Our brother has already explained the meaning of this question-and-answer session. There is only one answer to all the questions: Christ.
So I hope, brothers and sisters, that you do not expect a man to answer your question. Even if a man answers you, he can only help you with a little knowledge in the head. Only by coming directly to the Lord can your problem be solved.
From now on, never say, “Brother so-and-so said so.” If you follow a man, then you go to death. We are only standing on the side, helping. Only the Holy Spirit can really reveal Christ.
Only when Christ is revealed in our hearts can our problems be resolved.
I have received many questions. I am very sorry if, when I was sharing, I was not clear. If I answered all the questions, then you would have to stay here until tomorrow.
So I have collected all the questions and combined them into three questions:
Concerning service, I think we are all here learning to serve. Not a single one of us is naturally able to serve.
This is true even when we work in the world. No one is born able to do things. He has to grow in life gradually and also learn how to serve.
Today, as believers, our service on earth is a time of learning and discipline. Our real service is in the future. From the day we are saved until the day we meet the Lord, He gives us opportunities to learn to serve.
In the process of learning, many things can happen. Of course, when we say that we want to serve, we have to seek His will. We are not serving ourselves, nor are we serving a particular thing. We are serving the highest God.
When we serve, we have to learn: “Is the way I serve today according to the will of God?” This is something we need to learn gradually.
When we begin to serve, we may only have desire. We have a heart toward our Lord and are willing to serve Him.
I remember when I was young, even before I was saved. My sister was very ill, and I myself was almost dying. I asked the Lord, “I do not know You, but I seek You.” He heard my prayer, and I recovered.
Naturally, I had a heart of thankfulness. I asked, “How do I express my thanks? I want to do something for the Lord.” Although I did not know Him, I wanted to do something for Him.
Even before I was saved, I led prayer meetings and preached, but I did not know God. I went to my father’s study and read the best books about prayer. Then I used them to preach about prayer.
I took the scripts of the best preachers in the United States and used them. After I preached, I was very satisfied. But the disappointing thing was that nobody praised me.
That was when I started to serve. But I thank and praise God: the Lord knew my heart. One day, the Lord saved me, and when He saved me, I had even more desire to serve Him.
I decided for myself where I wanted to go and how I was going to serve. It was all according to me. I was very zealous, and I did indeed do something. But gradually, I learned and saw that this was merely touching everything without a vision.
My heart was right, but did God indeed receive my service?
Learning to serve is a lifelong matter. By the mercy of the Lord, I have served Him for more than sixty years. Yet recently, my feeling has been that it seems I have just started.
Brothers and sisters, if we want to walk on this way of serving God, this is something we have to learn our whole life. In the matter of serving God, there is no graduation. We are learning and learning all the time.
Especially my young brothers and sisters, I hope you have a humble spirit. Do not be self-satisfied. We have to stay before the Lord, looking to Him and asking Him to give us vision, asking Him to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may really know how to serve Him.
Someone asked, “Today I have believed in the Lord and am in the church. If I merely arrange the chairs or prepare something practical, can we call this service?”
I remember the story of Samuel. When Samuel was very young, he went to the tabernacle because he wanted to serve God. What did he do? He opened the door.
In the morning, he had to open the door of the tabernacle. This was a very small thing. Especially young men and young women like to sleep late. But if the doors were not open, nobody could come in.
Samuel was faithful. Though he was very young, he learned to get up early and open the door so that people could come in to worship God. As a result, the word of God came to him, and he became a prophet of the Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the process. At the very beginning, we may have only a heart. Gradually, the Lord will teach us.
When we open the doors, it is because we love Him. When we arrange the chairs, we pray that when people sit on those chairs, they will receive the grace of God.
It is not merely a matter of doing something. It is not a matter of how big or how small the task is. The question is: do we have a right spirit in serving? If our spirit is right, it pleases God. This is true service.
We start with very small things. If we are faithful in small things, the Lord will entrust us with greater things.
This is something every one of us should seek from the Lord. If we seek, we will find. This is the secret of service.
The second question concerns rapture. I know that there are different opinions concerning this matter among God’s people. We can only be faithful to what God has shown us.
I remember visiting a couple from the United States in Peru during the 1960s. They loved the Lord. For half a year, they lived in a very small boat and traveled along the Amazon River, visiting brothers and sisters. During the other half of the year, they lived in a truck in the high mountains and visited the brothers and sisters there.
When I was about to leave, they wanted to have a large gathering. Many indigenous people came from various villages. There was no easy way to get there, so I flew in by airplane while many others walked through the woods.
Before one meeting, a missionary from a neighboring village examined me with one question after another. At the end, he asked, “What do you think about the rapture?”
I said, “I believe all the saints will be taken up.” He was not satisfied. He asked, “How many times will there be?”
