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When we knock on doors, particularly to care for and perfect the home meetings, our greatest need is to give two things to others: first, ourselves; and second, life and truth. In other words, it is to give ourselves and the Lord to others. The Lord is life and truth. The Lord Jesus came to earth not merely to do a work or merely to give some messages. He came to give Himself, to minister Himself, to man. To ordinary people today, their person is one matter, and what they do is another. The Lord Jesus’ work and ministry were not like this. The Lord Himself and His ministry cannot be separated. The Lord Himself was His ministry, and what He ministered was Himself. He gave Himself to man.
In Matthew 20, when the Lord’s disciples were reasoning as to which of them was greatest, the Lord told them not to reason in that way; rather, they should learn to serve. “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many” (v. 28). The Lord gave His life for us. Life in the original Greek text means “soul,” or “self,” and refers to the complete person with a life and personality, including all that this person is. This “self” is the positive aspect of the person, not the negative self. God has His “self,” His person. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He too had His “self,” His soul and person. You and I also have our self, which is our soul. The Lord laid down His life for us. This life was His self, His psuche, the soul-life. Therefore, the first key to perfecting a home meeting is to give ourselves to others.
The Lord said in John 10:11, “I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” It is not that men forced Him to give His life but that He as the good Shepherd was willing to do it. He willingly laid down His life on the cross; He was willing to be “lifted up” on the cross (3:14). In the eyes of men it was the Jews who killed Him, but in the eyes of God it was God Himself who foreordained and arranged for Him to go to the cross. In the Lord Jesus’ own eyes, however, it was neither merely the Jews nor God alone, but it was He Himself who willingly went to the cross to pour out His life for us. For the Lord to lay down His life means that He gave, bestowed, and granted His life. He gave Himself to us on the cross.
In the New Testament the apostle Paul also mentions a number of times that he was willing to forsake his life for the saints. To forsake one’s life is to give oneself to others. In 2 Corinthians 12:15 Paul says, “But I, I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent on behalf of your souls.” Paul was willing to spend everything for the believers in Corinth. He was willing to spend even himself, to give himself, to the Corinthians.
In Acts 20:24 Paul also says, “I consider my life of no account.” Life here is the same word as in John 10:11, with the same meaning. Paul did not care for himself and had no regard for himself. He was for the ministry and commission of the Lord and was willing to give himself for that. The New Testament also mentions persons like Prisca and Aquila who risked their own necks (Rom. 16:3-4). According to the sense of the word in Greek, they risked their own lives, not caring about themselves. Paul’s co-worker Epaphroditus was the same way (Phil 2:30). Again, life in these verses literally means “soul.” To risk one’s life is to risk one’s person with his disposition, not caring about oneself and giving oneself to others. This is the pattern we should see and follow.
Being a person who serves the Lord full time, you have to let others feel that you truly give yourself entirely, not merely to do the work of door-knocking or merely to come to perfect home meetings but to present yourself and to give yourself to them. Perhaps many people think that to forsake themselves is to become a martyr. To be sure, it is glorious if, as a result of receiving the Lord’s leading, you are martyred for the Lord. However, if you are martyred only for the Lord, exerting yourself to the uttermost and not caring whether you live or die, what benefit will this bring to the new way? If we all go to be martyrs for the Lord, will the Lord be happy? Certainly not. If all are martyrs, there will be no one to do the work that needs to be done and bear the responsibilities that must be borne. To be martyred for the Lord without a proper and appropriate reason is to commit suicide in disguise. Many countries have their “suicide squads,” yet for someone to risk his life inappropriately is to bring death upon himself. To do this has no meaning whatsoever.
