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The saints who labor in the literature work need a proper understanding. It may seem that the work done in the editorial room is insignificant, but it is greater than the work of speaking from the podium. We distributed over one hundred forty thousand copies of the pamphlet concerning how to enjoy God. This shows that the literature work is not a small matter. Therefore, we should not despise the work in our hands. The editorial room may seem small, but the work is not small.
In Washington, D.C., there was a Chinese sister who met with us, and she asked where she could find messages that were similar to the ones that she had heard. This sister attended meetings in different places but had never heard messages like the ones in our meetings. Our messages touched her inner being. For this reason she asked where she could find more messages. I referred her to the Taiwan Gospel Book Room in Taipei and told her that it published many books and had recently printed a pamphlet on how to enjoy God. I also wrote the bookroom and requested that some copies of The Ministry of the Word magazine and books on the enjoyment of God be sent to her. In a short time she received the publications. Since she did not want to receive the books for free, she made a small payment to the Taiwan Gospel Book Room.
In a letter to me she wrote, “Among the so-called spiritual books in this age, one can rarely find words that shine forth so brightly. I pray that the Lord will use you and that your books will be translated into many languages to enlighten and satisfy the hungry ones everywhere. After you left, my husband was saved, and he now meets with some brothers once a week to pray. I thank the Lord that we have His presence, oneness, and sweet fellowship. The brothers and sisters are praying for you.”
This testimony should burden us to pray for the literature work. The brothers and sisters who are laboring in the literature work should be encouraged by the great and urgent need among Christians and by their positive response to our literature.
This is the reason that we should translate some of the important messages into English. People in Japan also understand English. We met a Japanese brother who is a university graduate and speaks very good English. We spoke with him in English and had no problem understanding him. When we were in Japan, I sometimes spoke a message in Chinese, and a brother would translate it into English, because we do not have brothers who speak Japanese fluently enough to translate my messages. The majority of people in Japan with a college education understand English.
The situation is the same in other countries. People who have higher education understand English. We do not need to use advanced English grammar when we translate our messages. Simple English is good enough. Even though the English is simple, it is full of spiritual content. This is similar to using the level of English spoken in elementary school to explain an important scientific principle. The ministry will spread farther if we publish our books in English. I believe that this is the Lord’s leading. If our literature does not go out and if the saints rarely go out for the propagation, we will be limited in what we can supply to other believers. For example, during my trip overseas I did not have much opportunity to contact people, and I was not able to speak many messages. Moreover, only a limited number of people, maybe not more than two thousand, were able to attend the meetings that we held in the different places. If the literature goes out, however, it will reach more people. Through the written word people will become clear concerning the messages that the Lord is releasing among us.
Because Brother T. Austin-Sparks often speaks of us in his ministry, many places in America and Europe are aware of us. However, they do not know what kind of “medicine” we have. They are not clear concerning our ministry, because our literature does not reach them. Thus far, only two books are available to believers in the West. One book—The Normal Christian Church Life—is composed of messages given by Brother Nee in London twenty years ago. The other—The Normal Christian Life—stirred up a strong response when it was released, and it has rendered much help to many believers.
There are also a few articles written by a sister in the West and published in Brother Austin-Sparks’s magazine, A Witness and a Testimony. Last summer, when he held his annual conference, many believers read the articles. One of our brothers who attended the conference said that the articles in the magazine did not adequately represent what was available through our ministry. The believers abroad do not know about the work that we are doing in the Far East. They do not know our ministry or our focus. However, once our literature goes out, they will be clear concerning our focus, and I am convinced that this is what they need.
Believers in the West do not have the messages that our literature provides. The books in Christianity do not contain what we have. Hence, the believers are spiritually impoverished. Not many good Christian books have been printed in recent years; therefore, in America classical Christian books from the second and third centuries are being reprinted. There is a market for these books in seminaries and Christian libraries, and believers who seek the Lord are collecting these books. In recent years a large number of out-of-print classics have been reprinted. Books concerning church history and books written by the church fathers are also being reprinted in large sizes and in sets.
