What is the universal church? The universal church is something of which our Lord says, “I will build My church.” It is something that comes from the Lord Himself. The Lord is the Builder; the Lord is in charge; the Lord is working.
It is true that in the church local we are all employed in that building. But you do not deal with each thing according to your own idea or your own will. We are under the authority of our Head.
I do not have time to go into all these things, but in everything you will find this principle: all that is in the universal church is now being brought into practice in the local church.
What constitutes the local church? What local church do you belong to?
Not that my experience is typical, but just for illustration: I told you yesterday morning that I was brought up in a Methodist church. I was saved among the holiness people. I was not saved by Methodism, though; I was saved by the Lord. I have to make that clear. But I was saved among the holiness people.
The holiness people were actually a branch of Methodism. By the grace of God, after I was saved, I became more active, even though I was still quite young and in high school. But the Lord had set a fire in me.
I was very active in the Methodist church. Whenever the church with which I was associated had a gospel meeting, I was not old enough to stand in public. They would not allow me to do that. But there was one thing I volunteered to do: I went out into the street.
When there was a gospel meeting in the church building, I stood in the street, trying to persuade unsaved people to enter the building and hear the gospel. That was my work.
I can tell you a story. In those early days, very few people had cars. Even if they did, travel was not very comfortable because of the condition of the streets. We had rickshaws. A rickshaw man would sit in his rickshaw, waiting for business.
I tried to get the rickshaw man into the hall. He said, “I am waiting for business. I cannot leave my rickshaw and go in.” Well, I thought he should hear the gospel. Do you know what I did? I went by him and talked to him about the gospel. He would not listen; he put his hands over his ears. Then I found out that I had a loud voice.
I was very happy. But that Methodist church was not enough for my activities. Even though I was very young, I joined in many activities. I visited prisons many times, and I visited hospitals.
We organized evangelistic bands to go to the villages. We were all very young high-school students, but we were on fire for the Lord, so we went to these places and tried to preach the gospel.
When we went to the villages, people would say, “Here is someone sick. Please pray for the sick.” We went, and I remember vividly going into one house. A boy was sick. We all knelt down; some put a hand on his feet, some put a hand on his head, and hands were laid all over his body. We prayed and asked the Lord to raise up that boy. Actually, he was already dead.
But you can see the fervency and the zeal that we had. That was all I knew about the church. I was very happy, very busy, and very active.
I met Brother Nee very early, within a year after I was saved, I think. I can still tell you what he spoke about, though that was about forty years ago. I was impressed. I went to the place where he was speaking, listened to him, and was impressed.
But I was not ready for what the Lord had shown him. I was too active, too busy, too successful.
In the old days, when we had a revival meeting or a conference, the last day was always a day of consecration. A large map of China would be put on the wall behind the platform, and the speaker would ask, “Anyone who really loves the Lord, anyone who wants to serve the Lord, volunteer. Come up, put your finger on the place where you will go for the Lord.”
I was just saved. I went up with a number of friends and put my finger on Mongolia. I felt that if I wanted to serve the Lord, I wanted to go to the furthest and most difficult place, to prove my love for Him with my life. I did it honestly.
I did not know then that He is the Lord of the harvest. He does not want volunteers. But anyway, I volunteered my service, and I meant it. It was not an emotional thing. For a whole year, I tried to get everything I could about Mongolia. I read about Mongolia and asked people about it. I set my heart and mind toward Mongolia, feeling that this was where I would go to serve the Lord.
I would not go to college. I thought it was a waste of time. What was the use of going to college and spending four years trying to learn the things of this world? How could I serve the Lord?
The only thing I knew was to go to Bible school. How could you prepare yourself to serve the Lord if you did not go to Bible school or theological seminary? That was the only thing I knew.
So I chose a Bible school. It was a good one, and I had associated with them in evangelism, so I knew them.
After I graduated from high school, I talked with my father. I had a good relationship with him, but you know Chinese families: the relationship between father and son is rather formal. He loved us very much, and we respected him very much, but there was a certain formality.
I told my father that I had determined to go to Bible school to prepare myself for service. I thought he would certainly agree, because he loved the Lord very much and was a Methodist.
But, to my surprise, my father objected. He said, “You are not going to Bible school now. You are going to college. After you finish college, I will send you to the United States of America to study theology.”
