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Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:24-26; Luke 9:57-62; Phil. 3:10; Rev. 1:9; Acts 20:24; 2 Tim. 4:7-8; 1 Cor. 9:27; Heb. 12:1-3
In the previous chapter we covered the glorious vision. In this chapter we move on to talk about the way of the cross. Where there is a vision, there is a way. The glorious vision always leads us onto a way. If we have the seeing, there must also be the walking. This walk is the way of the cross.
Many people equate the cross with suffering. Actually, the cross is not primarily a matter of suffering. During the fifteenth century, Thomas à Kempis wrote the book The Imitation of Christ. In China this book was soon translated into Chinese by the Catholics. There is a thorough discussion of the cross in this book. However, the whole subject was distorted in that it considered the cross a kind of suffering. Even Madame Guyon was under this book’s influence.
We know that in the New Testament the primary meaning of the cross is not to suffer but to be killed. When a person is nailed on the cross, there is not merely the suffering but also execution. The very person is removed. The New Testament shows us that the first one to be crucified was the Lord Jesus. When men crucified Him on the cross, not only did He suffer, but also He was being done away with. Hymns, #622 says,
Once we have seen the vision, the vision will surely send us on the way of the cross. The emphasis of such a way is not suffering but being “no more I.” The way of the cross is the way of being no more I. Those who are on this way have all put themselves aside. There is only Christ, and there is only God.
Many of you are married. Marriage makes the living of two persons one. Before you are married, you can make whatever suggestions you want. But after you are married, you cannot do so as easily. Marriage life requires the cross. The husband needs to die, and the wife also needs to die. If so, then who will live? Christ lives and God lives. All over the world it is difficult to find a couple who really lives as one. The wonderful thing about us who believe in the Lord is that after we have received the Lord as our life, there are now two persons in our being. We ourselves are one person, and the Lord is another person. Who then has the say? I want to impress you that the meaning of the cross is the putting aside of you. By the cross your whole being and your whole life are being put aside.
In the New Testament the self is frequently mentioned, and the soul is also. If we compare Luke 9 with Matthew 16, we can see that the self and the soul both point to the same thing. In Matthew the soul is mentioned (16:26), and in Luke the self is mentioned (9:25). Therefore, the soul is the self, and the self is the soul. We have a hymn concerning denying the self, and we also have a hymn concerning denying the soul. More than twenty years ago there was a brother who objected to one of the hymns I had written. He said that it was wrong to deny the soul. According to this brother, the soul is the person. Once you deny the soul, there will be no more you; that is, you will no longer live. He did not know that to deny the soul in the Bible is not to deny the functions of the soul, that is, the mind, emotion, and will. Rather, it is to deny the person of the soul and the life of the self. It does not mean that you will not function anymore. Rather, it means that it is no longer you who live.
This is mysterious. On the one hand, the New Testament tells you to deny your soul and your person. But on the other hand, you still need to act. However, your acting is different from before. Previously when you acted, you yourself were the master. It was you who was the person. Now this person of yours is hung on the cross. It is no longer you as the person but the Lord as the person. “I am crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20). To be crucified on the cross is to be brought to the end. Now it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. Although the person and the life of my soul have been denied, the function of my soul still remains. I still have the mind, the emotion, and the will. It is only the master who controls all these functions who has changed. It is no longer I but Christ who lives.
Today you young ones have put yourselves into the Lord’s hands for the preaching of the gospel in the villages. Is this something that you can do by yourselves? Certainly you cannot do this alone. Do not say that you have the Lord. Just to have the Lord is not enough. You need companions. You need to coordinate with others who are the members of the Body. On the one hand, you are brothers and sisters. On the other hand, you are members one of another.
Members cannot be dislocated. Members must be joined together. The joining together is for the coordination. In serving the Lord, not only are we unable to do anything apart from the Lord, but neither can we do anything apart from the members. You need to know that once you are separated from the members, you are separated from the Body. For example, if my hand is separated from my arm, it is separated not only from the arm but from the whole body as well. You only need to be separated from one member, and you are separated from the whole Body. Therefore, your working for the Lord has to be different from that of the worldly ones. They can do things individualistically. But we cannot serve the Lord in an individualistic way. This is because our serving the Lord is the move of the whole Body. We are all members of the Body, and we need to coordinate one with another.
What is the secret of coordination? Coordination must be a matter of “no more I.” There must no longer be you or I. Once there is you and I, there is no coordination. On the day the gospel teams were sent out, I made an overseas telephone call to talk to them. Since then, although I have not been there with them, news reached me. Praise and thank the Lord! There was much good news. But there was some news that was not as good. Team members have found out that it is not an easy thing to coordinate together. Everyone has opinions. You may argue that man cannot survive without opinion. Yet the strange thing is that the Bible requires us to have no opinion.
