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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 3:21b-23; 7:22b-23a; Rom. 14:7-9; 2 Cor. 5:14-15
No mortal tongue can e’er describe
The freedom of the soul,
When passed beyond all earthly bribe
To God’s complete control.
All things are his, yes, life, and death,
Things present or to come;
In Christ he draws in peace each breath,
In Christ he finds his home.
When such as we the King can choose,
To share with Him His throne,
’Tis passing strange that we refuse
To be our Lord’s alone.
O never speak of sacrifice!
A privilege untold
Is to be His at any price,
In Calv’ry’s hosts enrolled.
Arise! the holy bargain strike —
The fragment for the whole —
All men and all events alike
Must serve the ransomed soul.
All things are yours when you are His,
And He and you are one;
A boundless life in Him there is,
Whence doubt and fear are gone.
Hymns, #473 is wonderful. When I went back to Taiwan in October of 1984, this hymn was so sweet. We could not stop the singing of this hymn, and it stirred up many hearts. I like every line except for the last one, so we can replace “Whence doubt and fear are gone” with “And kingdom yet to come.” Stanza 3 refers to the holy bargain, the fragment for the whole. When we sacrifice a fragment to the Lord, we gain the whole earth. When we serve Him, everyone and everything serve us — “All men and all events alike / Must serve the ransomed soul” (stanza 3). We all need to speak and sing this hymn again and again.
The verses in the Scripture Reading can be considered as a cluster of the divine Word, a cluster of grapes, so precious and so sweet. First Corinthians 3:21b-23 indicates that Christ is ours. Since Christ is ours, all things are ours. Even death is ours. Death serves a purpose for us, so death works for us. Verse 23 concludes with the fact that we are Christ’s. He is ours, and we are His. He belongs to us, and we belong to Him (S. S. 2:16). This is marvelous! First Corinthians 7 tells us that we all have been bought by Him to be His slaves. We are His slaves bought by Him with a price, so He is our Master, our Owner. He is our Lord, and we are His slaves.
Romans 14 tells us that “we live to the Lord” (v. 8). To live for Him is somewhat easy to understand. To live with Him, in Him, by Him, and even to live Him are still not too hard to understand. But to live to Him probably is a matter that we have never considered and do not understand. What is it to live to Him? This is the main point of this chapter.
The real meaning of being full time is to live to Him. To go full time does not mean to drop your job and become a preacher. It does not mean that you give up your business and become one who preaches the gospel or who labors in the word all the time. A full-timer is one who lives to the Lord. Every believer, without one exception, should be such a one. As long as you are a believer, you have to realize that you should be one living to Him. We have to live to Him because He is ours and we are His. To live to Him is based upon the fact that we are His. Not only is He ours, but we also are His.
After the wedding, a man and woman become a couple living together. They are living as one. Stanza 3 of Hymns, #473 says in two lines, “All things are yours when you are His, / And He and you are one.” As a married couple, the husband and wife are one. They should not only live for one another but to one another. He should live to her, and she should live to him.
When a husband tells a wife that he lives for her and does everything for her, he is not up to the standard. Actually, his heart is not one thousand percent for his wife. There is some reservation. If the husband tells his wife that he lives to her, this makes a great difference. To live to the Lord includes living for, by, with, and in Him. This is one being two and two in one. There is not only no separation between us and the Lord but also no distinction when we are living to Him.
Because the husband is merely living for the wife, she has to get his permission to spend his money. But when the husband lives to the wife, that means he and his wife are one. His money is hers, and her money is his. When she is going to spend money, she does not need to get her husband’s permission. Some couples may even argue because one used the money without the other’s permission.
When the Lord is going to spend your money, you may say, “Lord, this money is for You, but not today.” When we feel good and happy, we would give our money to the Lord. We are merely for the Lord. Because we are only for the Lord, the Lord is only for us. Whenever we want something of the Lord, we need to get His permission. You may ask the Lord for something, and the Lord may respond, “Everything is for you, but not today. Today I am not happy with you. I will wait for a time when you make Me happy.”
Many of us claim that we love the Lord and that we and all that we have are for Him. But for whatever the Lord would require of you, He needs your permission. You have not come up to the standard that you are living to Him. If you are living to Him, He does not need to get your permission for whatever He needs of you. Likewise, if the Lord is living to you, you do not need to get His permission for whatever you want of Him. You just use it.
