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The Governing Principles of the Practice of the Local Church
Furthermore, Witness Lee writes in his book The Life
for the Preaching of the High Gospel that in order to preserve the oneness
and all-inclusiveness of Christ’s Body, each of the believers must be flexible
and willing to drop the various ordinances related to their living and worship
of God.
However, Christ created a Body, a new man, of many
different people, not only of the Jews but also of all the Gentiles. The new
man, the church, the Body of Christ, was created with all kinds of people, who
have their particular ways of living. The Americans have their American way,
the British have their British way, the Chinese have their Chinese way, and
the Japanese have their Japanese way. Even with the Americans, the Yankees
have their way and the Texans have their way. All have different ways of
living, different ordinances.
I am afraid most of you have your own ordinances,
ordinances not made by Moses but by yourself. You have your self-made
ordinances. Furthermore, there are locally- made ordinances among the local
churches, such as a Los Angeles ordinance, a Houston ordinance, a San
Francisco ordinance, or a Chicago ordinance. One time in a meeting while some
of the attendants were excited, some others walked out. No doubt, they did not
agree with what was going on in the meeting. We have to be flexible. If we are
not flexible, whatever way we have for our meeting becomes an ordinance. If
those dissenting ones who walked out insist on not having a certain way of
meeting, that means they have a strong ordinance. If the ones who stayed
insist on having their way of meeting, they also become a people with a strong
ordinance.
The problem today is that we Christians are always
self-centered and self-concerned. We do not see the Body or realize that the
Body is all-inclusive. In today’s situation everybody has his own choice
according to his own taste. A brother may like everything to be nice, quiet,
and in a good order in the meeting. He may want all the men to wear ties and
all the ladies to be modestly dressed. He wants everyone to come into the
meeting one by one and be seated in an orderly way. This is this brother’s
taste, so he tries to find such a meeting. Thus, that becomes his choice
according to his taste. On the other hand, there is another brother who also
has his own taste. He likes meetings that are unrestricted and noisy. So he
would also travel around to find a meeting where everybody is so free to dress
the way he wants and shout and be excited. Eventually, he will take a meeting
of his choice according to his taste. This is the situation today.
(Witness Lee, High Gospel, 45-46)
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