The reprinting of spiritual classics indicates that not many books with content have been printed in recent years. The subject matter of nearly all the new books is sugarcoated; the books do not have any content. This is the condition of Christianity in the West. Except for the magazine A Witness and a Testimony, put out by Brother Austin-Sparks, the publications available to believers do not contain any substance. Most of them contain only promotional material, advertisements, and photographs.
If the Lord would have mercy on us and raise up some brothers to translate our literature into English, there will be a good response after our literature is distributed. The Lord did not give us these messages only for us; they are for His entire Body. We should enjoy these messages in the Far East, and the churches in the West should also receive the supply. Therefore, the messages that we labor on are the foundation. As soon as there are saints available to do the translation work, we should translate our books into English. This will be a great benefit to the believers in the West. The translation work is somewhat easier than the work on the original messages. The saints who are preparing the messages to be printed in Chinese are laboring to put out the spiritual supply in a solid way. This labor is worthwhile. For the sake of the Lord’s testimony, we must continue in this work.
I would like to fellowship concerning our usefulness in the Lord’s hand. As those who serve the Lord, our usefulness is crucial. We want to have spiritual weight, but we must realize that spiritual weight is for us to be useful. As we serve the Lord, the most important matter is our usefulness.
Over the years the Lord has used us for His work on this island. However, we have limited the Lord much more than we have been used by Him. In other words, we have not been as useful as we could have been, because there are problems that hinder our usefulness. These problems limit the Lord’s work.
Therefore, we all need to go before the Lord to see how we limit Him. We all limit the Lord in one way or another. We may limit the Lord in one way, in a few ways, or in many ways. Consequently, we are used by the Lord on the one hand, but we limit Him on the other. Instead of being greatly used by the Lord, we are used only in a limited way. This proves that there are problems in our usefulness. If we do not resolve these problems, we will always limit the Lord.
The heart of the Lord’s worker must be enlarged. A worker must have a large heart. This does not mean that we should be proud. Things in the world and in human society are often full of contradictions. For example, a person with a small heart is more likely to be proud, but a person with a large heart is less likely to be proud. It may seem that a person with a large heart would be proud. However, a person who is truly enlarged is not proud, but a person who is small and fine is often proud. The smaller a person’s heart is, the prouder he tends to be, and the larger a person’s heart is, the humbler he tends to be.
To have an enlarged heart does not mean to be proud. It means that a person’s heart is as inclusive and broad as God’s heart. Solomon is an example of a person with a large heart. In 1 Kings God gave Solomon largeness of heart and wisdom (4:29). Most believers know that God gave Solomon wisdom (3:9, 12), but they do not know that God also gave Solomon a large heart. First Kings 4:29 says that largeness of heart is like the sand on the seashore. The seashore encloses the sea. Therefore, God gave Solomon a heart that is larger than the sea.
Everyone who is truly wise has a large heart. A person with a narrow heart is foolish, but a person with a large heart is wise. A large heart and wisdom cannot be separated. A wise person has a large and broad heart. God gave Solomon wisdom by giving him a large heart.
A person who has a large heart is inclusive. A person who aspires to be great or to do a great work does not have a large heart. None of us should have the thought to be great or to do a great work. On the contrary, as those who serve the Lord, we must learn to let God enlarge our heart so that we are considerate of God’s heart. When we are concerned with what is on God’s heart, our concern will match God’s concern, and our intention will match God’s intention. This is closely related to our capacity and affects our usefulness in God’s hand.
Some people aim too high and are not realistic. This is not a large heart. These believers dream of the day when they are able to lead a multitude of sinners to salvation and perfect many saints. To have such thoughts is to give free rein to fantasy. This is to have a heart that is not large. We must learn to come before the Lord, be calm, and allow Him to enlarge our heart so that we consider His heart and care for what He cares for. Then our spiritual knowledge and learning will not be one-sided; instead, it will have many sides. An enlarged heart is not one-sided. A person who is one-sided can be compared to an unturned cake (Hosea 7:8). With time he becomes spiritually unbalanced and deficient. A spiritually unbalanced believer does not have an enlarged heart.
