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According to the revelation in the book of Acts, everyone who is raised up and sent out by the Lord is a witness of the Lord. Acts 1:8 says, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Here the word witnesses is not related to our normal understanding of a witness who gives testimony in a legal case in a law court. In the New Testament the meaning of a witness is primarily to bear a living testimony of Jesus Christ in His crucifixion and resurrection. This is repeatedly emphasized in the book of Acts (v. 22; 2:32; 5:32; 26:16).
How can we be the living witnesses of the Lord Jesus? Being a living witness does not merely involve saying that Jesus has resurrected. The fact that we are here is proof that He has resurrected. We are His living witnesses. If Jesus had not resurrected, we would not be able to live the way we do today. We would still be alive, but we would not live as we do today. When Peter stood and spoke for God, his expression, spirit, and fearless attitude demonstrated that the living Jesus was within him (2:14-36). When Peter was speaking, he was a living witness of the fact that the crucified and resurrected Jesus lived within him. If Jesus had not resurrected, He could not live within Peter.
Many Bible readers do not have this understanding of the word witness; even our understanding is not this deep. In Galatians 2:20 Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” This is the meaning of being a witness. A witness is a person who has Christ living in him. The chorus of a hymn says, “He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today! / ...You ask me how I know He lives? / He lives within my heart” (Hymns, #503). His living in us proves that He has resurrected and that He is living.
The life that Jesus lived on earth was not a living in the natural life but a living that was in death and resurrection, a living that passed through the cross. His death involved many things. The death of Jesus was not merely during the few hours He spent on the cross; He was dying during the more than thirty years that He was on earth. In fact, He died daily. The living of Jesus on earth was a living that continually passed through death. This death delivered Him from everything that was outside of God.
Death is a great deliverance. When we die, we are delivered from every form of disturbance, entanglement, and pressure. As Christians, we are troubled by the world, sin, and Satan. Sin includes not only outward sinful acts but also the sinful nature within us. Within us, our natural man is composed of the self, the flesh, lusts, and our sinful nature. Hence, there are three outward items that trouble us and four inward items that bother us. One of these items, sin, exists outside of us and within us. These seven items bother us continually.
As witnesses, we must live a witnessing life. This is a life that lives out the living of Jesus in death and resurrection. The Lord’s death delivers us from the world, sin, and Satan; it also delivers us from the self, the flesh, lusts, and indwelling sin.
The Bible refers to the spread of the gospel and also to the spread of the kingdom of God. The spread of the gospel is actually the spread of the Lord Jesus, but how does He spread? After the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, His spread involved His delivering His seekers from the world, sin, Satan, and the self. The Lord Jesus did not live by the lust of the flesh, and He was delivered from the self. In the Gospel of John the Lord repeatedly said that He did not speak from Himself, nor did He do anything by Himself; He was not the source of anything that He did (6:38; 12:49; 14:10). This is to be delivered from the self. The Lord lived a life in death that had no relationship with the self. He did not have sin, the flesh, or lust. When we go out to spread the gospel, we should live this kind of living so that people can see that we have passed through death; in us the world has been judged, Satan has been destroyed, and our self, the flesh, lusts, and sin are also judged.
Someone asked about staying in the home of the new believers. We should all know that to stay in someone’s home is not the same as merely staying in a physical house. There is absolutely no problem with a house, but there can be a problem with the people living in the house. Suppose a couple, their elderly mother, and four children live in a house. It will not be a simple matter for us to live with these seven people, because the world, sin, Satan, the self, the flesh, lusts, and the sinful nature are with us. These seven problems are also with every person in the house. We can imagine the situations that can arise when eight people live together under the same roof.
A newly baptized believer may rejoice over his baptism and want to receive us into his home. However, we should not think that his baptism has terminated these seven problems. We still have these seven problems. Some saints were baptized more than ten years ago and have participated in the church life for seven or eight years. They may even have served the Lord full time for several years, yet they are not completely freed from these seven problems. They are not clean; they still have germs. We are full of germs. When a surgeon operates on a patient, the entire operating room must be sterilized. Moreover, the doctor must wear a sterilized garment and gloves, and the patient must be cleaned. If the operating room and the people involved are not clean, the patient may catch some germs during the operation, and this may result in a more serious condition. Thus, if we stay in the same house with others, who have the same germs that we have, how can we expect not to have any problems?
In 1 Thessalonians 1:5 the apostle Paul says, “You know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.” This means that Paul lived a life in death and resurrection. He lived a life of witnessing the crucified and resurrected Christ. In fact, as Paul was living among the saints in Thessalonica, the crucified and resurrected Christ was living there. Paul was a witness of the Lord Jesus. He was constituted a witness through Christ’s death and resurrection. Paul was crucified with the Lord Jesus (Gal. 2:20); he died together with Christ (Rom. 6:8). Hence, it was no longer Paul who lived; even though his name was still Paul, the person living was not Paul, because Paul was crucified with Christ.
