In the physical body, it is the head that controls but it is the members which act.
There is something most interesting to be seen in 1 Corinthians
12. Although eye and ear are both on the head, they themselves are not the head. In the physical body, it is the head that controls but it is the members which act. That which sees is in actuality not the eye, but the optic nerve in the head. Although in appearance the body
seems to walk under the direction of the eye, it really walks
according to the head. Today, a great gift in a big member of the
body of Christ is altogether useless if it is not coordinated. We truly need to see our own limitation.
As we see the limitation of the members, the necessity of
authority at once appears. If I am at odds with the members God has set in the body, I am actually at odds with the Head. If anyone is omnipotent and omniscient, he will not be in need of other members.
In the Church we are not afraid of the ignorant, but we are fearful of the omniscient and the omnipotent. If we are ever to be coordinated, we cannot wish to be the head. Instead, we must wish to learn to
hearken.
How does one know what his ministry is? It is best that we do not
know. The Head knows your ministry, not you yourself. For this
Ministry and Authority
reason, we need to accept the judgment of the whole body. The
knowledge of the body is dependable. Your own knowledge is not so
trustworthy. It is in vain for any brother or sister to announce in the meeting that he or she has a certain ministry and usefulness. If he or she has that ministry, that person will be known in the exercising of the ministry. Hence, we feel with
regard to the determination of
ministry that the judgment of the group is more accurate than that of the person himself.
How are we to seek for spiritual gifts? 2 Corinthians deals with
the difference between gift and ministry. The foundation for ministry rests on the death and life of Christ. Gifts are the powers the Holy Spirit has poured upon us outwardly. The Greek word for "death"—
or, more accurately, "the putting to death"—that is found in 2
Corinthians 4.10ff. conveys the idea of a slaying. And thus it can be translated as "the killing or the slaying or the dying of Jesus." It so happened that when I was in London I told some brethren in the
Western world that the original Greek word translated "dying" in 2
Corinthians 4 ought to be rendered in English with a new term: the
"deathizing" of Jesus! For this death causes a person to die—to die to himself. What is actually being said here is that the slaying or putting to death of Jesus works positively in us. For what comes out of Jesus is a deathizing which puts you and me to death again and again in
God's disciplining of us. Living ministry comes from God and it is produced by one dealing of God with us after another. Today the
Lord desires us to serve the Church with ministry, not just with gifts.
As soon as a brother mounts the platform you know immediately
whether he is a gifted brother or a brother with a ministry. In
Southeast Asia people use a knife to cut or tap the rubber tree.
Through the wound made by the knife the life of the tree flows forth.
This daily event in the jungle can be used to illustrate a ministry in the body of Christ. After one has passed through woundings and
fiery trials of every sort, he has life to impart to others. In order to have a strong Church, what is needed is not gifts but ministry of life.
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In a young church, spiritual gifts may manifest themselves in the
beginning stages; but though there is much enthusiasm, there is not much life. On the other hand, you may see a brother who is not
eloquent. You feel concerned and think of replacing him with
someone else. Yet in him there is a ministry, for what he manifests is not gift but life. As the Church grows in stature, many ministers will be manifested; with the result that much life is supplied. Every
brother should learn to discern the difference between ministry and gift. The Church needs to have many ministries raised up. A young
church does indeed need gifted brothers, but we should not allow
such a state to continue long. For gift is temporary, only ministry is lasting.
6 The Coordination of Workers∗
Is the coordination of workers governed exclusively
by ministers of the body or is there any other governing
factor? In coordination there is a certain measure of
management, no doubt about it. Nevertheless,
coordination is basically governed by the Holy Spirit.
The Book of Acts has also been called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. It is so called because the Holy Spirit has supreme sovereignty. He is like the nerve system in
the human body. It is true that the body of Christ is under the control of the Head, but the Head rules over the body through the Holy Spirit. Today the executive authority is in the hands of the Spirit by whom the Lord governs His body. Authority is not a thing, as though the Lord has given Peter a package of it which he may have refilled once the authority has been exhausted. Not so!
For authority is the Lord himself. The authority upon Paul, John and Peter is all given by the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who sets them in their various positions. The issue of authority is a matter of one's union with the Lord. The principle of having authority lies in being united with the Lord. In Acts 13 the Scripture makes clear that Barnabas and Paul were sent out by the Holy Spirit (vv.2,4).
Whomever the Spirit chooses has authority.
A worker's personal work before God is according to his ministry
in the body, but his movement in the work is according to the Holy Spirit.
Every Believer Must Receive Spiritual Education
In the past we passed up many opportunities to educate the
brothers and sisters. They were born in our midst, yet they never
∗Delivered at Hardoon Road, Shanghai, 17 April 1948.— Translator 172
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came to know why we gathered together. To them our meeting was
no different from any other. This is because we had not given them the right education.
Let it be known by all fellow workers that various basic lessons
must be taught year round. Some in our midst have been saved for
ten years, but they have never once confessed sin or made restitution.
Now, though, we are preparing fifty-two subjects as basic lessons to be presented from year to year.∗ These subjects need little or no
improvement. They only need to be taught year after year. Then, the foundation will be firm.
Teaching the gospel is different from preaching it. In preaching,
variation is the norm. But in teaching, consistency is the way. In the preaching of the gospel no two persons use the same approach, just as no two personal testimonies are alike. However, after people get saved, the education they receive should be the same.
The kind of Christian one becomes depends much on the kind of
education he receives. If we fail to spend time on this now, people will blame us later on. We need to walk in the same steps before we can have the same testimony.
In the process of presenting these lessons we must teach them in
life; otherwise these subjects could turn dead. For we will only create more tradition if we fail to teach them in a living, anointed way. And in consequence we shall simply have one more thing which must be
dealt with. But, if we teach these lessons livingly, people will sense life when not only hearing them for the first time but even after ten times.
∗For further information about these lessons and their availability in English translation, see earlier in the present volume, Part Two, Chapter 1 ("Commencement and Continuance of Recovery"), in that chapter's subsection entitled "The Way before Us."— Translator
The Coordination of Workers
Be Lowly and Remember the Poor
Beyond the above-mentioned matters, the local church should also
look after the poor. No one serving God can hold tightly to his
money bag. Every area of responsibility addressed by the early
Church must be recovered. The abdication of responsibility in any
one of these areas will incur great loss. Remembering the poor was one of the most important practices carried on by the early Church
(Gal. 2.10). If we wish to know the heart of God we must recover this practice. Constant contact with the poor tends to enlarge one's heart. We ought to try every means to help them and to find
opportunity to contact them. A church that isolates itself from the poor cannot be blessed. We should learn to condescend to those who
are lowly (see Rom. 12.16), just as our Lord did in humbling himself
(Phil. 2.5-8). Looking after the poor is more than simply giving them money. Looking after the poor educates you, enables you to touch
something of the heart, and creates in you a wound. Such is the right spirit in caring for the poor. When I was in Shanghai one evening I invited a street lad to eat dumplings with me. We must always seek out opportunity to contact the poor. Around us there must certainly be those who are less well off than we are. When our Lord was on
earth He never lost touch with the poor. Many have a wrong attitude that needs to be radically corrected. We must learn to stoop down
and humble ourselves. The more people are saved among us, the
more money needs to be sent out.
We can see in all of this that the body of Christ demands our life.
When you listen to the teaching, you may perhaps at first nod your head in agreement. But if you put it into practice you will probably end up crying. Let us return to the principles established by God for His people. In so doing we will be blessed.
P A R T F I V E
DELIVERANCE FROM MAMMON
1 Money and Occupation∗
We believe the key to consecration is in God. But in
order to solidify consecration, two conditions need to
be fulfilled. The first element in consecration has to do
with the Church. For consecration is not only
committing ourselves to the Lord, it is also committing
ourselves to the Church. Of course, consecration is presenting
ourselves to the Lord, but nobody can tell when such consecration
becomes problematic and is withdrawn. In case consecration is made under the authority of the Church, it can be preserved. Consecration without commitment to the Church is something fluid.
