Let us turn to Romans 12. We will be brief.
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
—Romans 12:1
So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
—Romans 12:5
Let us pay attention. There are two uses of the word body here. In Romans 12:1, it speaks of our individual body. We offer, or present, our body. That is our offering, and that is spiritual service.
Whenever we consecrate ourselves and present our bodies to the Lord, that is spiritual service. Then, when the Lord receives our consecration, He places us in the mystical Body. That is the Body referred to in Romans 12:5: “We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
Here we see the way of service. Whenever we consecrate ourselves and present our bodies, that is our service. But when the Lord receives our consecration, He puts us into the Body of Christ. That is the meaning of service and the meaning of consecration: presenting our bodies and being put into the Body of Christ.
Let us ask God for a word of prayer.
Lord, we want to thank You. We ask that You would speak to Your children on this last night. For the words that You have spoken to us throughout this day, we want to thank You.
We know that You still have further words for us tonight. May the speaking, the translating, and the hearing all be in one Spirit. Do not let us return empty-handed. Lord, fill us with Your Word. Fill us with Your Spirit. Listen to our prayer.
In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.
We have seen that the way of service is an inner way. The way of service is also the way of the cross. Tonight we want to see that the way of service is the way of the church.
It is not an individual way; it is a Body way. This Body is the Body of Christ. Since we were not able to finish last evening, we will review very quickly.
Yesterday we spoke about the cross and harvest, and we also spoke about the cross and lasting fruit. Throughout Paul’s life, we can see very clearly that his spiritual life can be divided into three periods of eleven years.
During the first eleven years, Paul was hidden before the Lord, just as Mary sat at the Lord’s feet. He chose the better part.
After those first eleven years, the Holy Spirit removed the dam, and the water that had been collected in Paul’s life flowed out like rivers of living water. The second eleven years were the years in which he bore much fruit.
See how the Lord used Paul to spread the gospel throughout all the corners of the earth. Paul did not ask anything for himself, but for Christ he asked for all.
During those second eleven years, there were the first missionary journey, the second missionary journey, and the third missionary journey. On the first missionary journey, the cross began its work in Paul.
When Paul came from Cyprus to Asia Minor, it was probably at that time that he acquired a physical affliction. We do not know exactly what it was, though perhaps it had to do with his eyes.
Paul told Timothy that one must know whom one is serving. He said, in effect, “You have followed my teaching.” If we are to learn from Paul, we must learn his teaching.
Yet Paul did not speak only of teaching. He also spoke of his manner of life, his purpose, his faith, his longsuffering, his love, his patience, his persecutions, and his sufferings. His persecution was great.
Then the Holy Spirit sent him out a second time, and through Paul Europe received the gospel. Not only did he travel throughout Asia, but he also travelled through much of Europe.
In Corinth, Paul remained for more than a year and a half. Not only was the church born, but it also began to grow. Paul was doing a building work.
In the first missionary journey, his work was primarily the gospel. In the second missionary journey, his work was with new believers, especially in Corinth. In the third missionary journey, he spent most of his time in Ephesus.
During these eleven years, Paul was very fruitful. When we read 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, we see how many lessons Paul learned.
Many times we see how great a tree is, but we do not know how deep its invisible roots are. No matter where Paul went, he was not a healthy man. He was partially blind, yet he travelled from place to place for eleven years.
Through his epistles, we can see how many lessons Paul learned. He said, “I do not want anyone to trouble me, for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus.” He did not use the words “take up the cross,” but upon him were the marks of Christ.
Wherever there are the marks of Christ, there are the marks of the cross. Paul also said, “Death worketh in us, but life in you.” That is why Paul was able to bear so much fruit: he was able to impart the life of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, if a grain of wheat does not fall into the earth, it remains alone. If Paul had insisted on preserving himself and had not been willing to be broken, he would have remained only one grain.
But thank the Lord. Paul, like his Lord, went through birth pains. Through such travail, the church in Corinth was brought forth.
We often think that birth pains occur only at the moment of birth. Yet a mother can testify that the suffering involved in raising a child is often greater than the pain of birth itself. When one sees an infant grow up, there is suffering involved.
The church was not only born; it was a newly born church. Paul was like a mother, and Paul was also like a father. Through his work in Corinth, he brought the church from infancy toward maturity.
When the church was like an infant, Paul was beside the crib. But when the church grew, Paul brought it to the school of Christ.