From the human point of view, in the physical realm, the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus took place at the end of His thirty-three and a half years on earth. However, from God’s point of view, in the spiritual realm, the Lord Jesus lived a crucified life from the day He was born; He lived a life under the shadow of the cross.
Even though the Gospel of Luke puts more emphasis on the human living of the Lord Jesus, it does not say whether the Lord cried when He was six months old. However, all babies cry because they cannot express themselves otherwise. When they are hungry, they cry, and when they are thirsty, they also cry. They cry when they are cold and when they are not feeling well. All mothers know this. The cries of a baby are related to the needs of the flesh. We have been living in the flesh since we were born. However, we believe that even when the Lord Jesus was a baby, He was bearing the cross. Throughout His life the Lord Jesus lived a selfless life, a life without “I.” This is death. He died every day until He was actually put to death on the cross. The cross was the sum total, the completion, of His death.
Throughout His life the Lord Jesus lived a crucified life. Without death there is no life; death causes life to multiply. When the Lord was living a crucified life on earth, God was living out from within Him. God lived out is resurrection. Resurrection did not merely occur after the Lord entered into death and came out of the grave. Resurrection was manifested in the crucified life He lived on earth. This life allowed God to live out from within Him. This is resurrection.
In John 11:25 the Lord said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” The Lord is life because He is resurrection. If He were not resurrection, He could not be life. In His human living the Lord died daily. Not one moment passed by without His being under the killing of the cross, and not one moment passed by without His living in resurrection. God was expressed in the Lord’s living because the Lord died to His self. He lost His soul-life so that the living God could be expressed. This is resurrection, and this is the living of the Lord Jesus. Hence, when we go out as witnesses of Jesus, we should live this One. We should live like Him, dying daily and daily living out God.
Young people are more temperamental than older people and have more difficulty with the lust of the flesh, but older people can also have more problems than the younger ones. We can send out one hundred thirty young people to spread the work, but we dare not send out even three older people. Young people are more flexible and can adapt to their environment. If we send out older saints, within the first week they might return full of complaints. This does not mean that only the older saints are difficult; every one of us has problems. Little children are difficult, and young people are difficult. People in their thirties are difficult, middle-aged saints are difficult, and even the elderly saints are difficult. A person is a hard case regardless of whether he is young or old. If we see this, we will not be so quick to criticize others. What ground do we have to criticize others? We are not better! At best, we are “the pot calling the kettle black.” Thus, there is no need to fight with any saint or even with our own family, because we are all the same. This can be compared to the saying, “In the whole world, all crows are black.”
In general, people between the ages of twenty and thirty-five tend to have fewer problems. It is easy for a person who is over fifty to become a problem to others. A church that is experienced in providing hospitality knows that it might receive criticism from guests who are close to the age of sixty. However, when the guests are young people in their twenties, they are more flexible; they do not care whether it is hot or cold, whether the window is open or closed, or whether they have a blanket. The young people do not care for any of these matters; neither do they criticize.
We should not judge one another and say that this sister has a strong disposition or that that brother is stubborn. Someone may be strong or stubborn, but we are often stronger and more stubborn. Others may be strong on the outside, but we are strong within, or they may be stubborn outwardly, but our stubbornness is within. Others are frank and express themselves without any guise, but we hide everything within. Our hardness can even resist a nuclear bomb. Therefore, we must all learn from Paul, who says, “When I came to you, brothers,...I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1-2).
Whether we are strong inwardly or outwardly, the cross is able to solve every problem. No matter how old a person is or where he goes, if he is on the cross, he will not be a problem to those who receive him, because the cross has solved the problem of his self. To a person on the cross, cold water is as good as hot water, and food that is overdone is as good as food that is not well cooked. Everything is all right to him. If we are guests and the blanket we are provided with is not warm enough, we can wear heavier clothes to bed. However, we should not let our host know; otherwise, he may give us his blanket, which will be a trouble to him. When we travel, we should take everything we need so that we do not cause our host any trouble. In summary, a person who has passed through the cross will not criticize or judge others; even if he must suffer a little, he will not speak, because a dead person has no feeling.
If we are such a crucified person, we will have no problems when we live with other people. Furthermore, we will give people a good impression, an excellent testimony; we will testify of the crucified and resurrected Christ. People will say that although we are only in our twenties, we live the life of a crucified Christian. This is what it means to be a witness, and this is a strong testimony. Hence, when we go out for the propagation, we must remember not to offend people while we preach the gospel. We can be eloquent when we preach the gospel. However, if we are not on the cross, after we stay in a new one’s home for two weeks, he will see through us and will no longer receive us into his home. This would be a great failure.
