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In the previous chapter we spoke about dividing the four hundred home meetings in the church in Taipei into a thousand smaller units. On the one hand, I am for this, but on the other hand, I am somewhat concerned about this. If we are not diligent, persistent, and proper in this practice, we will kill everything. Originally, there may be one small group meeting. However, with the division of this meeting into five smaller home meetings, everyone may become lost, and the whole group may disband. For this reason I am burdened to share something further in this chapter.
It is a joy to have births. But while there are births, there is also the danger of infant mortality. In the past in China, when hygiene was not properly attended to, the infant mortality rate was high. Around 1945 the average life span of the Chinese was approximately forty years. One of the reasons the life span was so low was that the high infant-mortality rate lowered the statistic. The ancient Chinese said, “Rare is the man who reaches seventy.” Today, however, medical science has advanced so much that the average life span has increased to more than seventy years. The standard of living has also improved. These improvements can be attributed to the advancement in the food supply and hygiene.
My point is that we cannot congratulate ourselves merely with the fact that all the small groups have been subdivided into the homes. Of course, the number is encouraging, but we still need to pay attention to “hygiene,” “medical supplies,” and “good nutrition.” If these things are not in place, our “infant-mortality rate” will still be high. The subdivision will bring in death, not life. I hope that all the elders and co-workers will take note of this danger. If there is malnutrition and lack of hygiene, the death rate will increase. What then should we do? We must approach the problem from a few directions. On the one hand, we need to enhance our hygiene, which includes immunization. On the other hand, we need to pay attention to nutritional care. All the co-workers, elders, and full-time serving ones have a responsibility to look into these two matters. We need to bear the burden of these one thousand home meetings. For this reason I beg the co-workers and elders to spend much time praying together and seeking the Lord together. Consider the weaknesses and the needs that exist in each home meeting.
After we subdivide the four hundred small groups into a thousand homes, there may be some sloppiness at the beginning, and we may easily become discouraged with the situation. At such times the co-workers, elders, and full-timers should bring in much encouragement. They need to keep the brothers and sisters encouraged. My youngest daughter had a premature delivery when she had her first baby. When the baby was born, he was less than six pounds. The hospital put him in an incubator. When my wife and I visited him, he looked like a pitiful little frog to us. We looked at each other and wondered, “Can he live? Will he grow up?” However, he is now nine years old. He is not only tall but also strong. He is a member of the football team in school and is even one of its best players. He was able to grow up so well because his mother took good care of him; there was adequate attention given to hygiene and nutrition. He ate well and properly, and the result was healthy and vigorous growth.
The most common negative mood that saints fall into is discouragement. This is actually a characteristic of the Christian life. The Chinese are especially susceptible to discouragement. It is strange that in other things the Chinese are aggressive and striving. They can press forward in the midst of all kinds of adversity. The more they suffer, the more they stand up. During the few thousand years of their history, the Chinese were subdued by different races many times, but eventually they absorbed and neutralized their conquerors. The Chinese character is quite indomitable. However, in spiritual things they have a different characteristic. Once they encounter hardship and difficulty, they give up. This is because they think that whatever is of the Lord will be blessed by Him. They also think that the Lord’s blessing should come without any difficulty because the Lord is omnipotent. This kind of mentality results in much discouragement. Thus, they may think, “Since we have turned to the Lord and are living for Him, He will bless us. Since it is of the Lord that we subdivide into the home meetings, He will bless us.” On the one hand, this is right, but on the other hand, we cannot be superstitious. This may be compared to planting a crop; we need to do our part to sow. This is also like gardening; we need to plant and water. If we do not sow and water in the right way, we will kill everything.
I once planted a peach tree and a plum tree behind my house, and they both grew well. I decided to trim them myself. My way was to trim them in a neat and tidy way like giving a haircut. Eventually, however, the trees did not bear any fruit. I was quite frustrated. One young American sister, who came periodically to help me, said to me, “My father used to trim trees. He told me that the young shoots should not be cut off. It is the young branches that bear the fruit. You have cut off all the young branches and have left behind only the old branches. To be sure, you will not have any fruit.” I had cut off the young shoots because I considered them untidy, yet it is these untidy branches that bear fruit. Do not complain that the home meetings are going nowhere. It is possible for us to damage them through our “trimming.” When this happens, it means that we are not doing things the right way.
