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Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 3) Vol. 50: Messages for Building Up New Believers (3)

Chapters: 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54
Recreation    ch.35
I. The prerequisite
II. The purpose of recreation
A. For taking care of the family
B. For ourselves
III. The principles behind recreation
A. Man's need
B. Four kinds of recreation
1. Rest
2. A change in work
3. Hobbies
4. Games
C. The purpose of recreation being to enhance one's work
D. Not having the element of chance in recreation
E. Recreation meeting one's need
F. Recreation matching one's fitness
G. Choosing the recreation that matches one's disposition
H. Taking note not to stumble others
I. Not doing what the Gentiles consider to be improper
IV. Proper recreation not affecting spirituality
A. Hopkins's rabbits and small prints
B. George Müller praying for woolen yarn on behalf of a little girl
Words    ch.36
I. Words revealing a person's heart
II. Dealing with lies
A. Lies being common
B. What Lies Are
1. Double-tongued
2. Speaking according to what one likes or dislikes
3. Speaking according to one's hopes
4. Adding one's own thoughts
5. Exaggeration
6. Inflated numbers
C. Conscientiously learning to be an honest person
III. No idle words
IV. No evil words
A. Learning to speak words of blessing
B. Controlling one's temper
V. Being restricted in words
A. Not becoming many teachers
B. The mark of self-control being seen in one's words
C. The smallest affecting the greatest
D. The tongue being a restless evil
E. A spring cannot gush out two types of water
VI. Paying attention to listening
A. Resisting an itching ear
B. "Like a deaf man"
C. Making a conscious effort to learn
Clothing and food    ch.37
I. Clothing
A. The significance of clothing
1. Clothing not needed before the fall
2. Clothing needed to cover man's shame after the fall
3. The blood being needed for exposed areas
4. Man's second fall due to nakedness
5. The altar having no steps
6. The priest wearing a long robe and breeches
7. The garment symbolizing redemption and the Lord Jesus Himself
B. Garments plagued with leprosy
1. Two different kinds of dealings
2. Bringing clothes to the Lord and dealing with them one by one
3. A clear distinction between males and females
4. The sisters' clothing
a. Costly apparel and meekness
b. Proper clothing with modesty and sobriety
5. The seal of the Holy Spirit upon one's clothing
6. Principles concerning clothing
a. Personal freedom
b. Not attracting attention
c. Clothing needing to match one's status
d. Clothing not arousing self-consciousness
II. Food
A. The need for meat after the fall
1. Sacrificing life to preserve life
2. Abstinence from foods being the teachings of demons
B. Not taking blood
1. The taking of blood being forbidden in three dispensations
2. Drinking only the blood of the Lord Jesus
3. Not eating things strangled
C. There being no difference between the clean and the unclean today
1. The unclean animal being forbidden in the Old Testament
2. The matter of choice in the Old Testament
3. Unclean animals being edible today
4. Our testimony being different from that of the Jews
D. Not eating things sacrificed to idols
E. Personal opinion
1. Food being for the sake of nourishing the body
2. Contentment and addition
Asceticism    ch.38
I. The origin of asceticism
A. Being of the world, not of Christianity
B. Originating from a desire to be free from lustful living
II. Asceticism having no place in Christianity
A. The meaning of asceticism being the denial of material things and the suppression of lust
B. Christians not advocating asceticism
III. Having died with Christ and being freed from the philosophy of the world
A. A fundamental fact — crucifixion with Christ
B. Freedom from the philosophies of the world
C. Why, as living in the world
D. According to the commandments and teachings of men
E. Perishing when used
F. Giving men a reputation of wisdom
G. Self-imposed worship
H. Manmade humility
I. Severe treatment of the body
J. Not of any value
K. Seeking the things which are above
IV. Asceticism being a teaching of demons
V. The difference between human nature and human lust
A. The urge being from God
B. What lust is
C. The cross dealing with the passions and the lusts
D. God's life being altogether positive
VI. The Christian life being a flexible one
A. Neither a matter of eating and drinking, nor a matter of not eating and not drinking
B. We can do all things as long as we are under the discipline of the Holy Spirit
C. Transcendent, not ascetic
VII. Not lowering the standard of Christianity
A. Sadhu sundar singh
B. Preaching after being engaged
C. Not seeing his wife during the first two months of marriage
