Everything should be initiated by God, not by us

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“While we live on this earth, our first question should not be whether or not we should do a certain thing. Rather, in doing a certain thing, we should ask to whom are we submitting. It is not a matter of doing or not doing. It is a matter of to whom we submit. Without submission there is no work and there is no service. When Adam took the fruit, the first question that should have been asked was whether or not this was in submission to God. All of the work of a Christian should come out of submission. Nothing is of our own initiative; everything is responsive. No act is active; everything is passive. In other words, everything should be initiated by God; nothing should be initiated by us.”

(Authority and Submission, chapter 2)

The Bible is like a big puzzle

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“We all know that not only the New Testament, but also the Old Testament was written in the way of a puzzle. This is why so many teachers of the Bible like to systematize the things in the Bible. Isaiah 28:10 and 13 tell us that God speaks His word here a little and there a little. He speaks a little to Moses and a little to Joshua and a little to another one and a little to David. In the Bible God didn’t speak in the way we do. Whenever we speak we like to have a completion to our speaking. But God didn’t speak in that way. God spoke just a little bit to Abraham. Then, of course, God spoke a lot to Moses. At least two full books were God’s speaking to Moses, especially the book of Leviticus. From the first verse of chapter two to the last verse of the last chapter, it is altogether God’s speaking. That speaking of God to Moses was longer than God’s speaking to anyone else. Even Psalm 119 has only one hundred seventy-six verses. The book of Exodus has forty chapters; Leviticus has twenty-seven; Numbers has thirty-six; and Deuteronomy has thirty-four. This means there are one hundred thirty-seven chapters of God’s speaking just to one man, Moses. Yet still that was only a little of God’s entire speaking. Why? Because it was not completed. After speaking to Moses it may be that the Lord spoke to over forty different people in different places at different times. Still God’s speaking was not completed until Paul. Paul said his commission was to complete the word of God (Col. 1:25). Paul was bold. No other one ever had the boldness to tell people he had a commission to complete the word of God. In the Bible no one chapter is so complete in revealing God’s economy to us, but a little is here, a little is there, piece after piece, like a big puzzle. All the pieces are scattered and mixed up, so you need to spend many hours to put the pieces together. Then you can see the picture.”

(Perfecting Training, chapter 16)

Truth is found a little at a time

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“In 2 Timothy 2:15 Paul issued a charge: ‘Be eager to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, cutting straight the word of the truth’ (Gk.). Every Bible student pays attention to this verse. When I was young, the Brethren teachers stressed the importance of cutting straight the word of the truth. Paul charged Timothy in this way because the truth regarding any matter is not found all in one place in the Bible. Rather, it is found throughout various books of the Bible, with a part in one place and another part in a different place. In His wisdom the Lord reveals the truth in this way. Perhaps He did this so that those who are careless will have difficulty knowing the truth. To know truth we must be diligent. Hence, Paul charged Timothy to ‘be eager.’

Some say we should not be strict or legal in studying the Word. They insist that we should read the Bible only when we are inspired by the Spirit to do so. This is like saying that there is no need to eat three meals a day, but a need to eat only when the Spirit inspires us. This means that if there is no inspiration, we should not eat. Paul, on the contrary, charges us to be eager. If we are truly eager to present ourselves approved to God, then when we read the Word, we shall find the truth revealed in one place after another, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. We need to put all these pieces together in order to see the picture, the vision. According to Isaiah 28:13, the word of the Lord is ‘precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.’ This means that we find the truth a little at a time.”

(Truth Messages, chapter 3)

The life in us cannot be independent

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“Everyone who is saved is a member of the Body of Christ. Is the life in each one of us, then, a life pertaining to the members or to the Body? The Bible and our experience prove that though each one of us is a member of Christ, yet the life in each one of us is not a member life, but a Body life. All the members of our body are sharing one life. Each member shares in common the same life together with all the other members, that is, the life of the entire body. For example, an ear, unless it has been cut off, shares the same blood which flows through the eye, the nose, and the whole body. Similarly, in the Body of Christ, when one member is joined to the Body or having fellowship with the Body, his life is the life of the Body, and the life of the Body is his life. It would not do for him to be separated from the other members, or vice versa, because the life both in him and in the other members is of the same Body; it can neither be distinguished nor separated. It is this life which joins us together to become the Body of Christ; or, to say it more precisely and emphatically, it is this life which mingles with us to become the Body of Christ.