The second element in consecration has to do with money and
occupation. Consecration without commitment to the Church is weak
consecration; consecration without it touching money and occupation is superficial consecration.
Money
How does God look upon money? Here we should understand two
relationships. One is that between God and all creation. The other is that between creation and money. Out of one source God created all things. What the feet step on and the hands touch are all created by Him. God is not only the Creator of all things, He is also the Lord of all things. Satan is God's antagonist, but he has no way to deal with Him. Since he cannot possibly deal with God, he tries to deal with all things that come from God. In other words, he is not able to
destroy God himself, so Satan turns to destroy the works of God if he can. If he can perhaps pluck God's created things out of His hand, he will
∗Delivered at Hardoon Road, Shanghai, 19 April 1948.— Translator 178
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gain the upper hand. So in trying to destroy God's work, Satan lays his hands on His creation.
Today I would like to show you the relationship between all
things and money as well as the relationship of the created things to God. Satan desires to gain all things for himself, but he is not able to gain them one by one because each of them is just too much for him.
The all things of which I have been speaking include oxen, sheep,
trees, stars, and so on and so forth. Each is countless and beyond description. Now because God had created all things out of one
source, so, Satan in turn has tried to reduce them all into one. And this one thing is money. There is nothing in the world that cannot be bought. With money, you can have all things. Hence, money is called
"currency"—that is, that which has common acceptance. The value
of a piece of rock and a piece of wood cannot be added up. Neither can the value of a chair and a table be added up. Satan therefore
invents money by which to unify all things. He simplifies the "all things" of God through this ingenious arrangement of money. Out of one source comes forth the many shapes and forms of all things in
the world. Accordingly, Satan attempts to reduce through money all things back into one. What things we see can all be calculated in
terms of money. Money is therefore the means to unify them all. But though all things were created by God, money itself is not His
creation. It belongs to Caesar. When the Lord was queried as to
whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, He asked that a
denarius coin be shown him. He then said, "Render . . . unto Caesar
the things that are Caesar's" (Matt. 22.21). (It should be noticed,
incidentally, that Jesus never carried money on His person, or else He would have been accused of having the things of Caesar in His
pocket.)
No, money was never created by God, it was invented by Satan
for the sake of unifying all things. Accordingly, the value of all things could now be computed in monetary terms. The earth was
created by God, but today men can use money to calculate the value
Money and Occupation
of the earth. If it were possible, man would even calculate the worth of the moon or of the hydrogen in the sun. Men can buy anything.
They can buy time, even human souls. One brother I know has
worked in the post office for decades; which means that the post
office has bought him for those years. The property of Jacob
included souls as well as oxen and sheep. Moreover, Revelation 18
tells us that "souls of men" are one of the kinds of merchandise listed there that was sold by the merchants of the earth (vv.12-13). Out of
one, God created all things. Now, though, Satan attempts to gather them all back into one.
In gaining God, we obtain His all things. Satan, however, obtains
them by gaining money; for is not money almighty, cannot money
buy everything? We buy wood, stone, or any other item we would
love to have. But to do so, money is needed. Mammon or money
therefore becomes a power, even the center of men's worship (see
Matt. 6.24). Whether men worship God or worship Mammon (the Aramaic term used by Jesus to personify money, wealth or earthly
possessions) becomes the focal point of universal conflict.
Worshiping God places us on one side of money—the side that
opposes it, while worshiping Satan places us on the other side of money—the side which worships it. The opposite of God is
Mammon. Why can Mammon stand in opposition to God? Because it
alone can gather up all things. The love of money is more than a root
of all evils (1 Tim 6.10); it is also idolatry, because money to many people is an idol. Interestingly, the Bible treats covetousness and
idolatry as one sin (Col. 3.5; cf. Eph 5.5). A person who is unclear about money is not soundly saved. We know we cannot baptize a
person who still has an idol in his home. Yet many saved ones have not clearly dealt with the issue of money, it remaining for them an idol. We often hear it said that India is a nation of idols because the country has more of them than people. Yet how many more are there
who worship Mammon than there are who worship these other kinds
of idols? From Asia to Africa, from scientists to the superstitious—
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all, it seems, worship Mammon. Mammon is most commonly
worshiped.
God wants to lay hold of us; Mammon too wants to lay hold of us.
Unless God's people are delivered from its influence, they have no testimony nor can they be good Christians. How can one serve the
Lord if he holds on to two opposites? Why is it that the Lord
demanded so strictly of the young ruler that he sell all? That young man was quite good and law-abiding. But the Lord said, "one thing
thou lackest yet" (Luke 18.18-23). And that thing, which was the most important thing in his life, centered around the issue of wealth and how he needed to be delivered from its hold on him. On the other hand, we find that at the conversion of Zacchaeus, the latter promised to give half of his goods to the poor (19.8). This principle is the same
that is seen in the letter of Paul to the Corinthian believers where he is found quoting from the Old Testament: "He that gathered much
had nothing over; and he that gathered little had no lack" (2 Cor.
8.15).
In Church history the Moravian Church has been the most
powerful missionary church. Their founder Count von Zinzendorf
offered all his estate to the Lord. Sister Eva also gave her all. Several decades ago, the now famous Cambridge Seven came to China to
preach the gospel. Among them was C. T. Studd, the renowned
cricketeer of England. His inheritance had amounted to two hundred thousand English pounds. He proposed to give it all away. At the
same time he told the British Foreign Ministry that he wanted to go to China as a missionary. The consul was amazed at his consecration and dared not accept his application. After an entire week had gone by, Studd still had no change of mind about going to China and gave away all his inheritance. God was able to use Studd greatly because he had overcome the Power of Money. Because Mammon stands
against God, every child of His needs to overcome its pervasive
power. If the power of Mammon is not overcome, there will be no
spiritual power. Yet please note that the power of Mammon does not
Money and Occupation
derive from the amount of money or possessions, for this idol may exert an even stronger power upon the poor than upon the rich!
For this reason, a Christian should work not for the sake of having or accumulating money but to make a living for himself and his
family. It is obviously not right to earn money un righteously, but can we say earning righteously is altogether right? For money itself is unrighteous. This is made quite clear in Luke 16: "Make to
yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness"
(v.9). Money is unrighteous because its very nature is opposite to God's. Let us see clearly the position of money, or else we shall find it quite hard to be a Christian. Christians cannot take advantage of worldly people's money. If we do, we lose our Christian status. We testify to the fact that our Father is above all and that we are His children. How can people such as we are make a profit at the expense of even the people of the world? It is below our dignity. Speaking from the Christian viewpoint, in the entire world there are but two classes of people: the unbelievers and the brethren. And if it is true that we cannot disadvantage the unbelievers, can we at all do so to our Christian brethren? Let us therefore solve this problem well. A Christian does not work for the sake of having or accumulating
money, he works to maintain a living.
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Occupation∗
Occupation is the second issue before us. What is the occupation
ordained of God? That which He has prescribed for men is this: that
"in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" (Gen. 3.19). In the Old
Testament we learn that God had appointed Adam to till the ground
and Abel to keep the sheep. Abraham and Jacob were also shepherds.
And Genesis 4 mentions the forger, the maker of every cutting instrument of brass and iron. All these are works of labor. In the New Testament we find that the apostles were fishermen, and Paul was a tentmaker (Acts 18.3). These too are works of labor.
Paul said, "Now to him that worketh, the [wage] is not reckoned
as [a favor], but as [what is due]" (Rom. 4.4). Occupations involving labor do not have the element of profiteering in them; therefore, they are legitimate. Increasing the price of that which increases in value cannot be considered profiteering since it is the result of selling one's labor.
∗The reader is urged to consult the chapter entitled "Occupation" that appears in Watchman Nee, The Spirit of Judgment (New York: Christian Fellowship Publishers, 1984), 79-94. It is the text of a message the author delivered just a few months later on the same subject.