So I was to come, many years later, to this country to study theology. My whole plan was shattered. As a young boy, I had to obey my father. I had to go to college.
But God moves in mysterious ways. In going to college, I had to leave home for the first time. I had to leave that warm atmosphere among God’s people.
In high school, we had meetings three times a week, and about one-third of the student body came voluntarily. Many of the faculty came. We had very good times together. Then the Lord took me away and put me in another city, in an entirely different environment.
When I arrived in that city, I went to a university run by the Methodist church. My roots in Methodism were very deep. I immediately threw myself into activities again. There was a university church nearby, and there was Sunday school, so once again I threw myself into it.
Then I made a sad discovery. I want to open myself to you, brothers and sisters. Forgive me.
I discovered that there were all different kinds of so-called Christians. I had never dreamed it. I had assumed that all Christians were alike: all Christians believed in the Lord Jesus, all Christians believed in the Bible, and all Christians loved the Lord. That was all I knew.
But when I went to that university, I did not know that it was the center of modernism in East China. I came into collision with it.
Whenever there was a time for discussion, I tried to bring out the Lord and the Bible as it is. My professor would cut me off and try to bring in economic matters, political backgrounds, and things like that—everything but the Word of God.
Gradually, the Lord opened my eyes to see that this was not Christianity. These people did not even believe the Bible.
I gradually withdrew from those activities, but I still had to be active. My father had moved to the same city and had become the pastor of the university church. So I asked him to give me some work to do.
Because of my youth, he would not make me the superintendent of a neighborhood Sunday school, but actually I ran it. On Sunday afternoons we went out to gather children from the streets.
There were children who lived in boats on the river. They were wild children who had never heard the gospel and had never learned anything. We gathered them and helped them.
But the one thing I lacked most during the early days of my college years was Christian fellowship. I had been taken out of a warm Christian atmosphere and put into an icebox. Everywhere I went, there was no spiritual fellowship.
The only comfort I had was in my own room. At first, I lived in a school dormitory with three in the same room. Every day I spent hours on my knees before the Lord. I read the Bible on my knees and prayed. Students went in and out of the room, but I had to get through to the Lord. That was my only comfort, because I longed for fellowship.
During that period, I began to read some writings by the brethren, and these writings began to make sense to me. When I was occupied with activities, these things came and went without making much impression. But when the Lord put me aside in quietness, He began to open something to me.
One of the first matters that came to me was baptism by immersion. I had been baptized in a Methodist church when I was an infant, according to Methodist practice.
After I was saved, one of my friends—my classmate, who later became my fellow worker—was baptized by immersion. He came back and tried to persuade us. Another friend and I argued with him. We were very forceful about it.
But when the Lord begins to speak, you cannot silence the voice of truth by argument. You can delay it, but you cannot fight it away.
After about a year, the brother who had stood with me was baptized. Then I was next. The brother wrote a long letter explaining why he was baptized, but I threw it away and said, “If you want to be baptized, go ahead. Do not bother explaining it to me.”
But one holiday, I went to Shanghai. I visited this brother, and he began to speak to me again. I was angry—very angry. He saw that I was angry, so he left me alone.
There I was before the Lord, praying: “Lord, You know very well that one day I will be baptized. But it is not convenient now. You know my father; he is a well-known Methodist pastor. How can I be baptized by immersion? What will happen to my father? I love my father very much. I cannot do it now. After I graduate from college and become independent, I will do it. I promise You that I will do it. I know it is right.”
As I prayed in this manner, the Word of God came to me:
He who loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.
Dear brothers and sisters, all my life I have had one desire: to be His. So when that word came to me, I could not answer Him. I told the Lord, “All right.”
I went downstairs, knocked on the brother’s door, and asked to see him. I told him, “I want to be baptized.” I was baptized that very evening.
After I was baptized, I remained there for Sunday. On the Lord’s Day, they had the Lord’s table. In the Methodist church I had taken communion once a month, and it was very real to me. I went with a very honest heart, knelt at the altar, and took communion. It was real to me.
But when I had the Lord’s table with the brothers and sisters in that most simple way, remembering the Lord, immediately I knew in my heart that I could not go back to the Methodist church and have communion there. I could not do it.
I knew that there were people with whom I had been taking communion who did not believe in the Lord. How could I have fellowship with them? I could not.
