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Date:Evening, February 3, 1950Place:Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Among God's children today, there is the thought that service to God is a favor to Him. Let me ask: Do we see the shining face on the throne? Unless we see God's glory on the throne, we cannot forsake everything. The world is lovely, and mammon is precious! Everyone is intensely interested in money; no one can forsake it. If we have seen His glory, however, we will be like Paul who regarded everything as refuse in comparison to the excellency of Christ (Phil. 3:8-9).
Brother Ma, do you know the Lord? Brother Chu, do you feel that you have given yourself to the Lord's service too soon or too late? The world has only pain, bitterness, and regret to offer to men. It is more than worthwhile for a Christian to forsake the world to serve the Lord.
We are here to speak about total consecration. Some feel that this is too much, but these ones have not seen the glory of serving God. They want to go back to the world at every turn. The Israelites who did not see the excellency of the promised land wanted to go back to Egypt at every turn. Once we sense the glory of serving the Lord, we will be able to lead many by the hand even though we may be young men ourselves. Paul was a young man when he was called Saul. He persecuted the church and thought that he was serving God. He asked for letters from the high priest to bind the believers. Yet God's glory came to him, and he fell down. Through this experience, he began to know the meaning of serving the Lord.
Perhaps we consecrated ourselves with tears. Even while our tears were still wet, our heart was filled with joy. The deepest joy is the joy that is accompanied by tears. We should feel ashamed that we have not given Him enough. We should feel ashamed that we have not given Him the best. We can never give Him too much. This revelation alone will change the color of everything in our life. It will change our taste. We are not doing this to join a crowd. It is by God's grace that our offering is accepted. This is the meaning of knowing Him in resurrection. This is what motivated the early church to consecrate itself.
Some people think that they are doing God a favor when they drop a little money in the offering box. Little do they realize that it is God's mercy that our offering is accepted. I know two young brothers who are somewhat clever in worldly ways. Each of them has some small achievements. They are very proud. They think that their service to God is a favor to Him. I heard them say once, "I could have gained a high place in society, but I have given myself to serve God!" When I heard this, I said, "You are wrong. During the past two thousand years of church history, countless people who were better than you have given themselves to serve the Lord. They knew the preciousness and the glory of serving the Anointed One. They never felt that they had done themselves an injustice by serving God. On the contrary, they thanked God for His great mercy for sending down His fire to consume the service of a sinner like them. O blind ones, the day will come when the One to whom you offered yourselves in contempt will be exalted in glory as the Christ of God. Think carefully about who is doing whom a favor!"
Even if we have to kneel, crawl, or prostrate ourselves before God, we have to plead for service. His acceptance of our consecration is His mercy and grace. Consecration is God's grace to us. It is God granting us a favor by accepting us. We have to bow down our head and say, like Mephibosheth, "What is your servant that you should look upon a dead dog like me?" (2 Sam. 9:8). God is so great. He is the Lord of the universe. What a wonder that creatures as lowly as we can serve Him. O proud ones who can boast in anything, you cannot boast in front of God; this is the wrong place for boasting.
Let me illustrate my point with a story. I have a friend who is also a brother. During the war he was in Chungking. One day General Chiang invited him for a meal. He was very excited when telling me about the dinner, and he was very honored. Two months ago Mr. Mao wrote him a letter and asked him a question. He came and told me that General Chiang's dinner and Mr. Mao's letter were highlights in his life that he would never forget. Let me say that God is far greater than Mr. Mao and General Chiang. Are we doing Him a favor or is He doing us a favor by allowing us to serve Him? Everyone who knows God will prostrate himself in the dust and beg to give his all to God in adoration and worship. It is God's great love and mercy to allow us to serve Him. We should thank Him. We have not done Him a favor. It is a matter of Him receiving our consecration, not a matter of us being generous enough to give ourselves. The honor is on us, not on Him. Serving the Lord is our glory, a tremendous glory!
We hope that in these days many brothers and sisters will learn to press themselves against the Lord and say, "This is what little I have. Please send down Your fire to accept it." This is the time for us to forsake everything. It is inexcusable for any of our co-workers to have fear or to keep back anything. Anyone who tries to deceive or who has impure motives will be like Ananias and Sapphira. Our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). No man can deceive such a Lord. We have to offer up everything wholeheartedly and in all sincerity. We have to serve God with our whole soul and our whole mind.
