Message Six

HAVING ONE HEART AND ONE WAY

We, the chosen people of God, should all have one heart and one way. We should have one heart to
love God, to seek God, to live God, and to be constituted with God. This means that we love to be the
expression of God. The one way is just the Triune God. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the way” (John 14:6a).
Christians today are divided because they take many different ways other than Christ. The Catholic
Church has the Catholic way, and the Orthodox Church has the Orthodox way. Each denomination and
independent group has its own way. The Presbyterians have one way, and the Pentecostals have another
way.
What should be our way in the Body of Christ? As the Body of Christ, we should take the way of the
inner law, which is the Triune God with His divine capacity. We should all have one heart to love Him,
and we should all take Him as our life and our way. This one heart and one way is the one accord (Acts
1:14). If we do not have one heart and one way, we cannot be in one accord.
For eternity in the New Jerusalem there will be only one way. John tells us, “He showed me a river of
water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its
street. And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding
its fruit each month” (Rev. 22:1-2a). In the middle of the street, the river of water of life flows, and in the
river the tree of life grows. This indicates that the way, the life, and the life supply are all one. It also
indicates what our way should be today. Our way in the Lord’s recovery is life; it is the inner law of life;
it is the very Triune God Himself.
I am sorry to say that in recent years there was a turmoil among us, and this turmoil brought in
division. The reason for this turmoil was that certain ones wanted to take a way other than life, a way
other than Christ, the Triune God, and the inner law. Divisions are always the result of taking a way other
than Christ. If we keep ourselves to the one way, there will be no division. We praise the Lord that in His
restoration He will give His people one heart to love Him and express Him and one way to enjoy Him.
(Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 189-190)