If our heart is enlarged, we will not be unbalanced in our spiritual knowledge and learning. Moreover, we will not be unbalanced in the ministry. Every worker should have a particular ministry, but we should not focus on our ministry. If we do, we will suffer loss. We should be general rather than specialized. It is better to know a little of everything than to know only one thing. When the young saints begin to serve the Lord, it is better for them to learn to be general. This is the way that students are taught in the world. A medical student must study every field. He studies the ear, nose, and throat, the eyes, internal medicine, gynecology, and pediatrics. He must learn everything. After he has a solid base of medical knowledge, he can specialize in one area. He would have serious problems in the future if he were to begin his medical training by specializing in one area. Hence, it is necessary for him to first study general subjects.
Those who are beginning to serve the Lord must learn to do everything. We should not say that we want only to preach the gospel. This is our preference and not the result of being enlarged by God. We must be enlarged by God until we are willing to learn to pray, read the Lord’s Word, touch the inner sense, fellowship with the saints, be proper deacons, and even learn to be elders. We should not despise our youth. Not only so, the brothers should learn to do the things that the sisters do, and the sisters should learn to do the things that the brothers do. When we begin to serve the Lord, we must begin with “general practice.” If after seven years we know only how to read the Bible or how to enter our private room and pray, we will not be useful in the Lord’s hand.
The best preparation for one who serves the Lord is for him to endeavor to learn as many things as possible in the first ten years of his service. Any believer who wants to learn how to serve the Lord should be helped to learn every service. It may be that he learns one service for two months and then another service for another two months. It is important for him to learn to do everything. If he serves in this way, after a while he will be clear concerning the focus of his service.
A believer who is restricted to a particular service is not very useful. A believer who is useful is not restricted in his service. He can be specialized in one thing but not restricted to one thing. Rather, he does many things and functions in many areas so that he is not limited in his ministry.
If we receive a definite commission from the Lord, we will not be limited in our usefulness. Hudson Taylor is an example. For decades I considered different things related to him. However, it was not until recently that one particular point impressed me. Hudson Taylor was not a person with the gift to preach the gospel. According to his biography, he was not good at preaching the gospel, but he received the burden to preach the gospel. Hudson Taylor was not a powerful evangelist. The messages he preached were mostly related to living in the Lord’s presence and fellowshipping with the Lord. Over the past two thousand years no one has spoken a clearer word on John 15 than the word he spoke. He touched the essence of this chapter. However, the commission that he received from the Lord was not to preach John 15. His commission was for something different.
Our problem is that we either receive a burden but lack spiritual learning, or we have the necessary spiritual learning but are trapped in the learning and reject everything else. Either we are trapped in what we know, or we are enthusiastic and attempt to work in an unrestrained way without the necessary learning. These considerations make us useless in the Lord’s hand.
Hudson Taylor is one of the few believers who was greatly used by the Lord in the last one hundred years. He was greatly used by the Lord because he was not limited to his learning to live in the Lord’s presence. He received a burden and a commission that were beyond his learning. Hudson Taylor was a great person. He had a heart that was truly enlarged by God; hence, he did not desire to be great. His biography shows that he was a humble man. Hudson Taylor was one of the believers who truly was a lowly man. He felt that he was useless, but his heart was enlarged by God.
One day as he stood by the seashore and looked over the ocean, he received a burden from the Lord. He considered that in the vast land of China four hundred million people had not heard the gospel. Even though Christianity had come to China, the missionaries mostly worked along the coastal regions. They did not go inland. He considered the thousands of people who died every day without hearing the gospel. Therefore, he said to the Lord that he was willing to receive a burden. He formed the China Inland Mission with the particular burden of spreading the gospel to the interior of China. Initially, he oversaw everything, and there was not much organization. It was only later that it became a large organization. Hudson Taylor was moved by God. Regrettably, when other workers joined him, other elements were added, which weakened the work. The burden that Hudson Taylor received from the Lord, however, was truly a spiritual matter that touched God’s intention.
Hudson Taylor’s move not only enabled many Chinese people to hear the gospel, but it also stirred up many believers from Europe and America to rise up to spread the gospel, especially to China. Moreover, a large amount of money was given for the gospel. This was a great matter that brought in innumerable blessings to the church of God. Hudson Taylor was a lowly man. He did not regard himself as someone great and important. His heart was enlarged by God. He was not limited by what he knew or by what he was able to do. His heart was enlarged by the Lord.
