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I feel burdened to release some messages in the Chinese language that can be sent out to every part of the earth where Chinese saints meet. As to whether the Chinese-speaking saints in Southern California come to these meetings, it is up to the churches. I would like to say a word both to the churches and to the Chinese-speaking saints.
As for the churches, surely something should be done, based upon the principle of shepherding, for the Chinese-speaking saints. Whether your church agrees for them to participate in these meetings where the message will be given in Chinese, you must still consider how to take care of them. The number of Chinese immigrants to this country is steadily increasing, every year by at least forty thousand, with most of them settling in Southern California. There is a great need. This meeting could be of help to all the churches taking care of this need. The churches need to consider what to do about this.
As for the Chinese-speaking saints, if your English is sufficient, you are not qualified to come to the Chinese-speaking meeting. If you can understand the messages and testimonies in English and can express yourself in English in prayer, there is no need for you to come to the Chinese-speaking meeting. If, however, in spite of being able to manage well in English, you have a burden to care for some younger ones or newer ones or some of your relatives, you may still come to the Chinese-speaking meeting. We are not talking about a Chinese meeting, only a Chinese-speaking meeting. It is not based upon race but upon the management of language. This meeting is set up only for those who cannot manage English in the meetings. If we had another reason, it would be wrong to set up such a meeting. It would be a division. Just because of the language problem, we need to have a bridge for a time. Thus, if you do not have this language difficulty, even if you are Chinese, you are not qualified to attend, that is, unless you have a burden for some Chinese-speaking ones.
No matter what we do, there is always some trouble. Do not say, “Brother Lee, this practice will increase the trouble in the church.” It is true, but if you do not want to have trouble, it is better to die and be buried! As long as you live, you will have trouble. If you want to eat, there is the trouble of getting the groceries, then of cooking them, then of setting the table, and then of cleaning up afterward. Even sleeping is a trouble. What shall we do? We have to overcome the trouble.
Probably nothing is as troublesome as the church life. If I were not a Christian called and burdened by the Lord, I would not touch this matter; I would rather do something else. Just one meeting in one language is trouble enough. Now to have two meetings with two languages will not only double but even triple the problems. For one thing, the leadership has to be increased. One set of meetings will be in Chinese, needing some to take care of it; another will be in English, also needing some to take care of it. Be assured that your burden will be much heavier. Then there will be the need for coordination. With only one kind of meeting, you might not realize how important the coordination is. Two kinds of meetings will put you on the spot, testing how elastic is your ability to coordinate. I am afraid your elasticity will not stretch very far; after two weeks it will break! This is a warning, not a prediction; I hope it will not turn out to have been a prediction. Coordination is most necessary.
Even in the first century the apostles met this problem. In Paul’s Epistles at least twice he says that there can be neither Greek nor Jew (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11). Suppose the Jews had not gone into dispersion, and they all lived in the good land. In Corinth, in Macedonia, in Ephesus and the other cities of Asia Minor, there would have been no Jews. How much simpler it would have been!
Why did Columbus discover America and open the way for so many people to come in? Last week (at our Chinese-speaking conference) we had about eleven hundred, all of the yellow race. Who would have thought that in America there could be over one thousand of them, all Christians? And more are coming. This means there will be more trouble!
The apostles had this trouble in their time; that is why Paul had to write “no Greek, no Jew.” This must be practically applied to us: no white, no yellow. More than a hundred years ago there was a war in this country between the North and the South over the matter of race. I read that during the battles the soldiers on both sides prayed. They prayed to the same God and Savior Jesus, and sometimes they called each other brothers. What a shame! I would like to tell you that this fighting has never ceased. Still today in Christianity this shame is prevailing. To overcome this matter of race is probably possible only in the recovery, and it is only a possibility.
Just before the Chinese-speaking conference, I spoke to the serving ones at the Living Stream Ministry on the subject of “Grace Swallowing Up Race.” Do you know what the church life is? It is the grace that swallows up race. Race is short of a letter, G. If we add “G” to our race, there will be no more race, only grace. If there is still race, it indicates that we are short of grace. In my whole Christian life I have never performed a wedding, but now I will marry the two meetings with the two languages. This ceremony will not last just an hour; it may take several years. To have two meetings in two languages in one locality means trouble. I have seen and experienced and suffered much regarding this matter. But we have no choice.
