Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:13-15; Acts 2:42; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Titus 1:9; 1 Cor. 1:2; 4:17; 12:12-13, 27

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 & DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 5　DAY 1　»

　　Heb. 1:1-2 God…has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son…

　　Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles…

　　The apostles’ teaching is the entire speaking of God in the New Testament. The entire New Testament is the apostles’ teaching. It is true that matters such as foot-washing and baptism by immersion are included in this book, but they are not the basic, intrinsic, central, and elementary thing.

　　In the universe there is a marvelous matter—God’s speaking. The first marvelous thing in the universe is God Himself. What a tragedy if there were no God in the universe! However, if there is a God, yet He would not speak, we would be in misery. Without God, the universe is a tragedy, and without the speaking of God, we would be in misery. But, Hallelujah, we have God, and we have God’s speaking. God has spoken, and today God still speaks. There are many matters in God’s speaking.…Today God speaks to us in the Son [Heb. 1:1-2]. He does not speak to us in many portions or in many ways or through the prophets but in the Son. He speaks to us in one person, the Son. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Apostles’ Teaching,” p. 377)

　　The incarnation is recorded in the four Gospels. The Jesus who spoke in the four Gospels was the very Son of God, and the Son of God is God Himself. Thus, we can say that the Lord Jesus’ speaking was God’s speaking in the Son as the man in the four Gospels (John 14:10; 5:24; Matt. 28:19-20). John 14:10 says, “…The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works.” The Father and the Son are one (10:30). When the Son spoke, the Father was speaking. The Father spoke in the person of the Son.

　　God’s speaking did not stop in the four Gospels. He also spoke in the Son as the Spirit through the apostles from Acts to Revelation (John 16:12-15; Rev. 2:1, 7; 1 Cor. 4:17b; 7:17b; 2 Pet. 3:15-16; Rev. 1:1-2). While God was speaking in the Son, one day the Son told His disciples, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming…” (John 16:12-15). It is as though the Lord Jesus was saying, “When the Spirit of reality comes, He will bring you into all the reality. Yet even He Himself will not speak anything of Himself. He will receive from Me, and then He will declare to you whatever He receives of Me.” This means that after the four Gospels there would be God’s further speaking.

　　God spoke further in Acts, in the fourteen Epistles of the apostle Paul, in James, in Peter’s two Epistles, in John’s three Epistles, in Jude, and in Revelation. All these are God’s speaking in the Son. First, God’s speaking is in the person of the Son. Second, God’s speaking is in the person of the Spirit. God spoke first in the Son as the man in the four Gospels. In Acts, in the Epistles, and in Revelation, God spoke further, in the Son as the Spirit through the apostles.

　　The teaching of the apostles is the entire speaking of God in the New Testament—first in the Son as a man, then in the Son as the Spirit through the apostles. In the New Testament God cannot depart from the principle of incarnation. He must speak through man. In the four Gospels the man was Jesus. In the succeeding twenty-three books, the men were the apostles. Today we are the men. God speaks in the principle of incarnation. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Apostles’ Teaching,” pp. 378-380)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Apostles’ Teaching,” ch. 1; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “How to Be a Coworker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations,” ch. 3; Life-study of Acts, msg. 12

«　WEEK 5　DAY 2　»

　　Titus 2:1 But you, speak the things which are fitting to the healthy teaching.

　　7-8 Concerning all things presenting yourself as a pattern of good works: in your teaching showing incorruption, gravity, healthy speech that cannot be condemned…

　　The healthy teaching is always according to the truth (Titus 1:14) of the faith (1:13). It is the content of the apostles’ teaching, the content of God’s New Testament economy. It not only ministers the life supply to the believers and heals the spiritual diseases but in so doing also brings the church into a sound condition with a good order. Hence, it is very much stressed in these three books, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, books dealing with the disorder and decline of the church. In Titus 2:1 Paul charged Titus not to deviate from the healthy teaching, from the apostles’ teaching. (Life-study of Titus, pp. 21-22)

　　We…should be reminded to speak the things which are fitting to healthy teaching. The word healthy points to that which is hygienic and which can both inoculate others against spiritual poison and also supply them with life. Our teachings should not merely pass on knowledge to others, but should supply them with life. Often when I have been tempted to speak about a certain subject, I was stopped. I had the sense that there was not much of the hygienic element in what I planned to say. We need to remind ourselves and be reminded by the Spirit to give forth healthy teaching.

　　Healthy teachings do not provoke debates or arguments. If we give adequate attention to feeding on the Lord, we shall not care to argue. A dining table is not a place for debate or argument; it is a place for feasting and nourishment.…We all need to learn how to put healthy “dishes” on the dining table to feed the saints. (Life-study of Titus, p. 22)

　　We take only the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42) as the healthy words of the Lord Jesus (1 Tim. 6:3). First Timothy 1 speaks of the teaching concerning God’s economy, and chapter 6 speaks of the healthy words of the Lord Jesus. All the teachings of the apostles are for God’s economy, and these teachings are the healthy words of the Lord Jesus. The apostles learned these words from the Lord and followed the Lord to teach the same thing that He did…. In Ephesians 3:8 Paul speaks of the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel, and in verse 9 he speaks of God’s eternal economy. We must preach and teach these two items.

　　When Paul told Timothy to charge certain ones not to teach differently, he was referring to the teaching of myths, unending genealogies (1 Tim. 1:4), and the law (vv. 7-8)…. If we teach anything that has never been taught by the Lord Jesus or the apostles, we are teaching something other than God’s economy, something outside the apostles’ teaching. A teaching other than the apostles’ teaching will issue in division.

　　The apostles’ teaching is the teaching concerning Christ’s person and redemptive work (2 John 9-11). It is also the teaching concerning God’s economy in faith (1 Tim. 1:3-4). God’s economy is not to have a mission field for preaching the gospel or to have a Bible school to teach the truths. God’s economy is to dispense, or impart, the Triune God into His chosen and redeemed people to be their life and everything that they might be regenerated and transformed into the proper material for the building up of the Body of Christ so that God may have a corporate expression on the earth in many localities in this age with a view to the building up of the coming New Jerusalem for His eternal expression. If we limit ourselves to the apostles’ teaching, the teaching concerning God’s economy, we will be kept in oneness and will have one way for one goal. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 2, “The God-ordained Way to Practice the New Testament Economy,” pp. 436, 439)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Titus, msgs. 1-3; CWWL, 1988, vol. 3, “The Building Up of the Body of Christ,” ch. 2

«　WEEK 5　DAY 3　»

　　Titus 1:9 Holding to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching of the apostles, that he may be able both to exhort by the healthy teaching and to convict those who oppose.

　　1 Tim. 6:3 If anyone teaches different things and does not consent to healthy words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teaching which is according to godliness.

　　The teaching referred to [in Titus 1:9] is the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42), which eventually became the New Testament. This indicates that the churches were established according to the apostles’ teaching and followed their teaching. It also indicates that the order of the churches was maintained by the faithful word, which was given according to the apostles’ teaching. The disorder of the church was mainly due to deviation from the apostles’ teaching. To counter this, we must hold to the faithful word taught in the churches according to the apostles’ teaching. In a darkened and confused situation, we must cleave to the enlightening and ordering word in the New Testament—the apostles’ teaching. To maintain the order of the church, the word according to God’s revelation is needed in addition to the eldership. (Life-study of Titus, p. 6)

　　The pure church life is built only upon the healthy teaching of the apostles. This is the reason Paul says that elders must hold to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching, so that they may be able to exhort by healthy teaching. The teaching in Titus 1:9 refers to that of the apostles (Acts 2:42), which eventually became the New Testament…. In Jerusalem those who received the Lord Jesus and were added to the church continued in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles.

　　In Titus 1:9 Paul does not say “sound teaching” or even “pure teaching”; he speaks of “healthy teaching.” Certain teachings may be sound or pure without being healthy. Healthy teaching is always related to life and is able either to nourish us or to heal us. Only something living can be healthy. For example, we do not speak of a table or chair as being healthy. The teachings of the apostles were not only sound and pure, but were healthy, full of life.

　　The crucial point of the healthy teaching of the apostolic ministry concerns the Triune God processed to dispense Himself as the all-inclusive Spirit into His chosen ones so that they may be brought into an organic union to receive the divine transfusion and thereby become sons of God and members of Christ. As a result, they can be the Body to express Christ, the One in whom the fullness of God dwells. Almost all of this is neglected by Christians today. Even those teachings which are truly sound are for the most part superficial.

　　Our burden is not simply to oppose superficiality, hypocrisy, and superstition. It is to minister Christ and the church for the fulfillment of God’s economy. God our Father certainly has an eternal purpose to fulfill. But Satan has come in with many distractions and falsehoods. Our burden must be to minister the all-inclusive Christ and the church as the Body of Christ to those who love God and seek Christ. We need to help all those who pursue the Lord to come to the full knowledge of the truth. We need to sound the trumpet that those who seek the Lord Jesus may come together as a living Body of Christ to fulfill God’s purpose and to hasten the coming of the Lord. Concerning this, we all must be desperate and give ourselves to prayer. On the one hand, we like to maintain a peaceful situation with others. On the other hand, for the sake of God’s purpose, we must stand firm for the full knowledge of God’s truth and fight the good fight against the evil powers of darkness. (Life-study of Titus, pp. 16-17, 19-20)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1986, vol. 1, “Elders’ Training, Book 7:One Accord for the Lord’s Move,” chs. 3, 8; CWWL, 1952, vol. 2, “How to Administrate the Church,” ch. 4; CWWL, 1989, vol. 3, “The Experience and Growth in Life,” ch. 26

«　WEEK 5　DAY 4　»

　　Eph. 4:14-15 That we may be no longer little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error, but holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ.