IN THE NEW MAN THERE BEING ONLY ONE MOUTH

The Body is a matter of being members one of another, but for the new man the requirements are even
more than what the Body requires. For many years I read Romans 15:6, which says, “That with one
accord you may with one mouth glorify… God.” I felt that I did not understand this word. How could so
many Christians come together and have only one mouth? I did not understand it at that time. One day,
however, I saw that the church is one new man. How many mouths does a man have? It has one. Not only
are we all members one of another, but we also all speak with one mouth. Do you see how much is
required of us? It is already restricting enough to be members one of another, and now even when we
speak, we all have to have one mouth. This is not my word; it is Paul’s word. How many mouths does the
one new man have? One. Then who is the mouth? If you say that Christ is the mouth, you are too
transcendent. In order to resolve this matter you must see that there is only one new man with only one
person. In the whole body there is only one mouth, but who controls this mouth? It is the person who
controls the mouth.
The church is not merely the Body but also the one new man. The Body needs Christ as its life,
whereas the new man needs Christ as his person. When you want to speak, when I want to speak, when
any one of us wants to speak, we must resolve the basic question: Who is the person that is speaking
here? If you are the person, you have your own mouth. If I am the person, I have my own mouth. Thus,
you have your mouth, and I have my mouth; therefore, there are two mouths. When each one is a person
individually and each one speaks his own matters, we have many mouths. This is a society or a
denomination, and this is the condition of today’s degraded Christianity. In the Lord’s recovery, however,
the church is the Body, and the church is the one new man. The Body has Christ as life, and the new man
has Christ as a person. When you speak, it is not you who are the person; when I speak, neither is it I.
When anyone speaks, it is Christ who is the person. What is the result? The result is that there is only one
mouth.
This is why in 1 Corinthians 1:10 Paul says that all “speak the same thing.” This verse greatly bothered
me many years ago. I thought, “How could all Christians speak the same thing?” It seemed to me that this
was impossible, but one day I understood. The church is the one new man with only one person, and this
person controls our speaking, so whatever He speaks is surely “the same thing” that we all speak as the
new man.
Many preachers and pastors in today’s Christianity are all their own persons, all have their own
mouths, and all speak their own things. Therefore, they have many mouths, each speaking a different
thing. However, the church is not like this. The church is the one new man with Christ as her person.
Whenever the brothers and sisters are about to speak something, they do not take themselves as the
person; instead, they allow Christ to be the person. You let Christ be your person when you speak, and I
let Christ be my person when I speak. Eventually, everyone speaks the same thing.
Consider the Bible. The Old and New Testaments contain sixty-six books written by more than forty
different authors in many different places over a period of fifteen or sixteen hundred years. The first book,
Genesis, was written about 1500 B.C., while the last book, Revelation, was written after A.D. 90. Do they
all have one mouth? Do they all speak the same thing? The entire Bible has one mouth and speaks the
same thing, even though it was written over a long period of time by many different people in many
different places. Now you can understand what it means to have one mouth speaking the same thing. In
the East, in the West, in the United States, in Germany, in Great Britain, in Japan, and in Korea, we can
have many people speaking, but all have one mouth and say one thing. Although we are many and we
come from many places, all of us have one mouth, and we all speak the same thing. This is because we all
are the one new man having only one person.
Dear brothers and sisters, what I have fellowshipped with you here is something that I know. Many
times I wanted to speak, but I checked within, asking myself, “Is it I who want to speak or is it the Lord?”
In other words, in the matter of speaking, is the Lord the person, or am I the person? If it is I, there will be
a problem; if it is the Lord, there will be no problem. If I allow the Lord to be the person, He is the One
who speaks; then two months later, if you allow the Lord to be the person, you will speak the same thing
that I have spoken. We have one mouth speaking the same thing.
In Christianity today you see a pitiful condition because every preacher wants to speak his own thing,
and he thinks it is a shame to speak what others have spoken. Thus, you speak your thing and he speaks
his; sometimes someone will use something from someone else’s speaking, but he will do it secretly. This
has actually happened in America. Fifteen years ago, before the Lord’s recovery went to the United
States, almost no one spoke about the “human spirit” and “transformation,” but now these have become
common terms. There are also some people who used our materials to study the book of Romans, and
after they finished their studies and printed them, they said that they discovered these things themselves
through their own study. This is not proper.
There is, however, another condition in which people blindly follow others: I speak whatever you
speak, and you speak whatever I speak. In this way we make a show to everyone that we all have only
one mouth and we speak the same thing. You must see that in neither case is the condition right. We do
not want the condition in Christianity, nor do we want a condition of blindly following others. We want a
condition in which the one new man speaks. There is only one new man, and this one new man has only
one person, so the one new man speaks with one mouth and says the same thing.