But it became a problem to me. My father was a pastor, and everybody knew me. I was expected to continue in the work. I was promised that I would be sent to this country to study theology. Everybody thought that I would succeed my father. How could I do it?
Still, I knew I could not go back and have communion with those who did not believe in the Lord. So I went home, not knowing how to solve the problem.
Every month, on the first Sunday, I tried to think of an excuse not to be present. I dared not tell my father what had happened. I just tried to keep myself away.
Dear brothers and sisters, I have to tell you that it is very difficult to try to serve two masters. I have done that.
Gradually, the Lord began to open more to me. I still went to the Methodist church and was involved with neighborhood groups, but during this period the Lord began to show me more and more that the Lord’s people cannot be divided.
You cannot divide God’s people into Methodists, Congregationalists, Baptists, and all these sects and parties. That is not the Lord’s design. The Lord wants His people to be one—to be one. It is the Body of Christ.
I did not know very much at that time, but gradually the Lord began to show me that I had to be one with my brothers and sisters. I had to stand on the ground of the unity of the Body of Christ.
I found it increasingly difficult to continue as before. Thank God, during that period the Lord gave me some brothers in the university. Two or three of us would go during the week, find a room, and pray together.
Later, on the Lord’s Day, though we did not know anything, three or four of us used a classroom and began to break bread. We felt that we wanted to remember the Lord, so we broke bread together.
Then we heard that on the other side of the city there was a large Presbyterian hospital. Some sisters there took turns going by train to Shanghai to meet with the brothers and sisters. Finally, we got together. They had four, and we had three.
We came together and said, “That is right. Let us see what the Lord wants to do.” We prayed for half a year about coming together.
After half a year, the Lord moved us to feel that we should come together. So we did. I remember it very well. That was about thirty years ago.
On that day there were just seven of us. We broke bread together and remembered the Lord. Everyone cried—cried for joy. We sensed the presence of the Lord.
As we began, the Lord brought His servants to us. We had to borrow benches, and we met in a sister’s house. Some of the sisters who were there at that time are still with us.
Dear brothers and sisters, let me tell you one thing. For quite a time, I was in a struggle. On the one hand, I saw something that I believed was of the Lord. I saw that God’s people must return to simplicity and must return to unity. I saw it dimly, but it was growing in my heart.
More and more I was moving in that direction. Now the Lord had given us a few brothers and sisters, and we came together in fellowship. I could see that the Lord would add to us.
The environment was such that I had to take the lead and take responsibility. Two sisters especially were much more advanced than we were. We were all students. They knew the Lord much more than we did, but they wanted to keep their place as sisters in the church. So they wanted the brothers to take the lead.
Of course, we found it very difficult because we knew very little. Yet we had to take the lead. When we first met, I did everything and went everywhere.
I was usually the first one to arrive. I opened the door, swept the floor, set the chairs, waited for the brothers and sisters to come, opened the meeting in prayer, ministered the Word, counted the money, sent the brothers and sisters off, and closed the door. I did it all.
But on the other hand, one of my feet was still in Methodism. I was being pulled in two directions. To me, this was a very real struggle.
I was deeply exercised over the matter. I knew that the Lord was going to find a way in the city where I studied, and something had to be settled in my life. I could not go on in that way. If I was like that, what would happen to the other brothers and sisters who were looking to me to lead them, in a sense?
Then a servant of the Lord came. On the first morning, a Sunday morning, he preached from Luke. The emphasis was: before you do anything, sit down and count the cost, lest you cannot finish it.
That touched my heart. After the meeting, we all ate together and rested for a while. In the afternoon I sat alone, praying.
“Lord, You know there is something hidden in me. I want to go all the way with You, but I cannot. The ties are too strong, too deep.”
I said, “Lord, is it because I have never really counted the cost? All right, let me count the cost and see whether I can follow You or not.”
I began to count the cost. If I followed the Lord in the way He was leading me, probably I could not continue in that university. I would be cast out. If I continued in this way, probably I would be cast out from my home. I would never be able to go to the United States to study theology.
If I went this way, everything would be finished—my plans and my desire to serve the Lord, because I knew no other way. All these excuses came. I felt the cost was too great for me. I told the Lord, “It is too great—so great.”
Then, whether it was physical or mental, I do not know, but I saw Him coming to me. He showed me His hands and told me one thing: “I did all this for you.”
