Knowing the Commitment of the Minister (1)


	Knowing the Commitment of the Minister (1) But I consider my life of no account as if precious to myself, in order that I may finish my course and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus to solemnly testify of the gospel of the grace of God - Acts 20:24. In all things I have shown you by example that toiling in this way we ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive - Acts 20:35. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation is what matters. And as many as walk by this rule, peace be upon them and mercy, even upon the Israel of God. Henceforth let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the brands of Jesus - Galatians 6:14-17. Introduction Many in the recovery hold a wrong concept. If they are able to repeat Brother Lee's utterances and study the riches of his ministry, then they feel they are one with the ministry. Their focus is on the uniformity of practice, rather than on the Lord's commitment. Our problem is that we are not clear about the commitment that the Lord has given to us. As a result, we lose our focus and go astray without even realizing it. If we understand the commitment of the minister, we will be regulated by a vision. If we are clear about the commitment of the minister, we will walk properly and enjoy harmony in the recovery. The meaning of our existence is determined by our understanding of this commitment. Our walk is based upon what we know of this commitment. The harmony among the churches, the saints, and the co-workers is also related to our understanding of this commitment. If we desire to be one with the ministry, we must understand what it is that the Lord has committed to our brother. Possessing the Same Vision Most of us believe in God naïvely, stay in the church life ignorantly, and make mistakes senselessly. This is because not many consider or ask 1) why the Lord has raised up this minister, 2) what the Lord is doing on the earth today, and 3) where we are heading. The answers to these three questions are all related to the commitment the Lord has delivered to His minister. If we don't understand what has been committed to the Lord's minister, we cannot be one with his ministry, no matter how accurately we are able to repeat his words. Yes, we must know his words, but if we reach the depths of these questions, we will realize that it is not a matter of repeating his words. Rather, it is a matter of our vision and of what the Lord has committed to those who have gone before us. When Brother Lee heard Brother Nee's messages in Mainland China about our commitment, he told Brother Nee, "I have seen the vision and received the commitment. If one day you depart from it, I will still go this way." Brother Lee had set his mind on this way and had taken it as his commitment. In 1984 during the beginning of the new way, everyone was speaking about being one with the ministry. One co-worker naïvely attempted to tell Brother Lee that, if Brother Lee didn't walk this way, he still would. His desire was to repeat what Brother Lee had told Brother Nee. However, Brother Lee had seen Brother Nee's vision. What did this brother see? Did he have Brother Lee's vision? His faithfulness was beyond question, but what about his vision? Not many in the recovery have the burden to perfect the saints. By the Lord's mercy, He has granted me the burden to train and labor for others' perfecting. As a result I have become quite "famous." When I was about to begin another time of labor, some joined out of genuine desire and others came because of my fame. Those drawn by my name have neither vision nor commitment, nor do they care who I am. They simply know that some brothers have become useful after such times, and they desire to be useful. Since this is their motive, it will be difficult for them to grow properly. They need the Lord's mercy to receive the Lord's commitment during the time of labor, so that they can become those who are truly one with the ministry. Otherwise, at best they will merely become common preachers. I remember a few brothers in Taiwan who liked to imitate me. When I spoke, they followed my every movement. If I waved my hand in a certain way, they would wave their hand in the same way. If I moved my body a certain way during my message, they also began moving their body in a similar fashion. They thought that by imitating me they could become attractive preachers. Since they loved the Lord, loved the recovery, and desired to be useful as oracles of the Lord, they exercised in this way hoping to become great servants of the Lord. Instead, it simply revealed that they were not clear about what has been committed to us. Their desire indicated that these brothers loved the Lord. But the Lord doesn't want us to become preachers. Instead, He desires that we all would receive from Him the same commitment that Brother Nee and Brother Lee received. If we are not clear about this commitment, we cannot follow the Lord. If we are not clear about this commitment, all our work is in vain as far as God's desire is concerned. Brothers, we should understand what the commitment is, and we should make it ours. Preserving in our Divine Commitment From the Lord Because of the Lord's commitment and our desire to serve Him, many things will rise up against us. If a brother is effective, he likes to hold on to his "territory." Some even attempt to incorporate others' fields of labor into their own in the name of being one with the ministry. Brothers, we are not here to do a work. We are not here to build up another denomination. We