THERE BEING NO FREEDOM TO SPEAK OUR OWN THINGS IN THE NEW MAN

In the new man there is no freedom to speak your own things. This is more limiting and restricting
than being members one of another. Everyone knows that what limits you the most is the matter of
speaking. If I cannot say this or that—whatever I like—then I am very much restricted, but if I can say
whatever I want, then I am very free. However, in the church, in the Body of Christ, and especially in the
new man, neither your natural man nor my natural man has freedom of speech. This is because we
ourselves are not the persons. In the one new man there is only one person. Only this person has the
freedom to speak, and our natural man has absolutely no freedom of speech. The Lord has the absolute
freedom to speak, and I absolutely have no freedom to speak. We cannot allow the natural man to speak;
we definitely must not allow it. Only the one person should speak.
You have to consider “one mouth” in Romans 15:6 and “speak the same thing” in 1 Corinthians 1:10
together with “one new man” in Ephesians 2:15. Otherwise, you will never understand the first two
verses. You may wonder how the entire church can have only one mouth and how millions of members
can speak the same thing. Humanly speaking, this is absolutely impossible. However, we must see that in
Romans 15, Paul was speaking of a local church. In a local church, there must be only one mouth. Here in
Taipei, there should be only one mouth. There should also be only one mouth in the churches in Southeast
Asia. This is because there is only one person. In the past you had too many mouths because you had too
many persons. When there are many persons, there are many ideas; when there are many ideas, there are
many opinions, but we thank the Lord that now there is one mouth and one person here. There are no
policemen here; each of us is absolutely free, but on the other hand, you have absolutely no freedom
because within you there is another person. You may be about to speak, but something “pinches” you
from within, telling you not to say anything. All you can say is, “Thank the Lord!” When you want to
speak again, the Lord pinches you again, so you simply say, “Amen!” If the Lord did not pinch this one
and that one, I tell you, the brothers and sisters would most certainly quarrel when they come together.
There are many people in the church in Taipei, but there is no quarreling. The reason is that for many
years they have had the grace to take Christ as their person. It is not I speaking, nor is it you speaking, nor
is it he speaking, nor is it the brothers speaking, nor is it the sisters speaking; instead, everyone says,
“Lord, You speak!”
Do not think that the reason we do not speak is because we were born with only half a lip. No, rather it
seems that we were born with eight lips. Many years ago, however, when I was young, I made those
careful calculations. It was not up to me to be a man, but if I am a man, then I must be a Christian; if I am
going to be a Christian, then I must be one according to the Bible; if I am going to live according to the
Bible, then I will be “chained.” Hence, many times at critical moments I did not say anything. Why?
Because the person within me did not speak. I am not the person; Christ is. We should take Christ not
only to be our life but also to be our person. We should not only eat His riches to take them in and
assimilate them into our being; we should also allow Him to be our person. (One Body, One Spirit, and
One New Man, pp. 58-62)