When Paul wrote to the churches in Corinth, Rome, and Galatia, he revealed the burden of his hard work. He told the Galatians:
My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.
—Galatians 4:19
This is the work of the cross. Paul desired that the church would one day stand before the Lord—not only born, but grown and finally mature. That was Paul’s greatest crown.
This explains the second eleven years: they were years of harvest. Paul had a thorn in his body that made him weak. Yet he said, “When I am weak, then am I strong.”
The explanation is found in 1 Corinthians 1. Christ crucified is weakness to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. But brothers and sisters, let us remember: the greatest power in the universe and the highest wisdom in the universe are found on the cross.
The One being crucified was not weak in the ordinary sense. God’s weakness is stronger than men. Paul needed power and wisdom in order to accomplish God’s work, but that power and wisdom came through the way of the cross.
The purpose of the thorn was not merely to make Paul weak. It was so that the work entrusted to Paul by God could be accomplished.
Someone once asked Miss Barber, “How can we work for the Lord?” Her answer was, “To work for the Lord is not to work.” What does that mean? It does not mean that we should be lazy. God has work for us to accomplish.
How do we have a harvest? How do we bear fruit? Of course, we need wisdom, and of course, we need power. But there is a way of service, and that is the way of the cross.
This way brings us to weakness, but actually brings us to strength. We experience the power of weakness. The cross brings us to foolishness, but this foolishness is God’s foolishness.
Only under this condition can God’s work be accomplished. What did our Lord say on the cross? He said, “It is finished.” The work God entrusted to Him was finished.
One day, when we see our Lord, we will give back to Him the works He has given us to do. Because of the work of the cross, those works will be accomplished. When they are accomplished, we will realize, “It was not I who did it. I could not have done this work.”
The cross brings us to harvest, because this is the law of life. A grain of wheat must fall into the earth; then it bears much fruit.
But the Lord does not only want harvest. The Lord also wants lasting fruit.
Paul’s desire was to go to Rome. He remembered the Lord’s word that the testimony of the gospel was to begin in Jerusalem, go through Samaria, and reach the uttermost parts of the earth.
At that time Rome was considered the end of the earth. Therefore Paul said, “I am going to Rome.” He desired to go beyond Rome to Spain.
Paul did not ask anything for himself. He wanted to gain every inch of the earth for the sake of Christ. He desired that his labor would reach Rome and Spain.
The Lord answered Paul’s prayer, and Paul indeed went to Rome. Yet he did not go as he had expected. He went bound in chains.
God’s ways are higher than man’s ways. Paul’s ambition was not self-centred; it was God’s ambition. Yet God still needed to work further in Paul’s life.
God did not merely want Paul to have harvest; He wanted Paul’s fruit to remain. Therefore, though God answered his prayer and brought him to Rome, Paul went there bound in chains.
Paul ordinarily would not have chosen to travel against the wind. Yet on his final journey to Rome, he travelled against the wind, through a typhoon, and eventually experienced shipwreck.
The shipwreck was also a picture of the work God was doing in Paul’s life. Paul had laboured for many years. If the Lord was no longer going to use those hands in the same way, Paul may have wondered why he had laboured for twenty years.
When Paul wrote to the church in Rome, he had not anticipated the chains. He had imagined returning to Jerusalem, visiting the believers in Rome, and then going on to Spain. He never thought of losing his freedom.
Paul was a very active person. Suddenly losing his freedom was like a person suffering a stroke: once able to move freely like a bird, now unable to move. Such a person may experience deep turmoil and even pity himself.
We do not know all that Paul went through. Paul was like you and me. He had times of weakness. The Holy Spirit does not tell us every detail, but when we read Philippians, we see that Paul passed through a time of inward turmoil.
He may have asked, “Why? Why?” But because Paul had learned to sit at the Lord’s feet, the Spirit explained things to him. Slowly Paul understood.
Paul was a useful man. When someone who has been useful is suddenly bound, he may ask, “What can I do now? What is the work of the Lord?” Yet because Paul was constantly at the Lord’s feet, he could hear the explanation of the Spirit.
Slowly it became clear. In Ephesians we see an experience like that of a butterfly in a cocoon. A cocoon may appear to contain nothing, but it is part of the process of a higher life emerging.
Paul tells us in Colossians that Christ is our life, and that our life is hidden with Christ in God. This is a heavenly life. It is like the life of a butterfly.
