Before they came down last weekend, one of these four wrote me a long letter, asking why, if we preach the truth of one city, one church, we do not practice it. Here they were living in another city, yet going to San Jose. I had no time nor desire to answer such a letter. Now the writer was standing before me. “Brother So-and-so, now I will answer your letter,” I said.
“The church ground—one city, one church—is for unity. If we utilize this truth to cover our motive of division, we are more than divisive. Further, this truth cannot be applied as a legality.
“Consider the city of Anaheim. Its boundaries are irregular, like many other cities in the United States and also in other countries. Suppose a brother lives on the outskirts of Anaheim, yet very close to Cypress. His house is also just across the street from the meeting hall of the church in Cypress. If he goes to the meetings of the church in Anaheim, he will have to drive a long way to get to the meeting hall. Instead, he could simply cross the street. You would say that since he lives in Anaheim, he must not go to Cypress; that would be divisive. Well, it all depends. If he has no intention to cause division and has no preference, but just for the sake of time chooses to go with his family to the church in Cypress, what is wrong with that? We are all one church.
“But let us suppose that some brothers in Anaheim are unhappy with this brother. They criticize him for not meeting with the church there. He could argue that they are being too legal and say that there is no need for him to be bound by such a legality. However, if he knows what the flesh is and what the lesson of the cross is, he would choose not to meet with the church which meets nearby. Every meeting he would drive a long way to the meeting hall in Anaheim to get on the altar to be slaughtered. I think you understand my language. This is the biblical way to carry out the church life.
“We cannot use the truth of the church ground as a legality; then it is no longer a truth.” I went on to tell this brother, “The fact that there are twenty of you does not qualify you either. Even if the situation in Palo Alto were desirable for starting the church life, this still would not qualify you. You must check your motive. Once something is started by you under the umbrella of the church with an impure motive, everything is annulled.”
You brothers who have been newly added, I would like you to hear this word. The motive must be clear, must be pure. If you have even a little desire to be a leader, not an elder but just a leader in the Chinese-speaking meeting, this disqualifies you. No man may know, but the Lord knows.
In the same principle, I would say a word to the elders. To judge with the best discernment whether to have a Chinese-speaking meeting in your locality requires a pure motive. If your motive is not pure, you are not qualified to say a word, either yes or no. Your impureness disqualifies you. Brothers, I say this seriously. Not only in this matter, but in every situation in the church life, especially in the leadership, this principle applies. In the Lord’s work, if I have even a little ambition to be something, I am disqualified, I am through.
Among Christians a pure motive is a treasure. It is rarer than a diamond. In my “practice of medicine” for over a half century, I have surely known what “sicknesses” people have. It is unusual to find a pure motive in what touches the Lord’s work or His church.
The Lord’s recovery has had a history concerning this these past sixty years. There is no need to mention the things which happened on the mainland during Brother Nee’s time. A number of you here were involved with what happened on Taiwan from 1958 till 1965. There were some who caused a lot of trouble and then left. I warned them that they would divide again and again. Now that seventeen years or so have gone by, my prediction has been fully fulfilled. They kept on dividing; there was not one exception. In making trouble, they were one. But after they left and began something, nearly no one would work with another. The motive was not pure.
We may be weak. We are still not so useful in the Lord’s hand. I don’t deny this. Yet even the dissenting ones cannot deny that the blessing has been on the Lord’s recovery. Twenty years of history have gone by since 1963; it is clear where the blessing has been. Impureness in the church life and in the Lord’s work is the basic killer. It kills everything, including you if you are impure. As long as you have impurity in your motive, you are the first victim of this impureness. This is not a threat; it is a warning, firstly to myself. Only the Lord knows how fearful and trembling I have been for many years lest I be impure in making a decision concerning certain things.
To talk with you about this matter of purity is one of the reasons for these Monday night meetings. Of course, this is a minor point, not the central lane. Nevertheless, it is a major condition. However much you say that you are in the central lane, in the Lord’s focus, if your motive is not pure you are off. You are not in the central lane. The central lane is good only for the pure ones to travel on. This is a serious matter. A church under pure hands may experience many troubles, but it is still under the blessing. Once it changes into impure hands, death comes in. You have probably seen this happen.
The same is true with the Lord’s work. Soon after I came to this country, some jealous ones from another place said, “Why can’t we do what Brother Lee is doing? Let’s go to the United States too and do the same thing.” They came to this country and tried to do a work. Eventually nothing was accomplished. I don’t believe the blessing on the recovery in the United States has been due to my ability. My ability at most could only have been a little instrument. It was due to something in the recovery which was pure. My conscience allows me to ask you brothers: is there any hint of impurity regarding the church and the Lord’s work as far as I myself am concerned? I have been with you for twenty years. Tonight I stand before you, about a hundred people, to say that it’s hard for you to find anything of the church and the Lord’s work related to me that is impure. Brothers, this is the only reason that the Lord’s blessing, not in prosperity but in life, is here. And it is because of this that I can speak boldly. My conscience does not have even a small hole. In other things I dare not say; but in this matter of pureness I have a conscience without offense.
Since there will be a number of new Chinese-speaking meetings, this will involve several things. It will involve the leadership of these meetings. It will also involve, at least indirectly, the eldership in the localities concerned. Coordination will be needed. To be patient, to be humble: these may be only religion. Paul may teach patience, but he does so rarely; what he teaches is endurance. Most translators render this as patience, but Paul’s word is really endurance.