Later, I learned the lesson concerning trimming fruit trees. Last year my wife and I went to my daughter’s house for a rest. For years she had sent me many sweet and juicy plums. When I arrived at her house, I went to her backyard to take a look at her plum trees. They were extremely ugly. All of them looked scruffy and untidy. My daughter said to me, “Do not despise these ugly branches. Under their boughs are many fruits.” I looked carefully and discovered that indeed all the branches were bent over with fruit. I began to say to myself, “Man, do you want fruit, or do you want tidiness?”
Dear co-workers and elders, after we divide the small group meetings into the homes, we may expect all the home meetings to be tidy and neat. If they are not tidy and neat, we may want to “trim” them. But we need to remind ourselves again and again that once we trim them, they are through. We must allow these home meetings to have an opportunity to grow and develop by themselves. If they grow in the wrong way, we should still let them go. They should be free to grow in whatever way they want. As long as the branches remain, they will bear fruit. Do not try to trim them in an artificial way. Do not think that their way will never work. Do not think that since many have been dormant for a long time, something should be done to trim them a little. If we do not trim them, they may still live. Once we trim them, they may die and no longer bear fruit. Our work is not the work of trimming but of encouragement, help, and stimulation. We need to do these things until they all grow.
The church in Taipei has now been practicing the small group meetings for more than a year and a half. For a time the situation did not seem promising at all. Everywhere there were complaints that this way does not work and that the saints were dying. Some groups could not go on by themselves and decided to join with other groups. Now after a year and a half, everyone has learned some lessons. It was an impossible task for some at the beginning, but those who endured to the end saw the result. After two or three weeks or a couple of months, the group meetings resurrected. It is an easy thing to resuscitate the small groups. If two or three people are too few for a meeting, all we need to do is to bring two or three more into the meeting, and the meeting will become strong and vibrant again. After another two or three months, we may have more than twelve people. At that time we can even subdivide the group.
I suggest that the co-workers and elders first be encouraged themselves. We must never be discouraged. Once we are encouraged, we should encourage the other saints. We should tell them that we will join their meeting and strengthen them whenever there is a need. Of course, to strengthen does not mean to replace. We must encourage the saints to take care of the meeting themselves. It does not matter whether they are skillful at taking the lead in the meeting or whether they know how to sing. If they cannot sing the hymns, at least they can read the words. As long as we have the Lord’s word and as long as we have His Spirit, there will be life, and life will enliven men. Whatever we do, it is better than not doing anything at all. If we consider a person unqualified to begin a meeting in his home, that person may never again be able to open up his home. He may remain unqualified for the next twenty years. We must always encourage the saints and support them. In the long run they will rise up. I believe that if we practice this more and more, we will find the secret; we will know how to render the proper hygiene and the proper nutrition to people. For this reason the co-workers and the elders must never be discouraged; they must have full confidence and a steady faith.
A big meeting may consist of three hundred people. If fifty are missing from such a meeting, no one will notice it; the meeting will still look proper and full with the remaining two hundred fifty people. When the co-workers and elders look at such a meeting, they may be led to think that the meeting is very good. However, once we break up this big meeting into the homes, we may have only five or six people in each meeting. As we look at such a meeting, we may feel that it is a very sloppy meeting. Everyone may be a disappointment and discouragement. After joining a few of these meetings, we may even lose our heart for working as a co-worker or an elder. To us, these meetings are too poor. Indeed, when we break up the whole into pieces, the sight is not always comely. After some time, however, when we add the pieces together again to see the whole, we will find that the total number has increased.
Moreover, we believe that when someone opens up his home for meetings, his home will be blessed. The unsaved ones will be saved, the backsliding ones will be recovered, the fallen ones will be uplifted, the cold ones will begin meeting again, and the dormant ones will begin functioning. This is not all. The family life in that home will also improve. There will be light, and there will be the proper testimony. No one will dare to be loose. Of course, the fruit-bearing may not come immediately, but the situation will only go upward. It will not deteriorate, because gradually, one by one, everyone will learn to know something of life.