When the Lord Jesus came to earth, He did not immediately give up His life to be martyred. Instead, He went step by step through the processes of life, being born, growing up, and so on. The Gospel of Luke shows us that His growing up was not ordinary but particular. He grew until He was thirty years of age, and during those thirty years He had many particular expressions. Philippians 2:7-8 says, “Becoming in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man.” This refers in part to His life as a carpenter in Nazareth before He began His ministry. He was found in fashion as a man. If we merely say that He was God becoming flesh, it is hard for people to understand what kind of flesh He was. However, through His thirty years of living on the earth He was seen as a man who was the same as everyone else. He slept, He ate, and He also wept. All His acts and deeds were those of a man. Therefore, men found Him in the likeness of men, and His life was full of meaning. When He reached thirty years of age, He began His ministry. His entire move was in His ministry, a genuine move of forsaking Himself.
At the beginning of John 7, the Jews were about to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus’ brothers in the flesh said to Him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may behold Your works which You are doing; for no one does anything in secret and himself seeks to be known openly” (vv. 3-4). What they meant was that since Jesus had such great abilities, He should hurry to Jerusalem to show them off. However, the Lord said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready” (v. 6). This shows that even the Lord’s crucifixion was according to a timetable; He knew that He could not arrive one day earlier. Thus, He told His disciples that He could not at that time go to die; the time had not come. Rather, He had to die at the exact time the Messiah should be cut off in order to fulfill the prophecy in the Old Testament.
Daniel 9:24-26 speaks of seventy weeks; after sixty-two weeks Messiah would be cut off. That was the time when the Lord Jesus would be crucified on the cross. The Lord’s crucifixion had a definite timetable. Those who know the Bible can calculate the time. According to history, from the decree for the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the time the Messiah would be cut off were first seven weeks and then sixty-two weeks, signifying four hundred eighty-three years. It was only when the four hundred eighty-third year had arrived that Christ could be crucified. The Lord Jesus Himself also knew that He needed to arrive at Jerusalem one day before the Passover, because He is God’s Passover Lamb and had to be killed on that day. Therefore, He did not risk His life to die merely as a martyr. He needed to preserve Himself for that day, which was the day of the Passover when He was to be killed, which was also the year the Messiah was to be cut off.
The Bible has a very clear account of this prophecy. Not only is the year and time recorded clearly, but even the place is also very clearly recorded. We all know that Abraham offered Isaac on Mount Moriah, which is the place where the Lord Jesus was crucified. Golgotha is Calvary, which is the peak of Moriah. In the Old Testament Abraham offered his son Isaac on Mount Moriah, but God prepared a ram at that time to be Isaac’s substitute (Gen. 22:13). The ram is a type of Christ. This is a clear evidence of the place in which the Lord was to die. If the Lord Jesus were crucified in Galilee, that would be wrong; if He were crucified in Bethlehem, that also would be incorrect. Even to be crucified in Jerusalem would be wrong. The Lord must be crucified outside the city on Calvary, the peak of Mount Moriah, so that He could fulfill the prophecy in the Old Testament.
When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was crucified not merely at the time of His crucifixion. Rather, He began to live the life of crucifixion as soon as He commenced His ministry. He laid down His life daily. In other words, the Lord Jesus gave His life for us not only for a few hours on the cross; He began to give His life from the commencement of His ministry. He lived a life of laying down His life and did a work of forsaking His life. His entire living and work was to give His life. He gave Himself up and gave Himself entirely to us. Today we who go out to knock on doors also need to forsake ourselves as the Lord did. If we do not deny ourselves, we cannot knock on doors. Common people would prefer to sit on the couch at home, watch television, and rest when they are tired. This is a very carefree life. However, when we knock on doors, we need to see people face to face, and when we talk to them, we must observe their expressions. This requires us to deny ourselves.
