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Date:May 26, 1948Place:Customs Lane, Foochow
The second result of the breaking of the outer man is that one begins to know men. It is very important for a worker to know men. When a person comes to us, we have to know his spiritual condition; we have to know where his problem lies. If we do not know men or their spiritual condition, we will not be able to render them any help. A doctor needs many instruments to diagnose a patient. Even with many instruments, he sometimes cannot determine the illness of his patient. When a person comes to us, he may not tell us everything that is within him. A sinner often does not tell the truth, and believers often skip important things that we need to know. It is impossible to know men simply by their words. We cannot know a person simply by our ears or our eyes. Only those whose soul and spirit are separated and who are able to exercise their spirit can know men. This is a very basic principle in our work. We know men by the spirit, because the spirit discerns all things. We must learn to know others' spirit with our spirit. We must learn to sense their spirit with our spirit. We measure a person not by the words he speaks but by our spirit. We touch others' spirit with our spirit. This is what it means for deep to call unto deep and for deep to respond to deep.
In order for the senses in our spirit to be acute, the outer man must be broken. Every saved person should be inwardly clear about everything. If he is not clear, it is because his outer man has choked the way. We know a person's spirit by his words. As such, we have to touch the spirit behind a person's word. We do not know men just by our ears or eyes; we know their spirit with our spirit. However, their spirit follows their words. Hence, we have to touch the spirit behind the words. A proud person sooner or later will betray a proud spirit. He may say many humble things with his mouth, but others will touch his proud spirit sooner or later. What he says at the beginning is merely a kind of imitation or performance. His last few words determine his true condition. We have to touch others' spirit with our spirit. This is the only way to know their true condition.
The only parts of man that can be improved are his thoughts and attitudes; a man cannot change his spirit. Young brothers should be as simple as possible; they should not be pretentious in any way. No pretense has any spiritual worth. Some young people are very flippant; others are very solemn. Both the flippant and the solemn ones are off the mark. There is a brother in Shanghai who was saved only a year ago, but he is neither flippant nor solemn. This is good. No outward embellishment will do us any good. If a man's spirit has learned the proper lessons before the Lord, others can tell the difference as soon as he opens his mouth. In order for a Christian to advance, he has to break down all outward, artificial humility, calmness, and godliness. He can deceive those in degraded Christianity, but he cannot deceive us. We should never pretend.
May the Lord have mercy on us. When God breaks us through the discipline of the Holy Spirit and purges our emotion and destroys our stubborn will through the environment, we will be built up spiritually. Then we will touch others' spirit and come to know other men. The problem with the young people is that they seek to build up their behavior instead of their spirituality. All outward things will be destroyed one day. It is possible to lie not only with our words but with our behavior as well. Job was upright in everything and eschewed evil. But he eventually repented of his own righteousness. Before the Lord we have to be genuine. We should not pretend or perform in any way.
First, we have to realize that we maintain God's presence by separating the outer man from the inner man. Second, through the separation of the outer man from the inner man, we also acquire a knowledge of men. We come to know men only after our outer man and inner man have been separated. We cannot know men with the outer man. Once our outer man is separated from our inner man, we are ready to listen to others and to touch their spirit. As a result, we will discern any falsehood in others. Anything artificial is false and deceptive.
How do we separate the soul from the spirit? We do not have to do anything to separate them. The work of separation is in God's hand. God arranges for us to experience the discipline of the Holy Spirit through our environment for the purpose of breaking us and separating our soul from our spirit. For seven or eight years I did not have fellowship with others. There was not much light from God and I did not see many people. Yet I must say that I was not short of the discipline of the Holy Spirit during this time. Sickness, poverty, and adversity are all different forms of the discipline of the Holy Spirit. They are for the purpose of breaking our outer man. However, if we are not open to these lessons, the Holy Spirit will not accomplish anything in us. Every day the Spirit is looking for the opportunity to break us. This is our spiritual pathway. One main proclamation in the New Testament is, "Heaven was opened" (Luke 3:21). God has opened all the spiritual principles to us. This is not a closed age. This is an open age. Once we see the spiritual principles, we will find that the spiritual pathway is an easy race.
Everything depends on God's work and the Spirit's discipline. If God is merciful to us, we will advance with the proper speed. Our prayer should be tempered in its earnestness. This means that we should neither be too earnest nor too lax. No one knows just what constitutes being tempered. We can only cast ourselves on God. If we act by ourselves, we will face frustration whether we turn left or right; we will be wrong whether we try to do too much or too little. The spiritual race has nothing to do with running or not running. It has nothing to do with willing or not willing. Everything hinges on God's mercy. Human wisdom is useless. If God is merciful to us, everything we do will be proper and right. Man's head is a sixth of his overall size. If it were a quarter of his overall size, he would be a monster. We cannot go overboard in anything, nor can we come short in anything. Those with a strong emotion must be matched by a strong spirit. It is terrible for a weak spirit to be accompanied by a strong emotion. Every part of our being has to be well- balanced. Yet we cannot balance the parts ourselves. When the Lord gives us a blow, we will be left with the proper sense of balance. On the one hand, we will feel that we want to go on, and on the other hand, that we cannot go on. If we pursue anything in ourselves, we will never attain this proper and optimum balance. This way is truly a way of crucifixion, yet it is the quickest way. Everything depends on our consecration to God. We should neither will nor struggle; we should look only to God's mercy. God will work on us according to His own will, and our outer man will be separated from our inner man.