To be full time means that you live to the Lord. You do not live for Him but to Him. This is a great privilege. A full-timer does not mean what we may think. A full-timer is one who lives to the Lord; every believer, as one bought by the Lord with a price, should be a person living to the Lord. He is yours, and you are His. He and you are one. He is to you, and you are to Him. There is no distinction in anything. He does not need your permission to use you, nor do you need His permission to use Him. He is ready to be like this to you, but you may not be ready. You may be quite reserving and hesitating. The husband may have the confidence in the wife to be one with her and to be everything to her, but the wife may still be doubting. She may be thinking, “If I tell him I am to him, he may take away everything I have. Then what shall I do? Do I have the security?” This mostly illustrates the present situation among us. Most of us in the Lord’s recovery do love the Lord, and we would say that whatever we are and whatever we have are all for the Lord. We do not realize, however, how subtle it is when we say that we are for the Lord.
Regardless of how much you say that you are for the Lord, the Lord has no right to touch anything of yours, because it is yours. It is yours for Him, and you for Him — not to Him. Suppose my wife brought me my lunch and said, “I am bringing some food for you.” This is not as good as her saying, “I am bringing some food to you.” Could you differentiate between these two expressions — I have something for you or I bring something to you? To me means that it immediately becomes my possession with me as the owner. When you say, “For me,” who possesses it? To whom does it belong?
When you say that you are for the Lord and that you live for the Lord, you think that is good. Actually, it may not be so good. It is subtle. There may be a kind of subtle reservation within you. You could say that you are for the Lord, but you dare not say that you live to the Lord. Many of us have read the portions of the Word in the Scripture Reading many times, but we have never paid attention to the difference between living to the Lord and living for the Lord. When you see a vision of your subtlety, you may realize that in the past you have always been living for the Lord and not to the Lord. Perhaps you have never lived to the Lord. I saw marriages in which the husband and the wife both kept things for themselves. When either of them wanted to use something belonging to the other, they had to have a long talk. Actually, they needed a long negotiation. They even negotiated in terms, in conditions. If the husband gave the wife something, he required the wife to give him something in return or in exchange. One particular person got married but with a condition that his wife had no share of whatever he had gained. He may be living for his wife, but he is not living to her. I hope we are beginning to understand what it means to be for the Lord and what it means to be to the Lord. Are you for the Lord? This is subtle. Many saints throughout the years told me that they were for the Lord.
You are for the Lord at your pleasure. When you feel happy or when you feel it is convenient, you give something for the Lord and do something for the Lord. When you do not feel happy or feel that it is not convenient, you do not do anything for the Lord. We must be enlightened to see that to be for the Lord is not adequate.
Marriage means that the sister is one couple with her husband. The real meaning of marriage life is not one for another but to one another. “One for another” is still two. To one another means that this couple became one at their wedding. Mary altogether lost her possession to John at their wedding, and John lost his possession, his ownership, altogether to Mary. They became a couple not for one another but to one another. Every believer should be like this to the Lord. You have been bought as slaves with a price. The Lord is yours, and you are His. He is to you, and you are to Him. Whatever you do, you do to Him. When you go to school to study, you study to Him. If you go to be a banker to make a lot of money, you make money to Him. As a wife who raises children, you raise up children to Him, not to yourself. Paul says, “None of us lives to himself” (Rom. 14:7). We do not live to ourselves but to Him. This is what it means to be full time. We all should be like this.
We have to recognize that we are Christians. This title or designation implies belonging. It does not only mean that you are a “Christ-man”; it also means that you are a man belonging to Christ. When the ancient Romans referred to the believers as Christians, they meant that these people belonged to Christ. Because you are His, everything about you must be to Him. The practical meaning of the title Christian is not that we are men for Christ but that we are men belonging to Christ. Because we absolutely belong to Him, we breathe to Him, we sleep to Him, we eat to Him, and we drink to Him. You do not need to say that you are doing something for Him, because you belong to Him. Whatever you are, you are to Him; whatever you do, you do to Him; whatever you possess, you possess to Him; whatever you own, you own to Him; the money that you have, you have to Him. If you say that you have something for the Lord, you are still the owner. You still possess and keep it, but you keep it for Him. It is not to Him. To be to Him is much deeper.
When we are living to the Lord, we do not need to talk about consecration. Suppose that after Mary and John had been married for three days, Mary repented to John and said, “John, for these three days I didn’t do things for you. Now I want to consecrate and offer myself to you.” John’s response would be, “Mary, it’s too late. You are already married to me. You don’t need to offer yourself to me. You belong to me already. I am your possessor, your owner. Why do you need to offer yourself to me? You are annulling our wedding.” In like manner, sometimes your consecration really means a cancellation. It indicates that you have canceled your marriage with Christ. You have to realize that on the day you were saved, you got married to Christ, and He has already bought you. The most you can say is, “Lord, forgive me. When I was saved, I didn’t realize that I got married to You and that from that day I belonged to You. Now that I realize this, I want to repent and live to You. I want to realize, or resume, the real marriage life from this hour.” The Lord desires that we be to Him since we belong to Him already. Do not say that you are for Him. To say that you are for Him indicates that you still possess something under your ownership.
