Paul, the prisoner in the Lord, beseeches us to walk worthily of the calling with which we were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love, being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace (see Eph. 4:1-3).
In the church, under the abundant blessing of the Triune God, all the saints should walk worthily of the Father’s selection and predestination, the Son’s redemption, and the Spirit’s sealing and pledging.
As believers in Christ we need to walk worthily of God’s calling in all lowliness and meekness, remaining in a low estate and not fighting for ourselves. Also, we need to be long-suffering, that is, endure mistreatment.
When we deal with others in the church life we need to exercise these virtues, and we will not merely “tolerate” others but bear them in love as an expression of the divine life in us.
These virtues are all found not in our natural human nature but in the humanity of Jesus, and they are necessary in order to keep the oneness of the Spirit.
In the uniting Spirit, the Spirit we received at the time of our regeneration and who now dwells with us to be one spirit with us, there is the transformed humanity, the humanity transformed by the resurrection life of Christ.
It is with these virtues that we can live a life worthy of God’s calling in the church life as the reality of the one new man, and when we have such a living we can safeguard and keep the oneness of the Spirit.
The more we exercise our spirit and live one spirit with the Lord, the more we are able to be long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, and not responding in kind when others mistreat us.
If we stay in the life-giving Spirit, we keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. If we exercise our spirit and learn not to speak loosely about the things we see or hear in the church life but rather pray and minister Christ to others, we will be long-suffering, enduring mistreatment yet without murmuring or gossiping.
Being Long-Suffering in the Church Life Especially related to our Speaking
To be long-suffering is to endure mistreatment; for the church life as the reality of living in the one new man, we need to be long-suffering especially related to our speaking.
Most of the problems in the church do not come from big sins or complicated situations but from the saints’ loose speaking, gossiping, and talking about all kinds of things.
For example, if someone wrongs us in the church life, we may desire to speak about it to our spouse, and even call someone to talk about it; we may feel relieved and light after we do this. But when we do this, we actually spread gossip and instead of being long-suffering we actually cause others suffering.
If we don’t learn the lesson of being long-suffering in the church life, whenever someone does something or when we see two saints arguing, we will talk about it and spread rumors in the church.
For the sake of the church life and for the Lord’s glory we need to learn to be careful about our speaking, not speaking to others about what we hear or see in the church life, but rather minister Christ and speak His word to others.
This doesn’t mean that we overlook and carelessly put aside such things or problems, but we first go to the Lord, pray about it, even weep before Him, and then toward others our speaking is careful, full of long-suffering.
For instance, if we see the leading brothers quarrelling, we may immediately go and tell another brother about this; but if we have learned the lesson, for the Lord’s glory and for the sake of His church we will not say a word but rather pray and open to the Lord more.
This is a practical way to keep the oneness of the Spirit in our daily life, and this has much to do with our daily living.
What is your reaction when someone wrongs you? When someone cuts in before you at a parking lot when you’re trying to park the car, what is your reaction? When the bus driver doesn’t want to open the door to the bus because you were just a bit late, what do you do?
When you see saints doing things or saying things that you know they shouldn’t do or say, what is your reaction? When the waiter accidentally spills some soup on your shirt or jacket, how do you react?
We all have to admit that many times our reaction is very much like the reaction of those in the world: we argue, we speak back, and then we talk about it to others.
But the question is, who takes the Lord as his pattern in this, first consulting with God and contacting Him, and then covering others for the sake of the Lord’s testimony?
We need to learn the lesson of being long-suffering in the church life especially related to our speaking so that the Lord would have a proper testimony.
Lord Jesus, we want to learn the lesson of being long-suffering in the church life especially related to our speaking! Lord, we open to You right now. Keep us coming to You in all things. May we first contact You when we see things happening and when we hear others speaking in the church life. May we learn to not speak or react when things happen to us to cause us suffering. Oh Lord, we want to exercise our spirit to enjoy You and live out Your humanity filled with lowliness, meekness, and long-suffering!
Experiencing the Suffering of Restricting our Mouth to Speak only when We’re One with the Lord
Sometimes we’re in a meeting and, instead of looking at the brother or sister speaking, our eyes wonder and our mind is elsewhere; it is then that Satan can inflict certain thoughts in us and we can misinterpret certain attitudes, gestures, and words so that we may understand something that was never said or expressed. Then, we may speak it to others, thus creating rumors and stories that bring in death rather than building up.
