We Uphold the Truth by Learning the Truth, Experiencing the Truth, and Speaking the Truth

We uphold the truth by learning the truth, experiencing the truth, and speaking the truth.

All the saints need to uphold the truth, for the entire church is the supporting pillar and the holding base of the truth; we all need to know the truth, experience the truth, and speak the truth.

For this to happen, we all need to be brought into the truth and be trained in the divine revelation.

The church is the pillar and base of the truth, and our greatest need that we must meet is to get into the truth, be trained in the truth, and experience the truth so that we may speak the truth.

The supporting pillar and the holding base of the truth is the entire church; all the saints are needed for this.

All the saints are vitally needed to know the truth, experience the truth, and speak the truth, so that together we may be the church as the pillar and base of the truth.

The truth is not mere doctrine or biblical knowledge; the truth is the divine reality of the Triune God with His economy as revealed in the Word of God.

For us to know the truth, we need to pay the price not only to read the Bible but even more, to pray over God’s word, muse upon the Word, and take the Word into us by means of all prayer and petitition.

Furthermore, we need to open to the Lord throughout the day and allow Him to continue to speak to us. As the Lord speaks to us, the living truth operates in us, and we experience the truth.

The truth is the Triune God with Christ as the embodiment, center, and expression for the producing of the church as the Body of Christ.

In other words, the truth is the divine reality of the Triune God being wrought into us to make us members of the church as the Body of Christ for God’s corporate expression on earth.

The church bears Christ as the reality, testifying to the whole universe that Christ is reality and nothing else is reality.

Christ as reality is being wrought into the church to make the church the embodiment of truth, God manifested in the flesh.

The church, therefore, bears the truth as a base, and it upholds the truth as a pillar; the church testifies the reality, the truth, of Christ and the church.

The kind of church we have and the kind of church life we practice depends on the kind of truth that we teach; we may teach things related to the family life, morality, and ethics, but we may not teach the great mystery – Christ and the church.

Only Christ and the church – the mystery of God and the mystery of Christ – can build up the church and cause the church to be the upholding pillar and supporting base of the truth.

We need to make a Decision to Learn and Experience the Truth so that we may Uphold the Truth

It is not only the more mature saints or those who seem to be smarter that need to uphold the truth; all the saints, all the members of the church, need to uphold the truth.

Because the entire church is the supporting pillar and the holding base of the truth, all the saints as the members of the church need to know the truth and experience the truth.

The church being the pillar and base of the truth implies that every member – every single saint, every single believer in Christ – of the church should know the truth.

Thus, we should make a decision to learn the truth (1 Tim. 2:4).

In this respect, Christianity, in general, is far off; whether Catholicism or today’s Protestantism and denominations, they think that the teaching of the truth and the knowledge of the truth belong to the clergy class.

They think that it is the clergy that needs to know the truth and teach the truth, while the commoners need to come and listen and support them.

Even among us in the church life, we may have a concept, in a subconscious way, that it’s the co-workers and the elders and the leading ones that need to know the truth.

We may think we’re just “a little potato”, a little brother or sister, so we don’t really need to know the truth.

However, the church is the pillar and base of the truth, and the church includes each one of the saints.

The church is not of the elders, of the pastors, of the co-workers, or of the serving ones; the church is of the saints, and the church includes all the saints.

We need to make a decision to learn the truth and experience the truth so that we may be constituted with the truth.

We thank the Lord for the Holy Word for Morning Revival, for every morning we can enjoy the Lord and get into the truth.

We thank and praise the Lord for the custom of learning the truth and speaking the truth, even preparing to prophesy on the Lord’s day.

And we need to go on, making a decision to learn the truth and experience the truth.

Every single believer as a member of the church must uphold the truth (3:9).

We uphold the truth by learning the truth both personally and corporately.

Whether we are young or old, whether we are a brother or a sister, and whether we are a new believer or a more experienced believer, we need to learn the truth so that we may uphold the truth.

When someone comes among us and asks a question concerning holiness, for example, we need to be able to respond not only in general that Christ is holiness, but what verse in the Bible tells us this, and how can we experience Christ as our holiness.

However, many of the saints may know a certain amount of the truth, but their knowledge is not adequate, it is not thorough.

In order for the church to be strong as a pillar and solid as a base for the truth, all the saints need to learn the truth, paying the price to be in the truth and have the truth wrought into their being.

For the sake of the spreading of the church life to other localities and for the sake of the building up of the church, there’s the need for us to know the truth and be constituted with the truth.