We must have a living that is the living of Jesus Christ; we must be His witnesses. We are testifying of One who died and resurrected. He is in us today. He is repeating His life and His living within us. It is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us. If we are such people, we can stay in anyone’s home, and there will never be problems. We will not cause any problems for our hosts. Whether their children cry or whether they rise early or late, we will not be bothered, and our sleep will not be affected. Whatever people do or say will not affect us because we are on the cross.
In 1934 I was invited to give a conference in Ping-Yang, Chekiang Province. At the time I was suffering from a serious ulcer, and all the saints knew this. One day the saints asked a brother to prepare steamed buns for me. When I saw the bright, shiny buns, I knew that they were not fully cooked. I was worried, because half-cooked buns are bad for people with ulcers. However, I could not refuse the buns, so I ate a few bites. I knew that if I ate a whole raw bun, I would not be able to give the message that night. The brother who prepared the buns kept asking me to eat and even removed the other food from my plate. If I became angry with him, I would have been unable to give the message that night. Hence, I turned in the depth of my being to experience the cross. But I still had to eat the buns, so I changed my way of eating and chewed the raw bun until it became very soft, and then I swallowed it. This example shows that things are not always convenient when we go out in the work. We must learn to live under the shadow of the cross.
When Brother Watchman Nee was about twenty years old, he was invited to speak in Hsuchow, Anhwei Province. His hosts prepared a Western-style bed that was made of wire netting, but they put only a sheet and a pillow on the netting without a mattress or blankets. Brother Nee slept the whole night on the wire-bed. He did not say anything to his host. He could not even sleep on the floor, because it was a mud floor. This is to bear the cross. When people found out about the bed, they said, “This Mr. Nee preaches the gospel at a young age, and he is truly bearing the cross.” Brother Nee could have requested bedding, but how would this have affected his testimony of a crucified living? We can request what is rightfully ours, but we will not have the experience of dying with Christ in His crucifixion.
When we go out for the propagation, we should all be witnesses of Christ. A witness of Christ is a person who daily lives under the shadow of the cross by being in death and resurrection. Stanza 2 of Hymns, #631 says, “If I’d have Christ formed within me, / I must breathe my final breath, / Live within the Cross’s shadow, / Put my soul-life e’er to death.” The chorus says, “If no death, no life, / If no death, no life; / Life from death alone arises; / If no death, no life.” When we go out to spread the gospel, we are spreading God’s kingdom; that is, we are spreading Christ. To spread Christ means that Christ is lived out through us. When we daily live a crucified and resurrected life under the shadow of the cross, Christ can be lived out from us, and life can flow out from us.
Prayer: Lord, You are the One sending us out to bear fruit. We cannot bear fruit, but You can. It is only through Your death and resurrection that we can accomplish anything. O Lord, we look to You for the sake of the brothers and sisters who are going out. We ask that wherever they go and with whomever they coordinate, they would pass through death and resurrection; they would die daily and be in resurrection to enjoy You, experience You, live You out, and flow You out to others. This is the blessing we want for them. We are not asking for outward prosperity or for the success of the work. We want You to have a way to go forth from us. Lord, we bless them. We look to You and wait on You on their behalf. We pray that You will cause them to enjoy You bountifully as the crucified and resurrected Lord, as their life and their bountiful supply within, so that they will not have any lack or shortage but rather they would experience Your riches every day.
Lord, we pray that when the outward environment is difficult, You will make their inward enjoyment sweeter. We know that the experience You give us and the coordination You arrange for us are for us to know You and Your resurrection power so that we would stay in the mold of Your death and be daily conformed to Your death. Lord, as You are leading us to go forth this time, we pray that You would cause us to receive grace and blessing and that You would also cause us to glorify You. Enable us to gain a profit, that is, to gain You as our everything. Lord, may this spread not only be the going forth of the gospel but even more the going forth of Yourself. We pray that You would go forth to fill the island of Taiwan, including every town and every village. When people see the gospel vans and the ambassadors of the gospel, may they think of You and smell Your fragrance. May their inward being long for You, be inclined toward You, and receive You.
Lord, bless Taiwan, and bless every village and every citizen in Taiwan through these brothers and sisters who are going out for the spread of the gospel. Cause Your name to be known to every family and every household in Taiwan so that they will receive You and be saved. Use the brothers and sisters to bring Your gospel to every home. Through their speaking, singing, praying, and calling on Your name in the homes, kindle the fire of the gospel in all the villages in Taiwan. May Your presence be with the brothers and sisters. Propagate Yourself, shame Your enemy, eliminate all the superstitions and heresies, shatter all the idols, and bind the evil one behind the idols. Lord, we declare Your lordship. Be King and reign over the island of Taiwan. May the truth and freedom reign. Lord, hear our prayer, execute our prayer, and pour out Your blessing. Amen.