In Philippians 2:2 Paul says, “Make my joy full...think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking the one thing.” In other words, to make Paul’s joy full, the Philippians must not have opinions. However, it is not easy to be without opinions. This morning I will tell you a secret. The best way is to stay on the cross. The best way for two people to work together without any argument, opinion, or “long face,” is to crucify both on the cross. Thank the Lord. He has already crucified us on the cross!
Let me tell you one thing. It is my experience during the last few decades of being involved in the Lord’s work that both in His work and in His church, there is always a gopher undermining everything. This gopher is ambition. Ambition is the desire to be somebody, to occupy a high position, and to gain a high name. It is the desire for others to say something good about me, for others to consider me as somebody, and for me to take the lead wherever I go. From youth, man loves to compete. He loves to strive to be somebody and to be the first. Often, “number two” is jealous of “number one.” Even though “number two” may be younger in age, he still wants to be somebody and is always aspiring to be the head. I have been observing this matter for more than sixty years. I saw this in mainland China time after time. Since I came overseas, not only have I seen this again, but also I personally have been in the middle of it as well. I even became the target because of it. I have studied the darts that were thrown at me. To put it simply, all of them have to do with the desire to be somebody, to take the lead, and to occupy a high position. Of course, those who are ambitious would never say it this way. They use very nice speeches and words to cover themselves up. Strictly speaking, they are not trying to attack me. They are only trying to be somebody.
What is opinion? Frankly speaking, opinion is just the desire to be somebody. Before the Lord Jesus went to the cross, He was leading a group of disciples, especially Peter, James, John, and Andrew. For three and a half years they followed the Lord Jesus day after day. If the Lord Jesus went to Galilee, they also went to Galilee. If the Lord Jesus went on the boat, they also went on the boat. Wherever the Lord Jesus went, they went along with Him. If you read the four Gospels, you will discover that they surely had opinions. One time when they went with the Lord Jesus to Jerusalem, He told them clearly on the way that He was going to Jerusalem and that the scribes and the Pharisees would crucify Him on the cross but that He would resurrect after three days. The Lord repeated this three times, but the disciples did not understand it a bit. Immediately after the Lord Jesus spoke, they began arguing about who should be the first. Today in the Lord’s work in the church and among the gospel teams, one must remember that there are always problems ahead.
When I was young, whenever a brother and a sister were married, they always expected me to say a few words at their wedding. At first, I would always say something nice. After I was forty years old, I did not say anything nice anymore. Although my words were no longer nice, they were true. I still do not believe that it is possible for a couple to have a sweet honeymoon without any argument for more than thirty days. Recently, I heard directly from a brother that he and his wife argued on the third day of their honeymoon. Often when a couple argues, the ultimate contention is whether the woman or the man should have more power. Whose word counts, his or hers? Which one of them should make the decision? I live together with Sister Lee. I like to eat Chinese rolls, but she likes to feed me rice. Whenever rice is served at the table, my eyebrows are raised. But there is no way for me not to eat it. You may ask me what I can do. I can do nothing. There is only the cross. The cross is the way.
For example, there may be two jobs in the Lord’s work that need to be taken care of. One of them is regarded as a great work and the other as small. Do you want to choose the one regarded highly or the one considered lowly? Every one of us should learn not to consider if a work is great or small. We should only take care of the work itself. If you consider, “Is this work great, or is it small? If I choose the great work, people will think that I am not bearing the cross. I should take the small one instead.” If you act this way, you are not bearing the cross. You are instead playing politics. Of course, it is not good for you to choose the great work. But if you choose the small one with any motive, the result is just as bad. It is not good for you to have such considerations. You should have no consideration at all.
Some people come to me saying, “Brother Lee, Brother So-and-so is working with us. But he only likes to tell others what to do.” Let me tell you that the one who likes to tell others what to do has violated the principle of the cross. If he is on the cross, he will not be telling others what to do. However, the one who complains is also not on the cross. If everyone is on the cross, there is no need to tell others what to do. Everyone will just be working. If I do not understand something, you will tell me how to do it. If you do not understand something, I will tell you how to do it. If your intention is to tell others what to do, you are not on the cross. On the other hand, if I complain that you are telling me what to do, I am not on the cross either. If we are on the cross, you may be telling me what to do, and I may be listening to what you say, but neither of us has the feeling that we are bearing the cross. There will be no such thing as telling or not telling others what to do, and there will be no such thing as listening or not listening to what others have to say. Everyone will just know to work.
