Now we must see something regarding the standard for testing the requirements of life. We have spoken of the fact that life requires us to have fellowship. However, when we go to a Christian group, the people we meet often do not match us, even though we are open and eager to have fellowship. We do not have fellowship with them and are even unable to have fellowship with them. At such a moment, we should examine the reason for this. We should examine it from two sides. First, we should check whether there is a problem with us that prevents us from fellowshipping with others. If we do not have any problems, such as loving the world, living in sin, or caring for the flesh, then the problem is not with us. Although people in this group may say that they are Christians, we need to check whether they allow the Lord to reign in them and whether they live in the Lord. This is a very practical matter.
In the spring of 1937 I was invited by a Christian group to speak. After I gave the message, they invited me to fellowship with them. At the time I felt as if I was in the Arctic Ocean, because they did not understand me, and I did not understand them; we were totally incompatible with one another. Nevertheless, they spread a feast for me, and some even said, “Mr. Lee, the message you gave truly helped us. We truly appreciate you.” However, deep inside I was grieving because we could not truly blend and fellowship with one another. Even though they called themselves Christians and were a Christian group, I realized that they did not live in the Lord or pursue Him enough, despite the fact that some of them had the Lord’s life. I went back to northern China after the meeting, and later I heard from others that an elder and some of the deacons and preachers in that group did not understand my words. Then I understood why we did not have anything to fellowship about and could not fellowship with one another, even though they praised my message.
The life in us truly requires others to live in the spirit so that there can be fellowship. Hence, we should never assume that it is enough for some people to say that they are Christians or that they are a Christian group. This is not enough for us to believe them and conclude that they are a church according to the Bible. We must apply the requirements of our inner life, one of which is the requirement of fellowship. Based on this demand, we must check the genuine condition of any group. What is their condition before the Lord? If we live before the Lord, love the Lord, and reject the world and sin, yet we feel uncomfortable and cannot fellowship with them, this shows that they have lost Christ and the ground of the church and that the Holy Spirit is not ruling in them. They may have the Bible in their hands, but the word of the Bible does not have much ground among them or in them. The requirement for fellowship enables us to test whether a Christian group is taking the way that pleases the Lord.
The second requirement of life is that we serve others. Sometimes when we go to a Christian group, we cannot serve even though the life in us wants to serve. We may want to serve, but we may not be allowed to serve or our service may be rejected. On the one hand, every saved person has the desire to exercise his gift and supply others according to the requirement of life. On the other hand, some Christian groups can hinder the believers from manifesting their true function according to the requirement of life. We may be in a certain church and sense the requirement of life to serve others, but if we are not allowed to exercise our function and service, there are definitely some problems in the church.
However, before coming to such a conclusion, we need to check to see whether we have any motives in our service. Are we coveting something? Are we serving by our flesh, preference, or self? If any of these things are present in us, the church is correct to reject our service. However, if the church rejects us and our service, even though we do not have anything of the flesh and self nor any motive, covetousness, or preference in our service, we can conclude that this church is not according to the Holy Spirit. It is merely an organization of Christianity. A church that allows the Holy Spirit to exercise authority and has the presence of Christ will be eager to let the saints function and serve. This kind of church affords the greatest opportunity for the saints to minister the grace they have received. As they manifest their functions in the church, they benefit the church.
It is impossible for us to manifest our spiritual function in organized Christianity. In 1938 I was in northern China, and I met a Western missionary from the China Inland Mission. He was a little younger than I, and he loved the Lord very much. He was an American, and he lived in a big guest house owned by the China Inland Mission where many other Western missionaries, who were mainly from England, also lived. We did not know one another, but after fellowshipping a couple times, we began to know one another in the Lord. One day he came to fellowship with me and said, “Brother Lee, there is something that I cannot tell anyone, but I feel that I can tell you. Deep within I am very clear how the Lord wants me to serve, but everyone in my mission has risen up against me. Although I tell you these things, I still cannot say too much.” He told me that he had received some spiritual things and that he wanted to supply and minister what he had received to people in the Holy Spirit. However, he encountered difficulty and persecution in his mission; he was bothered to such an extent that he needed to come and fellowship with me, and he asked me to pray with him. At that moment I became clear that there were some problems in his mission because his service to the saints through the Spirit was encountering opposition and being hindered. His mission was not under the authority of the Holy Spirit, and it had lost Christ’s presence and the Holy Spirit’s operation.
If we look only at a church outwardly, we may find nothing that is against the Bible outwardly; nevertheless, we still have to look at its inward condition to see whether it is ruled by man or whether the world has any ground in it. When we live in life, life will require us to serve, but if we encounter opposition and difficulties in a certain place, we can conclude that it has lost Christ’s presence. If we live before the Lord, reject our flesh, and allow the Spirit to rule, but we are still unable to serve, we can conclude that the Christian group is not in the Holy Spirit, nor does it exalt Christ. We need to see the many aspects of the requirements of life.
Once I was in Taiyuan in the Shansi Province, and I ate something very sour. I thought it was vinegar, but after tasting real vinegar, I realized that the two were quite different. Many things that appear to be the same may not be what we think they are; we can know if there is a difference only by tasting them. We need to see that the taste of life is accurate. One kind of vinegar looks similar to grape juice, but if we taste them we will know the difference; one is sweet, and the other is sour.
The church is not merely a matter of letters or doctrines according to the Bible. It is also a matter of life. When we live in the Spirit and in life, the sense of life, the demand of life, and the taste of life within will tell us whether the activity of our Christian group is of life, of Christ, and of spiritual reality. We will know inwardly; this is a principle.
Although life requires us to supply others and for us to be supplied by others, we sometimes cannot receive any supply or give any supply to others in certain meetings. For example, we may attend a Holy Communion meeting, but the element of ordinances and the religious atmosphere may be much greater than the supply we receive. It may be so strong that we do not receive any supply at all. We may also be in a prayer meeting and hear some very long prayers but not touch any spiritual reality in them. Thus, we can conclude that this church is not proper.
Although some groups call themselves Christian, we can sense only human activity, human ruling, and human position there. The requirements of life demand something spiritual, but there is nothing spiritual there. The life in us requires us to exalt Christ, but Christ is not exalted there. In these groups there is nothing spiritual; instead, we can see only human methods, organizations, relationships, and positions and even human ability, piety, and reputation. We cannot touch Christ and the Holy Spirit’s work there. This indicates that these groups do not have the presence of Christ and that they are not under the Holy Spirit’s authority. Thus, we can conclude that they are not churches according to God’s life.
We must see one principle: no matter where we go, we should not judge whether a Christian group is the church, whether it pleases the Lord, and whether it is standing on the ground of the church merely by appearance or outward things. We need to love the Lord, turn to Him, reject the flesh, and not love the world. When we live this way before the Lord, we will be able to discern through the sense of life whether a group allows the Holy Spirit to rule in them, whether they have Christ’s presence, and whether they are truly the church.
We also need to discern the church according to the Bible. In this way, no matter where we go, we will always have a compass and a standard to help us know whether a church has the Lord’s presence and the Holy Spirit’s ruling and whether it is in the position and way of the church.