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Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:21-26
For many years I have observed two great frustrating factors in the Lord’s work: ambition and opinion. In human society ambition is a great problem. Everyone, whether in political, commercial, or educational circles, is seeking after promotion. Even among students in school there is much competition to be the first in their class. The desire for promotion is ambition. Ambition even creeps into the Lord’s work. In the church life there may be an ambition in some brothers for the eldership. Ambition is hidden within us. If the brothers and sisters say Amen more loudly to someone else’s prayer than to ours in a meeting, we may become jealous. We may be bothered, and after the meeting we may not be able to eat our meal happily. Even in marriage life there may be competition between the husband and wife. For a wife to question the headship of the husband offends him greatly. The husband may be bothered that everyone seems to listen to his wife more than to him, or that his children seem to agree with his wife more than with him. This consideration is related to ambition.
The problem of opinion can be seen in Matthew 16:21-26: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You! But He turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men. Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it. For what shall a man be profited if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul-life? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul-life?” In this portion of the Word we can see opinion (v. 22), Satan (v. 23), the self (v. 24), and the soul-life (vv. 25-26). Peter’s disposition is clearly seen in these verses. Although the word disposition is not mentioned here, it can be seen in the elements of opinion, the self, the soul-life, and Satan. Satan is in our opinion, and our opinion comes from our self. It is the product of our disposition. Without opinion there would be no such thing as disposition. A person’s disposition is seen in his opinion.
In marriage life the sin of ambition does not arise every day, but the problem of opinion may arise many times each day. Both brothers and sisters have their opinions. However, the sisters may express them more easily, but the brothers keep their opinions within them. The brothers’ opinions may be even stronger than the sisters’ opinions, but the brothers may not express them. When a brother is driving a car, his wife may express many opinions about the way to drive, but the husband may silently carry out his own opinion.
In the Lord’s work, in the church life, and in the spiritual life, the greatest damaging factor is our opinion. For many years in the Lord’s work I have seen the problem of opinion. Our usefulness before the Lord depends greatly on the matter of our opinion. If we are opinionated, we are through with the Lord’s work. In the past the brothers over me in the Lord’s work used me more when I had no opinion. When I had an opinion, they could not use me. Since I came out of mainland China in 1949, a number of saints have spontaneously come under my direction in the Lord’s work. How much they can be used also depends upon their opinion. The more opinionated one is, the less he can be used.
Those who go out in gospel teams to visit people may have experienced the problem of opinions. On the one hand, when I worked with the co-workers in mainland China, I did not have any opinion. On the other hand, I had to “swallow” my opinion. I realized that if I expressed my opinion, I would be finished with the work. I might as well go into the world to find a job because the co-workers would not be able to work with me. If I would have been opinionated, the brothers above me in the work would not have used me, and the brothers under me would not have worked with me.
Apparently, the Christian life is an individual matter. Nevertheless, how much we grow in life also depends upon our opinion. How much growth we have had since we were saved has depended upon how we have dealt with our opinion. Opinion is a great matter. It is within us like the marrow in our bones. If the Lord tells us to go see a certain sister, we may say that we are not ready. This is our opinion. In Matthew 16:21 the Lord Jesus told His disciples that He was about to be crucified. Peter began to rebuke Him and said, “God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You!” (v. 22). This was Peter’s opinion. To the Lord, Peter was like a mask hiding the source of the opinion. The source was not Peter but Satan. The Lord turned to Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (v. 23). Opinion is a great and terrible problem, frustrating the Lord’s way, will, plan, and economy.
I have been in the church and the work in the Lord’s recovery for fifty-seven years. During this time, I have seen a number of turmoils in the church. A turmoil is like a storm. Since the Lord’s recovery came to this country over twenty-five years ago, we have had only two major “storms.” The factors causing the storms were ambition and opinion. A typhoon is a storm that is associated with hot climates. An earthquake, on the other hand, comes from a build-up of pressure within the earth that has no outlet. The “heat” and “pressure” that cause the turmoils in the church life are ambition and opinion. However, we should not be bothered by the storms. No storm comes that will not go away quickly, and the bigger storms pass even more quickly. Even the storms in the church life soon pass away.
