Quote:
Originally Posted by DistantStar
I'm unsure if I'm in the correct forum
Simple question: What does the Local Church mean with the Lord's Economy?
While I was there I heard people talk about it (at times it seemed to come out of nowhere), but they never explained it to me.
Thanks.
|
I'm not sure if others have touched on this, I haven't read every comment on this thread, but the economy of God as told by Lee is God's household arrangement of dispensing his riches into the members of the body of Christ. Meaning God is sovereign over the lives of the local church members to the extent that all the things that happen to them are in view of God wanting to dispense Christ as the spirit into the members so that Christ can be their content and expression. This is a mantra that is constantly repeated over and over again in the LC. As far as I know it is 100% biblical and I see no fault in the concept itself. But I do have an issue if it's used to gloss over everything else about our lives. If it's used as a scapegoat for things ("just turn to your spirit brother" in any given scenario), and i do have an issue if it brainwashes people into being automatons and live robotic lives. Which I have experienced myself from time to time while meeting with the LC
Another way to look at God's economy, as told by Lee, is that God became a man in order to make man God in life and nature but not in the godhead. To accomplish this he was incarnated, lived a human life, was crucified, died and resurrected, ascended and descended as the spirit to get into man. All of this is covered by Lee extensively and repeated over and over again in the LC. Frankly I don't see any error in it according to the word of God, particularly the book of John with regards to abiding in the Lord, and Paul's epistles with regards to taking Christ as his inner secret of sufficiency. All of it lines up and is synergistic and compliments the word of God from not just Paul and the other apostles/disciples, but from Jesus himself
The economy of God is NOT the same thing as the recovery of the church ground, the local meetings, or calling on the Lord. Those things are merely practical parts that are related to the economy of God insofar as the recovery of the local church was necessary for God to get his unique meeting place (Deuteronomy 12:11), for the believers to have a practical way to meet (at the homes as seen and practiced in the book of Acts), and have a practical way for God to infill them with the spirit by calling on the Lord. I find all of this to be doctrinally sound and one of the best things about the recovery in general. As far as theory goes at least, it is a fantastic biblical discovery and I see no fault in implementing it's practice
Now maybe others saw these things and practiced them before Nee and Lee. But we can say that Nee and Lee consolidated these truths and practices and implemented them in a practical way for a large group of people. Frankly if I'm being objective I see that as God's move to recover a corporate people similar to him recovering the children of Israel out of Egypt. Otherwise you just have scattered believers going their own way and doing whatever they think their personal interpretation of the Bible means-
Proverbs 29:18 When there is no vison the people cast off restraint
But the economy of God does not directly touch on any kind of unique oracle or all powerful human leadership. We might see what looks like examples of these concepts in the word, but that doesn't necessarily mean they can and should be applied to people like Nee/Lee, the elders, the speaking bros, the blended bros etc. And that doesn't mean that what Lee said is a 1:1 comparison with what actually happened in the word. Yes God can and did raise up one person to lead at certain times. But if we read the Bible carefully we can see that that's not always the case. Many times God raised up two or three people to take the lead at any given time. And also we see that most often when God raises someone or a couple of people up it's for a specific purpose at a specific time. To say that because someone was used by God at one time that somehow this makes them "the oracle or unique leader of an entire generation for as long as they live" is as dangerous as it is unbliical
That's where there can become lots of problems, and much of what I'm reading and seeing in these threads is troubles and strife that stem from power and control abuse from leadership. Of which I myself have experienced. So those are NOT a part of the economy of God. As far as leadership is concerned, I do see an impetus for it in the word and objectively it's necessary, but the scope and sphere of how far that power and control reaches and what it can and can't do is debatable. Or we could ask the question- should there be ANY power and control with the leadership? A lot of the problems i see amongst myself and others is misuse of the leadership in the LC. That is not a part of the definition and concept of God's economy directly. But the leadership, speaking bros, apostles, and eldership is a part of the practical church life. So probably the issues are not with the doctrine of God's economy, but rather the practical affairs of the church. So I find it very difficult to tear down and attack the doctrinal aspects of the LC. But it's rather easy to point out glaring errors that surround misuse of power, exclusive church culture, cover ups, and things relating to abuse and mind control (at least insofar as all of these testimonies are concerned)