Scripture Reading: Acts 1:14, Ezek. 1:5-14, Judg. 5:15-16, 31
Ⅳ
The distinction between the work of the apostles and the work of the elders is a vital principle of the Body life:
A
In God's plan He purposed that apostles should be responsible for the work in different places, while elders were to bear responsibility in one place; the characteristic of an apostle is going; the characteristic of an elder is staying— Acts 13:1-4; 16:1-4; Phil. 2:19-24.
B
Brothers such as Peter and John were elders as well as apostles (1 Pet, 5:1; 2 John 1; 3 John 1) because they were responsible not only for the work in different places but also for the church in their own place.
C
Only such apostles as are not traveling much could be elders of the church in their own locality (see The Normal Christian Church Life, pp. 41-46).
Ⅴ
In order to be a model of the Body life, the elders, the overseers, should meet every week for prayer and fellowship to care for the flock of God— Acts 20:28; cf. 15:6, 22:
A
This meeting is the watchtower of the whole church; we should learn to bear the breastplate every day, and then we will learn to discover something among God's people every day— Exo. 28:15-30:
１
If the church has a problem and the elders need to see how the church should go on, they should go to God with much prayer; they need to pray themselves into God, and they need to pray God into themselves.
２
In the presence of the Lord through prayer, they can read the letters on the stones of the breastplate, which is to read all the members of the church.
３
By reading the members of the church, taking the members as the letters of a divine typewriter, God's speaking will come to the elders, telling them what to do and how to do it— cf. Acts 1:14; 6:4; 13:1-4.
B
If this meeting is strong and solemn before God, all the other meetings will be spontaneously uplifted; this meeting is the center of everything.
C
No one can go home and tell his wife anything that takes place in the meeting of the overseers; in this meeting we cannot speak lightly, we cannot leak out information, and we should not have unnecessary words— Prov. 11:13; 20:18-19.
D
Unless all agree that certain matters can be made public, they should not be told to others.
E
We need to continue working until one day all the brothers and sisters respect the meeting of the overseers; they will know that this day or this half a day is the time the responsib1e brothers go before God to take care of things.
Ⅵ
In order to be a model of the Body life, the elders must be the model and example of coordination; the elders must be coordinated, because no person is capable in everything:
A
The elders are the source of harmony in the church; if the elders are in harmony, it is impossible for the brothers and sisters not to be in harmony; disharmony in the church is fully caused by the elders— Acts 1:14.
B
When the elders are together in coordination, they are a miniature of the Body of Christ; the Lord's work is a work of the Body and by the Body for the building up of the Body; therefore, coordination is desperately needed by denying the self, taking up the cross, and losing the soul-life— Matt. 16:18-26:
１
The real coordination means that your portion is here, my portion is here, and everyone else's portion is here.
２
We may come together without much blending because everyone stays in themselves; they are afraid to offend others and make mistakes, so they keep quiet; this is the manner of man according to the flesh.
３
To be blended means that you are touched by others and that you are touching others, but you should touch others in a blending way (through the cross and by the Spirit to dispense Christ into one another for the sake of the Body).
４
Without fellowship and coordination, no one elder should speak and act independently, for to do so would annul the fact that the elders are plural in number.
５
The administration in the church is neither a democracy nor an autocracy; God's presence as resurrection is the authority— Num. 17:1-8.
C
In their fellowship with one another, the elders need to be restricted in the divine life and by the Spirit in their speaking— John 6:63; Acts 6:10:
１
Those who cover others' sins, defects, and shortcomings enjoy gain and receive blessing, but uncovering brings in a curse— Prov. 10;12; James 5:19-20; Gen. 9:21-27.
２
The elders need to realize that in their shepherding, they have to cover others' sins and not take account of others' evil— 1 Cor. 13:4-7.
３
Love covers all things, not only the good things but also the bad things; whoever uncovers the defects, shortcomings, and sins of the members of the church is disqualified from the eldership— cf Matt. 24:49.
４
The elders should not speak reviling words (to revile is to rebuke or criticize harshly or abusively; to assail with abusive language); those who take in reviling words bear the same responsibility as those who speak reviling words; in order for the church to maintain the oneness, the brothers and sisters must withstand reviling words— 1 Cor. 6:10; cf. Num. 6:6; Lev. 5:3.
５
The consciousness of sin comes from knowing God; in the same way, the consciousness of reviling words comes from the knowledge of the Body; reviling words are opposed to the testimony of the Body— 1 Cor. 1:10.
６
God will never entrust authority to those who by nature like to criticize others— cf. Eph. 4:29-32.
７
The elders, on the one hand, should have a clear sight over the people with much discernment, and on the other hand, they should be blind spiritually— Isa. 11:1-4a
Ⅶ
Ezekiel 1 presents a beautiful picture of the coordination we need in the church life for God's expression, move, and administration— vv. 5-l4:
A
Each of the living creatures faces one direction (respectively facing north, south, east, and west), and two of their wings spread out and touch the adjacent creatures' wings, forming a square— vv. 9-12.
B
No matter in which direction the living creatures are moving, there is no need for any of them to turn; one simply goes straight forward; one returns, moving backward; and the other sides move sideways.
C
In the church service we all need to learn not only how to walk straight forward but also how to walk backward and sideways:
１
In coordination there is no freedom or convenience; coordination keeps us from making turns— cf. Eph. 3:18.
２
Before doing anything, we need to stop to fellowship and coordinate with those who serve with us.
３
Fellowship blends us, mingles us, adjusts us, tempers us, harmonizes us, limits us, protects us, supplies us, and blesses us; the Body is in the fellowship— cf. 4:4; 2 Cor. 13:14.
D
If brothers with different functions do not know to coordinate, they will compete and even strive against each other, which could result in division— cf. Phil. 1:17; 2:2; Gal. 5:25-26:
１
When a brother who is burdened for the gospel is functioning, moving straight forward, the brother who is burdened for shepherding should learn to walk backward; the other saints should follow these two, walking sideways.
２
To walk backward and sideways is to say Amen to another's ministry, function, and burden— Rom. 12:4; cf. 1 Cor. 14:29-31.
３
If we care only for our particular service and do not have these four kinds of walk, eventually we will become a problem in the church— cf. 3 John 9.
４
The one who is walking straight forward has a prime responsibility of following the Spirit— Ezek. 1:12; cf. Acts 16:6-10.
E
We should apply this matter of coordination not only in a particular local church but also among the churches; this means that we are followers of the churches— 1 Thes. 2:14.
F
The result of the coordination of the living creatures is that they become burning coals and burning torches; the more we coordinate together, the more we burn one another— Ezek. 1:13.
G
Through our coordination together in our fellowship with our precious Lord and the excellent saints, we should aspire to be the overcomers, having great resolutions of heart (making a firm decision to give our lives for the Lord's consummate recovery) and great searchings of heart (devising a great plan for the Lord's ultimate move in His recovery)— Judg. 5:15-16, 31; Dan.11:32.