In short, it is always better for a home to have a meeting than to not have a meeting. Some have asked, “Do we not emphasize the matter of having a proper testimony in the Lord’s recovery? What testimony is there when some people bring the meeting to the homes? These meetings are sloppy. Some even play cards and smoke right up to the time of the meeting.” Of course, this kind of thing is possible, but we should never be discouraged. If we enter a home and see the people playing cards, do not stop them. Wait until they finish their game. Then take out the Bible to meet with them.
Some may criticize, saying, “What kind of church is this? They have a card game and then follow it with a meeting. You allow such people to have meetings in their homes? Even if you allow such people to have meetings in their homes, I would not dare to bring any new ones to their homes. If we bring someone to the door and they see the card game, are we not corrupting them? Have we not spoiled the testimony?” I cannot argue with that. However, we should consider the matter from a long-term perspective. We cannot look merely at the present situation. It is true that this home has a card game today, but after two weeks the card game may move to a hidden place. After another two weeks the game may disappear altogether, and after another month the host may decide to burn the game. This is the story of life. At the beginning the host may not be able to overcome the game. To be sure, he will eventually overcome it. He may even throw away the card table. If we look back at that time, we will see that had we not brought the meeting to his home, he might still be playing cards. He might not have experienced any growth in life even after five or ten years.
This is the kind of gospel work that we should have. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16). Through the gospel, life and incorruption are brought to light. Some become weak after they are saved and turn back to idols. We should not be alarmed, much less give up. We must be bold and encouraged to go to them to nourish them. If we cannot pray or read the Word when we stand in front of an idol, it proves that we are not strong enough. If we are strong, we can pray, read the Word, and sing, even if we are in hell. The co-workers and elders must be that strong before they can do a persistent work. Nothing can turn us back. We should be able to work under any circumstance.
I am not joking. I have personally experienced all these things. When I was in north China, I was frequently busy with the gospel work. Now I have other burdens and do not have the time to be personally involved in the gospel, but at that time, every day I rode my bicycle to visit people from door to door. Some homes had idols in them. Some homes were possessed by demons. I was bold to preach the gospel to all of them. I went to work for the Lord. I went to preach the gospel and to announce the glad tidings. I was dispensing the Lord to them. The Lord Jesus said, “Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill” (Matt. 9:12). We all need such a spirit to work for the Lord in a bold way.
Do not think that the big meetings are better than the small meetings. Do not say, “We have been elders for so long, and the situation has been so prosperous all this time. Now that we are broken up into small meetings, nothing seems to be working properly anymore.” Some overseas brothers have taken the time to come purposely to visit and observe us. They may say, “You tell us to come and see. What is there to see? Are there merely these home meetings? Some home meetings are conducted in the coffee shops at 9:30 P.M. after the waiters finish their day and the shop is closed. What kind of meeting is this?” Outwardly speaking, there is nothing to see, but there is a different perspective. This coffee house was once void of believers. Now everyone is a believer and is bringing others to the Lord. We need to bow down and worship the Lord for this. How wonderful it is that when the coffee shop closes, everyone gathers around the tables to study the Word, fellowship, and lead other workers to Christ! In such a meeting, there is no boss, no cook, no waiter, and no cashier. Everyone is a member of God’s family. If we consider it from this angle, we will say, “What a glory this is to the Lord!” This is the kind of gospel work to which we should give ourselves.
Consider the four Gospels in the New Testament. When the Lord was on the earth, did He always do things in a “proper” way? Is it not true that often the Lord performed His work in a seemingly messy way? Outwardly speaking, there was no glamour in anything He did. If we were with the Lord, we might have said, “Lord Jesus, we heard of Your name, and we were told that You have a very successful work. This is the reason we came purposely to see You.” To be sure, the Lord would answer us by saying, “What do you want to see? Do you want to see how the Pharisees oppose Me? Do you want to see how the Sadducees tempt Me? Do you want to see how Peter denies Me? Do you want to see how the disciples desert Me? What are you here to see?” If what could be seen was all there was, it would have been a very poor situation indeed. But the truth lies deeper than the surface. The Lord accomplished God’s will; He finished all of God’s work. In the end, in spite of the persecutions, oppositions, and denials, He gained one hundred twenty people who prayed in one accord for ten days in a little room in Jerusalem and brought in God’s kingdom. This is the view we should have. I have felt during the past few years that we owe the Lord much, and we are also much indebted to the people of this land. The Lord sent us here. We have been here for more than thirty years, but even now we have not fully presented the gospel to them. This is certainly to our shame.
