Search
We have seen the revelations Watchman Nee received from the Lord and the sufferings he underwent. After seeing something of his revelations and sufferings, we come to his ministry.
Ministry is the issue of revelation plus suffering. Without revelation one cannot have ministry because he has nothing to minister. But though one may have revelation, if he lacks suffering, he still has no ministry. He may have some sort of teaching or gift, but this is not ministry. There is a difference between teaching and ministry. Ministry is something higher and deeper. Gift is superficial and costs little, while ministry is weighty and costly. If you have received revelation from God, He will put you into suffering in order that you may have ministry.
From the writings of the apostle Paul, we can see that before he endured suffering, he received revelation. When he received the revelation, he did not immediately go out to pass it on as teaching or knowledge. To do so would not have been ministry; it would have been a sort of teaching or an exercise of gift. But after receiving the revelation, the Lord put him into some suffering. Hence, in all his Epistles we have this sequence: first, the revelation; second, the sufferings; and third, the ministry which came out of the first two. To receive revelation is one thing; to have that revelation wrought into our being is something else.
In the process of producing a porcelain vase, a pattern for a picture is painted onto the vase. The vase is then put into an oven, and the painting is burned onto it. By passing through the oven, the painting and the vase become one. Receiving a revelation is similar to having a picture painted upon us; but this painting must be burned into us to make the painting one with us. When the painting is burned into the vase, no one can erase it; neither can the vase be separated from the painting. If the vase is broken, the painting is broken, for they are one. It is the same with us. The only way for us to be burned is by suffering. No real minister of God can avoid suffering.
The measure of life, the amount of reality, and the riches of Christ we are able to minister to others depend entirely upon two elements: how much revelation we have received and how much suffering we have undergone regarding that which has been revealed to us. When suffering is added to revelation, we have ministry.
Paul said, "Therefore having this ministry..." (2 Cor. 4:1). He did not say that he had a certain teaching or a gift, but a ministry. Again he said, "I Paul became a minister" (Col. 1:23). He did not say that he was made a speaker or a teacher, but a minister. We are not referring to today's "minister." The word "minister" has been spoiled and misused in today's Christianity. A minister is a person who has a real ministry, a ministry which issues from these two things—revelation plus suffering.
We may illustrate the difference between gift and ministry by the example of Balaam's donkey. One day the donkey of the Gentile prophet suddenly spoke with human language (Num. 22:28-30). Could that be called ministry? Certainly not! That was a gift. A ministry is the expression of what we are, while a gift is merely a performance. When you behold a man speaking, walking, and gesturing, you do not imagine that he is a horse or some other kind of animal. Since he is a man, whatever he does is just the expression of that man; that is his ministry.
Consider monkeys for example. Sometimes their trainers can entice them to perform like men, but that is entirely a gift or performance. In today's Christianity there is much acting. Much of it is performance. If the apostle Paul were to visit us for one month, we would exclaim, "He is really what he ministers!" What he has seen has been wrought into his being; hence, what he ministers is what he is. The person is the message. Today we have those who are eloquent and learned, those who have degrees after their names, those who dress in a certain way, stand upon a platform, and with a certain tone deliver a sermon. That is merely a performance; it is not the ministry. The apostle Paul was different, and Watchman Nee was also different.
I was with Watchman Nee for years. He talked about the cross, and in him I saw the cross. He was a person of the cross. The sufferings he received from all directions were just the working of the cross, and the revelation he received concerning the cross was wrought into him. What he did in years past was not merely to teach or exercise a gift. I can testify from the depths of my being that what he did was a ministry; what he did was what he was.
For the building up of the churches, gifts are not as necessary as ministry. What Watchman Nee had was not merely a gift, but a ministry. He had seen something of God and these things were burned into him. Even his presence ministered life to people. His presence always meant a great deal in a meeting. If he was there, the meeting was rich; if he was absent, the meeting was not so rich. His presence, even his silent presence, made a difference. He had a real ministry. It was not his knowledge, his doctrine, nor his gift, but something of God wrought into his being so that his very presence in the meeting made a difference. Sometimes when the troubled saints brought their problems into his presence, there was no need for him to say a word; their problems were solved. In his presence they received the light they needed. His presence became their enlightenment, for God's light had been wrought into his being. They saw light in his light. How much we need such a ministry in the church today!