If we are proud, we are foolish and vain. Our heart needs to be enlarged by God. We should ask God to enlarge our heart. When our heart is enlarged, we will not care only for the work that we are doing; neither will we care only for the church in our locality. We will not say that because we are in Kaohsiung or Keelung, we care only for Kaohsiung or Keelung. Instead, if we are in Kaohsiung, we will care for Kaohsiung more than we did previously, and if we are in Keelung, we will care for Keelung in a better way than we did previously. But at the same time we will care for the churches in other places. This depends on our being broadened.
When our heart is enlarged, our spiritual knowledge and learning will not be unbalanced and lifeless. At the same time we will be broad in the ministry and care for the churches everywhere. If we want to be useful in the Lord’s hand, our heart must be large. God cannot use a person with a narrow heart. If God gives us a few workers to coordinate with, we might say that there are too many and that they are bothersome. Workers who say this are useless in the Lord’s hand. Our heart must be so enlarged that we do not consider it a problem to coordinate with three hundred, five hundred, eight hundred, or even a thousand workers. We should be able to handle the situation, and whether or not the workers are useful, they should be able to work in coordination with us. Our heart must be enlarged so that whether or not the workers are good, they can labor with us. The larger a person’s heart is, the more he is able to keep others in the coordination. Therefore, our ability to labor with others depends on our heart being enlarged.
The main reason we cannot coordinate with the brothers in the different places is that we have a small, narrow heart. It is not that the saints are a problem but that we have a narrow heart. We should never blame others and say that their heart is narrow. It does not matter whether their heart is narrow. If our heart is large, we will be able to embrace the saints who have a small heart. As soon as we include them, there will be harmony. There will be a harmonious situation with no disputes. The main reason we cannot get along with the saints and coordinate with them is that we have a small heart. Our heart is not enlarged, and we are limited. Because we are limited, we do not include others. Therefore, we have problems. On the contrary, when we accommodate the saints, there are no problems. This does not mean that we are like people in the world who play politics. We need to go to the Lord in all sincerity to be trained by Him so that our heart is enlarged. Then we will be able to include the saints.
If God can enlarge our heart, there is no way to estimate how useful we will be to Him. Our heart determines our usefulness. A person with a narrow heart is not that useful in God’s hand. Our usefulness is related to the largeness of our heart.
It is not easy for a person with a small heart to have faith. It is rare for a small-hearted person to have genuine faith. Anyone who has faith has a large heart. From God’s point of view, our faith is as small as a mustard seed (Luke 17:6). However, every matter related to faith is immeasurably great. The mustard seed is small, but the issue of such a small seed is immeasurable. A small amount of faith can produce a great result. Our faith depends on our heart. If our heart is large, we will spontaneously have faith.
We may speak of faith as being large or small, but a small-hearted person does not have faith. Only a large-hearted person has faith. If our heart is large, we do not need to plan how to take care of our living or how to pay for our expenses. A large-hearted person does not worry about such minor items. This is the kind of help that we receive from reading the biography of spiritual persons. Hudson Taylor and others who were used by God did not have banks or committees to support their work. This is a reason that we should learn to have a large heart. Once our heart is enlarged, it will be easy for us to have faith. The larger our heart is, the more faith we will have. Our faith will be so immeasurable that we will believe that God can do extraordinary things. However, no one can encourage or force us to have such faith. Having faith that trusts in God depends on our heart being enlarged.
The population of the world has increased over the years. Even though the rate of increase is constantly accelerating, people today do not necessarily live in a poorer condition than people in the ancient days. The larger a population is, the greater the financial pressure, but it seems that people are even wealthier. For example, the population of Taiwan is ten million, and it increases yearly by three hundred thousand people, which is the population of the city of Kaohsiung. This poses a problem to the government in Taiwan, because in ten years the population increase will be ten times the population of Kaohsiung. Moreover, the population increase is exponential; more people beget more children. Thus, in ten years there may be a yearly increase of four hundred thousand. We should not worry about how these people will live. Taiwan will probably be more prosperous by then. All the numbers are in God’s hand. God allows people to be poor or rich. Whether a person is poor or rich is in God’s hand. No one can control this.