Our consecration speaks of our valuation of the Lord. The more we treasure the Lord, the more we will give our all to Him. We all have something that we treasure. Handing oneself over does not merely mean handing over treasures but handing over all. In the past the church was too timid; it only dared to ask the saints to offer their treasures. Today the church should no longer be timid. It has to proclaim boldly to the saints: "We have to offer up everything to the Lord. When we do not know Him, we only offer up our treasures. When we know His glory, we will say to Him, `Not only am I offering my past and present treasures; I am offering everything I will have in the future. Please accept them.' " If we try to hold anything back, our inner being will feel suffocated; we will not be comfortable unless we consecrate. Our consecration speaks of our valuation of the Lord. It shows how much we are willing to pay for the Lord. In Judas's eyes the Lord was worth only thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave (Matt. 26:15; Exo. 21:32). To the world, our Lord is a slave. It is willing to pay thirty pieces of silver for Him and no more. How much are we willing to pay?
Allow me to tell a story. After the war all the brothers and sisters were struggling with a mean living. At that time a brother proposed marriage to a sister, and they became engaged. The brother came to me and said, "I am getting married. I have never asked anyone for anything in my whole life. Now I am asking for help for my wedding." He needed a large sum of money. I asked, "Presently, everyone is tight financially. Is not this sum a little too large?" He answered, "To me, it is too little." Of course, it was seven or eight times more than what other brothers would spend. He thought for a long while, and then answered me in a very emphatic way, "To me, nothing is too much to spend on her." I had nothing to say. I gave him what he asked for. Two months later, I found myself preaching to him about selling all and offering everything to God. Thank God, he heard my words and did sell everything.
Many times we feel that we are not doing enough even when we offer everything to God. We feel that we are not doing enough when we lay our all, our life, and even our blood on the altar. This is like the brother who loved his fiancée so much that nothing was too much to him. If we really treasure the Lord, nothing will be too much or too expensive to offer to Him. We would not be ashamed to pour out our most cherished and precious treasures on Him. He is worthy of our total abandonment. Is our valuation of Him so high that it transcends everything?
If we want to consecrate ourselves, we have to do it absolutely. We have to forsake everything to follow the Lord. One brother in Shanghai only had two dictionaries. These were his total possessions; he had nothing else. When he heard the message on forsaking all to follow the Lord, he went home and asked his father if there was anything in the house that belonged to him. His father answered that the two dictionaries were the only items. He took the two dictionaries and handed them over to the church. It is not a matter of consecrating more or less; it is a matter of consecrating one's all. When the poor widow offered up her two mites, the Lord's heart was touched (Luke 21:2). The Lord praised Mary's consecration and said that she had done what she could (Mark 14:8). For the gospel and God's house, we have to offer up everything. Either we do not become a Christian at all, or we have to be such a kind of Christian. We cannot hold back anything. This is what it means to be absolute. A brother in Shanghai once said, "It is getting harder and harder to be a Christian. When others slap our cheek, we have to turn the other cheek." Actually, this brother does not know the Lord. He does not know how to exult in Him. His only reaction is to grit his teeth. It is a suffering to him. If we turn our right cheek immediately to those who slap our left cheek, we will go home full of joy. But if we remain in ourselves, hesitating to strike back only because we think this is what a Christian should do and keeping our anger within, we will only suffer. Only those who abandon themselves in an absolute way will find joy. If both of our cheeks are slapped, we will exult in the Lord. We will feel that we have been given the honor to demonstrate the proper Christian standard and measure. We have to be a Christian absolutely. We should not only deny everything; we should deny ourselves. Once I was sick with tuberculosis. Even now I still have trouble with my heart. If we do not deny ourselves, we can never be happy. Today a brother is here. Suppose we try to help him beyond our capacity. Suppose we help him until we hurt, until we start digging into our own necessities. When our hands become empty, we will kneel down and praise the Lord. We will not need to plead for God's mercy. Such a consecration will fill us with joy for a whole month. The Christian joy is not merely a joy on the surface but a joy in the heart.
Brother Philip Luan was a very good giver. After he became a Christian, he closed down his tobacco factory. One brother tried to borrow a hundred dollars from him, but he only had twenty dollars. He went home, pawned the only blanket he had, a Russian-made one of top quality, and scraped together a hundred dollars to give to the brother. When his wife returned, she found that the blanket was gone. Brother Luan comforted her, saying, "We are giving it away to the Lord. We are the Lord's slaves. We are here to serve the Lord. It is only right that we offer up everything to Him."
Paul testified to the Corinthians that though he was poor, he enriched many (2 Cor. 6:10). He also said that our Lord Jesus was rich but had become poor for our sake so that we would become rich because of His poverty (8:9). Our Lord denied Himself to make us rich. We can touch the same reality in the self-sacrifice of Paul.