There, however, he gives a much fuller and more thorough presentation of his ideas and conclusions than he has only briefly outlined in the pages of this and the chapter to follow that are now before the reader. Nevertheless, it bears repeating here the observations which the present translator made as an introductory footnote to the fuller treatment on
"Occupation" just referenced: "This message when given in [the summer of] 1948 at the Mount Kuling Conference Center near Foochow, China was a timely one, in view of a special situation then existing in China which seriously needed to be addressed on behalf of the Christians there. The same, however, may not be entirely or even partially applicable to the believers living within Western social and economic systems. The reader himself must judge. Yet the underlying principle advanced by the author in this message is nonetheless worthy of consideration; for although economic systems may indeed differ and local situations may doubtless vary, the basic points enunciated here can be of great help to those who seek to be led by the Spirit of God in choosing their occupations."— Translator
Money and Occupation
Suppose there are ten thousand sheep in the world. Through my
shepherding the number is increased to eleven thousand. Thus my
labor causes an increase of one thousand sheep in the world. This is the increase of value. Or suppose there is but one grain of wheat.
Through my cultivation it becomes thirty or even one hundred grains.
This too is the increase of value. I should therefore gain in money because by my labor I have caused an increase of ninety-nine
additional grains of wheat in the world. Or consider another example.
Paul purchased cloth and sewed the same into a tent in the evening.
He sold it the next day. Now the money he gained came through the
work of sewing. But suppose you buy five rolls of cloth and simply sit around waiting for their price to rise before you sell them; let me say that you have not added one inch to the cloth and yet you earn money out of them. Such an occupation should be avoided. Any
occupation which does not increase value needs to be changed. We
must reform our conception of labor and occupation. Instead of going after profit, we need to aim at engaging in occupations which
increase the value.
We should not be engaged in works which do not increase value.
Receiving wages from our labor is proper. But an occupation which
does not increase value may not only corrupt our heart, it may affect our testimony before God and Satan. We must be delivered from
money. Our occupation should be related to either works of labor or to the increase of value. We shall be useful in the service of God if we are clear in our occupation. Let us expand our view. No one can serve God on the one hand and hold on tightly to money on the other.
May we offer both our selves and our occupation to God for the
fulfillment of His purpose.
The Church and Money Matters: in Special and Ordinary Times
In times of revival the Church needs to adopt temporary measures,
those which are different from long-term measures. During a period 184
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of revival everything must follow the spontaneous leading of the
Holy Spirit; but over the long term there should be Church
arrangement. In the days of revival Ananias should not have kept
back something for himself. Yet having done so, he lied and sinned
against the Holy Spirit (Acts 5.1-5). But Paul in one of his letters said this: "if any provideth not for his own, and specially his own
household, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever"
(1 Tim. 5.8); he further wrote this in the same letter: "If any woman that believeth hath [dependent] widows, let her relieve [assist] them, and let not the church be burdened; that it may relieve [assist] them
that are widows indeed" (v.16). We do not expect what is done during revival to be the same as what is done in ordinary days. At times of revival we cannot rest without giving our all. But over the long term we must take care of our families, especially when the
children are small. To gather more is not wrong, but to keep more is wrong. Let us tighten our living standard so as to be able to set aside money for the purpose of helping others. Those who have given
know that "it is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20.35).
Let me say again that the way the Church manages money in
ordinary times is different from her way during times of revival.
During the latter, we cannot quench the moving of the Holy Spirit.
But for the ordinary or extended periods of time, the Church must
make certain arrangements.
In Money Be Wise Stewards of the Lord
We offer our all to the Lord. What we receive back from Him is
very much different from what we had owned before. Formerly we
were owners and masters; now we are stewards. Stewards who waste
their Lord's money will be accused (Luke 16.1). Today the living standard of each saint is not the same, but the common principle to be frugal applies to all.
Money and Occupation
As soon as the issue of money is settled, the person is enlarged.
Today, due to our differing backgrounds the same word stirs up
different thoughts. For example, if I invite a person to a meal in my home, a northern Chinese would expect wheat bread at the table
whereas a southerner would expect rice. In like manner, different
people entertain different ideas about the needs of the Church and their solution. Nevertheless, we must not stand on our own ground; rather, let us see things from God's perspective. And God has made clear that no one can serve two masters. Declared the Lord Jesus:
"You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt. 6.24). The reason why
we are in darkness has much to do with our relationship to money
(vv.21-23). But with the money issue settled, light shines forth, making it possible for many other matters in our lives to be resolved.
The gospel is like water in a bottle, and money or wealth is like
the cap of the bottle. Unless your money is released the gospel
cannot be discharged. Without the sending out of money one does
not even know how to be a normal person. How can you see if your
eyes are blinded by the bright glint of gold? Except you are liberated from Mammon, you cannot see the Lord.
2 Dealing with Mammon and Serving God∗
There are really only two ways of service for
mankind: either a person serves God or serves
Mammon (Matt. 6.24). Probably eighty percent of the
Christians in the world are serving Mammon, and perhaps eighteen
percent are serving Mammon as well as serving God. It is extremely difficult to find a few who serve God exclusively. Formerly, we
avoided mentioning money and wealth. This was due on the one
hand to our unfaithfulness and to the difficulty of talking about it on the other. As was intimated before, money is itself unrighteous (see
Luke 16.9 again). Christians will obviously not be serving God if
they should earn money by illegal or unrighteous means; yet even
earning money in righteous ways may not be serving God. For the
Christian, profiteering itself is illegitimate. Unless one has settled this critical issue in his Christian life there shall be many unresolved problems. As we pointed out earlier, out of one origin God had
created all things, but God's enemy has used money to reunite all
things into one. God made all things, but money can buy all things.
Any thought of profiteering, if carried out, is therefore in the service of Mammon.
Biblically Acceptable Occupations∗∗
All legitimate occupations seek gains from nature, not from
people. For example, suppose there are two billion people in the
world, and each one has a dollar in his or her pocket and nothing
∗Delivered at Shanghai, 20 April 1948.— Translator
∗∗Before proceeding further, the reader is advised to read again an important explanatory note which appears in the section of the preceding chapter of the present work that deals with the same subject on occupations.— Translator
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more elsewhere. The total amount of money in the world is therefore two billion dollars. To increase the money in my pocket I must take it from the pockets of other people. How can a Christian take money out of others' pockets and put it into his own pocket? Is it not
beneath the dignity of a child of God? Hence what we must do is to increase the value of nature.
All the occupations of God's people cited in the Bible are related to nature. Fishing, for instance, is taking in the produce of the sea.
Farming is taking in the produce of the land. Such professions may increase my money without lessening another's. We may increase
our own money, but we should not decrease another's. The increase
of Abraham's and Isaac's herds and flocks was God's blessing upon
His servants (Gen. 24.35, 26.12-14), but the increase of Jacob's herds
and flocks was stealthily gained at Laban's expense (30.31-43).
Abraham's increase was right, while Jacob's increase was wrong, for the latter sinned against Laban in such activity. Today, many there be who are like Jacob. How can we serve our God well if we have not
settled this issue? We should resist works in the realm of pure
commerce.
The King of Tyre mentioned in Ezekiel 28 points to Satan. He fell
by the abundance of his traffic, and traffic there has reference to pure
commerce (see Eze. 27). Ezekiel 27-28 marks the earliest commerce
while Revelation 18 marks the last. Ezekiel 27-28 is the beginning of
world commerce whereas Revelation 18 represents its conclusion,
with its prominent mention of the "merchants of the earth." At the end time the Antichrist will do business through Babylon. Pure
commerce represents more than a matter of acquiring or earning
money; there is also the issue about it as to just how money is
actually acquired. Today we cannot but pay attention to the matter of how money is gained. We may increase our own, but we should not
cause society to suffer loss. Refining iron and transforming it into steel, for instance, gives increase to society. Such an occupation is acceptable.