I am an “old hand” in the matter of serving the Lord full time. I know what the young full-timers are thinking. You waver whenever you think about your future. When you were in college, you may have been called to serve the Lord full time, but at that time you may have thought that the time had not yet come. You told yourself that you should wait until you graduate from school. However, after you graduated, you still waited, and the waiting took many years. One day the Lord raised up the environment to blow away all your concerns. You could not wait any longer; in a sense you were forced to drop everything. I have already told you that when I began to serve full time, I was prepared to go anywhere for the gospel. If I thirsted, I was ready to drink the water from the mountain streams. If I hungered, I was ready to eat the roots of the trees. However, when I actually quit my job to serve full time, I did not need to live that kind of life at all. We do not need to worry that much. The Lord is everything to us.
Today on this earth no profession will abandon a person to starve to death. The only way that a person will starve is if he does not work at all. As long as we are willing to do something, we will surely not starve to death. The full-timers should not be afraid that there will be the need to starve. Our profession is the highest profession. Our Lord is the One who holds the keys of death and of Hades (Rev. 1:18). Death will not find us. We should not think that serving the Lord is a way of poverty. I can say strongly that while any profession can lead to poverty, serving the Lord will never lead to poverty. Serving the Lord is a golden profession. If we have the burden to serve the Lord, no one can frustrate us. It is something that is full of glory. Who among the full-time workers here has suffered hunger? Who is suffering from poverty? And who does not have the sense of glory in him? Therefore, we must not worry about our living.
Of course, since the Lord cares for our needs, we must be faithful to Him. We cannot become careless merely because we have a golden profession. We need to labor diligently. We should not waste our time with mere mental knowledge. Rather, we should give ourselves to the Lord in a selfless way. This is the reason that I exhort us all to have small groups and to subdivide the small groups into the homes. In this way everyone will have something to do, and everyone can function. At present, the church in Taipei has a thousand homes. We all need to rise up to labor together. If every one of us would work on one home a week, in a month we will have worked on all one thousand homes. If we do this, all the home meetings will surely be made alive by our work.
I hope that we can all drop our old concepts. Do not care for uniformity. Do not care for appearances. Rather, care for the fruit. What we want is an orchard, not a garden. A garden is for show, but an orchard is for fruit. Once our concepts are changed, we will act differently when we go to a home meeting. When a meeting is dying, we will not give it up. Rather, we will immediately administer some “booster shots”; we will do some “CPR” by stirring up, encouraging, and consoling the saints. We will do this until the meeting is revived again. We must not be discouraged by anything, and the host of the home where the meeting is held must not be discouraged by anything. We should pray together, read the Word together, and visit and shepherd together. At least we need to shepherd and encourage each other. We must learn to do this.
I hope that we will have the boldness and the confidence to open our mouth to speak for the Lord. We must not be afraid, and we must not be shy. Such are not the attitudes of one who is serving the Lord. What I mean is that when we go to a home meeting, we should fire up the meeting. We must not be afraid if the meeting does not have fire. We must not worry when instead it pours cold water on our head. We must have a strong determination that anytime we go to a meeting, we must light a fire in that meeting. If we are shy and hesitating, we will only quench the fire, even quenching it quicker than any other person will. We will not be able to fire up anyone. We are all young people. If we want to work, we must work with enthusiasm and impact. We need to be like Elijah, who called fire down from heaven even when the ground was covered with water (1 Kings 18:33-38). We all need this kind of attitude, this kind of spirit.
Twenty-three years ago I went alone to America as a sixty-year-old Chinese. I did not have any theological qualifications, and I never studied in America. That was the first time I worked in America. I had to learn their language in order to preach to the Americans. At that time I encountered cold water everywhere. All around me was chilling ice. Yet I did not care for any of these frustrations. I had the confidence within that as long as I was selling treasure, someone would buy it. In the end the water was dried up by the fire; everywhere I saw churches being raised up.