An absolute consecration will fill us with joy. We cannot say that it is wrong for Christians to have reservations, but we can say that a consecration with reservations invariably comes short. We have to be a Christian absolutely, definitely, and thoroughly. This is the only way to be filled with joy. This kind of joy is unknown to the Gentiles. I hope to see Christians in Hong Kong full of praises in their mouth and joy in their heart. The more absolute we are, the more we will be filled with joy inwardly.
This is the reason the Bible always puts trials and joy together. I do not know what Paul's ordinary tone of voice was, but I do know that when he sang in the prison cell, even the prisoners and the angels inclined their ears (Acts 16:25). When a person willingly takes up the suffering of relinquishing all for the Lord, how great will be his joy and how lofty will be his tune! Perhaps he will suffer much ridicule from men. Perhaps even Christians will say to him, "I have been a Christian for thirty years. I have never done what you are doing. Perhaps you have a problem with your mind. Perhaps you have gone mad!" He has to answer them, saying, "Lovers of the Lord down through the ages have done this. Brethren in the last century like J. N. Darby, Sir Bennet, William Kelly, and many other leading brothers forsook their all within a single day. They gave up everything to follow the Lord." Griffith Thomas praised the Brethren for being the best among all God's children in rightly dividing the truth. D. M. Panton said that the Brethren movement far exceeded the Reformation in its influence. It was a common practice among hundreds and thousands of these brothers to give up everything. Some gave up their nobility. Others gave up their position, their degree, or their possessions. Their consecration brought in the church's revival. From them we have inherited the knowledge and assurance of God's salvation, the judgment of sin, the truth about the position of the church, the practice of forsaking all to follow the Lord, and other things. Of course, we have gone on and have become clearer concerning certain things.
The tide of the Spirit is forever onward. This is true not only of the truth concerning salvation and the position of the church but of the practice of forsaking all. What Brother Witness Lee did in Chefoo in 1943 was a strategic move of the Holy Spirit. It was a move of the Spirit, and no one could withstand it. All the brothers and sisters poured out their hearts and gave up their possessions, sometimes with tears and sometimes with laughter. As a result the truth was uplifted and recovered, and a revival was brought in. The work of the Holy Spirit was so strong that many brothers and sisters were compelled to offer their all. They could not have any peace otherwise.
Consecration is not only a personal matter. It is the way of the church today. We are clear about a person's individual position and his way, but how should the church go on? In the first century the apostles as a body forsook everything to serve the Lord. In the four Gospels the apostles dropped everything to follow the Lord individually. Then at the beginning of Acts three thousand and then five thousand people were saved. The church life began, and the believers followed the example of the apostles to forsake everything to follow the Lord. The whole church forsook everything (2:44-45; 4:32-35). Later the church became degraded. The clergy-laity system was formed, and the clergy monopolized all spiritual things. The laity, composed of secular men and women, became lax. However, the church did not lower its expectation concerning the apostles. It expected the clergy to suffer, to forsake all, and to deny the world. We all know that Catholicism forbids its priests from marrying. The less human they are, the more they are qualified to bear spiritual things. This is a wrong concept. Paul's word on presenting the body as a living sacrifice is for the whole Body (Rom. 12:1); it was not addressed to the apostles alone. Today everyone expects a preacher to be poor, and everyone expects the co-workers to suffer, but no one expects the ordinary believer to be the same. This, however, is not the truth of the Bible. It is a fallen concept of the church. When the church moves on and advances, it will find that forsaking everything is not the exclusive business of the apostles but a practice that belongs to all the believers. In the past many people have had the concept that the workers should be particularly poor and suffering, that they must forsake everything before they can be considered a servant of the Lord. Today we are welcoming everyone to join the co-workers' lot. In other words, we should take the way of life and the way of service of a worker; we should live and serve accordingly. This is the way the church has decided to take today.
All of us should rise up and be workers. This means that all of us have to be servants of God. Our worldly occupation is only for maintaining our livelihood. We may have different occupations, but we are all servants of the Lord. Everything is offered up to the Lord and to the church. The church may assign you to be a businessman. A person cannot live two or three times above the standard of a co-worker just because he is a businessman. This is absolutely wrong. Just as we expect a co-worker to be frugal, we have to be frugal. We have to make a resolution never to buy anything carelessly. We have to save all we can and limit our spending. This applies to every brother who has handed himself over. In the past there might have been a difference between the co-workers and those who were not co-workers. We can no longer have this distinction.