Dealing with Mammon and Serving God
Today our thoughts need to be disciplined by God. The profiteers
see nothing else but money. They look not at how many fishes they
have but only at how much money they can acquire. The Jews were
originally occupied in farming, pasturing and laboring, for in Old Testament times God had distributed land to the children of Israel that each might work on his own land. Here the Jews learned a
lesson. But after their fall and dispersion, they have become some of the biggest merchants in the world. This becomes a stronghold that is very hard to break through since pure commerce is such a great
temptation. How we all need to do an about-face in regard to it. May God transform our thought.
Unrighteous Steward and Unrighteous Mammon
Luke 16 speaks of the unrighteous steward and unrighteous mammon or money. Here the master commends the steward for his
cleverness in using his master's money to make friends for himself.
This parable can be divided into two parts: the story itself, followed by the teaching deduced. Verses 1-7 tell the story; from verse 8
onward is the teaching: "the sons of this world are for their own
generation wiser than the sons of the light." For the unrighteous
steward changes a hundred measures of oil to fifty and a hundred
measures of wheat to eighty. Such economic activities are
unrighteous in their procedure. They naturally are to be condemned.
But in the following verses we see that the Lord calls us to save
people to the eternal tabernacle by means of the mammon or money
of unrighteousness. The mammon itself as well as its procedure are all unrighteous. Hence, the story itself speaks of the unrighteous procedure, whereas the teaching part tells of the unrighteous
mammon.
The story does not refer to the oil or the wheat as being
unrighteous. It declares from the outset that the man is unrighteous—
he is called by the Lord an unrighteous steward. Yet in the teaching, 190
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even money is labeled as being unrighteous: Jesus termed it the mammon of unrighteousness or unrighteous money. On the basis of
this passage some deem money to be right because it is said that
money can be used to make friends and send people to the eternal
tabernacle. But we need to understand that before God the very
nature of money is unrighteous. We need to repent of our concept of money. For
God and money stand opposite to each other. How can
we allow anything to stand in opposition to God? So we serve either God or Mammon. Mammon desires men's worship as much as God
desires men's worship. Let us therefore have this issue of money
resolved in our Christian lives; and if so, then we shall discover that the way to serve God is made easy.
When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they were given
permission by the Egyptians to remove the latter's gold, silver and jewelry; and the more they took out the better (see Ex. 12.35-36). If
today the money we have comes by way of righteous means, we can
take more. But if it is obtained by unrighteous means, it needs to be returned. Yet some will find it difficult to let go once the money is in their hands. Nevertheless, let us preserve the dignity of our being Christians.
3 Deliverance from Mammon∗
The Bible places the idolatry of Mammon fairly
high. It stands in opposition to God. Today there are far
more people who are captured by Mammon than are
captured by God. Perhaps eighty percent are taken in by
it. Of the remaining twenty percent, probably eighteen
or nineteen percent serve both God and Mammon. It is very difficult to find one among a hundred people who truly serves God. In short, Mammon wins many more souls than does God.
As we deal afresh with this matter of body life, we are continually being confronted with not only the difficulty of individualism but also that of mammon
or money. Individualism hinders our serving
God, but so does money. The moment a person serves it, he cannot
serve God either personally or corporately. We may even say that
deliverance from Mammon is perhaps the primary basic requirement
in serving God. Unless one is truly delivered from such idolatry, he is unable to serve God.
To recapitulate what was said earlier, all things have been created by God who is the sole source of all things. He is also above all
things (see Acts 17.24-25). As men witness these created things all about them, they worship God. It is therefore wrong and foolish for the human mind to invent atheism. The things in the heavens and the earth lead us to the knowledge of God (Rom. 1.20). Yet because all
these things are so varied and complex, God's enemy Satan attempts to unite them into one, for he recognizes how impossible it is to sum up so many different things in God's creation. For example, a chair and table do not add up. Moreover, what can possibly be the sum
total of a grown-up man, a child, a load of luggage, a bar of gold and
∗Delivered at Hardoon Road, Shanghai, 27 April 1948.— Translator 192
Revive Thy Work
a piece of land? But if all can be valued in terms of money, they
become statistically possible to be totaled up. If all things are not unified in this manner, how can business people ever balance their budgets? Or how can they intelligently compute when there are so
many diverse and complicated units? Money alone can make it
possible to calculate all things. With the invention of money by
God's adversary, land is no longer land—but money; rice is no
longer rice—but money; electricity is no longer electricity—but
money. According to Revelation 18, even souls can be calculated and
sold in terms of monetary value (v.13). When people sell their time they are actually selling themselves. For example, when we employ
laborers we promise to pay them such and such for so many hours of work. In a sense, is this not using money to buy souls? Money can
purchase souls as well as purchase all created things. God created the earth, and men have cut it into pieces, using money as the means for determining the value of each piece of land. When men eventually
reach the moon they will no doubt sell it for money also! If airplanes fly through my territory, it is required of the airplane company to pay for the relevant air rights. Today we take this for granted, but
according to the Bible this is rather unusual. We know that in six days God created all. things. Can you calculate how much they are
worth? There are so many things in so many forms, shapes, and
colors. But today Satan simplifies and unifies them all on the basis of money.
Moreover, money controls all things. God on the one side created
all things, but Satan on the other side turns all things into monetary value and unifies them all. With money man can now purchase
anything. He can purchase gold, purchase furniture, even purchase
China. There is nothing which cannot be bought. Mammon stands in
opposition to God. This is why the Scripture not only declares that
"the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Tim. 6.10), it also
joins covetousness and idolatry together (Eph. 5.5, Col. 3.5).
Covetousness is idolatry, for in worshiping money it is not
worshiping money itself but worshiping the created things behind
Deliverance from Mammon
money. In order to obtain a commodity, men can use common
currency to purchase it. This indicates how men want the things of God but not God himself. This is also why, except for those men who serve God, all other men serve Mammon (Matt. 6.24). Those who
love money can never love God.
God's things come from God. So far as He is concerned, the
created things which come from Him are not at all for sale. For all is grace. The sunlight, for example, cannot be measured, and it need not be paid for—since He causes it to shine on the unrighteous as well as on the righteous: His grace even causes the rain to fall on them both, without cost to anyone (Matt. 5.45). But electric lights and bottled water must be paid for. If men want to obtain anything from Satan
they shall have to purchase it. Even the husks the prodigal son longed to eat must be bought at a cost, though he was by now penniless and
"no man gave [any husks] unto him" (Luke 15.14-16). Therefore, a
person who truly wishes to see God must be delivered from the
Power of Money, for if his thought turns to it, he ceases to serve God. Oh how wrong it is to view all things in terms of money. But oh how right it is to look at all things from God's gracious perspective.
4 Voluntary Poverty∗
Matthew 6 tells us that "if . . . thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light" (v.22). Our eye
needs to be singly focused. Having said this, the Lord
then mentions the matter of service. In serving the
Lord, we must also be singly focused: "No man can
serve two masters; . . . Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (v.24).
The eye must be single, and service must be single. To serve
Mammon is an awful bondage. He who wants to serve God must be
delivered from it; otherwise he cannot serve God.
A single eye is an eye that is delivered from the idolatry of
Mammon. Such singleness of eye enables us to see the truth. Truth is absolute and not relative. It is therefore not affected by anything. The reason why one fails to know God is because his eye is double-focused. To know Him it requires an eye that is freed from double
vision. The double-visioned cannot see the truth. Such a person
cannot see God.
A Christian should look upon mammon or money as being a very
harmful thing. He needs to let go of it quickly as though he were
casting out of his hand a red hot coal. Christian poverty is something voluntarily taken up. Some are poor due to their environment. Others are poor through lack of inheritance or because of some unusual
event. But some become poor voluntarily after they have experienced salvation. There is a vast difference between these two types of
poverty. It can be likened to the difference between soldiers who
become so by conscription and those who become so by
volunteering.
∗Delivered at Hardoon Road, Shanghai, 28 April 1948.— Translator 196
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Why voluntary poverty? Because the Bible declares that "it is
hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven….It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God" (Matt. 19.23-24). Mammon is equivalent to an idol. We are told by Scripture that a covetous man is an idolater
(Eph. 5.5, Col. 3.5). Mammon represents wealth, riches, possessions, money. It all belongs to Caesar.
