God, having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets,
at the end of these days has spoken to us in the Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things,
by whom also He made the worlds.
And put all things in subjection under His feet,
and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
Until we all attain unto the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a full-grown man,
unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:
that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine,
by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him, who is the head, even Christ;
from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth,
according to the working in due measure of each several part,
maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
But I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love.
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works;
or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent.
Dear heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee, knowing that we are in Thy presence. And now we just commit Thy Word into Thy hands and ask Thy Holy Spirit to breathe again upon Thy Word into our hearts, that it may be life and spirit to us. It is all for the praise of Thy glory. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Our God is a God who works, and He is working according to His purpose. We believe that the work of God today is the work of recovery. This is the nature of God’s work.
Aside from Genesis 1:1, where we find, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” following that, we find that all the works of God are really works of recovery. God not only restored the ruined earth, but in restoring the ruined earth, He created man on the sixth day. That is a step further into this matter of recovery.
Even though man fell and sinned, yet you find in the Old Testament that God is continuously working toward recovery. For instance, in Abel we find the altar and the sacrifice, which is a type of Christ crucified. Then we find in Noah the building of the ark, which itself is a type of how God will put us in Christ.
In Abraham, we find the recovery of faith: that by faith we obey, by faith we live, and by faith we offer. Then in Moses, we find God recovering for Himself a people—chosen, separated, and put under a covenant relationship with Him.
In the case of David, we find the recovery of the concept of the kingdom of God. Later on, we find in Ezra the recovery of the temple and the temple service; in Nehemiah, the recovery of the wall, which is the recovery of the testimony of God.
So throughout the Old Testament, we find that God is constantly, continuously, and persistently doing this work of recovery. But these recoveries are only types, and only in part. Not until the coming of our Lord Jesus do we find that our Lord Jesus recovered all.
He reconciled all things by the blood of His cross, and He reconciled us to His fullness. On the day of Pentecost, we find how the Holy Spirit came and the church was born.
But following that, we find in the Epistles, especially the later Epistles, that they are all dealing with this matter of recovery: to recover to the original thought of God concerning His church. Especially when you come to the seven letters to the seven churches in Asia, the character and nature of these letters are, without doubt, a matter of recovery.
So we do believe that the work that God has been doing and is doing is in the nature of recovery. Now, especially to us who are living in the end days, I believe that the recovery of God must be intensified and, not only that, must come into wholeness.
This morning, we would like to share together on this matter of the essentials of recovery. That is, when God recovers, what are the essential principles—the things that must be recovered?
During our first session, our brother Lance has already mentioned this matter of the Word of God. Of course, we know that in the recovery work of God, the Word of God has a very essential part. The authority of God’s Word must be recovered among God’s people.
For instance, at the Reformation, oftentimes we think that Reformation came through Martin Luther or through other instruments. Now, that is true. God did use these reformers to bring in Reformation. But those who really understand Reformation, those church historians, believe that Reformation actually came into being through the Word of God.
It is the open Bible. It is the Word of God in the language of the people. That is really the foundation and the success of Reformation. And following Reformation, as our brother already mentioned, every new movement of the Spirit of God is really a rediscovery of the Word. It is really a going back to respect, to obey, and to humble ourselves under the Word of God.
So in this matter of recovery, the Word of God—the authority of God’s Word—is one of the essential things that must be recovered. Our brother has already dealt with it very thoroughly, so we will not go into it this morning. But this morning, I feel that we would like to mention four essential things that must be recovered.
Number one is the headship of Christ.
We have already mentioned that recovery is not only related to loss. Because something has been lost, therefore it needs to be recovered. But we find that, according to God’s Word, recovery is linked with God’s eternal purpose. God wants to recover everything back to His original will, and that is recovery.
Now, what is God’s original purpose concerning all things? We know that God’s original will concerning all things is that Christ may be the Head of all things.
In Hebrews 1, we find that God has spoken in the past to our fathers in many ways and in many parts through the prophets. But then, at the end of these days, He has spoken to us in the Son, whom He established heir of all things. And all things were made through Him.
In other words, we find that God created all things in Christ, in the Son, by the Son, and for the Son, with only one purpose: that Christ may be the Head of all things. Or, to put it another way, the headship of Christ simply means His full control and absolute rule over all things.
God intends to put all things under His feet, that all things will glorify Him, that all things will display His glory and manifest His character. All things will speak of Christ. Now that is God’s original purpose.