Throughout the years that I was with Watchman Nee, I noticed how he continually belittled gifts. What he stressed over and over again was the need for ministry.
There are two Epistles in the Bible written by the apostle Paul to the Corinthians. The main topic in the first Epistle is "gifts," and it is mentioned negatively. In the second Epistle the main word is "ministry," and it is mentioned in a positive way. In the first Epistle Paul depreciated the gifts, and in the second Epistle he uplifted the ministry. In the second Epistle it is difficult to find the word "gift," but in the first Epistle it appears many times.
Out of Watchman Nee's revelations inwrought by his sufferings, a ministry came forth. His ministry was clearly of two aspects: first, of Christ and, second, of the church. His ministry was full, proper, and adequately balanced. I have never known anyone so thoroughly and adequately balanced in the aspects of Christ and the church as Watchman Nee. He saw a clear vision of Christ, and he also received a full revelation of the church. In his spoken ministry and in his publications as well, he was always properly balanced in these two aspects. Many in the United States are aware that he put out book after book concerning Christ as life and Christ as everything. But many may not realize that he also published book after book on the matter of the church.
Concerning the church he covered two main points in his ministry: the content of the church and the practice of the church, or in other words, the reality of the church and the practicality of the church. The content and the reality of the church are Christ Himself. Watchman saw the vision that Christ is not merely for the believers individually but even more for the church corporately. His vision was unlike those who are today considered to be spiritual people; they hold that Christ is mostly for Christians as individuals while caring little for the church. They even fear to speak about the church, for they realize that whenever the matter of the church is raised, a problem is created, and they would rather steer clear of all problems. Watchman Nee's vision of Christ was that Christ is for individual believers to enjoy in order to be built up in the church. Eventually, the Christ whom we experience becomes the reality and the content of the church. Watchman also saw that this reality of the church is also practical and that we need the practicality of the church. Hence, he ministered both the reality and the practicality of the church. The reality of the church is the content, and the practicality of the church is its expression.
Christ is not just for individual Christians but for the corporate Body. And the Christ we enjoy as Christians individually is entirely for the building up of the corporate Body. For this reason Christ is both the content of the church and the reality of the church. The church's reality is simply Christ realized by many individual Christians in a corporate way. To match this reality, we need the church practice. If we stay at home and hold Christ as the reality, there will be no church. Even though we might hold the reality individually, we would be short of the practicality. Christians need to come together and to be built together; each one needs to come out of his little cell and into one big cell, under one roof, to practice the church life. Then we not only have the reality, but also the practicality of the church. These were the two main points of Watchman Nee's ministry.
Watchman's ministry regarding Christ as our life was fully accepted; but his ministry regarding the church was frequently rejected. Today it is the same. Many have received help from his ministry regarding Christ as life, but those same people would not take his ministry regarding the church. Many bookstores carry his books on Christ as life, but purposely will not carry his books on the church. Some publishers publish his books on Christ as life with great appreciation for his ministry in this aspect, yet they condemn his ministry on the church. Publishers and booksellers have even done their best to hide his ministry on the church. We fully agree that his books concerning Christ should be published, for they are marvelous. But it is altogether unfair and dishonest to hide his books on the church.
A rumor was even spread after World War II that Watchman Nee changed his concept concerning the practicality of the church life and the ground of the church. This is absolutely not true. His book Further Talks on the Church Life documents and shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that after 1948, rather than changing his concept concerning the church, he ministered even more strongly than before concerning his original vision. In one of these messages, given shortly before his imprisonment, he said that what he saw in 1937 concerning the church was absolutely right. He rather confirmed what he had seen before; he did not change at all. He was faithful to the Lord's vision and commission concerning Christ and the church. During his whole life, his ministry was for Christ and the church—not for Christ only, but for Christ and the church.
