Date:October 1, 1948
We have seen the principles of judging men and also discussed the ways to identify and touch men's condition with our spirit. We also realize that there is a need for us to go through dealings before the Lord. In this chapter we will consider two additional matters.
When we try to touch others' condition with our spirit, we may touch their words and spirit. But this does not mean that we can diagnose their problem or even heal their sickness. It is one thing to touch others' spirit and another thing to diagnose it. Touching others' spirit merely enables us to know the condition of their spirit. After we have touched others' spirit, how should we interpret the condition we have touched? Is the spirit we have touched proper? How do we know whether it is or not? After we have touched others' words and touched the spirit behind the words, how should we diagnose the data? This is not a simple task. We must have broad and adequate training before we can know others' sicknesses. For example, a brother may speak to us, and we may sense that he has such a quick temper. If we are not trained adequately, we do not know the reason he has such a temper. An experienced person can tell us that temper comes from pride. A man has a temper because he cannot stand other people ignoring his words. Or he may have very little tolerance for uncomplimentary words. He may also look down on others. We can trace the problem back to his pride. He has a temper because he is inwardly filled with pride. Many people, however, do not realize that temper is merely a symptom; it is not the cause of the sickness. If we realize that temper is merely a symptom, we will search for its cause. But if we are not properly trained, we will not be able to find the root cause. A fever is not the cause of a sickness but a symptom. It is not enough for us to know that someone has a fever; we have to find the cause of the fever before he can be healed.
Touching others' spirit with our spirit is like measuring body temperature with a thermometer. However, we also must find the cause of the sickness. If we cannot find the reason a man has a temper, we cannot deal with him. It is useless to exhort a man with a temper to be patient. He will always lose his temper. We have to find the reason for his temper. We have to learn the lesson ourselves. We have to find the reason we lose our own temper. If we are clear about ourselves, we can apply our diagnosis to others. Diagnosis is one step towards a cure, and the actual healing is another step. In judging a man, first we have to feel him with our spirit; second, we have to discern him with our spirit; third, we have to diagnose the cause of the sickness; and fourth, we have to render the healing. As we continually practice this on ourselves as well as on others, we will find that pride and subjectivity both lead to temper. Some people lose their temper when their subjective views cannot be accepted. Others lose their temper when their great aspirations fail them or they become frustrated.
We have to learn to make observations all the time. Brother Sparks once said, "Be observant." In helping others we have to find the root of the sickness so that they can go to the Lord to be dealt with. In order to render others proper help, we have to have the right words to describe the symptoms as well as the cause of the sickness. We have to pray over every case that is presented to us, and we have to examine our brothers and sisters. In the matter of crying, for example, one sister may cry easily, while another one may not cry at all. Our spirit may sense this condition, but we may not know how to diagnose it. What should we do? We have to learn that crying and not crying are both symptoms. We have to find the reason for the crying. Which is right, crying or not crying? Should we advise a sister to cry or not to cry? With some, crying is wrong, and we should tell them not to cry. With others, crying is right, and we should advise them to cry. It all depends on the cause. We should find the cause in ourselves first. We often are our own best teacher. We can ask ourselves, "When do I cry? Why do I cry?" Simply put, there are two reasons for crying. The first is self-love. One loves himself, pities himself, and will not let go of himself. He may think in his heart, "I am such a nice person, yet I suffer these things." The more he thinks about it, the more he feels sorry for himself, and he cries. He cannot bear seeing himself suffer so much. His experience stirs up his self-pity, and he cries. A man's self-love often is asleep until some experiences stir up his self-love. The first reason for crying is self-love. The second reason for crying is that a man is smitten by God. A person may be unbending, hard, indifferent, and unyielding. It is difficult for him to cry or to smile. But after he goes through repeated trials and God's hand deals heavily with him, he is subdued. He then cries because he has been weakened by God. This is the second reason for crying. There are at least two reasons for crying. When someone cries, we can compare these reasons with the case in hand, and we can identify the source of the crying. Crying is not necessarily right, but those who are smitten by God can surely cry. Crying is not necessarily good, but if a man has never cried, he has never been subdued by God. If a man says, "I have never cried," we immediately know that he is a hard person.
