I surely hope, brothers, that we all here will be desperate. “Lord, have mercy upon me. Show me where I am. Am I in this kind of living? In my participation in the eldership, in the leadership, do I bear such a testimony? How about my participation in the care of the church—do I have such a realization?” As we pray in this way, we may sense that our testimony is dim, vague, weak. We may bear a testimony, but it may not be that excellent.
Don’t check anyone else. Just check yourself. How much is my daily life, my service to the Lord, my worship to God, my care of the church, and my fellowship with all the saints in this realization? Am I in such a reality that, even if I talk with the saints about ordinary things, I bear a striking sign that my being, my person, my life, my living is all in this focus of God’s economy? When I preach the gospel, do I preach it in this focus? When I open up the Bible to teach, do I do it in this focus? When I go to shepherd an older one or a younger one, a new one or sick one, a weak one or a backsliding one, is my shepherding in this focus?
How about our meetings? We like them to be living, yet we still have to check. Just because many are functioning, does that make the meeting living? Of course it is living in some way, but is that livingness the expression of the golden lampstand? Is it in the focus of God’s economy? A meeting might seem high, but in what is it high? Is it high in the Lord’s focus?
Christianity has been on this earth close to twenty centuries. They have many practices, many works. What do they bear as a testimony? Do they have the real focus of God’s economy as a testimony? They have many different kinds of practices, all with their special atmosphere and particular emphasis. But do you think there is any place among them with a group of Christians bearing a testimony which corresponds to the mystery of the faith?
What shall we say about the meetings of the churches in the Lord’s recovery? When people come to our meetings, what is there for them to be impressed with? I am concerned that our meetings may not have the testimony of the very shining of the lampstand. This troubles me. Without such a reality in our church meetings, brothers, what we are practicing is vanity. There are enough Christian practices. There is no need for another one. Nor is there any need for another Christian work. These things have been on the earth for centuries, yet the Lord still has no way to come back. There is no need to say the Lord is not satisfied; I don’t think any one of us is satisfied. According to what the Lord has shown us in these years, the situation among Christians today is far off.
We may not be off, but we are still quite far from the standard of the Lord’s testimony. Perhaps we are on the way, but I don’t know where we are. Are we halfway, or a third or a fourth of the way? I don’t have the confidence that when I go to a church meeting there will be the focus of the Lord’s central lane, of God’s economy.
Why am I so burdened? Let us trace a little of our history. The recovery in the United States began in Los Angeles in 1962. For ten years, from 1962 to 1972, I had very little concern. My only burden was to keep pressing on. This burden was with me from the first conference in the winter of 1963 on the all-inclusive Christ. During those ten years nothing happened that was a cause of concern to me. Some things did happen, but I was not troubled. Then the migrations began in 1970. In the two years from 1970 to 1972 the migrations did bring in much blessing. The number increased, I believe more than doubled, within those two years.
Then we became careless, or, more accurately, distracted. We were distracted from what the Lord had shown us, and turned our attention to the increase. From 1972 there was a tendency to promote numbers, to be occupied with getting the proper place and the proper people. That opened the door for some things to creep in to damage the Lord’s recovery.
From 1973 for at least five years we were in a somewhat drugged situation, even though the ministry never deviated from the central lane. To some the focus was lost; the central lane was left. There was talk, for instance, about what kind of meetings to have. In such talk there was little concern about how to have the focus of God’s economy.
The Lord was sovereign, however. In due time He cleared up the situation. Then I began to say that we must turn our attention away from the increase and come back to the central lane, the lane of life, the lane of God’s focus.