Date: April 19, 1948, 6:30 a.m.Place: Hardoon Road, ShanghaiSpeakers: Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
We believe that many of the critical issues in consecration have to do with God. But there are two conditions to consecration without which our consecration will not be solid. The first factor has to do with the church. Consecration is not simply us handing ourselves over to the Lord, but us handing ourselves over to the church. Surely when a person consecrates himself, he hands himself over to the Lord. But no one knows when this kind of consecration has changed or has been retracted. Only the consecration that is done under the authority of the church is solid, and only this kind of consecration will last. If a man says that he is consecrating himself, yet has not handed himself over to the church, such a consecration is not solid.
The second thing about consecration is that it always touches our money and occupation. A consecration that does not result in handing ourself over to the church is not solid, and a consecration that does not touch our money and occupation is not thorough. These two subjects, money and occupation, require special attention.
How does God see money? Here we need to understand two kinds of relationships. The first is the relationship between God and all things. The second is the relationship between all things and money. God made from one all things (Acts 17:26). Everything a person touches with his hands and treads over with his feet is made by God. God not only made from one all things; He is even the Lord of all things. Satan is God's adversary. Yet he cannot deal with God directly. Because he cannot deal with God directly, he deals with all the things that issue from God's creation. Because Satan cannot damage God Himself, he tries to damage God's work. If Satan can snatch God's creation out of His hand, God will have failed. In order to damage God's work, Satan tries to snatch away God's creation.
Today I wish to point out to you the relationship between all things and money, and the relationship between all things and God. Satan tries to gain all things, but he cannot gain every item of all the things. "All things'' are too much for him to handle. It is too troublesome to gain all things. "All things'' include cows, goats, wood, stone, and so forth. You could not exhaust the list of all things with a thousand lines. God made from one all things. Hence, Satan reduces all things into one thing. This one thing is money. There is nothing in this world that cannot be bought with money. If a person has money, he has all things. This is why "money" in Chinese is tung-hwo, which means the "common good.'' You cannot call a piece of stone plus a piece of wood, two of anything. You cannot call a chair plus a table, two of anything. But through the invention of money, Satan is able to unify all things. He makes all things simple. Originally, the world with all its myriads of items was made from one. Now Satan is unifying these myriads of things into one through money. Everything that we see today can be reckoned in terms of money. Money is the means to unify all things. All things are created by God. Only money is not created by God; it comes from Caesar. When men asked Christ if there was a need to pay tribute money, He asked them to show Him a denarius, and He answered, "Render then the things that are Caesar's to Caesar'' (Matt. 22:21). He did not take any money out from His own pocket. Had He done this, others would have said that He too had Caesar in His pocket.
Money is created by Satan for the purpose of unifying all things. All things can be reckoned in terms of money. The earth is created by God. Yet today man can reckon the price of land in terms of money. If it is possible, man would even reckon the price of the moon or the hydrogen in the sun with money. Today man can buy everything. He can buy time. He can even buy human souls. One brother worked in the post office for many years. The post office had bought his soul. Jacob's wealth included cattle and sheep and the souls of men as well. Revelation 18 tells us that the human soul is a commodity that can be bought and sold (vv. 12-13). God has made from one all things. But Satan has unified all things into one.
When we gain God, we have all things. In the same way, when Satan takes hold of money, he has everything. Money is omnipotent; everything can be bought with money. In order to buy wood, stones, or any other things that we like, we need mammon. As a result, mammon becomes the power, the center, of man's worship. Is man going to worship God or mammon? This is the controversy of the universe. The worship of God lies on one side of all things, and the worship of mammon lies on the other side of all things. Mammon is diametrically opposed to God. Mammon can withstand God because it is the only thing that can unify all things. Covetousness is not only a root of all evils (1 Tim. 6:10), it is the same as idolatry. Riches are an idol. The Bible says that covetousness and idolatry are the same kind of sins (Eph. 5:5). If a man has not dealt with his money in a clear way after he is saved, he is not yet fully saved. If a person still keeps wooden or stone idols in his house, will we accept such a one for baptism? Yet many people have never dealt with the matter of money after they are saved. Today we say that India is a nation of idols and that there are more idols than people in that land. Yet there are countless more people who worship mammon than people who worship idols. From the people in Asia to those in Africa, from scientists to the most superstitious people, everyone worships mammon. Mammon is the most common object of worship.