I knew that was his main question because he was from the Exclusive Brethren. They believed that there is only one rapture and that before the great tribulation all believers will be raptured at the same time.
But my learning from the Lord was different. My feeling was that if everyone were raptured before the great tribulation, then we would not need to watch and pray, because we would be raptured anyway. Why, then, does the Bible tell us that we have to watch, pray, and prepare ourselves?
As I sought the Lord, I felt that those who are living and overcoming would be taken up first. Because that was my answer, he said, “You do not believe the Bible.”
I said, “Brother, I believe in the Bible just as you do. But today we have different interpretations concerning the Bible.”
Brothers and sisters, we may have different interpretations of the Bible. Except for the basic beliefs, which must be the same, we have not yet all come to the unity of the faith.
We must diligently keep the unity given by the Holy Spirit. In God, we are one. We should not allow different interpretations to divide us. We have to continue in fellowship.
If we continue in fellowship, we will arrive at the unity of the faith and the unity of the knowledge of Christ.
Do not say that one person is right and another is wrong simply because there are different interpretations. I told that brother, “This is what God has shown me today. If the Lord shows me something else tomorrow, I am willing to change.”
This should be our attitude when we face different interpretations of the Bible. Men can fail; God never fails.
We thank God that He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Those whom He chose, He called. Those whom He called, He justified. Those whom He justified, He glorified.
One day, when we come to eternity, we will all be in the New Jerusalem. We are the forever bride of the Lamb.
But in the process, we must see one principle: whether in spiritual life or spiritual service, we have to grow. How do we grow? Discipline is necessary.
If we are willing to receive discipline from God, we will become mature earlier. In a field, the seeds that receive more sunshine become mature earlier.
The firstfruits are the early harvest. The firstfruits promise that the whole field will become mature. This is harvest.
Dear brothers and sisters, I hope that by the grace of God we want to be the firstfruits—not for ourselves, but for all our brothers and sisters, and even more, for the glory of God.
I have passed my allotted time, so I can only say one thing concerning unity: unity is in Christ. Apart from Christ, there will be division.
Let us abide in Christ. In John 17, the Lord prayed:
That they may be one, even as We are one.
This is not an outward appearance. It is inward. May the Lord have grace upon us.
I received many questions, but they were all in Chinese. A brother came and knocked on my door this morning, gave me the questions, and said, “Study them.” Finally, I had to ask a brother to tell me what the questions were.
Many questions have been asked, and the subjects are quite similar. Again, we will try to answer only a few questions that we think will be most helpful.
According to what Brother Eric told me, here is one question. I have already learned something about the Chinese: one question is never one question. This one question has three questions.
The questions are:
We want to turn to 1 Corinthians 12 and touch upon the basis of our unity.
In 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, we read:
For even as the body is one, and hath many members,
and all the members of the body, being many, are one body;
so also is Christ.For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free;
and were all made to drink of one Spirit.
The real basis of our unity is unity in the Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost, the Lord Jesus was enthroned in the heavens, and He poured out His Spirit. In the book of Acts, we see the outward evidence: men were filled with the Spirit and began to exercise various spiritual gifts.
When the people in Jerusalem began to ask what had happened and what it meant, the disciples received the first evidence of something that had happened inwardly. When Peter stood up to speak, all the other eleven also stood up.
What did that teach them? The same Spirit abided in all twelve apostles. If Peter had not spoken, perhaps Andrew or John would have spoken the same message concerning Jesus the Messiah, enthroned in heaven.
The basis of our unity is that we have drunk of this one Spirit. Not only have we drunk of this one Spirit, but we have been baptized by this Spirit into the one body of Christ.
This is a miracle, because this unity is closer even than the unity of human families. We may be united as a family by blood, but at a deeper level, through Jesus Christ, we are made one together in Spirit.
We can never sever that unity. It is the basis of our life, and the Spirit can begin to lead us together. The basis of our unity is life: we have the same life.
As the book of Acts moves from chapter to chapter, we see that the disciples themselves were amazed by this oneness. They never thought that they could be one with Samaritan believers or with Gentile believers. But the more they served God, the more they understood that God was bringing in people from all races, nations, and backgrounds.
The basis of our unity is very simple. But how are we to walk in this oneness?
Our brother answered this morning, and Brother Christian Chen also spoke about it last night. But let us see the Scriptures together in Ephesians 4.
Ephesians 4:3 says:
Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Paul underscores this in Ephesians 4:4-6:
There is one body, and one Spirit,
even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all,
who is over all, and through all, and in all.
This is our spiritual reality. We are one with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But Paul’s exhortation is that we maintain, or preserve, that unity.
This is where love, forgiveness, patience, and kindness are needed. Outwardly, we are all very different. If we continue to live by the outward man—that is, according to the flesh—it will cause divisions.
But if we walk the way of the cross and hold fast the Head, our Lord Jesus, He begins to make us one, until we come to the unity of the faith.