　　We need to see the intrinsic factor of the winds of teaching for their purpose. An intrinsic factor is a hidden factor. It is a factor that is not apparent. To see this intrinsic factor, we need a proper and sharp understanding that can penetrate into the whole situation. Every wind of teaching apparently is very good. If it were not good in appearance, no one would accept it. However, within the winds of teaching, intrinsically, is something different that is not good.

　　[In Ephesians 4:14] in the sleight of men is in apposition to in craftiness, which is “with a view to a system of error.” The sleight in this verse is of men, and the system of error is of Satan. Man has the sleight, the craftiness, but man is not able to have a system in the universe. Satan is the one who is able to have a system of error. Man’s sleight, man’s craftiness, is related to the satanic system of error. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to Be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God,” p. 322)

　　Ephesians 4:14 may be considered as the conclusion of the history of Christianity. Christianity is full of the sleight, the craftiness, of men. The word for sleight in Greek signifies the cheating of dice players. A crafty gambler knows how to play dice in order to cheat his opponent.…The history of Christianity shows us that there can be cheating and deception in a so-called Christian teaching.

　　We need to see what the winds of teaching are. These winds are the devilish blowings of the evil one. The purpose of the winds of teaching is the evil purpose of the enemy Satan, which is versus the eternal economy of God. Their purpose is to overthrow the faith of some believers. Some of the saints’ faith has been overthrown by the winds of teaching. They may not oppose the Lord’s recovery, but they have lost their faith in the Lord’s recovery. They are neutral. They do not come to the meetings regularly, and they are not so concerned about the Lord’s interest as they once were. They have been spoiled.

　　The purpose of the winds of teaching is to devastate the church life (Acts 8:3). This is what Saul of Tarsus did before he became Paul the apostle. Also, the purpose of the winds of teaching is to frustrate the building up of the organic Body of Christ, to tear down the building up of the organic Body of Christ, and to divide the members of the organic Body of Christ—causing endless divisions (sects) in hatred and jealousy, instead of keeping the unique oneness of the Body of Christ in love and kindness (1 Cor. 1:10-11). According to our past history, the instigators of any storm in the recovery all became very divisive. They even divide among themselves. Their division is endless. There is no love or kindness with them. What they do is full of hatred and jealousy.

　　Now we have seen the purpose of the winds of teaching and their intrinsic factor, which is the sleight of men in craftiness with a view to bring people, to usher people, into a satanic system of error. Those who get brought into Satan’s system of error are finished with the building up of the Body of Christ in the central lane of God’s New Testament economy. I am so thankful to the Lord that the majority of the saints in the churches have the proper discernment. They will not be shaken, tossed about, or carried away. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God,” pp. 322, 329-330)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 44,70; CWWL,1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” ch. 6

«　WEEK 5　DAY 5　»

　　1 Tim. 1:3-4 Even as I exhorted you, when I was going into Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus in order that you might charge certain ones not to teach different things nor to give heed to myths and unending genealogies, which produce questionings rather than God’s economy, which is in faith.

　　Eph. 5:32 This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.

　　Satan has a system, and if it were possible, he would induce all Christians into it. The goal, the aim, the purpose, of his system is to carry the saints away from the central lane of the divine revelation with the intention of frustrating and even tearing down the building up of the Body of Christ. Some winds of teaching do not appear to be evil. However, the factor of evil is there to induce the saints into the satanic system of error, to frustrate them from building up the Body of Christ, and even to tear down the building up of the Body of Christ. The winds of teaching also cause the little children [Eph. 4:14] to be tossed by waves and thereby to suffer uneasiness in the church life. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Apostles’ Teaching and the New Testament Leadership,” pp. 493-494)

　　There is a good test for discerning the winds of teaching. Certain teachings cause us to be cold and even deadened. After listening to such a teaching, we are deadened within. A certain teaching may also take away our morale for following the Lord, caring for His interest, and loving the church and the Lord’s recovery. If any teaching, regardless of how good or scriptural it may appear to be, has any of these negative effects, this is strong evidence that this teaching is a wind that will blow us away from the central lane of God’s New Testament economy. Many of us have suffered the blowing of the winds of teaching. We may have had the morale to follow the Lord, to love the church, to love the Lord’s recovery, and to love the Bible, but after listening to such a teaching for half an hour, the morale was gone, and we were deadened.

