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Scripture Reading: 1 John 5:16a; Exo. 21:5-6; Isa. 50:4-5; Rom. 12:11
Many Christians throughout the centuries have held to one of two extremes concerning our service to the Lord. Certain “spiritual” persons insist that to serve the Lord is absolutely a matter of life. They say that since we have life, we will grow in our service, so there is no need of any training. Those at the other extreme insist that we must receive schooling in order to serve. In 1958 I was invited to a Christian meeting in London that was considered to be very spiritual. The leading ones turned all the meetings over to me for an entire month, including not only the conference meetings but also the regular meetings. Before I left, they asked me to have another time with them for questions and answers. The main question that night was from one of the young people, who had heard that we had many trainings in Taiwan. In that place of meeting in London, however, they did not have any kind of training. Their feeling was that to serve the Lord is a matter of life, and as long as they had the growth in life, they did not need training. I told them, “When I was young, my mother sent me to school specifically to learn English. However, even today my speech is too poor. A small child can speak English better than I can, even though I began to learn English long before he was born. I was trained to write and to read silently. I was trained to know grammar, and I may know grammar better than you do, but I was not adequately trained to speak. We cannot train a dog to speak English, because a dog does not have the English-speaking life. Only human beings can speak the human language. Still, we cannot say that as long as we have the human life, we can grow in this life to be able to speak English. We all have the human life, but you speak English well, and I speak it poorly. This is because you received a training that I did not.”
I continued by using the example of learning to fly an airplane. I said, “We cannot train a monkey to pilot an airplane, because the monkey life is not good for this purpose. Only the human life can do this, but this does not mean that as long as we have the human life we can all pilot an airplane. If we believe this, we will damage many lives.” I concluded, “Dear ones, by this we can see that we need the proper life plus the proper training. We should not insist on either extreme. Yes, we need life; without life we cannot carry out the spiritual things. However, this does not mean that as long as we have life, we need nothing more. In addition to the proper life, we still need the proper training and practice.”
Near the end of his life Paul wrote 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, the three “pastoral” Epistles, because he realized from his experience that there was the need for training. Paul learned many things from his experience. For example, in the first stage of his ministry, Paul said that it is better to be like him and remain single and that to be married is a cause of troubles (1 Cor. 7:7-8, 32-34). At that time Paul had received a revelation, but he did not yet have much experience in the church life. Later, he told Timothy that widows under sixty years of age should be encouraged to marry again (1 Tim. 5:9, 14). By that time he had seen some who made a vow to the Lord to love Him as single ones but eventually fell into fornication. These experiences taught Paul something further. In the early books of Paul’s writing, such as Romans and 1 and 2 Thessalonians, we do not see the consideration of training, but his later books — especially 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus — are filled with the concept of training and discipline. He said, “The things which you have heard from me through many witnesses, these commit to faithful men, who will be competent to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). Paul had taught and trained Timothy, and now he charged him to train others with what he had been trained by Paul.
Likewise, in his earlier writings, Paul said nothing about the qualifications of elders, deacons, and deaconesses, but in the later Epistles he pointed out all these qualifications. A man does not merely grow into qualifications; qualifications come from training. Therefore, training is very scriptural. In the past twelve years I have spoken much against many traditional and unscriptural teachings of Christianity. Because of this, some may say, “Brother Lee, did you not tell us that we need life, not teaching?” What I said is that we do not need mere doctrinal teaching. After we receive life, we do not need teachings in letter, but we do need training. Paul learned something from his experiences. Likewise, according to our study of Paul’s writings and according to our experience in the past years, there is the need for training.
When I was with Brother Watchman Nee, he would often say, “Witness, we need the training.” Brother Nee was saved in 1920, and he began the work for the Lord in 1922. After a number of years, he realized that there was the need of training. In 1936 he bought a portion of land and built a center for the purpose of training. However, in August of the next year, Japan invaded Shanghai, and the building was destroyed. Three years after that, in 1940, he rented a place in Shanghai to begin the first formal, year-round training. Every week there was one meeting for training, and many persons remained there all week to wait for that one training meeting. Besides this, we also attended all the church meetings. For the whole year we heard three messages a week, one in the training meeting and two in the church meetings on the Lord’s Day and on Wednesday night.
After the war, the work of the Lord spread widely throughout China, and Brother Nee returned to his ministry. He told me, “Witness, I will not carry out my ministry in the way that I did in the past. What I will do now is simply take care of the training. After 1948 he no longer took care of the church meetings. He stayed on the mountain with many lodgings in order to train people. These trainings were selective; not everyone was allowed to attend. The first period of training in 1948 was about six months long, and the second period in 1949 was also six months long. He charged me to care for the work and fight the battle elsewhere. I was to send the believers as the good material to him to be trained, and after their training, he would send them back to the churches. By this, I realized that in the first stage of the Lord’s work there is not much need for training, but after the churches have been raised up and there is the responsibility of caring for the serving ones, we need the training.
