8 ¡° You
Must Follow Me ¡±
The presence
of the visible Church in the world is to accomplish the plan of God. Before the Church is taken away, She
must fulfill Her duty to perform all Her functions: to preach the Lord¡¯s salvation; to bear
witness to God¡¯s existence; to proclaim His praises; to demonstrate His
attributes and to restrain the power of evil. Within these prominent commitments,
different local churches in different generations have had different focuses
and directions according to their commissions from God. Although diversified, their paths should
all converge to God as the centre of their services, and ¡°faithfully
administering God¡¯s grace in its various forms¡±. Basically, before the establishment of a
local church, believers should have the guidance from the Lord and the
entrustment of His commission. The
execution of such commission then forms the direction of the local church. ¡°Where there is no revelation, the
people cast off restraint¡±.
Similarly, without any commission and entrustment, there is no
direction. Then the Church will
¡°run like a man running aimlessly; fight like a man beating the air ¡±. In this
issue, we will address the Church direction and its application.
Regarding
our church¡¯s position towards spiritual edification, the original goal of our
gathering was to learn His Word and to follow Him single-mindedly with
simplicity of heart. There is no
one among us ¡°who seemed to be important¡± and would dare to boast about ¡°eloquence
or superior wisdom¡±. We place more
importance on sharing God¡¯s life through His Word than theological
research. We are deeply aware that
knowledge and life belong to two different realms. If a church is ignorant of edification
in spiritual life, then Her establishment is not well
founded. Modern day sermons on the
pulpit are often sweet talks. Few
challenge Christians on their spiritual weakness and laxity in life and many
simply talk about the work and external achievements of the church. As a result, many believers tend to
acquire some form of enthusiasm and superficial godliness but are spiritually
poor within. In fact, in the three
aspects of our life, i.e. our possessions, our achievements and our ¡°self¡±, we
are still pretty much self-centered.
First, pertaining to possessions, we treasure the things we own in our
physical life, such as material assets and talents. These things have become the basis of
our self-assessment. Second, we
take pride in our worldly achievements.
Out of self-gratification we strive to be successful in studies and
careers, to be outstanding in social status and even in church services. Third, we are oblivious of the weakness
of our old nature: We have minimal
knowledge of our selfishness, self-exaltation and self-love, and we seldom take
action to deal with them. These
three phenomena show that we have not truly relied on God to recognize the
wickedness of our old nature.
Consequently, we would not bother to seek His way to deal with it. The tolerance of this old nature is the
prime cause in letting sin to invade and to prevail in our lives. For this reason, we desire to practice
the principle of ¡°dying and living with the Lord¡± with fellow members on the
path of spiritual growth, applying ¡°dying together with the Lord¡± to deal with
the corruption of the old nature; and applying ¡°living together with the Lord¡±
to claim victory and freedom in the new life.
However,
we want to point out that the manifestation of spiritual growth is entirely
different from those stressed by the charismatic movements. We do not agree with these movements. Concerning the issues of spiritual gifts
and teachings that advocate charismatic phenomena, we ascertain that the
bestowment of gifts is under the control of the Holy Spirit, operated through
the Lord¡¯s commission, and are given according to the plan of God. The growth of spiritual life does not
depend on supernatural experience or by pursuit of gifts and signs. The primary test for spiritual gifts
would be: The effect of
Spirit-filling in a person will always be that the Lord Jesus Himself be
glorified through that person. (Ref. John 16:14)
We
have shared previously on the church¡¯s directions on evangelism as well as
edification. Our goal is that our
members, having met together all these years, will come to a clear
understanding of what God has entrusted to our church. Under the Lord¡¯s guidance, we will have
a common vision to support one another and to work together. On the two vital issues of evangelism
and edification, we would then share the same mind and follow the same
course. Only then will the Church
grow with blessings.
For
evangelism, our church¡¯s stance is that God is the centre of salvation and
mankind is our objective. We do not
agree with some modern evangelical movements, which stress on the expansion of
the visible churches and membership growth, and insist on evangelism as the
only goal of the churches. The
Bible reveals that God has predestined the number of Gentiles to receive the
saving grace. (Ref. Romans 11:25)
Therefore the total sum of people to be saved would not necessarily
increase in proportion to the world population, (as some advocates of modern
evangelism movements insist).
Nevertheless, we should preach the Gospel with passion, dedication and
skill. By using various methods within
Biblical principles, we should preach the Gospel according to our mission and
gifts, through different formats such as corporate events, cell groups and
personal out-reaches, that the number of the saved may be filled sooner and
God¡¯s plan be accomplished.
On
the issue of service in the Church, we stress on active involvement from the
whole Church, that is our obligation and our
privilege. We recognize that each
member has individual functions in the Church. Therefore there should be no one ¡°being
ineffective and unproductive¡± among us.
The Church is the body of Christ.
