In the Lord’s recovery we need all ages. The young people need to be released to fight the battle and to gain ground for the recovery. Although they need to be released, they should not have a spirit of rebellion. If there is the proper release among the young people, there will be a spiritual explosion among us. This involves risks, but without taking risks nothing can be accomplished. If Columbus had not been willing to take a risk, he never would have discovered this continent.
In Anaheim we have had too much organization and selection. We need to turn from this. We are not qualified to determine who is good or not so good. Our maneuvering can accomplish nothing for the Lord. Only the Lord knows who is trustworthy and faithful. Without His mercy, none of us can be trustworthy. Whenever I see organization or selection in the church life, my heart aches. From now on, let us drop organization and selection. All the saints are useful in the various sections of the church life. The young people are good for fighting, the new ones are good for keeping the tabernacle, and the older ones are good for taking direct care of the tent of meeting. Let us do everything we can for the Lord in the spirit, but without a trace of independence or rebellion. Furthermore, we do not need to be unified nor controlled by the eldership. All the brothers and sisters must move ahead to do their duty and to fulfill their responsibility.
In the church life, we should not make anything special. Rather, we should be general. For example, some time ago there was the need to set up a business office for the church in Anaheim. In order to have a business office, there is the need to have brothers and sisters to serve in the office. Some, regarding this as a special service, were disappointed when they were not invited to serve in the business office. Others felt quite proud at being asked to serve. If you serve in the business office, you should not feel proud about it. Rather, you should regard yourself as a slave. If you consider it a glory to be chosen to serve in the business office, perhaps you need to resign, for you are not caring for the tabernacle in a proper way. We need to tear down the concept of prestige in the church life. More than fifty years ago, we were raised up by the Lord to tear down these things. Let us not build them up again. We should not be concerned about being in a so-called special service; rather, we should be concerned about taking care of others.
The children of Gershon carried the curtains and the four layers of covering for the tabernacle. These refer to different aspects of Christ. We need to experience Christ in certain specific aspects and then help others to also have these experiences of Him. If we do this, we are here as the Lord’s testimony, not as part of religion. For the sake of having a living testimony, we need many who know Christ in a rich way and in many aspects. For example, some should know Christ as the badgers’ skins and as the textiles in the tabernacle. If we know Christ in a full way, He will be richly manifested among us. This is the church life. What a shame it is to have organization, selection, arrangements, and assignments without the experience of Christ! To do this is to repeat the history of Christianity. We all need to stand against such a trend. We need to have Christ manifested among us in many different aspects. Then we need to come together and express Christ in the church meetings and to minister Him to others.
The family of Merari carried the pillars, the boards, and the sockets. In other words, they bore the solid elements of the tent of meeting. This signifies that some among us need to experience Christ as the sockets that are weighty and full of Christ and as the boards that form the solid structure of the tabernacle. Those who have experienced Christ in this way need to help others out of their experience. If this is our practice in the church life, then at the Lord’s table meeting many new ones will give testimonies full of reality. This is the proper church life. Such a church life, God’s testimony on earth, is God’s habitation. As we bear this kind of testimony, the young people should be on the frontier fighting the enemy and gaining ground, and the new ones should be keeping the tabernacle. May we have all three sections in the church life.
(All Ages for the Lord's Testimony, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee)