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Scripture Reading: Acts 1:8; 8:4-5; Eph. 5:18-22; 2 Tim. 4:1-5; Acts 5:42; 1 Cor. 12:2-3, 9; 14:1, 4, 26, 31
We have seen in the previous chapter that God’s desire has always been that all His people, in both the Old and New Testaments, would be a speaking people. In this chapter we will cover a number of verses concerning the divine speaking in our daily life, in the ministry, and in our meetings.
In Acts 1:8 the Lord Jesus told the disciples, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” In this verse the crucial point is, “You shall be My witnesses.” Witnesses are speakers. We have to realize that as believers we all have been made the witnesses of the living Christ. When the Lord Jesus spoke this, He was speaking in resurrection. He was not only the incarnated Christ who lived on this earth in His flesh, but He was the Christ who passed through incarnation, human living, and crucifixion and who entered into resurrection. Not many days after this word was spoken, the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven. Ten days after His ascension He poured Himself out as the Spirit of power economically upon His disciples. Then they received the power and were made His witnesses to speak concerning Him. What would they speak? Surely they would speak that this Christ is God and that this Christ as God was incarnated. Perhaps Peter would say, “I saw Him. When He was a man living on this earth, I accompanied Him all the way from Galilee to Samaria, to Judea, and to Jerusalem. I ate with Him, and I stayed with Him. I lived with Him for three and a half years. I was with Him.” They would continue to tell people, “We saw how He was crucified on the cross, how His blood was shed, and how He was buried. Then early in the morning on the third day we went to His tomb and saw that the tomb was empty. The angels there told us that He had resurrected from the tomb. We saw this! Then in the evening He came to us. He showed us His physical body in resurrection with the nail prints. After that He stayed with us, appearing and disappearing for forty days. He charged us to wait until we received power from on high, and we got it! On the Mount of Olives we saw Him ascend into the heavens. There the angels told us that He would come back.” No doubt, those disciples were speaking Christ in this way. They were witnessing the living One. They were not speaking doctrine. They were not speaking law. They were not speaking prophecy. They were not speaking types or proverbs or psalms. They were speaking Christ, a living person. Their speaking was concerning His being God, His being incarnated, His living on this earth, His being crucified, His being resurrected, His staying with them in those forty days, and His ascending to heaven. Surely they spoke all these aspects concerning Christ. They spoke nothing but Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ in every aspect.
On the day of Pentecost Peter delivered the first message of the New Testament. This message is recorded in Acts 2. Peter spoke just Christ, telling the Jews, “The very Jesus whom you crucified is the One God raised up. You put Him to death, but God came in to raise Him up, even to uplift Him to the heavens.” Just by that one speaking, three thousand believed and were baptized. Then they began to meet, not only in the temple but also from home to home. In their homes they taught and they announced. They taught Jesus and they announced Jesus.
In our home meetings we also need to teach and announce Jesus. We all have to speak. But many of us would not know what to speak. For this reason I would like to present to you the materials for your speaking. In our hymnal we have 1,080 hymns. We collected all the best hymns from the Christian writings. From more than ten thousand hymns we selected only about eight hundred. After the selection, I did my best to classify them into a table of contents for the hymnal. I would ask the young people to study it. This table occupies four and a half pages with thirty categories of hymns. In these thirty categories there are more than four hundred items. Within the category of experience of Christ there are thirty-two items. These items are the riches of Christ. In the category of meetings we were able to collect hymns in only three sections. Due to the shortage of hymns in this category I did my best to write the few hymns comprising the sections entitled “Christ as the Center,” “Exhibiting Christ,” “Exercising the Spirit,” and “Functioning.” Hymns, #863 is on Christ as the center of the meetings:
With just this one hymn in your hand, you have a lot to speak. This hymn is a key to open up the mine for you to dig out all the rich items. Do not say that you have nothing to speak in the meetings. You have a lot to speak. Just open to this one hymn. The young saints should not wait to let the older ones preside over, to pastor, the home meetings. We all have a lot to speak concerning Christ. Just turn to Hymns, #863 and begin to read and speak, “‘In daily walk and in our meetings too, / Christ is the center.’ Saints, do you know that Christ is the center of our daily walk, and the center of our meeting tonight?” Then the meeting will be very much enriched. We do not need to merely sing the hymn, but even more we need to read and speak it. Ephesians 5:18-19 says, “Be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” According to our natural, religious concept, songs and hymns are good only for singing. In Christianity I never heard songs, hymns, and psalms spoken in the meetings. But in the New Testament we are told that the way to be filled in our spirit is by speaking psalms, hymns, and songs. Psalms are the longest pieces, hymns are shorter, and songs are the shortest ones. All these are first for speaking, then for singing.