Serving God is an innate desire of life. All our services for the Lord, whether
they are apparent or hidden, with or without an assigned position, in
evangelism or edification, are done for Him and His glory. The Church is the house of God and we
are His household members.
Therefore we have the obligations to fulfill our shares, for they are
our duties as well as our privileges.
Therefore we ought to commit positively in His service. As long as we are
¡°faithful with a few things¡±, we will receive His commendations in the end.
As
to the Church¡¯s position towards the world, the Lord has declared that His
disciples do not belong to the world, thus incurring its hatred and
oppression. The Scriptures clearly
teach that we are called from the world and are separated to God. The Church must have a clear and firm
stance towards God, to be set apart from the worldly ideology. She ought to demonstrate the properties
of light and salt, in order to achieve Her task to
guide and to preserve in this dark and corrupt generation. The Church should take heed not to
follow the world, lest She would lose Her power to
witness and become worldly gradually.
One
of the signs showing that the Church has become worldly is that She goes along with the ways and trends of this world. We live in a society with highly
developed technology and resources.
However, it is also a generation of utter moral and ethical
corruption. On value concepts and purpose
of life, there are fundamental differences between God¡¯s demand and man's
attitude. Many Christian parents,
desirous only of the ¡°advancement¡± and ¡°freedom¡± of the western culture, do
actively counsel their children to merge into its main stream and are oblivious
to the God-rebelling spirit concealed behind it. Many believers allow their children to
gain acceptance in an ungodly society, rather than to hold fast to faith and
reverence towards God. The result
is a lukewarm second generation of which some are even uncertain of the
assurance in salvation. The scene
of desolation in the western churches with dwindled attendance, closures and
sales of meeting places, indeed serves as warnings for our Church today.
Another
sign that the Church has become worldly is that the believers have lost their
desire for the Heavenly rewards and blessings. Through salvation by grace, we are
supposed to live in godliness, to serve with eagerness, and to wait for our
rewards in eternity. However, in
the present day situation, believers often treat eternal life as a ¡°safety
net¡±, as a security for life that ¡°will not perish¡±. From such attitude we develop a state of
mind like: ¡°Secured in the
eternity, but pursue after the present world¡±. Consequently we commit our entire life
and strength on worldly targets. If
we are not vigilant of the judgment before the throne of Christ, and are not
longing for the incorruptible rewards in eternity, then the strength of the
Church in living and witnessing will diminish. Her functions as salt and light will
dissipate, and will be subjected to the trampling and mockery of the world.
The
continuation of entrustment and testimony of the visible church is based on two
fundamental issues: First, has our
generation faithfully guarded the vision entrusted to us? Have we fought the good fight, have we
finished the race, and have we kept the faith? If we lose courage in spiritual combat
because we shrink from the threat of death, if we are in want of strength due
to spiritual stagnation, or if our faith collapses with changing circumstances,
we shall not have any spiritual inheritance to pass on to the next
generation. Second, the desire to
pursue God cannot be molded by systems and
structures. It is only through the
revelation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that we can be constrained by
God¡¯s love to pursue Him decidedly and to respond to His call willingly. Otherwise, given that the Church may
teach and preach dutifully and church attendance may also increase, the exhortation
or persuasion will not be effective if people are not inspired by God to
perceive His glory, to listen to His call, and to feel His tender mercies. Church history has shown us that, in
past generations, God has brought forth devoted people who, during stormy days
and trying times of faith, came forward with might and strength, to resist the
tides and to close up the breaches.
However, as time passed on, and as the congregations expanded, newer
generations grew up and their spiritual goals diversified, the original visions
became blurred, and their directions of pursuit gradually shifted toward other
objectives. Eventually, the Church
might still retain Her name and reputation, when in
fact She has lost Her entrustment and testimony.
However,
amid such a disoriented and lost situation, God has not interrupted His
plan. He has not forgotten the
Church whom He redeemed with His Son¡¯s life. Once again He will work in the newer
generations. With spiritual
inspirations and revelations, He will reveal His call to some individuals,
constraining them with His love, revealing to them the effect of His sacrifice
and the power of His resurrection.
Gradually they will be gathered together by God, sharing the same mind
and the same direction. Once the
goal of serving becomes clear, and the path of pursuit identified, they will
rise up - regardless of difficulties, irrespective of being a minority,
unafraid to resist the tides, and unmindful of sacrifices - to respond to His
call and commission in their own generation. Faithfully they would run their part of
the race prior to the second coming of the Lord. And such is the recurring cycle of
prosperity and decline of the visible churches.
Today,
at a time when faith is lightly treated and pursuits become aimless, we
endeavor to follow the insight we received from the Lord and to carry out His
charge entrusted to us. There is no
room to boast or to show off. The
Lord commanded His disciples to walk the narrow way. And therein implied
the principle of holiness through separation. When our Lord recalled Peter on the
seaside of