When the Chinese went to Brazil thirty years ago, the easiest way for them to make money was to carry a knapsack on their back and sell their wares from their sack. The Chinese who had just migrated to Brazil had very little else they could do because they could not understand Portuguese. At that time a favorite item for the Brazilians was embroidery work. This was the only kind of business the Chinese knew to do. They would wrap all kinds of Chinese goods inside a sheet and carry it on their backs, going from house to house to make sales. The Brazilians are very hospitable people. Whenever they saw someone coming to their door with a knapsack, they would open the door and invite the person to come in for tea. The Chinese may not have known the language, but they surely could communicate with their hands. After unwrapping their sack and settling on the price, they would make their sale. Sometimes they were able to sell their goods in this way by the hundreds. In time, they could communicate in the native language and were able to make even more sales.
Today in working for the Lord, we should be like those who carried their goods on their back. It does not matter if we cannot communicate very well. As long as we can open up our “sack” and show people our “goods,” that is sufficient. It does not matter if we are not able to make ourselves clear; we should simply repeat the same words a few more times. We have the goods. If we have this spirit and this attitude, surely we will be able to sell our goods. If we go to the home meetings with the same spirit, I guarantee that every home will be fired up. Even if it was dead before, we can do what Elisha did; he laid mouth to mouth, eye to eye, and palm to palm, stretching himself over the one who was dead and dispensed life to him (2 Kings 4:32-37). At most, we need to do this for two or three weeks; then the people will come alive. We must believe that the eternal and incorruptible life is within all the brothers and sisters. As long as we work aggressively enough, they will come alive. I believe that we can all testify to this.
Many times some co-workers asked me, “Brother Lee, what is the secret of your work?” I can say that the secret of my work is that I do not know what difficulty is. I know only to give myself to work. I do not care for the result; I care only to labor diligently. We can say that my secret is simply to work. I do not care about the circumstances; I care only to work. The result of this work during the past sixty years can be seen. As long as we work, there will be the result.
Thirty-seven years ago, the situation in mainland China changed suddenly. At that time all the co-workers gathered together in Shanghai to prepare for the change. Brother Nee said specifically in that co-workers’ meeting that I should leave the country. Eventually, I was the only one who left; all the rest stayed behind for the Lord’s testimony. At that time Shanghai was the largest city in all of Southeast Asia. The church in Shanghai was the leading church among more than four hundred churches in the Lord’s recovery. Every week we published one periodical. All this work was under my care. We even spent one hundred five thousand dollars (U.S.) to buy a piece of land and were prepared to build a three-thousand-seat meeting hall that would also accommodate two thousand people outside. Then suddenly I was sent to the small island of Taiwan.
When I first arrived in Taiwan, I did not know where I should meet. The brothers in Taipei invited me to speak on the Lord’s Day. When I went to the meeting place, I found out that it was a run-down house that occupied only a few square feet. As I entered the door, I had to take off my shoes. I was from north China; according to our custom it is impolite to take off one’s shoes. I had never taken off my shoes in public, but on that day I had to speak without my shoes on. I was afraid that I would not be able to deliver my message and that my spirit would be gone, but I went against my will and spoke. There were only a few dozen people sitting around in a scattered way. I groaned within. When I returned to my dwelling, which was a small place with only two rooms, I fell on my bed and stared at the ceiling. I asked myself, “What am I doing here in Taiwan?” As I looked at the pebbled streets outside the window and listened to the sound of the wooden clogs clattering on the road, I wondered what kind of work I could do there. I did not understand the native Taiwanese dialect, and everything around me was disappointing and discouraging.
However, since I was already in Taiwan, I reasoned, “What can I say?” The Chinese have a saying that when the goods arrive at the doorstep, the deal is done. Since I had already moved my “goods” to Taiwan, I had to “sell” them. If I did not sell my goods, they would spoil. After two months a thought came to me, and I believe that it was of the Lord. I asked myself, “Why don’t you take a trip along the railway route?” At that time there were a few hundred brothers and sisters in Taiwan who had just moved from mainland China. They were scattered in the few major cities along the railway route. So I took the train and visited Shin-ju, Taichung, Zhia-yi, Tainan, and Kaohsiung along the way. That visit gave me a burden. I felt that much could be done. When I returned, I fellowshipped with the brothers, and we decided to begin the work there.