A minister of the word cannot keep back any word for himself. Similarly, a moneymaker cannot keep back any money for himself. Holding back the Lord's word and having reservations is a cheating in the Lord's ministry of the word. Paul, David, John, Daniel, Ezekiel, and others never hid the word in their ministry of God's word (cf. Acts 20:27; Col. 1:25). A minister of God's word has to share His word with the church. Similarly, those involved with the ministry of mammon should share their mammon with the church; they should not keep it for their own use. From now on we should save as much as possible and sell whatever we can sell, but we should not force unbelieving parents, wives, or husbands to go along. We can only practice this ourselves. Under all possible circumstances, we should save as much as we can save and sell as much as we can sell. I do not advise that we eat poorly on purpose; this will ruin our health. That is not wise. We should sell what we can sell but not deprive the body of its necessary nutrition. We must take good care of our body. If we have the potential to use our body for another thirty years, we should use it for this time. It should not waste away in two or three years. Other than this consideration, we should save as much as we can save and give away as much as we can. Give up everything for the saints' and for the gospel's sake.
We must take time and place into consideration in selling our all. In the Gospels we find individuals practicing this. In Acts the saints sold their belongings themselves, placed the proceeds at the feet of the apostles, and put them at the disposal of the church. In reality they placed them before the seven deacons (Acts 6:3). Once the church comes in, there is the need of arrangements. But these arrangements are not made by natural men but by men of wisdom chosen by the Holy Spirit. With proper arrangements, things will not be handled rashly. The Holy Spirit will exercise His control in this matter. We request that you write down all that you have on a piece of paper and give it to the church. Let the church decide what to do. Some things need to be sold. Other things do not need to be sold. The church will make the decision. The church asks you to submit a list, not because it wants to claim the items on the list, but to facilitate the responsible brothers in making proper arrangements. You should not keep anything according to your choosing. If the brothers and sisters say that you should keep it, you should keep it. Your two hands have to be empty all the time. After you have handed your possessions over, if the church says that you should sell something, it will return the items to you and ask you to sell them. The teaching in Acts is that all the consecrated ones did the selling themselves. The teaching in the Gospels is also for every individual to do the selling himself. This act of selling affords a very good training to the seller; it is a great lesson to him.
Let me give another illustration. A brother in Shanghai bought eight hundred mus (a measure of land, equal to approximately 733 square yards) of contiguous farmland in the course of ten years. He spent much time and energy acquiring it. When he handed himself over, he dealt with the land two and three plots at a time because he reckoned that he had acquired them two or three at a time. If I had been the one selling it for him, I would have disposed of the whole property all at once. I realized that this brother was still not firmly persuaded in his heart. He submitted his list of consecration, but his heart was not in it. I asked him to come to me, and I told him to sell his land. He could not part with it and eventually decided to keep it. Eventually, all eight hundred mus were confiscated by the Communists. I am asking you to do the same thing now: Whatever you have built up with your own hands should be sold by your own hands. This is like Abraham being asked to slay his own son. This will teach you a very solid lesson.
Today many people are like Nebuchadnezzar, who built the great city Babylon with his own hands. They dare not tear down their own building; they want to hand it over to God and let God tear it down. God will never do this, however. He wants us to tear it down ourselves. Abraham obeyed God and offered up Isaac. God wanted Abraham to slay Isaac with his own knife. Isaac was Abraham's son; God did not want to slay Isaac for him. A man does not have many chances in his life to learn such a lesson.
One sister had a fondness for jewelry, such as pearls and bracelets. She handed them over to the church and asked the church to sell them for her. I told her that the church would not sell them for her but that she had to sell them herself. This was the only way she could be free from money and material possessions. From now on the church will not sell or auction things for the saints.
When Brother Witness was preparing the building of the meeting hall in Shanghai, many sisters offered their diamonds, rings, jade, etc. Many brothers offered paintings and calligraphies which they had collected. A high price had been paid for these items. They were worth quite much at the time of their purchase, but they could not be sold for twenty percent of their value. Some could not be sold for more than a fiftieth of the purchase price. One diamond worth five thousand dollars was sold for less than five hundred dollars. Another item worth twelve hundred dollars was sold for only twenty dollars. The brothers and sisters who sold their jewelry and paintings began to realize how much they had wasted the money that God had blessed them with. This is the only way we can realize the rapid depreciation of worldly possessions. Only eternal things have eternal value. Only items that have been consecrated to God retain their value. Paintings and calligraphies quickly become cheap. We have to take up the knife and do the killing ourselves. Only by doing it ourselves will we realize how easily we are deceived. This will teach us a lesson to not be so foolish again. This is the only way we can learn. If we invest our hard-earned money into these objects again, we will be the most foolish people. When we hand ourselves over to God, we are building upon an unfailing and unfaltering foundation. Our spirit will no longer be bound, and we will transcend everything.