Even though we find rebellion both in heaven and on earth—rebellion among the angelic hosts and rebellion among human beings—and because of that all things have disintegrated, we do thank God that He is still working toward His purpose.
Our Lord Jesus came into this world, and He tasted death for everything. Now, in Hebrews 2, the writer says:
For not unto angels did He subject the world to come, whereof we speak.
But one hath somewhere testified, saying,
What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?
Or the son of man, that Thou visitest him?
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels;
Thou crownedst him with glory and honor,
And didst set him over the works of Thy hands:
Thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet.
Now, we know the psalmist prophesied concerning the Man of God, which is the second Man, our Lord Jesus. God made Him a little lower than the angels, but crowned Him with glory and honor, and subjected all things under His feet.
On Calvary’s cross, there you find our Lord Jesus. He finished the work, and God raised Him up from the dead. He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, crowned with glory and honor, and God has put all things under His feet. That is what God has already done.
But then, in Hebrews 2:8, in the latter part, it says:
But now we see not yet all things subjected to Him.
But we behold Him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus,
because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor,
that by the grace of God He should taste death for every man.
Brothers and sisters, on the one hand we find that God has already glorified Him and has already put everything under His feet. But on the other hand, today we do not see all things being subjected under His feet. All we see is Jesus, who suffered and tasted death for everything.
But even so, we know for sure that God is working toward that end. The day will come when He will head up all things in Christ, when everything will be put under His feet, because this is the will of God: the headship of Christ.
Now, this matter of the headship of Christ must first be realized in the church before it will be manifested in all things. So in Ephesians 1:22-23, we find that God has made Him Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who filleth all in all.
Christ must be the Head of His church, not only in truth, but in experience. We must know Christ as our Head. If the church does not know the headship of Christ, then the headship of Christ will not be demonstrated or manifested in all things. First of all, it has to be made true in the church.
The church is the body of Christ, and as the body of Christ, of course, we need to subject ourselves under our Head, who is Christ. And that is in all things—not just in some things, but in all things.
The body is under the head, and the body is under the complete control and rule of the head. The body is to work out the will of the head. The body is to hold fast the Head, and then the body will be ministered unto and united together.
The headship of Christ must be recovered. Now, we find in the church today that there are many heads. Sometimes men become heads. Sometimes doctrine becomes head; teaching becomes head. Sometimes a system or form becomes head.
So in the church today, we find it is under different kinds of heads instead of under the headship of Christ. And that is the reason why we see such confusion among God’s people.
In Matthew 18:20, “Where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them.” We know this is the simplest definition or explanation of what the church is: two or three gathered together under the name of our Lord Jesus.
Now, the meaning of under His name is not just an official phrase. Under His name means that we are under His authority, that we are under the headship of Christ. Where there are two or three gathered together under the authority of Christ, holding fast Christ as the Head, then you find the presence of the Lord is there. That is the real meaning of what the church is.
The headship of Christ must be a reality, not only to each one of us individually, but also to us corporately. Or, to put it another way, how can the headship of Christ be manifested in the church if it is not first a reality in us individually?
So it is a very practical thing that we have to know the headship of Christ in each of our lives. I think it is very important for us to ask this question of ourselves: Is Christ my Head? Is He Head over me in all things?
Do I allow Him to have complete, absolute rule over me—whether it is my personal life, my family life, my social life, my work, my service, or my church life? Do I honor Him as my Head?
Do I really seek to know His will and His mind over my life, over my work, over the things that I do, and over the decisions that I make? Do I allow Him really to be Head over me? Do I really wait upon Him and give Him the opportunity to reveal His mind to me?
Or, if I know what His will is, do I allow Him to have His authority pass through me? Or am I resisting it, trying to delay it, or trying to compromise it? Do I allow Him really to be Head over me? Brothers and sisters, I think this is a very practical matter.
The more you go on with the Lord, the more you will discover that there are many areas of our lives in which we have yet to allow Christ to be the Head. This is actually our spiritual growth. In the measure in which we allow Him to be Head is the measure of our spiritual life.
Every member of the body of Christ must hold fast the Head, as our brother mentioned last night. Now, if we all hold fast the Head, then the Scripture says we are ministered unto and united together by joints and bands, and increase with the increase of God.
