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Scripture Reading: Luke 19:5, 9; Acts 16:31; 1 Cor. 1:16a
In considering the exercise and practice of the God-ordained way to preach the gospel, we must include the unit of God’s salvation. Most people, whether Christians or non-Christians, think about God’s salvation as involving individuals. The natural mind thinks of one person as the unit of God’s salvation. This kind of thinking is contrary to God’s economy, God’s plan. God’s ordained way is to gain households, not just individuals. God revealed His unit of salvation even in the Old Testament. God did not save simply Noah and his wife from the flood — He saved also their sons and daughters-in-law (Gen. 7:7). Eight persons were included as a part of Noah’s household (1 Pet. 3:20; Heb. 11:7). That was the first complete type of God’s salvation exercised over people.
In Exodus 12 the passover lamb was eaten according to households. If a household was too small for the lamb, they were to share their lamb with a neighboring house (vv. 3-4). Furthermore, the blood of the passover lamb was put on the doorposts and the lintel of the house in which they were instead of upon any individual. To take the passover as an individual was contrary to God’s economy. Jesus Christ, as the Passover lamb, is not only for individuals; He is for a whole house. If we do not take care of the household as the unit of God’s salvation, we are violating the principle of God’s economy.
When we invite people to come to a meeting of the church, many will come by themselves. If we go to visit people in their homes, we will reach their whole household. From this we can realize that “door-knocking” reaches the household, not only one person. When we knock on people’s doors, we are observing the principle of God’s economy. It is a shame if we despise the God-ordained way of reaching people with the gospel. We must take this God-ordained way of preaching the gospel, which is according to the biblical revelation.
If we are really for the Lord’s recovery, we must stand against any teaching that is contrary to the truth. The unit of God’s salvation being a household is according to the truth; therefore, we must stand for this truth. We must realize that we are being sent out by the Lord to reach households, the entire unit of God’s salvation. If we pay attention only to individuals rather than households in preaching the gospel, our God may be offended. Our going out to reach people should include their whole family.
Many of us are still under the influence of erroneous teachings. The apostle Paul describes such teachings as “every wind of teaching” (Eph. 4:14). If a wind of teaching is wrong in an obvious way, no Christian will listen to it. If someone tells us to worship idols, for example, we will not pay attention to him. Instead, some may say to us, “Well, of course, we should not worship idols, but God is too abstract. We need a picture of Jesus. A picture of Jesus is not an idol.” It is strange that all the “pictures of Jesus” depict such a handsome person. According to history, such pictures have their origin in artwork produced during the Middle Ages. This artwork is totally opposite to Isaiah’s portrayal of the Lord Jesus. Isaiah 53:2 says, “He has no attracting form nor majesty that we should look upon Him, / Nor beautiful appearance that we should desire Him.” He was not handsome according to the natural way of thinking. This proves that the pictures on the walls of some Christian homes are not pictures of Jesus, yet some would even worship these pictures. Such pictures are deceitful, perverted, and even demonic.
In 1936 I visited a province in the central part of China. One day a very devoted person came to me and told me that a close relative of his had become possessed by a demon. He asked me what they should do. First, I asked if there were any idols in the home. After thinking about this, he told me that there were none. I asked him to check again to see if there were some pictures in the home that might be items of worship. He admitted that there was a “picture of Jesus.” When I encouraged him to destroy that picture, he was hesitant because, as a Christian, he did not want to be guilty of destroying a “picture of Jesus.” I explained to him that it was not a picture of the real Jesus but that an artist had made a handsome picture, claiming that it was the Lord Jesus. Many times demon possession is a result of the worship of such idolatrous items. Once this brother saw the actual situation, he burned the idolatrous picture, and the demon was gone.