are not here for the unification of the "Lord's Recovery." We are not here for our own ministry. We are here because of the Lord's commitment. Whether people admire us or despise us, we should care for the divine commitment. Whether people praise us or reprove us, we should be for this commitment. Regardless of how people speak about us, the vision of this divine commitment should possess us. There were many brothers among us who had taken the lead for years, but were not able to stand through the turmoil. Why? It was because they didn't persevere in the commitment during the time of difficulty. If you were to ask them, they would say that they loved Brother Lee and his ministry. Their problem was that they could not stand with what the Lord had committed to them. Therefore, they were not able to continue in this way. We must learn from Paul. He said, "Here, furthermore, it is sought in stewards that one be found faithful. But to me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you or by man's day; rather I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself; but I am not justified in this, but He who examines me is the Lord. So then do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then there will be praise to each from God" (1 Cor. 4:2-5). On the day when we render our account, the Lord will not judge us according to right or wrong. He will not consider how many injustices we have suffered. Instead, His judgment will be based upon how faithful we have been to what He has committed to us. Cultivating a Strong Will to Bear the Commitment We all desire to serve the Lord. Some sisters wish to marry someone who will serve the Lord, such as a full-time worker or an elder. Some brothers have quit their jobs or given up an opportunity for promotion to join this labor. Their desire is touching. Why are they willing to pay such a price? It is because they desire to cultivate a healthy heart and a strong will to bear the Lord's commitment. Our life is for bearing the same commitment that the Lord has given to the minister. If you desire to become useful after this time of training, you will be disappointed. If you desire to be able to preach after the labor, you will be disappointed. If your purpose is to be under Titus's training, you will be disappointed in Titus. If your purpose is to do a good work, the work will disappoint you. If you just look at yourself, you will be disappointed. If you focus on the Lord and the Lord's commitment, however, nothing will disappoint you. If you focus on men, they will disappoint you. If you look at the leading brothers, they will disappoint you. If you look at the environment, it will disappoint you. If you look at the condition of the churches, it will disappoint you. If you look at the work, the work will disappoint you. Only the Lord and the Lord's Word will not disappoint you; only the commitment as revealed through the Lord's servant will not disappoint you. Therefore, we must seek to possess what has been committed to the Lord's minister. Knowing the Calling of the Lord We are different from church-goers, for we have been called by the Lord. The Lord has called us out of sins and out of the world. He has called us out of pursuing the material world and out of the religious world. He has called us out of seeking personal gain. He also has called us out of seeking spiritual achievement, developing a work, seeking some position in the church, and taking advantage of seniority in the church life. He calls us so that we may belong only to Him, gain Him, enjoy Him, experience Him, partake of Him, labor on Him, and live Him out. The calling of the Lord is the living Christ Himself. If we do not have Christ, we have no commitment. If we do not have the living Christ, we have no substantiation of the commitment. If we have no growth in Christ, we have no forming of the commitment. Yes, it is Christ. It is Christ, the Triune God. It is Christ, the living Word. It is the incarnated Christ. It is the Christ who accomplished the all-inclusive death. It is the resurrected Christ with the surpassing power of resurrection. It is the ascended Christ as the King carrying out God's economy in heaven. It is the Christ who is the life-giving Spirit dispensing God's riches. It is the Christ who is the Head over all things to the church. It is the Christ who is the Head and the reality of the Body. It is the Christ who is all and in all. It is Christ building up His Body in His sovereignty and carrying out God's economy. It is the Lord who calls us to be unto Him, mingled with Him, and to walk in the divine and mystical realm. Having the Blueprint From the Lord A man with commitment must also possess the heavenly blueprint. We must have this blueprint and build accordingly. What is the heavenly blueprint? We need to see the revelation. We will then see that the blueprint is for the Lord to gain the testimony of Christ and His organic Body on the earth. Our existence is for gaining Christ. Our living is so that the Lord may have a testimony of His organic Body on the earth. This is a wonderful blueprint. This is a divine, heavenly blueprint. Through this blueprint, the Lord commits Himself to us. It is full of Christ, for the reality and content is Christ. It is also full of the testimony in which the Body of Christ in the lampstands testifies Christ through the local churches. Our blueprint is Christ. Our blueprint is Christ and the church. Our blueprint is the life-giving Christ. Our blueprint is the testimony of the organic Body. Our blueprint is the living Christ walking among the local churches that are