First of all, each one of us has to let Christ be our Head. Oftentimes, in our own experience, even though we do tell the Lord that He is the Head, when times come and issues arise, we find invariably that we ourselves come out and try to be head. This is where the Holy Spirit has to remind us and bring us to the cross.
So in our daily lives, we have to allow Christ to be our Head in all things. Then, of course, if this is the case with all of us, when we are gathered together, it will be no problem for us to hold fast the Head in the church.
Now, oftentimes we find that when God’s people gather together, when God’s people are making decisions for the church—whether it be among the leaders or the whole congregation—we usually pray first. Probably we have a very short prayer: “Lord, we have come together, and we want You to be the Head and to reveal Your mind to us, that everything will be done according to Your will.”
Then after five minutes of prayer, we start to discuss things. We all bring out our opinions and ideas, and finally the majority rules. Brothers and sisters, you find this is something that has been done and is being done among God’s people. After we have decided, we finish with prayer and say, “Lord, now this is Your will, and we will do it.”
In a very practical way, when God’s people come together, we need to wait upon Him. We really need to seek His mind, and before we know His mind, we should not make any move.
You know, we are so impatient. We feel that we must know His mind instantly, and sometimes God says, “You have to wait.” But we cannot. Because of this, we just decide and ask the Lord to put His blessing upon it.
This is not holding fast the Head. In holding fast the Head, we have to wait upon Him. We have to seek to know His mind. We dare not make any move if we are not sure that it is of Him. That is the way to honor Him as the Head of the church.
The headship of Christ in the church is patterned after the headship of God over Christ. In 1 Corinthians 11:3, Paul says:
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ;
and the head of the woman is the man;
and the head of Christ is God.
In other words, the headship of Christ in each one of our lives and in our lives together is patterned after the headship of God over Christ.
Even though the Son and the Father are one—they are equal—yet you find in Philippians how the Son emptied Himself. Of course, He could not empty Himself of His deity; that is impossible. He is God forever. But He emptied Himself of the glory, honor, and majesty that accompany His deity. He emptied Himself of all these things and took upon Himself the form of a bondservant, even the fashion of a man.
There you find that as a man, He was obedient to the Father, even unto death—and that the death of the cross. So, brothers and sisters, when our Lord Jesus was on earth, you find His own Head was covered.
In other words, there you find that He held fast His Head, the Father. Throughout His life on this earth, He was the body. That is to say, He was not to make the rule, but He was to follow the rule.
Again and again in His life, He said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself.” Now, if we can do many things, certainly the incarnate Son could do much more than we can do. But here you find our Lord Jesus said He could do nothing of Himself. Whatever He did, He did because He saw the Father do it.
He said, “I can say nothing out of Myself.” If we can say all things, certainly He could say more than we do. But here you find that He submitted Himself completely to His Head, God the Father. He refused to say anything of Himself. He refused to do anything out of Himself.
Even His time was not in His own hands. The Lord Jesus said, “Your time is always ready,” as if your time is yours, “but My time has not yet come.” He had to wait upon His Father. There He demonstrated in His life to us how to be the body to the Head.
There He was obedient even unto death. In Hebrews 5, it says that He learned obedience through the things which He suffered. In other words, obedience is not something natural to man. Obedience is something that has to be learned, and the way to learn it is through the things which we suffer.
In other words, our flesh has to suffer. We have to put down our flesh. Oh, how our flesh likes to voice its opinion. Whenever something happens, immediately we want to voice our opinion and say, “Well, this is the way. This is what I think.” Here you find that we have to put our flesh under the cross and suffer because of it.
Through the things which He suffered, He learned obedience. His obedience was absolute, even unto death, and then the death of the cross. So there you find that the headship of God the Father over Christ is absolute.
Brothers and sisters, here in the divine order, as God is the Head of Christ, so Christ is the Head of every man. And “every man” there includes everyone, male and female. Christ is the Head of every one, brothers and sisters.
He is our Head. If He is our Head, we are, as it were, His body. We are here not to counsel Him, but to do His will. This is what we are here for, and it demands that we be obedient to our Head absolutely. This is our place.
In all things, great things and small things, we honor Christ as our Head. We let Him rule over our lives in all things, just as He allowed the Father to rule over His life in all things. It is patterned after that.
Similarly, the obedience of the church to the authority of Christ as Head is patterned after the headship of God over Christ Jesus.