We should never consider how poor the saints are or how impoverished the place is where we labor. Once we consider these matters, we have no way to go on. Even when we are financially pressed on every side with no way out, our help comes from God. This is beyond our expectation. Hence, we need living faith. A mustard seed may be small in size, but because it is living, it can produce great results.
Living faith depends on a heart that is enlarged. A believer who is specialized does not have much potential before the Lord. No matter how much he endeavors to learn, he will not be useful to the Lord. His primary need is to allow God to enlarge his heart. Once the heart is enlarged, it is easy to have living faith. A worker should believe in God’s grace and mercy and not in his planning or imagination. What God measures out to us is not according to our expectation, and it is beyond our calculations. If we allow God to work in us and enlarge our heart, it will be easy for us to have faith that grows and is living. Instead of being influenced by the environment, we will receive God’s mercy to see that all things in the universe are in His hand for the accomplishment of His work. The Lord’s special mercy and blessing exceed our faith.
If we would work for the Lord and be useful in His hand, we must have living faith. We should learn to receive a burden from the Lord, that is, to receive His commission. We cannot receive a burden if we have a small heart, do not have faith, and only walk by sight. Even if God gives us a vision and a burden, we will not receive them if our heart is small. If we have a small heart and no faith, the vision with the burden that comes from the Lord will simply vanish like a fleeting cloud. It is not that God does not give us a vision but that we do not receive it, because our heart is small, and we lack faith. God’s vision and burden are great, but if our heart is too small to receive them, our usefulness will be limited.
God gives faith and enlarges our heart. When our heart is large, it is easy to have living faith. Living faith enables us to receive God’s commission, God’s burden. This has everything to do with our function and our usefulness. Billy Graham was raised up by the Lord less than ten years ago and is not yet forty years old. The reason he is able to carry out his work is that he has a large heart. He is young, competent, and steady, not proud or arrogant. His large heart gives him a living faith that enables him to receive the burden of the gospel. The burden he received is from God.
Some orthodox Christians in America are unreasonable in opposing Billy Graham. Without the proper view from God, a doctrine may be dead. God asked the prophets to do things that seemed unreasonable. For example, He asked the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute (Hosea 1:2). Hosea could only follow this command, even though he would be criticized. Some believers are opposed to Billy Graham and his crusades because even people from heretical groups attend the crusades. Billy Graham, however, cares only that people hear the gospel. He does not care who hears the gospel. He would preach the gospel even if the devil attended a crusade.
This shows that Billy Graham has an enlarged heart. He stands with God and preaches the word to whoever attends. He does not try to please people. He has living faith and receives his burden from God. The Spirit affirms his labor with a strong result and supplies him. This does not mean, however, that we should imitate him. In principle, we should receive help from others, but we are accountable to God for our work.
Many brothers are still not willing to learn lessons. They lack resolution and perseverance. For example, we have heard about the skill to labor, observed how others labor, and we have labored; however, we still are not skilled, because our heart is not set to learn in a deep way. We know how to preach the gospel, but the way that we preach is not so effective. We may all know how to do something, but how much you know is different from how much I know. Different degrees of knowing make some co-workers skilled and others not as skilled. We all know how to preach the gospel, but some of us are determined to learn in a deep way and others are not.
Some co-workers do not have the skill to preach the gospel, give a message, lead the saints, or fellowship with the saints. Hence, their work is average. They are not effective when they minister the word, preach the gospel, or help the saints. We should not continue to labor in this way. Spiritual labor requires much skill. The co-workers who are most capable are the ones who are willing to spend much time and effort to learn. We should not think that we can gain something by taking shortcuts. We should never take shortcuts to learn a skill. The only way to learn a skill is to have a strong resolve and to persevere and endeavor to learn.
When I was at Honor Oak, I noticed that the believers were encouraged to be spiritual, but they were not given the opportunity to manifest their function in the meetings, they did not receive practical training, nor did they have the opportunity to serve. When the saints came together, they only listened to messages. Most of the time Brother T. Austin-Sparks spoke, and the rest listened. He has a portion from the Lord and renders much help to others, but he does not give others the opportunity to learn to serve.
I stayed with them for more than a month but did not meet many elders. It did not seem as if the elders had much work, because they met only once during that month. Brother T. Austin-Sparks asked me to speak in almost every meeting. He may have done this because we asked him to speak in every meeting when he was here. Before the meeting the elders met together and prayed on their knees for twenty to thirty minutes. Sometimes Brother Austin-Sparks also made arrangements for practical matters.
