SUBMITTING TO AUTHORITY,
AND COORDINATING IN SERVICE
There is only one mouth in the human body. There is only one place where orders are issued. All the other places only need to follow the orders. To mop the floor is a small thing. Yet, in doing such a small thing, a person must nevertheless ask the church. This is real coordination. A man is built up through serving in the church. If you have to ask someone about something, that someone is spontaneously the authority above you. With the authority, there are the orders. Without authority, there can be no orders, and without the orders, there cannot be those who follow the orders. On the other hand, the presence of proper services always proves that authority is there, and under such circumstances, a model of the Body will emerge.
Whether or not local authority is built up depends on the presence of authority in the work. If the coordination among the co-workers is not smooth, you cannot expect the coordination among the brothers and sisters to be smooth. The crux of the matter today is the coordination among the co-workers. This is our biggest problem.
I have met with Brother Nee many times. All the time, I have the feeling that Brother Nee’s ministry must be recovered among us. During the past year and a half, we have discussed this matter many times. Once there is coordination in the work, the local churches will be able to send people out, and there will be an increase in quantity and quality. Today, the preaching of the gospel should be a work in the Body. Men remain unsaved because they have not yet seen the power of the church. Once the Body appears, there will be the real recovery. Today, we cannot say that we are fully recovered yet. In short, if Brother Nee does not resume his ministry, nothing will happen. If real coordination is not established in the work, we cannot expect the local churches to have the real services. As such is the case, there will still be the system of the Nicolaitans; we still will not see the whole Body rising up to serve, and we will still be left with a few serving.
LEARNING TO LISTEN TO OTHERS
AND TO BE SUBMISSIVE IN EVERYTHING
Brother Nee: My personal ministry is to serve as a minister of the ministers; I am here to serve the ministers. My own work seldom touches the brothers and sisters directly. Concerning the work, I have much to say. Concerning the brothers and sisters, I have very little to say.
In the church, a person has to learn to ask everything. Once there is the asking, the services will be produced. If a brother mops the floor in the church for two years and is still the same person, he should not come any longer. He has to mop the floor to the extent that he becomes a different person. In the church it is not the main emphasis to get the work done, but to learn to be the proper person through doing the works. Every time we engage in any work, we have to learn coordination, and we have to ask the church about everything. We should not propose anything, but should learn to submit. Those who have the ministry are responsible for speaking up, and others are responsible for putting aside their own ideas. Everyone has to learn to submit under the Head.
If the church does not learn this lesson, it will become the same as the denominations and other social groups. Everything in the church is under God’s authority. Not only should the responsible ones learn to give orders, the brothers and sisters also should learn to follow orders. The responsible ones have to learn to speak, and they also have to learn not to speak. Whether to speak or not to speak, they have to live under the authority of the Head. To live the church life demands our very life. The first thing we have to do is not to think, but to submit. The saints should present all the problems to the elders, and the elders should present the problems before God. In this way, the saints can come to God through the elders, and God’s authority can be realized among the saints.
(Messages Given During the Resumption of Watchman Nee's Ministry (2 volume set), Chapter 46, by Watchman Nee/Witness Lee)