Some people are very stubborn before God. They have suffered many trials and have experienced much chastisement from God. Nevertheless, they have not learned any spiritual lessons or acquired any spiritual knowledge. Others become very sensitive through much suffering. Nevertheless, they have not learned any spiritual lessons either. Those who have passed through many trials and experienced much discipline from the Holy Spirit should have learned many lessons. Yet both of these kinds of people have not learned anything. One group is hard, the other group is soft, and both have gone through many trials. Why has neither group learned any spiritual lessons? We have to find the reason for this. We must not only know the symptoms but must find the root of the illness. As soon as a man becomes hardened before God, his trials will not produce any spiritual effect or bring in any spiritual blessing. Instead, they only will remain painful experiences. In the process of making pottery, a potter discards some vessels because they are ruined and spoiled in the turning process. Some people are like the ruined vessels. They have argued with God and murmured against His dealings. They have not submitted to His discipline. They think that it is wrong for others to ride over their heads (Psa. 66:12). They want God to let them ride over others' heads instead. They are discouraged by the discipline they have suffered. They think that they are misunderstood, that God's way is wrong, and that they are right. They have never submitted themselves to God's discipline. They have never learned to thank and praise. Because of the hardness of their heart, they have not learned any lessons at all. Others, however, appear to be very sensitive. They also have suffered many trials and experienced the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Yet they have not learned any spiritual lessons or acquired any spiritual knowledge either. The discipline of the Holy Spirit has not produced any effect on them because they are short of the supply of the ministry of the word.
We have to learn to know men's condition, and we have to learn to diagnose their condition. It is not enough to know that a man has a temperature of forty degrees Celsius. We have to know the reason for his fever. We cannot say that a man has a fever because he is generally weak. We have to make observations. We have to be like a doctor who studies diligently for three to five years before daring to practice his trade. We must be meek and open before the Lord. We have to confess our mistakes and acknowledge our own untrustworthiness all the time. If we practice this again and again, we will not only become sensitive in our spirit, but we will be able to discern the symptoms and causes of sicknesses in the brothers and be able to render them healing as well. We have asked the trainees here on the mountain to each give their testimony. This not only touches the spiritual condition of each trainee but opens the way for diagnosis and healing. I hope we all will learn many lessons from this exercise in judgment.
There is one basic condition for knowing men's problems or diagnosing their illnesses: We must understand that the purpose of our discernment and judgment is not for checking others out. A proper Christian should not desire to know about others. Only abnormal Christians would want to pry into others' business. Although we need to know the condition of the brothers, we are not motivated by curiosity. We should not be curious about their affairs. We are forced to do this. Other than for the purpose of serving and helping them, we should not want to know much about others. We are busy enough ourselves. We have no time to pry into the affairs of others. If a man always tries to know about others and pries into their business, he is a big problem in himself; he is the first one who needs healing. What we have learned on this mountain is for the purpose of ministering Christ to others. We are not here to criticize or to find fault. We try to know men for the purpose of serving and helping them. If I know that the Lord has put a certain brother into my hand, it is because He wants me to know him and help him. This is the reason I am doing what I am doing. Unless the Holy Spirit has arranged this contact, I do not want to know about anything concerning my brother. I hope that none of you will have a craving for knowing others' business. I do not wish for anyone to examine the affairs of others and to turn them into conversation pieces. We should not take up anyone's burden lightly. We must not have any intention in knowing men other than for the purpose of helping them.
Communication among God's children is based on love, not on knowledge. We should not communicate with our brothers and sisters according to knowledge. Instead, we should fellowship according to love. The basis of Christian fellowship is always love, never knowledge. The world seeks like-minded people in its fellowship. But our fellowship is based on our love for the brothers. We love one another. If our fellowship were based on our knowledge, it would be difficult for us to be Christians at all. God has not communicated with us according to His knowledge of us. If we communicate with the brothers and sisters according to our knowledge of them, the Lord will not entrust us with the knowledge of our brothers and sisters. The more we know about men, the harder it will be for us to be a Christian. If we try to know others according to knowledge, we will shake our head about everyone. We will shake our head about this brother and that brother. In the end, I am afraid that we would not be able to fellowship with anyone, and we would even shake our head about ourselves. Our communication and fellowship with the brothers can only be built on the foundation of brotherly love.