All the turmoils in the church life are the same in principle. They are caused by people who seek for position but are not useful because of their opinion. A certain person may desire to be an elder. This is ambition. However, he may be an opinionated person, unable to control his opinion. This opinion spoils him for the eldership. In 1933 Brother Nee asked me to remain in Shanghai to work with him. One of the brothers with us desired to be an elder in the church. He “hunted” for the eldership for many years. However, he was opinionated and not suitable for the Lord’s work, and his opinionated talk often damaged the work. Eventually, he set up a meeting in his home and hired a traveling preacher who knew many of our teachings. Under the direction of this brother, the traveling preacher wrote a long article defaming Brother Nee. This storm came from one person with ambition who sought for the eldership but did not get it because he was spoiled by his opinion.
The “gopher” of ambition and the “creeping thing” of opinion always join together to cause turmoil. It is even the same in the national and international political situation. The troublemakers are the ambitious ones who did not get what they strived for because they were not useful. Whether or not we are useful in the hand of the Lord depends upon the matter of our opinion.
The world and sin may not frustrate us from the growth in our spiritual life, but the ever present obstacle and frustration to our growth in our spiritual life is our opinion. Sometimes we do not express our opinion, but it is still there. Opinion is the expression of our disposition, and our disposition is the greatest problem for our growth in the divine life. In the Far East and in America, I have come to know a number of saints. They are lovely, they are very much for the Lord, and they mean business with the Lord. However, after many years they have had little growth in life. Their unique problem is their opinion.
Our disposition is our self. Every human being has a disposition. It is in us, and it is us. Our disposition makes it hard for us to release our spirit. From 1942 to 1948 Brother Nee passed through a long turmoil in which he was prevented from ministering. After the turmoil passed, one of the first messages he gave was on the breaking of the outer man and the release of the spirit. From that time on, the center of Brother Nee’s speaking was almost always on the breaking of the outer man. The breaking of the outer man is the breaking of our disposition. I am still learning the lesson of how to deal with my disposition. Brother Nee warned us that if we do not learn the lesson of the breaking of the outer man before we are fifty years old, we will have a difficult time in the church life. It is easier to deal with our disposition when we are young.
Question: How do we deal with our disposition? Should we pray concerning our disposition, or should we seek more experience of the Lord?
Answer: The Lord does not seem to answer this kind of prayer. Romans 8:13 says, “If by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” The practices of our body are part of our character. Habitually, we always do things a certain way. We have to put to death our habits by the indwelling Spirit. The only thing that can solve the problem of our disposition and character is the cross. We have to take the cross to put our disposition to death. We may be willing to put to death the members of our body in relation to sin. However, our body has many practices every day. All these practices are according to our habits, and they also must be put to death. We need to pay attention to the matter of opinion and always condemn our opinion.
A brother may come to us and say, “Let us go to visit people by knocking on their doors.” If we have learned the lesson of putting our disposition to death, we will say, “Amen! Hallelujah!” However, we may feel that we have the right to express our opinion and that we should not follow this brother blindly. Only the death of the cross can deal with our disposition. Our old man, the “I,” has been crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20). Therefore, we have to let our opinion, our disposition, remain on the cross. This is the breaking of the outer man.
Question: Since our opinion affects how useful we are and how well we can work with others, how can we fellowship and coordinate with one another in the work?
Answer: We must put our opinion aside. It is hard for Christians to discuss the Lord’s work. It is even hard to talk about being in one accord. In February of 1986, about five hundred co-workers and elders came together for a conference. The subject of that conference was the one accord. Eventually, that conference became the source of a turmoil. When three gospel team members come together, if one would say something to maintain the one accord, he may offend the other two. Because the one accord is a difficult matter, many Christians are like politicians. They say that they agree with something when actually they do not. It seems that they do not have any opinion, but actually they have many opinions.
Question: What should we do if something comes out in our fellowship that we strongly feel is not right?
Answer: We must take the lead to be without an opinion. Let the others with whom we fellowship say what they will. We should simply say, “Amen! I will go along with you.” Then the others will follow our example. If we argue and correct others, we will set up a model of arguing and correcting, and the others will also argue. If we have learned the lesson of dealing with opinions, we will be an example of a person with no opinion. Then the others with us will also learn the lesson of dealing with opinions.
