Now I would like to share with you about Brother Nee’s practice. When I was preparing his biography, I collected a number of his writings to show how he worked. Several times he mentions that the Lord’s commission to him was not the external things of the work of the church life. The Lord’s commission to him was the testimony of Jesus, that is, to live a life of Christ in His death and resurrection. In spite of this, he had no choice but to do many external things. He even published many books on such matters as church affairs. Even the New Beginners’ Messages are not classified as part of Brother Nee’s ministry under the Lord’s commission; he specifically said the Lord had not commissioned him to give those messages. The Lord commissioned him to give messages on Christ, on His death and resurrection, and on His Body, the mystical Body. Notwithstanding, he published a good number of books for new beginners.
What is the outcome of this? In the recovery many churches and many of the saints pay attention to church affairs, to the new beginners’ meetings, to Brother Nee’s teachings on the external things, including the church ground. Sorry to say, not many really see what Christ is in experience. Because of this lack of seeing, we neglect it. We neglect the meaning of the death of Christ, of His resurrection, and of His mystical Body.
If you consider, you will see that what I say is really so. Do the leading ones in the churches really consider how to help the saints to know Christ, how to minister the real experience of the death and resurrection of Christ, and how to know the Body of Christ in an experiential way? It seems that most of the leading ones week after week have other things as their consideration: how to take care of the meeting, how to get the increase, how to help the weak ones, how to get the problems solved, how to build the meeting hall, and other such matters. Unconsciously we have left the central lane. We are not in the focus. Rather, we are somewhat like the Brethren assemblies. We meet according to the Scripture, we have good, even better biblical teachings, and we do preach the gospel. These three things we more or less take care of. But there is little care paid to the central lane.
Circumstances forced Brother Nee to do things for the external side. Then, under the subtlety of the enemy, some said that before World War II Brother Nee was for the ground of the church, but after the war he changed. Thus they published his messages on the so-called inner life. Brother Nee’s ministry is prevailing today among many Christians just because of this line of the inner life. Still, you must realize that this is not the testimony of Jesus. Even though they put out The Spiritual Man, I wonder whether those who love Brother Nee’s ministry really know what Christ as life is experientially, and what His death and resurrection are. This is the poor situation of today’s Christians. Even we who say we take Brother Nee’s ministry take mostly the external part, the chicken feathers and the garlic skins.
To strengthen what I am saying, I would like to analyze the Chinese-speaking conference last weekend. I must say it was good, but I would like to say a word especially to the Chinese brothers who served there. The messages given were based upon the central lane, yet I don’t believe the audience was adequately touched by this. The audience was carried away by the outward atmosphere, which I admit was very good. That atmosphere was of a great reunion, and it was this which occupied most of those who attended. If our work and service in the Chinese-speaking meetings stops with this, we miss the mark. That conference did not hit the central lane. The central lane was in the message, but most of the attendants missed it. All of them no doubt received some help, but it was mostly in the feathers or in the skin. I don’t mean the feathers and the skin are not needed. I don’t mean that the conference with all the services you provided was not needed. They are needed, just as your physical body is needed; without it, your spirit might be just a ghost. We do need to have such conferences, and all the services, and all the messages, especially the way I spoke then.
I have never before spoken in that way, neither in English nor in Chinese, though I ministered in Chinese for more than thirty years. The way I spoke last weekend was unusual. I realize it was hard to translate. Probably more than thirty percent was lost in the translation into English. Many of the expressions simply had no English equivalent. In that conference I did my best to use the best Chinese expressions in a common way. Because I tried to talk the way people on the street would talk, I used many idiomatic expressions. Such colloquialisms are hard to translate.
Well, that manner of speaking may have been needed, but what about the focus? Consider the Scripture readings for the last three messages (since the first two were intended as gospel messages). Though those verses were all on the central focus, I did not say very much about them. In the last meeting I said that the church is the Body of Christ, that it is the fullness of the One who fills all in all, that it is the house of God, God manifested in the flesh, that it is the golden lampstand, that it is the bride, and that in its consummation it is the New Jerusalem. I did not say that much about each point, but I covered a lot.
Yet I don’t have the full confidence that the audience caught the significance of what I was saying. Some points no doubt inspired them, but as a whole I don’t think they got the central thing. When others later ask them about the conference, will even one of them say that Brother Lee spoke on the continuation of the church, which will be the New Jerusalem? Some minor points they may mention, but mostly they will remember the wonderful reunion they had. After many years of being separated and scattered, both old and young came together, in some cases three generations, in Christ. Hallelujah! What an atmosphere!
If this is the only result, we miss the mark. The externals of the Lord’s work and the church life are what Christianity offers. They are not Christ. They are anity, added to Christ. With us, it may be “churchianity.” They have the anity but not Christ. We may have the anity, but not the church. We may have the church as an assembly, but not as an organism, as the fullness, as the manifestation of God in the flesh, as the lampstand, as the bride, and as the consummation of the bride, the New Jerusalem. Even apart from those who attended the conference, I am deeply concerned as to whether those of you who are here now have really seen this and are in it.