I observed brothers and sisters who have a heart to learn spiritual things, but they were not given the opportunity to serve. Some of them are called by the Lord and should go out to labor, but there are no arrangements for them to go, and they do not receive any confirmation. The answer they received was to seek the Lord further and see how He leads them. Eventually, they do not know what to do.
This is the reason that I released a message concerning the need to manifest our function for the building up of the church. I pointed out that instead of replacing the saints, the gifted members should perfect the saints to manifest their function. I also said that the gifted saints should not hold everything in their hands. They should give every saint an opportunity to practice. I emphasized many times the matter of giving everyone an opportunity to learn and practice. In our physical body every member requires exercise. A child begins to crawl when it is ten months old. Then he learns to stand and then to walk.
My last meeting with the whole congregation was a week before my departure. The meeting was open for everyone to ask questions. Brother Austin-Sparks was the moderator, and he encouraged the brothers and sisters to grasp the opportunity to ask questions. A brother said that they were taught that function comes from the growth in life; consequently, they were taught that there was no need to practice. He asked whether growth and practice were contradictory. This question indicated that there was a response to the messages that I had given concerning the building. In my answer I said that life is definitely needed. We can give a dog or a cat lessons on pronunciation, but a dog will always bark and a cat will always meow. A cat will always sound like a cat, and a dog will always sound like a dog. Neither can speak like a human. This is according to their growth in life.
I then gave another example and said that I am in my fifties and am quite experienced, but my English is not as fluent as an eight-year-old boy in England. This is not a matter of life but of training. If I grew up in a British family, I would speak excellent English, even though I am Chinese. My English is poor because I did not have the opportunity to practice.
Their reaction to my response indicated that my answer was different from what they were taught. After this illustration I did not feel that it was necessary to speak further. My intention was to show that we would be limited in our work if we focused only on life and ignored practical training. We should never think that we are a slow learner and therefore cannot preach the gospel or give a message. Except for those who are born mute, everyone is able to speak. How we speak depends on whether we are willing to make an effort to learn and practice.
Before I left Honor Oak, I gave another message on the three T books, which are 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. I said that there are two lines in the Epistles. One line, from the book of Romans to 2 Thessalonians, shows that Christ is our life and that the church comes out of Christ as a product of Christ. Even though we know that the church is out of Christ and is in Christ, we may not know how to take care of the church. We may know that there are elders in the church, but we may not know the function of the elders. We may also know that there are deacons in the church, but we may not know the function of the deacons.
This is the reason that there is a second line in the Epistles, the three T books, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. The general subject of these three books concerns how we should conduct ourselves in the house of God. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul says, “If I delay, I write that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.” In these three books the apostle presents the qualifications of the elders and how elders are appointed, the qualifications of the deacons and how they are chosen, and how to treat the saints of different ages.
These three books say that we should learn, practice, train, and teach. If we read these books, we will find the words learn, closely followed my teaching, knowing from which ones you have learned them, and you have heard from me (1 Tim. 2:11; 5:4; 2 Tim. 3:10, 14; 1:13; 2:2). Paul even charged Timothy to commit what he learned to faithful men who could teach others also (v. 2). Paul did not speak much concerning life or spiritual things in these three books. Instead, he spoke much concerning learning, teaching, exercising, and practical arrangements. He says, “Exercise yourself unto godliness” (1 Tim. 4:7). This is the second line of the apostle’s fellowship in the Epistles.
We should not focus only on one line. We need to be filled with Christ, take Christ as everything, and see that the church is Christ. However, if we know only this line but not the second line, we will encounter problems. What should we do when we are filled with Christ, and how should we conduct ourselves in the house of God? We need the three T books to see the aspect of practical training. These books are full of arrangements, even concerning trivial matters. Paul says, “The cloak which I left in Troas with Carpus, bring when you come, and the scrolls, especially the parchments...Be diligent to come before winter” (2 Tim. 4:13, 21). These are practical arrangements that are not the result of the growth in life. Timothy could be spiritual and speak of life, but here Paul said that he should bring the parchments. This proves that the divine life, without training, is not sufficient in the administration of the church. There must also be practical arrangements.
