Sit. Walk. Stand.

On the airplane ride between Istanbul and Rome, I breezed through Watchman Nee's book, Sit Walk Stand. Long after I've put it down, it has left me with some profound spiritual insights on the process of Christian maturity. The author, Watchman Nee, was a well-known Chinese Bible teacher, having started 200 house churches in China in the 1930s and 1940s. He was imprisoned under false charges in 1952 and died while in jail twenty years later. He not only advocated following Christ with his words but with his life as well.

In this context, we can examine the principles from Nee's sermon as they apply to our own relationship with Christ (outlined in the book of Ephesians)

1. SIT (Ephesians 1:17-21, 2:6-9)
We did nothing and can do nothing to attain salvation.
"But Christianity is a queer business! If at the outset we try to do anything, we get nothing; if we seek to attain something, we miss everything. For Christianity begins not with a big DO, but with a big DONE" (Nee, 12).

We get the amazing privilege to sit down and receive what God has given us--to REST.
God worked for 6 days of Creation and then rested the 7th, but Man's first full day on Earth was the Sabbath-a day to rest.

This also means that we are not relying on our own love or strength or patience in situations we face, but on God's. He is waiting for us to fully depend on Him, for us to "despair" (Nee, 20). When we try to act on our own power or feel like we are giving something to God because He needs it, we have our theology all wrong! God is incredibly wealthy and loves to give to us. We are no longer under the law but under grace!

2. Walk (Ephesians 4:1-2, 17, 23, 5:2, 8-10)
This refers to our conduct as Christians, once we have sat at the feet of Christ and received his grace.
Our question should not be about what is good vs. evil but rather about the Cross, does this action reflect Christ? Thankfully God gives us the Holy Spirit and enables us to show acts of incredible love and forgiveness when we by ourselves would have held a grudge or plotted revenge. There are also no limits to God's power and so He helps us walk. He is able, so we "press on" (Phil. 3:14) knowing He is all we ever need.

3. Stand (Ephesians 6:10-11, 13-18)
A powerful verb that shows we are holding and defending territory that has already been won, "stand" urges us as Christians to proclaim Christ's name and victory when facing the Enemy. Romans 8:37 says that "in Christ, we are more than conquerors," so we fight not as the underdogs, but instead we fight as overcomers, because Jesus already has the victory.

In preaching, times of spiritual warfare, and in our asking, The name of Jesus is powerful! Have you ever wondered why we end our prayers with, "in Jesus' name, Amen?" Because there is power in the name of Jesus (Ephesians 5:20, John 16:23-24, 26), who defeated sin and death and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, interceding on our behalf. And Jesus told us to ask in His name (John 14:13-14, 15:16, 16:23-26), proving the use of this authority through examples like Peter and Paul in Acts.

But are you trustworthy? In Watchman Nee's words: "Can God commit Himself--His 'bank balance,' His 'checkbook,' His 'signature' to you?" (57) I'll paraphrase Nee's 4 essential features of a work to which God can fully commit Himself (57-62):

1. The worker must have a deep understanding of God's eternal purpose
Is the work related to building His kingdom?

2. The idea/work itself must have started with God.
-Keep quiet and listen before doing.

3. The work must wholly depend upon God's power
-It is a task that would be impossible to achieve on our own.

4. The end result of the work should be God's glory.
-Who gets the credit in the end?

So, basically, we need to listen and obey what God tells us, letting the work start with Him and end with Him. This is not an easy thing to do, since we are so action-driven, but when we start to rest in Him, He reveals new ministries to us, people to reach out to that are complete opposite of us or areas of service we never thought we'd be in.

Recently, I met a former missionary to Bolivia, named Sharon. She had been serving with a group of German Mennonite nurses, and coming from the U.S., she felt quite a disconnect from her team the first year. But Sharon pressed on through the miscommunications and the loneliness, because she knew without a doubt, that God had called her there. Her following years there, she was able to move to live within the local Bolivian community, and she immediately felt right at home. She engaged in developing Bible training and discipleship for the multitudes of newly committed disciples of Jesus as well as teaching music to the local schoolchildren. She was obedient and God was working.

One day as Sharon was heading home, praying for further opportunities to share about Christ, The Lord answered and directed with the word, "soybeans."

She chuckled, "Soybeans? But I hardly know about soybeans, Lord. Just that the Bolivians grow a ton of them but don't know how to cook them well."

"That's what I want you to do, Sharon. This is my idea and I will lead you and bless the work."

The Lord was faithful in His promise, eventually resulting in a self-sustaining holistic soybean program that not only improved the nutrition of impoverished families in Bolivia but was a witness of Christ's care and provision in powerful ways in answering long-term prayers of desperation of the people. Later, Sharon wrote a book testifying to God's great work : Soybeans and the Kingdom of God (Sharon Soper). What a testimony! "When God commits Himself to a thing, then He comes out in power to prove that He is in it and is Himself its author" (Nee, 62).