Prayer: Lord, how we thank You for this time. We do worship You for all that You are to us. Lord, we have our confidence in You that You are the best Perfecter. Lord, apart from You we can do nothing. O Lord Jesus! O Lord Jesus! We surely need You. We need Your perfecting, Lord. We just humble ourselves before You, confessing we are nothing and we have nothing. Lord, we can do nothing, so we are seeking before You. We are looking unto You, Lord, that You would keep Your promise to be one spirit with us. Lord, we even claim the fact that You are one spirit with us. Lord, we stand on this fact to ask You to be one with our speaking, to be one with this meeting, and to be one with every attendant. Thank You, Lord, for the seeking hearts and for the open spirits. Lord, do visit every one through Your message. Do give us another touch. Lord, we need Your touch day after day. Our word is just in vain, but we trust in Your touching. Touch us in a deeper way. Touch us in every way, leaving nothing within us untouched. Lord, do cover all of us with Your prevailing blood. Lord, may You fill the hall with Yourself and even with the strong conviction that You are with us. Lord, we do look unto You desperately. Amen. Lord, thank You for Your cleansing blood, and thank You for the anointing Spirit. Even we thank You for Your precious name. Amen.
In the last message we saw that nothing but the Spirit can kill our opinion. We also saw that in order to apply the Spirit we need a clear vision that Christ has to be everything practically to us in the church life. We need a clear view that in the church life nothing counts but Christ Himself. When we have such a clear view, it gives the ground for the Spirit to come in. The Spirit honors nothing but Christ. When we realize that in the church life we should have nothing but Christ, and we give Christ the ground, the Spirit will come in to honor Christ and to kill everything else.
Through the centuries nothing has damaged and is still damaging the church life so much as opinion. Opinion has killed the church life. Who can say that he has no opinion? As long as you are a person, not only do you have opinion, but you are the opinion. Only a dead person has no opinion. It is impossible for you not to have opinion. Opinion is just you and me apart from God. When we are apart from God, we are just opinion. Divisions and confusions all come from opinion. Opinion is present all the time with Christians. Of course, opinion is present with any kind of community. For example, right after you were married, opinion was there. Even at the time of your engagement opinion was there. How is it possible that brothers who love the Lord and who have seen the vision concerning God’s eternal purpose to have the church life, could give up their opinion? How could they have no opinion?
The only way would be to give Christ preeminence in absolutely everything—in all our relationships, in all our fellowship, and in all our considerations.
This is very good, but thus far it is still merely a doctrine. Suppose a brother would say, “My, last week I went to a meeting and I was deeply impressed. When I entered into their meeting hall, it was so solemn and so quiet. I was deeply impressed; I loved that very much.” How would you respond to this word?
I don’t think I would even respond.
Why wouldn’t you respond to it?
Because I would not want to make an issue out of it.
If I were asked the question, I wouldn’t respond simply because I have seen that Christ must be everything in the church life. What would I do? I would just follow Christ. If, in the meeting, Christ leads me to be silent I would be silent. If Christ leads me to cry, I would cry. I would have no opinion but Christ. Actually, I have a lot of opinions, but I would not care for them; I would care only for Christ. Suppose the Lord would lead a brother to call on the Lord and to praise the Lord and to shout hallelujah. If this offends the brother who appreciated the quiet meeting, not only would it mean that he has opinion, but also that he has not seen the vision that Christ is everything to the church life. If he has seen such a vision, he would not be bothered by the calling and shouting. If we would practice this, Christ would become prevailing in the church life, and the Spirit would have a way in you to kill your opinion concerning being silent in the meeting. As human beings, how could we come together and yet not say anything? Although we may say many things, we should not be offended by others who act or behave differently from what we say.
Suppose I encourage you to call on the name of the Lord, but after two hours no one is calling. If I’m offended because no one is calling, it proves that I have a strong opinion—an opinion of calling on the name of the Lord. I might argue that calling on the Lord’s name is an item of truth in the Word. Not only in the Old Testament but also in the New Testament there is the truth concerning calling on the Lord’s name. Yes, this is such a truth in the Bible, but the truth has become my opinion. If I have no opinion, even though I have preached the calling on the name of the Lord, I would not be offended if no one calls. If I am offended when you do not call on the Lord after listening to my preaching, not only does it mean I have opinion, but also I have not seen a clear vision that Christ is everything in the church life. If I have seen that Christ is everything in the church, whether the saints would act according to my teaching or not, I would have no opinion. Christ is everything! This is not easy. Sometimes brothers have told me they would not function in the meeting because they receive no amens. This means they received no okay. You have to realize this is a strong opinion. All of us have to see the vision that Christ is everything to the church. Then we will give Him the preeminence and the Spirit will honor Him and kill our opinion.