In the Bay Area, for instance, I did my best to avoid this trouble. Some of you, I know, also tried to avoid this. In fact, I am concerned that among some of you, there is still the desire to avoid this. If in your heart you are thinking, “How good it will be if there is no Chinese-speaking meeting,” you are trying to avoid this. But the situation does not give you any way to escape.
If you avoid this, the church that you take care of will surely suffer. It has been suffering already. At least three years ago, a Chinese-speaking meeting should have been set up in the Bay Area. I am not criticizing; at most I am analyzing. Three years ago there was a great demand for such a meeting, but there was a strong avoiding. I did not say anything at that time, because I knew the time was not ripe. But do not think that I feel the time is ripe now, so I am initiating it. The setting up of Chinese-speaking meetings was not initiated by me. It was Abraham Chang who started it. Since it has been initiated, however, the tide is going on. If we, all of us, refuse to have a Chinese-speaking meeting set up in the Bay Area, the church will suffer. I do not say this in a light way. By the Lord’s mercy, I speak very seriously.
Especially three or four places in the Bay Area need such a meeting. There is no need to mention San Francisco because that is almost a Chinese-speaking meeting. But San Jose and Berkeley both need one. Probably Sacramento does too; I am not sure. As for the other places in the Bay Area, like Santa Cruz, Pleasant Hill, and Hayward, the scale is still small, and the need has not yet become evident. But where there is a need, if we delay, under today’s atmosphere the church will suffer. We must consider how to find a way.
Tonight we have a number of brothers added. Most of them are the ones who will take care of such meetings. This does not mean that they are elders or will be elders.
Let me give you an illustration of the type of situation you will face. Last weekend four brothers from Palo Alto told me that they now have twenty saints coming together in a brother’s home for the prayer meeting. They feel that a meeting is needed, and they are ready to have the church life started there. I told them that we did attempt to start the church life in Palo Alto more than five years ago. Then I received a phone call from a brother who already had a little meeting there under his hand. After resigning from the eldership in San Francisco, he took over a little group that was an outpost of the church in San Francisco. Some saints were unhappy about it, so instead of joining him they kept going to San Francisco or San Jose. When this brother heard that the brothers in the Bay Area had a burden to start the church life in Palo Alto, he called me, saying, “Brother Lee, we are all one family. We are already here, meeting as a local church. Why are the brothers coming here to compete with us?”
I realized that the situation was complicated. Without hesitating, I fellowshipped with the brothers that probably the time was not right. The number was few, although one brother had bought a house for this purpose. Since there were so few who would be going there, it would be better not to go and get involved in the complicated situation. Because of this, the brothers retreated, and the one who had bought a house sold it.
Well, when the four brothers from Palo Alto came to me this time, I realized that they were aware of that situation. I told them, “The problem still exists there. If you want to start the church life, you surely need to clarify some of those things.” Then they asked how to do this.
“First of all,” I answered them, “you must clarify yourselves. Why did we feel that the situation there in Palo Alto was not clear? We were deeply concerned as to whether they were clear about the truth. We also questioned, sorry to say, whether their motive was pure. Was their understanding of the truth clear? Was their motive pure? These questions bothered us because of the way that outpost was taken over. If there was the likelihood that that outpost was going to be a church, it should have been done under a sweet fellowship. But there was no fellowship. All of a sudden, a kind of church was set up. If there were no other city on earth that had a church, there might not be a problem. But Palo Alto is one city among many cities in the Bay Area with churches; and it was originally an outpost of an already-existing church. For such an outpost suddenly to become a church without fellowshipping with the nearby churches raises the question as to what kind of ground it is on.
“Brothers,” I continued, “this complicated situation came about because of a doubtful ground and a motive not so pure. If you want to begin the church life, how about your motive? If you are unhappy with the church you are now attending and still think this is the time to start a church in your locality simply because you live in Palo Alto, this does not qualify you. If my motive is not pure, even if the conditions are favorable, even if I know about the flesh and the lesson of the cross, I would never start a church. I would choose rather to drive a half hour to keep meeting in another place, even if it is in another city.”