D. Working with an overcoat
VIII. Christianity transcending all
Illness    ch.39
I. Illness being related to sin
A. Some illnesses being caused by man's sin against God
B. Seeking forgiveness before seeking a cure
II. Sickness and the Lord Jesus' work
A. Taking away our infirmities and bearing our diseases
B. Pardoning iniquities and healing diseases
C. The bearing of sins being absolute, but the bearing of illness being limited
D. Seeking healing when sick
III. A believer's attitude toward illness
A. Discovering the cause of an illness
B. Not anxiously seeking a doctor
C. First dealing with one's problem before God
D. Learning to look to God as the healer
E. Calling for the elders of the church to anoint and pray
F. Other reasons for illness
IV. Illness and God's discipline
A. God's disciplining hand behind some sicknesses
B. Accepting the lesson that comes with the illness
C. Sickness not being something dreadful
D. Learning our lesson in the midst of our illness
E. With the exception of a few cases, one needing to discover the causes and to seek healing
V. The way to be healed — three phrases in the New Testament
A. The Lord's power — God can
B. The Lord's will — God will
C. The Lord's act — God has done
Governmental forgiveness    ch.40
I. Eternal forgiveness
II. Instrumental forgiveness
III. Forgiveness in fellowship
A. The characteristic of life — delighting in fellowship
B. Frustrations to the fellowship of life
C. How to restore our fellowship with God
IV. Governmental forgiveness
A. What God's governmental forgiveness is
B. What a man sows, that he reaps
C. The Lord's healing of a paralytic being a governmental forgiveness
D. The elders of the church anointing the sick and praying for them to receive governmental forgiveness
E. David under God's governmental hand
F. Learning to humble oneself under God's mighty hand
G. Falling under God's governmental hand being a serious matter
H. Trying our best to be obedient to the Lord and to ask for His mercy
V. Fearing God and being generous to others
VI. Being humble and obedient, and "in due time," God's governmental hand being withdrawn
The discipline of God    ch.41
I. The proper attitude of those under discipline
A. Struggling against sin, having not yet resisted unto blood
B. Finding the reasons for our sufferings
C. Not fainting nor regarding lightly
D. Not regarding lightly the discipline of the Lord
II. Whom the Lord loves He disciplines
A. Discipline being the arrangement of love
B. Discipline being the Father's education
C. Discipline not being a punishment but a glory
D. Ignorance of discipline being a great loss
III. Enduring for God's discipline
A. Suffering being God's discipline
B. No experience coming to us by accident
C. Discipline being God's dealing with us as with sons
D. Seeing the Father's hand
E. Discipline being the proof that we are sons
IV. Being subject to the discipline of the Father of spirits
A. Being subject to God in two matters
B. Learning obedience through discipline
V. Discipline being for our benefit
A. Partakers of His holiness
B. The constitution of a holy character
C. Holiness as a gift and holiness as a constitution
VI. The peaceable fruit of righteousness yielded through discipline
A. Yielding the peaceable fruit
B. Moab being at ease from his youth and settling on his lees
C. Taste remaining, scent not changing
D. The peaceable fruit being the fruit of righteousness
VII. Conclusion
A. Setting straight the hands and the knees
B. Making straight the paths
The discipline of the Holy Spirit    ch.42
I. God being the one who does the work
II. How God arranges everything
III. Our attitude
IV. Breaking and constituting
Withstanding the devil    ch.43
I. Satan's work
A. Satan's work in the human mind
1. Satan's reasonings and temptations
2. How to reject thoughts from Satan
B. Satan's work on man's body
C. Satan's work on man's conscience
1. The difference between Satan's accusation and the Holy Spirit's reproach
2. How to overcome Satan's accusation
3. How to help those who are under Satan's accusation
D. Satan's work in the environment
II. Withstanding Satan by faith
A. Believing that the Lord's manifestation is to destroy the works of the devil
B. Believing that the Lord's death has destroyed Satan
C. Believing that the Lord's resurrection has put Satan to shame
D. Believing that the ascension of the Lord is far above the power of Satan
Head covering    ch.44
I. Two systems of God in the universe
A. The system of grace
B. The system of government
1. The creation of male and female
2. Man's food
3. Confounding the language
4. Scattered as many peoples
5. The beginning of nations
6. Israel becoming a nation
7. Saul becoming king
II. The system of grace perfecting the system of government