After a message is given, we may criticize the speaker, finding faults or things he missed or he said wrongly. But if we have learned the lesson, we will say nothing negative about the ministry, despite what we feel about it, for the sake of the practice of the church life.
We need to learn to have our mouth under the control of the Holy Spirit, not being eager to speak, utter opinions, and pass on things we heard from others.
Our speech and our conversation with others can damage the church more than anything else. Once we hear a story and pass it on, it becomes a secondhand story; then the story begins to change, and eventually it can become a great exaggeration – this is always the case with rumors.
May the Lord save us from being the information desk of the church life. May we not be the unpaid mailman and “news correspondents” in the church life, those who bring others the news even when there’s no news or things worthy to be talked about.
This is a practical way to keep the oneness of the Spirit in our daily life, and this has much to do with our daily living. We may see and hear many things in the church life, but we should NOT speak a word about them without the anointing and leading of the Holy Spirit so that the church life will be kept from damage.
In the matter of our speaking we need to learn to be restricted and limited by the divine life within, always checking with the Lord concerning what to speak and how to speak things.
The fruit of the Spirit with our spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (Gal. 5:22); these are the very characteristics of Christ living in us.
In the matter of our speaking we need to learn the lesson of long-suffering by experiencing the suffering of restricting our mouth and stopping our tongue from speaking until we are one with the Lord and under the leading of the Spirit, and we will build up the church as the reality of living out the new man.
Otherwise, we will experience the suffering of causing problems in the church life because of our loose speaking and careless tongue.
Lord Jesus, keep us one spirit with You all the time, even in our speaking to the saints and about the saints. Lord, save us from being the mailman or the information desk in the church life. May we learn the lesson of first contacting You and seeking to be one with You before we speak and before we post anything online. Lord Jesus, may we be those would not gossip, spread rumors, speak secondhand stories, or criticize others in the church life. Lord, may our mouth be under the leading and control of the Holy Spirit in everything we speak in the church life!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 1, “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” ch. 13, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Vision, Practice, and Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, week 6 / msg 6, Crucial Experiences in the Practice of the Church Life (3) How to Realize the Church Life in a Practical Way in the Reality of the One New Man (you can buy this morning revival book here).
- Picture credit for Eph. 4:1-2 and more spiritual quotes on this topic via, Christian Pictures Blog.
- Hymns on this topic:
# I beseech you brothers as a pris’ner in the Lord, / To walk worthily of your calling, / The calling with which you were called, / With all lowliness and meekness, / With long-suffering, / Bearing one another in love, / Being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit / In the uniting bond of peace. (Scripture Song Eph. 4:1-3)
# In the church life, in our daily living too, / In the meeting, and in everything we do, / Christ is speaking and the Spirit’s breaking through, / That is why there’s the supply to water you. (Song on Speaking Christ)
# Built up in love together, / Not one would criticize; / To perfect one another, / We all would exercise. / Each one from self delivered, / The natural life forsakes; / In grace each trained in spirit / The Body-life partakes. (Hymns #867)
About aGodMan
According to my experience, long-suffering is related to our spoken word. In the church we must be careful concerning our speech and conversation. To keep from speaking something according to our particular desire is a real suffering. If we can bear this suffering, we can bear any suffering. A brother may wrong us, but for the Lord’s glory and for the sake of the church life, we should not speak a word about it. This is the exercise of long-suffering mentioned in Ephesians 4:2. If we have not learned this lesson, then whenever something happens to us, we will talk about it. If a brother wrongs us, we will tell our spouse immediately, and then we will use the telephone to tell the story to someone else. Since we are not able to bear our suffering, telling people about it puts us at ease. To utter, express, and talk about everything that happens to us requires no long-suffering or patience. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 1, p. 181)
Lord Jesus, keep us one spirit with You, praying unceasingly, by breathing Your name in prayer, that all we would say and do would be under You, the leading from Your Spirit in our spirit, sanctifying our soul, the renewing of our mind, emotion and will, to express Your divine attributes in human virtues. Amen.