Before they came down last weekend, one of these four wrote me a long letter, asking why, if we preach the truth of one city, one church, we do not practice it. Here they were, living in another city, yet going to San Jose. I had no time or desire to answer such a letter. Now the writer was standing before me. “Brother So-and-so, now I will answer your letter,” I said.
“The church ground—one city, one church—is for unity. If we utilize this truth to cover our motive of division, we are more than divisive. Further, this truth cannot be applied as a legality.
“Consider the city of Anaheim. Its boundaries are irregular, like many other cities in the United States and also in other countries. Suppose a brother lives on the outskirts of Anaheim, yet very close to Cypress. His house is also just across the street from the meeting hall of the church in Cypress. If he goes to the meetings of the church in Anaheim, he will have to drive a long way to get to the meeting hall. Instead, he could simply cross the street. You would say that since he lives in Anaheim, he must not go to Cypress; that would be divisive. Well, it all depends. If he has no intention to cause division and has no preference, but just for the sake of time chooses to go with his family to the church in Cypress, what is wrong with that? We are all one church.
“But let us suppose that some brothers in Anaheim are unhappy with this brother. They criticize him for not meeting with the church there. He could argue that they are being too legal and say that there is no need for him to be bound by such a legality. However, if he knows what the flesh is and what the lesson of the cross is, he would choose not to meet with the church that meets nearby. Every meeting he would drive a long way to the meeting hall in Anaheim to get on the altar to be slaughtered. I think you understand my language. This is the biblical way to carry out the church life.
“We cannot use the truth of the church ground as a legality; if we do, it is no longer a truth.” I went on to tell this brother, “The fact that there are twenty of you does not qualify you either. Even if the situation in Palo Alto were desirable for starting the church life, this still would not qualify you. You must check your motive. Once something is started by you under the umbrella of the church with an impure motive, everything is annulled.”
You brothers who have been newly added, I would like you to hear this word. The motive must be clear, must be pure. If you have even a little desire to be a leader, not an elder but just a leader in the Chinese-speaking meeting, this disqualifies you. No man may know, but the Lord knows.
In the same principle, I would say a word to the elders. To judge with the best discernment whether to have a Chinese-speaking meeting in your locality requires a pure motive. If your motive is not pure, you are not qualified to say a word, either yes or no. Your impureness disqualifies you. Brothers, I say this seriously. Not only in this matter but in every situation in the church life, especially in the leadership, this principle applies. In the Lord’s work, if I have even a little ambition to be something, I am disqualified, I am through.
Among Christians a pure motive is a treasure. It is rarer than a diamond. In my “practice of medicine” for over a half century, I have surely known what “sicknesses” people have. It is unusual to find a pure motive in what touches the Lord’s work or His church.
The Lord’s recovery has had a history concerning this these past sixty years. There is no need to mention the things that happened on the mainland during Brother Nee’s time. A number of you here were involved with what happened in Taiwan from 1958 until 1965. There were some who caused a lot of trouble and then left. I warned them that they would divide again and again. Now that seventeen years or so have gone by, my prediction has been fully fulfilled. They kept on dividing; there was not one exception. In making trouble, they were one. But after they left and began something, nearly no one would work with another. The motive was not pure.
We may be weak. We are still not so useful in the Lord’s hand. I do not deny this. Yet even the dissenting ones cannot deny that the blessing has been on the Lord’s recovery. Twenty years of history have gone by since 1963; it is clear where the blessing has been. Impureness in the church life and in the Lord’s work is the basic killer. It kills everything, including you if you are impure. As long as you have impurity in your motive, you are the first victim of this impureness. This is not a threat; it is a warning, first to myself. Only the Lord knows how fearful and trembling I have been for many years lest I be impure in making a decision concerning certain things.
To talk with you about this matter of purity is one of the reasons for these Monday night meetings. Of course, this is a minor point, not the central lane. Nevertheless, it is a major condition. However much you say that you are in the central lane, in the Lord’s focus, if your motive is not pure, you are off. You are not in the central lane. The central lane is good only for the pure ones to travel on. This is a serious matter. A church under pure hands may experience many troubles, but it is still under the blessing. Once it changes into impure hands, death comes in. You have probably seen this happen.