When the Lord Jesus began His ministry, He also observed people’s expressions. Sometimes when people were not right or did not welcome Him, He would not work there but would go away. Often when something was not right, He turned away, acting not according to men’s will but according to God’s will. Although He was the sovereign One, sometimes He performed miracles, but sometimes He did not. No matter how people urged Him, He did not move right away. When people were hurried or anxious, He was not, but if He truly wanted to perform a miracle, no one could stop Him. When He calmed the wind and the sea, He needed to rebuke them only once; the wind stopped immediately, and the waves died down. In the Gospels we see Peter complaining to Him, “Teacher, does it not matter to You that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38). Peter seemed to be saying to the Lord, “We follow You, yet we have come to an end here. We are perishing, but You are not taking care of us.” Very often in our experience of the Lord, we think that we are perishing and that the Lord does not take care of us. We should know this: If the Lord does not seem to take care of us, we must then have the experience of forsaking ourselves. For example, when we go out door-knocking, we often like to pray, “O Lord, let us see nice faces. Let us meet sons of peace.” However, wonderfully, the Lord sometimes does not give us a son of peace for the whole day. When we knock on one door, out comes a “wolf.” When we knock on another one, the “wolf” howls at us, and when we knock on a third door, the “wolf” wants to eat us. At this juncture if we are not willing to deny ourselves, we will give up. However, if we begin to lay ourselves down, to deny ourselves, we will continue to knock on doors.
Men are changeable. We should never completely believe in their condition. They are like the weather in certain places, which always changes. However, a man’s face changes quicker than the weather. It may be that today when we knock on doors, we will come across cold and unfriendly faces. If we knock on the same door again the day after tomorrow, the faces may look even worse, and if we knock on the door yet another day, the person there may use abusive language against us. However, if we can deny ourselves and continue with our door-knocking, on the fifth or sixth time the same one who spoke abusively will become a son of peace. Therefore, as we knock on doors, it is difficult to determine when a person will be saved. In our own experience, not all of us were sons of peace at first. We also may have looked cold and unfriendly to the persons who visited us. Eventually, though, we were all saved and have become sons of peace. If we are willing to deny ourselves and knock on doors unceasingly and steadfastly, many “sons of Gehenna” will become “sons of peace.”
The four Gospels give a clear account of the Lord Jesus’ walk. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He denied Himself in all aspects and at all times. Therefore, when we go to perfect home meetings, we must be ones who deny ourselves. To deny ourselves is to not preserve ourselves. For example, some brothers have a natural disposition of seldom opening their mouths. No matter what other people say, they keep their mouths shut. Although for many years in the church we have been taught that our being must be broken and that our self, whether good or bad, must be dealt with, this teaching is still useless to brothers like this. They are not willing to deny themselves and open their mouths. If brothers of this kind go to perfect home meetings, they will definitely have no success, because they have not come out of themselves. They have not come out of their disposition.
Disposition is the negative aspect of our self, a self that is not good. There may be no particular matter that is wrong in this kind of self, but when everyone else is burning in spirit, a person with a quiet disposition is “fireproof,” even “fire extinguishing.” If this kind of person goes to visit or perfect home meetings, there will be no impact, because he has not denied himself. Therefore, if we wish to go to someone’s house and perfect the home meeting there, we first need to be persons who deny ourselves. We need to lay down our disposition and blend with others. In this way we are no longer the same as we were. Rather, we have changed. To be changed means that we have denied ourselves. A quiet person thinks that silence is very good, but if he always remains silent, he has not denied himself. That silence will kill people. Others have a lively and active disposition. The more lively and active such a one is, the more he kills others. Only if he calms down can anyone else survive and stay living. In the Bible to forsake the self also means to deny oneself, to go against oneself. This is what we refer to when we speak of bearing an anti-testimony. This anti-testimony is a testimony of going against oneself. If we go out every day, bearing an anti-testimony and going against our disposition, we will succeed.
In fact, giving ourselves to others means that we are changed. When we go to perfect home meetings, we must be changed. Those who prefer laughing need to learn how to weep, and those who prefer weeping need to learn how to laugh. Those who do not speak need to keep speaking; those who speak too much must begin to keep silent. This is giving oneself to others. For example, some brothers pray very fervently and freely in the meetings. However, when we go to perfect home meetings, we should never do this. If we are too fervent and released, we will frighten people away. We must learn to observe the situation and follow the Holy Spirit. We should not allow ourselves to speak, call a hymn, sing, or proclaim casually.
