Search
Scripture Reading: Heb. 10:25
When a person becomes thirty years old, he steps into middle age, into a time of change. At this time both the Lord and the world are competing for him; this is the time that decides whether he will be used by the Lord or by the world. The Lord said, “No one can serve two masters” (Matt. 6:24). This does not mean that every elder should drop his job completely; nevertheless, we should at least allocate our time and give the world only a certain amount of our time.
In other words, if someone does not have a clear leading and burden from the Lord to drop his job and serve the Lord full time, he should keep his job. However, he should not give all of his time to the world; otherwise, he will fall under the hand of Pharaoh in Egypt. The Bible says that no one can serve two masters; it does not require us to drop our jobs, but if we have a job, we should budget our time. As long as we have enough to feed our family and take care of our children’s education, we should exercise restraint and not fall into the snare of the world.
Through years of observation, we have seen a great number of people throughout the world wasting all of their time in the world. To waste their time in the world is to waste their time in relation to their living. For instance, cars are a means of transportation; they do not need to be high-class or expensive; as long as they serve the purpose of providing us transportation, it is sufficient. If a car valued at thirty thousand dollars is more than sufficient for our use, why do we want to buy a car that is worth a hundred thousand dollars and for which we must work hard to come up with a way to earn the one hundred thousand dollars? If we do this, whatever we earn will eventually be spent. Some people buy a new car every year; in the end, in order to buy a new car every year, they must work to the point of exhaustion. This also applies to the purchase of houses and clothing. In principle, we should always exercise moderation. If we blindly pursue and are particular in our taste regarding these items, we will continually fall into a snare.
We should practice being frugal and thrifty for the Lord’s sake. May the Lord cover me with His blood; the suit I am wearing today was made in 1968, the year of our first international conference. I have been wearing this suit for twenty years. It still looks quite new and does not look like it is twenty years old. My wife always wants me to buy another suit, but I think this suit is good enough and ask for her forgiveness. If our Lord is false and if our service is merely a secondary occupation, then nothing matters. However, if our Lord is real and the words in the Bible are also real, we need to consider how we will face the true and living Lord.
The Bible says that one day our Lord will come and settle an account with us. In Matthew 25 He told a parable of a master who delivered his possessions to his slaves: “To one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one” (v. 15). But the story does not end here; it does not end with the master delivering his possessions to his slaves. Rather, one day, this master returned: “Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them” (v. 19). In this verse it is not merely a matter of rendering accounts but a matter of settling accounts. The Lord will come back to settle accounts with us. How shall we settle our account? This is extremely crucial for us to realize.
For this reason we repeatedly stress that if the Lord is real, we need to consider whether He is the one who leads us to pursue all the things related to our career, such as promotions, salary raises, and benefits. If the Lord has led us to do so, we will be able to settle our account to Him when we stand before His judgment seat in the future. We will be able to tell Him, “Lord, You led me to do this.” However, if we will not be able to say this to the Lord, we need to carefully consider the extent to which we should spend our time and energy laboring on our job. We need to set a limit and exercise restraint. Likewise, we should exercise moderation in the matter of our children’s studies and in many other things related to our living. This does not mean that we should not care for our living, our family, or our children’s education, all of which are proper things. We should live properly and take care of our children’s education properly, but in everything we need to exercise restraint and set a limit.
Worldly pleasures are endless, and they are snares to entrap us. Hence, as long as we have enough to support ourselves, we should exercise restraint. The Bible says explicitly, “Having food and covering, with these we will be content” (1 Tim. 6:8). In other words, as long as we have food to sustain our life and clothes to cover our bodies, we should be satisfied. We are not here to serve mammon or our stomach; rather, we serve the true and living Lord because He loves us. We will meet Him one day; hence, today we all need to seek His will and ask Him, “Lord, to what extent do You want me to work? Lord, as an elder in the church, I need to take care of Your church.” We all need to have this kind of transaction with the Lord.
We will soon have a training for the working saints, and our principal burden is to speak this word to the young saints. It is absolutely right for us to have an occupation, but we should never fall into its temptation or be ensnared by it. We need to see that everything related to our occupation, such as making money, promotions, and attaining high positions, is a big temptation. People in the world, whether they are going to school or holding a job, all aim for one thing — to gain a place in society. As a result, everyone is aggressive, working restlessly. We too may fall into this condition. We cannot deny that society today is very competitive, and living in it, we must compete, yet we should also know when to stop. We need to realize that it is impossible for us to lead the church if we do not put in the time.