the lampstands. Our blueprint is the local churches as His testimony through the present, living, and everlasting Christ. Our blueprint is Christ and His Body. Our blueprint is also the substantiation of the Body of Christ through the local churches. Knowing the Riches That the Lord Gives God's organic testimony on the earth is full of rich content. These unsearchable riches are Christ. As for the testimony, it contains the fullness of the One who fills all in all. Whether it is the riches (Christ) or the fullness (Christ's testimony), God's testimony is full of rich content. Throughout these years the Lord's servant has released many messages and published many books. These riches are for the expression of Christ and the testimony of Christ. If we are not familiar with the riches that the Lord has given to us, all our talk about how much we are for Christ and the church is vanity. Many brothers and sisters felt assured from their youth that their whole life was for Christ and the church. But it turned out that they didn't grow well. This is because they did not pursue and enter into the riches, and the riches were not constituted into them. Without knowing the riches of the Lord, a serving one cannot substantiate the Lord's blueprint, nor can his portion be manifested. The blueprint from the Lord can only be carried out through the living Body of Christ, and the way the Body life is carried out is by the saints entering into and enjoying the riches individually. If we don't enter into the riches that the Lord has given us and enjoy them, but instead simply shout, "We are for Christ and the church," our shouting will be useless. In fact, those who shout the loudest are those who disappear first. The "famous faces" among us change constantly. A different group appears every few years. Only those who quietly and constantly labor can really enter into and enjoy the riches. Gradually, such saints have the riches constituted into them, and their labor is effective. Three Categories of the Divine Riches The Lord has given us three categories of riches into which we can enter: truth, experience, and practice. 1. Truth The Divine Trinity Both our spiritual experience and the church as the expression of Christ are based upon our knowledge of the divine Trinity. In the early days when we spoke about the Triune God, our focus was on the side of the Three. Brother Lee wrote in Hymns #608, "In person three, in substance all are one." God is one, but in person He is three. At that time Brother Lee also gave us two examples of the Trinity. In the first, the Trinity was likened to the sun, which generates light and heat. The sun, light, and heat are one. This example is easy to understand. The Trinity was also likened to a man who is a husband and father at home and an employee in a company. The same person has three positions. Then Brother Lee's vision advanced. He changed Hymns #608 to read, "In substance three, in essence all are one." His knowledge of the Triune God is constantly advancing. If he did not struggle to advance in this matter, our experience of the Triune God would be limited. We would still think of God the Father as the One in the heavens, God the Son as the One who passed through incarnation, death, and resurrection, and God the Spirit as the One who comes to us for our enjoyment. We wouldn't have the understanding that these Three are One. When the Son came, the Father came with Him, and when we receive the Spirit, we receive the Son. Furthermore, when we call on the name of the Lord, we receive the Spirit. We can partake of, enjoy, and realize the divine Trinity through revelation and experience. The divine Trinity is not merely a theological teaching. He can become our subjective experience. This truth indeed has become rich to us. God's Economy What is the difference between our God and the God of most Christians? He is the same God. But most Christians only know Him as a loving God, a God who died for us, and a saving God. According to our understanding, however, God not only loves us, died for us, and saved us, but He also carries out His economy to fulfill His eternal purpose. He is the divine Trinity. He has His will, purpose, plan, and economy. He dispenses and supplies life to produce the union, mingling, and incorporation of God with man. Through those whom He saves, regenerates, sanctifies, renews, transforms, and conforms to express Him in the corporate testimony, He carries out His eternal purpose. What a wonderful economy this is! Christ and the church, the Spirit and the Body, life and building - these are the realization of God's economy. The Organic Body The Lord has shown us that the church is the Body of Christ. He also reveals that the Body is organic and is testified in the local churches. The church is the organic Body of Christ. Christ is the substance and the constituting element of this organism. Christ is alive. He is living and operating. He is full of operations in His operating. He is the present Christ. He dispenses life in the present. Therefore the Body of Christ is not merely a theory, a teaching, or a repetition of the divine revelation. What is the organic Body of Christ? It is the living Christ with His divine, heavenly, living attributes. The Spirit's divine dispensing produces this organism, which is composed of living, energetic, powerful, dynamic saints with the divine, heavenly life. Divine Dispensing Brother Lee revealed the high peak of the divine revelation to us, which is that God became man in order that man might become God in life and nature, but not in the Godhead. This process