Scripture Reading: Psa. 16:11; Phil. 2:8; John 10:8; Matt. 26:39; 16:24; 10:38; 2 Cor. 4:1, 12; Mark 8:35-38
I. The way of recovery that the Lord is leading the church is a way of genuine and of life; I feel no shame whatsoever in saying that I followed a man –a man that was the unique gift and the seer of the divine visions in this age—Psa. 16:11; Jer. 21:8; John 1:4; 10:10b; 14:6:
A. He lived by the Lord as his life; he cared little for work; he continually cared for life more than work; he said repeatedly that the work should be the outflow of life—10:10; 14:6; 7:37-38.
B. I fully respect him as such a gift; I have the full confidence and assurance that it was absolutely of the Lord that I followed this gift for the Lord’s interest in His present move on this earth—Eph. 4:8, 11-12.
II. God does not examine how zealous we preached the gospel, or how much we are willing to suffer, but God examine whether we are a person of submissive; our principle of life is submissive—Phil. 2:8; John 10:8; Matt. 26:39:
A. “The Lord led us to do what we have done. You feel there is no need to be legal; but we feel we must at all cost obey the Lord”; the main point in the Bible is submissive—Phil. 2:8; 5:8:
1. If Paul rebuked the Corinthian believers for saying, “I am of Christ,” surely for you to say that you are of the Presbyterian Church, while I am of the Methodist Church, and he is of the Baptist Church, is not scriptural—1 Cor. 1:12-13.
2. “I took the opportunity to speak to my parents. I said, “Is it scriptural to leave our name in the denomination?” They answered, “No.” Again I said, “Is it our duty to obey the Bible?” “Yes,” they replied. Then I pressed on, saying, “Then why do we delay and not obey the Scripture?” ”—2 Tim. 3:16-17.
3. From this day on please remove our names from your book of life. We are doing this not because of any personal animosity, but simply because we wish to obey the teaching of the Scriptures—1:13-14.
B. The church need to take the way of obedience; are we someone that God can trust? God’s way hinges on us today; we have to be absolute in our obedience, we have to obey to the end; otherwise, God will not have a recovery—Matt. 6:10; 26:39:
1. If the church cannot be submissive, much less can the world be submissive; if the church is not submissive, it is vain to hope for others to submit to the gospel; only with a submissive church can there be a submissive response to the gospel—v. 39, 42.
2. All of us have to learn to be restricted, our mouths have to be disciplined to stop speaking, our minds have to be disciplined to stop reasoning, our hearts have to be disciplined to stop proposing, if we do this, a way of glory will be before us, and God will manifest His authority on earth—6:
III. Watchman Nee realized that life is measured not by gain but by loss and that the one who has suffered the most has the most to share with others; for this reason, he never spared himself, but bore the cross; because there will be no life without cross, and thus no ministry of life—16:24; 10:38; 2 Cor. 4:12:
A. At that time I was seventeen or eighteen years old, I visited Miss M. E. Barber quite often; whenever I went to her, I accused XXX, this occurred forty or fifty times; Miss Barber did not agree with me once; I was right according to the standard of outward conduct, but I was wrong in my inner man—Rom. 8:5-6:
1. Miss Barber said, “For the past few months, you have been coming to me to complain about XXX’s mistakes. What if I were to say that XXX was wrong? What good would that do you? Are you here to fight for your right or are you here to bear the cross?” After a minute of silence she spoke again, saying, “Look at you! Is this the attitude of the Lamb?”—Luke 14:27; Phil. 2:7.
2. She then spoke to me loudly and called me by my name: “Watchman Nee! Is this the way to bear the cross?” Immediately, I began to cry, I was crushed; from that day onward, I dared not accuse anyone; although I suffered much under her hand, those dealings were a great blessing to me—Heb. 12:11.
B. When I was being tempered together in the service with my co-workers, the Lord ordered many crosses for me; many times I felt embarrassed, I would not accept the dealing of the cross and found it difficult to submit; inwardly, however, I knew that if the cross were ordered by the Lord, it would be the right thing, though it would still be difficult to obey and accept it—Matt. 16:24; Heb. 12:11.
C. The Lord submitted to the hand of God, and I was willing to do the same; the Lord, existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped, but emptied Himself, how dare I rank myself above the Lord? When I first began to learn obedience it was difficult, but as time went on I found it easier and easier; eventually, I told God that I would choose the cross, accept its breaking, and put aside my own ideas—Phil. 2:6-7.
IV. Brother Watchman Nee’s ministry was not one of work but one of life, carried out by life; he saw through 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 that the important thing regarding our work is not its quantity but its quality; he would frequently tell us, his trainees, that the real work is the outflow of life—2 Cor. 4:1:
A. With the gifts, knowledge, and ability he had, he could easily have acquired a large following in Christianity; however, did not misuse his gifts and knowledge in this way—1 Cor. 12:4-5.
B. He always took pains to restrict himself in the function of his gifts and the use of his knowledge in order to insure that his work was fully in life, of life, with life, and was life itself; as long as he had the assurance that his ministry was the outflow of life, he was satisfied—1 John 5:16; 2 Cor. 4:
C. To him work did not mean much; life meant everything. In my whole life, he is the only person I have known who paid more attention to life than to work—1 John 5:16; 2 Cor. 4:
V. Working saints need to set up a proper schedule for your life; formerly, you were not living to the Lord, and your way of living was like that of those in the world; but now you are living to the Lord—Mark 8:35-38; Rev. 1:9; Phil. 3:12-14:
A. Our way of living has to be one that matches our desire to love Him, live for Him, and serve Him—Mark 8:35-38; Rev. 1:9.
B. We should have a budget for our time, our energy, and our finances—Phil. 3:12-14, 16; Acts 20:35; 2 Cor. 8:
1. Timewise, every week and every day we should set aside some time for the Lord— 6:10.
2. Even our energy has to be budgeted; you should distribute your strength properly so that you will be able to accomplish the proper tasks—Phil. 3:12-14, 16.
3. In budgeting our finances, we should increase our giving according to the prosperity provided by the Lord—Acts 11:29; 1 Cor. 16:2.
C. The Lord is asking us to learn obedience in the church, the Body of Christ; unless we learn obedience in the church, we will not obey in the family or obey the government, because we will not have the proper foundation of obedience in us —1 Pet. 5:5; Eph. 5:21-22:
1. In the Body of Christ, that is, in the church, authority and submission meet in the same place; the two become a subjective and living whole; authority and submission become one living entity, a oneness in life—v. 21.
2. The one place where we will touch authority on earth is the Body of Christ; if we learn this lesson well, we will get through in everything; we have to learn to touch God’s authority, not man’s authority; may the Lord have mercy on us —1 Cor. 11:3.