The rise or fall of the church rests fully with the elders. As elders, you must put in the time. In regard to the responsible brothers in Taipei, I hope that at least one-fourth would serve full time. In other words, out of over eighty elders, at least twenty should serve full time. If more than twenty elders in Taipei would serve full time, I believe that the church in Taipei would certainly have a new appearance.
Everything we do requires time. Consider our literature work. The brothers who serve with me in preparing messages know that often after we have finalized a manuscript, I will change a word the next morning, then in the afternoon I will change another word, and again in the evening I will change another word. Word by word changes are added. Consequently, the brothers have asked me, “Should we wait until all the changes are made before we send it for printing?” In response, I told them that I did not know when I would finish making changes; there is no end to my polishing. This is similar to a carpenter making a table; he is able to continually pare the wood. This paring can be without end and depends on how much money people will pay him; the more money they pay him, the smoother he will pare the wood. This is a matter of paying a price; it all depends on how much we are willing to pay and how much time we are willing to spend. In like manner, there is no end to the literature work. If you asked me to polish the hymns I wrote, there would be much to polish; it all depends on our time and skill at refining.
The elders’ administrating of the church also requires much time; their labor will not be sufficient if they administrate the church in the same way public employees work for the government. If the elders go to their jobs and demand a high performance from themselves in order to compete for promotions and salary raises, and then they rush to take care of the meetings after work, they will not be able to administrate the church well. This is similar to a carpenter paring the wood only a few times. This will enable him to give the wood a rough shape but not to make it nice and smooth. If we labor in this way, the church under our care will be rough and coarse, because we are not serving the church in a way that is proper, thorough, or self-forsaking. The way I carry out the literature work is that I almost neglect to sleep and eat. When meal times come, my wife always urges me to eat. Although I often say yes, I cannot put my pen down.
My purpose in sharing this is so that the elders would realize that if we do not have time or put in the time, we will not accomplish anything. What is more precious to us today — the Lord or other things? The future depends on how we make the comparison and choice; we need to consider what is worth all of our time and even our whole life.
Actually, according to need, even if half of the elders in Taipei began serving full time, it would not be sufficient. The door in Taipei is open so wide that even if all the elders served full time, it would not be sufficient. Consider that over four thousand are meeting on the Lord’s Day morning in twenty-three different halls. If all the elders, over eighty of them, were to serve full time, how different the impact would be!
Besides the more than four thousand who meet on the Lord’s Day, there are over six thousand who meet in other meetings. Moreover, there are at least twenty-five thousand saints not being cared for. We have gained thirty thousand through door-knocking, but we are able to take care of only eight thousand. Hence, many people still need our care, and they all have open doors. In the past, when the missionaries came to China to preach the gospel, they would have been overjoyed if they were able to persuade the home of one Chinese family to open to them. Today people not only open their doors to us but also let us baptize them in water. This is not a small matter, regardless of whether or not they are clear concerning their salvation. If all the elders of the church in Taipei in all the different halls were able to serve full time, they would be able to take the brothers and sisters to visit these ones, and I believe that half of them would be brought back.
The problem is that no one has the time to do it. The elders need to allot their time; if they do not allot their time, there will be no way. No matter how much they love the Lord, if all the elders are busy with the affairs of the world, there will not be a way for the church to go on. The elders need to put in their time, perhaps even all of their time. Since they are already in the position of elders, they should do what pertains to their position; the reason that they have not done what they ought to is a lack of time. We all need to pray to the Lord that we may give our time. According to the present situation, even if there were five hundred elders who served full time, much less the ones we have presently, it would not be enough to meet the need. The more we stay away from a task, the less there is to do, but the more we get into it, the more there is to do. For instance, when someone tells me about a certain need, I usually ask him to wait for half a year, and I will give him a reply when I have more time; however, when half a year has passed, I find that I am even busier. We can never run out of work; once we engage in a work, we will have more and more work to do.
The Lord has definitely opened a door to us, and many have seen this; in the past twenty years the churches in the Lord’s recovery have spread over the whole earth. Perhaps, other people may think that our way of preaching the gospel is superior, but inwardly we sense that we still have a long way to go. The reason that we are somewhat flourishing today is that the Lord’s recovery has the truth, and our truth has the proper ground. This ground may be likened to a Chinese saying: “Fighting a war with a just cause.” Since Dr. Sun Yat-sen fought with a just cause, he was successful in the Revolution of 1911. This means that when his word went out, no one could refute it. He was right in regard to democracy, politics, and the governmental system. Hence, everyone listened to him because he truly “fought the war with a just cause.”
