The first warning is for the co-workers, and the second warning is for the elders. The common illness of the elders is that they love to be the head; they often feel that they are the owner and boss of their local church. Although no elder would say this, in reality this is exactly their feeling. This is a common sickness.
The record in Matthew 20 tells us that the Lord Jesus had two cousins, John and James, who were born of the sister of the mother of the Lord Jesus. One day their mother used this “apron-string” relationship to ask a favor from the Lord on her sons’ behalf. She asked if the Lord could let her two sons, who were two cousins of the Lord Jesus, to sit with Him, one on the right and one on the left, when He received His kingdom (v. 21). Then the other ten disciples were indignant concerning the two brothers when they heard the request. Therefore, the Lord Jesus called these disciples together and said to them, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them....It shall not be so among you; but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many” (vv. 25-28). The Lord Himself served people to such an extent that He even gave His life as a ransom for many. Therefore, today we must not be those who exercise authority over others but those who serve others as servants.
Sisters, if your husband becomes an elder, I hope that you would not consider him to have become an official, as if it were something of an honor. You must realize that from that day onward, you have not become the first lady; rather, you have become the servant-lady. Brothers, you also have to be clear that even though you may have been used by the Lord to raise up a church, you cannot be the king there. Once you become the king, you will kill the church life completely. Once the elders become kings and heads, the church life will definitely be altogether finished. Therefore, I hope that the saints, particularly the brothers, would understand and remember well that no matter where you are, no matter how great the opportunity and how much grace the Lord has given to you, and no matter how much the Lord has used you, you should not be the head yourself.
The brothers not only should not be the head in the church, but even at home they should not assume the headship all the time. Otherwise, one day a storm will come, and there will be a revolution at home. Do not press the saints to such an extent that they secretly say, “What kind of heads are these elders? They are hatchet heads and ax heads!” This may be the situation within us. We have to avoid this. This is also one of the reasons why we cannot multiply and cannot increase.
The elders not only must not be the head and must not assume a position; furthermore, they must not monopolize and must not control. The matters in the church are corporate matters. Of course, if there are matters related to idol worship, then the elders cannot agree to it. Even if it means their martyrdom, this is proper. However, if the brothers have some suggestions regarding how to arrange the various services in the church, everyone can fellowship about them; it is not necessary to argue and be contentious. Although the opinions of some of the brothers might be strange, we still must bring them into the fellowship. In any case, do not monopolize everything and do not control.
The best way is for the elders to assign tasks to the saints and then to be responsible only to oversee them from the side. The Bible says that the elders are overseers (1 Tim. 3:2). A certain elder may be very diligent-doing everything and even cleaning the restrooms himself. If you ask him why he does that, he may answer, “The brothers and sisters are so poor in their character that they cannot even clean the restrooms properly.” The hidden meaning in his answer is that he is the only one who can clean the restrooms well, and therefore he has to do it himself. Hence, he is the one who polishes the windows, and he is also the one who makes phone calls for coordination. He does everything, just like a very able mother in the family. We all know that when a mother is too capable, the children usually are not capable. For instance, if a mother cooks very well, then the children can hardly cook a good meal because the mother does it all. Conversely, if a mother is not good in cooking, then she gives the children many opportunities to cook. As a result, the children become good cooks. This is a mysterious matter.
The more we hold on to everything and are unwilling to give others the opportunity to serve, the more we monopolize many things, and the result is that it is hard for others to function. A mother may have absolutely no thought or intention to hold on to everything. Everything she does is for her children; she does everything for them because they cannot do anything well. Nevertheless, she is holding on, that is, she is monopolizing. For a mother to be a good cook is a wonderful thing, but she also has to let the other members of her family have the opportunity to try and learn. Otherwise, they will never learn how to cook. The mother may be assured that even if their cooking is so poor that they turn the rice into paste, it is still all right. Today their cooking may be bad, but after tomorrow and the next day, and after practicing for a period of time, they will gradually learn the skills of cooking. Just as it is with the family, so it is with the church. In order for the church to spread and multiply, the elders absolutely must not grasp everything in their hand, because if they grasp everything, they are exercising control. Even though they may not say that they are controlling, they are still controlling. We must guard against and avoid these things.
In 1968 over one hundred and thirty saints from America went to visit Taiwan. At that time, Hall 1 of the church in Taipei was rushing to finish constructing a five-story building on the north side; the cement was not yet completely dry when we arrived there. After we all entered the building, we discovered that all the restrooms were locked. When we asked about this, we found out that the keys had been taken by an elder to his office. It is incredible that an elder would control the church to such an extent. Eventually we found out that he wanted to reserve the newly built restrooms for the visitors from afar. Nonetheless, regardless of how valid the reason was, he should not have exercised control in that way. There should have been a permanent place to keep the keys, and the keys should have been numbered so that everyone would have known which key was for which restroom. If there had been such an arrangement, there would have been no confusion, and it also would have been very convenient. There is not just one person serving in the meeting hall; rather, there may be over a hundred serving ones there. Therefore, we need to let all the serving ones know what to do. In this way there will be no monopolizing or controlling. Rather, there will be a good administration.
The elders must take heed not to control. Even if the saints do not do things so well, it does not matter; eventually they will improve. Please remember not to argue. No matter what the saints propose, the elders must fellowship about it properly and not argue with them. The elders should never contend with others. All the elders have to learn this lesson. The Third Epistle of John refers to Diotrephes, who loved to be first, as an evil pattern (vv. 9-11). Therefore, in the church do not be those who love to be first. When a person loves to be first, that is evil. Those who reject others will eventually be rejected by others.
Home | First | Prev | Next