THE FOURTH SERIES:
THE PATHWAY OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY

The Unique Work in God’s Economy
Message Five—Closely Following the Ministry of the Age for the Building Up of the One Unique Body

Scripture Reading: Gen. 6:13-14; Exo. 25:8, 9; 2 Sam. 7:1-16; Acts 26:19; Pro. 29:18a; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:4-16

I. The particular recovery and work that God is doing in one age is the ministry of that age—Gen. 6:13-14; Exo. 25:8-9; 2 Sam. 7:1-16; Matt. 16:18:

A. In the Old Testament, Noah had the ministry of that age to build the ark, Moses had the ministry of that age to build the tabernacle, and David and Solomon had the ministry of that age to build the temple—Gen. 6:13-14; Exo. 25:8-9; 2 Sam. 7:1-16.

B. In the New Testament, the ministry of the Lord Jesus is to build up the church as the Body of Christ—Matt. 16:18.

C. The many gifted persons produced in the Lord’s ascension have only one ministry, that is, to minister Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ, the church; this building up is not accomplished directly by the gifted ones but by the saints who have been perfected by the gifted ones —Eph. 4:11-12.

II. In every age there is the vision of that age, and we need to serve God according to the vision of the age; God’s Word reveals to us that in every age He gives only one vision to man—Acts 26:19; Eph. 1:17; 3:3, 5, 9:

A. A servant of the Lord must be governed by a vision; where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint—Prov. 29:18.

B. In order for us to serve God today, our vision must extend all the way from the first vision of Adam in Genesis to the ultimate vision of John in Revelation; this and this alone is the complete vision—Gen. 2:9; Rev. 21:2.

C. The vision that the Lord has given us in His recovery is the ultimate consummation of all visions—the New Jerusalem; within this ultimate consummation everything is included—vv. 9b-10.

D. Today we can be in one accord because we have only one vision, an up-to-date, allinheriting vision, the vision of the eternal economy of God—Acts 1:14.

III. Since we have the up-to-date and ultimate vision, we should closely follow after it; the leadership in the New Testament ministry is the leadership of the controlling, God-given revelation of God’s economy—26:19:

A. We are absolutely not following a man; rather, we are following a vision; it is grossly wrong to say that we are following a certain person; we are following a vision that belongs to the present age; it is God’s consummate vision—Rev. 21:2.

B. In the Lord’s work we should beware of the ambition to get a place or a district for our work, captivating people to be our private co-workers—1 Cor. 11:19; Gal. 5:19-20.

C. We should not be like Saul, trying to build up a “monarchy” for ourselves within the kingdom of God; rather, we should all do one unique work to build up the kingdom of God, the Body of Christ—1 Sam. 13:9-14; 15:9-35; 31:6; cf. 1 Cor. 15:58; 16:10; Matt. 5:8:

1. From Saul’s tragic end we should learn the lesson of crucifying our flesh and denying our selfishness—our self-interest and self-seeking—Gal. 5:24; Matt. 16:24; Phil. 2:3; 3:3.

2. The record of Saul’s terrible end is a strong warning to all the serving ones in the kingdom of God not to do a separate work within the kingdom of God or to abuse anything in the kingdom; in the Lord’s recovery, we must be in fear and trembling, always working for God’s kingdom and not for our own work—cf. 1 Sam. 31:1-6.

D. Because we are under the heavenly vision of the eternal economy of God according to the unique teaching of the apostles, we can be one in teaching (1 Cor. 4:17; 7:17; 16:1; Acts 2:42; Rom. 16:17; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 6:3; Eph. 4:13-14), practice (1 Cor. 11:16; 14:34), thinking (Phil. 2:2; 4:2; 1 Cor. 1:10), speaking (Rom. 15:6), essence, appearance, and expression (Rev. 1:11-12) in God’s one ministry for His one move to produce one Body as His one testimony.

IV. In the New Testament age, the Lord has one unique ministry to produce and build up the one unique Body as His one unique testimony—Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:4-16:

A. The Lord’s recovery is to recover His unique ministry, the ministry of the New Testament, which is according to the apostles’ teaching, the teaching of God’s New Testament economy, for the building up of the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem—1 Tim. 1:3-4; Eph. 3:8-11, 14-19; 4:11-12.

B. As a whole, the Body has one corporate ministry, not many ministries; although there are many functions in the Body, the ministry in the Body is one—Acts 1:17, 25; 2 Cor. 4:1; 1 Tim. 1:12.

C. The proper ministry, the ministry according to God’s New Testament economy, is for the building up of the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:11-12.

D. This is to work the work of the Lord in the one work of the ministry, which is to carry out God’s economy to work Himself in Christ into man for the building up of the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem—1 Cor. 16:10; Eph. 3:8-11; 4:11-12; 1 Cor. 3:9, 12a; Rev. 21:18-21.

V. The healthy teaching of God’s economy according to the unique New Testament ministry keeps the church healthy in life and established in truth to bring forth godliness—a life that lives Christ and expresses God in Christ—1 Tim. 6:3; 3:15-16; 2 Tim. 1:13; Matt. 4:4; John 6:57, 63; Rev. 2:7:

A. In order to be reconstituted and inoculated, we need to labor to get into the healthy teaching of God’s economy through the unique ministry; the healthy teaching not only ministers the life supply to the believers and heals the spiritual diseases, but in so doing, it also brings the church into a sound condition with a good order—1 Tim. 5:17; 6:3; Titus 1:1, 9.

B. The notes of the Recovery Version and the Life-study messages do not replace the Bible but open up the Bible to bring us into its intrinsic significance according to the unique teaching of God’s economy—Psa. 119:130; Acts 8:30-31; Neh. 8:8, 13.

C. “I have the assurance to say that whoever has read through five hundred Life-study messages properly has been an excellent believer…Medicine, nourishment, and all kinds of vitamins are included in these messages”.

D. We must deposit the Lord’s healthy words and the healthy teaching of God’s economy into our being, like we deposit money in a bank—2 Tim. 1:13-14; 1 Tim. 6:3, 20; Col. 3:16; Psa. 119:72.