During the apostolic time the disciples had forsaken all to follow the Lord. We learn from Church history that tens of thousands of
those who became followers of Francis of Assisi—later known as the Franciscans—had taken the vow of poverty as Francis had done. In
this matter of voluntary poverty we are naturally overcautious. We are afraid of overdoing it. Count von Zinzendorf, the founder of the Moravian movement; was a highly educated man. He placed all his
wealth on the sacrificial altar for the sake of the Lord. During the past several hundred years these Moravians have sent out far more
missionaries than have the other denominations. The Brethren in
England have never liked to advertise themselves, but we have
learned that many among them became poor voluntarily.
From the Old Testament we learn that when Rachel left Laban,
she stole his teraphim, that is, the household idols. Such action was of course condemned (Gen. 31.32). Today Christians should deal
with money and possessions as though dealing with an idol. Because a Christian must not have any idol at home, he must therefore also not lay up for himself
any treasures upon the earth that become as it
were an idol (see Matt. 6.19 again). Today the challenge for the
Church is great in at least three areas: first, the need in the work; second, the need of poor brethren; and third, the constant need of the earthly poor in general. The word of the Lord is this: that "ye have
the poor always with you" (Matt. 26.11). And consequently, we
should take care of their needs.
Voluntary
Poverty
Mammon is much more serious an issue than just having an idol.
When the Church is strong it can stand on the ground of voluntary
poverty. And thus, false brethren dare not come to the church
because as soon as they enter into her midst they have to give
themselves up. All who live by their eloquence, mind and cleverness are not able to remain in the church when the latter is strong by
standing on the ground of voluntary poverty. Consequently, the
church is kept clean. As money goes out, self is delivered. So if you wish to be clean, let money go out from you.
From the Biblical record we learn that our Lord had contact twice
with money. The first instance involved the collection of the temple
tax (Matt. 17.24-27). We realize from this event that our Lord had no
money in His pocket. The second instance involved His entrusting
into the care of Judas His and His disciples' money bag (John 12.6,
13.29). Again we learn that He had no money in His own pocket.
Judas was a person most suited for touching money.
The principle which Paul enunciated is this (and in so doing he
quoted from the Old Testament incident of the Israelites collecting the manna in the wilderness): "He that gathered much had nothing
over; and he that gathered little had no lack" (2 Cor. 8.15). This, it
may be said, is pertinent to the coordination in the Lord's work. In the body of Christ, if in gathering much there is something left over and if in gathering less there is a lack, then such an outcome
bespeaks the absence of coordination.
Today in this matter of offering, it is not a question of one-tenth or two-tenths. It is a giving of everything beyond one's necessary
personal requirements. Any consecration less than this is below the Lord's standard. All who serve must forsake everything and follow
the Lord. Apart from personal daily needs, the rest should be given away. He who lays up treasures on the earth is he who serves
Mammon.
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Look at all the procedures people must go through in serving
idols: the need to kneel, to burn incense, and so forth. Serving
Mammon too is very complicated. Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew
declared: "where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also" (6.21).
Preceding this is His word about laying up treasures in heaven or on earth. May our hearts be delivered from earthly treasures.
Today some are under the bondage of the world. But the bondage
of money is much tighter than that of the world. Why give to the
poor? Well, it is not just for the poor; even more so, perhaps, it is for you to be delivered from the power of Mammon. And by so doing,
you may resolve the money issue in your life earlier. Some may think that giving to the poor is exclusively for the sake of them. Yes,
indeed, the poor may be saved through your giving; yet even should the poor not be saved, you yourself shall reap a huge benefit. This is because the one who is willing to spend his money for others will be welcomed in heaven by many, whereas the one in whose life money
is so central will have no one thanking him when he enters eternity.
Let us spend and be spent for the Lord. And voluntary poverty is one of the ways to do so. Such is the kind of poverty about which Paul said this: "as poor, yet making many rich" (2 Cor. 6.10).
P A R T S I X
NEW TESTAMENT MINISTRY
1 The Treasure in the Earthen
Vessel∗
The ministry spoken of in 2 Corinthians 3 is that of
the New Covenant. The nature of New Covenant
ministry is different from that of the Old Covenant. The
focal point of this New Covenant ministry is expressed in 3.18 which
reads: "with unveiled face beholding as a mirror the glory of the
Lord."
2 Corinthians 4 tells us what is the consequence of having this
kind of ministry. It also goes further to describe the relationship
between the Lord and us. This relationship is defined in 4.7, where
Paul declares: "we have this treasure in earthen vessels." This is a very important verse in the New Testament. The reason why ministry is laid upon us today is because we have this treasure in earthen
vessels. Our outside is likened to an earthen vessel, the inside to the treasure. We do not merely give the treasure to men, we give them
the treasure that is to be found in earthen vessels.
Today's problem lies in our desire to beautify the earthen vessels instead of manifesting the treasure in the earthen vessels. Some hold on to themselves so tightly that the treasure is unable to break
through. The principle of spiritual life is summed up in the phrase, the treasure in the earthen vessel. We are not to mend the earthen vessel nor change the natural man by any human method. Let us not
labor to the extent that the vessel is no longer an earthen vessel. It is not because one does not say anything, hear anything and do
anything that he or she is spiritual. An earthen vessel is always an earthen vessel. It is forever worth little. If the Lord so arranges that you be a student, then be that. If the Lord appoints you to be a
∗Delivered at Hardoon Road, Shanghai, 17 April 1948.— Translator 202
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housewife, then be content to be such. Your being a student or a
housewife should not hide the treasure that is in you. The New
Covenant ministry rests on how much treasure the Lord gives and not on how cleanly you wash or beautify your earthen vessel.
Today man is not innocent enough before God. He does additional
work on the earthen vessel. But no matter how much work is done on his earthen vessel, the one and only result of such work will be to draw people's attention to himself. The ministry of Paul was
manifested most wonderfully, yet his bodily presence was quite weak
(2 Cor. 10.10). Today, however, man's ministry is weak but his personal appearance is fairly strong and attractive. How we need to go before God and learn the lesson of being smitten and dealt with.
Our present need is not more outward human mending efforts. Our
need instead is for people to be able to distinguish the inside treasure from the outside earthen vessel.
Miss Margaret Barber was one who truly waited for the Lord's
second coming. She waited daily and yearly for the Lord to return.
When people came into her presence, they saw Christ. One day I was in her study and noticed that her waste basket was full of discarded papers. She told me that she had started to write a letter in the
morning, but before she finished it, she felt uneasy within herself. So she threw it away. She continued to discard her writing paper till the basket was full. And the letter was still unfinished. This demonstrates how she lived before the Lord.
Outward piety does not help in making a good Christian. Only
that which the Lord has wrought in you is accounted as worthwhile.
It is futile in attempting to be a Christian outwardly. All such efforts must be discarded. It is inward and not outward learning which
makes a Christian. 2 Corinthians 4 mentions the dying or the slaying
of Jesus (v.10). This slaying or "deathizing" occurs inwardly, not
outwardly, in the life of the Christian. And it goes on continuously.
The Treasure in the Earthen Vessel
Let us not lead the brothers and sisters astray. Let us not teach
people to speak and work like certain so-called saints. Such guidance is useless in the knowledge of God. If the counterfeit is present, the real will not come forth. If human effort remains, that which
emanates from God will not come forth. The false must go before the real can come. Today the greatest principle to grasp hold of is this—
the treasure in the earthen vessel. Let us not ever spend time in
beautifying ourselves. It is wrong to indulge ourselves; it is equally wrong to decorate ourselves. God has no desire to adorn our earthen vessels. His thought is to cause the treasure to shine through such vessels.
Many do not realize how much pretension and make-believe they
put up before men. During Christmas time one year, brother T.
Austin-Sparks lay on the grass and played with his son and his dog.