I believe the senior co-workers among us remember that at the beginning of our work in Taiwan the first meeting hall in Taipei was only one-half the size of what it is today. The land was donated by two overseas Chinese brothers, and we erected a temporary canopy with wooden beams for our meetings. Once we began our work, God’s blessing was there. We decided to preach the gospel, but the meeting place was not large enough. The land across the street from the hall was an unassigned plot, and nothing was on it yet. We decided to contract some people to enclose it with bamboo fences, bricks, and wooden props. It provided a temporary overflow space for meeting. That space later became the “Workers’ Home.” This was how we began our work in Taiwan.
We should not allow any circumstance to quench our burden for the Lord’s work. We work even if the worst hardship befalls us. We work even if harsh poverty meets us. As long as we are clear that we are serving the Lord, we should charge forward without any fear. Do not think that if we are rejected, we will have no more places to go. Do not say that it is impossible to have a home meeting that has only one believer because the rest of the household worships idols. This is to pour cold water on ourselves. This is to quench the fire. If we do that, it is no wonder that we cannot bring life into the situation. No matter how difficult the situation is, as long as we have the Lord’s presence, we can go against all odds. One characteristic of a Christian is that he can go against the tide and move forward by beholding the Lord’s face. When the missionaries came to China, they also faced trying situations. Everywhere they went, they faced opposition and cold water. Rocks were thrown at them, and some were even martyred. Yet they were not discouraged. They pressed on and did not turn back for a moment. Eventually, they opened the door of the gospel in that old, conservative land.
Today to spread the Lord’s gospel in Taiwan and to evangelize the whole island, we need the spirit and perseverance of the missionaries who went before us. If we sit here hoping that evangelization will come, that is a dream. If we wait until all things are ready, and if we think that we can preach the gospel from an easy chair, we will never see anything of the gospel. When the Lord charged the disciples to preach the gospel, He told them not to bring any shoes, staff, or money. This means they needed to have the attitude that if there was no food, they would simply press on in hunger. If there were no shoes, they would simply move on bare feet. If we have such a spirit, the gospel will surely prevail.
Dr. Mateer, the chairman of the translation team that put out the Chinese Union Version, was one of the seven renowned scholars in the East Pacific region. When he came to China, he lived in a carpenter’s home in Penglai in Shangtung Province in north China. The father of one of our senior co-workers was a student of his in oceanography. When Dr. Mateer first came to China, he and his companions could not find a place to live. No one was willing to rent, much less sell, a room to him. In the end some among them had to live on the streets, and some were forced to take shelter in idol temples. This was how they persevered in the gospel. I say this to show that we are not qualified to do the Lord’s work if our intention is to wait for all things to be ready before we preach the gospel. If we want to be in the Lord’s work, we must learn to strive even when there is nothing for us to work with.
In short, we should not be deterred by anything. Rather, we should charge forward with no thought of turning back. We must not allow anything to cripple our aspiration to build up the home meetings. We must have the will to “do or die.” I hope that the co-workers, the elders, and all the full-timers will pick up this burden and spirit. The home meetings are not a product of our imagination, but they come from the Lord’s revelation. As long as we are willing to work, something will be worked out in a proper way.
Concerning the home meetings, we must pay attention to three things. First, all the elders, co-workers, and full-timers should learn to minister God’s word to the home meetings at every opportune time. However, do not try to preach; that will only lead to failure. Do not try to be big. If there are only three people in a home meeting, do not be disappointed. Even if there are only two people — or even one person — we should still not be discouraged. Always minister a little of God’s word and render others some timely help. This is what the Lord meant when He spoke of dispensing food at the proper time (Matt. 24:45).
Second, we need to prepare ourselves ahead of time for the home meetings. Do not prepare a long message. Rather, look to the Lord and seek Him. We should be prepared to speak only the few words that we have enjoyed that day. Some people will not be saved even if we deliver two or three long messages to them. Other people are saved when we speak to them only for five minutes. Do not go into a long discourse in the home meetings. Rather, speak with wisdom by addressing the peoples’ need. We can cover some lessons for new believers if we have some who are newly saved, but with the unbelievers we should speak something about the gospel.
Third, even after we have prepared something, we should not take up all the time. Rather, allow the brothers and sisters to speak. We should supplement their speaking only when they run out of things to say. This will give them the opportunity to learn.
