Day: June 21, 2021

Truth Messages, Ch. 6, Sec. 3 of 3

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ONE IN THE TRIUNE GOD

When we are in the Triune God, we are one. When we are in ourselves, however, we are divided. Outward teachings concerning oneness do not make us one. The more today’s Christians talk about oneness, the more divided they are. Like the Corinthians, they are still in themselves; hence, they are through with the genuine oneness.

We have pointed out that in John 14 the Lord Jesus said that He was going to prepare a place for us. This place is God the Father Himself, and the way there is the Lord Jesus. In John 14:6 the Lord said, “I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Christ, the Son, is the way, and the Father is the place. Although unbelievers can lodge only in themselves, we have a choice between dwelling in ourselves and dwelling in the Triune God. We do not need to remain in ourselves; we can move into the Triune God. A place has been prepared for us, and a choice is presented to us. The Lord said that after He prepared a place for us in the Father’s house, He would come to receive us into that place. Therefore, where He is, we may be also. The Lord is in the Father, and He desires that we too be in the Father. Now that the place has been prepared for us in the Father, we can move into Him by being sanctified through the truth. This involves both the Word and the Spirit. If we continually touch the Word and allow the Spirit to touch us day by day, we will be sanctified; that is, we will move out of ourselves, our old lodging place, and into the Triune God, our new lodging place. By making this move, worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion are left behind.

PERFECTED INTO ONE

John 17:23 says, “I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one.” Not only have we moved into the Triune God, but the Lord is also in us. His being in us is a matter of living. We move out of ourselves in order to be in the Triune God. When we are in the Triune God, Christ can live in us. When we remain in the Triune God and when Christ lives in us, we are perfected into one.

If we come together for the church service in ourselves, it will be impossible for us to be one. In order to serve in oneness, we must move out of ourselves. We serve by moving into the Triune God. However, as we move out of ourselves and into the Triune God, we need to let Christ live in us. His living in us perfects us into one. By moving out of ourselves and into the Triune God, we have oneness. However, this is not yet the perfected oneness. Only when Christ lives in us do we sense the reality of the genuine oneness. The more the Lord lives in us, the more His living perfects us with others into the genuine oneness.

Genuine oneness is not merely a matter of meeting together. To have the genuine oneness, we must first move out of ourselves and into the Triune God; second, we must allow the Lord to live in us. Then we are not only one but also perfected into one. Here in this genuine oneness there is no worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, or opinions. Instead, there is just the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

REAL BUILDING

This perfected oneness is the real building. In 1954 I first began to speak of the building. I told the saints in Manila that they had to know who was above them, under them, and beside them. Later, I learned by experience that this concept of building is not accurate, for it applies only to a building with lifeless material that does not move from place to place, not to us as living ones who may move from one city to another. I asked the Lord to show me what the practical building was. Gradually, mainly from Ephesians 4, I saw that real building is the proper growth in life. When we grow in life normally, we get out of ourselves and into the Triune God, and Christ lives in us. When this is our experience, we have the genuine oneness, and we are perfected into one. When we are perfected into one, there is no problem with building. Wherever we go, we are one with the saints. But if we remain in ourselves, we will have problems no matter where we may be.

Real oneness is not merely relatedness, nor is it merely coordination. It is the growth in life. To grow in life means that we move out of ourselves and into the Triune God and allow Christ to live in us. If we move into the Triune God and allow Christ to live in us, we can be one with the saints in any locality. If you have problems in the church, do not blame your environment or the saints. Instead, blame yourself for not moving out of yourself and into the Triune God and for not allowing Christ to live in you.

ONE IN THE FATHER’S GLORY

In John 17:22 the Lord Jesus said, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one.” The glory which the Father has given the Son is the sonship with the Father’s life and divine nature (5:26) to express the Father in His fullness (1:18; 14:9; Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:3). The Son has given this glory to His believers so that they also may have the sonship with the Father’s life and divine nature (John 17:2; 2 Pet. 1:4) to express the Father in the Son in His fullness (John 1:16). This is the glory which the Father gave to the Son and which the Son has given to us. In such a glory there is no worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, or opinion. Instead, there is the Father’s life and nature for His expression in His fullness. Here in the glory we have the genuine oneness.