God wants to gain us, and mammon also wants to gain us. Unless God's people are delivered from the power of mammon, they will not have a proper testimony and cannot be proper Christians. If a man tries to hold on to both sides, he will not be able to serve the Lord well. Why did the Lord put such a harsh requirement upon the young ruler and ask him to sell all he had? That young man was quite good and had kept all the laws. But the Lord said that he lacked one thing, the most important thing, which had to do with mammon (Luke 18:18-23). The same principle applies when Zaccheus gave half of his possessions to the poor when he repented (19:8). The same principle can also be seen in Acts 4 where the disciples sold their land and possessions, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own (v. 32). By the time we come to the Epistles, we see Paul saying, "He who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no lack'' (2 Cor. 8:15).
In church history the Moravian church was the group that had the strongest mission. Its founder, Count Zinzendorf, gave up all his possessions for the Lord. Sister Eva also gave up all that she had. A few decades ago, seven Englishmen came to China to preach the gospel. They were known as the Cambridge Seven. Among them was C. T. Studd, who was a cricket champion. He had received an inheritance of two hundred fifty thousand pounds, which equals 1.2 million U.S. dollars, and he gave it all away. When he told the British Consulate that he was going to China, the Consulate General was shocked by his consecration and dared not accept his application. After a week Mr. Studd was still firm concerning his decision. God could use Mr. Studd in a great way because he had overcome mammon. Mammon stands in opposition to God. For this reason, every child of God has to overcome the power of mammon. If anyone does not overcome its power, he will have no spiritual power. The power of mammon does not lie in how much mammon a person possesses. Its power on the poor may be stronger than its power on the rich.
For this reason, no Christian should try to make money. Men think that it is wrong to make money by unrighteous means and that it is right to make money by righteous means. But mammon itself is unrighteous. Just as God Himself is righteous, mammon itself is unrighteous. Luke 16 speaks of making friends with the "mammon of unrighteousness'' (v. 9). Money is intrinsically unrighteous. Its nature is contrary to God. We have to be clear about the position money occupies. If we are not clear, it will be difficult for us to go on as a Christian. Christians cannot try to make money from the worldly people. If we do, we lose our Christian standing. We say that our Father is over and above everything and that we are His sons. Yet if we would try to make money from the rickshaw coolies, whether it is ten thousand or twenty thousand dollars, it would be a shame to us. There are only two kinds of people on this earth, the unbelievers and the brothers. We cannot make money from the unbelievers. What then about making money from the brothers? Would we not feel ashamed to make money from our brothers? Hence, no one can neglect dealing with money properly. A Christian cannot make money; he can only work to sustain his living.
The second question is occupations. What are the occupations that God wants? God's will for man is that he has to eat bread in the sweat of his face (Gen. 3:19). In the Old Testament God ordained that Adam had to till the ground and that Abel had to tend to the flock. Men like Abraham and Jacob were all herdsmen. Genesis 4 speaks of the "artificer in brass and iron'' (v. 22). All these are manual labor. In the New Testament the apostles were fishermen, and Paul was a tentmaker. These are also occupations that involve manual labor.
Paul said that to the one who works, his wages are accounted according to what is due (Rom. 4:4). Occupations that are based on one's labor are proper occupations, for they have no element of money-making. Such kinds of occupations increase and add to the value of the goods. You cannot consider these kinds of occupations as making money; they are merely a selling of our labor. There are only a finite number of things in the world. Suppose there were only ten thousand cattle in the world, and through my farming there are now eleven thousand; my labor has caused the world to have one thousand more cattle. Suppose there was only one stalk of wheat, and through my farming there are now thirty stalks or one hundred stalks. This is to cause an increase in value. Why do I gain some money? It is because I have caused the world to have ninety-nine stalks more. Paul brought the material home, sewed it into a tent in the night, and sold it the next morning. The money he made came from the work of sewing. However, if you buy five rolls of fabric, store it away until the price for the fabric is high, and then sell it, you have made your money without increasing the value of the fabric by one bit. We cannot engage ourselves in this kind of business. All the occupations that do not increase the value of the goods must be changed. We have to have a turn in our mentality. The mentality of many people is focused on money, not on value.
We cannot engage ourselves in occupations that do not increase the value of goods. The occupations that are right are those that earn wages through manual labor. Those occupations that do not increase the value of goods make a poor testimony before God and even before Satan. In addition, they corrupt a person's heart.
We have two brothers who were business students. Now they no longer want to study business. Commerce turns a person's mind immediately to money. Before the Lord we have to be delivered from money. Our occupations must be such that they increase the value of goods or improve the goods. Only those who are undefiled in their occupations can serve God in a useful way. If there is a group of people who are delivered from money and on whom money has no effect, God will have a way through these ones. In Chefoo the brothers with lowly jobs were sent out first. These brothers were all engaged in occupations that increased the value of goods. Some occupations are involved with commerce. Those saints who are involved with these kinds of occupations have to learn to drop them. The assignment of co-workers is an absolute matter today. The assignment of the saints' occupations should also be an absolute matter. The co-workers cannot choose their own place of work. Neither can the brothers and sisters choose their own occupations. Those who have jobs need to be coordinated in the same way as those in the Lord's work need to be coordinated. God can only use clean money. The need today is too great, yet we cannot lower God's standard.
