Date: July 26, 1948Place: Kuling
Question: What are the particular things we have to know concerning listening to others?
Answer: Whether or not we can listen to others depends mainly on our objectivity. Only those who are objective can "translate," rather than "interpret," what they hear. In order to be objective, the self has to be dealt with. Once the self is dealt with, we become objective. Only an objective person can listen to others. Once a man becomes subjective in his attitude, he is useless in the work of God. A subjective person cannot listen to what others have to say, much less listen to what God has to say. The basic requirement for listening to others is to be objective. A lazy person is useless in the hand of God. So is a subjective person.
The same basic requirement holds true in understanding God's word — one must not be subjective. The kind of person we are will determine the kind of "word" we get. Once a man becomes subjective, he will read his own thoughts into God's word. Only an objective person will find God's will in His word.
No subjective person will truly understand others' feelings. Suppose three or five persons with a similar frame of mind are together. If a subjective person joins them, he may indulge in a self-centered discourse to the neglect of the others' feelings. Such a person lives in the realm of his own feelings. He cannot touch others' feelings. An objective person, however, would first touch others' feelings; he would easily blend in with their feelings and be one with their spirit. A subjective person can never catch up with others' spirit or enter others' feelings. He cannot touch God's word, because he cares only for his own feeling. He is insensitive to the feeling of the Holy Spirit. A subjective person only cares about himself. He wants to subject others' feelings to his own. Problems arise when a subjective person takes control, because others' feelings are always trampled.
The main reason for subjectivity is an unbroken self. All subjective persons are audacious, and all of them are short of spiritual knowledge before God. A subjective person only sees himself. He does not know how high the sky is or how great the earth is. A subjective person must be thoroughly broken.
It is not easy for a worker of the Lord to make judgments. We have to pray and consider much before we can make a small decision. If a man can make a decision within five minutes, it means that he is a very subjective person. In order to deal with a situation, we have to build up some history behind us. Otherwise, we cannot deal with it. For example, the disciples once asked the Lord the reason they could not cast out a demon. The Lord answered that the kind of demon in question could only be cast out through fasting and prayer (Matt. 17:19, 21). Yet the Lord cast out the demon immediately, indicating that the Lord Himself was well prepared. This is a basic requirement for working for the Lord. Many brothers and sisters are too bold. There is a saying that a foolish man will dare to go where angels fear to tread. When a man places himself under God's mighty hand and remains in submission, not speaking or acting rashly, and not trying to be a teacher to many, he will carry out God's will and be qualified to make judgments.
Subjectivity should be condemned. All divisions arise out of human subjectivity. A subjective person cannot obey others. Before the Lord, it is not easy to make judgments concerning many things. Yet many young brothers come to some kind of judgment within five minutes without having prayed about it at all. (Or perhaps they do not know how to pray in the first place.) They are too bold. They are bold because they are foolish. It is impossible to tell such a person to fear God or to submit to others.
Once a person refuses to take his proper position, there will be confusion in the church. In order for the church to be built up, everyone has to practice submission. There must be stones on top of other stones before there can be the temple. If no stone is on top of another stone, we only have desolation. A subjective person cannot submit to others and, hence, cannot be built up with others. He cannot coordinate with anyone. Many problems arise from some sisters. They think they can teach the Bible and make judgments, and they bring much havoc to the church. A proud and blind person probably will never submit to anyone in his lifetime. It is easy for a person to submit to the Lord, but not at all easy to submit to men. Suppose I ask Brother Paul to pray for me concerning something. In my prayer I may feel to do something, but Paul may receive the light through his prayer that this should not be done. I should yield to the leading of my elder brother Paul. This is the principle of the church. If all the brothers and sisters say that you should not do a certain thing, yet you insist on doing it, you are taking the way of the Gentiles; you are not a person living in the church. You cannot say that you are always right. You have to listen to those who have gone through more training and submit to them. Madame Guyon maintained a deep fellowship with God, yet she subjected herself to the authority of La Combe. This is the reason we have her autobiography today, and this is the reason the church has received so much supply from her in subsequent generations. She did not want to write the autobiography herself, but at the insistence of La Combe, she consented.
All leadings should pass the test of Body fellowship. Every leading of the Body comes to us through other members. Human subjectivity can become a great obstacle. As soon as a man becomes subjective, he will not be able to receive leadings from other members. We have to learn to submit to the church and to go along with others' opinions. Thinking that we are always right is extreme arrogance. The supply of the Body and the leading of the Body often are one and the same thing. Timothy often acted according to Paul's leading, and he was in reality carrying out Paul's work. As a result, the blessing of Paul went to Timothy. If a young person will not submit to the older brothers and sisters in the church, he is giving up the source of his own supply. The blessing of the older ones will not reach him. Young brothers and sisters should always take the word of the older ones; they should always obey them. The older ones have become what they are today through many years of pursuit. Once we submit to them and receive from them, we gain all that they have gained. If we have learned the lesson of obedience, we can turn one Paul into ten thousand Pauls, because everyone will inherit all the riches of his forebears.
The confusion of Protestantism arises from extreme individualism. If we know the church, we will receive supply from the ministers. Once we receive the supply of the members, we will become rich because as soon as we receive from others, what they have will become ours. In the body when the eyes see, the hands see. If we are a hand, and we receive the seeing of the eyes, we get the light. But if we will not accept the seeing of the eyes, we are left in the dark. Coordination in the Body brings in riches. If we all take our position in the Body, the attainments of all the members will be ours. If a man is ignorant of the supply of the church, he is a poor man, and his spiritual life will gradually wilt away. A subjective person will only trust in himself. A man may be a new believer, but he will become very rich as long as he takes what the older ones have seen and does not insist on seeing the same things himself.
The church is not mainly for authority but for supply. If we all take the way of church fellowship, the churches in the whole world will have a great change. If a man will receive others' riches, what riches he will experience, and what riches he will impart to the church! May we all be poor voluntarily so that we can receive others' riches and see what they see. If a man sees the principle of Body fellowship, everything under the direction of the Head will meet the need of the whole Body. There is no need to distinguish too clearly between the Head and the Body. The supply of the Head is the supply of the Body. In 1 Corinthians 12, we do not see a distinction between the Head and the Body (vv. 12, 21). The Head is the Body, and the Body is the Head; there is no separation between the two.
We have to learn to know the oneness of the Body. The more the church lives in the reality of the spirit, the richer it becomes. It is a smart thing for the young ones to take the supply and leading from the older ones while they are still young. If they insist on personally going through the leadings the older ones have gone through, it may be a very long time before they accumulate these same riches. Even if they receive something, they cannot be certain that what they have received is reliable. The Catholic way of conformity is wrong, but the Protestant way of independent freedom is also wrong. Anyone can read the Bible, but not everyone can expound the Bible. The work of the latter belongs to the ministers. If we receive the supply from the ministers, we will become very rich indeed. We must all learn to be delivered from subjectivity so that we can become rich.
