Our cooperation with the Lord involves a basic principle in the Scriptures, which is that God created man with a free will, allowing man to have the freedom of choice. Our will can determine our course. Many Jews, for example, have determined not to choose God but to choose money, and in the end they have succeeded. God gave this power of determination to our will when He created man, and God does not interfere with this. In the beginning in the garden of Eden, God put man in front of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for him to choose. In the same way, God has put us fallen ones in front of our character and Christ’s salvation so that we may make a choice. In a sense, today the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is our character, and the tree of life is Christ. Our choice depends on whether we want Christ or our character.
There is only one tree of knowledge of good and evil, yet it has many different expressions, and it always causes you to choose between itself and Christ. Although I do not think that you are absolutely victorious, I believe that the majority of you have overcome the world and sin and have chosen the tree of life. I believe that you would no longer wander in the world or be defiled by sins. Of course, you may still fall, which is why I pray unceasingly with fear and trembling that you would not enter into temptation. However, you are clear that God is versus the world (James 4:4). Outwardly speaking, you also know that God is versus sin (Rom. 3:23). Regarding service, you are clear that God is versus mammon (Matt. 6:24). Therefore, you love God, you do not love the world, you forsake sin, and you do not dream about being rich. These are all expressions of how you have chosen the tree of life and forsaken the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that you must forsake is your character. Now that you have joined the Full-Time Training, you must overcome this expression of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—your character.
The Bible says that the last enemy of God is death (1 Cor. 15:26). According to my observation, however, character is the last enemy for those of us who love and pursue the Lord. Twenty years ago a good foundation was laid for our work in the Far East, especially in Taiwan. Yet in the twenty years since then, although by the Lord’s mercy our work has not declined, there has not been much development. What is the reason for the lack of development? The reason is not the world, sin, or the influence of material wealth. It is our troublesome character. Our Chinese character is too loose and passive. Without outward pressure in the environment, we become self-content at a certain stage and thus delay the Lord’s work.
According to the Chinese character, everything is “fine” and “about the same,” as long as we have a bed to sleep in, food to eat, and a house to live in. In the past, prior to the celebration of the Chinese New Year, the northern Chinese would thoroughly clean their homes, but in the days after New Year’s Day, their homes would seem “about the same” to them, whether they were clean or dirty. They would not clean their homes again until their homes were so dusty that whatever they touched was covered with dust. Finally, only when they could no longer bear looking at it would they began to wipe off the dust. However, when they would wipe off the dust, they would not do a thorough job, wiping only the center of the room and leaving the four corners dirty. In the matter of cleaning, we can see the Chinese character, which regards everything as being “about the same.”
Our work in the Far East in the last twenty years has suffered from this character of everything being “about the same.” The Lord Jesus rebuked the church in Laodicea for having such an attitude, saying, “You are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot” (Rev. 3:15). If we are cold or hot, the Lord has a way. When we are neither cold nor hot, the Lord has no way. More than twenty years ago, we had the highest rate of increase of any country in eastern Asia. Even the opposers could not deny that we had the best gospel work on the island of Taiwan. However, today others have overtaken us. What is the reason? After analyzing our history in the past twenty years, we must confess that our character has been too loose.
In the 1950s many brothers and sisters were raised up by the Lord. They truly loved the Lord. They forsook position, fame, and the wealth of the world and loved the Lord fervently. In 1953, after a few months of training, they went out and advanced the Lord’s work in a relentless way. They were successful in whatever they did, and wherever they went, churches were quickly raised up. Within ten years they had opened up a wonderful situation for the Lord’s work. However, today we find it difficult merely to maintain what was established. Of course there is an outward reason for this—when Brother Austin-Sparks visited us, he created some problems among us, quenching the fire in the brothers and sisters. However, from that time on the brothers and sisters never got hot again but merely maintained the status quo. The main, intrinsic, and basic reason for this is that our character is very poor.
There are some things on the earth that we cannot fully change but that we can still improve. For example, we cannot change the earth that was created by God. However, we can make improvements to our life on earth by improving the means of transportation and shortening the time required to travel. Regrettably, although transportation today has been much improved, our way of working is old and is according to the old customs. In a sense we have fallen back into our old ways. This is where the crux of the matter lies. Therefore, we must seek progress and improvement in every matter, especially in our character. The Chinese mind is very useful, but the Chinese character ruins things. When our mind does not match our character, the result is that we do things in a slothful way and are neither earnest nor serious about what we are doing. The senior co-workers truly love the Lord and have overcome the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in regard to the world and sin. However, they are too loose in the matter of character, and thus, it is often necessary for me to strongly motivate them. Because of the Chinese character, our work in the Far East has greatly suffered.
The saints are advancing in the truth and are pursuing life, but why are they not being perfected in the matter of character? I do not mind taking the trouble to exhort you again and again to pay attention to your character because I know that you will serve the Lord and give yourself to the Lord. After doing so, you may be used by the Lord for twenty years. However, if the “moth” of your bad character continues to stay with you, I am afraid that at a certain time you will be eaten, and your usefulness will be ruined. This would be a terrible thing. Therefore, at the beginning of this training, I will deal with this matter of character again and again. Although you must still pursue and make progress in the four matters of truth, life, the gospel, and service, you must be more serious in the training of your character so that you may be fully equipped. I hope that you would all exercise your will and determine to cooperate with the Lord to deal with your character so that you may become useful vessels in the Lord’s hand.