That is what happened in the prisons of Rome. Paul, who had once thought in a very earthly manner, was brought through a process of transformation.
In Ephesians 1, Paul speaks of the exceeding greatness of God’s power toward those who believe—the power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the heavenly places.
This power is not only the power of resurrection; it is also the power of ascension. Resurrection gives us life, but ascension gives us a heavenly position.
Paul was not only in prison; spiritually, he was seated in the heavenly places. The power from within lifted him above his circumstances.
Then he saw that the church is the Body of Christ. The church is entirely heavenly. When we read Ephesians and Colossians, everything is viewed from heaven downward.
Paul said that all things are under the Lord’s feet. When we are depressed, everything seems to be on top of us, ready to crush us. But in the heavenly position, all things are under His feet.
This is the power of ascension. On the one hand, Paul was on earth; on the other hand, he was as though he were in heaven. That prison became like heaven because of the power that brought Paul into the heavenly realm.
Therefore Paul’s vision was a heavenly vision. No wonder Ephesians and Colossians contain such high revelation, and Philippians contains such deep experience.
While Paul was in prison, the Lord opened his eyes. The power of ascension enabled him to fly, as it were, with the life of a butterfly. Then he could tell us what the church is.
Brother T. Austin-Sparks once visited F. B. Meyer and saw a plaque in his living room that said, “Look down.” Brother Sparks did not understand, because he thought Christians should look up.
F. B. Meyer explained that whether we look up or down depends upon our position. If we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places, all difficulties are beneath our feet.
This was Paul’s experience. Why did this enable his fruit to remain? Because the Lord taught us to store up our treasures in heaven. Treasures on earth can be stolen, but treasures in heaven remain.
When we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places, the fruit of our labor is naturally stored in heaven.
What Paul learned and saw in prison not only gave him a way; it also enabled him to continue growing. He had already written Romans, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, and 2 Corinthians. One might have thought that he had reached the highest point.
But amazingly, Paul could still grow. The most dangerous thing for one who serves the Lord is to stop growing.
In 2 Timothy, when Paul was near death, he wrote to Timothy, “Bring the books, especially the parchments.” He had run the race, yet he was still seeking to learn.
Paul was always on the racetrack. He was always running for the prize. We admire his fruit, but are we like him? Are we satisfied with what we have already received?
The power of resurrection brings harvest; the power of ascension enables the fruit to remain.
Last evening I was not able to speak of Madame Guyon, and a brother reminded me that I had forgotten. Therefore, I need to repay that debt.
Madame Guyon was one who learned the lesson of the cross. Jessie Penn-Lewis spoke much concerning the Word, but Madame Guyon especially learned to choose the cross.
Because she sat before the Lord, the Holy Spirit would remind her, “This has been prepared for you by the Lord.” Therefore, she received it from the Lord’s hand. She understood what it meant to take up the cross.
She was married at sixteen years of age, and at twenty-eight she became a widow. During those twelve years, she learned many lessons.
Everything she experienced as a housewife was not wasted. What she learned before the Lord far surpassed what many learn in seminary.
When she went to the region around Geneva, the Lord used her. Yet the established church became jealous of her and sent her back to Paris. She was imprisoned twice.
Near Paris was Versailles, one of the greatest palaces in Europe, built by Louis XIV. Though there was great moral corruption in the palace, many were influenced by Madame Guyon’s writings.
The first time she left prison, it was through the intervention of the queen. She had considerable influence in the palace, but eventually she was sentenced again.
Louis XIV was one of the most absolute rulers in Europe. He said, “I am the state.” He was ten years older than Madame Guyon, and her life was lived under the shadow of his reign.
She was sent to one of the worst prisons in Europe, a place where it seemed impossible for a human being to live. Seven years later, she was released.
In order to be released, she had to agree not to describe what she had suffered in prison and not to speak publicly again. She then went to live with her son and was eventually taken to be with the Lord.
In her own feelings, she may have thought that the Lord would never use her again. Yet she had learned the lesson of the cross. She did not fight, and she did not struggle.
If you read the hymns she wrote, you can see the lessons she learned in prison. At the very end, when she appeared most useful, she seemed useless and cast aside.
Yet her books reached throughout the world. They helped many outside the Roman Catholic Church. She did not know how greatly God would use her.
She did not know how much she would help China. I do not know whether she ever thought of China, but in God’s sovereign planning, something remarkable happened.
