All who are sitting here today are elders and co-workers. We must be in one accord to maintain the oneness Christ seeks. Since we are bearing the responsibility of the church, we should see the way for the church to receive grace and blessing. We must all realize that the blessing and grace of God can only come upon a situation of one accord. This situation is the practice of oneness. In the Old Testament, Psalm 133 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” God will only grace and bless the one accord, that is, the practice of oneness.
Finally, I would say that if we only listen to these words without practicing them, they are but doctrines. The practice of oneness touches our mind, our love, and our speaking. Unconsciously, we have all violated the practice of oneness. Many times our mind is like an unreined wild horse, free from any restraint. Our love is not regulated. Our words are light and loose. All these damage the oneness of the believers and are factors for losing the Lord’s blessing. Today we are all living in the church and the Lord’s Body. We are also bearing the testimony for the Lord’s recovery. But it is very easy for our mind to be distracted and for our love to become unhealthy. Perhaps we do not speak evil words of reviling, but our speaking may be loose, and our opinions may be plentiful. Spontaneously, we bring many problems to the church and spread division among the saints.
Hence, we have to be on the alert. If we would first consider and think a little before we speak and would ask if it is Christ or not, there would be no problem. If we love the saints, we should ask ourselves if our love has different classes, degrees, or depths, and should be adjusted by the Lord accordingly. The same is true with our speaking. We should only speak if our speaking is Christ; otherwise, we should not speak. I have a heavy burden within me. We all want the church here to receive grace and blessing. But do not forget Psalm 133. The commanded blessing of the Lord, which is life forevermore, is upon the brethren dwelling together in oneness. It is like the ointment that flows through the whole body and like the dew that descends on Zion. Tonight we have seen that the oneness of the believers prayed for by the Lord is neither a oneness like the world speaks of nor a oneness according to what we formerly understood. Rather it is a perfected oneness by all of us being in the Father’s name and life, in His word of reality, and in His divinely expressed glory. Only by this is there the blessing of God. Of course, we should labor and work for the Lord, but if our situation is not in oneness and if we do not practice the one accord, I am afraid our result will not be abundant. Therefore, in order for us to receive God’s blessing, we must practice the oneness, and the way to practice the oneness is by the one accord.
(A message given by Brother Witness Lee in Taipei, April 5, 1990)
(The Oneness and the One Accord according to the Lord's Aspiration and the Body Life and Service according to His Pleasure, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee)