GOD’S PRESENT NEED—A BODY TESTIMONY
Today’s need can no longer be met by revivals. Man’s need today speaks of God’s need. If all I have been speaking during the past seven nights were but revival messages, I believe the speaking would not satisfy men.
What is needed today is the work of a university. Of course, the elementary school and the high school are preparatory institutions. These preparatory institutions are there to prepare a person for the university. The so-called seminaries and revival conferences are but "crash courses"; it is difficult for those who graduate from "crash courses" to get into the universities. A high school is there only to meet the need of society; it is not the goal. Today, we do not preach the gospel to bring people to heaven. The gospel preaching is for a higher goal. As long as a man can breathe, he has to be a proper person. As long as he is a proper person, he has to love the Lord. But if a person only loves the Lord without living in life, this will not meet God’s need. Today, God wants us to go into the university. The standard of this university is quite high. Although it is not the graduate school, its standard is still very high.
We must never despise God’s spiritual blessings to China. Other than China and England, I am afraid there is no other country which has experienced so much of God’s blessings. Even places like America and Denmark have to admit that God is blessing these two countries. May the Lord be merciful to us, that our work will match God’s need in this age. I feel that the most shameful thing is to send a group of people to America to study in the seminaries and then through them to raise some funds for China. What China needs is not the U. S. dollars. What China needs is every drop of our spiritual blood. Today, we will never barter men’s souls for U. S. dollars. During 1926 and 1927, there was a strong anti-Christian and anti-foreigner movement. Since that time, Chinese [indigenous] churches began to appear in China. They did a better work than the Western missionaries did. I am afraid that the influence of the U. S. dollars is a frustration to the work in China.
Today, in the third period, God does not need spiritual giants any longer. What He needs is the Body testimony. Today, we only need to be the members. A small member is a member, and a big member is also a member. No member can be the whole Body. When the whole church rises up to preach the gospel, others will only say it is the church that has saved them; they will not say that it is Dr. So-and-so who has saved them. Today, whether it is the gospel, the revival, or life, everything is for this goal. Today is not the time for the co-workers to serve the Lord by themselves, but the time for the whole church to rise up to serve Him together.
FREE FELLOWSHIP ON THE AFTERNOON
OF JANUARY 15—
FOUR KINDS OF WORKERS
Today there are four kinds of workers. The first are the co-workers who match the need of the ministry of God in the present age. This is a small group of people who have been dealt with by the Lord and who are in one accord. The second kind are the younger co-workers. They are willing to receive the direction and to come under the coordination of the older co-workers, and they are willing to follow and to learn in humility. The third kind are those who are unwilling to submit to the senior co-workers, who do not belong to the denominations, yet who are happy to remain in fellowship with us. The fourth kind are the preachers and free evangelists among the denominations. What we need today are the first and the second kind of co-workers.
When a co-worker is in a certain place, he has to cooperate with the local church in that place. The work and the church cannot be separated one from the other. When a co-worker is working in a certain place, he is at the same time one of the local brothers. When the church assigns work to the saints, the co-workers should stand on the same ground as the local brothers and should accept assignments in the same way.
Concerning the third and the fourth kind of co-workers, we can only let them choose their own pathway. With some people, God has not assigned them to take the same way as we do, and we dare not say anything to them. Whatever the situation may be, we are here to do the work that God has committed to us. We cannot interfere with others’ work, and we are not here tearing down others’ work.
(Messages Given During the Resumption of Watchman Nee's Ministry (2 volume set), Chapter 26, by Watchman Nee/Witness Lee)