We cannot, however, experience this before the difficulties of the self have been entirely dealt with. If we are still living according to the flesh, in ourselves, and serving the Lord in our natural ability, the life of the Body, which is Christ Himself in us, has no way of being manifested, and there is no way for us to know the Body. The more we live by the flesh, the less we feel the need for the support of the Body. If we live by our self-opinion, we find no need for the sustaining of the church. If we serve with our natural ability, we sense no need for the coordination of the members. Only when our flesh has been dealt with, the self-opinion has been broken, and the natural life has been smashed, shall the life within cause us to realize that we are simply members of the Body and that the life in us cannot be independent. Hence, this life requires us to have fellowship with all other members and be joined to them, and it also brings us into that fellowship and the experience of being joined together. It is at this time that we begin to know a little concerning the Body and become qualified to engage in spiritual warfare.

On one hand, we say that if we want to fight the spiritual warfare and deal with God’s difficulty, we must first deal with our flesh, self, and soul life, thus solving our own difficulties; on the other hand, we say that in order to fight the battle, we must first know the Body, and in order to know the Body and live in the Body, we must first deal with our flesh, self, and soul life. Whether, therefore, we speak from the standpoint of fighting the warfare or knowing the Body, we all must first pass through the preceding three stages— coming out of the flesh, the self, and the soul life— in order to attain to the fourth stage of the experience of life.

…. I will never forget the message given by Brother Watchman Nee in a special meeting. He repeatedly stressed the fact that before Romans 12 there must first be Romans 8. One must pass through the putting to death of the flesh of Romans 8 before he can attain to the knowledge of the Body of Romans 12. Therefore, from the beginning we must be very severe in dealing with ourselves, especially in regard to our flesh, our self, and our natural constitution. We must mean business and be thoroughgoing until we have the experience of Romans 8. Not until we have experienced the putting to death of the flesh in Romans 8 can we realize the Body in Romans 12. When our body (flesh) has been put to death, the Body of Christ will then be manifested. This is a spiritual reality wherein is no counterfeit and which cannot be counterfeited. There may be counterfeiting in other spiritual areas, such as humility, gentleness, faith, and love. We may even pretend to be spiritual. But no pretension is possible where knowing the Body is concerned. When our experience has attained to the degree of knowing the Body, then we know it. If in our experience we have not attained to this degree, we do not know it, and listening to much preaching on the subject avails nothing.”

(The Experience of Life, chapter 15, “Knowing the Body”)

Why do the saints not function in the meetings?

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“If all the saints live Christ by walking according to the spirit, there will be a great increase in the church. Much gospel preaching will spontaneously issue from our walking according to the spirit. Several years ago I proposed that the saints in a certain locality go out at least once a week to contact others. Everyone listened and agreed, but eventually no one practiced it. I found that it does not work to charge the saints to go out regularly to preach the gospel. However, if the elders in a locality take the lead to walk according to the spirit, and they minister such a life to the other saints, the saints in that locality will also walk according to the spirit and regularly preach the gospel.

Our primary concern should not be how to do things such as preaching the gospel and shepherding the new believers. Instead, we need to see that God wants a people who live Christ by walking according to the spirit. If we practice to continually walk according to the spirit throughout the day, everything else will spontaneously issue forth from such a living…. Our gospel preaching and shepherding should not be activities but should be the issue of a daily life of walking according to the spirit…. All such aspects of the Christian life should be part of our living. For instance, a daily life of walking according to the spirit will issue in our functioning with a released spirit in the meetings. If we do not live Christ in our daily life, we will have no surplus of Christ to bring to the meetings. In order to exhibit Christ, we must gain Christ in our daily life by walking according to the spirit. If the saints are living Christ, they will spontaneously function in the meetings.

We need a clear view from the heavens to see that what the Lord wants is a group of people who walk according to the spirit. The Lord’s desire is not for many co-workers, elders, or activities, or much organization. As leading ones, we primarily need to walk according to the spirit in our daily life and help other saints to enter into this kind of living.”

(CWWL, 1982, vol. 1, “The Importance of Living Christ by Walking according to the Spirit,” pp. 388-390)

The sisters are more important for the accomplishment of God’s economy than the brothers

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“In God’s administration of His economy, a very important position is assigned to the women. After man was created, what happened to man was very much related to the woman. By this we can see that whether or not God can have His way today in His purpose depends very much upon what the sisters will do. If the women, or the sisters, will function properly, God will have a success; otherwise, there will surely be a failure or a loss. After the fall of man, God came in, not to do something through the man but to do something through the woman. The subtle serpent, the enemy of God, came in through the woman. Therefore, God chose to defeat the enemy also through woman—through the same channel by which he came. In Genesis 3 the serpent came in through the woman, and in the same chapter God promised that this woman would bring forth a seed who would bruise the head of the serpent (v. 15). Thus, the fall occurred through the woman, and the deliverance was promised also through the woman. This shows us the importance of the sisters’ position in the Bible.

The first account in the New Testament concerning a direct relationship with the Lord is related to a woman—Mary. The story of the life of the Lord Jesus begins with this woman. Of course, we know that this is the fulfillment of the promise given in Genesis 3:15. In Genesis God promised that the woman would bring forth a seed who would destroy the damaging serpent. This promise is fulfilled at the very beginning of the New Testament.