　　Teachings may be compared to seafood, but according to the typology in Leviticus, certain foods from the sea are unclean. Leviticus 11:10-11 tells us that aquatic animals without fins and scales are unclean. The guarantee of cleanness is in the fins and scales. The “fins” and “scales” of the New Testament teaching are the Triune God, the all-inclusive Christ, and the church as the organic Body of Christ. By these we can measure others’ teachings. If a teaching is not related to these three items, it does not have “fins” and “scales.” Regardless of how good such a teaching may appear to be, for safety’s sake we should not take it.

　　Although… a teaching may seem scriptural, it may not have “fins” and “scales.” We must learn to have discernment in our “eating,” in our receiving of teachings. We must not receive any teaching so easily. Those who bring the winds of teaching often appear to be very loving, apparently showing care and concern for us. However, we should not quickly receive their word. We must consider whether their teaching has “fins” and “scales.”

　　The apostles’ teaching, the New Testament teaching, is very crucial. Whenever we hear something differing from the apostles’ teaching, we should not be bothered or affected. We should simply come back to the apostles’ teaching. However, if we are not able to properly discern a teaching, we should fellowship with certain saints to receive some help. In God’s New Testament economy there is only one kind of teaching revealed and recognized by God—the teaching of the apostles. We need to continue steadfastly in this teaching (Acts 2:42). (‘CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Apostles’ Teaching and the New Testament Leadership,” pp. 494-495)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 1: The Ministry of the New Testament,” chs. 1, 5; CWWL, 1988, vol. 4, “Further Light concerning the Building Up of the Body of Christ,” ch. 2

«　WEEK 5　DAY 6　»

　　1 Cor. 1:2 To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints…

　　12:13 …In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.

　　I heard that some have brought in the teaching of autonomy. … I strongly reproved this error. This kind of speaking and practice cannot be brought into the Lord’s recovery. Everyone likes this practice because everyone likes to be independent and equal. No one likes to be under anyone else. But we have to realize that the church of Christ is not a political institution. The church of Christ is an organism just like our body [Eph. 1:22-23].…This is not an illustration, but a statement of a fact.

　　The church is absolutely an organism. Since the church is an organic body, there is no way for it to be separated or autonomous. The Bible uses our organic body to describe the church, the Body of Christ. This is a most thorough description, and by it many problems can be avoided. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 4, “A Timely Trumpeting and the Present Need,” p. 25)

　　A certain financial matter may be a local administrative affair, but even in such a matter, the churches should depend on one another. Sometimes a certain church should communicate, fellowship, with another church even in the matter of material needs…. Even in material things we cannot say that the churches are independently autonomous.

　　The churches should not be absolutely independent of one another. All the believers should depend on one another, and all the local churches should depend on one another. Especially in spiritual things we should depend on one another. The church in a certain city may need help from the other churches in life and in its building up. The local churches should be in a situation of mutual dependence. The concept of autonomy is awful because it makes the churches separate from one another. We should not forget that all the believers in this entire universe are one man. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 3, “The Body of Christ,” p. 390)

　　In 1 Corinthians 4:17 Paul says, “Because of this I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church.” In all the churches the apostle Paul taught the same thing. His teaching was the same universally, not varying in any place. Concerning this matter, we need to look at the seven epistles to the seven local churches in Revelation 2 and 3. The word of the Lord to one church is the word spoken by the Spirit to all the churches (2:1, 7). At the beginning of each epistle, it is the Lord speaking to a specific church (vv. 1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14), but at the end of all the epistles, the Word says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). What was said by the Lord to the church in Ephesus was the word that all the churches should hear. Every epistle was a particular word to a certain church, yet this particular word should be heard and taken by all the churches.

　　On the one hand, the elders of the churches have the right and the position to carry out the local administration of the churches independently. On the other hand, all the churches should listen to the word that the apostles have received of God, which is the teaching of the New Testament. On the one hand, the churches are local separately. On the other hand, all the local churches are still the one Body of Christ, which is an organism, not a federation, which is an organization. We need to meet as local churches separately according to what the New Testament says, but all the local churches are still the one Body of Christ. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 3, “A Timely Word,” pp. 68-69)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Advance of the Lord’s Recovery Today,” ch. 4; CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “A Brief Presentation of the Lord’s Recovery,” pp. 413-420