After this time I was sent to the island of Taiwan. We began the work there in 1949, and in 1952 we began the training. This training was also selective. I did not train all the saints but trained only the serving ones, including the co-workers, elders, deacons, deaconesses, and all the promising ones. Every year we held a conference for one week to ten days with a large congregation of two or three thousand, which grew to four or five thousand. Each week we would meet on Tuesday through Friday in the mornings and evenings, and in the afternoons we would have practice. On Saturday the trainees would return to their local churches to serve throughout the weekend, on Monday they would come back to the training, and on Tuesday morning we would begin again. This went on for four to six months a year. The work in Taiwan depended mostly upon this training.
When the work began in the United States, we were in the first stage. On the one hand, there was no need for a training, and on the other hand, I did not have time to do the training. I needed more time for travel and other matters. This is the reason that before 1970 we did not have a formal training. However, beginning from 1968, we had an informal training. A great need for the informal training was related to migrations. After our summer conference in Los Angeles on Bonnie Brae Street in 1964, many were excited and wanted to go out to “take the country” in the way of migration. I did not feel that this was the time to go out. An army cannot go to fight without training. This only exposes them to the enemy. However, some still wanted to go out, and I did not insist that they stay. All who went out, though, returned in defeat by the end of the year. The following year we moved to Elden hall, and after two more years, in 1967, some still longed to go out to establish the local churches in other places. However, I still felt that the time was not ripe and that the migration should wait a few more years. Finally, in the fall of 1969 there was a migration from three small cities in Texas to Houston. Then in 1970 further migrations took place, including a migration from Yorba Linda to Seattle. Without exception, the first stage of all the migrations was a success. Although in the six years from 1964 to 1970 we had not had a formal training, a proper leadership had been produced among us. Wherever the migrations went, they went with a proper leadership; therefore, they were a success.
On the contrary, there were more migrations in 1973, but almost none were a success. This is because we were short of the proper leading ones. After remaining in the new localities for a year, many of the saints could not go on, but they dared not go back. They simply remained there in a suffering way. Eventually, many who had gone out consolidated into churches in certain major cities. This shortage of the proper leadership exposes our further need for training. At that time I went to the Lord very much concerning my ministry. The Lord has made it clear that my ministry in this country to serve the saints should be different from what it was in the previous twelve years. The previous twelve years was the first stage among us. I needed to travel for the setting up of the churches. Now there are thirty-five churches in this country, and my time and strength do not allow me to visit them all. Among the approximately five thousand saints in the Lord’s recovery, there is not the adequate leadership. Even in Anaheim alone there are enough saints to become two churches, but we do not have the proper leadership to carry this out. Therefore, there is now the need of a continual training. The Lord has shown me that from now on I must spend all my time in the ministry for the training.
The training is not for acquiring mere knowledge. It is for practice and the proper discipleship. The training builds us up in the growth of life, in character, and in dealing with the natural disposition. Character is our disposition plus our habit. We need a change in our character. Even more deeply, the training touches our natural disposition. Strictly speaking, it is not our nature but our disposition that needs to be touched and dealt with. If we are trained in this way even for only a few months, we will see a difference.
The first point for our training is to realize that in the church service we do not do anything in the way of organization. The church is an organism, and what an organism needs is life. Therefore, our church service is mainly for ministering life to others. Even the arranging of chairs and the cleaning of restrooms are not for themselves; they are for ministering life. In ushering, clerical work, and any aspect of the church service, we must do everything to minister life to others. Of course, it is good for us to do things in a proper way. Not doing things well can be a frustration, but this does not mean that merely doing a good job is to have the proper service. In worldly religious organizations it is sufficient to do the jobs well, but in the church the main thing we need is the ministry of life. Even if we cannot do things very well, but by His mercy we minister life to others, the service is still successful. The main matter is to minister life to others.
Some may say that it is not we but the Lord Jesus who is the Life-giver. However, there is at least one verse in the New Testament which says that we can give life to the weaker ones. First John 5:16a says, “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and he will give life to him.” Life here in Greek is not bios, the physical life; it is zoe, the spiritual life. This verse does not mean that if we pray for the brother’s sickness, we can impart physical life to him. It means that we give him zoe, the spiritual life. We have the privilege of giving life to the weaker ones in order to swallow up their death. Many saints are not sick physically, but they are sick spiritually. They need us to pray for them and to give them life. We all need to be trained and to practice to take care of the weaker ones who are short of life and sick spiritually. In the churches it is often the case that death, rather than life, spreads from mouth to mouth. Therefore, there is the need of some stronger ones to minister life to stop the spread of death and to swallow up death. This is the main purpose of the service in the church.