If someone came to you to tell you to worship idols directly, you would refuse to do it. Therefore, they come in a perverting, deceiving manner. In Manila there is a square with a large Catholic cathedral that is called the place of “the black Jesus.” They built a statue, an image in stone, and designated it as “the black Jesus.” They say that Jesus is not only for the white people but also for the black people. One of the feet of this statue is nearly worn away because so many people have touched it for centuries. Touching the feet of this “black Jesus” is considered as an honor to them. This practice is the issue of a wind of teaching that is off from the central lane of God’s economy. Ephesians 4:14 says the wind of teaching is related to the sleight of man and also to man’s craftiness. Man’s craftiness is connected to a system of error. Whose system is this? This is Satan’s system. Satan’s intention is to spoil, to destroy, the building up of the Body of Christ. That is his unique goal.
According to the Scriptures, the main way to preach the gospel is to visit people. Any teaching that is different from this or opposes this is a wind of teaching. To invite people to come to our meeting place is not the main way of preaching the gospel. God’s ordained way of preaching the gospel is primarily concentrated on our going forth to visit people where they are.
The Lord Jesus took the lead in going forth to visit people. He went forth even to the despised city of Jericho. In the Bible Jerusalem is a blessed city, and Jericho is a cursed city. Jerusalem is on a mountain, Mount Zion. Jericho is down in a valley where it is hot and dusty. In Jericho the Lord Jesus went to the home of Zaccheus, a chief tax collector. In Luke 19:5 He told Zaccheus, “Today I must stay in your house.” A few verses later He declared to Zaccheus, “Today salvation has come to this house” (v. 9). The Lord referred to the house two times with Zaccheus because He has a regard for the unit of the household. If someone opposes the truth of this unit of salvation, the saints will be distracted and discouraged. The result of such a wind of teaching is that it destroys the building up of the Body of Christ. Any opposition to preaching the gospel by visiting people, by knocking on their doors, is from the devil. To preach the gospel by going out to visit people’s homes in order to reach households is according to the truth of the Scriptures.
My burden is to speak the truth. Since my ministry began in this country in 1962, over eleven hundred churches have been raised up on the earth. Before 1962 there were already one hundred churches, and most of them were in the Far East. Now there are more than twelve hundred churches on this globe. Each church has been brought forth through the releasing of the truth. If we are to continue in the God-ordained way, we all have to know the truth, and we have to take the way of the truth.
Putting the truth into practice requires much wisdom. When we go to visit people with the gospel, a seventeen-year-old girl may receive the Lord. Should we baptize her right away? We must look to the Lord to be our wisdom for the proper discernment. In some cases, baptizing such a young person may help the parents to receive the Lord. However, we should not baptize this young person quickly. We may need to check with her parents so that they will not be offended. The same situation may arise if a wife is saved apart from her husband’s presence. It could cause an offense to the husband if we attempt to baptize his wife right away. If we exercise wisdom, the whole family will be open to receive the Lord and be baptized. We must always be very regulated, very polite, and very wise.
If we do not exercise such wisdom, we will not gain the homes as the unit of God’s salvation. We must go with a view to building up something over the long run. Eventually, we will build up a proper reputation, not only in our neighborhood but also in the whole city. This was certainly the case in Taipei. Today the people in Taipei regard the saints highly and are quite open to the saints’ visiting their homes to preach the gospel of Christ. Over a period of time this kind of positive relationship should be built up in the neighborhoods of the cities in the United States.
I hope that many of us will go out to visit people for the gospel quite often. It may be helpful to go singing. There should be such a good atmosphere for preaching the gospel in each neighborhood. It may also be helpful for some saints to move to a new neighborhood after a certain period of time so that a good atmosphere can be created there as well. If we will go out to preach the gospel in different ways, we will see a profitable result in a few years. It depends on the way we take. I hope that we all will pick up the burden for preaching the gospel and be willing to receive the training to practice in a proper, positive way. As the years go by something profitable will be built up, and people will realize that there is a group of Christians who love the Lord and who are going out to visit people for the spread of the gospel of Christ.
Furthermore, when we go and visit people for the gospel’s sake in their homes, we should speak to them and behave ourselves in a way to build up an atmosphere and a situation that we could reach the entire household. And our gesture in speaking and in behaving should be expressed in the way that can stir up their respect so that they would expect that we would talk to their entire family.
