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Date:February 2, 1950Place:Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
When I came to Hong Kong this time, I felt unhappy about the lack of advancement in the church here. During the past decade war was raging everywhere, but Hong Kong has been affected by it very little. Yet today there are only one to two hundred saints in Hong Kong. The flame of war has not touched this place, but neither does it seem as if the flame of revival has either. I am a little disappointed about the progress of revival in Hong Kong.
We have to be clear that in order for the church to have a revival, it has to follow God's ordained laws. There are laws behind everything in the universe. All creatures are after their kind (Gen. 1:24). Even sin and death has its law (Rom. 8:2). There are also laws governing revival. According to my observation, the problems lie solely with the co-workers. In order for the church to be revived, our co-workers must be first revived. They can then influence the leading brothers and eventually all the brothers and sisters. How can we be revived? The way is to hand ourselves over. The co-workers must first hand themselves over; they must take the lead to consecrate themselves.
The degree of our consecration is based on the amount of light we have received. The amount of shining we receive determines the extent of consecration we render. In this aspect the elders should not fall behind the young ones; they should not be behind in consecration. Admittedly, the older brothers and sisters may not be able to match the young people in evangelism, zeal, or energy, but they should not say that they cannot match the young people in consecration and love for the Lord. If they do, this is an admission that they have received less light and grace than the young people.
In God's church there is the eldership. Among God's workers there is the leadership. Many people think that these positions are determined by age and gift, but they are not determined by age or gift. They are determined by a man's consecration before God. The amount of consecration we maintain before God determines the degree of the manifestation of our position before Him. This manifestation is our only qualification to take the lead among the churches or the workers. Those who are willing to pay the price to deal with themselves will find that others have less of a need to deal with them. If we have God's light, we can take the lead and others will follow us; they will not rebel. Even though everyone has handed himself over, everyone's spiritual condition is different. If we are willing to cut ourselves deeper, the life that flows out will be richer, and others will receive more supply from us.
The extent to which we hand ourselves over will be the extent of the riches we receive from God. It will also be the extent to which we can render direction and help to others. J. N. Darby was an Anglican minister in 1825. By 1827 he gave up his clergy robe, and by 1831 he forsook all to follow the Lord. His obedience opened the floodgate to God's light. After him Kelly also forsook all to follow the Lord. When I was young, I received much help from Miss Groves who also forsook everything to follow the Lord. Today we should not broaden the narrow gate. We should not be like the Pharisees, who closed off the gate to the kingdom of the heavens, yet they would not go in themselves and would not allow others to go in either (Matt. 23:13).
Brother Chu Chen once occupied a certain position in a certain denomination. Later he received God's light and saw His way. He gave up his position and started a small coal shop. Although he worked hard, he was joyful because he obeyed. He became stronger in his consecration. His spiritual condition advanced, and he ascended to a higher plane.
We may owe others in many things, and we may even owe others in spiritual things, such as our love one for another (Rom. 13:8). However, in consecration we should owe nothing. In consecration we should only advance; we should not step back.
Many times the elders are affected by their past experience when they deal with the matter of consecration. They carefully weigh everything. They are not like the young brothers and sisters who consecrate themselves with a burning zeal. It is true that the elders need to make some decisions and arrangements with regard to the saints' consecration, but if the elders only move according to experience and caution out of a fear of being too extreme in their consecration, they cannot serve as elders. We should not be afraid of being too extreme. How many extreme things have we done in the past? Why are we so afraid of being extreme when it comes to the matter of consecration alone?
All of us have to go through dealings in our feelings, but how should we deal with our feelings? If a man has not dealt with a matter thoroughly, he will not have proper feelings concerning that matter. For example, one man in the Anglican Church by the name of H. C. Moule was touched deeply with the matter of baptism. He picked up a proper feeling for the matter of baptism. Mrs. Jessie Penn-Lewis, however, who was very spiritual and who rendered many people, including myself, much spiritual help through her writings, was prevented by her Quaker background from having a right feeling concerning the matter of baptism. She has not passed through any dealing in this matter. Concerning our feeling for every spiritual thing, we have to inquire of the Lord, and we have to open ourselves to His dealing. In the matter of consecration, we have to ask the Lord, "Have I fully consecrated myself? Is there any area that I have not yet consecrated?" The same thing can be said about our obedience. We should ask the Lord, "Is there any area in which I am still disobedient to You?" If we do not have any preconceived idea about a matter, the Lord will give us the light and we will develop a proper feeling. Brother Yu left the matter of his son's salvation completely to the judgment of the church. Although he did his part in preaching to his son, he did not make any judgment on the matter. Some people think that since they have given physical birth to their son, they should be responsible for their second birth as well. They want to monopolize both births. But if they do this, they will damage their feelings before God.
We should be tender in our feelings. We should always stand on the ground of a learner. If spiritual authority is not on our shoulder, we should be humble to learn all the more. Isaiah prophesied of our Lord's time on earth, saying that He had the tongue of the instructed (50:4). How humble the Lord was! He did not stand on the ground of a teacher. He did not speak His own words but the Father's word (John 14:10, 24). We have to learn from the Lord's example. When we speak, we should say that we are not speaking from ourselves, but we are quoting Brother So-and-so.
Presently the work in south China and Southeast Asia should be concentrated in one place. Hong Kong should be the center. However, we must have a breakthrough in Hong Kong before we can move on to Manila or Singapore. I feel that it is too early for some co-workers to work in these two places. Doing so would reduce our strength. Once our strength is reduced, our work becomes burdensome. The principle of God's work is first the one accord and then the concentration of our efforts in one place. When we combine forces together, the result will be great. According to the principle of the Bible, five men can chase a hundred, while a hundred can chase ten thousand (Lev. 26:8). When the first church was raised up, all the apostles were together in Jerusalem. After the church in Jerusalem became strong, the believers moved out for the spreading of the gospel.
When one delivers a message, he is speaking for God. It is important to have a strong spirit instead of good arguments. For this reason, our speaking should not pay too much attention to rational analysis. The basis of God's ministry of the word is His revelation in the spirit. A minister of the word has to stand on the right ground; he has to be in spirit before he can minister the word to others.
When I was at Honor Oak, I fellowshipped with Mr. Austin-Sparks about the matter of the ministry of the word. We discussed the one unique ministry and the many ministries in the Epistles to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 3:8; 1 Cor. 12:5). I said that perhaps the two passages in the Bible that will be the last to be fulfilled are the building up of the church, the Body of Christ, in Ephesians 4 and the church becoming holy and without blemish in Ephesians 5. God's work today is to build up the Body. Hence, there is the need of the one unique ministry that builds up the Body of Christ. In this Body there are many ministries that are for the perfecting of the saints. These are the ministries that the members of the Body receive from the Head for ministering to all the members. We have to learn to take our stand and be restricted by the Body.