Brother Chang's occupation is not very good. It has too much to do with government and politics. A job in the post office does not have much to do with politics. Working with the customs department is not very good, because it can involve taking bribes from others. An occupation has much to do with God's testimony. Here is the need for one to pay a great price.
Our views have to be enlarged. A man cannot say on the one hand that he is learning to serve God, while holding on to money on the other hand. The Lord has no intention that we serve Him while engaging in some money-making occupation. I hope that we can offer up ourselves and our occupations to God for the accomplishment of His purpose.
During the time of revival of a church, there are special measures taken. These special measures are different from the long-term measures. During the time of revival we have to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. But for the long run there is the need for the church to make some arrangements. At the time of revival Ananias could not keep back anything for himself. The minute he kept back anything, he was lying and sinning against the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-5). But in Paul's Epistles, we are told that a person has to provide for those of his own household and that we have to care for the widows who have no support (1 Tim. 5:8-16). For the long run we do not expect the church to do the same things as it does during the time of revival. During revivals we feel constrained to offer up everything. But during ordinary times we have to take care of our family. Particularly, we have to take care of the children when they are young.
The long-term way for the church to deal with money is different from the way it takes during the time of revival. During revivals we cannot quench the Holy Spirit. But for the long run the church has to make some arrangements. In the early churches there were arrangements. The brothers and sisters should also make their own arrangements before the Lord; they should save something for their own use, and they should set aside the rest as available funds. In this way, even the jobs of the brothers and sisters become something that is for the gospel. Everyone has to consider and reckon before God. Where there are burdens that individuals cannot take up, other brothers and sisters have to come in to help. The church should not bear all the burdens. For this reason, the saints' relatives should be taken care of first by the saints themselves.
Our occupation must be such that we earn our wages through labor and through increasing the value of the goods. Today it is not a sin to receive much, but it is a sin to have excess. It is not wrong to take in much, but it is wrong to keep the excess. We have to simplify our own living, and we have to save money for others. Only those who have given to others know that indeed it is more blessed to give than to receive.
The increase in bank deposits is just the increase in zeros; it will not give you joy. Only those who save for God, who labor for God, and who increase the value of goods will have true joy in their hearts. If we will practice this, the whole of China will be won by us. Even the whole of Southeast Asia will be won by us. We can carry out our work under the best arrangements. During the past years there was not much coordination among the co-workers, and there was not much coordination among the brothers and sisters in their occupations. This is why we have not done well in both areas. Today the occupations of the working brothers and sisters have to be coordinated, and the work of the co-workers also has to be coordinated. If the coordination is solid and good, all the brothers and sisters who are holding jobs will become our true co-workers.
If the Lord comes back soon, we will all see Him. If the Lord delays His coming for another one or two hundred years, those coming after us will watch the way we conducted ourselves today. We believe that the Lord has set a straight path before us. Our conference this time has much to do with God's business, the church's work, and the whole counsel of God. This is not a question of individuals doing business or making money.
Brother Lee: Since the end of 1942, I saw clearly that unless the problem with money is solved, there is no way for the gospel of God to go out effectively. God's gospel has been preached in China for over a century. However, the gospel cannot spread to the inland regions. For over one hundred years, it has been Western money that has been supporting the gospel work. This money has been spent along the coastal regions. Many people became rich as a result of becoming believers. These brothers and sisters are no longer able to move, for they have been nailed down by money. At the same time, money was not able to go into the inland regions.
We saw that when money was not released by the brothers and sisters, there was no way for genuine revival to occur. On December 13, 1942, the Lord did a work among us. That afternoon I was preparing to preach a message on life. We had been preaching messages on life for two or three years, but that afternoon my message took a turn. From that day forward, we saw that God's gospel can never be released as long as the problem with money is not settled.