Brothers and sisters, when I saw the bleeding Lamb, my only answer was, “Lord, everything—everything. My blood, my everything. I cannot withhold anything from You.”
Thank God, by His grace, there was a surrender in my heart. But that did not mean the problem was over. It was only a willingness.
For three days, every night, I could not sleep. I struggled and struggled and struggled. The Lord said, “You have promised. You have given yourself to Me. All right, step out. Step out for Me.”
After three days and three nights, thank God, He gave me strength to settle the matter.
I asked to see my father, and we had a talk again. I told him, “For over a year, I have been baptized.”
My father said, “Why did you not tell me? I would never forbid you to be baptized if that was the way you felt before the Lord. But I am hurt because you hid it from me.”
I told my father, “I am sorry. I did not have the courage to tell you.” I told him everything. I said that I had tried to keep myself away from communion. My father said, “I noticed that. I knew that.”
Then I told him, “The Lord has shown me a new way. I cannot go on in this way.”
My father said, “I knew all these things. I consider Methodism only a way; I am not tied to it. If you cannot go this way, then you have to go the way the Lord leads you.”
Of course, he said he was disappointed. But he said, “You have to go the way the Lord leads you.”
Brothers and sisters, all the difficulties, all the troubles, all the mountains of difficulty that I had imagined, faded away. The Lord set me free.
By the grace of God, I was able to meet with my brothers and sisters—not on any ground of division, not on any ground of special truth, not on the ground of a special combination, and not on the ground of any special person to follow.
The Lord brought me out of all these divisions, and I stood simply on Christ, on the unity of the Body. I was free to fellowship with all the children of God. I was open to all the truth of God.
The Lord began to work. Souls were saved, and many were attracted to the Lord. But during that time persecution came again.
Even though we were only a very small group—less than a hundred—we experienced persecution, not from the world, but from Christians.
I remember very well a Methodist pastor. He showed me a magazine in which he had circled certain passages. It was an article on communism, and he accused me of it.
In my youthful innocence, I knew that this pastor was not saved. I had the courage to go to him and preach the gospel to him.
We were accused of many things. We were driven from many places. We were greatly persecuted. Every step we took was watched.
They could not do anything to me because my father was the pastor of the church and the president of the university board. But I have to tell you something: my father suffered greatly too.
I am not trying to praise my father, but I have to say this. When I was following the Lord in simplicity, because they could not get at me, they tried to get at my father.
All the denominations in that city—all the schools, hospitals, and institutions related to the denominations—met together for three days just to discuss us. We were nothing.
People openly accused me. Do you know what my father said? He quoted the Word of Scripture. That was my father’s answer.
My father was persecuted for my sake, yet he never said a word against me. He gave me absolute liberty. I was only a youngster at that time, in my sophomore or junior year, but my father gave me perfect liberty.
I have to admit that I was busy again. I did not have much time to read my books. I do not encourage young people not to study.
My sister and I were both in college at that time. In many classes we were in the same class, so we bought only one book because we were poor. She always had the book. I hardly had it for reading.
My mother was very worried because I went to university in the morning, and in the afternoon I disappeared. I did not come back until late. I was visiting people and doing all kinds of things.
But I have to testify to one thing, for the glory of the Lord. You do not know how dull I was when I was a little boy. In kindergarten I tried to memorize one or two simple sentences and could not do it.
That was always my problem. I liked to study. I was a bookman then, and I still am. I liked to study, but the more I studied, the more confused I became. I would memorize something and then forget it as I continued memorizing. I thought nobody was as dull as I was.
But during those years in school, I purposely gave my time to the Lord. I prayed and prayed, and the Lord heard my prayers. He gave me back all the time I had spent on Him. Miracles happened in my life.
During those years, on the one hand, it was very difficult because of all the pressure and persecution. But on the other hand, those were most precious years. The Lord was so real.
In those things, the Lord showed us in a practical way what a local church is. We did not know anything. We looked to the Lord for everything.
The authority of the Lord, by His Holy Spirit, was our only guide. So far as we knew, we allowed the Lord to take His place as the Head of the Body.
So far as we knew, despite all the persecutions that came to us, our hearts were open to all the children of God in that city.
We did not know much about the truth of the local church, but so far as our understanding went, we were learning to practice it.
After two years, another crisis came into my life. Immediately after I graduated, our dear Brother Nee and other workers told me that I should join them in serving the Lord. That was in 1935.