Through His death and resurrection the Lord prepared a place for us in the Father and opened the way for us to come into this place. After His resurrection He began to bring us into the Father, that is, to move us out of ourselves and into the Father. Furthermore, He lives in us to bring us into the glory, which is the expression of the Father. Here in the glory we live by the Father’s life and by His nature to express the Father in His fullness. In this glory there is room for nothing but the Father’s life and nature for His expression. This is where the Lord Jesus is today and where we should be also. Here in the Father’s glory we have the genuine oneness.

In the past we did not see the truth concerning oneness in as deep a way as we see it today. If we allow the Spirit of reality to work this truth, this reality, into our being, we will have the genuine oneness, a oneness where there is no worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, or opinion but only the Father’s life, nature, and holiness for us to express Him. This is the truth of oneness through sanctification. We all need to experience this sanctification through the Word and the Spirit so that we may enter into the Father and into His glory.

Truth Messages, Ch. 6, Sec. 2 of 3

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SANCTIFICATION BY THE WORD AND THE SPIRIT

This sanctification takes place by the word, which is truth, and by the Spirit, which is the Spirit of truth. In these four chapters of John the word and the Spirit are mentioned again and again. Actually, the word and the Spirit are one. I thank the Lord that so many of us have come back to the Word and are getting into the Word every day. As we come to the Word every morning, outwardly we touch the Word, but inwardly the Spirit touches us. By the word and by the Spirit, both of which are the reality, we are sanctified.

To be sanctified is not merely to be separated from the world; it is to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God. If you check with your experience, you will see that the more you touch the Word and the more the Spirit touches you, the more you move out of yourself. You move from one dwelling place, the self, to another dwelling place, the Triune God. Every day we need to make this move. If we do not move out of ourselves, we are wrong; for in the self there is worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion.

LEARNING TO DEAL WITH OUR OPINIONS

We may apply this to the practical situation in the church life. Now is the time for the church in Anaheim as well as for all the other churches to be built. In order for the church to be built, we need to come together for the church service. Regarding this, the leading ones are quite cautious because they do not want the saints to be offended. Do you know what causes the saints to be offended? It is the self with its ambition and self-exaltation. Suppose you are troubled because someone else is made a leader instead of you. If you are troubled in this way because of your ambition, you should get into the Word right away and allow the Spirit to touch you. Then you will be able to move out of yourself and declare, “Angels and demons, I do not care who the leader is. I will not remain in myself. Instead, I will move out of myself into the Triune God and remain in Him.”

In the service of the church the most damaging element is not ambition or self-exaltation; it is opinion. Apparently, opinion is not as ugly as self-exaltation. We may express our opinion in a meek and humble way. Nevertheless, in the service of the church the first lesson we need to learn is to say, “I don’t know.” If you say that you already know what to do in the church service, it indicates that you have an opinion. But if you say, “I don’t know,” it reveals that you are willing to serve but do not know how to serve. How wonderful it would be if we all could say, “I don’t know”!

In 1928, at the beginning of the work in Shanghai, a certain brother who had been a postmaster became a co-worker. Not knowing what to do when he was first invited to a particular place to work for the Lord, he asked Brother Nee for advice. Brother Nee replied, “Simply learn to say, ‘I don’t know.’ If you say this whenever people ask you something, you will be the best co-worker.” However, it is very difficult for us to say this. When we come to the service of the church, we all have the assurance that we know something. Nevertheless, our need is to learn to say, “I don’t know.”

We learn to do this only by moving out of ourselves. If we remain in ourselves, we will always think that we know a great deal. But if we move out of ourselves into the Triune God and remain in Him, we will regard ourselves as knowing nothing. To know nothing means to have no opinion. When we are in the Triune God, we have no opinions.

The Lord’s disciples afford us a good example of moving out of the self and into the Triune God. Before the Lord’s resurrection the disciples stayed in themselves and were very opinionated. Peter, Martha, and even Mary had opinions. But in Acts 2 we see that the disciples had lost their opinions. In the Gospels they were in themselves, but in the Acts they had moved out of the self and into the Triune God. A big move took place between the Gospels and the Acts. Although an important work began in Acts 2, there were no conferences or discussions about it. When people are opinionated, they need conferences and discussions. But in Acts 2 there was no such need.

Not many Christians know how to be free from opinions. When we come together to serve with the saints, we all must learn to have no opinions. How can we be without opinions? It is not by adjusting ourselves or by improving our behavior. It is by moving out of ourselves and into the Triune God. This is a deeper understanding of sanctification. Once we are out of ourselves, we are separated from worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion. Then we are separated not only unto God but also into God.

Truth Messages, Ch. 6, Sec. 1 of 3

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CHAPTER SIX

MOVING INTO GOD
TO BE SANCTIFIED FOR ONENESS

In order to have the genuine oneness, we need to be separated from worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts. In the past not many of us realized that we need to be sanctified to have the genuine oneness. Sanctification has a great deal to do with oneness.

In this chapter we will again consider chapters 14 through 17 of the Gospel of John. Although Christians have read these chapters again and again, not many know the real meaning of them. Chapters 14 through 16 are the last words of the Lord Jesus to His disciples before His betrayal and crucifixion. After uttering the words recorded in these chapters, He offered the prayer found in chapter 17. This prayer is actually a conclusion to His speaking in the previous three chapters.

A PLACE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD

In John 14:2 the Lord Jesus said, “In My Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” If you read this verse in the light of the whole New Testament, you will see that the house here refers to the church, not to the so-called heavenly mansions. In chapter 2 of John the house refers first to the temple and second to the body of the Lord Jesus. Just as the temple was the house of God, so the Lord’s physical body was the house of God when the Lord was on earth. After Christ’s resurrection His physical body became the mystical Body, which is the house of God today. This mystical Body, the Body of Christ, is the church. When the Lord Jesus was about to die, He told His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them in the house of God. This means that He was about to prepare a place for us in the church. Therefore, in the beginning of this section of the Gospel of John, the Lord said clearly that His going was for the purpose of accomplishing one thing: to prepare a place for us in the house of God, the church, and to pave the way for us to be brought into this place.

IN THE FATHER AND IN THE GLORY

John 14:3 says, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be.” The Lord was in the Father, and He wanted His disciples to be in the Father also. In this verse the Lord seemed to be saying, “I am in the Father, but you are not. By My crucifixion and resurrection I will bring you into the Father. Then where I am, you will be also.” The Lord prayed for this very thing in John 17:24: “Father, concerning that which You have given Me, I desire that they also may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” According to this verse, eventually we will be not only in the Father but also in the glory. First the Lord brings us into the Father and then into the glory.

MOVING OUT OF OURSELVES
BY BEING SANCTIFIED

When we are with the Lord in the Father and in the glory, we are one. But when we are in ourselves, we cannot be one with others. In ourselves we are one only with ourselves, not with anyone else. If we desire to be one with others, we need to move out of the self and into God the Father. No one can make this move for us; we are responsible to do it ourselves. When we move out of ourselves and into the Father and into the Father’s glory, we are one and are even perfected into one.

The way to make this move is by being sanctified. To be sanctified is to make the move out of ourselves and into the Father. If we remain in ourselves, we are not sanctified, and thus we cannot be one with others. In ourselves we have worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion. It is impossible for us to eradicate these things from our being. Do you realize that the world is actually yourself? The same is true of ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts. This is the reason we cannot escape from these four things if we stay in the self. Paul told the Corinthians that among them there was jealousy and strife (1 Cor. 3:3). These are some of the characteristics of those who are in the self. The church life, however, is a building, and the real building is the genuine oneness. In this genuine oneness there is no room for worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, or opinion.

How can we remove these four things from us? In ourselves, it is impossible. There is no way for us to eliminate them. As fallen people, we are constituted with worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion. Even little children know how to exalt themselves; at an early age they also become ambitious. Furthermore, children do not need to be taught worldliness, for they are worldly by nature. As long as we are alive, we are subject to worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion. Although some of us are gentle and meek because of our natural disposition, this does not mean that we are not ambitious or opinionated. With some, ambition is expressed in an outward way and is quite obvious, whereas with others, ambition is a hidden matter concealed in the heart. But everyone is ambitious; ambition is a constituent of our being.