Knowing the truth will cause us to be solidly grounded in the truth, and whenever temptations or winds of teaching come, we will be grounded in the truth, for we are held by the truth and we uphold the truth.

Lord Jesus, we make a decision to learn the truth; we want to not only know the truth in a general way but be constituted with the truth! Cause us to realize that every member is needed for the church to be the supporting pillar and holding base of the truth. Amen, Lord, bring us all into a healthy practice to learn the truth, enjoy the truth, experience the truth, and speak the truth. Save us from the wrong concept that only the leading ones or the elders need to know the truth. May we all be those who know the truth and uphold the truth to be part of the church as the pillar and base of the truth!

We Uphold the Truth by Learning the Truth, Experiencing the Truth, and Speaking the Truth

In order for the church to be strong, every brother and every sister must uphold the truth learning the truth, experiencing the truth, and being able to speak the truth.

How can we speak the truth, however, if we don’t know the truth? And how can we know the truth if we don’t learn the truth and we don’t experience the truth?

First, we need to read the Bible regularly and read the footnotes with much prayer and consideration.

Then, we need to come to the meetings of the church, join the conferences and be in the trainings, so that we may be under the hearing of the faith and the truth would be infused into us.

We also need to experience the truth, so that the truth would not remain just in our mind or in our head, but that it would become our inner constitution.

We need to not only mentally know the truth but also internalize the truth so that the truth would become our experience.

We may be at different stages in our experience of life, but we need to know the truth and experience the truth.

No matter what stage we are at in our growth and experience of life, we simply need to learn the truth and experience the truth.

Even though we may not experience right away the truth that we learn, we still need to learn it and pray it, and the Lord will bring us into its experience in His timing and in His way.

As we learn the truth and experience the truth, we will be able to speak the truth.

Especially as we come to the meetings of the church, we need to exercise to speak the truth that we have learned and experienced.

Praise the Lord for the practice of prophesying in the meetings of the church; when we come together on the Lord’s day, we can prophesy one by one.

For those who come from outside among us and see us all speak, it may seem amazing that even the young ones and the students can say something concerning their enjoyment and experience of Christ, for we all learned the truth and experienced the truth.

In the denominations or free groups, it is the pastor or the assistant pastor that can speak, but in the church life, everyone can speak!

We all need to pay the price to learn the truth, experience the truth, and be able to speak the truth.

If we practice the truth in the daily church life, we will be able to bear some responsibility in upholding the truth (2 John 4; 3 John 3-4, 8).

John wrote to the church that he was happy to see that some of them are walking in the truth; furthermore, he rejoiced greatly to see that the brothers are coming and testifying, even as they are walking in the truth.

What a joy it is to see the saints not only learning the truth but also walking in the truth, experiencing the truth, and speaking the truth!

How can we walk in the truth? Is it merely by memorizing verses?

Walking in the truth is having the divine reality experienced by us, internalized by us, and becoming part of us; walking here refers to our daily life, our daily walk, and our thoughts and decisions.

As we learn the truth, experience the truth, and speak the truth, our thoughts are being affected, our decisions are influenced, and our daily walk is changed.

To walk in the truth is to walk in the divine reality that has been worked into us and constituted into our being.

We all need to do this; we all need to learn the truth, experience the truth, and speak the truth so that we may bear the responsibility of upholding the truth, being the pillar and base of the truth.

Lord Jesus, we want to learn the truth, experience the truth, and speak the truth. We give ourselves to not only learn the truth but also internalize it, experience it and be able to speak it. Bring us into the experience the truth that we have learned and enjoyed. We want to be those who practice the truth in the daily church life so that we may bear some responsibility in upholding the truth. Amen, Lord, we want to be infused with and be constituted with the divine reality so that we may walk in the truth and be able to speak the truth for the building up of the church as the pillar and base of the truth!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision,” pp. 323-325, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing the Truth, being Absolute for the Truth, and Proclaiming the Truth in this Present Evil Age (2021 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 5, Upholding the Truth and Testifying to the Truth that the Church is the Pillar and Base of the Truth and the Corporate Manifestation of God in the Flesh.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Lord, the Spirit, Truth divine, / Dawn upon this heart of mine; / Word of God, and inward light, / Wake my spirit, clear my sight. (Hymns #281)
  – Christ is the truth, ‘tis Him we testify, / Christ is the life, ‘tis Him we minister; / Christ is the Lord, ‘tis Him we magnify, / Christ is the Head, and we exalt Him here. (Hymns #863)
  – ’Tis by this inner life-anointing / I in fellowship may move; / In God, the light of truth, I’m walking, / And the love of grace I prove. (Hymns #266)