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Scripture Reading: John 15:8-11; 1 Thes. 2:7, 11, 19-20
The first crucial item in the Lord’s move on the earth is gospel preaching. We are stressing not only gospel preaching but also the God-ordained way of preaching the gospel. Today gospel preaching among most Christians is virtually bankrupt. Supposedly the United States is the top Christian nation on the earth. There may be as many as one hundred twenty million Christians in the United States, and many Christian broadcasts are sent over the air waves. However, very few of these millions of Christians have the burden to personally go out to preach the gospel of Christ. This is the present situation among most of the Christians in America.
We may like the matter of abiding in the vine, abiding in Christ, which is found in John 15. We may desire to be those enjoying the unsearchable riches of the vine. However, John 15:8-11 does not stress abiding only; it stresses fruit-bearing also. If we bear fruit, the Father will be glorified. The Father will not be glorified just by our abiding. He will be glorified only if we are bearing fruit. Only fruit-bearing can release the Father’s divine life. When we bear fruit, the very divine life that is in the Son, the vine, is released.
As we are abiding in the Son, we are absorbing the life that is in the vine. We are participating in the unsearchable riches of the life-juice of the vine. Sooner or later, the life we have been absorbing will be released. When this life-juice is released, it issues in fruit-bearing. Fruit-bearing is the issue, the result of our enjoyment of Christ. It is this releasing of the life-juice that expresses God. In the releasing of the life-juice, the Father is glorified.
An illustration of such a release can be seen in the carnation flower. If the carnation does not bloom, then its glory, its beauty, remains hidden. When the carnation does bloom, the inner life of the carnation has been released. This is the glorification of the carnation. We cannot appreciate the beauty of the carnation if it has not blossomed. The carnation is hidden, and the beauty of its life is not yet expressed. Once it blossoms, its life is expressed; its life is glorified. The blossom is the glorification of the carnation. In the same way our fruit-bearing is God’s glorification.
Some in Christianity may say that we glorify God by doing something good. They do not realize that the Father does not want us just to do good things or just to express Him in Christian ethical duties. He wants us to express Him in bearing fruit for the vine tree’s increase and enlargement. The increase and enlargement of the vine is the Father’s glorification. Have you noticed how particular the Lord’s words are in this portion of John 15? He said, “In this is My Father glorified” (v. 8). In this refers to fruit-bearing. If we bear much fruit, the Father is glorified.
In John 15:9 the Lord Jesus said, “As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” We Christians like to talk about love. We like to say that God loves us. From my youth I was taught to sing the hymn that says, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Here the Lord Jesus said, “As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you.” What kind of love is this? The Father has loved the Son in the Son’s expression of Him. The Father is happy and joyful that the Son is His expression. The Son has loved the disciples in the same principle. The Son wants the disciples to be His expression. An illustration of this principle is in the book of Genesis. When God created man in His own image (Gen. 1:27), this was an expression of His great love.
God loved the Son that the Son may express God, and the Son has loved us that we may express Him. “As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love” (John 15:9). To abide in His love makes us His expression. He tells us of His love, and then He charges us to express Him. To bear fruit is to express the Son. The Son charges us to bear fruit, which means that the Son loves us to the uttermost. What a privilege! What a right the Son has given us that we may bear His fruit! Just as the Father charged the Son to express the Father, the Son charges us to express the Son. He charges us to abide in His love, not just to abide in Him. It is not adequate simply to abide in Him. We must abide in His love.
We abide in His love by bringing Him forth into people for His expression. Our preaching the gospel is to bear fruit, to bring forth Christ into people, making them Christ’s fruit, Christ’s expression. When we bring Christ into a sinner, he becomes Christ’s very expression. Verses 8, 9, and 10 of John 15 are all connected. If we keep the Lord’s commandments, we will abide in His love (v. 10), we will bear fruit (v. 8), and the Father will be glorified (v. 8). When we bear much fruit, the Father is glorified more.
In John 15:11 the Lord said, “These things I have spoken to you that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full.” To be branches of the divine vine and to bear fruit to express the divine life is a matter of joy — a joyful life. Many saints have had the experience of being in ecstasy when they have baptized one into the Triune God. They have testified that after bringing one to the Lord, they were unable to sleep well throughout the whole night because the Lord’s joy had become their joy.
First Thessalonians 2:19-20 says, “What is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at His coming? Are not even you? For you are our glory and joy.” In John 15:11 the Lord referred to our joy being made full. In 1 Thessalonians 2 Paul refers to our joy again. What is our joy? Our joy is the fruit that we bear. These two portions of the Word are related. John 15:11 should be referenced to 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20.
What is our joy? What is our glory? What is our crown of boasting? Christ’s joy is our joy. The Father’s glorification is our glorification. In John 15 and in 1 Thessalonians 2, we have these two words — glory and joy. To Paul the fruit borne by him was his glory and his joy.
When the Lord comes and you stand before Him, who will stand with you and for you? What will you say? Suppose you have never brought anyone to the Lord. This means that you have never borne any fruit. You may say, “Lord, look at Your talent. Your talent is in my pocket. I didn’t lose it. I’ve been keeping it.” For us to say this to the Lord when He comes will be a shame to us, not a glory or a joy (Matt. 25:24-30). My burden is to pass on this God-ordained way to you. If you will take the God-ordained way, you will be a new person, a person bearing fruit.