Mary the mother of the Lord Jesus is not the only Mary mentioned in the New Testament. Do you realize that there are at least six Marys mentioned in the New Testament? The first Mary is the mother of the Lord Jesus, and the second Mary is the sister of Lazarus. The third Mary is Mary the Magdalene, out from whom seven demons were cast out. While the Lord Jesus was dying on the cross, a few sisters were standing there with Him. Besides Mary the Lord’s mother, there were two other Marys. One was Mary the Magdalene, and the Gospel of John tells us that the other Mary was the wife of Clopas (19:25). This fourth Mary, with the other sisters, saw the death of Christ. On the morning of the resurrection, Mary the Magdalene went to the tomb. The Gospel of John mentions only that Mary the Magdalene went there, but the other Gospels tell us that there was another Mary (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10). This other Mary was the first Mary, the Lord’s mother (Matt. 13:55). The fifth Mary was the mother of John Mark. In Acts 12:12, after Peter was released from prison, he went to Mary’s home, where many saints were gathered together praying. The sixth Mary is in Romans 16:6. Here Paul says to greet the Mary who labored much for the church.

These six Marys are very meaningful. One Mary gave birth to the Lord Jesus; another loved the Lord Jesus and followed Him, ministering to Him; two other Marys saw the Lord’s death and prepared something for His burial, to anoint His body. They saw the resurrection and also received the vision of the ascension of Christ. Another Mary was related to the church, praying all the time. Finally, a Mary was laboring over so many in the church life. In the New Testament there are not so many Peters or Johns, but there are so many Marys. This simply means that to fulfill God’s purpose and accomplish His economy, there is a great need for the sisters. In a sense, the sisters are more important for the accomplishment of God’s economy than the brothers.

The little family at Bethany spoken of in John 12:1-9 is a type of the church. That family was composed of one brother and two sisters. This means that it consisted of one-third brothers and two-thirds sisters. A strong, normal, proper church should have one-third brothers and two-thirds sisters. In the church life we need more sisters.”

(The Six Marys, pp. 1-4)

Spiritual giants cannot satisfy God’s desire

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“The Lord does not need spiritual giants in His church. He needs every member. Hence, instead of being concerned about whether the members are small, our concern should be whether they are built up together. Once the members are built up, even the smallest ones will be useful. First Corinthians 12:23 says that ‘those members of the body which we consider to be less honorable, these we clothe with more abundant honor,’ and verse 22 says, ‘Much rather the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.’ Medical doctors know that the small members of our body, which we consider to be of little use, are often the most indispensable. I hope this word will strengthen us to see that in this age spiritual giants cannot satisfy God’s desire; rather, it is the built-up church that He desires and that brings in His blessing and presence.”

(The Vision, Type, and Practice of the Building Up of the Church, Chapter 3, Section 1)

The goal of the local church is the building up of the Body of Christ

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“…God showed us the Body of Christ through Brother Nee. The Lord showed us that the local church is the procedure and not the goal. The goal of the local church is the building up of the Body of Christ. Here, regretfully, among us there were quite a number of brothers who were weighty, yet they saw only the importance of the local church and did not see the Body of Christ. Hence, they rose up to argue, saying that Brother Nee said very clearly that all local churches are autonomous, each having nothing to do with the others. Not one local church, whatever it may be, should interfere with another local church. This is their total disregard for the Body of Christ. Therefore, through Brother Nee the Lord showed us further that what God wants in the end is not the local church. Although at the end of the Bible there are seven lampstands, they all become one city, the New Jerusalem. However, those brothers who stressed the local aspect of the church insisted very much that what Revelation shows us in the beginning is individual churches. Moreover, they were influenced by the Brethren and considered that all the seven churches were different. However, their view is off the mark because they do not see that the seven golden lampstands are indistinguishable in nature, shape, and function. If we put the seven lampstands in front of us, unless we give each a number, it is impossible to tell which is which. Although Revelation 2 and 3 show us seven different churches, the biased brothers do not see that the differences among the churches are not on the positive side but on the negative side. The seven churches have their distinctive characteristics only in their negative conditions, such as their failures, degradation, mistakes, and shortages.

Not only so, Revelation does not have only three chapters. If we read on, first we see the overcomers. Although they are the overcomers in the local churches, in chapter twelve we see that they are one man-child, not seven man-children. In chapter fourteen we see that they are one group of 144,000 overcomers, not two groups, and much less seven groups. These 144,000 overcomers cannot possibly be out of one church. In the entire book of Revelation we see only one man-child, one group of overcomers. Furthermore, Peter was the apostle who set up the Jewish churches, and Paul was the apostle who set up the Gentile churches (Gal. 2:8). But at the end of Revelation the churches set up by the twelve apostles are one building, the holy city New Jerusalem, the Body of Christ.