By the Lord’s mercy, since I entered the Lord’s work in 1935, I have only known how to work. Spontaneously, I was on the cross. It did not mean that there were no problems. It only means that spontaneously there were fewer problems. In the church, in the work, and in our spiritual walk, it is all the same. How can problems be solved? They are solved through the cross. In the family the husband has to die, and the wife also has to die. If there is no death, there is no life. If there is no death after marriage, there will be arguments every day. There will not be a marriage life. Today in following the Lord and in working for Him, the secret is nothing less than for you to put yourself on the cross and to remain there.
May the Lord cover me with His blood. The Lord can be my witness. When I was in mainland China, I never tried to start any work anywhere. To me, everywhere was the same. I only received orders. Wherever there was the need, I was sent there. Moreover, wherever there was a place that was hard to work on, I was surely charged to go. I had no preference. After mainland China fell to the Communists, the work assigned me to come to Taiwan. I spoke the northern dialect, but a southern dialect was spoken on the island of Taiwan. Because of this, another brother who knew the southern dialect was assigned to come help me. Three to four months after I arrived, this brother also arrived. After he took a look, he left, saying that he would not come to Taiwan because it was too backward; the roads were all pebbled, and the people all clattered around on wooden clogs.
The brothers and sisters who are Taiwan natives have to excuse me for saying this. When we came to Taiwan more than forty years ago, Taipei had but a few roads paved with even blacktop. Most roads were pebbled. It looked very underdeveloped. Even though I was willing to take the cross, sometimes I would lie in the house, staring at the ceiling, wondering why I had come here and what could be done here. Thank and praise the Lord, now I am very happy. To me, the best place to work on the whole earth today is Taiwan.
My point is that you must learn to put the “I” aside in the Lord’s work. In other words you have to be without “I.” You should only know to work, to minister, to pray, and to touch the Lord. You should not do anything else. You should not clean the washrooms just for the sake of eventually gaining a name for yourself and for being known as the one who always cleans the washroom. To others this may seem spiritual. But eventually this kind of so-called “spirituality” is vanity. When you come, you should do whatever is needed. When the washrooms need cleaning, you clean them. When the podium needs tidying up, you tidy it up. There should not be any preference or special feelings. You should neither strive to speak nor strive not to speak. When there is the need to speak, you speak. When there is not the need to speak, you do not speak. This is the way of the cross. If the Lord supplies you more, you simply enjoy the Lord’s provision and remember the needy ones. If the Lord supplies you less, even to the point that you experience poverty, do not murmur. On the whole earth no servant of the Lord has ever starved to death. No situation should ever bother you, and you should always be without the self. This is the way of the cross.
The Chinese say, “The strength of a horse is tested by the length of the journey, but the heart of man is tested by the passing of time.” I have been co-working with some brothers for forty to fifty years. There are some others with whom I have worked for twenty to thirty years. Recently, things have happened that made me feel very sorrowful. Among us there has been much talk about the cross. There also has been much talk about resurrection. But when the real situation comes, there is not much of the cross with some of these brothers, and there is not much evidence of resurrection. I hope that with this generation, others may see more of the cross and resurrection, both in our walk and work as well as in our marriage life. Let me repeat that the way of the cross is the way of putting aside the “I.” Hence, in the work there is no ambition. Among us there is no degree, no position, and no name. There is nothing to gain and to covet. Even so, I must say to you that in the work there are still some who have the self. In the work we should not consider whether or not others treat us well. We should not have such a consideration. I only know how to walk according to the Spirit. Toward everyone I should be humble, kind, and loving. Toward the work I only know to be busy and to labor. If others are taking the lead, whatever the arrangements are, I carry them out. There is no feeling, preference, or consideration. This is the way of the cross.
The difficulty of the outward circumstances is not worth our mentioning. If there are sufferings, let there be sufferings. Do not have considerations. What does consideration mean? It means that there is ambition. It also means that I must stay on top; I must have it better. To consider is to highly regard the self. I must be number one, number two, number three, and even the last number. Everything is I. What is it to take the way of the cross? It means number one is not I. Number two and number three are not I. Even the last number is not I. Nothing is I. This is to die. If there is no you at all, everything will be well. There will be no problem in suffering. There will be no problems if other brothers and sisters mistreat you or misunderstand you. You will neither mind or consider. This is to take the way of the cross. If you would learn this lesson well and continue on the way of the cross, your work will be effective and full of blessing. This is all I will say in this message. My point can be summarized in one phrase — no more I. For you to go to the villages for the outreach, wherever you may be, let there be only Christ and no more you. It is now no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives.