We must believe that every home meeting will survive. In order for that to happen, we must endeavor with our all, but for what should we endeavor? We should endeavor to give “injections,” to fight the adverse environment, and to supply nutrition, which is the Lord’s word, in order for the saints to grow. We must believe that not only every word in the Bible is God’s word but that all the truths we have released according to the Bible are also the Lord’s present speaking. As long as it is the Lord’s word, His Spirit will bear witness to it with His work. The Lord’s Spirit delights in working upon and strengthening His own word. The minute we speak the Lord’s word, His Spirit will follow such a word with His work, and there will surely be the result.
I believe the words that I have spoken are from the Lord. I believe the Spirit will also follow such words and work within us in a silent way. This work is of life, and this life is something that human language cannot describe. It is something that human feeling cannot fathom. When a seed falls into the ground, after a period of time it brings forth flowers, yet we cannot explain how the seed has grown and blossomed. The same can be said about our home meetings. We should speak something in every meeting. Even if there is only one person, we should still speak something. We may think that we are speaking in vain, but we do not realize that we are actually sowing. We have not spoken in vain. In the long run we will see the result, and the result will be rewarding. When we speak to one person, we may not realize that in five years our word will produce results in that person. He may perfect another one, who may turn out to be a great vessel of the Lord. We can never anticipate such things. Yet such things do happen all the time.
For this reason we cannot look merely at the present condition. We need to believe that our work is a work of life; it has eternal value. What we speak is the truth of the Bible, and life will follow this truth and work on man. We must learn to speak in an organic way. We should not preach in a dead way. Suppose we need to visit a sick and elderly sister or a busy and heavy-laden brother. If we ramble on mechanically about “the organic functioning of the believers” the minute we meet him, we may not be able to impart anything to him. Such speaking is neither organic nor effective. But if we take care of people’s situation by seizing the opportunity, we will meet the needs of all kinds of people.
For example, we can say to a sister who is lying on a sick bed, “Sister, 1 Peter 2:24 says that the Lord Jesus bore up our sins in His body on the tree, and by His bruise we are healed. Simply call on His name, and He will deliver you from your sickness.” We may not have the absolute assurance that she will be healed, but we should believe that she will be comforted by the Lord’s word. After this we can lead her to pray, “Lord, I commit my sickness to You. You know my pains. Have mercy on me.” If we seize the opportunity in this way, there will be a perfecting work in her. We can then turn around and speak a little to her family. Do not give a message on the “organic functioning of the believers.” Instead, seize the opportunity to say a suitable word. We all must learn this.
Concerning the truth, we must be absolute. We cannot discount anything with regard to God’s truth, and we cannot discredit God’s word, but in our practice we need to be flexible and skillful. Take baptism as an example. Strictly speaking, as soon as a man is saved, he should be baptized. However, we cannot say under what condition a man is qualified to be baptized, nor can we say with surety what way we should baptize people. To do this will not help a person to be saved. When John the Baptist baptized men, he did not baptize in a certain prescribed way. He lived in the wilderness. When men went to him to be baptized, they did not need to change their clothes. They did not need to be in a prearranged place. As long as there was water, he baptized them. Regarding the truth, we must be absolute, but in practice, we must learn to work as the opportunity arises.
Once the small groups are divided into the homes, the opportunity for everyone to speak greatly increases. No longer is it like the big meetings, where one’s mouth is sealed the minute he walks into the meeting. Such big meetings are actually “mouth-sealing” meetings. Once the saints arrive at the big meeting, their mouths are sealed. The elders in particular have taken the lead to shut up their mouths and have allowed the co-workers to set up their little “platforms” and erect their “stages” to deliver their wonderful, savory, and well-rehearsed messages. In the long run, however, such meetings deprive the saints of their organic ability to function. This is a great loss to the Lord’s recovery! Let me say a frank word: We have been doing this in Taiwan for more than twenty years. Every meeting was impressive, but what is the result? Where is the increase today? How many saints are functioning?
We are not here to do the work of gardening; we are here to raise orchards. We are not for appearance; we are for fruit, for the increase, and for the spread. In order to achieve this goal, we need to do the following two things: First, we should not lose heart, not be discouraged, and not give up. Rather, we should be strong, be persistent, and have a will that does not settle for anything less than the determined goal. Second, we should learn to dispense food at the proper time, apply the Lord’s word suitably at the right time, and make the home meeting a meeting where everyone speaks.
