As saved ones, we have truly been blessed with God’s special grace, so we should go and preach the gospel everywhere. We should go knock on the doors of the president, the cabinet heads, and the college deans. Some may say that these doors are not easy to knock on because they are doors of people of high position and influence who will not open their doors to us. If that is the case, we can use the telephone. If they will not pick up the telephone, we can write letters. When going out to contact people, we have at least three ways: knocking on doors, making telephone calls, and writing letters. In addition, we can send books such as gospel pamphlets by mail. If we are faithful in our practice, in all these ways there will be one that works.
We have to tell people that whether they are the head of a nation, the head of a government department, or the head of a university, one day all of these “heads” will pass away and vanish, and all that will remain is dirt, sand, and other elements. There is a brother among us who went through the Whampoa Military Academy and was a high ranking military officer. Nevertheless, today he is no longer any kind of “head.” Happily, he believes in the Lord Jesus. If he did not believe, he would be left with only the elements of animals, plants, and minerals, and one day when he closes his eyes and expires, all that he has will come to an end, and he will have nothing.
Whether a person occupies the highest position or works as a street vendor, the outcome is the same. That is why we ought to preach the gospel to people, telling them that regardless of their occupation today, in the end they will be only a pile of mineral, plant, and animal elements; there will not be much left. Some of us are younger and some of us are older; the difference is only a matter of time, eighty years at the most. Eventually, the older ones will be the first ones to turn into a pile of dust, and the younger ones will also follow suit to be dust. There is no difference in their end.
Today by the Lord’s mercy we have made a high choice, which is also an excellent choice. I was saved at the age of nineteen in 1925. That afternoon I heard the gospel in a large chapel, and I was very clear that I was saved. Before then I was born and raised in Christianity, but I was not a believer. Furthermore, because of the Chinese ethical education that I had received, I greatly despised Christianity and its practices. I considered it a religion preached by foreigners who could only teach that sinners would go to hell and good people would go to heaven. To me, such teaching was far too inferior when compared with Chinese Confucian philosophy.
Yet that afternoon the Lord caught me under very special circumstances. The sister who preached the gospel was only six years older than I was. That day she did not talk about hell or heaven, nor did she talk about bad people or good people. She was from the Yangtze River valley in the south and was serving in the region around Shanghai. Rarely did she come up to the north, but in 1925 she was invited by the denominations to come and preach the gospel in my hometown, Chefoo. I had always attended Christian schools and had been accustomed to the so-called sermons and gospel, and I was even getting tired of them. During my childhood, because the school was next to the chapel, every Lord’s Day morning the teachers would have us line up one by one and would take us to the chapel to hear the pastors speak. I was weary of listening to them, especially because they did not speak fluent Mandarin Chinese. Therefore, I did not have a good impression whenever Christianity or the church was mentioned.
Because of my family’s Christian background, outwardly I would nevertheless argue for and defend Christianity. I remember that every time the school took us on a field trip, whenever we passed by a temple a classmate would bring up questions concerning God, and I would argue with him, telling him that all those idols are false and that only the God we have in Christianity is real. Even though I said such things, I myself did not believe. It was extremely self-contradictory. Back then I always felt that going to operas, playing soccer, and playing games were far more exciting and interesting than attending church meetings.
However, on that day when I heard that a twenty-five year old woman from Shanghai would be preaching the gospel to us, I thought it was quite extraordinary. From my youth I had never heard a woman preaching the gospel, so I went and listened to her speaking. This sister truly had the presence of the Lord. She told the story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. She said that Pharaoh typifies the devil, Satan, whose main intention is to usurp men with the “Egyptian” world. She spoke with great power, and I was caught immediately. I then prayed to the Lord, “Lord, I do not want this world. I do not want to be usurped by Satan. I want God Himself.” With this inward feeling, I prayed as I listened to the speaking onstage until the meeting ended.