We have to learn to speak the riches of Christ in hymns such as Hymns, #864, which begins,
By what way do we offer Christ to God? We offer Him to God by our speaking to God. This is prayer. However, many times when we pray, it seems that in our prayer we are teaching God. That is absolutely wrong. The most precious prayer is to present Christ to God. Speak Him to God; this is the best prayer.
The hymn continues, “Let us exhibit Christ.” To meet is just to have an exhibition of Christ. We exhibit Christ by speaking one to another in psalms, hymns, and songs. The content of our speaking must be the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ with all His attributes. He is the subject. He is the center. He is God’s centrality and universality. He is the reality of our living. We just have to speak Him in many, many items. We present Him to God by speaking Him to God. We exhibit Him to the meeting ones by speaking Him to the meeting ones, by speaking to one another. We have a lot of riches of Christ to speak. We must learn to speak Christ to God and to speak Christ to one another.
In Ephesians 5:18-19 Paul says, “Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord.” We are to be filled with the Triune God as the all-inclusive, consummated Spirit in our spirit. This filling occurs not by our speaking in the common, worldly language but by speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. In our hymnal there are many good hymns full of the truth. Every hymn, especially those written by us, is a good message full of the riches of Christ. For example, Hymns, #501 describes how Christ was the infinite God in eternity who, as God’s radiant expression, became a finite man, limited in time. As the very expression of God, He died for us to accomplish redemption in His flesh. Then He became a life-giving Spirit to be one with us. We must learn to speak Christ with the hymns. I believe that these hymnals are good for having our home meetings. In every meeting we should use a hymn in a living way.
Just as we would have to study, translate, read, and write in order to learn a new language, we all need to practice speaking the heavenly, spiritual and Christly language. In this language there is only one word: Christ. In Revelation 1:8 He is even the Alpha and the Omega, the first and last letter of the New Testament language. This indicates that He is all the letters of the alphabet. Revelation 19:13 also says that His name is called the Word of God. Christ is the letter. Christ is the word. Christ is the phrase. Christ is the clause. Christ is the sentence, the paragraph, the chapter, and the whole book.
Acts 8:1 tells us that all the thousands of new believers were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria as a result of a great persecution. Only the apostles remained in Jerusalem. Those who were scattered preached the good news of the word wherever they went. These believers had been saved only a short time, but when they were scattered, they spoke Jesus. Had they learned as much as we have? Many of us have been in the trainings for years. We have heard a lot. In the past eleven and a half years I have put out over twelve hundred Life-study messages on the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. These printed messages comprise over twelve thousand pages. Most of us have a set of the printed Life-studies on our shelves. We have a lot. Those scattered ones in Acts 8, however, had heard very little about Christ, yet they went out to speak Him. Prior to being scattered they had heard only Peter’s messages in Acts 2 through 5. In all of Peter’s messages he did not speak anything about being saved from hell and going to heaven. What Peter spoke was altogether the resurrected Christ: “Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified” (Acts 2:36). This was Peter’s speaking, and surely those scattered ones had learned just to speak the same thing. Wherever they went, they spoke Christ.
Dear saints, now we are in the Lord’s recovery, and I do believe that now is the time for the Lord to carry out His up-to-date move. All of us in the Lord’s recovery have to speak Christ in our daily life to our parents, our children, our cousins, and our in-laws. We all owe so much to our relatives. Try to write a list of all the names of your relatives. Among these names maybe twenty percent are saved, and the rest are remaining in unbelief. They need your speaking. All your relatives need the real help rendered by your speaking of Christ. Do not preach in a religious way, but speak Christ to your relatives in a living way. Speak to your father. Speak to your mother. Speak to your aunt. Speak to your uncle. Speak to your brother. Even if both you and your brother are Christians, you still need to speak one to another. Let your parents hear your speaking. Do not talk about computers, physics, or mathematics but only Christ. He is the unique treasure. Speak about Jesus, Christ, the life-giving Spirit, the all-inclusive, processed Triune God. Your parents would marvel at such a speaking.
Continue to speak Christ every day. All human beings today need Christ, yet we need to speak to them. Speak in a living way, in a practical way, according to your experience of Him. Speak in your office, at the coffee break, at your lunch break, at least five minutes every day, five days a week, four weeks a month. At least twenty times monthly you could speak Christ to them.
In the past few years many of us felt that we could not speak to others due to the defamation of the opposers. We should not take this excuse any longer. Forget about all the defamations. We just need to speak Christ to others. Nothing is so sweet, so fresh, so fragrant as Jesus. We have to speak Him.