is carried out through the dispensing of the divine life. A man with the divine commitment lives in the divine dispensing. Having been regenerated, he is in union with the Lord. After regeneration, he experiences being mingled with the Lord in nature through the enjoyment of the dispensing of the divine life. Eventually through the constitution of the divine attributes, his living is Christ. Christ is formed in him. He experiences being incorporated into the Triune God. The High Peak of Revelation Christ is a realm for us to walk in as well as to enjoy. He is the divine, mystical realm. This realm is divine, since He is the Triune God Himself. It is mystical, since there are unsearchable riches in this realm for us to experience, partake of, gain, and be constituted with. Ultimately we may have the perfect and highest incorporation with the Triune God in our person. Dear brothers and sisters, I would like to ask you: Who is Christ? Who is the complete Triune God? He is the Author and the One who has established the plan. He is the Savior and the life-dispenser. He is also the One who unites with, mingles with, and incorporates Himself into us. Moreover, He is also a realm. Praise Him! The day we were saved, we were transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love. This kingdom is Christ Himself. This kingdom is the divine, mystical realm. We live in this realm. We pursue in this realm. We enjoy in this realm. Our experience is in this realm. We are strengthened in this realm. We grow in this realm. All that we have - our life, our living, and our walk - is in this realm. This realm is Christ Himself. This is our commitment. This is the high peak of the divine revelation. The divine dispensing brings in the reality of the high peak of this vision. To live in the organic Body is to enjoy the divine dispensing of life. To enjoy the dispensing is to live in the high peak of the divine revelation. Such a living becomes the testimony of this divine, most high God. This is our commitment. 2. Experience Christ's Work and Accomplishment on the Cross Brother Nee's ministry was largely focused on the work of the cross. If our outer man is not broken, the Lord cannot use us. Therefore, if we don't allow God to work on us, we are useless. A man who follows the Lord must allow God to work on him. Therefore, Brother Nee taught us that God pays more attention to our being than to our work. The real work is the flowing out of life. The service that counts is the living out of Christ. To consecrate ourselves to God is not to work for Him, but to allow Him to work on us. We cannot work for God if we don't allow Him to work on us. For many years Brother Lee did not place so much stress on the experience of the cross. He didn't make it the focus of his speaking. Nevertheless, he is a man living in the experience of the cross. In recent years when speaking about the high peak truths, he has placed much stress on the experience of the cross. As the first God-Man, Jesus Christ is the pattern. The Lord denied himself and was baptized in the Jordan River even before His ministry began. His living and work on this earth were under the control of the cross. "The Son can do nothing from Himself" (John 5:19). "I do not seek My own will but the will of Him who sent Me" (v. 30). "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of Him who sent Him, this One is true, and unrighteousness is not in Him" (7:18). Brother Lee also told us that the reality of the Body of Christ, which is the God-man living, is a life conformed to the Lord's death through the cross. To be conformed to the Lord's death, he stressed, is through the power of Christ's resurrection (Phil. 3:10). He encouraged the saints through the power of Christ's resurrection to live a life in His death and to be conformed to His death. In principle, these are the riches that the Lord has given us. Many saints in Christianity don't have the opportunity to experience these riches. People in Christianity focus on zeal, preaching the gospel, getting people saved, inviting people to love feasts, and shepherding. These are all good practices. But they may not bring us into the vision of the Lord or the experience of the cross of Christ. If we understand the commitment of the Lord's servant and the riches that the Lord has given to us, we will not only experience the cross' accomplishment as something once for all, but we will also give ourselves to experience the work of the cross day by day. The truth of the cross must become the reality of our life. We must live in the reality of the death of Christ day by day. The Subjective Experience of Christ and the Divine Trinity Christ is not objective to us. He is not merely a theory. He is not only our Savior outwardly; we also can experience Him. We may subjectively experience Christ and enjoy the divine Trinity. 