The same is true with the Lord’s work. Soon after I came to this country, some jealous ones from another place said, “Why can’t we do what Brother Lee is doing? Let’s go to the United States too and do the same thing.” They came to this country and tried to do a work. Eventually, nothing was accomplished. I do not believe that the blessing on the recovery in the United States has been due to my ability. My ability at most could only have been a little instrument. It was due to something in the recovery that was pure. My conscience allows me to ask you brothers: is there any hint of impurity regarding the church and the Lord’s work as far as I myself am concerned? I have been with you for twenty years. Tonight I stand before you, about a hundred people, to say that it is hard for you to find anything of the church and the Lord’s work related to me that is impure. Brothers, this is the only reason that the Lord’s blessing, not in prosperity but in life, is here, and it is because of this that I can speak boldly. My conscience does not have even a small hole. In other things I dare not say, but in this matter of pureness I have a conscience without offense.
Since there will be a number of new Chinese-speaking meetings, this will involve several things. It will involve the leadership of these meetings. It will also involve, at least indirectly, the eldership in the localities concerned. Coordination will be needed. To be patient, to be humble: these may be only religion. Paul may teach patience, but he does so rarely; what he teaches is endurance.
The prerequisite, however, in responsibility, in the eldership, in the leadership, is pureness. The coordination needs pureness. If you are short of this, regardless of how careful you are, you will have trouble again and again. In the church life, things are always happening. If you are not pure in your motive, you will be entangled either by this trouble or by the next one. It is unavoidable. By the same token, if you are pure, no trouble will entangle you.
Many times our seeming patience comes from impurity. We wait and do not take action because we are afraid of offending others. I do not mean that we should be rude or careless. But pureness is a basic factor. It kills all the germs. If you check with the elders of the church in Anaheim here, I believe they will all agree that, whatever I do, whether I am happy or not happy, they never doubt my motive. They do not doubt my motive, and I do not doubt theirs, because we have a mutual history over many years. We have known each other for a long time. Thus, we can save much time and trouble in the way we do things and still not have misunderstanding.
Do you know where misunderstanding comes from? Often its source is impureness. A husband and wife who truly love each other without impureness may quarrel and have disagreements, yet without misunderstanding. Once some impureness comes in, however, there is one misunderstanding after another. They may try to be careful, patient, and wise, but the misunderstandings will continue because of the impureness.
To offend others comes from the flesh. Fear of offending others is also of the flesh. In the world, say, in a corporation, people are very careful not to offend one another, because the world is filled with impurity. If this is true of the church also, we are no more the church. In the church there should be nothing but pureness in every avenue, every corner.
It is when we are impure that we become suspicious. We become detectives to spy out the meaning behind what others say. If we are pure in our motive, we do not have such a thought. We are on another globe, taking others’ words in a simple way.
I have heard that some brothers notice things happening that are not right, but they dare not say anything. To avoid getting involved, they stay silent and let the suffering go on. To do this is to play politics. This is what some of you have been practicing. Dear brothers, change your mind. Repent. Let us have no more such thing.
You think someone has secretly reported to Brother Lee about you. Actually, I have not received any such report. There is a demon in your thinking, because you are doing something that you hope Brother Lee will not find out about. No one gave me any information, but under the Lord’s sovereignty I stepped in just to say that from today we will do things that way no more. Because my correction was exactly right, you thought someone had given me secret information about you. Such was not the case. The Lord Jesus Himself gave me the word to come to your meeting to correct certain things in principle.
If you are in this meeting tonight with an impure heart, you may think that what I am saying is the result of reports I have been given. You may think that a certain remark specifically applies to you, because it fits your situation exactly. If no one had reported you, how could I have known about it?
Well, what I am sharing with you I wrote down six days ago. I listed the points that I wanted to cover. After our last meeting, I wrote them all down because I realized that I am getting older, and I would not remember the points without notes. From this it should be clear to you that what I am saying is not because of reports I have received.
Learn to be pure. This is not a small thing. Now that the Chinese-speaking meeting has started, all these frogs from the depths of the well have come to the surface. Surely if you do not condemn those things, the blessing will be gone. Such suspicious thoughts will kill your service. If you wonder how I can keep going on, I would say it is because I have no such way. You all know my frankness. If you are pure, there is no need to be afraid of anything. Pureness is a basic condition of our service.