We know the brothers for the sake of rendering help and service to them. We try to know the condition of a person only as we work on them. Our love for the brothers must be separated from our knowledge of the brothers. God can only commit Himself to those servants who are able to separate love from knowledge and who can deal with people accordingly. Those who cannot separate these two things are not qualified to be a servant of God. I should speak a word of advance warning. If we mix these two matters together, we have to take responsibility for the mixture. There should even be a distinction between love and knowledge in the way we deal with our sons. A father must know what problems his son has, but no father will lose his love for his son just because he has gained knowledge of his troubles. The communication between the father and the son is based on love. Love is "foolish." The father's knowledge of his son cannot influence his love towards him. We cannot love our brothers less than we love our son. In fellowshipping with our brothers, we have to act as if we are completely ignorant of their mistakes. This is to fellowship by love. We love the brothers, and our fellowship with them can only be in love, not by knowledge. We should act as if we do not know anything about our brothers' problems. Our communication with the brothers and sisters must always be based on love.
Let us take another illustration from God's Word. The way the Lord Jesus dealt with Judas is a good example. Judas was a thief; he always stole money from the purse. He was a greedy man. If the Lord dealt with the twelve disciples according to knowledge, He surely would not have asked Judas to keep the money. The Lord was not ignorant of Judas's stealing, yet He still asked him to take charge of the money. He dealt with Judas just as He dealt with the other disciples. During the three years of His ministry, the Lord did not indicate in any way that He knew Judas was a thief. Even on the day of Judas's betrayal, He did not expose him. Up until the time when they last broke bread together, the disciples did not find anything unusual about Judas. The Lord's relationship with the twelve disciples before the cross was not a relationship of the Head with the church. While He was on earth, the Lord was managing the Father's possessions in the capacity of the Son (Heb. 3:6). The disciples were the Father's possessions; they were not the Father's sons. The Lord did not know them as sons but as possessions. This knowledge was outward. The disciples' relationship with the Lord was not one of the Body with the Head. They were not members of the church relating to the Head of the church. The Lord seemingly tolerated Judas because as the Son, the Lord managed and administered God's household according to outward rule. This is the reason He never exposed Judas's stealing. If we judged this according to our knowledge, we would call this a political, not a Christian, move. A man in the world becomes wise and experienced when he reaches fifty; he no longer does anything foolish. He becomes shrewd and cunning. He never falls prey to anything. But this is the way of the world. No Christian should become shrewd and cunning through the knowledge he has gained of other men. If we deal with the brothers and sisters according to knowledge, we can spare ourselves many crosses and headaches by relying on our shrewdness. Today our knowledge about the brothers and sisters is limited. After a few years, this knowledge will increase. Then we will know the brothers as soon as we talk with them, and it will be hard for us to love them. Yet this should not happen among us. If we deal with the brothers according to knowledge, we will become shrewd and cunning. This is not growth, but degradation.
We must keep ourselves in the love of God. The Lord gives us knowledge of the brothers for the purpose of ministry. Those in the world cannot love after they have been fooled by others. They become afraid. But Christians should not be this way. Among Christians, love is at the very top. Love reigns. We should never become clever by gaining knowledge of the brothers and sisters. If we know men merely to avoid being fooled by them, our knowledge will only make us clever men. If this is the meaning of being clever, then our Lord was the most foolish man. Judas's stealing was a chance to manifest the Lord's glory and greatness. Men's eyes usually are blinded when others steal from them. But the Lord's eyes were open when others stole from Him. The commandment that the Lord received from the Father was that Judas should keep the money. If the Lord had asked Peter to keep the money, the money might have been spent quickly. If He had asked Matthew to keep the money, there might not have been enough to pay the food bill. Others could have stolen more. Judas could have complained that the loss could have been greater had the money been entrusted to others. One tends to accuse others of doing the same thing that he is guilty of. If someone else had been entrusted with the money, the purse might have been more tightly controlled, but the mouths would not have been controlled. At a minimum Judas would have opened his mouth to criticize. The Lord asked Judas to keep the money. Although he stole some of it, he kept it secret. The most that occurred was that money was stolen. If others had been given charge of the money, more problems could have arisen.
May God give us a greater love for the brothers. We have to pray that God would make our love for the brothers greater than our knowledge of them. May our love for the brothers transcend everything. May our cleverness not affect our love for the brothers. May we know men for the purpose of helping them, not for the purpose of avoiding trouble on our part. We ask God to fill our hearts with love for the brothers. We should act as if we do not know anything about their problems. This is something that belongs to another world. The more we know the brothers, the narrower our pathway becomes. We should not be afraid of being taken advantage of or suffering loss. We should allow love to transcend everything, and brotherly love is the only way.
