WATCHMAN NEE: THE GLORY REVEALED THROUGH HIS MINISTRY

Christ is the Son of God, who died to atone for men’s sins and who rose on the third day. This is the greatest fact in the universe. I believe in Christ!

Watchman Nee

The Bible instructs us to shine our light everywhere we go as believers (Matthew 5:16). The life of Watchman Nee is a fulfilment of that Scripture. In fact, more people have been blessed after his death by his ministry than when he was alive.

Watchman Nee, Ni Tuosheng was born November 4, 1903, to a religious home. His parents were both Methodists, so this influenced his background and training. He was baptized at birth and was dedicated to serve God before he was born.

This was so because his parents desired a male child at that time. Just as Hannah prayed, his mom prayed ” If you give me this male child, I will give him back to you.” Watchman Nee was the answer to that prayer.

Why don’t you take a minute to say a prayer to God, sit back and allow him to work on your behalf?

EARLY CHILDHOOD

As a young man, Watchman was exceptionally brilliant and very good at writing. He always came top of his class but his heart was drifting apart from God and Christianity. Though highly religious by his background, he had no desire to serve God or follow him.

Moreover, he hadn’t accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and saviour. He only wanted to use his gifts for earthly glory. When he was told by his father that he had been promised to God to be a preacher, he could not have disagreed more.

 “Not so!” was his firm response, making it clear he had planned his future in a far different direction. Watchman vowed never to be a preacher.

HIS ENCOUNTER

In the latter part of February 1920, Miss Dora Yu, one of the first Chinese evangelists, came to Foochow to conduct revival meetings in the Methodist Tien An Chapel. Mother Nee (Watchman’s mom) began attending her meetings and she got saved.

Before I move on, I will like to mention this Scripture Matthew 5:16;

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

After his mom got saved, her lifestyle changed and one particular incident drew Nee to Christ. Before that time, his mom blamed him for things he didn’t do and even when she found out it was her mistake, she didn’t apologize.

But shortly after her salvation, one morning at devotion, she made an open apology to Nee. This was so strange to him and he decided to follow her to the meetings. On one of the nights he attended these meetings, he got saved after hearing God’s message. He saw his many sins before him but saw Christ on the other hand.

This is a friendly reminder to us that we should continue shinning as light so that just like Nee’s mother, our actions can lead more people to Christ.

HIS JOURNEY

One thing is common in the life of every great person God has used, including the great Watchman Nee, none of them was born accomplished or built.

They all had to undergo a growth process. Jesus himself has said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Therefore, growing in Christ is not difficult.

I want to encourage someone out there, trust the process and don’t relent. You are not your faults and weaknesses.

1. THE IMPORTANCE OF GOD’S WORD

After Née became saved, he began studying the Bible and while others studied other books in class, Nee would give himself to the study of God’s Word (Click here to read our article on how to study the Bible).

Watchman carried a Bible with him everywhere. He was constantly reading it. He once testified that he read nineteen chapters of the Bible consecutively each day.

He also used various approaches to search the Scriptures. He went through the whole Bible both the Old and New Testaments several times within a short period.

Having a photographic mind, he was able to remember much of what he had read. Moreover, his knowledge of Biblical truth greatly increased. No true spiritual growth comes separate from the study of God’s WORD

2. THE POWER OF CONSISTENT PRAYER

Even with his newfound faith, he found out that he had problems in witnessing to people. He tried to make his words sweeter to people but he found out that it made no difference.

This troubled him until he spoke with a Lady Missionary named Miss Groves. She made him understand that his problem was that he was not “speaking to God before he spoke to men”.

Miss Groves then encouraged Nee to make a list of the students he wanted to witness to and continue praying and speaking to them. Nee testified that only one out of those students was not saved and it was here that he learnt the power of consistent prayer.

Our prayers lay the track down on which God’s power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, his power his irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails.

Watchman Nee

3. SURRENDERING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

As Nee continued progress in his walk with God, he wanted more. He knew that something was missing and he began to speak with a mentor of his- Miss Margaret Barber.

She spoke to him about the power of the Holy Spirit and His effect on evangelism and living a full Christian life. According to her, “You can’t live a Christian life without Christ’s life.”

She taught him that he had to surrender his all to the Holy Spirit to live a life full of Him. This led him to surrender all his ambitions to God, focus on living a more holy life and accept the reality of Jesus Christ as Lord over Him.

When we lay our all before God, it’s because we have accepted all that He has for us and we know that his will for us is good and not evil. One thing that was particularly hard for Nee to surrender were his affections for his girlfriend “Charity” whom he deeply loved.

She was not a Christian at the time and God continued to tell Nee she was an obstacle; it took him time to obey God on this but God supplied him with strength for it. One lovely thing about God is that he won’t ask you to do something he hasn’t strengthened you for no matter how difficult it looks.