The headship of Christ must be recovered, especially when we come to the last days. Brothers and sisters, I do realize that more and more this matter of the headship of Christ becomes a real issue. It becomes a real issue in your individual life.
In other words, it is as if, as we come to these last days, if you do not settle this matter of the headship of Christ in your life, you just cannot go on. Your spiritual life seems to be arrested. There is no way for you to grow unless you settle this matter of the headship of Christ.
In Matthew 28, the Great Commission, we often think of the Great Commission as going to the nations and evangelizing the nations. Evangelizing, of course, is included in that Great Commission. But when you read Matthew 28, you find that the Great Commission is to go to the nations, disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all things that He has enjoined us.
Discipling simply means coming under the authority of the Master, the Head. In recent years and decades, we find that this matter of discipling has become a real issue. God’s people have begun to realize that it is not enough just to evangelize; we have to disciple people to Christ. That is important. Thank God for that.
But unfortunately, the enemy came in and tried to push discipling into extremes. In other words, we find people trying to disciple people to themselves instead of discipling them to Christ, putting them under the authority of men instead of putting them under the authority of Christ and leading them to be under the authority of Christ.
Still, you find that in the last days this is an important issue. In Matthew 24, we find that the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens has to be preached to all the nations, and then the end will come. Now, the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens is nothing but the gospel of the authority of Christ.
Christ has to have His authority over our lives. Christ has to be our Head, individually and corporately. We must recognize Him as our Head. We must hold fast the Head. We will not allow anything to come in and try to substitute Him or replace Him as Head.
This is the one essential thing that has to be recovered.
Number two: the full growth of the bride.
Brothers and sisters, recovery is to recover to the original will of God. The will of God is not only that His Son may be the Head of all things, but it is also the will of God that the Son should have a bride—a life companion, His like, something that reflects Him completely, a mirror image of Himself, something that He can say, as our brother mentioned last night, “This is Me.”
So, brothers and sisters, we do believe that as we come into the last days, the bride must grow into maturity. Today we are the body of Christ. As the body of Christ grows into maturity, then the Bridegroom will come and claim that body to be His bride.
Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus cannot be married to an immature bride. It is important for the church to grow into maturity. This is not only a matter of the number of people saved, but also a matter of the measure of the fullness of Christ—the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. This is something that has to be recovered.
In Ephesians 5:25-27, we find:
Even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for it;
that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,
that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Christ loved the church. He gave Himself for it. He is purifying it and sanctifying it by the washing of water with the Word, in order that He may present the church to Himself as a glorious church without spot or wrinkle.
In other words, without something too much. A spot is something too much, something that should not be there, and it must be purified. A wrinkle is oldness. There shall be nothing old; everything has to be fresh and living.
So whatever is old has to be washed away and purified away by the water with the Word. In other words, Christ will use His life—His very life—as the water mingled with the living Word of God. This is the way that all these spots and wrinkles will be purified, that we may be a glorious church, holy and without blemish.
Now, this is what Christ is doing today by His Spirit: that the body may grow into maturity.
There are two things that must be recovered for the maturity of the bride. Number one is the unity of the body of Christ.
Now, brothers and sisters, we do thank the Lord that in the past maybe forty or fifty years, we find that among God’s people there has begun to be a kind of feeling, and there has been much talk about the body of Christ.
Probably forty or fifty years ago, you rarely heard people talk about the body of Christ. But during the last forty or fifty years, you find that God’s people everywhere are talking about the body of Christ. In other words, we begin to realize that we are not just saved individuals.
We realize that this is not God’s original full purpose. God has saved us individually, but the purpose of saving us is that we may become one body of many members. That is the will of God. We are not just individual believers, but we are one body; we are together.
Yet at the same time, we all realize that we are not one, that we are divided, that we are separated. The body of Christ is a beautiful thought, a beautiful concept, something we like to dwell upon and meditate upon, but we all know that it is not real. It is not true.
For this reason, some good hearts try to do something about it. They try to bring God’s people together, and there you find the ecumenical movement. In other words, they try to make compromises so that outwardly there may be an outward kind of unity. But, of course, we know it is a façade; it is not real.
The unity that God desires in His body is not something that can be put on outwardly. The unity of the body of Christ is something that He has already given. In Ephesians 4, we find that we must diligently keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Brothers and sisters, our problem with this matter of the unity of the body of Christ is here: instead of diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit that has already been given to us, we move away from it.