Our ground, our truth, and the new way are all proper. We are truly “fighting a war with a just cause.” The problem is that we who are fighting in this war have not done enough. If we would do what is adequate, the entire church would be in an excellent condition. In regard to the church in Taipei, it is not too much for it to gain one or two hundred thousand people. It would be better if we could gain five hundred thousand. However, this is still not even one-tenth of the entire population of Taipei. In other words, less than one in ten Taiwanese are Christians; this is not enough. Thus, we need to give more of ourselves and our time to lead people to salvation.
If, as full-time serving ones, the elders want to be “presidents,” “deans,” or “department heads” in the church, this is wrong. In the church there is no room for presidents, deans, or department heads; there are no such positions. However, what they can do is knock on doors and find the thirty thousand who were saved recently. If all these people were brought back and perfected, many more branches and leaves would be brought forth from them because all of them have relatives. In this way we can gain another thirty or forty thousand. This “chain reaction” of bringing people to salvation will be great. Hence, if all the elders would rise up, their hands would be full. The time required to take care of these new ones depends on the actual situation; all of these matters take time.
In the past, group meetings were established through arrangements made by elders, but it does not have to be this way. Those who take care of the home meetings usually take care of several such meetings. These ones should gather together several neighboring homes whose condition is not bad and meet with them. Group meetings can be established at any time and at any place according to need.
For the group meetings we do not need any kind of regulation or form; rather, we should do everything according to environment and need. The meeting does not have to start at 7:30 P.M.; if some want to come earlier, they can come at seven o’clock; if some cannot come early because they need to take care of matters at home or get off work late, they can come at eight, eight-thirty, or even nine o’clock. Once there is a form and a set time for meeting, few will come. Therefore, we need to be flexible with the time and lead them gradually to be consistent; sooner or later, they will be on track.
Those who take the lead in the group meetings need to exercise to direct the meeting, that is, to bear the responsibility for the meeting. They need to give the brothers and sisters freedom, yet at the same time they need to know inwardly to what extent they should give the saints the freedom. They should be in control of the “rudder.” If they give the saints too much freedom, the saints may begin chatting about all sorts of subjects, and there are many conversations that may not be appropriate. Hence, we must “hold the reins” and “direct the rudder.”
In the meeting we should not stop or rebuke others; these matters all depend on how we lead. If at a certain point we see that the meeting is going off track, we may read a portion in the Scriptures, pray, or even choose a short hymn to sing; in this way we prevent the meeting from going off track. Habitual control puts people under bondage. It is best if we can let the brothers and sisters meet together spontaneously, while we are “directing the rudder”; this is not easy to do and requires much learning. I hope that all the trainees will learn how to do this. If they do not learn this, they will not be able to lead the group meetings successfully, and it will be even more difficult if we later want to hand over the meetings to the local brothers and sisters.
Often in group meetings there are two different views of the situation. On the one hand, those who are older or who follow strict regulations may feel that the meeting is nonsensical and inappropriate if everyone is chatting aimlessly and there are no limits that control the situation. This kind of view is not good, because it nullifies the purpose of group meetings. On the other hand, some immature saints may join in the chatting because they may feel that it is quite good. Eventually, everyone is chatting. This view is also not good, because it too causes the group meetings to lose their purpose. Hence, we all need to be exercised in this matter. On one hand, we should not control the brothers and sisters, and on the other hand, we need to learn to “direct the rudder” in the meetings.
To direct the content of a small group meeting requires having something of the Lord’s word to minister at every time. Regardless of how long the speaking may be or how it is carried out, we need to hold to this principle. Every time we have a group meeting, we need to have some amount of the ministry of the Lord’s word. Only the Lord’s word is able to supply people, even if it lasts for just five or ten minutes, because only the Lord’s words are spirit and are life. Every time the Lord’s word enters into people, it is like sowing seeds or injecting medicine. When people come to our meetings, we need to inject them with the “medicine” they need so that they may be supplied and healed. If there are “germs” within them, we need to consider all the more how to inject them with the proper “medicine.” In this way we will be able to kill the germs and supply them with the necessary nutrients. We must have a firm grasp of the truth.
