Let us consider in more detail the matter of ordinances as veils. Sometimes in our meetings we shout praises to the Lord. Visitors may be troubled by our shouting. They may even think that our enthusiasm in the meetings matches that of a crowd at a sporting event. Such a criticism of shouting comes from an ordinance regarding meetings. Others may criticize the meetings because they see no exercise of such gifts as speaking in tongues. This indicates that they have an ordinance concerning gifts. Still others may react to the way certain of the saints dress. This indicates that they have an ordinance concerning the proper way to dress for a church meeting. Let us drop all the ordinances and come back to the living Person of Christ.
In message after message we desire to do just one thing: to point out your need for the living Christ. You need to be sanctified, cleansed, nourished, and cherished by Him. Nevertheless, no matter how much we emphasize the need to experience Christ as our life and our person, many are still preoccupied with secondary matters related to our meetings or our practice of the church life, because they are still veiled by their ordinances. Therefore, we wish to declare that we are not here for any particular practice. We are here for the wonderful Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Over the years Christians have been divided by various ordinances and are still being divided by ordinances today. For example, to insist upon the practice of pray-reading is wrong. We are not a church of pray-reading. However, to reject pray-reading is also wrong. In either case, there would be an ordinance regarding pray-reading. We need to turn from all ordinances to the Christ who sanctifies, cleanses, nourishes, and cherishes us.
It is a mistake to come to Los Angeles with the intention of learning how we practice the church life. Because we are constantly changing, not even we ourselves know the way to have the church life. Prior to 1966 we did not have pray-reading, and before 1968 we did not have the practice of calling on the name of the Lord. Perhaps after another period of time, the Lord will show us something further that we should practice. To insist that we know the way to have the church life is to cause trouble.
Christians are easily divided over practices. Some like to shout praises to the Lord, but others oppose shouting. The same is true regarding quiet meetings or speaking in tongues. If we have truly seen the church, then we shall realize that all ordinances regarding practices must be set aside, for all such ordinances are divisive. Many dear saints love the Lord and seek Him, but they do not realize the divisiveness of their ordinances.
God’s economy is so simple: it is just to work Christ into us so that He may live in us and we may live by Him. If we take the way of God’s economy, the church will eventually become glorious, for Christ, the glory of God, will continually burn His glory into us. We are not here for a particular practice or way of having the church life. We are here only for Christ. The church is the issue of the enjoyment of Christ. The proper church life is a matter of us all enjoying Christ and then coming together to express Him, without insisting upon any particular way of expressing Christ. What we need in the Lord’s recovery today is not a particular practice—it is only the living Christ.
Concerning the living Christ, we have pointed out that in His coming back Christ will come out from within us. He will spread within us, saturate us with Himself, and swallow up every part of our inward being. Then He will come out through us. When some hear of this, they may argue that the New Testament teaches that Christ will descend from the heavens. Yes, a number of verses tell us that the Lord is in the heavens and that in His coming He will descend from the heavens. However, for many, the teaching of the Lord’s coming from heaven has become a religious preoccupation. Therefore we must also pay attention to the verses which emphasize the fact that Christ is in us. For example, Colossians 3:4 says that when Christ appears we shall appear with Him in glory, but Colossians 1:27 says that Christ in us is the hope of glory.