The unity of the Spirit is something that has been given to us. It is already ours. This unity of the Spirit is expressed in the seven ones:
In other words, all who believe in the Lord Jesus, all who have been saved and born again, have these seven ones in them. This is the unity of the Spirit.
We have God as our Father. We have one Father. We have Christ as our Lord. We have only one Lord, not many lords. We have only one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who dwells not only in each one of us but dwells in the church, in the body.
So here you find that in God we are one. In the Triune God, we are one. There is a unity there, and what we need is to diligently keep it. Why must we keep it? Because it is so precious. It can be lost.
We need to diligently keep it lest we lose it. By losing it simply means that we move away from it. If we move away from it, then, as our brother mentioned last night, our fellowship will suffer.
The ground of our fellowship is the unity of the Spirit. As long as there is the unity of the Spirit, we can and should fellowship with one another in spite of all kinds of differences—not only differences in temperament and so forth, but even differences in interpretation.
We still can fellowship if we stand firm on the ground of the unity of the Spirit. It is through fellowship, sharing in common, sharing Christ with one another, that the body will grow into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
There is only one unity, but this unity has an end. It begins with the unity of the Spirit, which has been given, and it will end with the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, which we will all attain.
What is the unity of the faith? The faith there covers the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints—that is, whatever is in the Word of God, all the truth we find in God’s Word. These constitute the faith.
And what is the full knowledge of the Son of God? The knowledge there is full knowledge of the Son of God. It means that we will experience the Son of God to such an extent that it is a full knowledge. We will know Him experientially. We will know Him in His fullness. We will arrive at that unity.
Today, among God’s people, we differ in the faith. We have one faith, and we all agree that this one faith refers to our faith in the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. This is the foundational faith. We ought to agree on that, because if we do not have that faith, then we may not be saved.
So, we have one faith, which is the basic, fundamental faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. We already have that one faith, but we do not yet have the unity of the faith because among God’s people we differ in our interpretations and in what we believe constitutes the faith.
But one day we will arrive at the unity of the faith. Today, our experiences of the Son of God are varied. Some people experience the Son of God in certain areas more than in other areas. You know, we are very limited. It takes a whole body to experience Christ in His fullness.
That is the reason why we differ in our knowledge of the Son of God. But if we continue to fellowship, if we continue to share with one another, then what I do not have, I receive from you; and what you do not have of Christ, you receive from me. That will bring us into the unity of the full knowledge of the Son of God.
Now, if we do not fellowship, how will we ever come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God? We will never come to that point.
But unfortunately, we reverse the order. Whenever we meet another believer, probably the first question we ask is, “Do you believe in the Lord Jesus?” He says he does, and you know he is a believer. The next question is, “What denomination do you belong to? What do you think about the baptism of the Holy Spirit?”
Immediately, you find that we divide. We divide. Because we divide, we cannot have fellowship. Because we cannot have fellowship, we can never arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. It is impossible.
Brothers and sisters, we work from the wrong end. What we need to do is begin at the right end: diligently keep the unity of the Spirit. In spite of many differences, we are to fellowship with one another and share with one another.
Hear what others have of Christ. Hear what they receive from the Lord. But do not insist; just share it, and let the Holy Spirit work it out. On the other hand, be open to your brothers and sisters. Whatever they share, do not swallow everything they share, but bring it to the Lord. If it is from the Lord, take it.
This is the way that we will arrive at the maturity of the body of Christ. So the unity of the body of Christ has to be recovered. Thank God, His Spirit is moving, and God’s people do have the desire.
You know, we think of our brothers and sisters. Formerly, we did not think about them, but now I do believe that God has given us a desire to think about our brothers and sisters and to desire fellowship with them. This is one thing that has to be recovered.
Another thing in the recovery of the full growth of the bride is the universal priesthood of believers. The body will never grow into maturity if the universal priesthood of believers is not practiced.
When you go back to Ephesians 4, even though for the growth of the body God does give four special classes of men to the church as His gifts—some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers—these people are God’s gifts, the gift of the Head to the body.
God gave these men to the body for one reason: to perfect the saints. By perfecting, I mean to mature the saints or to equip the saints. God sends these people to the church to perfect the saints, to bring them to maturity in life, and to equip them for service.