Who is preaching the gospel in these days in the way that God has ordained? Some Christians are preaching the gospel, but their preaching is mostly being carried out in an old, traditional way. There is an urgent need for some of the Lord’s people to be brought into the realization that we should be gospel preachers who impart Christ into others, thus making others a part of Christ, an expression of Christ, which is a glorification of the Father. This must become a regular part of our daily life. Gospel preaching should not be an occasional matter. We need to preach the gospel regularly as a part of our Christian life. Even though we have been fellowshipping this matter for almost five years, not many have entered into such a regular gospel-preaching Christian life. Our main burden is to drop the old, traditional way of preaching the gospel and to pick up the God-ordained way of preaching the gospel as a part of the Christian life.
This God-ordained way of preaching the gospel as a part of our Christian life is very workable. It depends on whether we would take it and whether we have heard the Lord’s word spoken to us. His word to us is that we should abide in Him that we may bring forth fruit that He may be expressed and enlarged. For the Lord to give us such a charge is the greatest love. If the president of the United States would charge you to represent him, how would you feel? Such a charge would make you feel very dignified. His charge to you would be an expression of his love toward you. You would not tell him that you are too busy or simply not interested in representing him.
Since I have been speaking concerning the God-ordained way for the past five years, many helpful matters have been discovered. But who among us would care to see the God-ordained way carried out? In the United States God has arranged the situation for His children to live a proper life according to His Word, but most of God’s children in this country have abused God’s arrangement. Many Americans need to work only eight hours a day, leaving at least two to three hours in the evening free for them to do other things. Many are also free two days each weekend. Seeing how much free time we have, could we not separate just two or three hours during two of these days each week? Many of us can do this. If we live a regular life and budget our time, we can easily separate two periods of two or three hours each for fruit-bearing. This is the keeping of the commandment of the One who loves us, who has exalted us to such an extent that we can be His expression.
This is what the New Testament teaches, but today there are not many Christians on the earth who will live such a life. Even if one-third of the saints in a locality have such a practice, the situation will be glorious. We can begin our labor in the gospel with our closest relatives. They are our “Jerusalem.” From our closest relatives, the circle of our gospel preaching can be enlarged to Judea, to Samaria, and then to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8).
There must be a beginning point. We must be very definite in our going out to preach the gospel. We must make a budget. We should not be uncertain in any point. Furthermore, we should not have an unrealistically large budget. If we try to go out every day, we will probably fail. For the long run, it is probably best to go out just two days each week. This is a more practical budget for those brothers and sisters who must work at a regular job and for the sisters who have families to care for at home. Set your budget to go out twice a week during two set days, each time for two or three hours. Do it regularly, constantly, and definitely, unless you are too ill to go out. Disregard your emotions and just go out. Budget yourself in this way.
Your going out must always be in a very regulated way. It is good to go in the Body. Visit people as a team. Even if you are going to see one of your close relatives, it is very good to bring one or two saints with you, especially if your relative may know one of the saints. He may have an open ear to such a one.
Once you have baptized two or three, you should consider spending more time with them. It may be that you will not have the way to go out to bring additional new ones to the Lord for a period of time. Instead, you may need to spend all your time caring for your two or three new ones. You probably will need one year’s time in order to raise up a person in the Lord. It is very similar to rearing children. All mothers know that rearing children is neither fast nor easy.
You may begin to realize that the two or three whom you are laboring on are not very promising. You should not drop them, but you have to consider whether or not it is profitable to spend so much time with them. If it is not profitable, you should go out to get two or three more. Laboring in the gospel is like the work of a farmer. When one farms, he must discern the soil, the land. Nothing may grow on a certain piece of land. If this is the case, the farmer must leave it and farm the land that really produces. We still must exercise to be careful because our discernment may not always be dependable.
If we practice this way year round, surely we can bring at least one promising one into the church life each year. It depends on the degree to which we will give ourselves for such a life. If we really give ourselves for this, it may be that each of us can bring three persons into the church life each year. We do not need to be a full-timer to achieve such a result. It simply depends on our regular labor. We must labor regularly every week and every year, regardless of the weather or other factors. We must learn to preach the gospel as a child learns to play the piano. Without training, nothing can be learned.
After gaining people, we must spend adequate time to nourish, to cherish, and to raise them up as our spiritual children. Paul likens himself to a nursing mother (1 Thes. 2:7) and an exhorting father (v. 11). He was both a mother and a father to his spiritual children. The shortage among us has been in not raising up the children. After delivering the children, many times we have forgotten about them. We must take the new way in caring for our spiritual children. Please do not think that such a practice comprises the entire church life. Our going out twice a week for two or three hours should be just a small part of our church life. Additionally, we should attend the Lord’s Day morning meeting, the prayer meeting, and other meetings of the church. Going out to visit people twice a week is just a part of our normal church life.
Endeavor to be trained to go out. Fellowship with the saints in your locality. If you come together as a team, you will find the best way to get people to open to you and the best way to answer their questions. If you do this regularly for one year with a humble spirit and attitude, empty and willing to learn, you will become a real expert in preaching the gospel.
Christianity has been praying for a revival for many years. We should not pray in this way. We should pray, “Lord, raise up one-third of the saints to preach the gospel. Let these one-third make up their mind and pick up the burden to practice this new way as their duty, as a part of their daily Christian life.” If in every church one-third can be raised up in this way, there will be a real revival among us after only one year’s time. This kind of revival is not by emotion but by the fact of fruit-bearing. If two-thirds of the saints can be raised up in this way, we will see at least one hundred percent increase yearly.
A good number of us must make up our minds to take this God-ordained way of preaching the gospel and to practice it by forming teams to go out regularly to visit people to bring them into salvation. We must go to them again and again to have home meetings with them and to nourish them, to cherish them, and to feed them. After a while we will bear remaining fruit as a result of our going in the way ordained by God.