Such a scene was totally natural and beautiful. But many seem to
have had their earthen vessels burnt by fire. In meeting them people feel as though there is something unnatural and even frightening
about them. They pretend to such a degree that even their voice and speech seem to change before men. Such outward dissimulation is
altogether useless.
The salvation of the Lord is in manifesting Christ before men, in
presenting to them the Lord who is within us. We are not to draw
people's attention to the earthen vessels. If we do, the one who is hurt most will be ourselves. No, we are to draw people to notice the Christ within us, for He is the treasure. "The Son of man came eating
and drinking" (Matt. 11.19); but today's rule for some of us seems to be to neither eat nor drink. By being a little unnatural, strange or somewhat mysterious, we think we become spiritual. Yet we read in
the Scriptures that "a prophet is not without honor, save in his own
country, and in his own house" (Matt. 13.54-58). This is because in his native land all know a prophet's kith and kin. Hence, there is nothing mysterious about him.
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True ministry is inward. Though a person may receive the deepest
work of God in his life, that person can still be readily approachable by other people. Evan Hopkins was the theologian of the Keswick
movement. He preached especially on consecration and
sanctification. He had a marvelous gift of drawing rabbits' ears. He frequently drew all kinds of rabbit ears to amuse his children and grandchildren. In the eyes of men, he may not have appeared
spiritual. But God used him mightily to preach the word of holiness.
God has not sent angels to preach holiness; instead, He uses ordinary men to do the preaching. In the Gospels we read how the Lord
instructed the disciples to become as little children (see Matt. 18.3,
Mark 10.15, Luke 18.17). Little children are not pretentious. Let us
never pretend to be what we are not.
Natural innocency is quite different from spiritual innocency. The more we truly know Christ the simpler we become. Human ways will
only make us more complicated. A carnal man has little inside. In
fact, what he has outside is far more than that which he has inside.
And because he has so little inside, he puts up a formidable facade.
This is self-deceiving. A big brain or a strong emotion is nothing unless the one or the other is added to a strong and solid spirit.
Man's head occupies one-seventh of his entire body. If his head
were to occupy one-third of his body, he would look very ugly. The same is true in the spiritual realm. Someone may have a good mind; yet if his thought becomes too strong and opinionated, he will not look good to others. But if it is joined to a strong spirit, the person turns out fine. The member of our physical body which projects itself the most is the nose. If a person bumps into a wall, his nose strikes it first. The strongest part of our inner being should be our spirit. We should have a good, strong and disciplined spirit so that when people touch us they will touch our spirit first and foremost. If what they touch instead is our learning or temperament, we fail in spiritual ministry.
2 Brokenness and Ministry∗
What is the relationship between knowing life and
our service to God? "Knowing" cannot fully represent
our way. Whether or not a person's ministry is released
is dependent not only upon his knowing life but also
upon his outward man being broken. The content of
ministry is inner life.
Man has his inner as well as outer man. When the outward man is
broken, his ministry can be discharged. In such a person, the deep
calls unto the deep (Ps. 42.7). But in the person whose outer man remains unbroken, it will probably be that the shallow calls unto the shallow!
What we need today is the breaking of the outer man. Without
such breaking, the inner man cannot be liberated. All which belongs to the outward needs to be broken; otherwise, the inward cannot be released. The earthen vessel must be broken before the inner treasure
can show forth its power (2 Cor. 4.7). So long as the pure nard
remains in the alabaster cruse, the odor of the ointment will not fill the house. But if the cruse be broken, the fragrance in profusion
comes forth (John 12.3).
God deals with us daily through our circumstances. He works
within us on the one hand and arranges our circumstances on the
other. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as chance in the life of a Christian since he has only the discipline of the Holy Spirit. For the Christian, all circumstances are the discipline of the Spirit. And the purpose of such discipline is to break the various elements of our
∗Delivered at Hardoon Road, Shanghai, 30 April 1948.— Translator 206
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outward man. As a man's reasoning is broken, his inner man flows
out. As his emotion is also broken, his inner man issues forth.
Do not think that all is right so long as the words spoken are
correct and properly delivered. No, there has to be another
consideration here, and that is, whether these words are spoken
outwardly or inwardly. An unbroken man may use the same
vocabulary, utter the same word, even convey the same meaning as
would the broken man but you cannot touch anything in what he has
said. In order to be of service to God our outer man must be broken, for only then can our inner man be released. As our inner man comes forth, it touches the inner man of others.
A person who is clever in thinking and planning will be of little
usefulness in spiritual things. You may say something laughingly or say it tearfully; yet the issue is not in how you say it but in how much of your inner man is released in the saying of it. To the extent a person is broken to that extent will be the measure of his ministry.
How we need to have dealings before God in all these areas of our
life. How we love to meet a person whose outward man has been
wounded. For in meeting him we touch his inward man. The purpose
of God's discipline is for the breaking of the outward man. A person may tell a woeful story on the platform without his being sorrowful himself. Or he may tell a joke without his being joyful at all. Such a person can act in theater but not preach God's word. Or the person whom you speak to can be so hard outwardly that he gives no
response to whatever you may say. He can be likened to the people at the time of John the Baptist: "We piped unto you, and ye did not
dance; we wailed, and ye did not mourn" (Matt. 11.17).
The basis of ministry is one's knowledge of God; but whether a
person's ministry is effective or not depends on the breaking of his outer shell. If we wish to learn to be ministers of God's word, let us have this very understanding before God. More and more we shall
find that without the wounding of the outer man, there can be no real Brokenness
and
Ministry
ministry. I would again liken it to a rubber tree that will not yield its inner sap without a knife wound having been inflicted upon it.
People without wounds cannot have ministry. Indeed there is no
shortcut to ministry.
Let us never forget that whether or not one has a ministry depends on the dealing of the Lord's hand. If a person's spirit is unable to launch out, it is entirely because of his not being dealt with by the Lord. Then, too, whether his spirit is clean or not is also dependent upon God's dealing. But upon being dealt with, his spirit will
become relatively clean.
As the outward man is broken, the inward man is released, and his
word can touch others' hearts. Many think that so long as one can
bring in an emotional atmosphere and stir up great enthusiasm it is an acceptable ministry. But without the outer man being wounded, a
person does not have much real use. Christian service is based on
brokenness. The degree of brokenness and wounds determine the
degree of the Spirit's release.
How can one speak and have his spirit released? The one and only
way is to have the outer shell dealt with. Its wholeness or brokenness decides the retaining or the releasing of man's inner spirit. For a person to have a usable spirit his outward man must be stricken. At our regeneration the Lord came into
our spirit. As a result, our spirit became like the holiest of all in the tabernacle and temple of old—
full of light and life. But whether the Lord is able to come forth depends on the brokenness of our outward man. But with it broken,
all outward components will be outlets instead of hindrances. For
instance, our mind and our emotion that have been broken (yet not
destroyed) will no longer block the flow of life but will become
instead the channels for the inner man to come forth. The dealt-with broken mind and emotion will turn out to be gates for the inner man.
Today, whether or not Christ can be manifested through us hinges on whether or not we have been wounded and dealt with.
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As was noted earlier, the nose is the most forward part of the
human body. If a person bumps into a wall, his nose will strike it first. What touches people first and foremost is a person's strongest and most prominent point. It can be his cleverness or his thought or his speech. For him to be able to serve the Lord, his strongest part will need to be wounded. And thus, his inner man can be released.
How can we be unchanged and remain intact after we have believed
the Lord for so many years?
You may say that you do not have great revelation from the Lord,
but you cannot say that in so many years you have never experienced the discipline of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of His discipline is to make you a broken person. One day as you receive mercy from God,
you may say, Now I understand what is meant to be a broken man.
At that very time you will see how easy it is for your spirit to be released, once you have been severely dealt with and broken. The
undisciplined believer provides the Lord with no outlet.
All spiritual things are given to the person who has become just
right. The too diligent or the too lazy seeker will not find them. In our asking, we must ask just right, neither asking too much or too little. Here we need God's mercy. Growth will not come to him who
runs nor to him who stands still. Only by God's mercy will you run or stand still in just the right way. For this reason, each one must commit himself to the God of all mercies (Rom 9.16).