The best opportunity for us to minister life to others is in the service groups. Many saints who have a heart for the Lord have been placed in these groups under the care of the responsible ones. The leading ones in the service should not care merely for doing things properly. The main thing they must do is care in life for all the ones who serve in the groups. They must help the saints not primarily to carry out the service; rather, they should fellowship with them and minister life to them so that they may grow. If the leading ones do this, spontaneously all the saints will do the same for others. Then the entire church will be under the care of the proper ministry of life.
In order for us to minister life to others, we must do at least four things. First, we need an adequate contact with the Lord. We must all purposely go to the Lord, not to pray for other things but simply to spend time with Him. We need to be like the purchased slave in Exodus 21. Verse 5 says, “If the servant plainly says, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free.” After six years of service the slave was free to leave, but if he loved his master, he would not go out. Moreover, while he was in his master’s house, he received a wife and had children. In type, the wife and children are the church with all the saints. We have not only the Master but also the church and all the saints as our family. We love our Lord, the church, and all the saints. We should tell the Lord, “Lord, I wish to stay. I can go out freely, but I will not. I love You. I love my wife, the church, and I love my children, the saints. I do not want to miss You, Lord, and neither do I want to miss Your church and all the saints. I want to remain here to be Your bondslave.”
Verse 6 says, “Then his master shall bring him to God and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.” In type, to have our ear bored through is to open our ear. To be a good serving one does not depend upon our feet, our hands, or our eyes. It depends upon our open ear. To be a proper slave, we need an open ear, not to speak, do, or walk but to listen. We must not be as instructors but as the instructed, not as teachers but as learners. We all need to pray this way: “Lord, I love You, I love Your church, and I love the saints. I will never go out. Therefore, bore my ear; open my ear that I may listen to You. I do not want to be a teacher. I am a listener and a learner.” Isaiah 50 is a prophetic word describing the Lord Jesus while He was on the earth. Verses 4 and 5 say, “The Lord Jehovah has given me / The tongue of the instructed, / That I should know how to sustain the weary with a word. / He awakens me morning by morning; / He awakens my ear / To hear as an instructed one. / The Lord Jehovah has opened my ear; / And I was not rebellious, / Nor did I turn back.” One who has life and the timely word from the Lord can speak the timely word to sustain the weary ones. This is to minister life to the weary and weak ones. We must all go to the Lord first to consecrate ourselves anew to serve Him in the church and to participate in the service and in the training.
Second, we must learn in the presence of the Lord to be dealt with by Him. We may say, “Lord, here I am. I know that I am not fitting and useful. I am natural, wild, and raw; I have never been ‘cooked,’ processed, by You. I am even sinful, worldly, and fleshly. Lord, in order to use me as Your bondslave, You must deal with me. I need Your dealing. I need Your ‘cooking.’ Lord, I open myself to You, but I do not depend on my opening; I depend on Your exposing. Bring me into Your light. Shine over me, shine within me, and shine through me thoroughly in order that I may be fully exposed.” We all need such a prayer. It is better to pray in this way by ourselves. In doing other things we should not be individualistic, but in this kind of prayer it is better to do it individually. We should spend an hour or more in the presence of the Lord for this purpose, checking with Him again and again until we get through and until nothing further needs to be exposed.
After we reconsecrate ourselves and deal thoroughly with the Lord, we can pick up a burden before Him. There is no need to pray particularly for a burden. Whatever burden we pick up will be the Lord’s burden. We should not primarily care for business affairs. We may pick up a burden for ushering in the meetings, but the ushering itself is not our burden. Rather, our burden is to take care of people by ushering. Picking up a burden in this way will make a great difference. If we usher after having thoroughly dealt with the Lord, whenever we usher, we will minister life. There will be an outflow of life from us to others’ spirits. The Holy Spirit always honors this kind of serving.
For this purpose, the Lord needs even the teenagers. I hope that the older teenagers will pick up the burden to care for those in junior high school. According to my observation, we have many ten-year-old, eleven-year-old, and twelve-year-old sisters, but there are no teenage sisters taking care of them. Therefore, we need some young sisters to give themselves for this. After their reconsecration and dealing with the Lord, they should say, “Lord, I pick up this burden. I give myself to take care of the junior-high girls. This is my service. I will pick them up, and I will bear them all the way to the New Jerusalem.” If some teenagers will do this, they will have the Lord’s presence with them, and they will see the blessing. We cannot tell how far the Lord will go with these young ones. Perhaps by this kind of service they will become useful in the Lord’s recovery in the coming years. They will be not only “big sisters” but mothers of many young ones.