The matter of salvation released by Brother Nee was received by everyone. People also received what he taught concerning the local church. As to the matter of Christ as our life, apparently people received what Brother Nee spoke, but in reality not many entered in. We must live with Christ day by day, receive Him as our life, take Him as our person in our daily life, and have a co-living with Him. But those who truly practice this, not to mention the outside Christians, even among the saints in the Lord’s recovery, are as few as the morning stars. All of you are very sincere, and you have paid not a small price to travel from the other end of the world to be here. Since you have come with a sincere heart, I will speak to you a sincere word. May I ask you, among the approximately twenty of you, how many can say from your spirit, from your conscience, with full confidence, “I am a person who lives by Christ”? How many of you can say, “Regardless of whom I am dealing with, regardless of what I am doing, even in my clothing myself and my eating, even in speaking to my wife, in big things or small things, I always live with Christ, I do everything in the spirit and according to the spirit, and in my living I daily experience the Christ whom I have received and allow Him to be magnified in me”? In these three months while I was sick and was recuperating, I do not know how much I repented to the Lord regarding this matter. I cannot deny that I have seen this light most thoroughly. Since 1950 I have released numerous messages on this matter and have taught people about this. But when the Lord put me in quietness, I examined myself according to this light and found out that I have not really entered into it that much. What I have seen is very thorough, and what I have preached may also be considered quite complete, but it is really questionable how much of the reality of Christ as life I have in me. In this matter we all must enter in practically.

Although beginning from 1939 Brother Nee already saw the Body of Christ, his preaching concerning this matter was equivalent to “playing the Piano to cows”; no one took it in. Therefore, the local churches everywhere just acted according to their own desire, even to the extent that Brother Nee was forced to stop his ministry. He stopped ministering for six years. In that period of six years, among us we had many who were capable of preaching, yet they did not see any vision or revelation. From 1942 to 1948, not one among us wrote a book that had any value or could be counted as anything. Our vision did not increase one bit; everything stopped there. Concerning the matter of the Body of Christ, many simply disagreed with it and completely ignored it. At the time of the turmoil in Shanghai in 1942, how many saw the Body of Christ? None. How could anyone who had seen the Body of Christ have stirred up that kind of turmoil? That would have been impossible.”

(The High Peak of the Vision and the Reality of the Body of Christ, Chapter 1, Section 2)

keyword: symphony

How will the one new man come into existence?

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“In the new man Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and free man have no place. The renewal is not merely for our behavior. The renewal is…to get rid of our racial ordinances and to get rid of the natural persons….We all need to be renewed for the existence of the one new man.

When the Spirit spreads into our mind, it becomes the spirit of our mind. It is in such a Spirit that we are renewed for our transformation. The Spirit renews, reconstructs, rearranges, our mind. Man is absolutely under the control and direction of his mind. What his mind thinks, he does,…he follows,…[and] he carries out. The director of our being is our mind. Even after you have been regenerated and are loving the Lord, you are still under the direction of your mind.

We need to drink of the one Spirit so that the Spirit can saturate our mind. The renewal of the mind is for the real practice of the new man. The British, the Chinese, and the Americans all have different ordinances related to their culture. This is why we need to have our national mentality renewed. Our national and even natural mentality was educated and built up according to our racial and cultural background. This is the top hindrance to the existence of the new man. Brother Hudson Taylor went to China with a burden to bring the gospel to the Chinese. He was so burdened that he even dressed the way the Chinese did. This was very commendable, but we must go further to see that it is necessary to be renewed in our mentality. Merely to change in an outward way could be a kind of performance and not the renewal in our mind.

We believe that this is the age for the new man to be perfected and to come into existence in a full way. The Lord has arranged the outward environment and situation for the new man to come into being, but the outward situation has to match the inward reality. There is the need of the inward reality in the members of the Body of Christ. Due to the scientific inventions and the political situations on this earth, the many nationalities and cultures have been brought together. Now there is the need of the inward reality, which is the renewal of our mind. Our national, racial mentality, which has been built up through our entire life, must be renewed.

[When I first] came to the United States, the Lord showed me that I had to give up my Chinese mentality. I wanted a mind that cared only for the Lord’s recovery and not for my Chinese way of living. We need the Lord’s mercy and grace for Him to renew our mind. The Lord is going to perform something to bring this one new man into full existence. The Lord is going to do such a marvelous thing with all the different cultures and races. The tendency of this age is pointed toward the Lord’s work for the one new man. But in order for this to happen, we must have a thorough, proper, and adequate renewal of our mind, which has been built up by our nationality. This is why we have to drink of the Spirit. Then our entire being, especially our mind, will be saturated by the Spirit.”

(CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” pp. 516-517, 507-509)