III. Learning to acknowledge God's government
A. Adam being cast out of the garden of eden
B. The Israelites being barred from entering Canaan
C. Moses not being allowed to enter Canaan
D. The sword not departing from the household of David
E. Paul's separation from Barnabas
IV. Head covering being related to God's government
V. The meaning of head covering
VI. The responsibility of the sisters
VII. A sign of submission to authority for the sake of the angels
VIII. Not going to the extreme
IX. Not having contention
X. The principle of representation
A. As a master
B. As a servant
C. The example of Moses
D. Individual standing and representative standing
E. Individual head covering and representative head covering
The pathway of the church    ch.45
I. The revelation of the pathway of the church
A. The first church — Ephesus
B. The second church — Smyrna
C. The third church — Pergamos
1. The first three churches having passed away
2. The last four churches continuing until the Lord's second coming
3. Choosing the proper church from the last four churches
D. The fourth church — Thyatira
1. Thyatira being Roman Catholicism
a. Two fundamental sins — fornication and the eating of sacrifices offered to idols
b. Mary in place of the goddess of greece
c. The sun festival becoming Christmas
d. The heathen temple becoming the temple of God
e. The priesthood in Judaism converted to the priesthood in Catholicism
f. Superstitious elements from paganism
g. Full of idols
h. Worshipping the bones of the martyrs
2. Thyatira being a church condemned by God
E. The fifth church — Sardis
1. Having a name that is living but being dead
2. Religious reformation and political reformation
3. The formation of state churches
a. Religion being mixed up with politics
b. The church adopting the state as its boundary
c. A mixture of believers and unbelievers
d. Individual spiritual giants
e. The rise of the independent churches
f. Division through the truths
g. Oneness based on the judgment of sins
h. Blessing in the first generation, organization in the second, and degradation in the third
i. Swinging between life and death
F. The sixth church — Philadelphia
1. Returning to brotherly love
2. Keeping the Lord's word
3. Not denying the Lord's name
a. The Lord's name being enough
b. The question of overcoming
c. Holding fast what you have
G. The seventh church — Laodicea
1. Laodicea being the result of Philadelphia's degradation
2. Lukewarmness and spiritual pride
3. The life that was present being lost today
4. Learning to humble ourselves before God
II. Choosing for ourselves the pathway of the church
Appendix: the heresy of confusion
A. A mustard seed growing into a big tree
1. Seven parables on the kingdom of the heavens
2. The kingdom of the heavens being like a mustard seed
a. The word of God being sown in the world
b. Expecting the seed to grow as an herb
c. Growing into a tree
B. The beginning of Roman Catholicism
1. A unified church
2. The system of bishops
3. Satan bringing defilement into the church
4. The Body of Christ becoming large
5. The woman exercising her authority
6. The woman beginning to teach
C. Leaven in three measures of meal
1. Leaven being wrong doctrines, which are easy to take
2. The heresy of confusion
a. Three measures being a convenient unit
b. Confusing the Word of God
3. The whole being leavened
4. The pope becoming the universal overseer
5. The infallibility of the pope
6. How God sees Catholicism
a. Rome being a great harlot
b. The religious Rome and the political Rome
c. Purple and scarlet
d. Gilded with gold, precious stone, and pearls
1) The pope having two crowns
2) St. Peter's Cathedral and the Vatican
e. Full of abominations
f. The unclean things of fornication
g. Its power extending to all nations
h. Everything being a confusion
7. Being drunk with the blood of the saints
a. Persecutions in Spain
b. Twenty-seven anathemas of the pope
c. Sworn to persecute the believers
d. Murderous laws and decrees
e. The testimony of the blood of the saints
1) In Madrid
2) In Rome
f. Persecution still going on today
8. Roman Catholicism covering the whole earth
9. God's commandment to His people
a. Come out of Roman Catholicism
b. Do not be curious
Oneness    ch.46
I. The Head, the Body, and all the members being Christ
II. Oneness being expressed on earth today
A. The Body of Christ being on earth
B. Oneness being expressed in the world today
III. The boundary of oneness not being greater than the Body
A. The oneness of the church being limited by the boundary of the Body
B. The wheat not being one with the tares
1. The church not including unbelievers
2. The church not being too broad
3. The oneness of Christians including only God's children