Today God cannot be released because the gospel cannot be released, and the gospel cannot be released because money cannot be released. I know that in a certain denomination in a certain place, a few rich people put their money together and built a chapel. Yet the men themselves were still collecting debts and exacting high interest on loans. Can God be released under such circumstances? At that time some brothers in Chefoo had been without jobs for over a year. Some sisters had even taken up embroidery work, which required fine labor but did not allow them to earn much money. As a result, not much was received from the offering box. For six months we received nothing from the offering box designated for the co-worker sisters. But on that day there was a great difference in offering; many envelopes were received. The offering was not a result of my preaching. On the twentieth, which was the following Lord's Day, I went up to the platform again. We sang Hymns, #472, and many were moved to tears. They realized that the gospel had not been released because they had been holding back their money. By the next Lord's Day, the twenty-seventh, the Lord's work was even stronger, and we felt that we had to meet every day. Beginning January 1, 1943, which was a holiday, we began to have conferences that lasted from ten o'clock in the morning until six o'clock in the afternoon. One brother was sick and could not sleep at night. The Lord touched him and asked him to consecrate himself. He could not resist the Lord, and in the end he yielded everything. In this way about six to seven hundred people all consecrated everything to the Lord. Some consecrated their grant deeds. Others consecrated their stocks and shares. Many consecrated themselves for the work in northwest China. This lasted for three and a half months. We met every day for over one hundred days. One day I said, "Who is willing to go to northwest China for the gospel's sake?'' Almost everyone stood up. Many were willing to move their whole family, including all their wealth, for the gospel's sake. The first group that went were laborers with lowly occupations, farmers, and manual workers. The second group that went had better occupations. Some were nurses, others were doctors or men with capital. The third group that went out were the preachers and the co-workers. When the first group moved out, it shocked the whole city of Chefoo, because the outsiders had reckoned that we would never be able to do this.
This kind of revival went on for three months, and we got ourselves into big troubles. This does not mean that we purposely tried to get ourselves into trouble. All the brothers and sisters had consecrated everything. What should we do now? The brothers and sisters had emptied out their hearts and had offered up all their belongings. Some came laughing, while others came weeping. But all came with their belongings. For two nights we waited on the Lord until after midnight, and we discussed again and again what we should do. After the bread-breaking meeting on March 14, we told the saints what they should do after they have consecrated themselves. During this period everyone became involved in this revival. Many dared not even touch their clothes when they went home. The minute they touched them, the Lord would ask them to consecrate. If they kept anything back, they would not have any peace. But when they offered up everything, they had peace.
I realized that it was not right for the church to go into business, because the church was simply the brothers and sisters. Hence, we considered the general condition of the saints and assigned them to various businesses. We closed down some improper businesses. The consecrated lands could not come under the name of the church, and they could not be distributed. Therefore, we put them temporarily under the names of the original owners with the condition that they would sell the land when the church needed the money.
Nothing of what we did then causes me to have any regret. The only lack was prayer. This gave the Japanese a chance to creep in. We did not see that Satan was doing everything he could to frustrate the work. Because the brothers and sisters had offered up everything, including their time and all their possessions, the church had to make some arrangements. It was also at this time that I fell into trials. I became ill, and I separated myself from the work. As a consequence, I was able to escape the hands of the Japanese. After the past five years, I look back and realize that what we did then was indeed the Lord's way.
We have to see today that we are not our own and that our possessions are also not our own. Some people should consecrate themselves for the gospel, whereas others should offer up themselves in their occupations. There is the need for the coordination of both sides. Outwardly, you may be managing your own business, but in reality and spiritually, you are doing everything for the church. I reckoned then that this was the only way to have a thorough coordination. If there is a lack with the co-workers, it is a shame to those who are holding jobs. However, there are some places that have many riches and little work. This is a shame to the co-workers. We have to see what a great force there is when the two sides coordinate together. If we see this principle, we will be free, and we will begin to trust in our brothers in the coordination. If you earn ten thousand dollars and spend it all on yourself, the church does not need to rise up to condemn you; you will condemn yourself. No one will need to say anything to you; you will condemn yourself. If you ask what we should do if some decide to take back their consecration when they hear this kind of word, I would say that we are not afraid of anyone taking back his consecration. If anyone can take back his consecration, let him do it.
Brother Nee: When we offer up all our money and then receive it back again from the Lord, the money will be very different. Formerly, we were the masters. Now we become the stewards. If we are a steward, yet waste our master's money, the Lord's illustration says aptly that some will accuse us (Luke 16:1). They will say that we are wasting our master's money. Today we may hold different standards of living, but the principle remains the same: We have to do our best to be frugal.
Once the problem of money is settled, we will become a broad person. Today everyone's mind is different. This is why the same word conveys different connotations in different people's minds. If I say that I will treat you with a meal, the northerners think that they will have wheat rolls, the southerners think that they will have rice, the westerners think that they will have bread, while the poor people think that they will have corn. In the same way, when we speak of the need of the church, different people have different thoughts and reactions. When some hear about the need of the church, they say that it is all right to buy less land and build smaller buildings; they think that there is no need to be very serious about the matter. A person who is not serious does not do things in a serious way. However, we cannot consider matters from our point of view. We have to consider matters from God's point of view. Once the problem of mammon is settled, we will be enlarged. A man cannot serve two masters. Either he serves the Lord, or he serves mammon. The reason we are in darkness and are not in the light is that there is the entanglement of money. If we can solve this problem, many other problems will be solved.