I thought I could not do it. I knew, dear brothers and sisters, that one day I had to serve the Lord. I knew the Lord had called me. But I hesitated for two reasons.
One reason was that I was not ready. I had never been to Bible school. I felt I needed time to study the Bible.
The other reason was that I did not want to leave the city where I was, because I loved those brothers and sisters. I thought they were under my care.
When the brothers asked me to go to Shanghai and join them, they pressed me again and again, saying, “You must go.” Finally I said, “All right, I will come, but I will not promise you how long I will be there.” I went there for a week.
At the same time, I was trying to find a teaching job. There was a policy among the denominations that those who came to our meetings would not be employed. So I could not find employment in religious work. I had to seek employment in the secular world.
During that time, a young brother whom I loved very much was in high school. His family was in another city. After school was over, before he returned home, he and a few friends went swimming in the river, and he drowned.
They notified me. His parents were far away, so I had to take care of everything until they came. After we brought his body to the funeral home, I struggled with God.
For a whole night, I wrestled with God. I blamed Him for everything. I said, “Lord, You are unfair. Such a young life—You take it. You know we need brothers. That is not right. I will not let him go.”
I struggled through the night. I would not give up. I told the Lord that I could not agree to this. He wanted too much. He should not do that.
My spirit was against God. In the morning, I went into the sitting room, shut the door, knelt down, and prayed. I was still blaming the Lord for what had happened.
Then the Lord said, “Do you know that brother died for you?”
“He was so young, and yet he was taken away. How long do you think you can live? How long do you think you have? That brother died for you. Is that enough for you?”
That was the way the Lord spoke to me. I told Him, “All right.”
I had another talk with my father. Everybody had gone away that day, and only my father and I were alone. We had a long conversation. I told him, “The Lord has shown me that I have to go.”
Do you know what my father said? He said, “I knew it long ago. If you doubt your calling, who is called? You were trying to find a job. I knew you would not be able to get one.”
He said, “Even though I would like you to serve together with me, for as long as you serve the Lord, it is all right.”
We knelt together, and I could never forget the prayer of my father. He committed me to the Lord—not just one child, but everyone. He committed me to the Lord, and I went.
I left home from that day. I was privileged to meet many brothers and sisters who were far ahead of me. They took care of me, brought me along, and helped me in many ways. I was just learning to serve.
After I had served the Lord for many years in different parts of China, all I knew at that time was the local church. That was all I knew.
Everywhere we went, we preached the gospel, gathered God’s people, baptized them, taught them to remember the Lord at His table, and tried to help them know more about the Lord and the Bible.
In a way, my work was mostly involved with what I called building the local church. After doing that for some years, I came to a new realization.
In 1942, during the war, we fled to India. The Lord allowed us to stay there in Assam for over a month. During that month of quietness, the Lord began to open something to me.
For the local church to really work, it is more than gathering people, baptizing them, and setting up the table.
There must be a vision of the glorious church. Then, brothers and sisters, it opened to me. I began to see that there is more than the technicality of a local church. There is the reality of the local church.
The universal church, in all its principles, is to be practiced in the local church. Then I began to see that there is no limit to it—no limit to it.
Dear brothers and sisters, remember this: by the grace of God, He has continuously opened up something new. There is no end to it. This church is eternal.
Do not think that you know it all. You have only just begun. There is much more. Thank God, through all these years, sometimes through deep trouble and sometimes through wonderful mercy, the Lord gradually opens your eyes.
You see, in the light of His heart, the church—how wonderful, how glorious it is! It is nothing but the extension of Christ: Christ extended.
I believe in one church. By the grace of God, I want to practice that one church.
I cannot accept a division or separation between the universal church and the local church. I believe God’s people should be dealt with in a spirit that is universal.
God’s people should walk in the way of the Lord as a testimony to the world today.
In Revelation 2 and 3, you find the seven golden lampstands: the local churches. But when you come to Revelation 21 and 22, you see the universal church.
How does God come to have that universal church? The work is done today in the local churches.
It is the local church, at least, that leads to the realization of the universal church. If we do not live in the light of the local church, how can we expect God to have the reality of the universal church?
Again I say: today it is in the local church that He works. One day, you will not find local churches; it will be the universal church.
May the Lord give us grace to see that the universal church, in all its principles, must be brought into practice in the local church.