In 2 Timothy 4:2 Paul charges Timothy to “proclaim the word; be ready in season and out of season.” When I was studying this verse, I checked with myself as to what word Paul charged Timothy to proclaim. That helped me to go back to the preceding chapter. Second Timothy 4:1 is surely a continuation of Paul’s thought at the end of chapter 3. In the last three verses of chapter 3 Paul says, “From a babe you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work” (vv. 15-17). From these verses we can realize that the word Paul charged Timothy to proclaim was the word in the sacred writings of the Scriptures that Timothy had known from a babe. We all have to get into the Word, into the Scriptures. The charge of the apostle Paul to Timothy was based upon Timothy’s knowledge of the Bible. If he had not known the Bible, what kind of word could he have proclaimed? We must proclaim the word that we have learned from the Word of God. This is what the early believers did in Acts 5:42 when they met from house to house “teaching and announcing the gospel of Jesus as the Christ.” In the home meetings they taught and announced what they had learned concerning Christ.
Paul charged Timothy to be ready “in season and out of season” to proclaim the word. Many times we say that now is not the time to speak, that it is out of season. That is the right time for us to speak. We all must speak out of season. I surely treasure all the young saints and desire to rescue them from the pastoral system. The young ones who are still in school have the most people around them. Every school is a big fishing pond full of fish. This is an environment arranged by God for speaking to others. Students always enjoy listening to their classmates much more than to their teachers or parents. We have to learn to catch these fish by speaking Christ to them. We have to be made the fishers of men, bringing people to Christ and to the home meetings. For this, I do not trust in any human arrangement but in the young saints’ acting, behaving, working, endeavoring, and struggling to contact their fellow students. If we would do this, within a short time many would be baptized and added to the churches.
In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul refers to the matter of speaking in the meetings. In verse 2 he reminds the Corinthians, “You know that when you were Gentiles, you were always being led away to dumb idols, whenever and however you were led.” The worship of dumb idols had made them a dumb people. Because the object of their worship was a dumb idol, their worshipping made them a dumb people. But now the Corinthian believers were different. They were not worshipping the dumb idols anymore. They were worshipping the living God, who is the speaking God. This speaking God was just the speaking Spirit, who is the Spirit of God, who is also the Holy Spirit. Therefore, in verse 3 Paul says, “No one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; no one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.” I like these two phrases in the Spirit of God and in the Holy Spirit. In means that we all have been put into this Spirit. If you are not in Him, if you are not in the Holy Spirit, how could you speak something in the Holy Spirit? Can we all say that we are in the Holy Spirit? Be careful about my question. I do not ask, “Is the Holy Spirit within us?” We all have the assurance to say that the Holy Spirit is in us, but are we in the Holy Spirit? Doctrinally we may say yes. We have to know that the Spirit being in us is the essential aspect of the Spirit and that our being in the Spirit is economical. I believe that many of us already know that the Spirit, on the one hand, is a drink to us and, on the other hand, is clothing to us. Drinking is something within; clothing is something upon us. The drinking water is in us, and we are in the clothing. If the Holy Spirit is in us, then are we in the Spirit? Some Pentecostal people may say, “No! You are not in the Spirit yet. You need a baptism with the Holy Ghost. You need to get into the Spirit. You need to pray and fast and learn how to turn your jaw to speak in tongues. Then you will have the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and you will be in the Spirit.” In verse 3 Paul does not say that no one can speak in tongues except in the Holy Spirit. I cannot find such a word in the Bible. Paul says that no one can say, “Jesus is Lord” and not be in the Holy Spirit. Can you say, “Jesus is Lord”? If so, you are in the Holy Spirit. Go and tell this to your relatives, friends, and colleagues. We do have 1 Corinthians 12:3 as a solid ground to say, and to say with assurance, that we are in the Holy Spirit. We do not need to speak in a strange tongue but rather just say, “O Lord Jesus,” and we are in the Spirit.
When we come to the meetings, we need to practice speaking this way in the Holy Spirit. Do not stand up in the meeting and say, “Brothers and sisters, I have been very weak in these last two weeks. I’m still weak. You can see how weak I am.” This is terrible. When you stand up in the meeting to speak, stand up in this way: “Brothers and sisters, let me tell you, I am no longer weak! I am empowered in the One who empowers me, so I can do everything. Formerly, I could not submit myself to my husband. Now it’s easy for me to do it. I am the top wife. Hallelujah, brothers.” This is the best speaking. In every locality some saints have learned to be “professional” priests praying whenever the church comes together for the prayer meeting. These dear ones are the “professionals” to pray in the meetings. In the same way, some saints have become “professional” at giving a testimony at the end of the message meetings. I use the word professional in a positive sense. That is, we all have to learn to be the “professional” speakers speaking in the Holy Spirit.