Thus far, we are still speaking in a doctrinal realm. How can we practice this? I was among a number of saints who had become very knowledgeable. They saw Christ as everything, and they knew the Spirit, yet whenever they came together they had no oneness. Why? Because they all had opinion. This one had his opinion, and that one had his opinion; everyone had his own self-opinion. They had the knowledge of Christ being everything, and to some extent they knew the Spirit in knowledge, but not in practice. How could they practice the church life? The way, first of all, is not to express any opinion.
Second, whenever a certain opinion is expressed, there is no need to say a word either against it or for it because the church life is not a matter of opinion. The church life is Christ. If you propose something and I respond, my answer would probably be either for your opinion or against your opinion. Then a kind of debate may arise. At least a little unhappiness will come into existence and reactions will follow. If I have really seen that Christ is everything in the church life, and I really give Him the first place, I wouldn’t say anything for your proposal or against your proposal. I just wouldn’t say anything. I would only follow the Spirit. Then the situation would depend upon you. If you have seen that Christ is everything in the church life, you would not be offended even if I prayed in a way that did not correspond to your proposal. When we come together to pray, we must not care for the place nor for the arrangement of the furniture. If we have really seen that Christ is everything in the church life, we will not pay attention to anything else. If you could have no opinion concerning the small things in the church life because you realize that Christ is everything to the church life, this really means that you have no opinion. If you cannot overcome your opinion over small things, you can never overcome your opinion over truths and doctrines. The Lord’s grace will build you up sooner or later to a level that you would only care for Christ. You would not pay attention to anything else.
You may ask, Suppose some doctrines are wrong, what shall we do? Actually, according to the strict teaching of the New Testament, only a few things are definitely condemned and renounced by the Lord. First is idolatry, the worship of idols (1 John 5:21). This has been absolutely condemned by God, and we also have to condemn it. We should have no idols and no worship of anything other than God. In this matter there is no excuse at all, especially in the New Testament. Second, there is also no excuse for immorality and fornication which spoils the humanity God created for Himself (1 Cor. 6:18). These two matters we all have to condemn. Concerning the worship of idols and concerning fornication we should not say we have no opinion. A third item that all of us must condemn is division (1 Cor. 1:10).
Idolatry insults God Himself. Because God is jealous He can never tolerate the worship of idols. Fornication damages humanity; therefore, God does not allow it. Division destroys the Body of Christ. The New Testament never allows division. In addition to these three big matters, the New Testament also does not allow the denial of the deity of Christ. This means to say that Christ is not God or that Christ is not God incarnated to be a man. This is fully condemned in the New Testament. You may also include a few other things such as denying the redeeming blood, denying Christ’s redemption. Concerning these matters we must be definite; we dare not say that we have no opinion. We must be definite, and we must be strong. Except for these basic things, we may take a very flexible and general attitude toward other things. Toward other matters, such as the eating of the sacrifices offered to the idols, the Apostle Paul was very flexible. When I was young and read Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8, I was really bothered. Does Paul allow us to eat sacrifices to the idols or not? Some verses indicate strongly that you shouldn’t eat, but other verses say that you may eat. It depends. If you offend your brothers, you shouldn’t eat. On the other hand some verses say that the sacrifices to the idols are nothing, and even the idol itself is nothing. So even in the matter of the idol sacrifices, Paul was flexible according to the situation. In Romans 14 Paul illustrated his flexibility in at least two matters: eating and the keeping of days. Paul was very flexible. When we come together to practice the church life, we must see that in the church life there is nothing but Christ. If one person among us has seen that the church life is nothing but Christ, yet the rest of us have not seen so much, it will surely be difficult for that one. Among the others one may be very talkative, another may be very touchy, and another may be very stubborn. Another may be old and full of human experiences and many opinions. If you are such a brother, clear concerning the vision of Christ and the church life, yet you are among many who do not have such a vision, how will you help them? How will you go on to have the church life?
Well, it seems that in a sense we have to be blind to the other people. We have to forget about what they see or what they don’t see, and we have to live our life before the Lord and not before other people or before other men. We should live our life unto Christ.
Quite good! What else would you say?
