Now I come to us. From what I have seen in going out to look at the situation and from what I have heard in fellowship from others, I have wondered if maybe the best we have is just like the Brethren assembly. Probably compared to a proper Brethren assembly, some local churches are inferior. We are loose. We act in a loose way under the cloak of liberty. “Brother Lee told us we are against religion. We must not be bound by religion.” It is wonderful not to be religious. But what, positively speaking, do we want to be? Brothers, I believe you understand me when I say that at best we are like Brethren assemblies. There is no need to say that some churches are even inferior to them. This troubles me. It burdens me.
I was checked by the Lord and even by myself. What are you doing here? Is it just to see that churches are raised up? What kind of churches? Apart from the general attendants at the church meetings, do even the leading ones have a clear vision to direct and protect them, to safeguard them from distraction?
Last week I spent a long time praying over all the points of the messages I have given these past twenty years. I prayed about them in order to check. The more I prayed, the more I felt confirmed. I tell you, I have the full assurance that what I have been sharing is what is on the Lord’s heart. However strong the opposition is against me, I believe the Lord has told me that this is what He wants and that I must let the saints and the brothers know that if they do not have this, they are not in the recovery.
God’s center in His economy has been revealed and written in the Scriptures for close to two thousand years. Through all these centuries quite a few books have been published to unfold this mystery. Yet very few of even the lovers, the seekers, of the Lord have really seen this and lived a life for this. It is hard to find Christians who are really in this focus.
The churches in the United States have been in existence for quite some time. Most were not raised up recently. Of those of you who are here with me now, I would say that over ninety percent of you have been in the Lord’s recovery over ten years. As far as the actual and practical church life is concerned, I am burdened that there is not much evidence that the churches are such a testimony to God’s economy. I don’t mean that in every meeting we talk only about the central lane, the focus, God’s economy. But I mean that we have a church life which is a testimony to what Paul calls the mystery of the faith.
Brothers, I would ask you humbly, look around at our present situation. What was there in 1982? Don’t you realize that there are signs indicating we have somewhat missed the focus? There were gospel preaching, exposition of the Bible (even though using the Life-study messages), and meeting according to the Scriptures. But have we—I speak from the depths of my being; I change the word we to you, singular you—have you really seen a vision of God’s eternal purpose, a vision of God’s economy, of what God wants?
I have been fighting for Christ being the Spirit and for the Triune God being not for doctrine but for experience. Some of you may think, “Oh, this is Brother Lee’s thought. He always speaks on this.” No! I do not do this from habit. If I were only a Bible teacher, I have sixty-six books from which to teach. But the Lord has shown me that this would not be of His desire. He doesn’t want me to do that.
In Revelation the churches are called lampstands. The lampstands represent the Triune God with the Father as the nature, the Son as the embodiment, and the Spirit as the expression. This is the church: the Father’s nature plus the Son’s embodiment plus the Spirit’s expression. And this should be the very essence of the church’s shining.
What is the light that the church shines forth? What is the testimony which shines out from the church? It must be the Triune God. I do not say that in every meeting this is the subject. But whatever we fellowship about, whatever we minister, there must be such a testimony. In everything we do—gospel preaching, Bible teaching, visiting the saints, and even visiting new ones not yet saved—we must bear a clear, evident, strong testimony of a lampstand constituted of the Father’s nature, the Son’s embodiment, and the Spirit’s expression. What do we express in our gospel preaching? What do we express in our love feasts? What do we express in our conversation in our daily Christian life? We must bear such a testimony in every aspect of the church life and of our daily life, including the family life.
To bear such a testimony is to hold the mystery of the faith. “Mystery” here does not denote a doctrine; even the word “faith” doesn’t mean doctrine here. As you know, the faith is the reality of the content of the New Testament economy of God in which we believe. Our belief is not in doctrines but in such a reality. Of this faith, which is the content of God’s New Testament economy, there is a mystery. In using this word mystery, Paul refers first to Christ as the mystery of God (Col. 2:2) and second to the church as the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4-6). According to the context of 1 Timothy 3:9, the mystery of the faith should also include the church life (cf. v. 16). Why? Because the church life is constituted of God in Christ and of Christ as the life-giving Spirit. This corresponds to the constitution of the lampstand. As the lampstand is constituted of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, so the church also is constituted of the divine Trinity.
The church life is not something organized. It is not even something composed. It is a living organism constituted of the living God in His divine Trinity—the Father’s nature, the Son’s embodiment, and the Spirit’s expression. This is not only the church; it is also the church life, the church’s living. Thus it is a golden lampstand shining out the testimony of the Triune God.