 After much prayer, he chose Christ over his girlfriend and God filled him with unspeakable joy.

This is an instruction to someone out there, you haven’t been at peace because of an instruction from God, just follow it and see how his peace and joy will overwhelm you.

NOTE: He later got married to Charity on the 19th of October, 1934 when she was already a Christian and they served the Lord together.

4. CHARACTER BUILDING

A good workman must bear godly character. In 1923 Watchman Nee had six fellow workmen and he always argued with one of them. He found out that although he could confess his faults, forgiveness was an issue for him. He spoke to his mentor Miss Barber about this.

She told Nee to submit to the fellow as he was older than Nee. Day after day she gave the same advice: “ye younger, be subject unto the elder”, as found in 1 Peter 5:5. This led to the process of formation of godly character in Nee and it lasted about 18 months.

He testified this was his most precious time of learning and it was in this time he learnt to work with various people and withstand conflict in ministry.

HIS MINISTRY

I would liken the events in the life of the great bible teacher Watchman Nee to that of Apostle Paul. Just as Paul was an Apostle who brought the majority of the truths the church is founded on to the light, Watchman Nee brought light to those truths which had been hidden and misunderstood. He travelled around teaching and establishing local churches and faced great persecution just as Paul did.

1. HIS MESSAGE

In his own words, he said, “God made it known to me that the primary purpose of His imparting messages to me was not for explaining the Scripture, nor for preaching the ordinary Gospel, nor for prophesying, but for laying stress on the living word of life”.

Thus, he wasn’t trying to cajole men but placed a strong emphasis on Jesus as the only reason for our living. All of his teachings were to point the believer to that eternal life who is Jesus Christ.

He discerned the difference between law and grace; hence he was able to preach a pure and balanced message. He also was led by the Lord to preach on the difference between the kingdom and eternal life, on the difference between grace and reward, and the Second Coming of the Lord.

He brought revival to the local church as he described the local Church as God’s strategy for establishing his kingdom and showing forth his fruits here on earth. He got this revelation from studying the book of Acts. This is why he emphasized sound teaching so that men could disciple each other.

God doesn’t want a “one-man feeding the whole church” kind of Christianity. Instead, he wants the whole church to feed the world. Take a minute to imagine what the world will look like if all believers were strong and mature and walked in love? Oh, what joy and peace will fill the earth.

2. HIS PERSECUTION AND IMPRISONMENT

Just like Apostle Paul, he spent the latter and greater part of his ministry in prison.

The rise of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, with its doctrine of state atheism, caused a lot of persecution in the Christian world. Watchman strongly sensed, however, that his responsibility lay with the brethren back in China. Though he knew the danger awaiting him and despite the pleadings of some brothers, his heart was nonetheless set toward Shanghai.

He was arrested on April 10, 1952, and put in prison and on June 21, 1956, Nee appeared before the High Court in Shanghai, where it was announced that he had been excommunicated by the elders in the church in Shanghai and found guilty of all charges. He was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment with reform by labour. However, he wasn’t released even after his sentence was completed until he eventually died in prison.

3. HIS IMPACT

The importance of doctrinal accuracy and sound teachers of the Word has often been overlooked and that has been the cause of a lot of division of God’s people.

The teachings of Watchman Nee have revolutionized Christian doctrine over the years and he is considered to have been a man who lived beyond his days. His life is a testimony to the fact that your life can have eternal relevance as long as you stay in God’s purpose for you.

Most of his books were published from his many sermons and teachings in the local church. His emphasis was on building a mature local church sound in doctrine, power and character. (Click here to access Watchman Nee’s books)

Paul wrote in Romans 8:18 “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.“

Watchman’s life is a testament to this scripture. He didn’t consider his sufferings but focused on the glory to be revealed. This is why we hear of him and still read his teachings today.

From today, begin to look at the larger picture of God’s purpose. Your brightness even in suffering and persecution will liberate a generation.

In Conclusion, here are a few lessons you should always remember from Watchman Nee’s life:

1. Just as the actions of Watchman Nee’s mother led him to church, your actions can affect the life of your neighbour. So, endeavour to always do good to everyone.

2. In all your imperfections and weaknesses, God still wants to use you. God doesn’t call perfect men, it’s his calling that perfects men.

3. You can’t do God’s work without surrendering to His will. Ministry is not meant to be a struggle as long as you surrender to his marvelous help.

4. Spiritual maturity is the fruit of giving God’s Word priority over our lives.

I end this with this confession which was found on a note which he left behind when he died.

It read: “Christ is the Son of God, who died to atone for men’s sins and who rose on the third day. This is the greatest fact in the universe. I believe in Christ!“

Have you learnt from the life of this great general? Comment below, we will like to hear from you.