You know, in the world, the government and the people are somehow separated.
Well, it is government of the people, by the people, and for the people; but somehow, you will find that when government is set up, it is above the people. There is a separation there. Why? That is why I say authority follows a person; position follows the people. When you take a position, it exposes you. It makes you think that you are greater, you are higher, and you are above.
But, brothers and sisters, again I say, in the church it is not a matter of position. If you want to talk about positions, that is the lowest position. Go and take it.
There is a close relationship between the local government and the brothers and sisters in the local assembly. They are never separated.
Those who are responsible for the church have to seek the Lord for His mind and will on everything. They are not the head. They have to look up to the Head to find from the Head His mind for His people.
And oftentimes, you will find that the way they find the mind of the Head is through the body.
So, in other words, you will find those in local government should always be in contact and communication with the brothers and sisters, to find from the body the mind of Christ.
They find from the body the needs and bring these needs to the Head. You know, just like the neck: everything is from all the different members, and they go through the neck and find the mind of the Head. From the Head, it comes to the whole body.
Outwardly, it seems that they decide for the church the things to be done and not to be done—what should be done and what should not be done. Outwardly, it appears so; but actually, it is decided by the body under the Head.
I think Acts 15 is very clear. You will find that when there is a problem, apostles and elders do not just come together and say, “All right, here is the problem. Let us talk about it and make a decision on it.” No.
You will find that when there is a problem in the church, they open it to the whole church. Every brother and sister has a chance to express how he or she feels about this matter—not in the flesh, of course.
Then these elders and apostles would take the feelings of the body, go to the Lord, and seek the Head about it. So when the decision was made, they said, “The Holy Spirit and we have decided.”
So, brothers and sisters, there must be a real coordination and connection between the responsible brothers, or those in responsibility, and the brothers and sisters—never separated.
You know, the problem today is that when people are in the position of eldership, they think that now they can decide for the people on everything. They just give the order, and everybody has to do it. Not so.
You have to learn to get the feeling from the body in order to bring it to the Head and get from the Head His mind for the body. So there is a close relationship between local government and the brothers and sisters in the local assembly: no division, no division.
Finally, I would like to share something. You may not agree with me, and if you do not, I am happy. I am open.
What form, if any, should local government take in the time of recovery?
We know that we are today in the time of the recovery of the house of God. Before our Lord returns, the church has to be recovered—recovered to the original purpose of God.
Through the centuries, the church has fallen. It has become an earthly institution. But we believe that God is doing a work of recovery. He is recovering His church back to what He originally desired for it.
Now, in the time of recovery, how about this matter of eldership, of government?
On the one hand, we believe that in the recovery, government must be recovered. Spiritual authority must be recovered. God’s people must know authority and submission. Divine order in the house must be recovered. We believe that.
Yet, on the other hand, we feel there is a real problem there. If you want to recover local government or eldership, are you able to do that?
In the first place, you find God’s people are so divided. They are no longer one.
You say the church is one—one universally and one locally. But here you find God’s people divided into pieces and bits and fragments. How are you going to put them together?
You know, every child of God, everyone who loves the Lord—or even if you do not love the Lord, but you know a little of what the church ought to be—you know that we are one body. We should not be divided. Everybody knows that.
And that is the reason why, in order to bring God’s people together into one, there has been an ecumenical movement going on for all these years, trying to come together, talk it over, compromise, agree to disagree, and disagree to agree. You find all kinds of things trying to maintain an outward unity.
Is this the unity that God is to recover?
When our Lord Jesus prayed that prayer in John 17, He said:
That they may be one,
even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee.
It is not an outward union; it is an inward unity, brothers and sisters. It is the inward unity that God is looking for. That outward union is not it.
If you go to a virgin land where there was no Christian, and you go there and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and gather people together unto the Lord, then you are able to recover the church—not only in reality, but also in name. You can call it the church in a certain place.
But today, you cannot do that. You cannot call yourself the church in Richmond today. Why? Because there are many of God’s people who are not gathering together with you in your group.
Some may be in the Roman Catholic Church. Thank God, there are many of God’s people—really born-again people—in the Roman Catholic system. We are not endorsing that system, but we thank God for our brothers and sisters.
There are many brothers and sisters in many different denominations. There are many brothers and sisters in many independent groups, many fellowships, and many home meetings. And, brothers and sisters, we are one. Can we get all together, like in the early church in Jerusalem? We are not able to do that.
And that is the reason why we cannot call ourselves the church in Richmond, because the church in Richmond includes all God’s people in Richmond. Thank God for that.
Then what are we doing here?
Well, that is the principle of recovery. We are here, standing on the ground of the unity of the body of Christ.
We refuse to be divided. We come together under the Head of Christ. We have no other name but the name of Christ. We learn to put ourselves under His authority. We treasure His presence. We allow Him to be our Head, and we open our hearts and hands to all those people in Richmond. This is our testimony.
That is all we can do, and that is what God wants us to do.
In spite of all the difficulties, the testimony of the unity of the body of Christ has to be maintained.
Now, because of this, you have a problem with eldership. Can we appoint elders today? Can we give people titles as elders?
You know, in recovery, it seems to me that God is no longer looking for outward things. He is looking for that inward reality.
In other words, it is no longer the title or the office of elders that He is looking for. It is the function of the elders He is looking for—the functioning, not a title, not a position.
And, as a matter of fact, in the beginning this is what it was. It is a function that can be recovered.
You compare the seven letters written by Paul with the seven letters written by John—though actually John was just taking down the dictation.