All the brothers and sisters should diligently learn how to take care of home meetings and lead group meetings. We need to learn to “direct the rudder” and meet the need. In this way, every time we meet with the new ones, they will receive the benefit. Otherwise, we may visit the new ones and meet with them many times, yet they will be the same as before. If we visit and meet with the new ones for three months consecutively and they remain the same, this means that we have not met the need and that we have labored in vain. We all need to exercise in this matter. The elders in all the churches should also learn this, and at the same time, they should take the lead to train the saints in their localities and let them know that it is not enough to simply spend time to visit people but that the saints need to lead the meetings properly. Otherwise, not only will the saints be discouraged, but others will not want to come to the meetings anymore. Therefore, we all need to realize that this is not merely a matter of directing the meetings but also a matter of doing it well. If we are able to do it well, the new way will surely work.
We should never let the saints chat and talk endlessly in the group meetings and neglect to sing and pray. This is not proper. We need to sing and pray, but we should not do so in a formal and rigid way. The advantage of group meetings is that they do not have forms; only when there is no form can the new ones feel related to the saints and be drawn to the meeting. In this kind of gathering we can bring the new ones onto the right track by leading them and enabling them to have contact with the saints and gradually bring them into the district meetings. This is to serve them in order to bring them from a small meeting to a larger meeting of the church.
The goal of the group meetings is to bring the believers into the practice of being mutually acquainted, having mutual fellowship, being mutually encouraged, being mutually strengthened, rendering mutual care, and having mutual intercession; this is the goal that we should attain to. Personal testimonies and fellowship concerning actual situations are very beneficial to the attaining of this goal (Heb. 10:25). We should encourage everyone to give their testimonies and share their actual situations. For instance, they can fellowship regarding physical illnesses, family problems, business difficulties, and so forth. However, we also need to exercise some direction in this matter. It does not mean that once we open up, we need to tell everything. For example, someone may be going through a divorce or separation, and it would not be appropriate for him to share with everyone all the things taking place between himself and his wife. We always need to direct the meetings in the way that the saints may fellowship properly. All fellowship is for the purpose of enabling the brothers and sisters to know one another’s actual situation and to help and care for one another with a spirit of care.
What is spoken above are some main points in regard to leading the new ones to join the group meetings. It is difficult to practice the group meetings. If an elder learns how to practice the group meetings, he has done quite well. We need to know that a group meeting is a miniature church life, and it is a test to the elders as to their ability to handle different situations and lead well. An elder who is incapable of leading a group meeting is incapable of leading a church.
Question: I am planning to give my time, that is, to serve full time beginning next month. What can I do when I actually begin to serve?
Answer: There are many things that you can do. First of all, you should go door-knocking. At present, there are ninety-five districts in Taipei, and if all are faithful to labor in a regular and steady way, by the end of the year every district will be able to produce another district; as a result, there will be nearly two hundred districts. Every district will need at least one elder. Of course, we hope that the elders are strong in every aspect. The northern Chinese like to hire Canton maids because they are very capable. They can handle everything in the house, including cooking and taking care of children; they are famous in northern China. If in the church life a new group is produced every six months, such a group will need an elder as capable as a Canton maid. In this way four hundred districts may be produced in the future.
Every district needs an elder who is strong in speaking, leading, administrating, and caring. When this kind of elder comes to a district, the district will be different. This kind of elder is like a Canton maid. However, Shantung maids are altogether different. Once they finish cooking and put down the wok, they pay no attention to the dirty floor or the crying children; they do not care about anything. Hence, people do not like to hire Shantung maids. We are afraid of elders who are like Shantung maids. Once a district has this kind of elder, it is finished, but if a district has an elder who is like a Canton maid, it will be successful. I hope that every elder among us is like a Canton maid; then the church will be blessed.
If we look at the situation of the district meetings in Taipei, we will see that it would be easy for every district to produce a new district within a year. In fact, if every district has an elder who is like a Canton maid, there will be not only a twofold increase but also an endless and continuous increase. This is why I like the new way. The new way will definitely be a success. We have already seen the first sign of success, and we have also seen some fruit.
In short, we will surely gain people by going out to preach the gospel, provided that everyone labors diligently. Then in order to keep the new ones after we gain them, we need to lead them to establish home meetings and join group meetings. Eventually, we will need to bring them to the district meetings. An important aspect in regard to the district meetings is that the speaking needs to be strengthened. This strengthening relies on the elders being like Canton maids. Without this kind of elder, the meetings will be lacking, but with this kind of elder, the meetings will definitely be rich.