This is maturity. We come to a unity of mind because we understand the mind of Christ.
We must hold the unity of the Spirit as precious. You may look at me and say, “Well, he must be a brother, but he certainly looks different from me.” Coming from America, I have different customs and different ways of doing things.
I know that, for me to speak, you have to be longsuffering. But if we can walk together, you will find that we have one Spirit and one heart.
Practically speaking, how can we walk together in this way? The best way is by serving the Lord together.
Many times, we feel that we are very different from our brother or sister. But then the Lord tells us to go out and bear witness to the gospel together.
As we witness together, the Lord does a miracle. You share something, someone asks a question, and you do not know the answer—but your brother gives the answer. Then I may be asked a question, and I have the answer. Working together and witnessing together is much stronger than being alone.
Something also happens between brothers. One brother may say, “I thought this brother was foolish, but now I see that he knows more of the Bible than I thought.” Another may say, “I thought this brother was always sharing strange things, but now I see that the Spirit of God is leading him.”
When we serve together, worship together, and fellowship together, this is our privilege, because we get to see Christ in one another.
Sometimes we are breaking bread together, and my mind is distracted. Then I hear a sister pray, and as she prays, it touches my heart, because this is what I wanted to say to the Lord. I realize how precious it is to have this sister in the body of Christ.
We really do have treasure in one another. As our lives are built together, we come to see this treasure.
This brother or sister asked a very practical question: practically, we can fellowship only with a portion of believers. Can we be one with all believers?
Once again, we have to realize that there is only one church. They are all the Lord’s children. But we also know that man has created divisions. What are we to do about that?
At one time, I was a pastor in one of those denominations. As the Spirit of the Lord gave me more light, I did not feel that I could remain in an assembly of people willing to admit to a division.
But I found an assembly of people with this heart and desire: “We are one with all Christians. Anybody who is one with the Lord is part of us.”
We do not have a membership list, because the membership roll is too large. Those who visit us as brothers and sisters are received, and of course they are welcome at the table. Our desire is to be one.
There was a servant of the Lord whom someone approached to argue about doctrine. Finally, the other minister said, “I can no longer fellowship with you.”
The servant of the Lord replied, “You can draw me out of your circle, but I draw you right back into my circle.”
He was expressing his heart because he understood something: we begin in the unity of the Spirit, and we attain to the unity of the faith.
Most assemblies in the United States try to begin with the unity of the faith and move toward unity of the Spirit. But this always causes division, because it is based upon what you believe.
We have churches built around predestination, and Neo-Calvinism is a very strong movement in the United States. Then we have other churches that say, “All grace, all grace. You are saved by grace. Never mind holiness; you are saved by grace.”
If you go to a city in the United States and open the yellow pages, there is a church for every kind of preference. In the New York City subway, one church advertises, “Come to us. We are the church for people who do not like church.”
But have you noticed this reality? When persecution comes to the church, we discover our oneness together. When times are prosperous, we tend to divide according to our own preferences.
Many times the Lord brings us through very difficult times because in those times we understand that we are all one together. How we stand regarding all the churches around us is really a matter of the heart. We want to be able to fellowship with all brothers.
Here is a second question. It concerns 1 Corinthians 14:26 and asks whether this is the Lord’s way for the church to meet.
1 Corinthians 14:26 says:
What is it then, brethren?
When ye come together, each one hath a psalm,
hath a teaching, hath a revelation,
hath a tongue, hath an interpretation.
Let all things be done unto edifying.
First, I would say that we must be careful about taking a few verses of Scripture and saying, “This is our pattern for church life.” There is no pattern, as such, for church life.
We find in Acts 2:42 a very simple picture of church life:
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship,
in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
We know that the early saints gathered almost daily. As they gathered, they broke bread, shared the gospel, and prayed. The Spirit was leading.
As the church began to grow and time went on, they could not meet every day. It seems—not as a law, but as a development—that the saints regarded it as of first importance to come together and break bread on the first day of the week.
They probably would have liked to do that every day, but they could gather only at certain times. So they set aside specific times for prayer, for breaking bread, and for other gatherings.
Church life therefore varies from place to place. But the Spirit brings us together for times of life in His presence. One of these opportunities is for us to come together, as in 1 Corinthians 14, for fellowship.
Corinth was a wonderful church. It was very lively. They were filled with the Spirit and had many gifts of the Spirit. They all loved to talk.
They would come together, and one would start talking, then another would start. Somebody would speak in tongues, somebody would prophesy, and somebody would say, “I have a revelation.”
First of all, praise God that they were filled with the Spirit and were living. Many times when we gather for fellowship, it is like sitting around in a funeral home.
The Corinthians came with something to share. Notice that Paul says, “When you come together, each one has something to contribute.”