When we overcome the bondage of money and material things and we rise above the entanglement of everything, the whole church will rise up to preach the gospel. Now the workers are preaching. When that day comes, the church will be preaching and the church will be serving. There will no longer be just one or two persons serving as full-timers. The whole church will be the Lord's servants. That will be a glorious day. I hope that day will come soon.
How should we serve in the church after we have sold our all? We have to submit to the careful arrangement of the older, leading brothers who make decisions under the control of the Holy Spirit. These brothers should also give clear advice concerning proper occupations. We want all the consecrated ones to be able to work together, even for the gospel migration. In the past our occupation was for our personal interest and livelihood. In the future we hope that we will offer up our occupation to God for the accomplishment of His gospel. We hope that we can say that any occupation is acceptable as long as it benefits the gospel. We have no choice of our own. We do not want to take our own way. Rather, we will go where the gospel goes. If we can do this, we can send some to Sinkiang province or to Tibet. If the whole church can send out five thousand, ten thousand, or even fifty thousand people, how much the Lord will bless His church! If everything we have is offered up for the gospel, the church, and the Lord's service, the Lord and the gospel will have a free way through the church.
Brother Liu was a very good doctor. He and his wife were sent to Yi-Yang. They had a good place to live in Chung-Shan Hospital. When they arrived in Yi-Yang none of the walls of the saints' houses were made of solid material. They did not even have tiled roofs; many lived in tents. Brother Liu and his wife did the same. They did not have their own choice. His job at Chung-Shan Hospital was not bad, but for the sake of serving God, they chose to live in these unbearable conditions. Thousands of people throughout church history have forsaken everything for the sake of serving the Lord. Brother Liu and his wife gave up their good living and moved to Yi-Yang for one purpose only — to join the other brothers and sisters in serving our God.
I hope that no one in Hong Kong will hold back anything. I hope that everyone will be absolute and forsake everything to serve our God. We must be this kind of people before God will allow us to serve Him. We have to be clear about what we are doing here. I do not believe there is another force as powerful in preaching the gospel as the whole Body rising up. Yet there are not many places where men dare to say that they will forsake everything to serve our God. Actually, no one wants to say such a thing. A man is willing to say such a word only after God has worked on him and dealt with him. Brother Witness, Sister Wang, and myself have considered this matter for many years. We dared not say this word because we felt that we had not been dealt with enough. Today we have not lost our sanity when we say such a word. The Lord has brought us to a point that we cannot hold back this word. We have to realize that we have to bear the responsibility for what we are saying here. Indeed, this is not something that we love to speak in ourselves. I know the consequence of saying such a thing. But this is the only way we can serve our God. No cheaper way will work. Let me say this again: Only those who have forsaken everything can serve our God. I know the serious responsibility I am bearing for saying such a word. Perhaps you would rather be a spectator in this meeting, but we have to fulfill our responsibility. I can only say what Paul said to Agrippa when he testified that he was not insane. He had not lost his mind. This is the way that God has put in front of us.
If we take the way God has laid before us, the glorious church in Ephesians 4 and 5 will be before our eyes. May God open our eyes, and may such a glorious day be hastened through our absoluteness.
Brother Weigh: Lord, in Hong Kong everything is loose, but everyone has a tight grip on mammon. Everyone is building up his Babylon and Jericho. These are the things the world boasts of. But You will destroy them all. How easy it is for us to follow the world. Unless You deal with all these things by Your mighty power, Your great glory, and Your love, we will have no way to go on. Lord, grant us the grace to willingly destroy what we have built and to give ourselves to You entirely for Your service.
A sister: Lord, apart from the cleansing of Your blood, no one can be accepted by You. Unless we consecrate ourselves absolutely to You, we are not qualified to serve You. May Your glorious face on the throne attract us once more so that we can run after You.
Brother Luk: Lord, grant us a persevering faithfulness. We want to put this word into practice immediately. We do not want to have any compromise from our head to our very toes.
Watchman Nee: Lord, do a work in Hong Kong as You have never done before. Clear out the situation here entirely. We want to give ourselves to You unconditionally and gloriously. We desire to consecrate ourselves to You absolutely and thoroughly. In the past we built up many things for ourselves. Work in us today to destroy them all. Clear out everything until nothing is left. Work on us again and again. Have a way among us and then have a way here in Hong Kong. May we see the whole Body rising up to serve in Hong Kong, and may many other places follow in its footsteps. We consecrate ourselves to You. We offer ourselves to You so that You will have a way to go on in the church. When You have a way to go on in the church, the gospel will have a way to go on in Hong Kong. Be merciful to us and be gracious to us. Send us the heavenly fire. Accept our offering so that Your gospel will have a free way among us. Amen.