The first person in the New Testament who went against Himself was the Lord Jesus. We see from the Gospels that when people were burning, the Lord was very calm, and when people were silent, He rose up to take action. This often disturbed the disciples, because they did not understand. In John 11:1-16, when Lazarus was sick and about to die, his sisters Martha and Mary sent people to beg the Lord Jesus to come to them quickly. Perhaps the disciples also urged Him, asking Him to go quickly to heal Lazarus. However, the Lord Jesus did not move. This must have puzzled the disciples. The Lord Jesus had always loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. He also had performed many miracles and healed many people on His way. However, when His friend was sick, He appeared indifferent. Why was this? He first remained in the place where He was for two days and then told the disciples that He wanted to go and see Lazarus. This puzzled the disciples even more. If He had wanted to go, why had He not gone earlier? At that time there may have been a chance for Lazarus to live. Now that Lazarus had died, what was the purpose of going? Furthermore, the Lord Jesus was far away across the Jordan, but Lazarus lived in Judea near Jerusalem, where the Jews were planning to kill Him. Yet the Lord Jesus did not care; He insisted on going to see Lazarus. Although the disciples had an opposite opinion, they could only accompany Him and plan to die with Him. In the Gospels the Lord Jesus was often like this, going against Himself.
When we go to perfect the home meetings, we need to be persons who counter ourselves. Once we counter ourselves, our spirit will come out, the Lord will come out, and we will have the way. Throughout our living we pray often. When we pray, we frequently have the experience that the feeling within is leading us to counter ourselves, that is, to hate ourselves. However, not more than five minutes after our prayer, our old way and old self come out again, and we remain the same. Then when the time comes to go to perfect the home meetings, we still rely on ourselves. Therefore, we need to guard our praying spirit all the time, the spirit that goes against ourselves. For example, we may not feel happy for the whole day, but we may still need to go to perfect a home meeting in the evening. If we do not counter our self, we will be an unhappy person going to perfect the home meeting. How can such an unhappy person perfect a home meeting? In order to perfect a home meeting, we must counter our self, at least our unhappy self, to become a person who rejoices in the Lord. In this way we can perfect the home meeting.
Some people often ask why their work has no effect. Their work has no effect because they are too much in themselves. When they give messages, they are in themselves, and when they speak with others, they are in themselves. Eventually, the Lord cannot do anything. We need to counter our self. It is only by countering our self that we can give ourselves to others as a clean person. Once we counter ourselves, we become clean. If we do not counter ourselves, our whole being is full of germs. As a result, although we have given ourselves to others, what we have given is a filthy, old man. If we have read the four Gospels carefully, we will see that when the Lord Jesus worked, He went against Himself. Those who have read the Acts and the Epistles will also see that many saints, especially Paul, were also such persons. Once they began working, they all countered themselves. Therefore, they could deny themselves and become the supply for others, and their work was able to have a genuine impact.
More than fifty years ago there was an evangelist, John Sung, who was very powerful in gospel preaching. In 1933 he went to my hometown to preach the gospel. During one meeting we were all sitting there waiting for the meeting to begin. Suddenly he came in singing, “Down with sin, down with sin; out with the devil, out with the devil.” At that time, as the national army was moving north to fight against the foreign nations and warlords, the army was singing, “Down with foreigners, down with foreigners; out with warlords, out with warlords.” John Sung adopted the tune of that song, changed the lyrics, and began to sing them as he entered the meeting. As soon as he entered the meeting singing, others followed his singing. Eventually, everyone was singing freely and everyone was released. By the time he went to the podium to deliver his message, it was very easy for him to speak. When we go to perfect home meetings, we need to start singing hymns while we are still at home and bring a joyful spirit to the meeting to continue the singing there. In this way, in the homes that we visit, the whole family will surely become vital and functioning. This is what is meant by giving ourselves to others.