Ordinarily speaking, man's spirit is released through his speaking. In listening to others, we have to learn to remain quiet and calm. Do not concentrate on what is being said concerning their sins, holiness, goodness, evil, or their being right or wrong. Neither try to dig into the background of their stories. Instead, try to find out the condition of their spirit. When some speak, they may have the facts right but their spirit is wrong. In serving others, we are not interested in right and wrong. We do not judge who is right and who is wrong. We should only find out whether or not a person's spirit is right. A man may have done the right things with a wrong spirit. If a man's spirit is wrong, everything about him is wrong. We are here to render help to our brother's spirit, not to his business. We are here for the rightness of the spirit, not the rightness of facts. First and foremost, the Lord cares for our spirit. Only after this does He care for other things.
Once, the Lord was on His way to Jerusalem. Realizing that the Samaritans did not receive Him, James and John asked the Lord, "Do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" (Luke 9:54). As soon as they spoke this word, their spirit was exposed. They were right as far as the fact was concerned. They were doing this for the Lord, and they were scriptural in what they did. But the Lord told them, "You do not know of what kind of spirit you are." Their spirit was wrong. The Lord was showing us that in listening to others, we should pay attention not only to the rightness of the outward appearance but also to the condition of the spirit. As soon as a man opens his mouth, his spirit is exposed. Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. Once the spirit veers off, we have to repent to God and ask for forgiveness. Even if the facts are completely right, we still have to ask if we need to repent to God. If there is the need for repentance, it means that something is wrong. God judges us according to our spirit. If our spirit is wrong, everything else is wrong.
When a troubled brother or sister comes to us, we have to discover his or her spirit. While we are listening, we have to stop our mind and emotion, listen calmly, and wait for his or her spirit to come out. We have to give others' spirit the chance to flow out. We have to touch others' spirit aggressively with our spirit. Men often set their eyes on the rightness of a matter, but we have to set our eyes on the rightness of the spirit. We should go after the spirit and not after things. We have to listen carefully in order to touch men's spirit. Although everyone has ears, many do not have the ability to listen. If a person has a problem with listening, he has a problem with touching others' spirit. We can only touch others' spirit through listening to their words. A brother who is good at boxing may want to engage others in boxing to find out how good they are. We should do the same with our spirit; we should engage others' spirit. We should be able to measure their spirit. Only those who are able to measure others' spirit effectively are qualified to be good servants of the Lord.
In order to sense others' spirit, we have to listen to their words. We have to listen calmly and wait for the spirit to come out. God's Word says that the mouth speaks out of the fullness of the heart. A man can have many motives in his heart and use many ploys to cover himself, but his mouth will always say the things that are filling his heart. A man's speaking will always expose the condition of his spirit. If he is haughty, his speaking will always convey a spirit of haughtiness. If he is pretentious, his speaking will always convey a spirit of pretension. Once we hear a man speak, we can touch his spirit. Men often pay attention to the rightness of facts, but we have to pay attention to the rightness of the spirit. On the one hand, we have to ask God to deal with our spirit. On the other hand, we have to learn to listen quietly when others speak. We have to drop everything and focus on the spirit. Some people have a specious spirit, and we cannot deal with them gently. We have to deal with them sternly. Let me give you an example of a sister in Shanghai. We knew that she was proud because she liked to talk, and it was hard for her to listen to others. It was easy to know the condition of her spirit. Once a respectable man asked her for some help. She answered, "I have to seek God's will in this matter. I act solely according to His word. If this matter is not according to God's will, I will not do it even if you beg me on your knees. I have to obey God's word." This word exposed her spirit. She had an arrogant spirit. The first part of her reply could have been right, but the last part of her reply exposed her spirit. A man's spirit will eventually come out through his speaking.
At the beginning of my service to the Lord, Brother Leland Wang and I were together much of the time. He and I always argued with each other. There are many stories about the two of us. Today after so many years, I can speak of some of these things with few personal feelings. At that time I was seventeen or eighteen years old. We visited Miss M. E. Barber quite often. Whenever I went to her, I accused Leland. This occurred forty or fifty times. Miss Barber did not agree with me once. One time I went with many proofs of Leland's mistakes. Even Leland's wife persuaded him to stay away from Miss Barber at White Teeth Lake because she realized that Leland was wrong. But after I told Miss Barber everything, she still insisted that I was wrong. Although the things she said were not true, in the end I had to say that she was right. I was right according to the standard of outward conduct, but I was wrong in my inner man.
The three years that I spent at White Teeth Lake were very profitable times of training for me. Once, someone was ready for baptism. Among three brothers, I was the youngest. Leland was two years older than me, and the other one, Brother Wu, was seven years older than Leland. I was told by Miss Barber that I had to listen to Leland because he was two years older than me. I thought that Leland should surely listen to the brother who was seven years older than him, but he did not. I became indignant and complained. I felt that there was no justice in this whole episode. I went to Miss Barber to point out Leland's mistake. For half an hour to an hour I was filled with righteous indignation. I was young and could not contain my fleshly indignation. I kept talking for a long time. Eventually, Miss Barber said, "For the past few months, you have been coming to me to complain about Leland's mistakes. What if I were to say that Leland 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?" 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. I feel that I owe this sister quite much. Today I do not have such an opportunity to learn such precious lessons. Although I suffered much under her hand, those dealings were a great blessing to me.
Brothers, this is the way our work must take. It is not a matter of dealing with right and wrong but a matter of dealing with others' spirit. Miss Barber was not a person in the realm of right and wrong. She was able to discern my whole being. Outwardly speaking, I was angry with her, but my inner man was subdued by her. In working for the Lord, we should not busy ourselves with reasoning, arguments, right, wrong, good, or evil. We are here to know men's spirit, to touch their spirit, and to cultivate their spirit. This is the lesson that we have to learn.
