any deeper grace. Even though there is only a small amount of the element of Christ, he can still be satisfied with this kind of group because he is newly saved.
However, a need in him will increase, and when he grows and knows the Lord more, he will not feel satisfied in these meetings. One day he may go to another group, and it may be that this group gives the Lord a little more ground, and their leading ones may be consecrated and pursuing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. After this brother experiences consecration and pursues the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, he will feel full of the Lord’s presence and able to touch the Lord’s presence more than in the first group. This will temporarily satisfy his taste. However, after a while there will be a further need in him which cannot be satisfied, so he will look for another group. The third group may truly be more spiritual and have more of the Lord’s presence. But after a year or two, a need will again arise in him. Then he will find a fourth group that has more spiritual weight which satisfies him. Eventually, he will be led to where the Lord wants him to stay. The taste and demand of life will tell him that he has reached the highest place, the place where he can touch the Lord’s presence the most and receive the most life supply.
Full-time servants of the Lord should never argue with people about which place is right or wrong. We need only to show them the principles of being according to the Bible and according to the inner demand of life. If people fear the Lord, they will bring the matter of the church to the Bible and resolve it according to the Bible. They will also take care of the taste and demand of the life within them; they will go wherever this life requires.
In 1947 in Shanghai, there was a brother who often criticized the church. In one meeting he was openly critical of the church. After he spoke, I stood up and said, “Brother, I dare not say that we do not have the shortcomings which you spoke of, but if you can find a place in all of Shanghai that is better and more correct, I will surely follow you.” He shook his head and stated that he could not find such a place. Then I said that he should stop his criticizing if he could not find such a place. This word seems so simple and unsophisticated, but I want to present it to you because it is the simplest and easiest way to measure the matter of the church.
On one hand, with a godly fear we should put aside everything that is not according to the Bible, and on the other hand, we must touch the inward sense to see whether we are supplied and can touch the Lord’s presence in fellowship. We cannot merely measure everything according to the Bible in an outward way and ignore the existence of the inward spiritual reality and the Lord’s presence. We need to know the Lord’s Spirit and life, and we need to allow the Lord to rule so that the cross can break us more deeply. If we do not have this, we merely have some outward rituals, and we are according to the Bible merely in an outward way. By themselves, these things do not have much value. We should allow the cross to break us inwardly and to dig into us more deeply so that Christ can have more ground in us and so that the Spirit can have more authority in us. Then when people come into our meetings, they will be able to touch the living Christ and the heavenly reality. Only this is the genuine church.
Outwardly, the church must be completely according to the Bible; inwardly, the church must be completely filled with Christ and the Spirit. If we want to test whether a church is according to God’s desire, we must test according to these two aspects. We need to use the Bible outwardly and the Spirit inwardly; we have the light of the Bible without and life’s demands and tastes within. We should not despise either of these two aspects; both aspects are principles for solving the question of the church.