When we open our mouth to speak, we need to open our mouth with the Spirit. Some may say, “It is very hard to attend the meetings of the local church. I have to bear a lot of burden, learning of this and of that. But to be a member in today’s Christianity is altogether a kind of relaxation. I have been busy working hard at the office or going to classes during the week. On Sundays I just like to go to church to relax. The choir will do the singing. The assistant pastor will pray. The pastor will speak, or perhaps an evangelist who has just returned from South Africa will speak. After an hour and thirty minutes I will give some gift and then go home. I enjoy that I don’t have to labor. But to be a member in the local church, I have to learn how to be a professional speaker. To speak O Lord Jesus is too hard. Everybody does it, so if I don’t do it, I get exposed. Therefore, I have to do something to pretend.” My intention is to show you that the Lord today needs a recovery. Look at the situation that has been existing on this earth for twenty centuries. In Matthew 16:18 the Lord said that He would build His church. Where is the building? Who affords a chance for Jesus Christ as the Head of the Body to build the church? Probably we are also quite busy, being occupied, usurped, by so many schedules, activities, and movements without Christ.
I would like to remind you of something Dr. A. W. Tozer once said. He put out an article entitled “The Waning Authority of Christ in the Churches.” In that article his burden was to point out that today Jesus Christ has almost no authority at all among the groups that call themselves by His name. Christian workers may come together to talk about serving Christ, yet if Christ were to come in, they would not know Him. This indicates that He is not among them, He is not in their midst. He is outside of them. This corresponds with the word the Lord spoke in the epistle to the church in Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22). In verse 20 the Lord Jesus is standing outside of the door of that church, knocking. This is the situation of today. There is no way, no possibility, no capacity, no space, for Him to come in to do any kind of building. This is why the Lord is here to carry out His recovery, and this is why we have such a burden.
In Matthew 18:17 the church is referred to again. Here the church is not the universal church but the local church. In the local church two or three meet together into the Lord’s name. The name denotes a person. That means that two or three are gathered into Him. Whenever in the home meetings two or three are gathered into Christ, that is the time for Him to build up the church. It is in the local church that there is the possibility of dealings. Even the sinning ones get dealt with there. Now you can see that actually the practical building of the church is not in chapter 16. The building that is mentioned, predicted, and prophesied in chapter 16 will be carried out today in chapter 18, in the local churches where two or three meet together into Him. The big congregation can never build people up. We need the small meetings, small to such an extent that only two or three come together. In such a meeting there is the possibility for Him to build up the church.
Today what we are stressing is something up to date of the Lord’s move and His recovery. He has to recover this unique thing. This is why I treasure the small meetings. There is no other way to build up the church but by all of us learning to speak Christ, to speak for Christ, and to speak forth Christ. We must speak in our daily life, in our office, in our school, in our family, in our ministry, and especially in the small meetings.
It is no wonder that Paul stresses this matter of speaking so much. In 1 Corinthians 12:7 Paul says that the manifestation of the Spirit is given, not primarily as miraculous things but as a word of wisdom and a word of knowledge. The word of wisdom is the word concerning Christ as the deeper things of God predestined by God for our portion. This refers to Christ in a deeper experience as revealed in 1 Corinthians 2:6-10. The word of knowledge is the word that imparts the definition, description, and understanding of Christ as God’s everything. But we need to know this. We need the word of knowledge concerning Christ’s riches, such as His being our righteousness, our wisdom, our power, our justification, our sanctification, and our redemption, and we need the word of wisdom concerning the depths of Christ. We need to speak these things. We need the word of wisdom to speak the depths of Christ, and we need the word of knowledge to describe all the rich aspects of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 14:1 Paul says, “Desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy,” that you may speak for God. In verse 4 Paul says, “He who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but he who prophesies builds up the church.” To build up others and to build up the church, we need to prophesy, to speak forth Christ. Then in verse 26 Paul says, “Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm.” This corresponds with Ephesians 5:18-19: “Be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms.” When we come together, we should have a psalm for speaking Christ, or a teaching telling people the things concerning Christ, or a revelation, the word of wisdom, to unveil the depths of Christ. We have to do all for the building up of others and of the church.
All these verses show us that the way to meet, especially in the small home meetings, is to speak Christ. Learn to speak Christ. To practice this present move of the Lord needs a lot of learning. I do not expect that we could get this done successfully in a short time. I rather would expect initially to have a failure. To be successful in anything, there first must be some failures. If within the coming three years we could have the home meetings fully built up, this might be the greatest mercy and grace that the Lord would give us. Pray for this. I just present this to you and to your discernment. I hope that you all could have the best discerning ability in your spirit that you would say, “Praise the Lord, this is no doubt the Lord’s up-to-date move to accomplish, to carry out, His recovery for the fulfilling of His eternal purpose in building up the church.”