Often when I propose something, the brothers with me will propose something different. When this happens, I quickly go along with them. On the other hand, when the brothers propose something, I do not like to say something different. I prefer to go along with them and say, “Very good. Let us do it.” It is the matter of opinion, our disposition, that makes us stubborn. We do not like to be changed or corrected. We like to insist on our way. If we do not break through to have our way this time, we will try again the next time. If we are like this, the older brothers cannot use us, and the younger brothers will not work with us. As a result, we will become isolated and useless. We should always go along with the brothers, with no opinion, putting our disposition to death. Then we will be useful.
Question: When some come together to fellowship, they are passive because they do not want to express their opinion. Is it correct to speak our opinion as long as we do not hold on to it and are willing for it to be dropped?
Answer: This is not correct. If we mean business about dropping our opinion, we have to go along with others positively. We may say that we will not do anything because we do not want to have an opinion. However, if we would not go along with others positively, we are holding back and keeping our opinion. If a brother proposes that we arrange the chairs in the meeting hall in an unusual way, would we do it? We have to learn to go along with the brothers. If we go along, the one who made the proposal will learn that he was wrong. Then he will propose that the chairs be restored to their former order. Simply go along, and do not blame him. Eventually, we will find the right way to arrange the chairs.
Ambition plus opinion builds up enmity and makes enemies. When a married couple goes on a trip, they may not agree on which route to take. They may argue, become unhappy, and cancel the trip. Arguing over opinions can also take place in the church life. In a certain denomination the leaders came together to talk about church affairs. Eventually, they became angry with one another, and one brother threw a Bible at another brother.
If the members of a gospel team argue about which neighborhood to go to, the team will be ruined. We must be released persons. Even a little arguing will bind everyone in the team. When someone proposes something, we should go along. Then if what we are doing is wrong, it will be exposed. To do something wrong is much better than to argue.
Question: What is the difference between having fellowship with one another and voicing our opinion?
Answer: The purpose of fellowship is to gain the Lord’s presence. If we each go our own way and take care of our own portion without fellowship, it will be hard for us to enjoy the Lord’s presence. The more we walk, work, and do things together, the more we will have the Lord’s presence.
Question: When I have opinions, I may not express them in order not to cause a problem, but I feel hypocritical in simply going along outwardly. Is it right to be political in order to keep a pleasant atmosphere?
Answer: To have an opinion yet pretend that we do not have one is hypocrisy. We should condemn this. We should condemn our opinion and learn to despise and deny it. To deny our opinion is to deny our self. When we come together with others, we must deny ourselves, have no opinion, and go along with whatever the others propose. This is not hypocrisy. When the members of a gospel team come together and no one has an opinion, this is the best time for the Lord to do something. They should pray, “Lord, lead us and guide us. We want to follow You.” In this way something of the Lord will come out.
Question: How can we distinguish opinion from the feeling that comes from the Lord’s leading?
Answer: Many of the feelings that we think are the Lord’s leading are actually our opinion. The accuracy of our feelings depends on the breaking of our outer man through the cross and on how much we die to ourselves.
Question: I have some feeling that every week we should spend some time to visit new people by knocking on their doors, in addition to our home meetings, in order to contact new and fresh people all the time. Would it be the expression of my opinion to present this to my gospel team?
Answer: To practice the new way to meet and serve, we must first go out to knock on doors to get people saved and baptized. When we go out, we should not bring too many under our care. Each team member should have three or four people under his care. If we do not have a sufficient number to take care of, then we should go out again to knock on doors. Eventually, we should stop knocking on doors and take care of our two to four new ones for a certain period of time. After this, we should continue to follow the way given in our messages on the practice of the new way. The result will be a much better situation in the church than what we have had in the past.
However, many saints may only halfway follow the way given in our messages. They may go to visit people by knocking on their doors but not in the way proposed in our messages. This is opinion. Only a person who does not insist on his opinion would fully take the way proposed in our messages. Because we have opinions, the Lord is not able to move quickly. Until we drop our opinions and take what is proposed in our messages, we will not see much fruit. If we practice what is proposed in our present messages, we will see the results.
The church life is different from school. When we were in school, the teachers gave us assignments that we had to do. If we did not do them, we received a failing grade. However, in the church life we may speak a message many times, yet the hearers may still only follow halfway. This is opinion. In the work, in the church, in marriage life, in private life, and in our Christian life, the greatest and the most difficult frustration is our opinion.