C. The matter of procedure and principle
D. Leaving the organizations of confusion
1. Our being the temple of the living God
2. Coming out from the midst of the unbelievers
E. Being right in principle
F. Not needing to keep oneness with non-christians
IV. The boundary of oneness not being smaller than the Body
A. Christian oneness being a oneness in the Holy Spirit
B. Not keeping a oneness that is less than the Body
C. Leaving a group which is smaller than the Body not breaking the oneness
D. Concerning division
1. Who the divisive ones are
2. Being divisive themselves, yet condemning those who have left as being divisive
3. It being right to destroy the oneness of the sects
4. The need to come out of the smaller oneness into the larger oneness
E. What division is
1. Division being possible only in the church
2. Division being the work of the flesh
a. Being condemned in the same way as fornication and idolatry
b. Not having our own choices according to the works of the flesh
c. How the word sect came to be translated as "heresy"
d. Not keeping the oneness in the sects
3. Sects bringing swift destruction upon men
V. Oneness not being an ecumenical work
A. General awareness among God's children of the need of oneness
B. Ecumenism — a oneness that is a halfway house
C. The need for Christians to be absolute
D. Ecumenical affiliations having the Body as the boundary but allowing sectarianism to remain
E. The Body not having an organization as its basic unit
F. Organizations giving ground to the flesh
G. Ecumenical union being the product of a condemned conscience
VI. Maintaining the oneness
A. The need to stand in the position of the Body of Christ
B. Acknowledging the house of God
C. Learning to be humble and not proud
VII. The basis of oneness — judgment
A. God's presence bringing in His judgment
B. Forsaking sins being the basis of oneness
C. Paying the price to maintain oneness
D. Oneness among God's children realized when everyone rises up to condemn sins
Loving the brothers    ch.47
I. The life of love
II. The commandment of love
III. If one does not love the brothers
IV. How to love the brothers
V. The result of love
The priesthood    ch.48
I. The history of the priesthood in the Bible
A. From Genesis to the period after the Lord's ascension
B. In the dispensation of the church
C. In the millennial kingdom
D. In the new heavens and new earth
II. The kingdom of priests becoming the house of priests
A. God choosing the Israelites to be a kingdom of priests
B. The Israelites serving the idols
C. God assigning the priesthood to the tribe of Levi
D. God's people and God's priests becoming two separate groups
E. The priesthood becoming the privilege of a household
III. The characteristic of the priesthood — being a mediatorial class
IV. The change in the priesthood
A. Every redeemed one being a priest in the New Testament dispensation
B. The church recovering the universal priesthood again
C. The church being a kingdom of priests
D. The unique occupation of a Christian — serving God
E. Only one ambition — pleasing the Lord
V. The glory of the priesthood
A. God honoring us by calling us to the priesthood
B. Foolish men considering service to be a favor to God
C. Our greatest honor being to serve God
VI. Upholding the priesthood
A. There being no church without the universal priesthood
B. No longer tolerating the intermediary class
C. The intermediary class abolished when everyone serves
D. One needing to be a priest as long as one is a Christian
VII. The recovery of the priesthood
A. There being no problem in the early churches
B. The church's nature being changed after the Roman empire's acceptance of Christianity
C. A separation between the spiritual ones and the worldly ones
D. The Lord taking the way of recovery
VIII. The service of the priests
A. The need for the whole church to serve
B. God honoring us by allowing us to serve Him
C. God's kingdom realized when everyone serves
D. The basis of the priesthood — God's acceptance
E. God's mercy enabling us to serve in grace
F. Rejecting the principle of having an intermediary class
The Body of Christ    ch.49
I. The church being of Christ
II. The church being one in the Holy Spirit
III. Service in the Body
IV. The building up of the Body
V. The testimony of the Body
The authority of the church    ch.50
I. God appointing authority as the governing principle for His rule over the universe
II. The history of rebellion in the universe
A. The rebellion of the archangel
B. The first rebellion of man
1. God's ordination for man
2. Satan's temptation and corruption
3. Man's fall and rebellion
4. Man following Satan to live in disobedience
C. The rebellion of mankind after the flood
1. God's arrangement for human government after the flood