Sixty years ago the meetings in the denominations were such that when the meeting was dismissed, the atmosphere was quite cold. There were no after-meeting conversations, and no one would come to contact you. Generally speaking, after a church service, everyone would simply go home separately, and no one bothered anyone else. Therefore, we could attend services for ten years without ever having a real conversation with anyone. After the meeting was dismissed that day, while I was walking alone, I was full of feeling in my heart and knew that I was saved. I still remember that on my way home when I came to a street corner, I stopped, stood still, and prayed to God a prayer that I can never forget. I prayed, “O God, even if the whole earth is given to me, and even if the entire world asks me to be king, I would not accept it. I just want You.”
We all need to make the best choice. Even if a person becomes the president of a nation or the principal of a school, in the end he is nothing more than a pile of dust, sand, wood, and other elements. According to the apostle Paul, all human attainments are merely refuse (Phil. 3:7-8). Only when we gain God, when we gain Christ, have we made the best choice.
When I entered to study at a junior college, I was clear in my heart that even if I did well in my studies I did not study for study’s sake. At that time I did not know about consecration, and no one told me about consecration. Still, walking on the road one day I spontaneously told God, “O God, some day I will carry a Bible bag and preach the gospel in all the villages and small towns. Even if I have to drink from mountain brooks and live on tree roots, I am willing to do anything as long as I can preach the gospel, and I will be satisfied.” I did not understand much Bible truth at the time, but I had this thought within me, that apart from pursuing and gaining the Lord, everything else in human life does not matter.
Therefore, if we would choose the Lord and spend time learning to serve Him, we have made the super-choice, the excellent choice. Today the environment of the church is an environment of “gold, silver, precious stones.” Most of us have received a higher education, and in the church life we are also immersed in the word of God, in God Himself. This enables us to grow and be transformed in life daily. Regardless of how long we have been in the church life, I believe that we all have the same feeling that we are growing, God’s golden nature is also growing within us, and that there is transformation within us. Ultimately, we will be built together. We are not individual precious stones or pearls, but we are being built with one another.
Today we have a part in God’s building. Individually, we are each a pearl and a precious stone. Corporately, we should be a collective entity of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearl. This is the church today, and in the future it will ultimately consummate in the New Jerusalem. This is the treasure of the universe, the desire of God’s heart.
God created the universe and the earth for the producing of the church. First, the saints are produced through the redemption of Christ. Next, the church is constituted with the saints. Lastly, the constituted church is enlarged to consummate in the New Jerusalem. At that point the New Jerusalem will still be on the earth, but the earth will have become the new heaven and new earth. It will be a new earth, but it will still be the earth. God is very interested in the earth, because it is on the earth that He will produce the saints and build the church, which eventually will be enlarged to become the New Jerusalem.
Everything is a treasure in the New Jerusalem. The description in the Bible is very clear. It says that the city proper is a mountain of pure gold (Rev. 21:18). The foundations of the wall of the city are all precious stones, with at least twelve different kinds of stones (vv. 19-20). In addition, this city has twelve gates, each composed of one pearl (v. 21). Therefore, this city is truly a city of pure gold, precious stones, and pearl, which is the aggregate of the mingling of the processed Triune God with His chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed tripartite man. Ultimately, the Triune God will take us as His dwelling place, and we will take Him as our dwelling place. Thus He and we will live together for eternity. This is the story of the universal treasure. Today our choice is excellent, our human life is excellent, the meaning of our human life is excellent, and the goal of our human life is excellent. Eventually what we attain to in our human life will be even more excellent; it will be unparalleled.
We are fortunate to be people who have God and who have a vision. We see ourselves as pearls and precious stones, not a pile of dirt and sand, nor a pile of wood, grass, and stubble, neither a pile of chicken, duck, fish, and beef. We are a building constituted with precious stones and pearl. Our human life is excellent, the meaning of our human life is excellent, and the purpose of our human life is excellent. This purpose is none other than the mingling of God and man. God wants to mingle Himself with us, who are men of clay, to transform us completely into precious stones and pearl.
Today we all are being transformed, growing, and being built together. This is the church, today’s treasure and tomorrow’s New Jerusalem. One day in the New Jerusalem we will not see a single piece of wood or stone. Rather, everything will be pure gold, precious stones, and pearl. Today we should have the same expression. This is the treasure of the universe.
(A message given in the Full-Time Training in Taipei, Taiwan on April 11, 1990)