Today, in fact, all we can say is that we have received God's
mercy. Spiritual growth is beyond the ability of human energy. God will place us in a position of utter powerlessness and impossibleness so that He may have His way with us. If the Lord shows His mercies to me, I will be carried through. But if He does not show His
mercies, there is nothing I can do. Some are frequently thrashed in God's dealing of them, yet their outer man seems never to be broken.
For us to be a minister, we can only appeal to God to show His
mercy.
Brokenness
and
Ministry
We come to know the Lord through being stricken and dealt with
by Him. It is in the process of being smitten that we learn to know Him. And as our daily knowledge of the Lord is increased by the
daily blows upon our outward man, we are able to see how the life of the Lord substitutes our life. Yet this is not the increase of life but the increase of knowledge. For this life we already have; only through the Lord's dealings do we come to have a deeper understanding of this life.
The spiritual life all believers possess is very rich indeed, but we are ignorant of just how rich this life actually is. Only at the time when our natural shell is being broken do we realize how rich the life of the Lord is: how it enables us to do the impossible!
During the First World War one man was hit by forty-seven
bullets and still remained alive. Here was a human being who was
able to take forty-seven hits and survive. But if this body of ours has never been wounded even once, how much it can endure cannot be
proven or determined. Now the riches of the Lord's life are beyond our comprehension. For this reason, therefore, no one should be
grieved because of trial, since trials not only test our faith but enable us to manifest the life of the Lord. All which God has arranged for us to pass through is profitable to us in causing us to know Him. Only the tested know God, and only in knowing God can anyone serve
Him.
Today we should commit ourselves wholly to the Lord's hand that
He may do the necessary work in us. Unless we are so committed,
He can do nothing. Formerly, there was a sister who quarreled with her family and threatened to commit suicide. She said she would
jump into the river, so committed she appeared to be to take her own life. But as she approached the river, her family—who had followed after her—noticed that she carefully lifted up her skirt. By this they knew that she had no intention of taking her life. She had failed in her commitment to die. Today unless we lay our all on the altar, there 210
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is no spiritual way ahead for us. How can we forge ahead if we worry about this, fear that, or are so careful and so concerned lest we be too drastic? We must be willing to pay the cost. Let us be thorough and absolute in being Christian.
Today we are in the last days. We need to be violent with
ourselves in the spirit of Matthew 11.12, or else there is no spiritual future. The halfhearted and double-minded cannot forge ahead. May
there be absolute people among us who can provide the Lord with a
highway on which to move forward.
P A R T S E V E N
APPENDIX
1 The Relationship between Church
and Work∗
The Church Is Local, the Work Is Regional
The Church takes locality as its boundary, but the
work takes region as its sphere of responsibility. A church is local, such as the church in Ephesus, the church in Colosse, and the church in Corinth. But the work extends beyond a locality. The Book of
Acts shows us that the first group of workers began their work in
Jerusalem, and went from Jerusalem to Samaria and to many other
localities. In other words, these workers were not confined to
Jerusalem but traveled freely throughout all Judea. Their work was regional in nature. Such were the beginnings at Jerusalem.
At Antioch there was a new beginning. There we see how
Barnabas and Paul went forth to pioneer the work among the
Gentiles. These Gentile lands included the local churches in Galatia and the local churches in Asia Minor, thus indicating that the work was regional. So in the Bible we see that there were not only Peter and his colleagues preaching the gospel, there were also Barnabas
and his company preaching the gospel. And according to the Letter
to the Philippians, there were still other groups of people preaching
(1.15-17) in additional regions. The apostle Paul explained it this way: "according to the measure of the province which God appointed to us as a measure, to reach even unto you" (2 Cor. 10.13). In other
words, Paul had his province or sphere of work.
So the work was regional, with each region including in its sphere several localities. Under normal conditions, and in spite of regional
∗Delivered at Hardoon Road, Shanghai, 15 May 1948.— Translator
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differences, there was still unity. All these different regions belonged to one fellowship. Jerusalem and Antioch were joined in one.
Though their regions were different, they had fellowship in the Lord.
When people got saved in Antioch, Jerusalem sent Barnabas out to
visit them (Acts 11.20-28). Antioch came out of Jerusalem and it also returned to Jerusalem; for when Jerusalem was in need, Antioch sent the offering of the Gentile brethren to Jerusalem (11.27-29).
Barnabas came from Jerusalem to Antioch (v.22), and Paul returned
to Jerusalem from Antioch (15.2). Thus are we shown that even though the regions were different, they all belonged to one
fellowship.
The responsibility of the elders is unto the local assembly where
they are (Titus 1.5), whereas that of the apostles is unto the regional work. Peter and his fellow workers took care of the works that were undertaken in various localities in Judea, while Paul and his company took care of the work in Antioch and other Gentile places. The
apostles worked within the boundary of the provinces or spheres
which God had appointed to them (2 Cor. 10.13-14).
Two Meanings of "Church" in the New Testament
The word church in the New Testament has two distinct
meanings: first, it has reference to the Universal Church (Matt.
16.18), and second, to the local church (18.17). The Universal Church is the General Church which includes all the churches past, present and future. The local church is the church in a given locality.
As to the Universal Church, there are two aspects: one, it is the
Church that includes all the children of God—past, present and
future. But besides this aspect, it also has reference to the sum total of all the children of God who today are living. For today we live neither in the past nor in the future. The past is gone, and the future is yet to come. In between the past and the future are all the children of God who are today living on earth. As children of God, we need to
The Relationship between Church and Work
learn to be one with all the other children of God on earth as well as to be one
with all the saints in the local assembly where we are (1
Cor. 11.16). In case there is controversy between the church in Nanking and the church in Shanghai, you may say they have only
maintained the testimony of their own locality, they have not
maintained God's testimony on earth. Today we must maintain not
only the testimony of the locality but also the testimony of God on earth. We cannot be exclusive in keeping ourselves intact, because Shanghai belongs to the General Church on earth. The "body" in
view in 1 Corinthians is different from the "body" in view in
Ephesians 4. For the body in Ephesians 4 includes all believers past
and present, whereas the body in 1 Corinthians refers to all the
believers who were on earth at that particular time.
Because the church is local and the work is regional, a local
church cannot contain a regional work, since a region is
geographically larger than a local church. In practicing the unity of the Church, let us learn to practice well the unity of the General Church.
2 Matters for Workers to Observe in
Travel∗
A worker should pay attention to several matters
during his travels for the Lord.
The first of these concerns his relationship with the brethren at his destination points. When a worker arrives at a new place he must be careful in his relationship with the brothers and sisters there.
Oftentimes such relationship may not be spiritual. The closeness or remoteness of our relationship with them is to be determined by
spiritual circumstances. Here is an area of concern in which workers with a strong or weak personality need some special counsel. What
follows may be helpful.
We should all be delivered from maintaining any sentimental
relationship. Such a relationship is probably forged on the basis of similarity in temperament or position. Some workers have a close
relationship with various people simply because their temperaments agree. Others have a special burden for some particular brother or sister because their weakness happens to be the same as theirs. Thus they become especially close to one another sentimentally. However, such relationships render no spiritual help to those in need; and
consequently, many brothers and sisters are not blessed. All such
sentimental relationships must be broken off. For any relationship we workers establish is to be spiritually based and not forged out of any sentimental consideration such as same temperament, same school,
or same village.
∗Delivered at Hardoon Road, Shanghai, 25 April 1948.— Translator 218
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Moreover, if we are in fellowship with a weak brother, we need to
be most careful lest in trying to help him we ourselves fall into his
condition (see Gal. 6.1). We should raise him to a higher level.
A second matter to be observed is for the Lord's workers to learn to condescend to the lowly. We must be careful of those who have
fame, wealth or position in society. We need to keep a little distance from them
to avoid any suspicion. Not everyone of God's servants
may go to the house of a wealthy brother or sister. Let us not stay in the house of the wealthy. Sadly, today's Christianity and capitalism have merged into one. This has not been a good development.
