SPEAKING THE SAME THING FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES
Some have said that the Lord’s recovery is a one-man show, that here there is room only for the ministry of Witness Lee, not for the ministry of anyone else. This is absolutely false. This is not my intention nor is it my practice. In the Lord’s recovery I do not like to see one brother ministering all the time. For example, during the summer training in 1964 and 1965 I invited a certain brother to share with me in the ministry. Eventually, he gave up the recovery; but we did not give him up. We have also invited other brothers to participate in the ministry. Our intention is to have a good number of brothers ministering. However, all who share in the ministry need to minister the same thing.
When I say that we all should minister the same thing, I mean that we should speak the same thing according to the way of the New Testament. The four Gospels speak the same thing, but they speak the same thing from different angles. We cannot deny that there are differences between Matthew and Mark or between Luke and John. Matthew wrote from the angle of the kingship; Mark, from the angle of service; Luke, from the angle of redemption through the proper humanity; and John, from the angle of Christ’s deity. In the Gospels we have four biographies of one person; one person is viewed from different angles. I hope that many will be raised up to speak the same thing from different angles. This one thing is the recovery of Christ as life and everything to us for the building up of the local churches.
Some criticize the brothers by saying that they are nothing but tape recordings of Witness Lee. This is not true. I hope that in the coming years many of the young people will speak of Christ for the building up of the Body. I have no intention of being the only one to minister. On the contrary, I expect the Lord to raise up many more to carry on the unique ministry. We all have a part in this ministry, which is one ministry with different functions, different angles, and different aspects. You have your part, and I have mine. When we have all the functions and aspects, we have the ministry of the Body.
Some who have left the recovery accuse us of not accepting their ministry. But their ministry is a ministry of undermining and damaging the Lord’s recovery. How can we possibly accept the ministries of those whose intention has been to undermine the Lord’s recovery and to overthrow the basic matters of life, including the cross? I say this not out of any personal feeling but out of a concern for the truth. I have no personal enmity whatever toward these ones; however, I cannot accept their “ministry,” which tears down rather than builds up.
We need to be clear about the truth regarding the ministry, about the situation of today’s Christianity, and about our practice. Our practice is according to the truth in the New Testament. We are glad to see different brothers share various aspects or angles concerning Christ as life for the building up of the church in His riches. I recognize that I am very limited. Nevertheless, by the Lord’s mercy, I am doing what I should do. Now I expect that others will minister the same thing from different angles. I certainly do not want anyone to copy me, and I do not want to be surrounded by “yes men.” What an insult to say that the brothers are “yes men”! I repeat, many brothers need to stand up to minister concerning Christ for the building up of the Body. How wonderful it would be if many did this!
THE BLESSING OF SPEAKING THE SAME THING
When I was a young man, I loved the Bible very much, and I spent as much time as I could studying it. The last thing I did before going to sleep at night was read a portion of the Word, and the first thing I did upon waking in the morning was read another portion. For seven and a half years I was under the Brethren teachers, who taught me how to interpret the parables, prophecies, and types. How I loved their teaching! Eventually, I met Brother Nee, and through him I came to know life, the Spirit, Christ for my experience, the church, and the Lord’s recovery. All these things became truth to me and caused my entire Christian being to be revolutionized. After a church had been raised up in northern China through my ministry, I visited Brother Nee in Shanghai and stayed with him for a period of months. At the end of that time, he told me that he and the co-workers felt that I should come with my family to Shanghai and work there with them. From that time onward, my speaking was always in the line of Brother Nee’s ministry. I knew that he had been raised up by the Lord to bring in the recovery and that I had to be one with him in the ministry. Therefore, I preached whatever he preached, although not like a tape recorder. I was absolutely one with him, and I spoke the same thing as he. I have no regrets about this because it has been the cause of great blessing to me and to the churches.
We need to be clear that we are not following a man or imitating anyone. However, we are ministering the same thing from different angles and in different aspects. By doing this the riches are manifest; yet we have a glorious oneness. This is the one ministry, which encompasses many ministries. We all are ministering Christ as life and as everything for the building up of the local churches. This is the Lord’s recovery, this is our commission, this is our burden, and this is our ministry. How blessed we are to have a part in this ministry!