I would say that it is Christ who attracts, and it is Christ who can gain the church life. So if I am the one who has some vision of Christ and I care for this over a period of time, there would be an undermining of others’ opinion by Christ. In other words they would be gained by Christ, gained to be more general and willing not to stand with their opinion.
Quite good! It is not so easy for a brother to practice the church life in such a situation. But if he does have a strong vision that in the church life there is nothing but Christ, he will have a way to minister Christ to them. Actually, because you have the vision of Christ you don’t need to be blind. What the others are speaking is not Christ, although you should not say that to them. If you tell them they are not speaking Christ, that also is a kind of opinion. Because your vision is that Christ is everything, you don’t need to be blind, and you don’t need to say anything. You may simply let the others talk and express their ideas. After the talk there may be some prayer. Even you don’t need to take the lead to pray saying, “Lord, in the church there is nothing but Christ. Thank You, Lord, You have made me strong so that I care for nothing but Christ.” If you pray in this way you are the most opinionated person and you practice the strongest opinion. How should you practice? You don’t need to take the first chance to pray. Let the other dear ones pray until they are exhausted in their prayer. Then you can pray. Don’t pray any politics; just spontaneously follow the Spirit in a smooth way. Simply pray and let your prayer be far away from their opinion. According to your prayer it should seem that nothing has happened. No one has proposed anything to you. You simply pray according to the Spirit. Pray to follow Christ. Light or life will gradually be ministered to the others. They will gradually realize that you are a brother who never expresses any opinion, who never says anything. It seems that everything is fine to you, although you would never agree with idolatry, fornication, division, the denial of Christ’s deity, or the rejecting of Christ’s redemption. But concerning other things you never exercise any opinion. You only exercise the spirit to minister life to others. This illustrates how you might conduct yourself in the matter of praying with the brothers.
Sometimes you may minister to them in the way of functioning. You must trust in the Lord’s sovereignty. You don’t need to grasp the first chance to speak. Let everyone have the chance to speak. Eventually they will be exhausted. Then the Lord may lead you to speak. When you do speak just speak to minister life and light to others. Gradually the Holy Spirit will honor what you pray and what you speak to help the others. Because they love the Lord, life and light will be ministered to them. Gradually a great part of the opinion of the old man will be diminished. Sometimes if you would pray and speak and minister in such a way to have Christ as everything according to the Spirit’s leading, the Spirit will speak to others: “You see, your brother has been meeting with you for some period of time, but he never expresses any kind of idea. He has nothing to say and yet when there is a time to pray, he prays. And whenever he prays or speaks, life comes out.”
This is the way to minister life to others. Gradually the atmosphere in the meeting will be built up more and more in favor of the Spirit with Christ. On the other hand, if you debate, you will create more debates. We must practice this matter of seeing Christ as everything in the church life and of following the Spirit to overcome opinion.
To practice this is not so easy, and to understand these matters in an adequate way is not easy. It doesn’t mean that a brother should not say anything. Rather, it means that when he prays he must look to the Lord for mercy and grace that his prayer would always stand far away from any kind of expression, any kind of condemnation, as a reaction to others’ speaking. As he prays, there will be a great temptation to correct and adjust the others in his prayer. After listening to this kind of prayer they would simply rise up. This is not to pray in a proper way ministering life to others. This is to pray in a manner which irritates others to the uttermost. In my early ministry, I learned not to pray in a way to attack others. A number of times I had the burden to pray, yet my natural being was not ready and able to stay away from this kind of involvement. In other words, if at that time I had opened my mouth to pray, surely at least one bullet would have gone out. Simply because I did not have the assurance that no bullet would go out through my prayer, I dared not pray. At that time I even asked the Lord to forgive me: “Lord, You have given me a burden to pray, but I’m not clean. This channel is not clean.” Suppose a water hose is dirty. When water comes through the dirty hose, the water itself will become dirty. This shows us that even in our prayer it is easy to correct others. Much more in our speaking, we may be tempted to release our madness and our reaction. This is a mixture. This is not a clean channel flowing the pure water of life in a crystal way. The result is just a mixture.
By these illustrations we can see that in order to kill opinion we must see a vision that Christ is everything in the church life. We dare not bring in anything else. Even we dare not bring in our emotion or our ability to stir others up. To practice this is not easy, yet the Lord is here, and He has mercy and grace. We all have to humble ourselves before Him. We need to pray: “Lord, have mercy upon me. Under Your mercy, give me grace. I would practice the church life by You as everything. I really mean it. I have no other care. I don’t care for others’ opinion, and I don’t care for my own opinion. I care only for You.” You have to realize that simply to remain silent does not mean you have killed your opinion. No! Many silent ones are the strongest in their opinion. Brothers, what shall we do?
