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.