Now I would like to share with you about Brother Nee’s practice. When I was preparing his biography, I collected a number of his writings to show how he worked. Several times he mentions that the Lord’s commission to him was not the external things of the work of the church life. The Lord’s commission to him was the testimony of Jesus, that is, to live a life of Christ in His death and resurrection. In spite of this, he had no choice but to do many external things. He even published many books on such matters as church affairs. Even Messages for Building Up New Believers is not classified as part of Brother Nee’s ministry under the Lord’s commission; he specifically said that the Lord had not commissioned him to give those messages. The Lord commissioned him to give messages on Christ, on His death and resurrection, and on His Body, the mystical Body. Notwithstanding, he published a good number of books for new beginners.
What is the outcome of this? In the recovery many churches and many of the saints pay attention to church affairs, to the new beginners’ meetings, to Brother Nee’s teachings on the external things, including the church ground. Sorry to say, not many really see what Christ is in experience. Because of this lack of seeing, we neglect it. We neglect the meaning of the death of Christ, of His resurrection, and of His mystical Body.
If you consider, you will see that what I say is really so. Do the leading ones in the churches really consider how to help the saints to know Christ, how to minister the real experience of the death and resurrection of Christ, and how to know the Body of Christ in an experiential way? It seems that most of the leading ones week after week have other things as their consideration: how to take care of the meeting, how to get the increase, how to help the weak ones, how to get the problems solved, how to build the meeting hall, and other such matters. Unconsciously we have left the central lane. We are not in the focus. Rather, we are somewhat like the Brethren assemblies. We meet according to the Scripture, we have good, even better biblical teachings, and we do preach the gospel. These three things we more or less take care of. But there is little care paid to the central lane.
Circumstances forced Brother Nee to do things for the external side. Then, under the subtlety of the enemy, some said that before World War II Brother Nee was for the ground of the church, but after the war he changed. Thus, they published his messages on the so-called inner life. Brother Nee’s ministry is prevailing today among many Christians just because of this line of the inner life. Still, you must realize that this is not the testimony of Jesus. Even though they put out The Spiritual Man, I wonder whether those who love Brother Nee’s ministry really know what Christ as life is experientially and what His death and resurrection are. This is the poor situation of today’s Christians. Even we who say that we take Brother Nee’s ministry take mostly the external part, the chicken feathers and the garlic skins.
To strengthen what I am saying, I would like to analyze the Chinese-speaking conference last weekend. I must say it was good, but I would like to say a word especially to the Chinese brothers who served there. The messages given were based upon the central lane, yet I do not believe the audience was adequately touched by this. The audience was carried away by the outward atmosphere, which I admit was very good. That atmosphere was of a great reunion, and it was this that occupied most of those who attended. If our work and service in the Chinese-speaking meetings stops with this, we miss the mark. That conference did not hit the central lane. The central lane was in the message, but most of the attendants missed it. All of them no doubt received some help, but it was mostly in the feathers or in the skin. I do not mean that the feathers and the skin are not needed. I do not mean that the conference with all the services you provided was not needed. They are needed, just as your physical body is needed; without it, your spirit might be just a ghost. We need to have such conferences, with all the services and all the messages, especially the way I spoke them.
I have never before spoken in that way, neither in English nor in Chinese, though I ministered in Chinese for more than thirty years. The way I spoke last weekend was unusual. I realize it was hard to translate. Probably more than thirty percent was lost in the translation into English. Many of the expressions simply had no English equivalent. In that conference I did my best to use the best Chinese expressions in a common way. Because I tried to talk the way people on the street would talk, I used many idiomatic expressions. Such colloquialisms are hard to translate.
Well, that manner of speaking may have been needed, but what about the focus? Consider the Scripture readings for the last three messages (since the first two were intended as gospel messages). Though those verses were all on the central focus, I did not say very much about them. In the last meeting I said that the church is the Body of Christ, that it is the fullness of the One who fills all in all, that it is the house of God, God manifested in the flesh, that it is the golden lampstand, that it is the bride, and that in its consummation it is the New Jerusalem. I did not say that much about each point, but I covered a lot.
