(Apparently the title has been changed in this update. The new title is more descriptive of the book's themes, so I applaud the change.)
Last week we introduced the person of Watchman Nee (born Nee Shu-Tsu), who planted over 700 churches in rural China before being imprisoned for his faith, by the new Chinese Communist government in 1952. For twenty years, Nee remained in prison until his death at age 69.
Chapter one introduces the idea that the outer person (soul) must be broken to allow the inner person (spirit) to fully engage Christ. Nee reminds us of the ongoing struggle between the inner person and the outer person, between the spirit and the flesh. This conflict can only be answered by one thing: the soul’s brokenness. (9f.)
Nee is writing to believers. His question is not whether there is life within, but how to release that life. He uses the illustration of the kernel of wheat that falls to the ground. Through natural processes of temperature and humidity, the shell cracks allowing new life to emerge. That life could never escape with the shell unbroken. (11)
In writing about the alabaster jar of perfume, Nee notes that we are mistaken to treasure the jar above the contents. We are not antique collectors; we are not vase admirers; we are those who desire to smell only the fragrance of the ointment. (12) The container must be broken for the fragrance to emerge. In valuing the jar above the perfume, we too easily miss God’s purpose in the hurts and traumas of life. He is aiming at a single objective: the destroying or breaking of the outward [person]. (13)
This breaking process takes time, usually years. We cannot hurry the process, but we can drag it out unnecessarily by fighting against, rather than cooperating with, what God is doing. (14) Two reasons we might resist being broken: 1) we may not recognize the breaking process as a necessary work of God in our lives; (15) and/or 2) self-love – our natural inclination toward self preservation. (16)
Like Jacob, who struggled with God his entire life, and only as an old man revealed the character of God, we are encouraged to allow God to break us completely, that God himself may shine forth from our inner person. (17f.)
How does Watchman Nee’s writing set with you so far? Have you experienced this breaking process? And, if you have, can you give examples of how, in ignorance, we often fight against what God is doing?
Last week we introduced the person of Watchman Nee (born Nee Shu-Tsu), who planted over 700 churches in rural China before being imprisoned for his faith, by the new Chinese Communist government in 1952. For twenty years, Nee remained in prison until his death at age 69.
Chapter one introduces the idea that the outer person (soul) must be broken to allow the inner person (spirit) to fully engage Christ. Nee reminds us of the ongoing struggle between the inner person and the outer person, between the spirit and the flesh. This conflict can only be answered by one thing: the soul’s brokenness. (9f.)
Nee is writing to believers. His question is not whether there is life within, but how to release that life. He uses the illustration of the kernel of wheat that falls to the ground. Through natural processes of temperature and humidity, the shell cracks allowing new life to emerge. That life could never escape with the shell unbroken. (11)
In writing about the alabaster jar of perfume, Nee notes that we are mistaken to treasure the jar above the contents. We are not antique collectors; we are not vase admirers; we are those who desire to smell only the fragrance of the ointment. (12) The container must be broken for the fragrance to emerge. In valuing the jar above the perfume, we too easily miss God’s purpose in the hurts and traumas of life. He is aiming at a single objective: the destroying or breaking of the outward [person]. (13)
This breaking process takes time, usually years. We cannot hurry the process, but we can drag it out unnecessarily by fighting against, rather than cooperating with, what God is doing. (14) Two reasons we might resist being broken: 1) we may not recognize the breaking process as a necessary work of God in our lives; (15) and/or 2) self-love – our natural inclination toward self preservation. (16)
Like Jacob, who struggled with God his entire life, and only as an old man revealed the character of God, we are encouraged to allow God to break us completely, that God himself may shine forth from our inner person. (17f.)
How does Watchman Nee’s writing set with you so far? Have you experienced this breaking process? And, if you have, can you give examples of how, in ignorance, we often fight against what God is doing?
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