But when you read the seven letters written by Paul, even though there are problems in the churches, you find that God still recognizes that the churches are in their normal state. So there, in the churches, you have deacons, elders, and officials.
But when you come to the seven letters in Revelation 2 and 3, these letters are written to the messenger of the church.
In Philippians, Paul is able to write to the saints in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons. But in Revelation 2 and 3, they are written to the messenger of the church in Ephesus, in Smyrna, in Pergamum, in Thyatira, in Sardis, in Philadelphia, and in Laodicea.
Now, who are the messengers? We know the word messenger can refer to two different kinds of messengers. They can be celestial messengers—angels—or they can be terrestrial messengers—men.
Now, in this case, we believe they are not celestial messengers, because the Lord is writing to the churches. So it must refer to men as messengers. But no title, no elders—messengers.
Those who receive a message from the risen Head and deliver it to the people are like stars in the right hand of the risen Lord.
They have a heavenly life. They have the light for Christ in them, as lights shining in darkness. And they are in the hand of the Lord Himself. The Lord is supporting them.
They are responsible to the Lord for the local assembly. No position, no title—it is a spiritual function. They function as those who are responsible for the church in Ephesus.
Brothers and sisters, does it mean that today, in the recovery work of God, the function of government—the function of elders—must be recovered? Yes, it must. As a matter of fact, it has to be.
Wherever God’s people are together, there must be some people who function as elders. But there is no title, there is no position. And because there is no title and no position, it is more difficult to function. But that proves whether you are chosen by the Lord or not.
Again, you read 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. You see such a difference between these two letters, only a few years apart.
Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy after he was released from Roman prison, around the end of A.D. 63 or 64. He came to Ephesus, and he saw that the church was there. You know, he was in Ephesus for three years. He wrote the letter to the Ephesians in prison, and he came to Ephesus.
Of course, those elders who had been appointed before were all dead. So new elders had to be chosen, and he had no time. So he left Timothy there, and he began to tell him how to behave in the house of God.
Now here you find, in 1 Timothy, he called the church “the house of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” Great is the mystery of godliness.
And in that matter, he tells us the qualifications of the elders and of the deacons.
Only a few years later, the whole situation changed. You know, in A.D. 64, Nero burned the city of Rome, and he put the blame on the Christians. The Christians were the scapegoats.
And because of that, the whole atmosphere changed. If you were a Christian, you were a criminal in the sight of the government. Christians were persecuted and killed. Everything changed.
And, brothers and sisters, when Paul wrote the second letter to Timothy, before his martyrdom, he was arrested again and brought to Rome. He was put in the dungeon, waiting to be sentenced and beheaded. And he knew it was coming.
He wrote this letter to Timothy, and when he wrote this letter, he said, “All Asia hath forsaken me.” He labored years in Asia, and they forsook him. It was so difficult. They may not have left the Lord, but they left, they forsook, Paul.
During his first trial, no one would defend him, stand as a character witness. Everybody hid themselves, lest they also be arrested. It was difficult, do not believe it. He stood alone, but the Lord was with him. Everything changed.
And when Paul mentioned the church, he said:
The Lord knoweth them that are His.
Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.
Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth;
and some unto honor, and some unto dishonor.
If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, meet for the Master’s use, prepared unto every good work.
Commit to faithful men, dear brothers and sisters. Here you find it is no longer the house of the living God; it becomes a great house.
It is no longer pure. There are vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor: gold and silver. Gold, the nature of God; silver, the redemption of Christ. In other words, there are people who live by the life of Christ in them.
But there are people who belong to the Lord, and yet live by their own flesh—wood, man; earth and clay, the work of man.
Brothers and sisters, the calling is, “Purify yourself.” Do not be willing to be a vessel to dishonor the Lord. Do not live in your flesh. Do not work in the energy of your natural man.
Depart from iniquity. Live by the life of Christ in you, and be faithful to the very end. Brothers and sisters, what a change.
You find it is no longer a matter of outward appearance. It is a matter of inward reality.
So I wonder whether today, in the recovery work of God, government in the local church has to be recovered. Unfortunately, you find in many groups it is anarchy. It is democracy, so-called. But there is no order, no discipline, no government, no coordination. How can the church be built?
May God raise up some, for the love of the church, willing to give their lives to the church, to represent Christ as Head and to serve the brothers and sisters—without any name, without any title, without any position.
Misunderstood, stepped under, but faithfully serving the Lord, serving the brothers and sisters, taking care of the house of God. Brothers and sisters, this is a must.
May the Lord raise up people who will function as elders, take the lowest place, and serve, and lead, and suffer, but do not look for a title. Do not look for a position.
I believe this will deliver us from being corrupted by position, by power in us.
I wonder if this is the way of the Lord for His church today. I just want to share it with you. Take it to the Lord and see whether this is the way of the Lord concerning local government.
Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, we humble ourselves before Thee, acknowledging that either we have no government or we have corrupted Thy government.
We pray, Lord, that Thou wilt reveal to us Thy concept of government. We pray that Thou wilt raise up some people who are willing to take the oversight for the sake of Thy people.
We pray that, in this recovery of government, it may be of life and not of organization.
Lord, we pray that Thou wilt open the eyes of Thy people to recognize the government that Thou hast set up in Thy church, that we may know how to behave in the house of God.
Teach us how to submit to one another in the fear of Christ, that the divine order in the church may be set up to the glory of God and the building up of the church.
Lord, our prayer is that Thy church will be built, made ready for Thee, our King, our Bridegroom, our Head.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.