The gospel has been "bottled up'' like water in a bottle, and money is like the cork of the bottle. If money does not go away, water will not come. If you do not give away your money, you will not even be able to live a proper human life. A person has to open his eyelids before he can see. In the same way, if money does not go away, a person cannot see the Lord.
I know that many brothers here are more well off than brothers in other localities. In other localities some people cannot even send their children to school. We can be in scarcity, but we cannot become small. We cannot become small just through our scarcity. We have to show other brothers that not one thing is our own.
What should we do as far as our practice is concerned? First, we have to write down a list. Should we consider the matter individually, or should we consider it corporately? Both ways are possible. Many brothers and sisters receive help through others' testimonies, whereas others look to the Lord directly. This is not the time to talk about the left hand not letting the right hand know what it is doing. It is not a question of myself as a person individually; it is a question of myself being a member in the Body. Even if we will lose our reward, it is still worthwhile for us to cause one or two brothers to rise up. Forget about our personal rewards in the future!
The church does not want to do anything that will eventually come short. We hope that more stewards will be raised up by the Lord. If some of us have made such a decision, they can present their testimonies before the brothers.
What we want is first you, and then yours. I am a priest, and I live for God. We care only for the fact of handing ourselves over, not for argument. We are not here for money; we are here to help others to hand themselves over. If a man does not hand himself over, it is meaningless to receive a few dollars from him; it is better to return the money to him. God would not be pleased with such money. In God's eyes money is not the main problem. A man hands over his money because he has first handed over himself. As a person you are more important than your money. When a person comes, what he has will come along with him. It is difficult to say this kind of thing to all the brothers and sisters in general.
If you do not want to hand yourselves over, I will not say such words. But if you have handed yourselves over and I have handed myself over, then we can say such words. What we were not able to say among the co-workers for the past twenty years, we can say today. Today we are standing on the same ground, and we are working and serving together. We are all the same, and we are all serving God together.
We have to look to the Lord to bring all the saints in Shanghai into this practice. Otherwise, our words of the last few days will result only in a few more consecrations. In another five days things will cool down again. This is indeed a serious matter. If we can bring the brothers and sisters into this practice, many tremendous things will follow.
During the past years all of us have suffered many dealings, made many sacrifices, borne much hardship, and paid much price. But the Lord is asking us to pay a higher price today. Only by paying a serious price can we obtain serious results. The Lord has no intention that the co-workers be the only ones to go through dealings and that the other brothers and sisters be exempt from dealings. It is difficult for the co-workers to be coordinated together. It is likewise difficult for the working brothers and sisters to be coordinated together. When two or three brothers go into business together, at the beginning they invariably say that they are doing this to glorify the Lord. But in the end the result is often a shame to the Lord. However, if you hand yourselves over today, things will be different. This is not just a combination of capital, but a coordination of persons. One person can bring forth results a thousandfold, and two persons can bring forth results ten thousandfold. If the brothers will be faithful to the Lord in their jobs and if they are coordinated together, there will be the blessings. With such a purpose, center, ground, and goal, we can bring in the Lord's blessing. When there is any hardship, we try to solve it in coordination. When the co-workers are not coordinated, they can do their own isolated works. But when they are coordinated together, there is no more room for individual freedom. The same principle applies to the brothers and sisters who are holding jobs.
Personally, I am most reluctant to do such things. But looking ahead, the Lord has His works. Therefore, we have to take this inconvenience upon us and have such a beginning. The co-workers and the responsible brothers should not try to avoid such an inconvenience. When we are doing our isolated works, we can be very comfortable. But in order for the Lord to have a way, we must be coordinated together. In the coordination, we have to accept all the inconveniences. If we do not do this, it will be difficult for the Lord to have a way among us.
During the past four evenings, my words have been coming out like water gushing from an open tap. Once the tap is opened, there is no more thought of closing it again. We do not know how far this water will carry us. It is not an easy thing for me to speak about these four topics. To speak about them is more difficult than to speak about forty other topics.
In 1942 we prayed much for the Lord to have a way among us. I do not know how much we prayed. However, although we prayed very much, every time we felt that something was blocking. Because of that something, we did not get through. Now we have broken through the small circle. We will see if we can break through the larger circle.