In our fellowship in this chapter I believe we have touched the bottom of the significance of what it means to be full time. The job-dropping full-timers may not have realized that they should be to the Lord. The most they may have realized is that they are for the Lord. They are not to the Lord. To be for the Lord means that you still could be away from the Lord. If you are to the Lord, you could never be away from Him. To be to the Lord means that you are one with Him. It means that you breathe to the Lord, eat to Him, walk to Him, and even exercise to Him. If you are practicing the real ownership of the Lord, you will do everything to Him.
I hope we all can realize the proper denotation of the spiritual term full time. To be full time does not mean that you need to give up your job. To be a full-timer means that whatever you do, you do to the Lord; whatever you are, you are to the Lord; and whatever you have, you have to the Lord. If you remain in a job, you remain there to the Lord. If you leave your job, you leave it to the Lord. As long as you are to the Lord, you are a full-timer. Whatever you have to do practically all depends upon the One to whom you live. He leads you. Then you know whether you have to remain in a job or leave a job or whether you need to get married or remain single. It does not mean that if you remain single, you are full time and that if you get married, you are not full time. To be full time simply means to live to the Lord.
Every dear saint who really means business with the Lord must be one all the way living to Him. Paul says that even when we die, we die to Him (Rom. 14:8). Thus, there is no problem concerning whether we live a longer life or whether we die today. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. There is no difference. Whatever I do and whatever happens to me, I am to the Lord because I am one with Him. To think that only those who give up their job to do the Lord’s work are full time is a wrong understanding. This is an understanding under the influence of degraded Christianity.
The matter of being full time is implied in the cluster of the divine Word in the Scripture Reading of this chapter. You realize that you have been bought by the Lord with His precious blood as the purchasing price. Now He is your Lord and Master, and you belong to Him. He is yours, and you are His. Whatever you have, you have to Him. Whatever you do, you do to Him. Whatever you are, you are to Him. Everything is altogether to Him. This surely puts you in a position to take everything He has. You have the privilege. Because you are to Him, He is to you. As long as you are to the Lord, every wrong will be adjusted. We cannot abuse the Lord’s possessions as long as we are to Him. We have been wrong, wild, and so far from the central lane because we are always for the Lord. It is possible to debate with other brothers if we are for the Lord. But you could not say, “Brother Lee, I am debating with you to the Lord.” If you can say that you are to the Lord, you will immediately be adjusted.
When you say that you are a full-timer, it means that you are to the Lord. If the Lord really wanted you to drop your job and you would not do it, you could still say that you were for the Lord. But deep within, you could not say that you were to the Lord. If you cannot say that you are remaining in your job to the Lord, this indicates that you have to give up that job. Whether or not you should leave your job has to be checked. When you leave your job, do you have the feeling deep within that you are leaving your job to the Lord? When you remain in a job, are you remaining there to the Lord? Whether you leave your job or remain in it depends upon whether you can say that you are to the Lord. Then you have the security. Do not ask someone whether or not you should leave your job. Just check within as to whether you can say that you are leaving your job to the Lord or remaining in your job to the Lord. Whichever way you can say that you are to the Lord is where you need to be. If you cannot say “to the Lord,” you should not do it. This is a very deep test. Everyone among us is a full-timer. Since we are altogether to the Lord, our time and our money are also to Him. Nothing is to ourselves because none of us lives to ourselves but to Him.
Since October of 1984 I fully realized that we had become somewhat stuck in the Lord’s recovery. We held the Lord back very much, so we did not carry out His commission to the recovery. In the preaching of the gospel we have not had much spread. In the teaching of the truth we rarely exercised. I began to feel that I should ask the Lord to forgive me since I am considered by many of the saints as the one to take the lead in the Lord’s recovery. I felt that I had not done an adequate job. Therefore, in October of 1984 there was a big revolution, a big change, within me. We must change the situation among us so that we can fulfill the Lord’s commission. The Lord’s commission is His recovery, and His recovery today is to recover Christ as life, to recover the church as our living, to recover the enjoyment of Christ as everything to us, and to recover all the significances of the church life for the purpose of not only preaching the gospel but also spreading the truth. I believe that this is the unique reason that He has given us nearly all the truths in today’s Christianity. He has given us His truths for us to spread them not only to Christians but even to the unbelievers. The entire globe is under darkness. Every human being on the earth needs to hear the truth, but our spreading of the precious truths that we have received has been extremely limited. There have been many strong testimonies concerning people getting attracted and caught by the footnotes in the Recovery Version, but who has the burden to go out and spread these truths?