We cannot appoint anyone to this position. We cannot say, “Sister, come to take care of the young girls.” This will not work. Rather, each one must go to the Lord and say, “Lord, here I am. I love You. You are my Master. I love the church, and I love the saints. I especially love the young girls ten through fifteen years old. I simply love them, Lord, and I would not go out free. O Lord, deal with me.” A young sister may spend three nights to deal with the Lord in this way. After she is thoroughly dealt with by the Lord, she does not need to pray in a begging way, “Lord, have mercy upon me and give me a burden.” She may simply say, “Lord, by Your grace I pick up the burden to care for the young girls. Lord, You must go with me.” She can give the Lord such a command: “Lord, since I am picking up the burden, You must work with me.” The Lord truly will honor her and go with her.
All the brothers and sisters need to pick up such a burden. The older sisters, for example, can pick up the burden to care for the older saints. No one can appoint us to this service. We must all go to the Lord, the Head of the Body, have a thorough dealing with Him, and pick up a burden. There are many categories of burdens. According to my observation, many needs are lying waste, and many useful persons are also lying waste. The useful persons must be matched to the needs. Neither I nor any leading brother can say, “Sister, you do this.” That never works. Instead, we must all go to the Lord, have a thorough dealing with Him, and open our spiritual eyes to see the need. Then, without any ambition but even at the sacrifice of our whole life, whatever burden we pick up will be the Lord’s will. It is worthwhile to pay the price even of our life. I was nineteen years old when I was saved. On that day I told the Lord, “Lord, even if You gave me the whole world, I would refuse it. I simply want to be poor for You.” If the young sisters do this, they will see the Lord’s blessing. We must all pick up a burden to care for people. There is no other way to carry out the Lord’s desire.
After we have a thorough dealing with the Lord and pick up a burden, we must learn to be interested in people. Because of the fall, many of us are not interested in others. We consider that whether others go to heaven or to hell is their own business. We do not care whether others grow in life, and we feel that it is sufficient for us to care for our own spiritual welfare. However, the church service requires every one of us to be involved with others. We need an interest in the Lord’s people. We may illustrate this interest by the taste for certain foods. Many Chinese people are interested in Chinese cooking and have the taste to go to Chinatown. We, however, need to be interested in the Lord’s people. Every day the Lord’s people must be our “food” (John 4:31-34). Some older teenage sisters should say, “All the young girls between ten and fifteen years old in the church life are my food. I am interested in the young people to this extent.”
However, we must not be interested in people in a natural way. Some people were born with the inclination to talk and even gossip. That is not what it means to be interested in people in a proper way. Many young ones like to talk about marriage, and many older ones like to ask concerning each other’s children, grandchildren, and in-laws. We must forget about this kind of gossip. This is the natural, social way. Rather, we must be interested in people in the way of life. We should not care to ask about people’s marriage, in-laws, or other matters. We are interested only in life. We should pray concerning this, and some may need to fast in prayer. We may pray, “Lord, by my birth I love to talk to people in a natural way,” but others may need to pray, “Lord, I was born in a way that I do not like to talk to people. I love the brothers, and I have been in the church for ten years, but until today I still do not like to open myself to anyone.” We should all pray, “Lord, burden me. I want to be fully interested in and involved with all Your dear saints, not in a natural or social way but in the way of life. Lord, I am willing to pay any price, even at the cost of my life. I love these people, and I would die for them. I want to see them saved, grow in life, and become matured.”
Then we can pick up the burden for some specific persons. We should make a list of their names, always keep it in front of us, and pray for them one by one. A teenage sister may pray, “Lord, this one is still not saved. Lord, I will never be at peace until I see her saved. Lord, even for my sake You must save her.” We may be too spiritual and say, “Lord, this is not for my sake.” However, the Lord may say, “Because you have a genuine burden for this one, I will save her for your sake.” Eventually, the sister will see the little one be saved. After this she may say, “Lord, this little one is now saved, but she does not love You. I can never be satisfied with this. Do something in her so that she will love You, Lord, as I love You.” Again, the sister will see the Lord answer her prayer. Likewise, the older generation must be burdened and pray in the same way. We need to be interested in people and involved with people. Then we can pick up a burden. Many in the church need our shoulders to bear them and our breast to embrace them (Exo. 28:9-12, 15-21, 29). We must love them. When they fall, we should weep, and when they rise up, we should be joyful. We must bear them as our burden. Our service is not to arrange the chairs, do the cleaning, usher, or do clerical work. These are temporary matters as the means, instruments, and channels for us to take care of people. We must all go to the Lord, pray, and pick up this burden.