We need a vision to see that Christ is everything in the church life.
That is very good. Once you have seen this vision, how shall you practice it? How do you practice having a church life killing all the opinion?
First, we need a vision to realize that Christ must be everything in the church life, and we also need to realize that we will always have opinion. Therefore, we need to exercise before the Lord that, although our opinion is here, we take the Lord’s grace not to react and not to insist on any kind of opinion. We also need to look to the Lord that we wouldn’t attack others through our prayers or in our fellowship, but rather we would look to the Lord to minister something of Christ as life and light so that others could be helped and built up in life. Hopefully we could all go on together positively.
I still do not have the peace and the confidence that we have seen this in such a clear and practical way. If all the sisters have seen how to practice the church life in a proper way, all the opinions will be killed. Particularly all the talking would be stopped. As long as the sisters are talking, that means the opinions are there. If a few sisters could come together to pray without any talking it would indicate that the church life is being practiced with all the opinions killed. The sisters talking or not talking may be considered as a kind of thermometer as to whether the opinions are killed in the church life. It is not a matter of making up your mind not to talk. That could last for only a short time. The problem is a lacking of seeing Christ. There is so much talk because there is a lacking of seeing Christ. Of course, don’t think that only the sisters talk and the brothers do not. The sisters have their way to talk, and the brothers have their way to talk.
Whenever talk still exists in the church life, it means that the church is weakened by opinion. When the church is strong, it means that the sisters’ talk is over and the brothers’ talk is over. We may illustrate the problem of talking in this way: Our hands become dirty easily, even though we do not intentionally get them dirty. Even if you are not doing any work, they get dirty. It is the same with our talking. To talk is very spontaneous. We may have seen to some extent that Christ must be the practicality of our church life. But we have not seen it so thoroughly. Therefore, our seeing does not stop our talk. In a sense we are addicted to talk. It is not easy to stop our talking. Talking indicates that our opinion has never been touched by the Lord. Our opinion could never be touched by the Lord unless we see such a vision—that Christ is everything in the church life. According to my experience nothing else can stop our opinion. Don’t think that you can stop your opinion! Only one thing can put your opinion aside, that is, to see that Christ is everything in the church life. Do you know that whenever you speak, that is the expression of opinion? Speaking is the manifestation of opinion. If you have no opinion, you would have no need to speak. Why do you speak? Simply to express your opinion. Only one thing can stop this habit—you have to see practically in the church life there is nothing but Christ. This seeing, this vision, will spontaneously dissolve your talk. You will have nothing to talk about, nor will you react to others’ talk. The seeing of Christ as everything to the church life will kill the talk.
Many of us have been meeting together for five to ten years. We need to be sobered by the fact that even till now our opinion is still quite prevailing. By the Lord’s mercy, we have been enlightened to the extent that there is nearly no fighting and no debating among us. But we cannot deny that there is a lot of talking. The talking is just the expression of opinion. You have to realize this kind of talking does not strengthen us in the church life. Rather, it weakens the church life, and it kills our growth in life. The talking also kills our function and in a subtle, hidden way tears down the building. We all have to admit that a great deal of the building up has been destroyed by our talking. Although you may not have talked with a bad intention, your talking still killed the growth in life, the function, and tore down the building. Believe me, if by His mercy we would not talk all this week, next week’s meetings would be living, uplifted, and enriched. The prayer would be much more; the life supply would be more prevailing. I repeat: talking is the expression of opinion. Don’t consider this simply as a kind of teaching. You must realize that among us at the present time there is such a need—that we all have to cast our stone at this one thing, opinion. Practically speaking, we have to cast our stone at our talking. However, if we do not have a strong vision that Christ is everything to the church life, even though we may throw our stones upon our talking, it will not work.
So we all have to look to the Lord: “Lord, have mercy upon me! Have mercy upon me! Lord, eliminate my speaking. Lord, I cannot do it because I have an interest in speaking; I have a kind of addiction to speaking. Lord, show me a strong vision that in Your recovery the church life is nothing but Christ Himself.” We all need such a killing vision. When we see this we will hate our talking; we will be disgusted with our talking. Then we can say that we only have Christ; we have no opinion.