Yet I do not have the full confidence that the audience caught the significance of what I was saying. Some points no doubt inspired them, but as a whole I do not think they got the central thing. When others later ask them about the conference, will even one of them say that Brother Lee spoke on the continuation of the church, which will be the New Jerusalem? They may mention some minor points, but mostly they will remember the wonderful reunion they had. After many years of being separated and scattered, both old and young came together, in some cases three generations, in Christ. Hallelujah! What an atmosphere!
If this is the only result, we miss the mark. The externals of the Lord’s work and the church life are what Christianity offers. They are not Christ. They are “anity,” added to Christ. With us, it may be “churchianity.” They have the “anity” but not Christ. We may have the “anity” but not the church. We may have the church as an assembly but not as an organism, as the fullness, as the manifestation of God in the flesh, as the lampstand, as the bride, and as the consummation of the bride, the New Jerusalem. Even apart from those who attended the conference, I am deeply concerned as to whether those of you who are here now have really seen this and are in it.
What I have shared with you tonight is about the pureness and the focus. We do need to have the external things like good meetings, proper Bible teaching, and good gospel preaching. Without these we cannot exist. Mrs. Penn-Lewis lacked these, and so did T. Austin-Sparks. Because of this shortage, history shows that their ministry did not last long in its practical reality. The denominations, on the other hand, have lasted just because of their organization and all these external things. I do not say we have to follow them, but there is a principle. It was for this reason that Brother Nee, in spite of the sacrifice, took time to care for the external things. He learned by observing those who went before him and lacked these external things, so he did take care of them. At the same time he told us of his hope that some brothers would be raised up to take care of matters like gospel preaching, new beginners, teachings, and practical church affairs. He regretted that there did not seem to be many among us who could replace him in this aspect.
Today it is the same. The external is still prevailing. We do not pay sufficient attention to the focus. There is a peril, a danger, that we may lose the vision of the Lord’s recovery.
It is true that, in spite of our weakness and of our not being up to the Lord’s standard, there is no other group of people who are so seeking. Not to say unbelievers, even other Christian groups are not as seeking and as sincere as we are. This is simply because of the Lord’s mercy. We are somewhat attempting to be pure, and we hate the impureness. Nonetheless, we are not absolute in this hatred.
I look to the Lord that the leading ones in the churches may see this focus and practice it. We must not allow other things to invade our daily life, nor must we allow any practice, good or not good, biblical or not biblical, to invade the church life. May every local church have only this focus, this practice, all the time. Even though the externals are necessary, may we not let them become our focus. Only one thing can be the proper focus of the church life, and that is Christ, Christ experienced by us all. Doctrines cannot be the focus. No doubt, we have this doctrine already. I know you all understand it. But to understand the doctrine is one thing; to see the vision and be caught by it, and to practice it, is another matter.
I believe Brother Nee left this earth without much joy. He did not see much outcome of the vision he had seen. There was very little real expression on this earth of his ministry. If there were not such a little continuation as what we have now, perhaps the only outcome would be some of his writings published to serve Christianity. When I consider this, I am very much warned. What will be the outcome of today’s recovery?
I believe that the present spread of the gospel on mainland China has been due to two things. First, it was due to the earnest prayers of many European and American brothers and sisters who went to China as missionaries. Of course, not all the missionaries were pure, nor did they all have a real burden. But some, like Hudson Taylor and others, did. I believe what is happening in China is an answer to the prayers they offered. Second, it is due also to the seed sown by the Lord in China through the recovery. Many of us prayed for the mainland, and the seed of the recovery was sown there.
Much of the present preaching there is shallow. Thus, our books that have been sent in have been used by the Lord; in fact, they have been very much used, because those new believers had nothing to feed on. When they received the books and Life-studies, they were fully satisfied. Of course, this is just the beginning.
We must endeavor to go on, to leave a real testimony. Every local church should be a genuine, pure lampstand. Today’s world is small. Whatever we are here will have an effect on China and elsewhere. The influence, the news, will reach them. We hope that they may receive some publications and even these messages. How the recovery goes on in other places depends on what we are here.
