Risking His Life, Daring to Die
Eleven years ago, I had just come into the meetings of the Lord's recovery, and at that year's Memorial Day conference the brothers had me serve as an usher. I was arranged to distribute the boxed lunches. In the front row there was a heavyset brother, half awake and half asleep. I woke the brother up and reminded him that the boxed lunch had arrived, but he answered that he could not eat boxed meals. At the time I was a new one, and though I said nothing aloud, in my heart I thought, "How is it that this brother does not exercise his spirit at all, sleeping in the meeting, and not eating the lunch that every brother eats?"
Later I learned that this brother was named Wu Yucheng. He had already had several strokes, and his heart, blood vessels, and kidneys all had serious illnesses; his body was quite poor, and he simply could not eat the lunch we had at the time. For the sake of the two short days of the Memorial Day conference, he had flown from the Far East to America. At the time he had probably not even adjusted to the time difference. The lunch we provided was quite greasy and had not taken the brother's need into account. Thinking of it afterward, I only felt indebted.
Ten years ago, in 2010, I attended the Full-Time Training. The leading serving brother in New Jersey, Brother Wu Fulin, was Brother Wu Yucheng's younger brother, and Brother Wu Yucheng's elder sister lived where the training was held at the time, accompanying the trainees in their daily living. The living testimony of this family, lived out and manifested, left a deep impression on me, who was then still very young. It was there that I came to understand the meaning of "full-time" training—it really was the practice of living the whole time, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. At the time the brothers and sisters called Sister Wu "Big Sister Wu," though by age she was of our parents' generation. She was like a nursing mother: she cooked for us, taught us to cook, did the housework, and cleaned. She also led us to sing hymns, pray, and exercise our spirit.
That year, at the Chinese-speaking perfecting training in New Jersey, Brother Wu Yucheng gave a personal testimony of how he had received grace. Ten years have passed, and this testimony is still engraved in my heart. The testimony was later included in The Footsteps of a Witness, but the printed words alone cannot describe the spirit of Brother Wu when he gave his testimony. Brother Wu was truly a man who lived in Christ, and also a man who had been broken. He described the process of wrestling with God during his first stroke, and also described how Brother Lee had charged him to serve the Lord full-time. He said, "Some enter the kingdom of God by taking it by force; some enter the kingdom of God by being beaten into it." He went on to say, "I am one who was beaten into the kingdom of God."
Though I was touched at the time, I did not experience the weight of this testimony. In many years afterward, I experienced my own weakness; many times I consecrated myself, and many times I wanted to flee from God's face. But I would remember the testimony of Brother Wu Yucheng, and I discovered that these words were spoken to me, because if it were not for God's beating, I too would find it very hard to enter the kingdom of God. Every full-time serving one is one who has been beaten by God into the kingdom of God.
In many years afterward, Brother Wu put his full strength into supporting the campus Chinese-speaking work in North America. He supported it to such an extent that, after the summer training, many of the co-workers from Taiwan would stay behind to support the meetings in New Jersey. The meetings in New Jersey were strong in spirit, and the testimony was good. In 2015, Brother Wu Yucheng brought up this matter in his fellowship with the full-time serving ones, which I will remember forever. He said, "Do you think I have nothing to do, that I spend so much time attending the North American Chinese-speaking training? If I did not sit here, how would the other co-workers put their full strength into supporting it?" Brother Wu's words enlightened me, who had not been serving long. His faithfulness and insight in the service set an excellent pattern for us. In our own small service, I gradually came to understand the meaning of Brother Wu's fellowship: if we ourselves do not enter into the burden, no co-worker will enter into the burden. So it is with the work of the ministry; so it is with the service of the church; and so it is even with the family, the small group, and the vital group—all the service is like this.
For the Lord's interests he disregarded his own life. The Zebulunites were a people who risked their lives, even unto death; the Naphtalites also did so on the high places of the field. Before the Lord's interests, Brother Wu was truly a people that risked their lives, even unto death.