We all have had this kind of experience. Our natural person does not like to read the Bible and fellowship with the Lord. However, we are now persons who counter ourselves. Not only do we like to fellowship with the Lord, but we also are willing to read the Bible, pray, sing hymns, give praises, and release our spirit. This is because the Lord is within us and makes us willing to counter ourselves. If we all counter ourselves in this way, we will be able to perfect any home we visit. The kind of persons we are determines the persons whom we can perfect. Time and again we can go to visit the homes and perfect the ones there. Eventually, they will spontaneously speak what we speak and do what we do. This is the perfecting of the home meetings.
Each time we go to a home meeting, we must have the definite goal of supplying truth and life to others. On the one hand, we need to encourage the new ones to ask questions in the home meetings, but on the other hand, we should not expect to deal too much with their problems. This is not to say that we will not solve their problems but that we should not intend to solve their problems. We should know that the One who can truly benefit others is the Lord Himself. Where is the Lord? The Lord, in one aspect, is in His life, and in another aspect, He is in His truth. Every time we go to perfect a home meeting, we must have a definite goal: to give a particular spiritual truth to others and to supply life to them. However, while we are working, we cannot refuse to accommodate them, but neither should we be too accommodating. If we do not accommodate them, we will kill them, but if we do accommodate them, there must be a limit to how much we are prepared to do. We have to adhere to this limit and stay within it. Then we can supply life and truth to them in a definite way.
We may use as an example our current burden to help the new ones understand the breaking of bread and to help them become ones who love the Lord, desire Him, and seek Him. Our goal is to help them in such a way that they will have a turning point in life. We want them to see that we break the bread not because we have been admitted into a religion or that we follow a religious ceremony but that breaking the bread will help them to have a turning point in their life and become ones who love the Lord and desire Him. For the first twenty-five minutes of a forty-minute meeting, the new ones may still be asking various kinds of questions. This is all right, because they are still spiritual children, but we ourselves need to hold firm to our goal and the timing of the meeting. In the remaining fifteen minutes we need to give them a “shot” to inject them with the burden that we have brought with us. It is probably the case that by this time we have not resolved their problems and have not finished answering their questions, but those matters are secondary. The purpose of our visit is not to answer questions or solve their problems but to inject the truth concerning the breaking of bread into them. In this way they can gain help regarding the breaking of bread, receive light from the truth, and receive the life supply. If we work in this way every week for the fifty-two weeks in a year, in the long run much life supply and enlightenment of the truth will be wrought into them. In not more than a year we will see that they have had a turn in life, growth in truth, and more knowledge of the Lord and the spiritual matters.
When we perfect the home meetings, we need to have a burden and a long-term view. Otherwise, we are merely carrying out a meeting, which is not very meaningful. We can compare our work to that of a teacher. We need to teach our “students” definite items in each lesson and not be ambivalent, considering that it does not matter what we do. If a teacher does not teach well, the students will have no improvement in the long run.
Because among us the truth is rich and the supply of life is readily available, we do not lack the proper materials. Thus, we should all the more go to perfect the home meetings step by step, the same way we take care of our own children, carefully considering what food to give them each day, whether meat, fish, vegetables, or perhaps all three. All the foregoing items need our consideration.
Whenever we participate in a home meeting, we need to bring our publications with us. Since we now have fifteen thousand people who are newly baptized, there may not be enough manpower to take care of each family. Therefore, we should put out a small publication once every month and send it to the new ones. Through this publication we will be able to maintain our contact with them. In it there will be some correspondence, some life supply, some unveiling of the truth, a word concerning the gospel, and so on. We can also use this publication to announce certain activities of the church. I believe that this will be a great help to them. However, this requires many prayers from all of us.
Since many of the newly baptized ones are educated people, they like to read something during their leisure. If we can give them some publications to keep in their homes, they will benefit from whatever they read, regardless of which item or page they turn to. The members of their family who read it will also gain the benefit. In this world today we need to rely on teaching through literature in whatever we do. The medium of literature is a truly powerful force. We need to use it wisely for our practical needs.