3. Practice The Testimony and Ground of the Church In order to partake of the divine riches regarding our practice, we should first pay attention to the testimony and ground of the church. Not many saints know what the church is, let alone the ground of the church and the testimony that the church produces. The church is not only a heavenly vision and a spiritual fact; it must also become a real practice on the earth. Brother Lee reminded us repeatedly that we are not for our own meetings in different localities, but for the testimony with all believers. We testify that we are God's house, the Body of Christ, and the dwelling place of God in spirit. Therefore, we must keep the ground of oneness, the local ground that God has ordained. The New Way We must also practice the new way. Do not look down on it. Ten years ago we all shouted about walking on the new way. Now it seems that we are all tired and have lost heart and that we don't practice the new way any more. We shouldn't lose heart. The practice of the new way was to change our concepts and bring our church life to another level. At that time we all devoted ourselves to it, yet we didn't realize how to practice it. As a result, we overdid it and wore ourselves out. However, the matter of the new way is something of the riches from the Lord. Our being tired of it is like eating too much meat at one meal and then not wanting to touch meat afterward. That doesn't mean we should give up eating meat. Likewise, we still need to walk the new way. The Lord has shown us that begetting, nourishing, perfecting, and building should be part of the normal Christian life. If a full-timer doesn't beget a new one in three months, he should be worried and should tell the Lord, "O Lord, what is the matter with me? I serve You full-time, and I haven't gotten anyone saved in three months." After we get someone saved, we have to nourish him and teach him, that is, we have to read the Bible with him, pray with him, preach the gospel with him, touch the Lord with him, and prophesy with him. Thus, we will eventually be able to build him into the church life. We all know the way we should take in the recovery. The problem is that not many practice it. We cannot just talk about the truth and our teachings without practicing them. We must learn to practice the new way of begetting, nourishing, perfecting, and building. The Prophesying of the Saints We have a strange situation in the church meetings: those who should prophesy say nothing, and those who shouldn't speak say a lot. Their speaking yields no truth, life, revelation, light, burden, or supply. This kind of prophesying cannot build up the church. I hope you all spend time to get into the truth in these ten months. The purpose of this labor is not to perfect you to be a preacher. It is designed for you to know how to get into the Word. When you know how to read the Bible, you can continue to read and labor by yourselves. Then your prophesying can be full of burden and revelation. The word "prophet" in Greek is prophetes. It means a person with spiritual revelation and vision, one who speaks according to what he sees. Therefore, real prophesying must come from revelation, from a vision before the Lord, from a burden according to the vision, and with an utterance brought about from that burden. A healthy prophesying consists of these four elements. Prophesying is not a matter of speaking for three minutes. No. It is not a matter of time, but of content. Speaking longer does not make it a message. What really matters is what you say. Paul told us to desire earnestly to prophesy. To Paul's understanding, the matter of prophesying is crucial. Brothers and sisters, we need God's mercy in order to become those who receive revelation from the Lord, possess vision from the Lord, possess burden out of vision, and possess the proper utterance with the burden to supply, help, and lead the saints. In this way the church can be nourished, perfected, and built up. The Perfecting of the Saints unto the Building Up of the Body of Christ The most important part in our practice is the perfecting of the saints for the building up of the Body of Christ. This practice is what is most neglected among us and what is most lacking in the recovery. We all like to receive teaching, but not many of us understand that we need to be perfected. Few realize that the building up of the church is not only a matter of the growth of the organic life, and not only a matter of being equipped with the truth, but also a matter of the perfecting of the gifts that the Lord has given to each of us. Most of the saints do not have such a desire. Most think that they only need to recite, study, and speak. They don't realize that these are merely the outward practices. Brother Nee had a message called, "He Is Not Who Is One Outwardly, but Who Is One Inwardly" (Collected Works, vol. 37, ch. 34). What are the things that are outward, and what are the things that are inward? The things that are outward are the things that can be gained by labor, gained by paying some price, or accomplished through religious zeal and hard work. I do not mean that these have no value. But the outward operation must match your inward being. What are the things that are inward? These are the things related to your person, your being, your relationship with the Lord, your subjective experience of the Lord, your constitution with the truth, your substantiation of the truth, and your experience of the truth. Dear brothers and sisters, as saved ones we all have our own gift from the Lord. Without perfecting, our gift will not be developed. It is like someone not becoming an artist even though he has the gift of art, or a musician even though he has the gift of music, or a writer even though he has the gift of writing. Without the gift you cannot become an expert. However, if you have the gift and also desire to be an expert, you must go through a long, hard process. The principle of the spiritual things is the same. Can your portion from the Lord be developed through studying and memorizing alone? It cannot. This is why the Lord gave to His Body, the church, some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints. These gifts from the Lord can help you grow unto the ministry. Only those who have been perfected in this way may build up the Body of Christ.