Once when I was sick in Chefoo the brethren there asked me to
stay with a well-to-do family, which I refused to do. They asked me why. My answer was that this had something to do with my walk
before the Lord. Another time I had meetings in Kaifeng. At first I stayed in the house of a brother with a high social standing, but later I did not want to stay in such a high official's home. He who loves to gather with the wealthy or with those of high social status loses the dignity of a servant of God. I have no patience with such workers for they have forfeited their dignity.
As God's workmen we need to maintain the dignity of the
ministers. Whether it was the Lord or the apostles, all seemed to have leveled a stronger reprimand against the wealthy and the high class.
Unless in our walk before the Lord we have settled this issue of
money, wealth and Mammon, we shall never exude the right
fragrance.
In carrying on fellowship with other people, we should
periodically take note as to whether or not our position on this issue has changed. Selective social intercourse is a shameful thing for a worker to engage in.
Matters for Workers to Observe in Travel
A third matter to be noticed by all God's workmen is
unquestionably a considerable demand—which is, that we all must
learn to listen. The fundamental requirement, skill and qualification of a worker is that he have the ability to hear. One should be able to sit for an hour listening to the brothers and sisters, and hearing every word. Not only must he hear what another says, he must also
understand what is said. Only then can he speak a word of help to those in need.
As brothers and sisters are talking to us, we workers need to be
quiet inwardly; that is to say, we do not speak within ourselves.
Many hear wrongly because as they listen outwardly they also speak inwardly. This is like having two radios blasting out messages from two different stations. How can anyone hear clearly?!?
Another point in this same area of concern is that a man's spirit
comes forth through his mouth. As people speak, their spirits are
released so as to touch the spirits of other people. How can a person touch another's spirit if at the outset he does not know how to listen?
A worker must listen before he can speak to the one in need.
A fourth matter to be observed by any workman for God is for him to learn to speak accurately during ordinary days at home. A
careless person is hopeless in the work of God. The double-tongued can only work trouble but never render help in any local assembly. A brother once asked me how to study the Bible. Let me tell you, only an exact and careful person can study the Bible and get light from it.
Some people by their very nature cannot study the Scriptures. It
would be useless for them even if they were sent off to seminary.
Some may be able to study philosophy but not science, for science is exact. Its knowledge has to pass through many experiments and
proofs. As in science so in the work of the Lord, there is no such thing as
"almost." It is either "yea, yea" or "nay, nay" (cf. 2 Cor.
1.17ff.). For example, the whiteness of snow and the whiteness of a horse are different. But to the careless person, they will be deemed to 220
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be the same. Hence in the work of the Lord we must be careful, exact and accurate in our speaking.
Let the sisters who serve the Lord pay particular attention to this matter. Let them be careful in their daily affairs, speaking precisely and circumspectly. God has not much use for the careless, the
undiscerning and the overly active-minded. It takes effort to speak accurately, whereas it is more convenient to talk loosely. Yet the careless worker can only speak emotionally, not exactly.
Nevertheless, truth, as we have said before, is absolute and is not subject to change by emotion. As a matter of fact, truth is not
affected by any circumstance.
A fifth matter to be observed in a worker's travels for the Lord concerns the appointment of responsible brothers. Not every worker can appoint elders. Paul asked Timothy and Titus to set up elders, but apparently he did not call Mark, Silas, Luke, Demas, and others to do so. Some of us are to be hands, but not eyes. Think of yourself for a moment as a hand. Can a hand after much consideration determine
whether a pillar is white? Even if it were to deliberate for five days, it could never figure out the color. It would have to ask the eye to see and determine. Those of us who are hands or ears but not eyes, let us be mindful of the fact that it is easy to set up a responsible brother, but it will be most troublesome to ask him to step down because of our own carelessness in having appointed him. How the entire
Church suffers greatly in this respect. For this reason, we must not appoint responsible brothers carelessly. Paul called Timothy to seek for the faithful ones. This indeed is not a light area of concern.
A sixth matter to be discussed relates especially to the physical needs of the traveling worker. As to personal living, the basic principle to follow is to be light in luggage while traveling. It gives a bad impression if he carries much luggage. And as to eating, God's servant should eat whatever is put before him. Apart from special
bodily weakness, he should be a person who is easily served. At
Matters for Workers to Observe in Travel
home the worker can do whatever he wills, but in traveling outside he should not be so careless.
Once I went to Anhwai. The people there loved sesame oil,
whereas for me I dreaded it. Yet I partook of the sesame oil during the sixteen days I was there. They noticed that I ate little. So they asked if I liked centuryold eggs. I said yes. But when the eggs were served, they were floating in sesame oil!
Then as to dwelling. Workers should not choose too good or too bad a place to live. Find a place in between these extremes. Once the choice is made, stay there till departure. Even if you should end up living in a lion's den, you must stay till daybreak, for you cannot go
out before the king arrives (see Dan. 6.19ff.). Unless there is another
arrangement made for you, you should not move around. Many
workers cause trouble because they move about staying in various
dwelling places.
Once I was given a bed that was made up of small blocks. I could
not lie down, for if I turned, the bed would make noises. Though I was afraid of noises from other people, I was even more fearful of making noises myself. A worker must learn how to abound and how
to be abased (Phil. 4.12). Whenever and wherever he goes, he needs to bring his body under control.
There was a brother in southern Fukien. His living standard was
comparatively high. Moreover, he was unable to adjust himself to
serve the Lord in places where the living standard was lower than
his. Let us ever be mindful that though what we eat and are clothed in and live in at home is a personal matter before God, when we are in another's house we need to live in accordance with the living
standard of that house. Personal habit and convenience is one thing; the will to suffer in relation to circumstances with others is another.
No matter how weak or how necessary our physical bodies are, we
still must learn to abase ourselves. Do not let a local assembly
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elsewhere feel the burden of entertaining a servant of the Lord. If we as God's workmen learn to live lowly in our own home, we will be
able to endure when we are placed in a still lower place. Only the one who has learned to put his body in subjection gives no trouble to
other people. The will to suffer can alone give us strength to abase ourselves before men. Hence we must bring our bodies into
subjection so that we can learn how to be abased when required.
We should also know how to abound. But knowing abundance is not the same as enjoying abundance. I must know how to eat and how not to eat. A gluttonous person reveals that he has never been disciplined before God. If I need a chicken daily, I can daily eat one.
But if I have no such need, then I will not eat even if five chickens are set before
me. I eat within my portion.
Satan's sin was lusting after the throne (Is. 14.13-14). Man sinned
through the lust of eating (Gen. 3.6). It is not a matter of eating more or eating less. Whatever is put before us we may eat. Whatever is
given we accept without asking for more. Whenever I am among
people I have to maintain my position as a servant of the Lord;
otherwise, it will give the gospel a bad impression. On one occasion, before many young people went out to work I invited them for a
meal. Their conduct at this meal was the deciding factor as to
whether anyone of them could go out to the work or not. Now that I have mentioned this, perhaps I will not be able to invite anyone to a meal next time!
Finally, regarding the matter of receiving gifts while traveling in the work of the Lord. Let me tell you a story. In 1937 I was in
Manila. Upon departing, the brothers and sisters there presented me with a box of fruits which amounted to between one hundred eighty
and two hundred pieces. Had I put these up in my room on the ship, I could easily have opened a small fruit stand. But when I came off the ship, I had not one piece of fruit left. I had given them to the waiters on the ship. Though they were not poor, nevertheless they were poor
Matters for Workers to Observe in Travel
in fruit. Had I brought those two hundred fruits home, what would
people have thought? They would have wondered aloud how it was
that a preacher of the gospel could have brought home so many
things!
We are not able to give gifts in return to those who have gifted us.
For there would be no end to such courtesy. We are not able to return the love of the brothers and sisters; yet we are able to share with the poor in love.