This week is the last of the 6 in a series on, The Focus of the Lord’s Recovery. What is the focus of the Lord’s recovery? Also, what is the difference between being a Christian in the Lord’s recovery and being a Christian in general somewhere else under any other name / denominational umbrella? What is the Lord’s recovery? Is the Lord’s recovery a movement, a sect, a denomination, the name of the move started by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee? Oh, Lord Jesus… we need to see something much higher than the outward matters – we need to see the focus of the Lord’s recovery and be a genuine church in the focus of the Lord’s recovery!
Being a Christian in the Lord’s recovery
In my personal experience and in my observation, it is NOT because I was more seeking or more Christ-loving that I am in the Lord’s recovery. It is the Lord’s mercy that we are here, in the Lord’s recovery, and that we are still here under this ministry. What does it mean to be a Christian in the Lord’s recovery? The Lord’s recovery is NOT a movement, an organization, or the name of our church. The Lord’s recovery is the Lord’s move to bring us back to Himself, back to His heart’s desire, and back to His focus.
To be in the Lord’s recovery means that we are Christians NOT just for our own need and not just for ourselves (we don’t focus only on, What can God do for me?) – we are Christians for God’s need, God’s pleasure, God’s heart’s desire, and even God’s goal! Yes, we have our needs, we see what we are, but what about God’s need? What about God’s purpose, His goal, and His economy? We are here learning to lift our view from our petty needs and problems, and look to the Lord to be one with Him for His economy, His need.
The focus of the Lord’s recovery
What is the focus of the Lord’s recovery? It is not something outward, it is not the spreading of the church life – as a thing in itself – but it is the corporate expression of the Triune God, the testimony of Jesus! Our wonderful Jesus is the very Triune God Himself, and the focus of the Lord’s recovery is the testimony of this dear Triune God, His corporate expression, the church, the Body of Christ! Individually and corporately we want to be the testimony of Jesus by eating Him, drinking Him, experiencing Him, allowing Him to live in us and shine in us so that He may be expressed through us!
This is what the local churches are – a genuine local church in the focus of the Lord’s recovery is a shining testimony of Jesus in the locality where the church is! Jesus today has been enlarged, expanded, increased, over all the earth, and everywhere locally there are shining expressions of the testimony of Jesus, the corporate expression of the Triune God. This is what we are here for in the Lord’s recovery by His mercy – we are here not for ourselves, not for a name, and not for anything divisive or outward. We are here for the corporate expression of the Triune God, the testimony of Jesus, expressed locally everywhere on the earth!
A genuine church
Paul starts his letter in 1 Corinthians by giving us an excellent portrait of the church in Corinth, including its nature, standing, element, sphere, and relationship. Even though the condition of the church in Corinth was not that positive, the nature and standing of the church were excellent. Paul loved the church and would never defame or depreciate the church. The church, no matter of its condition, is the corporate expression of the Triune God, the testimony of Jesus, in a certain locality. The church of God is glorious – and we are part of it!
As per 1 Cor. 1:2, the church is the church of God – it is being possessed by God, having God as its nature and essence (which are divine, general, universal, and eternal). We should see the church in what it is in its intrinsic significance – it is the church of God, having God as its nature and essence! There may be troublesome people in the church and even some sinning ones (as seen in 1 Corinthians), but the church in its real nature and essence is the church of God!
Also, a genuine local church takes a locality as its standing, its ground, and its jurisdiction and administration. Paul didn’t just say, The church of God… – but “the church of God which is in Corinth“, in a city, a definite locality with its jurisdiction for its administration in business affairs. In this respect, the church is physical, particular, local, and temporal in time – it is not “in the heavens” but in a particular locality. The church is a local testimony of Christ as a part of the universal testimony of Christ! How rich is the intrinsic significance of a local church as a part of the testimony of Jesus! [to be continued in the following days with more on this topic]
Lord Jesus, thank You for bringing us here, in the Lord’s recovery. It is Your mercy that we are still here, in the genuine local churches. O, Lord, cause us to see what the focus of the Lord’s recovery is! May we see this focus and may we be in this focus! May we see what a genuine local church in the focus of Your recovery is. Lord, this whole week, speak to us and unveil us to really see! We are here not for ourselves but for the corporate expression of the Triune God!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired by the message given by brother Dick Taylor, and, A Genuine Church (by brother Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Focus of the Lord’s Recovery, week 6;
- Hymn: The Church is Christ’s own Body, / The Father’s dwelling place; / The gathering of the called ones, / God blended with man’s race.
- Picture source: Sochi the City of Sea and Mountains.
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