Faced with such a situation, what should we do? Thank the Lord that at the end of the Bible there is the call to the overcomers. Although the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 had degraded and their condition was poor, the Lord still recognized them as churches. The Lord did not call the overcomers to leave the seven churches. Why? Because their ground was still the right ground. They were not meeting as many churches in one locality but as one church in each locality. Although the condition of Thyatira was poor, it was still one church in one locality. Its ground was still the right ground. It was corrupt, and its condition was poor, but its ground was still the right ground. This can be compared to a member of a family. Whether the family is a good one or a poor one, that person still belongs to the family. If he separates himself to begin another family and changes his name, he is splitting up the family. According to his condition, he may be very good, moral, and educated. However, as for his standing, his ground, he has caused a division. In the same way, we can say that Thyatira was poor beyond measure, yet the Lord did not ask anyone to leave the church in Thyatira, because it was still standing on the proper ground. The Lord instead called some to be overcomers in the midst of that situation.
Today’s situation is the same. Many have seen the initial vision, and they are satisfied with what they have seen, but they should not stop there. We must follow the Holy Spirit, and we must go on, but the more we go on, the fewer there will be who follow. Hence, it is not true that we refuse to be one with others. The truth of the matter is that they will not follow. We are not only following, but we are practicing what we have seen and what we follow, which is the dispensing of the Triune God, the mingling of God and man, to become the Body of Christ to be the manifestation of the Triune God. In the process of becoming this, we experience regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification.
In our practice we must take care of the increase. First we need to spread the high gospel and bring people to salvation. Next we need to build up the home meetings and nourish the new ones. Then we need to build up the small groups and teach the truth. Finally we must edify and perfect the new ones to be the same as we are, practicing the Body life in all the local churches for the Lord to gain a full-grown, mature Body. These are the four things that we need to attain in our practice. If we all see this clearly, we will be in one accord. We cannot stay in the past; there is no future in that kind of standing. That vision and that practice are short. With only that vision there is no preaching of the gospel and no teaching of the truth; there is only the bearing of the cross, the dealing and breaking of the cross. What kind of future will this narrow view afford us? I am very clear concerning the responsibility that the Lord has given me. More or less I am a leading one, and I must bear great responsibility for the things I say and do, because they affect hundreds, even tens of thousands of people. In the future I must give an account to the Lord. For this very reason I have observed the situation very much. Some emphasize the preaching of the cross, but there is not much practice with them. When they want to lose their temper, they still lose their temper. They do not preach the gospel, they do not nourish and perfect others, and they do not pursue after the truth. The cross is merely a doctrine to them. We do not care for mere doctrines. We need to see the vision. As we have seen, the vision that matches the age is the vision that extends all the way from Genesis to Revelation.
Now we need to consider the proper practice. Matthew 24:14 says, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” This means that we must do everything we can today to spread the gospel. We should spend every cent and every drop of our sweat, tears, and blood on the gospel. Only this will satisfy the Lord and take care of His gospel. The little island of Taiwan has twenty million people, but there are only five hundred thousand Christians. Are we sitting still, not willing to be on fire for the gospel? If we are, how can we give an account to the Lord? I believe one day, when we stand before the judgment seat of the Lord, He will ask us, “You have been in Taiwan for so long. What was your attitude toward My gospel?” He will tell us that He was not a hard Master, that He had given us a talent. But how did we use it, and how much did we use it? How many people did we bring to the Lord? How many people did we nourish and care for? How many people did we teach? In the future we will need to answer these questions one by one.
Matthew 24 and 25 show that one day we will have to stand before the Lord and give an account item by item. I admit that my responsibility is greater than yours. I also will have to stand before Him to give an account of myself, but I cannot give an account on your behalf. Today you have risen up and have responded to my leading, and I thank and praise the Lord for this. I worship the Lord for you, but you need to be clear that you are not following me. You are following this ultimate and completed vision, and you are spreading the gospel according to the Lord’s commandment. No one can say that he does not know how to preach the gospel. Matthew 28:19 says, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations.” This commandment is to all the believers. The Bible has never said that some are exempt from preaching the gospel. If we are faithful to the Lord in the matter of the gospel, and if we are diligent, the number of believers in the churches will greatly increase in a country as densely populated as Taiwan, but if we do not do anything, we will have nothing to say when we face the Lord.
Those who are sitting here today are either co-workers, elders, or full-timers who are learning to serve the Lord. Please consider calmly: If we cannot save one or two people within a year in an island as populous as Taiwan, how are we going to give an account to the Lord when we see Him? If each of us brings one to the Lord in a year, in a short time we will reach the goal of gospelizing Taiwan, but if we all hold back our energy, how can we gospelize this country? In the parable of Matthew 20, the householder went out and said to the idle workmen, “Why have you been standing here all the day idle?” (v. 6). All those who do not participate in the gospel move, even if they are pursuing “spirituality” and are knowledgeable in the truth, are idle in the eyes of the Lord. Today when we speak concerning the one accord, we are not speaking concerning a certain method that we must practice. We are saying that we should be attuned to the Lord’s heart. The Lord’s heart is that we enter the vineyard and labor for His gospel. If we are attuned to the Lord’s heart, and if we dispense the Triune God to others, imparting to them the Lord’s life so that they become His members and are constituted to be His Body as His full expression, then spontaneously we will be in one accord.
The preaching of the gospel is the first step in the spreading. Following this we need to have home meetings and the nourishing of the new believers. We also need to build up the small groups and teach the truth. Finally, we need to have the practical manifestation of the Body life. These four things must become the “family tradition” among the churches in the Lord’s recovery. In order to develop this “tradition,” we must have the same view and the one accord. This is reason that I have presented to you the matter of the ultimate and completed vision. Today we should no longer emphasize different ways. We should not have any different leadings. We are all in the Lord’s recovery, and we have all seen today’s concluded vision. Even if some cannot follow and do not see clearly, they should not say anything. As long as they follow, they will obtain the blessing. The sons of Noah did not see the vision that he saw, yet they were in one accord with their father. They closely followed him, and they were saved in the same way that their father was saved. Peter was also one who blindly followed the Lord. He did not know anything. He only knew that the vision was with the Lord, and he followed. In the end he received the blessing.
If we have different emphases and different ways of doing things, our energy will be dissipated, and our faith will be weakened. We will lose the one accord, and our morale will be gone. However, if we are in one accord and we preach the gospel desperately, we will become hotter and hotter; our mutual burning will heighten our determination. Even the new ones will be brought into the proper function. We will have an invincible morale, and we will march over all obstacles. Wherever we go, we will more than conquer. This is what we must have today.
Do not ask why we did not do this ten years ago. Ten years ago we were not as clear as we are today regarding the way of the work. Thank the Lord that His leading is always progressive. If a child does not grow in ten years, he must be sick with some terrible illness. If I am still teaching the same thing as I did ten years ago, you may think that I have not grown. We are not changing our way. During the past twenty-three years that I was in America, I did not change my tone. Faced with all the opposition and attacks, I stood firm on the truth. However, we are advancing and spreading. Today our work has to advance because the vision that the Lord has given us has advanced.