The Jews invented Judaism based upon the Old Testament, and Christians invented Christianity based upon the New Testament in addition to the Old Testament. However, if we read the Bible, we can find the terms Christ and Christians (which means “Christ-men”), but we cannot find the term Christianity. This is because Christianity is man’s invention and is apart from Christ.
Then what is the chief concern of Christianity? We should not say that Christianity is primarily concerned with Christ, because this is not the case. Christianity is primarily concerned with religious doctrines. Every religion has its doctrines. I would like to ask all of you whether or not you are in Christianity. If I asked you, and you said that you were not in any religion at all, I would not believe you. My disbelief has a basis. For example, your worship of the Lord is according to a schedule and a procedure. When you arrive at the meeting hall, you sit quietly and wait until a responsible brother calls a hymn before you sing. After singing the hymn, you know that the singing will be followed by prayer. Then after the prayer there is always a brother who stands up to read the Bible and give a message. Is this religion or not? Surely it is religion, but what kind of religion is this? This is not the Christian religion; this is a “self-religion.”
I hope that you will not be offended, but as your brother, I must speak frankly and truthfully. I am afraid that many brothers and sisters are still in a self-religion. For example, some may say, “I do not agree with disorderly meetings in which there is yelling and shouting. I would rather have quiet meetings.” This is a kind of self-religion. At the same time, those who like to shout may say, “When we meet, we must shout, because if there is no shouting, the meetings are not exciting enough.” This is another kind of self-religion. The form of religion adopted by those who prefer to be quiet is like the religion of the Pharisees, and the form of religion adopted by those who shout is like the religion of John the Baptist. You may have thrown out the old religion of Christianity, but you have brought in a new religion. If you strongly advocate quietness, then you have a quiet religion. If you insist on shouting, then you have a shouting religion. Both are forms of religion.
You may say, “Brother Lee, you are too hard on us. Did you not bring in the practice of shouting among us?” I did bring in this practice. This can be likened to John the Baptist’s introduction of the practice of baptism. However, just as John the Baptist did not form a baptism religion, I did not lead you into a shouting religion. Neither shouting nor quietness should be a regulation. In fact, we should not have any regulations.
Perhaps you may ask, “If we should not have any regulations, then what should we do?” By asking what you should do, you are again being religious. My answer for you is, “Do not do anything.” Having received this answer, I know that you will want to ask, “How do we not do anything?” You must realize that in asking for a method, you are doing what religious people do. Our focus should not be on methods.
In Matthew 11:18-19 the Lord Jesus said, “John came neither eating nor drinking....The Son of Man came eating and drinking.” John was the Lord’s forerunner. Since John abstained from eating and drinking, logically the Lord should have done likewise. However, the Lord Jesus did not do as John did because the Lord was not under any regulations.
Perhaps you may say, “You are making things too difficult for us, so we give up. We will not come to the meetings anymore. It is too difficult here! We changed from being quiet to being loud, but now that we are loud, you still do not approve of us. You are not only against being quiet; you are also against shouting. What do you really want?” Dear brothers and sisters, you are absolutely right. We do not care for regulations; we care only for the Lord. How can we care only for the Lord? We can do this by being in the Spirit. Our Lord is the living God and the living Spirit. The entire New Testament talks about the Spirit and reveals that the Spirit eventually becomes the seven Spirits (Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6). Today the Spirit is the seven Spirits, the sevenfold intensified Spirit.
Today Christians have turned the Lord into a religious leader and the church into a religion. Although we have left the sects, denominations, and old Christianity, we have formed a new religion—a self-religion. If we read the publications of Watchman Nee, we will realize that he had this feeling many years ago. For example, he said that the practice of having one man preach a sermon every Lord’s Day morning is a custom of the Gentiles, the nations. When he spoke of the nations, he meant the denominations. He said that we should get rid of the pulpit on the Lord’s Day and go out to preach the gospel. His speaking concerning this was published in 1948, but it was not until 1968 that we got rid of the pulpit. The Lord’s Day pulpit was so difficult to get rid of because everyone was accustomed to the old practice.
Dear brothers and sisters, I hope that you can understand what I am saying. The Lord is not our religious leader, and He did not give us a religion. His words in the Bible are not mere doctrines and teachings. All of His words are spirit. The Lord said, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). The Lord Himself is Spirit, and what comes out from Him is spirit. Today as we are serving God in the new covenant to fulfill our ministry, we should not be in the realm of doctrine and the letter. We need to see that our Lord is the Spirit and that we need to be in the realm of the spirit.