Some brothers who are with us do not use these truths when they teach and preach. They teach and preach what they feel is good, yet they do not realize how poor their messages are. Some brothers among us continually put out some publications. I was honest to tell them that there was no light and nothing new in what they put out. The points in our publications are full of life and light, but these brothers would not present them as they are. I could not understand why they have to change the messages we publish to present something in their own style and in their own way. There are no new points of life or light in what they publish. Any life or light in their material is altogether adopted from this ministry. I have been observing this situation among us for years. I would like to see whether some younger brothers among us would be raised up by the Lord to speak something. If I could see this, I would praise the Lord. On the other hand, I have seen some who like to build up something around themselves.
I have been in the line of the Lord’s recovery for many years, and I bear much responsibility for the Lord’s recovery. Thousands around the globe came into the recovery due to the ministry. They sacrificed their future and everything. In these days hundreds of young people in Taiwan gave up their future after their graduation from college. Humanly speaking, they sacrificed everything, so I am somewhat responsible to them. For them to sacrifice their entire future and come into the recovery in such a state is not fair. This is why I cannot allow this to happen.
The Lord has commissioned us with His recovery, and He has surely opened up the New Testament to reveal many dear and precious truths to us. What the Lord needs is for thousands of His dear saints who love Him, who live to Him, and who know nothing but His recovery to take one way. Regardless of whether the saints are from Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, England, Thailand, Indonesia, or the United States, we all bear the same burden, take the same way, and spread the same truths. We dispense the truths embodied in the “gold bar,” the Recovery Version. We have no other merchandise. If we would be like this, the entire earth will be taken.
It breaks my heart to see some practicing to have another ministry, using the material of the ministry. We all have to pray, “Lord, rescue me from my ambition to be somebody in the recovery.” We should know only the truths of God’s New Testament economy. We use only one way by one accord, prayer, the Spirit, and the Word. This is what I believe the Lord is after, and this is what we all expect in the depths of our being. Everyone will feel happy about this.
We all have to realize that we are the full-timers. If we are a banker, we do banking to Him. If we are a teacher, we teach to Him. If we make one dollar or one million dollars, we make it to Him. Then when we go out, the Lord will surely back us. We do not need to worry about our living. The Lord will be backing us. When we go out, we do not go in a dissenting or ambitious way. If you go out with your ambition to build yourself up and I go out with my ambition to build my ministry up, we are finished. The Lord has to go to others. We all need to go out in one way like an army. Then we will have the morale and the impact.
We do not need to do that much. We just need to go out with a pure heart, without anything to ourselves but all things to Him. Just go out with all the truths and the Recovery Version to read to people. I assure you that you will catch someone every week. You do not need to preach your teaching or your kind of doctrine with your terminology. We have to see what the Lord’s recovery is. The Lord’s recovery has been commissioned with a big enterprise to spread the Lord’s truths. He has given us the truths that we are holding. But we need the faithful, pure-hearted ones, who do not have any intention to live to themselves but to Him, to go out to spread these “gold bar” truths. There is no need for you to preach or teach in your way. Open up the Recovery Version and read some of the footnotes with the hungry ones.
If we all would go out in this way, I believe each one of us would get some persons every week. We would begin to have the increase, not just in percentage but in fold. We could even triple our number in one year. If we would all gain one person every three months, we would have a fourfold increase in one year. If you use the “gold bar” (the Recovery Version), the rainbow booklets, and all the Life-studies and present them to the believers and unbelievers all the time, within three months you will get one person. I believe that you may even get one person every week. In the Lord’s ministry we are not building something to ourselves but something altogether to Him.
Let us all be full-timers! If we are led to drop our jobs, then we drop them to Him and go out to serve the precious truths in the Recovery Version, the rainbow booklets, and the Life-studies to everybody. We may read them footnote 141 on 2 Corinthians 13 or footnote 34 on Hebrews 1, which tells us what aspects of Christ are revealed in each of the books of the New Testament. If we go out to read the footnotes of the Recovery Version to people, they will be caught. We will gain much increase. Actually, though, I do not care that much for the increase. I care for the spreading of the truths so that they can get into the needy hearts. If we spread these truths, we will become the faithful servants to serve food to the Lord’s people at the appointed time (Matt. 24:45). Then we will fulfill the commission of the Lord’s recovery. This is where my heart is. I will die to this. I told the brothers in the Far East that I will not stop until my entire being is exhausted by this ministry. I hope you all will say the same thing.
Let us rise up to go full time, either by dropping our jobs to go out or by remaining in our jobs to make more money and give every cent to the Lord’s move. Then the Lord’s move will not be short of men or money. We will be short of nothing. If the Lord can gain ten thousand saints in the United States to go full time with one kind of teaching, one kind of preaching, one kind of material, one kind of publication, one kind of way, and everything one kind, this will be our morale. The wise way is that we all take the full-time way and speak the same thing, think the same thing, present the same thing, and teach the same thing, having the same essence, appearance, and expression. Then we will have the morale, the impact, to defeat the enemy. This is what the Lord needs.
