We have already mentioned that Christians are those who speak for the Lord. Whenever Christians are gathered together, their meeting should be for speaking the Lord’s word. However, it is not that easy for everyone to speak this way. As a result, a clerical class of pastors and preachers is gradually produced. These people have studied theology specifically and are the professional speakers for the Lord. Once the clerical class is brought forth, the situation of one speaking and the rest listening is produced. This practice of one speaking and the rest listening best fits peoples’ situation because no one needs to labor, and it eliminates the trouble of learning the Lord’s word. Everyone can then be busy all day long with their secular business; all they need to do is come to a meeting on Sunday. In the meeting they do not need to open their mouths. Professionals like the pastors and preachers who have been trained in theology will come to speak. These ones speak with skill, persuasion, and eloquence. They are too good. This kind of meeting with one speaking and the rest listening may help people superficially, but actually it chokes to death the function of all the members.
When I was in my hometown at the age of twenty-two or twenty-three, I loved the Lord and sought after Him very much. One day I attended a Bible study meeting. I sat on the last row, thinking that no one would notice me. To my surprise, the one that went to the podium that day was the founder of that Bible study group. He knew me very well. After reading the Scriptures he said, “Today we would like to invite Mr. Witness Lee to pray.” I was so shaken that I forgot where I was. I did not know how to start the prayer. At that time I already loved the Lord very much. I studied the Word a lot, read many reference books, and took a lot of notes. But for me to pray before two to three hundred people was something that I had never done before. I believe that many of you have had the same experience as I did. This is the situation in Christianity. A person may be very seeking yet still be unable to pray in the meeting.
On another occasion I was meeting with the Independent Church of Christ in China. The pastor there had a high regard for me and invited me to preach at a large worship service on a Lord’s Day morning. For that I spent a week or two practicing at the seaside, where nobody could see me, speaking to the ocean over and over again. Then I became somewhat confident of my speaking. But when I stepped onto the platform that Lord’s Day morning, my knees were shaking. I forgot nearly everything except the Lord Jesus Christ and His cross. I managed to piece together my message, speaking for about forty minutes, and hurriedly left the stage. Although I loved reading the Bible, took notes for all of my readings, and was very thorough in my studies, yet I felt very uneasy when asked to pray or speak for the Lord. In principle this is the general situation of Christianity, and is even to some extent the situation among us. Many brothers and sisters have loved the Lord for years. They study the Bible, listen to messages, take notes, and are full of riches within. However, they feel uncomfortable when asked to pray or to speak some words for the Lord in the meeting, because they have never been trained in this way.
In order to change this situation of one speaking and the rest listening to that of speaking to one another and listening to one another, everyone has to learn to speak the Lord’s word. It is easy to talk about this but not easy to practice. To take the old way of Christianity is easy, but to take the God-ordained way in the New Testament is not easy. It requires learning. Everyone has to learn to speak the Lord’s word. We all know that speaking is an easy matter; but it requires you to learn when you are young until it becomes habitual through practice. When a mother says to her child, “This is bitter,” the child follows by saying, “This is bitter.” When the mother says, “This is sweet,” the child follows by saying, “This is sweet.” By practicing in this way, the child will gradually be able to speak. After a person is saved and is brought into our midst, if from the first day we would teach him to practice speaking the Lord’s word in the same way that a mother teaches her child to speak, that one will soon be able to speak. In the past, I could not understand why the brothers and sisters were not willing to speak. Later, I realized that the problem was not that the brothers and sisters were not willing to speak; rather, it was that we have not led them to speak.
I hope that you all would see that the most difficult step in the changing of the system is to have everyone speak in the meeting. If this kind of meeting of speaking to one another and listening to one another is not realized, we do not have the scriptural way to meet. Then we would have to take the old way, still depending on one speaking and the rest listening. But since the Lord has spoken this word in the Bible, surely He will fulfill it. He will change the system from one speaking to everyone speaking. Of course, this requires a lot of labor. To train one Chinese person to speak English is not too difficult, but to train every Chinese person, both young and old, to speak English is very difficult! This is why today we cannot be hasty in changing the system, taking the new way, and getting everyone to speak the Lord’s word. I believe that if we would practice this constantly, by the time the next generation rises up, there will be a situation in which it would be difficult to ask them not to speak the Lord’s word. Today we are in the transitional stage. If this stage is handled properly, the whole atmosphere will gradually be changed.
During this period, the most important thing is for every one of us to learn and to practice speaking the Lord’s word, and to help others to practice speaking the Lord’s word. First, this requires that we base our speaking on the Bible. If we want to base our speaking on the Bible, we must be thoroughly familiar with the Bible. In particular, we must familiarize ourselves with the New Testament; otherwise, it will be difficult for us to speak the Lord’s word properly. When those in the Pentecostal movement speak in tongues and interpret their tongues, their interpretations never go beyond the few books such as Psalms, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. This is because they, like the Jews, are familiar only with the Old Testament. They have no concept concerning the central vision of the New Testament revealed in such books as Ephesians and Colossians. Therefore, no matter how they experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and no matter how they speak in tongues, they are not able to utter the revelations in Ephesians. This shows us that to learn to speak the Lord’s word, we must carefully study the New Testament, especially the book of Ephesians.
Second, we have to learn to speak by means of the hymns. The words of the hymns are also based on the Bible. They are words of the Bible put into poetry and songs. For this reason, we also have to familiarize ourselves with the hymns among us and to bring others into the riches of the hymns.
Third, we have to learn to speak by means of the spiritual publications. Today in the Lord’s recovery, there are many spiritual publications that can render us help in the knowledge and experience of the Lord. We also have to spend time to get into these publications so that we will have the rich words.