The Lord Jesus knows our problem. In John 15:5 He said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” He is the vine, and we are the branches. We must remain in Him, that is, abide in Him. To remain in Christ as the vine means that we move out of ourselves and into Him. Since the Lord is in the Father, we also may be in the Father by being in Him. In John 17:21 the Lord prayed, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.” This is the oneness in the Triune God. In order to be in the Triune God, we must move out of ourselves. John 17:22-23a says, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one.” When we move out of ourselves and remain in the Triune God, Christ lives in us. In this way we are perfected into one.

Only by our being sanctified can we abide in Christ and can Christ live in us. Again I say, to be sanctified is to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God and to allow Christ to live in us. According to chapters 14 through 17 of John, this is the proper concept of sanctification. The more we are sanctified, the more we are out of ourselves and in the Triune God.

Truth Messages, Ch. 5, Sec. 4 of 4

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KEEPING A WATCHFUL EYE
ON THOSE WHO CAUSE DIVISIONS

Romans 16:17 says, “Now I exhort you, brothers, to mark those who make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them.” Recently, there have been some among us who have made divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching which we have learned. We need to keep a watchful eye on such persons. Whenever we see them causing division, we must turn away from them. Although this is not pleasant, it is necessary to preserve the health of the Body. In order for the Body to be healthy, it must be kept from all the factors of division.

Some divisive ones have said that if we turn away from them, we are not the church and do not have the oneness. They have been undermining the Lord’s recovery and causing divisions; nevertheless, they expect the church to include them. But we must be bold to declare that we cannot tolerate division. We cannot permit divisive ones to remain in the fellowship of the church. Do not think that the church should include those who cause division. Yes, the church includes all the believers but not those who cause division.

After speaking about those who make divisions and causes of stumbling, Paul says, “Such men do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own stomach, and through smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple” (v. 18). The Greek word translated “stomach” refers to the belly or the entire abdominal cavity; it is a derivative of the word meaning “hollow.” Those who make divisions have a gap, a hollow space, within them. In their greed and ambition they desire to fill this empty spot. They do not serve the Lord or care for the Lord’s recovery. Instead, they care only to fill the hollowness within them. They do not care for the saints, for the churches, for the recovery, or for the Lord’s testimony. We, however, are slaves of the Lord and are here only for the Lord’s recovery. Nevertheless, there have recently been some among us who did not care for the recovery or for the churches but only for filling the gap in their own inward being.

Romans 16:18 says that those who serve their own stomach, not the Lord Christ, deceive the hearts of the simple through smooth words and flattering speech. In these days many simple ones have been deceived by flattering words and promises.

REFUSING THE FACTIOUS ONE

Titus 3:10-11 is another portion of the Word dealing with divisive ones. Verse 10 says, “A factious man, after a first and second admonition, refuse.” A factious man is one who causes divisions. Such a person is to be refused, rejected, after a first and second admonition. To refuse here means to avoid, to reject.

Verse 11 says, “Knowing that such a one is perverted and is sinning, though he is condemned by his own self.” This indicates that the conscience of the factious ones is not completely dead. Rather, their conscience convicts them that they are wrong, that they are acting against God. Deep within, they know that they are divisive. Hence, they are self-condemned.

Romans 16 and Titus 3 exactly fit today’s situation. Because we cannot tolerate division, we need to keep a watchful eye on those who are divisive and refuse those who are factious.

In 1 Corinthians 5 we see the casting out of a sinful one. The church simply cannot tolerate such a sinful one as described in this chapter.

These four portions of the Word confirm the fact that the church must keep its sanctified position. The church cannot tolerate anything divisive or defiling. How we thank the Lord for the sanctifying word, the sanctifying Spirit, the sanctifying God, and the sanctifying truth! The word of truth is continually dealing with the factors of division within us. Worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts are being put to death so that we can maintain the genuine oneness. May we all see this, exercise ourselves in prayer concerning it, experience it, and practice it.