The apostle made many arrangements. He seemed to say, “Timothy, find believers who are competent and teach them what I taught you so that they can teach others.” This is an arrangement and a training. Hence, we should not trust only in the gifts of life. There is no problem with the divine life, but we do not have enough learning. We have not made sufficient effort to learn. Therefore, we should not say that we are not as talented as Brother So-and-so or Sister So-and-so and that we will give up because we lack spiritual gifts. If we are not willing to learn, our situation will definitely become worse over time. We were called by God and have consecrated ourselves to Him. Hence, we should be desperate to learn. If we do not learn and are not skilled in our work, we will cause the Lord’s work to suffer loss.
Some co-workers in the past were not serious in their service; however, we must be serious and learn earnestly. After this trip abroad I have much feeling. Many elementary-school students study until eleven o’clock at night and get up in the morning earlier than their parents. By seven o’clock in the morning they are ready for school, and they do not return home until six in the evening. It is not easy for elementary-school students, because if they do not study hard, they will not pass the entrance examination for middle school. If the co-workers were as diligent as elementary-school students, they would be more useful in the Lord’s hand.
Elementary-school students do not study hard of their own accord. They are forced to study hard. In contrast, we often shirk our responsibility with the excuse that we are not capable. We need to learn because we are not capable. If we are capable, we do not need to learn. We also need to learn because we do not understand. If we understand, there is no need to learn. Some co-workers could be very useful, but they do not have a heart to learn, to persevere, and to make an effort to be useful. If we want to learn something, we must persevere until we learn. We also need a will to suffer. We should not back down in the face of difficulty. Hence, it is not a matter of knowing how to do something but of whether we are willing to learn. We should never say, for example, that we cannot speak. If we are willing to learn, we will be able to speak.
Some among us are not able to coordinate with others. This is a problem. Some of us have a mild disposition and some tolerance. We may not argue or quarrel with others outwardly, but this may not reflect our true inward condition. We are in the Lord’s work, but we cannot work with others. When we cannot coordinate with others, the Holy Spirit has no way to work with us.
To not be able to coordinate is more serious than to not work. If we cannot coordinate with the saints, it is better that we do not work. If we want our work to receive the Lord’s blessing, we must be in one accord with others. A brother may know that he is in discord when he works with the saints and bears responsibility with them. In this situation there will be no blessing, regardless of how hard he works. At the same time he will not be useful in the Lord’s hand. His usefulness will be annulled if he cannot coordinate with others. If this is our situation, we must seriously deal with ourselves until we can be in one accord with others.
Furthermore, some brothers cannot be subject to others. They are not satisfied when others are above them. This is also a problem. We cannot expect to always be above others. We must learn to be under others and to be in one accord with them. However, some workers always want to be above others. They are not satisfied when others are above them.
These points are all related to our usefulness in the Lord’s hand. If I were beginning to serve, I would not understand these things. I do not know many things in the world, but to some extent I know how to serve the Lord. There is no situation in the service that I do not understand.
We all love the Lord, and it is important for every brother and sister to love the Lord. We also know the flesh and the cross. Hence, there is no quarreling among us. However, it is not enough merely not to quarrel. Our inner being is still not up to the standard, because we are not in harmony with others, and we cannot coordinate. As a result, our work is short of the Lord’s blessing. This is the issue of not learning lessons.
We have to learn skills for our labor and also lessons of life. These are related to our usefulness in the Lord’s hand. On the one hand, we must learn lessons to have a large heart, to have living faith, and to receive the Lord’s commission. Then one aspect of our usefulness will not be limited. On the other hand, we need to learn the skills to give a message, preach the gospel, expound the Bible, fellowship with the saints, and visit them.
We should not waste our time and think that it is easy to serve full time. If we do not learn these matters, our work will not have results, and there will be no blessing. If we want to have results and receive the blessing, we need to learn these things. When we coordinate with others, we need to learn the lesson of being broken in our disposition. This does not mean that we play politics. That is what society does, but it is not our way. We should learn the lesson of being broken so that we can be gentle and meek. Then we will be useful in the Lord’s hand, and our usefulness will increase with time.