SAUL’S TRAGIC END—A SERIOUS WARNING

In studying the history in the Bible, we need to learn all the different lessons. First Samuel 13—14
contains a great lesson. It may seem that Saul’s disobedience in making an offering was a small
disobedience. But Samuel realized that Saul would take the opportunity to usurp God’s appointment to
build up his own monarchy within the building up of God’s kingdom. God intended to build up His
kingdom on earth, not to build up a monarchy for Saul.
Samuel taught the people the custom of the kingdom (1 Sam. 10:25). Moses gave the law to the
children of Israel, but before Samuel came they did not have a set of by-laws, a constitution. Samuel told
the people the by-laws, the constitution, the practice, the customs, the manners, the ordinances, and the
rules of how to practice the kingdom of God on earth. Saul should have practiced the kingdom life
according to this constitution. Samuel, the composer of the constitution, watched Saul, and he saw a
tendency with him to build up a human monarchy by usurping the practice of the kingdom of God.
The Lord’s recovery today is the kingdom of God. Some have attempted to build up their work and to
establish a monarchy for themselves within the recovery. Brother Nee strongly stressed this same matter
when he said that some so-called co-workers were building up for themselves something separate from
the recovery while they remained in the recovery. These co-workers built up their own little empires.
Recently, a monarchy was built up in a certain area of this country, but the saints there refused to go along
with such a monarchy. They wrote to me saying that the churches in that area were not raised up by the
one who wanted to build up a monarchy, but were established and nourished by the essence of the Lord’s
recovery. These saints said that they wanted the recovery, the kingdom of God today.
The recovery around the globe is uniquely one. The intrinsic essence of the kingdom of God is the
Body of Christ, the church of God. Through the past several decades, some brothers have worked and
labored very well, and we appreciate what they have done. Yet certain of the workers carried out a work
in the recovery by usurping the recovery. Today in some places there is still a tendency, under the name
of the recovery, to build up something within the ministry of the recovery, usurping the advantages of the
recovery and using the materials of the ministry of the recovery. There are signs that the work in these
places is not a pure work—a work purely for the building up of the Body of Christ, the kingdom of God.
Rather, it is a work built up for the interest of certain ones.
Six years ago a teaching came out which said that the local churches are autonomous. Some said that
after the apostles establish a church and appoint elders, they should keep their hands off the church,
leaving the church as an autonomy. Such a teaching of autonomy was actually the building up of a
monarchy.
We practice the local churches, and each of the local churches is autonomous in business affairs. But
this does not mean that the local churches are divided. In a sense they are local churches, but all the local
churches on this globe are just one church. Every local church has its own freedom and jurisdiction to
make decisions concerning, for example, the times of the meetings. However, this does not mean that the
local churches are different. Paul taught all the churches in the same way (1 Cor. 4:17).
All the churches are the same in life, in nature, in testimony, in serving, and in expressing Christ. We
may be different in nationalities and languages, but our singing and praising are the same. We are one
Body, testifying the same Christ. We preach, announce, admonish, and teach concerning Christ as
revealed in the Bible. We do not have different schools, different teachings, or different testimonies.
Christianity has been divided because of different practices, for example the practice of baptism. But the
“dictionary” in the Lord’s recovery has only one word—Christ. We are not for various kinds of teachings.
We are for Christ, who is for the kingdom of God. We are for the kingdom of God, which is the Body of
Christ, the unique church of God.
Saul’s tragic ending should warn us not to play with God. We should not try to build up any kind of
monarchy. We are all here to build up the kingdom, the Body of Christ. In the Lord’s recovery we do not
have many pieces of work. No matter where we may be, we have only one work. We should not be
today’s Saul, considering only the work in our region and trying to build up a monarchy for ourselves.
We all, especially our co-workers, should realize that we are not involved in a small work. David
probably never realized that his history was fully related to God’s becoming a man to join Himself to
mankind and to live on earth to accomplish His eternal will. Nevertheless, David was related to the
genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1, and what we are doing today is related to the New Jerusalem in
Revelation 21 and 22. Therefore, we must have the confidence that we are of God, that we are under His
sovereignty, and that we are doing one unique work—the work in His recovery to carry out His economy,
which will consummate in the New Jerusalem. (Life-study of 1 and 2 Samuel, pp. 63-65, 119)
Saul’s tragic end was altogether due to his not being properly related to God’s economy. God, wanting
to build up His kingdom among His chosen people, had brought Saul into His economy, but instead of
participating in God’s economy and cooperating with it, Saul was selfish and usurped God’s kingdom to
build up his own monarchy. With David the situation was entirely different. When David was anointed by
Samuel, he had a clear understanding that he had been assigned by God to be the king, but he did not have
any thought about kingship. After Saul was appointed to be the king, he was immediately filled with
thoughts of the kingship, including how his son would succeed him ([1 Sam.] 20:31). In this, Saul was
selfish and wrong to the uttermost. Eventually, God gave Saul up and cut him off, tearing the kingdom
away from him (15:28). Because Saul was given up by God, he was left alone, like an orphan, having no
provision of help when trouble came. Because of Saul’s selfishness, the people of Israel suffered defeat
and were slaughtered in the fight against the Philistines, and Saul and his sons were killed. Saul’s
ambition to have the kingdom for himself and for his son, with his jealousy of David, annulled and ended
his enjoyment of the good land promised by God. The collective death of Saul, his three sons, and his
armor bearer was God’s fair judgment on the one who had rebelled against Him, had usurped Him, and
had become His enemy (1 Chron. 10:13-14).
From Saul’s tragic end we should learn the lesson of crucifying our flesh and denying our
selfishness—our self-interest and self-seeking (Gal. 5:24; Matt. 16:24; Phil. 2:3). The record of Saul’s
terrible end is a strong warning to all who serve in the kingdom of God not to do a separate work within
the kingdom of God or to abuse anything in the kingdom. We should not be like Saul, trying to build up a
“monarchy” for ourselves; rather, we should all do one unique work to build up the kingdom of God, the
Body of Christ. (1 Samuel 31:6, note 1, Recovery Version)

< Contents | Message 7 >

© 2005 Living Stream Ministry

All rights reserved.