Date: Afternoon, November 5, 1940Place: Unrecorded
God created man from the dust of the earth as a vessel to contain Him. This means that His life must shine out of man like a light. The appearance of a lamp is not crucial, but it is crucial for light to shine out from it. Some love to speak, while others do not. But whether one is talkative or quiet, he has to afford the light the chance to shine out. As soon as some people speak in the meeting, others say, "There he goes again!" That one's speaking is not the shining of the light. Some people pretend to be spiritual. They may appear very nice outwardly, but a person's daily walk is something that cannot be faked.
In order to have the shedding of the blood, there must first be wounds. Hebrews 9:22 speaks of the "shedding of blood." It was not only the blood, but the shedding of the blood. When Christ was living on earth, His body had blood. When He was crucified and pierced on the cross, His blood was shed. By shedding His blood, the Lord was able to forgive man's sin and supply man with life. Many people are nice and have earned praises. Others look at them and consider them to be wonderful, but the cross has not inflicted any wound on them. They have not shed any blood and therefore have nothing to give to others. The cross brings in dealings and wounds. Such wounds become outlets for the supply to flow to others. God inflicts us with the cross because He wants to break us, increase our measure, and expand the capacity of our spirit to match His life.
In 1927 I was introduced by Miss Shi to a cardiologist. He took an x-ray of me and said that there were problems with my heart and lungs. My heart was abnormal; it was too small. He said that it would be all right if my heart was in a smaller body, but that it was too small for a person as tall as me. The heart of a normal person must match the size of his body. The same is true with our spirit. God wants our spirit to be large enough to match His work in us. God is not afraid of our wisdom or ability; He is much greater than we are. He wants to see a spirit that is large enough to match our ability, wisdom, and personality. Some people accomplish something and say, "I have done this!" But a different person may say, "The Lord has done this!" When some people speak, it is themselves who are speaking. When others speak, it is God who is speaking within them. Still others speak very little and spend half of their time sleeping. No matter what condition a person is in, his spirit will not be the same after he has been dealt with by the Lord, even though his actions and words may still be the same.
We often say that we have to deal with our natural life. But what should be the extent of the cross's dealing? The cross must operate to the point that our spirit is released. Let me tell you a little story about Brother T. Austin-Sparks. He is not a skillful host at all. If you ask him to be a host, you have found the wrong person. He does not speak much, and if you sit down with him for half an hour or even an hour and a half, you may only hear the ticking of the clock on the wall. Although you cannot hear anything from his mouth, you can sense his spirit and feel the presence of the Lord. The cross is an open wound. When your blood flows out of the wound, others will touch your spirit and touch God's life through you. God deals with men, but the dealings do not make them abnormal; the dealings merely enable God's life to flow out. If you have the opportunity to get close to Brother Austin-Sparks, you will sense immediately that he is a person with a big spirit.
Some people preach in an ordinary way. You know that you can say the same thing. But when they utter these seemingly ordinary words, others touch their spirit. Some people stand up to pray, and all the brothers and sisters can say amen. Their prayers touch the inner being of others, who can sense that a strong spirit is present in these ones. However, when other people stand up to pray, at the same time others pray for the Lord to shorten those prayers. One brother sat through a sermon and afterwards reported to others, saying, "The teaching today was good. The doctrine was absolutely right." But doctrines can only convey knowledge to others; they cannot supply others with the spirit. Right doctrines or good expositions cannot touch people. Their spirit must be touched by the Lord Himself. Those who take the way of the cross do not need to think too much. Just because we have thought something through does not mean that we truly have worked it out. The problems of many people are problems of the mind; they are not spiritual problems. Even if we can solve all the problems in our mind, we may still not be able to grow spiritually. There is no need to deal with these kinds of problems. All we have to do is to stop our thoughts, jump over this spiritual hurdle, and we will grow spiritually. Those who have a problem with their mind mostly do not have any reality in life. We should remove all considerations of creed, knowledge, and intellect.
God created everything in six days, and then He rested. It should only take God a very short time to deal with man. If it takes a long time, the procrastination is on our side. Of course, God has His timing in dealing with men. But I must say that when God deals with man, it is primarily man who delays God's time and his own time. We have to drop all theological debates and accept God's dealing in a simple way.
Once Brother Luan was working in a certain place in Southeast Asia. He felt within that he should leave, and he even had a dream that he should leave. But the local brothers begged him to tarry. He had planned to leave at 6:00 p.m., but he eventually changed his mind and agreed to leave at 9:00 p.m. But when he was about to leave, the government sent men to him and he could no longer leave. The result was quite bad. Should he have obeyed the brothers and not been independent? Or should he have gone along with the leading within? My answer is that the Bible only tells us to submit to the Body; it never tells us to submit to a corpse or to the temperament of certain people. The "hooliganism" in Southeastern Asian countries cannot be a fair representation of God's authority. Many people consider Christian meetings as a kind of entertainment or a diversion from their daily humdrum. If I were Brother Luan, I would have asked, "Did you pray about your request? If this is something from yourself, please drop it." Only after you have questioned in this way is there any reason to consider staying. Many people are looking for nothing but spiritual excitement.
I am not afraid that my words will spread to Southeast Asia. Once I was invited to visit the brothers in Southeast Asia. They told me that they had problems and that they needed help. When I arrived, I told them that I had nothing to say. The brothers then said, "We would like you to share a word about `nothing.'" At the beginning of the meeting, almost everyone was an usher. They brought many unbelievers and worldly ones into the meeting. At the end of the meeting, I asked the brothers and sisters, "Are you trying to receive help in this conference for yourselves or are you trying to help others?" It is wrong for us to follow the flesh, be it one man's flesh or the majority's flesh.
The name Laodicea means "the opinion of the people." Believers should not follow the majority, because the majority may not be right. A worker's itinerary should not be dictated by others or by himself. He has to pray before the Lord, and the Lord has to decide for him. God rewards the simple believers. It is the most terrible thing for one to be ignorant of God's will and to lead others into ignorant things at the same time. Brother Luan had fallen into the hands of robbers.
Sister Lee asked: Some time ago someone cabled and extended an invitation to me. I did not know if I should go.
Answer: Consider the question of paying the tax in Matthew 17. This was not something that one should or should not do. In doing anything we should ask if we are doing it in the light or in darkness. If something is of the Lord, we will surely sense that we are in the light when we do it. But if we feel that something is wrong, we should stop immediately, because if something is questionable, it is in darkness. Sometimes we go along with the brothers, not because we are clear about God's will, but because we do not know what to do. Even if we go along with our brothers, we should first find out how a thing should be done before we go along with them.
The sheet that Peter saw was not the church (Acts 10:9-16). Only the "tent" that Paul spoke of was the church. Galatians 3:28 says, "There cannot be Jew nor Greek, there cannot be slave nor free man, there cannot be male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." This means that there is neither Greek nor Jew. In Christ there are only those who are Christ's. All those who are Christ's are the sons of God. Hence, in the church there are no Greeks or Jews, slaves or free men. In the church there are no individual "men"; there is only Christ. Galatians 3:26-27 says, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ."
Before the cross operates in man, his zeal can become ambition, his prayer can become accusations, his love for the brothers can become factious, and the power of the Spirit can be turned into an opportunity for the flesh. The key to the issue lies in this: Does the cross come before the work or does the work come before the cross? Whether or not a man is proper before God depends on the amount of work that the cross has accomplished in him.