By doing that, you find that the universal priesthood of believers functions. Every believer is a priest. In 1 Peter 2, it says:
Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house,
to be a holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
So every believer is a priest. You may not have the title of a priest, but you are a priest. A priest is to serve God. We serve God by serving the body.
Every believer has to function according to the grace and gift that God has given to each one, under the direction of the Head, of course, and united together. Then you find that the body will grow up. If not, there is no way for the body of Christ to mature.
Today we find that the body does not grow as it should. It remains stunted. The reason is that only a few are exercising their priestly function, while most believers are there just receiving and receiving, not functioning.
So the universal priesthood of believers must be recovered. I remember our dear brother Watchman Nee once said, “When you see every brother and sister functioning, you see the church.”
Number three: the centrality and universality of the cross must be recovered.
The cross is God’s only means to bring in the headship of Christ and the full growth of the body. That is the reason why Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 2, “I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.”
In other words, we need to know the cross both objectively and subjectively. We need to know the objective truth of the cross. What does the cross mean? What has Christ done for us on the cross? We need to know the meaning of the cross and what Christ has done for us on the cross. That is the objective truth, the foundation.
Yet we also need to know the subjective experience of the cross—the working of the cross into our very life. Paul said, “To know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” To know is to know the objective truth of the cross. Paul said, “I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in trembling.” That is experiencing the working of His cross in his life.
How much do we know the cross? The cross is very essential in the work of God. Wherever the Holy Spirit works, He always brings us back to the cross. Wherever the cross works, it always releases the Spirit.
So, brothers and sisters, we need a recovery of the knowledge and experience of the cross. Unfortunately, we find today among God’s people that they do not want the cross. The cross is a message that is despised, rejected, slandered—the offense of the cross.
But the Apostle Paul says that he is preaching the cross. Not only is he preaching it, but he bears in his body the marks of Jesus. That is the cross. So, brothers and sisters, this is another thing that has to be recovered.
Finally, number four: first love has to be recovered.
God is love. Everything He does, He does out of love. It is out of His love for His Son that He created all things, that He desires to have a like companion for His Son. It is because of His love for us that Christ died for us. The Spirit of God is a Spirit of love.
In other words, our whole relationship with God is a matter of love. If you want to sum up all the commandments in the Old Testament, our Lord Jesus did it in Matthew 22. He said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” This is the sum of all the law and the prophets.
In the New Testament, we find in John 13 that the Lord said, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you.” So, brothers and sisters, love is something that has to be recovered in these days, especially in these days.
Why? Because in Matthew 24, it says that toward the last days, the love of many will grow cold. The many there does not refer to the people in this world. The many there refers to God’s people.
Because of the pressure upon us, because of persecutions, because of the anxieties of life, because of all these things, you find that love among God’s people has grown cold. This is something that has to be recovered.
In the letter to the Ephesians, our Lord Jesus said, “You have many merits. You have many things that are commendable. But I have this against you.” In the original, it is a very strong word. It is not merely something against you; He said, “I am against you.”
In spite of all your merits, all the good things that you have, “I am against you. I oppose you.” Why? Because you have left your first love. This is the one thing that our Lord is looking for: first love.
First love is best love. First love is loving Him with all our hearts. “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee.” Now, that is first love.
Brothers and sisters, how easy it is for us to lose the first love. A little something can lead us astray from our first love. Sometimes it may be the world. Sometimes it may be our brothers and sisters; someone offends us. Sometimes we may be offended by the Lord Himself. Because of this, we lose our first love.
The word of the Lord is, “Repent.” We think the church needs to return, to go back to first love.
Brothers and sisters, I often feel that in our days we talk too much about authority, and by authority I mean authority in men. If we talked more about love, I think our whole situation among God’s people would be transformed.
Now, I do believe in authority. God is the authority. I also believe that God does delegate authority to men. But in delegating authority to men, that does not make that man an authority.
We need to know more of love—first love. We need to love Him above all things, and we need to love one another. He said, “Love one another, as I have loved you.”
The way our Lord Jesus loves us is to give Himself for us. That is the reason why 1 John says that we need to love our brothers, to give ourselves for our brothers. This love must be recovered.
In the early church, the testimony was that the world would point to them and say, “See how they love one another.” Brothers and sisters, this should be our testimony.
Dear heavenly Father, we do thank Thee that Thou art working toward that full recovery of Thy purpose. Lord, we just desire that we may know what Thou art doing, and that we may yield and cooperate, that Thy work may be done. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.