2. The rebellion of the nations
D. The rebellion of the Israelites
1. God choosing Abraham to be a pattern of submission
2. God establishing authority among the Israelites
3. God not tolerating those who offend His authority
4. The rebellion of the Israelites throughout history
III. The Lord Jesus establishing the pattern of submission
A. The Lord Jesus being the perfect submissive one
B. The gospel being a commandment for submission
C. The underlying principle of the church being submission
D. Being subject also to the authority of the world
IV. Submission being a characteristic of the church
A. The church being the Body that upholds the authority of God
B. Learning to be submissive in the church
C. Submission being the life and nature of the church
V. The authority in the church
A. Submission to the law of the Body
1. There being a law in the Body
2. The mutual functioning and interaction of the members
3. Independent acts equaling disobedience
4. The illustration of cancer
5. Being restricted by the law of the Body
6. Learning to not damage the reality of oneness
B. The principle of two or three
1. One person representing the Body
2. Two or three being the authority
C. Learning to submit to the authority of the church
D. Being subject to the deputy authorities in the church
1. The responsible brothers who serve as elders
2. The elder brothers who are before us
3. The elderly ones
4. Those who take the lead well and who labor in word and teaching
5. Those leading us
6. Those who labor and take the lead in the Lord
7. Being subject to all of God's ordained authorities
Appendices    ch.51
A flexible life    appendix 1
I. Two philosophies
II. The Christian life — a flexible life
A. Not a matter of eating and drinking
B. Being able to do all things through the discipline of the Holy Spirit
C. Transcending all outward things
D. Dealing with the self, and not being bound by any mode
E. The outward man needing the dealing, while the inner man needing to be strengthened
Expecting the Lord's return    appendix 2
I. The biblical promise concerning the Lord's return
II. A heavenly calling
III. The two comings of Christ
IV. The problems in this world
A. Social problems
B. The travailing of the creatures
C. Earthly squabbling for power
V. What Christians should do today
VI. What Christ will settle when He comes
A. Injustice
B. Wars
C. Sicknesses
D. Famine
E. Education and knowledge
F. Establishments of vice
VII. Christians not taking root on earth
Selling all    appendix 3
I. The prerequisite
II. The Lord's demand on the young ruler
A. The need for absoluteness in serving the Lord
B. In order to follow the Lord one must sell all
C. Keeping one's possessions meaning keeping one's sorrow
D. Salvation, receiving eternal life, and entering God's kingdom
E. Selling all to inherit eternal life
F. The central issue of selling one's all
III. The things that are impossible with men being possible with God
A. Man's problem being his refusal to accept the power of God
B. There being a way for both the willing and the unwilling
C. Being absolute to take the Christian way
D. Setting aside everything to serve the Lord
E. Only one person being afraid to follow
F. Taking a firm stand before the Lord
IV. The lesson in Zaccheus's salvation
A. Zaccheus being a tax collector and a sinner
B. The Lord met Zaccheus, but did not preach to him
C. Others feeling indignant
D. Wherever the Lord goes, money is released
E. One word stripped Zaccheus's house
V. What is impossible with men being possible with God
VI. The camel going through the eye of the needle
A. Salvation coming to this house
B. The Lord seeking those who are lost in riches
VII. God's way today
A. Selling everything being the Lord's command
B. All ordinary possessions being held in common
C. Properties, houses, and valuables to be sold
D. Nothing to be held in private
E. Practicing the principle of having all things in common
F. Learning not to take root or to be stingy before God
G. Not holding on to anything, always letting go
H. The pattern of the early church
I. Selling all without hearing much teaching about it
VIII. Not being able to serve God and mammon at the same time
A. Mammon being an idol
B. Learning to serve God alone
Identifying heresies    appendix 4
I. Introduction
II. Not becoming curious
III. Standard rules to identify heresies
A. The authority of the Bible
B. Concerning the person of Christ
C. Concerning man's sin
D. Concerning Christ's redemption
E. Concerning eternal judgment
F. Concerning miracles and healing
G. Concerning prophecies
H. Communication between the living and the dead
I. Concerning women teaching
J. Concerning the Lord's coming

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