Hence, what are we doing today? We should answer as John the Baptist did that we are a voice in the wilderness (John 1:23). Our work is to sound out the call to God’s children to return to God’s central purpose, to take Christ as the center of all things, and to take His death, resurrection, and ascension as the basis of everything. This is the message of Colossians 1 and 3. We know the position of the church in the New Testament. We realize that this position is lofty and spiritual. We thank God for the help rendered to us from the Western missionaries. Yet God is showing us today that we should bring everything back to God’s central purpose. Our work today is to return to the biblical ground of the church.
All of God’s truth has the church as the starting point. Paul was first put in the church in Antioch. Later he was sent out from the church in Antioch. All of the truths that we preach today have the church as the starting point. This is our work and this is our testimony.
We should mention the miscellaneous truths less. We should do everything we can to show people that the Lord is the Head over all things. We are not here disrupting churches. Rather, we are here returning to the initial work of the apostles. We have to be careful about everything that we do. Everything that is of man we must learn to reject, and everything that is of God we must strive to attain.
We thank God that we can touch God’s grand purpose. We need to humble and prostrate ourselves and to deny ourselves. We need to be clear that our work today is not just to save some souls or to help others become spiritual. Our goal is indeed the greatest and the most glorious. Thank God that we can know God’s “present truth.” May God be gracious to us so that we do not become the castaways of the “present truth.” May we be watchful, and may we not allow the flesh to come in or the self to gain any ground. May God’s will be accomplished in us.
Finally, I would like to add a few words. We have four responsibilities today: (1) Concerning the sinners, we have to preach the gospel. (2) Concerning Satan, we have to realize there is a spiritual warfare. (3) Concerning the church, we have to hold fast what we see today. (4) Concerning Christ, we should testify of the fact of His preeminence in all things. Today this testimony can be found in America, England, France, Spain, Africa, and everywhere. However, the number is not great. Outwardly speaking, their condition is also very poor. We should pray for these places.
(What Are We?, Chapter 1, by Watchman Nee)