Sometimes we get together and like to talk, but we have not prayed about it. We do not have anything prepared or thought about. Even in a so-called Bible study, we may say, “We are going to study Romans 5,” yet nobody has read it except the leader.
Life has to find order. The Corinthians had life, but they needed to be ordered. When life is set in order by the Spirit, who desires to do all things in order, there is always a greater concentration of life.
Even though I am as old as Santa Claus, I still work often with young people. At the end of youth camp, they like to have testimony time.
Testimony time may last an hour and a half, but all the teenagers are self-conscious. Here is what happens: there are always four young people who like to talk, so they get up first. They talk because they like to hear themselves talk.
At least it breaks the ice. But then we wait an hour and fifteen minutes. Finally, somebody comes up and shares from the heart. Then somebody else comes running up, but now there are only five minutes left.
I always think, “Wait, wait. We wasted so much time. How much more life we could have had!”
So it is with church life. Thank God for the life of the Corinthians, but thank God that Paul could come and say, “Now this life has to be ordered.”
I do not think 1 Corinthians 14 is a pattern meaning that all our meetings must be open meetings in which anybody can talk and go on as long as he wants. No, no.
As human beings, we are amazing. We can make anything the Lord gives us into a tradition. Worship can become tradition. Preaching can become tradition. The Lord’s table can become tradition. An open meeting can become tradition.
Only as we are willing to be disciplined by the Spirit can the meetings we have be filled with His life.
Whatever kinds of meetings you have in your assembly, pray for God’s life to fill those times.
My wife and I live in an apartment in New York City. On Sundays, perhaps forty to fifty young people come to break bread.
I am just there as Santa Claus. I do not do a great deal of preaching. But I tell the brothers, “Only speak for as much time as you have life.”
For some of you, that may be ten minutes or twenty minutes. You know me—I speak more than an hour. Probably that is too much. We need to speak life.
Something very interesting happens. After we break bread, these young brothers share a message of only fifteen minutes, but it is very living.
When the saints come on Sunday, they wonder who is going to speak because they are expecting some life. We need to pray that God will give us life for our meetings.
One question asked whether I would share more of my personal testimony. It would take too long to share everything, but I will bring you to one point.
I was a servant of God, serving a church. Thank God, many saints were gathering, and we were worshiping together.
Ten years earlier, a brother had given me a book. Nobody in our denomination knew about this brother. He came to me, pulled the book from his coat, and said, “Here, take it.”
The book was The Normal Christian Life. From that day, I loved everything Watchman Nee wrote. I read every book I could find in English.
I was serving the Lord in a particular city, but I had only a certain light within that tradition. Then I met Aquila and Priscilla—a husband and wife who occasionally came to the meetings and Bible study where I was serving.
After one Bible study, they said to me, “There is a brother who comes to our city and shares the word of God. You should come.” I asked, “Who is that?” They said, “You have never heard of him—Stephen Kong.”
They were right. I had never heard of him. But then they said the magic words: “He translates Watchman Nee’s books.” I said, “Now I have to go.”
I went to a meeting in someone’s house. I looked around for Brother Kong. There were perhaps a dozen Chinese people there. I thought perhaps a tall man was Brother Kong, but then they introduced our brother, and he was just a little fellow.
I wondered, “Who is this man?” But then he began to minister the word. I heard Christ revealed in the Old Testament.
He began to share about the way of the church, very lovingly and graciously. I realized that only Christ can be Head of His church.
Back in the group where I was serving, I was called “the under-shepherd.” This is a way of getting around the fact that you are the pastor and leader. You say, “God is the Shepherd; I am just a humble under-shepherd.”
But an issue came into my heart. I knew that I was the head of my church. This was in opposition to God’s will.
Our brother came every month, and he was like my undertaker. He always drove another nail into my coffin. One month, he would speak about serving God in the flesh, as King Saul did, and how it is not pleasing to God. He would drive that nail right into my heart.
I actually became physically sick because I knew something was wrong. Even though the church was growing, I was not happy.
In God’s providence, I heard a message from Lance Lambert. That was the final nail in my coffin.
Though I was an ordained minister and had a minister’s retirement program, I knew that I was a minister in my heart—a professional man.
After much spiritual struggle, one day I went to a little house group. I took my family there, and we resigned from the other church.
I had a very nice ordination paper that said I was a minister of God. I tore it up. This was in 1975. No more minister; no more minister’s retirement program.
Fortunately, I could fellowship in this house church. They did not like ministers, but they received me as a brother. I started to teach school, and I had to learn how to be a brother.
I am still learning. But I have learned how wonderful it is when Jesus is the Head of His church.
As you can see by looking at me, God took care of it. I am not a nervous Santa Claus. I am just a brother, and I come to share with you and to receive from you.
Thank God, even in this room there are some who have been like Aquila and Priscilla to me.
Let us move in this oneness of summing up all things in Christ.