Ezek. 1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and the four of them had the face of a lion on the right side, and the four of them had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four of them had the face of an eagle.
The Lord’s Way Being Multifaceted
For many years the Lord has given us a comprehensive leading. We learned that the Lord’s way, which is the same as the way shown in the Bible, is multifaceted. The revelation contained in the sixty-six books of the Bible is multifaceted. For example, the four living creatures mentioned in Ezekiel are also in Revelation. Each of the four living creatures has four faces: at the front is the face of a man; on the right, the face of a lion; on the left, the face of an ox; and at the back, the face of an eagle. What are the four creatures? Are they men, lions, oxen, or eagles? Based on the revelation in the Bible, we can say that the four living creatures are multifaceted.
The Service of the Church Being Multifaceted—
Having Christ as the Center
When we serve in the church, we must remember the word multifaceted. This is what we have gained from our experience and from our observation. Our leading is multifaceted. We are not teaching the saints only to be a lion with the face of a lion. We need to have the head of an eagle and the backbone of an ox. Of course, most importantly, we have to be a man. The man, the lion, the ox, and the eagle are all present, but they do not have any problems, because Christ is the center. This is being multifaceted.
In the church some saints are shy by nature and other saints are bold by nature. Whether we are shy or bold, we must be multifaceted and avoid conflicts. The bold saints like to go out to preach the gospel; they can preach the gospel boldly every day. The shy saints who think that the bold ones are too crazy are not multifaceted. God did not make us all shy by nature, nor did He make us all bold. He made some of us shy and some of us bold so that we could be multifaceted—able to take care of every situation.
Needing to Care for Truth, Life, the Gospel, and the Church
For the spread of the Lord’s work, we must gain people. Even though we have thousands of brothers and sisters, we still need to spread. We must first gain people in “Jerusalem” (cf. Acts 1:8). Taiwan is our Jerusalem. While we spread, we should never forget that the churches in the Lord’s recovery are His golden lampstands. Hence, they must bear the Lord’s testimony. The first item in bearing the Lord’s testimony is to preach the truth. We must therefore spend time laboring on the truth. All the brothers and sisters in the churches must be like the children in a scholarly family. Not only should they understand the truth, but they should also be able to use simple words to teach others the truth. It is a tremendous matter for us to be trained and constituted with the truth.
Suppose ten thousand saints in Taiwan know the truth and speak the truth every day. This society and this country would be blessed, because that is what the Lord wants. The Lord requires that we not only shine as lampstands to be the light of the world but that we also be the salt of the earth to kill germs and prevent decay (Matt. 5:13). As the salt of the earth, we kill the germs and deal with the corruption of sinners. This is a great influence. Furthermore, we must live out the truth. To live out the truth is to live out Christ and to live out God’s life. Hence, we must pursue the growth in life.
Because the church is multifaceted, the older saints must bear with the younger ones, and even more importantly the younger saints must respect the older ones. Not only so, the brothers must take care of the sisters, and the sisters must accommodate the brothers. Then there will be no problems when we coordinate together. Our testimony will not merely be that we are zealous for the gospel, clear concerning the truth, and rich in life; it will also be that we live a corporate church life. If our testimony includes these four aspects of being rich and clear concerning the truth, matured in life, corporate in our church life, and zealous for the gospel, we will have the true testimony of the Lord in the local churches.
Being Multifaceted and Having Truth, Life, and the Church
We have spoken boldly concerning the ground of the church—one church in one locality—for many years. However, if we do not have the truth as our support, the ground of the church becomes an empty slogan. Not only so, without life everything is empty. If we are not zealous for the gospel and do not bring in new ones, in a very short time the only brothers and sisters on the local ground will be old people, and it will not be long before there is no one left to continue standing on the ground. Therefore, we must gain people and bear children and grandchildren; we must also teach them to stand on the ground. This is why we must be multifaceted and have truth, life, and the church when we go out to gain others. In this way we will spontaneously produce a second generation.
Of these four aspects, the most crucial is the aspect of life. If we do not have life but only have the truth, we merely have empty doctrine. Once we lack life, the truth becomes empty, the church life is poor, and we have no support for the gospel. A church life that is without life is without Christ and is merely religious activities. In the same way, if there is no life, we have no reality when we preach the gospel, and our speaking will merely be doctrine. Even though a person is saved, without life he will have no salvation in his daily life. Paul says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). This means that in our daily living, we must live out Christ as life.
We have emphasized life for many years because we felt that life is crucial. Even our study of the Bible is called the Life-study of the Bible. By constantly emphasizing life, we have turned everyone’s attention to life, but we have neglected the gospel. However, when we pay attention to life, we should go out to preach the gospel. When we preach the gospel, we are also paying attention to life. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 3: The Future of the Lord’s Recovery and the Building Up of the Organic Service, msg. 10)