When Brother Nee came to know the Lord, there was a group of young Chinese people who had a fervent desire to go to France to study. Because they lacked money, they worked and studied at the same time.
Since Paris was expensive, many of them went to the region where Madame Guyon had lived—Montargis. Madame Guyon had lived there for thirty years.
Hundreds of young Chinese people came to that area. History tells us that the great changes in China later had much to do with these young people, especially those who studied in the region where Madame Guyon had lived.
Before the great changes in China, many believers read Madame Guyon’s biography, Sweet-Scented Myrrh. When we meet the Lord, we will know how much help that book gave to the brethren.
God used this book to help many of His children. How did Madame Guyon have a relationship with China? It was through the lessons she learned during those twelve difficult years.
She wanted to please the Lord. The fruit she bore helped not only people in her own time, but also believers in distant places and future generations.
Many times, when we pass through the most difficult times, if we learn the lesson, we can hear the Lord’s explanation. In the most difficult way and at the most difficult time, we can receive comfort from the Lord.
The Lord never wastes His work in those whom He loves. During those twelve years, Madame Guyon suffered through her husband, her children, and her household circumstances, but she learned much before the Lord.
When we speak of Madame Guyon, we often think of being in the presence of the Lord. We may not immediately think of service. Yet Madame Guyon was a useful vessel, and many have been helped by her.
The experience of Paul in prison shows us a constructive suffering. Some suffering is disciplinary: when we are wrong, the Lord disciplines and corrects us.
But the suffering we have been considering is growing pain. It brought Paul from harvest to lasting fruit.
There is also preventive suffering. What does this mean? Paul returned to Jerusalem and met the brethren there.
James said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed.” It was not merely three thousand or five thousand, but tens of thousands.
This was surely the work of God. We should not say that the work in Jerusalem was not the work of the Holy Spirit.
Paul had come from Antioch and had not yet arrived in Rome. We do not know the exact number of believers in the churches at Antioch, Corinth, or Ephesus, but they may have been relatively small gatherings.
Nevertheless, each church was a living church. In Antioch there were believers from different backgrounds, and it was there that the disciples were first called Christians.
The church in Jerusalem, however, had tens of thousands of believers. Outwardly, it was a great success. In church history, it might be called the first megachurch.
Yet another word was added: they were all zealous for the law. They believed in Jesus Christ, but they remained zealous for the law.
The brethren urged Paul to accommodate their feelings, so that the Jewish believers would not be offended and his ministry might continue. Paul agreed to join four men in a purification rite and wait for the priest regarding their offering.
Paul could wait, but God could not wait. Why? Because the church in Jerusalem was in danger of becoming merely a branch of Judaism.
The power of tradition is very strong. Peter himself had become hypocritical because of tradition, and Paul had opposed him to his face because he was not walking uprightly according to the truth of the gospel.
The Jewish people had protection under the Roman Empire. If the church remained under the umbrella of Judaism, believers could avoid persecution. Everything would be easier, and the church might grow rapidly outwardly.
But Paul could wait while God could not. God knew that if Paul were not stopped and bound in chains, the church could become a branch of Judaism.
Only one power enables us to overcome tradition: the power of ascension. The church is the Body of Christ. It is new wine, and it is heavenly.
The Lord said that new wine must be put into new wineskins. If new wine is placed in old wineskins, the result is religion rather than the living expression of Christ.
Church history shows that Christianity repeatedly tends to return to Judaism in principle: formal systems, inherited traditions, religious structures, and prescribed practices.
The Roman Catholic system emphasizes the mass, resembling in some ways the temple system. The Reformation recovered the importance of the Word, resembling in some ways the synagogue system. Yet even those who opposed liturgy could eventually develop a new liturgy.
One historian said that the free churches had the Anglican Church as their mother, Roman Catholicism as their grandmother, and Judaism as their great-grandmother. Sooner or later, men return to tradition unless there is the power of ascension.
The power of ascension shows us that the church is the Body of Christ. It is heavenly, and it is not a branch of Judaism.
Because Paul was bound, he learned his lesson. God stopped him from going in a direction that could have compromised the testimony of the church.
While Paul was in prison, the Lord gave him the word: the church is the Body of Christ.
Paul had seen this vision twenty-seven years earlier on the road to Damascus. When the Lord appeared to him, Paul saw the Head. But for others to see the vision of the Body, the Lord had to give Paul a word.