Truth Messages, Ch. 5, Sec. 3 of 4

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Self-exaltation

A third cause of division is self-exaltation, which usually accompanies ambition. Some people, however, are ambitious but do not seem to exalt themselves. Others are ambitious and are consumed with the desire to have preeminence and to be exalted. Such self-exaltation is like a serpent; it causes division among the saints. Therefore, in order to keep the genuine oneness, we must learn not to exalt ourselves.

If you are an elder or a leading one, you should not boast about this. Do not claim that you are somebody. It is better to be nobody. Recently, I heard that a certain Christian group has a slogan that in their fellowship they make everybody somebody. The church, on the contrary, makes everybody nobody. If you want to be somebody, you should not come to the church, for this is not the place for you. Instead, you should go to that group that claims to make everybody somebody. In the Lord’s recovery everyone is brought low. But praise the Lord, we are willing to be nobody and to exalt Christ, who has the universal preeminence! Christ is the only Somebody. We like to be nobodies, because by being nobodies, we are truly one.

During the past months I have told the elders at least a few times that I like to be despised, attacked, criticized, and defamed. I do not want to publish any books with the intention of making myself famous. I do not even care now to print any more refutals of the false accusations made against us. Some have encouraged me to publish a book refuting that slanderous book called The God-Men. But when I brought this matter to the Lord, the Lord said, “Don’t do anything. Let them oppose you. You should simply live a crucified life. The victory is not with outward fame; it is with the crucified life. Let others defame you, criticize you, and oppose you. It is enough that I am with you and that you live a crucified life.” Here in the crucified life self-exaltation is defeated. Hallelujah, in God’s economy the preeminence belongs to Christ alone! It pleases the Father to give Him the first place in all things (Col. 1:18).

I thank the Lord that the vast majority of the saints are willing to be nobodies so that we can have the genuine oneness. During the past fifty years we have encountered opposition and rebellion. However, most of the saints in the Lord’s recovery have been faithful. Only a small percentage have caused trouble. But even the trouble caused by them has been a help to us. How we thank the Lord for the sanctifying truth that defeats worldliness, ambition, and self-exaltation!

Opinions and Concepts

The fourth factor of division is opinion and concept. Opinion is like a scorpion. We should not hold to our own opinion but simply pursue the Lord’s goal: the recovery of Christ as life and as everything for the building up of the church. Those who have been with me throughout the years can testify that I do not insist on anything except Christ as life and as everything to us for the church. We should all be for this, not for our opinions and concepts regarding other things.

The four factors of division—worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion—can be dealt with only by the sanctifying truth. Do you think that if you contact the Lord every morning, touch the living Word, and have the divine reality infused into your being, you will still be divisive? I do not believe it. As we contact the Lord in this way, the factors of division are overcome. What I am sharing here is not a mere teaching; it is my own experience.

When the factors of division in us are put to death by the sanctifying truth, we are brought into the genuine oneness, for sanctification keeps us in the Triune God. Only by being in the Triune God do we have the genuine oneness. Christians today are divided by worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts. It is impossible for worldly Christians, ambitious Christians, self-exalting Christians, or opinionated Christians to be one. The Lord’s recovery, on the contrary, is based upon the genuine oneness, which we can have only by being sanctified through the word of truth. This is clearly revealed in the Gospel of John. When worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion are dealt with by the sanctifying word of truth, we are kept in the Triune God and we have genuine oneness.

MAINTAINING THE GENUINE ONENESS

The fact that the Lord cares for the genuine oneness among His people is seen by the rather negative record in Matthew 18:15-17. According to these verses, if a brother sins, we are to reprove him. But if he does not hear us, we should take one or two witnesses. If he still refuses to hear, we should bring the matter to the church. Then if he is not willing to hear the church, he should be regarded as a Gentile and a tax collector. To be considered by the church a Gentile and a tax collector means to be outside the fellowship of the church. Those who are rebellious or disobedient to the church are to be viewed by the church as outside the fellowship. This is necessary to maintain the genuine oneness among God’s people.