The Body has its proper order. Some may not be happy to be under the “eyes.” They may want to be above the eyes, but this is their design not God’s design. In 1 Corinthians 12:18 Paul said, “God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, even as He willed.” No one can change the position of any member of the Body. The little finger is under the hand, the hand is under the arm, and the arm is under the shoulder. This is the order in the Body of Christ. If we consider ourselves to be more than what we actually are, this is not according to the Body. If someone says that he is an apostle, we need to ask what church was established by him. An apostle must be one who preaches the gospel to save sinners, who forms and establishes churches, and who discerns and teaches the truth.
We are the Body, and in the Body there is an order. Brother Nee once used the order in a family as an illustration. A family has the father, the mother, and the children. A child in the family knows the order in his family. He knows who is above, or before, him and who is below, or after, him. In like manner, the Body has an order. Humanly speaking and spiritually speaking, we should fellowship about the Lord’s interests with the ones who are more mature than us and who are ahead of us. Then we may say that we know the Body.
I believe that this fellowship is the proper diagnosis of our situation. The remedy is only one—we need to see and know the Body, and we have to honor the Body. We cannot be healed by any other way. In order to practice the truth, we need to see the Body. We stand on the ground of the church because of the Body. There is only one Body in the universe. Therefore, the expression of this one Body must be a unique local church in a city. There cannot be more than one expression of the one Body in a locality. This is the truth which we must practice.
There was a big debate among the Brethren concerning the receiving of the saints. This is why there are today’s Closed Brethren and Open Brethren. Both the Closed and the Open Brethren are partially right. On the one hand, we can accept and we should accept the real Christians, but we cannot strengthen or justify their denominations. This was, has been, and still is our attitude. We say that we love all the dear saints in the denominations, but we cannot confirm or justify the denominations. Denominations are wrong, and there are many evil things there. Any kind of hierarchy is an evil thing in the Lord’s sight. To build up the clerical class and thus annul the functions of the members of the Body of Christ is evil in the eyes of God.
Our attitude depends upon our seeing of the Body. The only remedy is to see the Body of Christ. It is not a matter of yes or no, good or bad. It is a matter of whether or not something is of the Body or not of the Body. We must be Body-conscious to the uttermost. What the Lord wants is the Body. But today not many really care for the Body.
When we accept someone at the Lord’s table, we have to consider the Body. According to the principle of Romans 14, we accept all of the Lord’s children, but according to Romans 16:17 we have to mark those who make divisions and turn away from them. We cannot receive division-makers who have been quarantined by the Body. Furthermore, we have to realize who has the function and qualification as the priest to discern leprosy among the Lord’s children. Again this is a matter of practicing the Body life. If a local church receives someone who has offended the Body to the uttermost, that local church is obviously not going along with and not one with the Body. We have to take care of the Body.
In a sense, we may say that a local church is autonomous only to a certain degree in practical and business affairs. Whether a local church should buy a piece of land to build a hall or rent a hail is according to their discernment. But receiving a person who has made trouble in the recovery and who is still making trouble involves the Body very much. If we behave ourselves properly, we are okay in the Body. But if we commit something that is condemned by the New Testament, the Body has the right to say something. The Body surely will check with a local church if there is a division-maker among them whom they have not disciplined. If they do not discipline such a one, they are wrong and are offending the Body.
To know the Body is the proper recovery of the Lord. If we are for the recovery, we need to realize what the recovery is. The Lord desires to recover the missed Body of Christ and to recover the neglected oneness of the Body of Christ. This is the Lord’s recovery.
We need to put aside all our natural relationships when it comes to practicing the truth of Romans 16:17, that is, turning away from those who make divisions. If a relative of ours is making divisions or living in sin, it would be wrong to allow him to participate in the Lord’s table. What if a brother’s father is living with a concubine? He may say, “How can I reject my father?” Surely he still needs to respect and honor his father, but he cannot bring this family regulation into the church life. He still has to practice the truth by taking care of the Body of Christ.
The book of Acts tells us that Barnabas made a mistake because of his natural relationship with Mark, his cousin (Col. 4:10). He wanted to take his cousin, but Paul would not agree with this (Acts 15:35-39). Barnabas was wrong. He should have gone along with Paul. After Barnabas separated from Paul in Acts 15, his name is no longer mentioned in the record of God’s move.
Regardless of how much help we have received from a certain one in the past, if he does something that offends the Body, we must practice the truth. We must know the Body and trust in the Body. The churches in California wrote an open letter because they felt burdened and were held responsible to let the churches on this globe know the damage certain ones did in California and the loss which they had suffered. In this open letter they said that they had made the decision to quarantine these ones. Should we listen to the churches or take care of our own personal observation of the situation? If we put the notification of so many churches aside and go to investigate the situation for ourselves, this is an offending to the Body. Do we respect the Body or do we respect ourselves?
It is not a matter of whether someone is right or wrong. He might be right, but still he offended the Body. We need to see the Body. What the Lord wants is the Body, not a bunch of saved souls. Soul-winning is right; soul-winning is good; but soul-winning should not be for soul-winning. The Lord wants souls for the building up of the Body of Christ. We must see the Body.