The vision came on the road to Damascus, but the full word was given while Paul was in prison. When we read Ephesians, we see this truth with great clarity: Christ is the Head in heaven, and the Body is on earth; the church is both universal and local.
The church is entirely heavenly, though it is expressed on earth. On earth there are distinctions between Jew and Gentile, but the cross has removed these distinctions.
We are being built together as God’s dwelling place. This is connected with God’s eternal purpose: His purpose is centred in His Son, Christ.
Through the church, the principalities and powers in the heavenly places are to know the manifold wisdom of God. This is God’s heart.
In Ephesians 4, Paul calls himself “the prisoner in the Lord.” He did not call himself the prisoner of the emperor or the prisoner of Rome. Though outwardly he was imprisoned because of the Jews, inwardly he knew himself to be the prisoner of the Lord.
Because of what Paul saw, he lost his freedom. Yet it was good that he lost his freedom. If he had followed his own way, he might have become the founder of a great religious movement. But the Lord bound him.
What others could do, Paul could not do. What others could receive, Paul could not receive. He had to lose his own way in order to walk in the way of the Body.
Paul exhorts us:
Walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called.
—Ephesians 4:1
This calling is different from an individual calling. Romans, 1 Corinthians, and 2 Corinthians show us that all believers are called in Christ, called to be saints, and called to be conformed to the image of God’s Son.
A person may have a personal calling—to go to Japan, to care for children, or to serve in a particular work. Yet there is a corporate calling: the building up of the Body of Christ.
Paul was only one member of the Body. He was called, but we also are called. We all share the same calling. As Colossians tells us, we have been called in one Body.
That is our work, our purpose, and our goal. We may do many works, but we must not forget this goal: the building up of the Body of Christ.
Therefore Paul speaks of humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, and diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit.
This is the unity of the Body. How do we reach this unity? Paul gives us the way. At the beginning, it is the unity of the Spirit. As the life of the Body grows, we arrive at the unity of the faith.
Today many reverse this order. They first try to create unity of faith through discussion, negotiation, and round-table meetings. But the unity of the Body is not something we can manufacture.
We must begin with the unity of the Spirit. As we love one another, give to one another, and grow together in love, the Body is built up.
For the building of the Body, God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
And He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ.
—Ephesians 4:11-12
These servants are given to perfect the saints. When the saints are perfected, the house is built. Before a house is completed, scaffolding may be needed; once the house is built, the scaffolding is removed.
A truly successful servant eventually becomes, in one sense, unemployed. He has nothing left to do because all the saints are functioning. Every member is moving, serving, and building up the Body of Christ.
The building up of the Body of Christ must be in the hands of the saints.
When did Paul learn this lesson? He began to learn it on the road to Damascus. He asked the Lord two questions: “Who art Thou, Lord?” and “What shall I do, Lord?”
Paul had a serving heart. According to his wisdom and power, whatever the Lord told him to do, he was ready to do. But the Lord told him, “Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.”
Paul had to hear the Head, but he also had to receive help through the Body. In the city, Ananias laid hands on him and called him “Brother Saul.”
The man Paul had once despised became the brother through whom he received healing. Paul had seen the glorious Head, but now he had to see the Body.
When Paul looked up, he did not see only the Lord in glory. He also saw the smallest and least of the saints. He later called himself “less than the least of all saints.”
Paul had once acted as though he were the body; now he became a member. He offered his individual body to the Lord, and the Lord placed him in the Body.
Paul’s healing came through the laying on of hands by Ananias. The Lord could have healed him directly, but He chose to minister to him through a member of the Body.
Paul saw not only the universal church but also the local church. Wherever we are, we should see brothers and sisters. The church in a city includes all who have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus.
This was a great change in Paul’s life.
A capable person often faces two dangers. First is individualism: he thinks that he is a hero. Second is monopolism: he does everything himself.
If a mother is too capable and does everything for her children, the children may become unable to make even simple decisions. This is monopolism.
Paul had such a tendency. But when the Lord gave Paul to the church as an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher, Paul was still only a member of the Body.
We need such workers, but they cannot be individualistic or monopolistic. Romans teaches that we are one Body, and individually members one of another. We need the other members.
Together, in love, we build the Body of Christ.
Our time is gone, but I want to say one more thing because it is important.
Around the year 1727, in eastern Germany near Czechoslovakia, God did a mighty work: the Moravian revival.
A group of brethren from different backgrounds gathered there. When they first arrived, they said that the Lord had brought them to the land of Canaan. Five years later, they complained that it had become like Sodom and Gomorrah.
At first there was brotherly love, but eventually there was division. Then the Lord brought a great revival among them.
How did it begin? They were willing to follow the Word. Their views differed, but because they were brothers, they recognized that they needed brotherly love and needed to preserve the unity of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit then brought them into the unity of faith. This became the famous Moravian revival.
What was the result? They saw themselves as part of the Body of Christ. They lived for the gospel and did not compete for themselves.
They knew that wherever the Lord sent them, they would go. When they heard that there was a need for the gospel elsewhere, they went.
Before sending workers out, the Holy Spirit worked deeply among them. In one gathering, they sang one hundred hymns. Joyfully, they sent the brethren out.
If we study history, apart from Roman Catholic missions, the first great missionary sending movement after Martin Luther was associated with the Moravians.
They did not go out merely as individuals or because they had attended seminary. They were sent from the local expression of the Body.
Many died, but history tells us that no other place sent out so many missionaries. William Carey and many others were helped by the Moravian example.
This was the work of the Holy Spirit. Just as persecution scattered the believers from Jerusalem and the gospel spread wherever they went, so the Moravians were sent forth through the work of the Spirit.
Where did this work begin? It began with preserving the unity of the Spirit. When the unity of the Spirit is kept, the Body grows, and the Holy Spirit sends believers out.
During the revival, they arranged for forty-eight people—twenty-four brothers and twenty-four sisters—to pray every day for half an hour each. In this way there was continuous prayer twenty-four hours a day.
They prayed for revival throughout the whole world. How long could such prayer continue? Because it was the result of the Holy Spirit’s work, it continued for one hundred years.
After one hundred years, men such as Darby and Müller were raised up in England. Later, Brother T. Austin-Sparks was raised up. In China, Brother Nee and others were raised up. In India, Brother Bak Singh was raised up.
This is remarkable. In the twentieth century, we still see the vision that the church is the Body of Christ, and we have the Word concerning it.
Whether in England, China, India, or Australia, the Lord is doing a work according to Ephesians 4.
In 1923, Brother Nee desired to become a great missionary and evangelist. But the Lord did not allow him to pursue merely that individual path.
The Lord showed him that the testimony in each local place must be raised up. By 1948, there were many assemblies in China, and each month many were being added.
Brother Nee believed that the Lord’s work would be greater still. He had one purpose: to serve the Lord and to see the testimony of the church established in every locality.
At the end, Brother Nee lost his freedom. He was useful publicly for thirty-two years; the last twenty years were known fully only to the Lord.
Brother Nee was sentenced in 1956. Yet after he lost his freedom, The Normal Christian Life was published in India, and many in the Western world were helped by his ministry.
Brother Nee’s burden had been for China. He desired that all China would receive the gospel. He did not necessarily think of other parts of the world, but God’s ways are above man’s ways.
We do not know fully why he lost his freedom, but one day we will know. Paul was a prisoner of the Lord. Madame Guyon was a prisoner of the Lord. In a spiritual sense, we also need to lose our freedom.
What others can do, we may not be able to do. What others receive, we may not receive. We cannot play games, because the time is short.
May the Lord accomplish His work—not merely through individuals such as Brother Nee, Darby, or Wesley. They are only scaffolding.
The entire church must rise up. Every saint must function. Together we build the Body in love.
The work is not finished. The Lord’s return is imminent. May we be those who wait for His return, yet do not forget the work He has entrusted to us.
We are called into one Body, and the saints are to build up the Body in love.
Can this word be fulfilled? Man’s words can fail. Paul was weak. John Wesley was weak. Many servants of God are weak. But the church must move forward.
Before the Lord’s return, He must gain a glorious church. Do you believe that? His word will be accomplished.
Before His return, He will gain the overcomers. This is the maturity of the whole church. When the church overcomes, we will receive our Lord.
At the beginning of this year, may the Lord impress these words upon our lives: the way of service is an inner way, it is the way of the cross, and it is the way of the church.
Lord, we commit these words to You. May You perform Your own Word.
At the beginning of this year, especially here in Australia and throughout all the world, continue to do Your work.
We remember that prayer which continued for one hundred years. According to Your Word, You will never fail. Therefore, we can be encouraged by Your Word.
May we accept Your calling—not merely to be perfected, not merely to be conformed to the image of Your Son, but to build the Body.
This is our calling. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.