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Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:16-19; 2 Tim. 2:22
In this chapter we will fellowship concerning another aspect of experiencing God as life. Experiencing God as life is not only an individual matter; it is also a corporate matter. God wants to be life not only to an individual believer but also to all those who believe into His Son. As those who have been saved, we have God in us as life. If we experience Him as life merely by ourselves, our experience will be very limited. Our experience of God as life is mainly through the experiences of other believers.
Every saved person is a member of the Body of Christ (Rom. 12:5). A member of our physical body often can enjoy the benefits of our body only through the other members. Similarly, under normal conditions a believer does not enjoy God as life only by himself. An isolated brother who enjoys God as life will gradually realize that his enjoyment does not last long and that his experience is limited. In order to experience God as life, we should pay attention not only to our individual experiences but also to the experiences of other believers. This is the corporate aspect of experiencing God as life.
Ephesians 3:18 says that we need to apprehend the dimensions of Christ — His breadth, length, height, and depth — with all the saints. We apprehend the dimensions of Christ with all the saints because no one can apprehend all the riches of Christ alone. No one can apprehend or grasp by himself the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ.
Christ is immeasurable, just as the breadth, length, height, and depth of the universe cannot be measured. There is no way to measure the length of the universe. Likewise, we cannot describe how high is the height. There are high-rise buildings in Hong Kong and in New York City, but there is still quite a distance between the top of those buildings and the sky. They are not as high as the sky. Likewise, we cannot measure the breadth or depth of the universe.
Ephesians 3 says that when the saints experience Christ together, they can apprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth. The breadth, length, height, and depth refer to Christ. This is the only portion in the Bible that speaks of Christ in relation to the dimensions of the universe. The breadth of the universe is Christ, the length is Christ, the depth is Christ, and the height is also Christ. The breadth, length, height, and depth are Christ. He is immeasurable and unlimited; we cannot exhaust Him. When the apostle Paul wrote of the unlimitedness of Christ, he could not find more suitable words. According to verses 17 through 19, when Christ makes His home in our hearts, we will be filled unto all the fullness of God. Apprehending the unlimited fullness of God requires all the saints. Each of us can touch only a little of this fullness, just as a bucket cannot hold all the water in the ocean. Not only so, our personal experience is not independent; it is our experience with all the saints. The more we experience Christ, the more we will feel that we need to apprehend and experience Him with all the saints. We cannot experience Christ by ourselves; we must experience Him together with others.
The best way for the young brothers and sisters to experience Christ is to find at least two or three companions in the Lord. This is spoken of in 2 Timothy 2:22, which says, “Flee youthful lusts, and pursue...with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
The Bible contains many examples of companions. There are many spiritual companions in the Old Testament. Caleb and Joshua were companions who followed God together (Num. 32:12). David and Jonathan were also spiritual companions (1 Sam. 18:1). When Daniel was taken to Babylon, he had three friends who feared God and lived in His presence (Dan. 1:6). When Daniel encountered difficulties, they prayed together in one accord. Thus, their prayer was powerful and received the Lord’s specific answer.
The principle of companions also exists in the New Testament and is strengthened. When the Lord Jesus sent out His disciples, they went in groups of two (Luke 10:1). This is the principle of companions. In the book of Acts the disciples rarely moved or acted alone. When Peter went out, John was with him (3:1). When Paul went out, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, and Luke were his companions (12:25; 17:10; 20:4; 2 Tim. 4:11).
The best way to have spiritual growth and receive spiritual benefit is to find a few brothers and sisters to be our spiritual companions so that we can open to one another, seek one another, help one another, and solve one another’s problems in all spiritual things. On one hand, we should regularly seek the Lord on our own, and on the other hand, with a pure heart we should frequently have open fellowship with a few brothers and sisters. We would be blessed if we would fellowship concerning our weaknesses or problems, concerning matters that we cannot overcome, and concerning matters that cause us to fall. We often cannot overcome a certain sin alone, but if we are willing to fellowship about it, the sin will be overcome. This is quite marvelous.
Suppose a young brother is having trouble understanding the Lord’s leading concerning a certain matter. He can invite a few brothers over and fellowship with them about the problem. From our experience we know that he can become clear even while he is speaking. If he does not fellowship, he will not be able to understand the Lord’s leading, but once he begins to speak, he often will become clear before the brothers even respond. The brothers have helped him, because without them, he would have no one to fellowship with, and he would not become clear. It is because he has people to fellowship with that he is able to understand the Lord’s leading.
Suppose we are weak and do not have any joy. We might not be able to rise above this situation no matter how much we pray. This is when we should find some brothers with whom to fellowship. The topic of our conversation may not be important, but after the conversation we will be refreshed and uplifted.
Spiritual companions are such a great benefit because of the principle of the Body. God is our life, but He is not only in us individually; He is in us corporately. Therefore, whenever we fellowship, we will be helped by the other members, and they will be helped by us.
In order to kindle wood in a stove, there must be at least three pieces of firewood. It is very difficult to start a fire with only one piece of firewood, and if a fire is started, it will easily be quenched. This is an example of our condition before God. In order to pursue the Lord in a good way, we must find three to six brothers and sisters with whom we can come together regularly. We should be open and fellowship with one another without any reservation concerning our condition toward the Lord and our situation before Him. If we would practice this, our weaknesses will be swallowed up, our problems will be solved, the light in us will become brighter, our spirit will be strengthened and refreshed, and our love for the Lord will be more fervent. The benefits of having spiritual companions are too great.
Since there are so many benefits to having spiritual companions, all the young saints should find a few brothers or sisters to be their spiritual companions. Without such friends, their condition before the Lord will be hazardous, and many problems will arise. Therefore, they must have friends so that they can be balanced and steady. Some people are loners; they do not like to have friends. The more they are inclined to be alone, the more necessary it is for them to have friends, because friends will help them be more open. Some brothers and sisters were the only child in their family and were spoiled in their youth. As a result, they have a closed temperament and a secluded disposition, which greatly hinder their Christian life. The only way to remove this tendency of being closed and secluded is to have a few companions. Then such a brother will become one among many brothers, and such a sister will become one among many sisters. This will deliver them from being closed and secluded. In order to be broken, to be delivered from the self, and to become open instead of closed, we must have companions. Regardless of what we do, in ourselves we are closed and have no way to be open. We need companionship with some brothers and sisters in order to be open.
There are several principles that we must take heed to when we are looking for companions.
First, you should not seek companions among unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14-18). Christians who seek friendship with unbelievers will eventually suffer a loss. An unbeliever can be likened to a person wearing dirty clothes, and a believer can be likened to a person wearing clean white clothes. By spending time together, the person in white clothes will eventually become dirty. We should not be quick to become companions with an unbeliever. Instead, we should preach the gospel to him and lead him to salvation so that he may become a brother in the Lord. Only then should we become his companion, because he would have put off his dirty clothes and put on clean white clothes.
Second, we should look for brothers and sisters who can be of mutual help; either they can help us, or we can help them. The purpose of seeking companions is so that we may know more of Christ and let Him live in us. Hence, we should not make friends with those who enjoy the world’s pleasures, because instead of helping us to live in Christ, they will pull us to follow Satan and to take him as our life. We must pay attention to this point when we look for companions.
Third, we should look for three kinds of companions. The first kind should be those who are at our spiritual level. This kind of friend is for mutual help — we can help him, and he can help us. The second kind should be more experienced in the Lord; he can lead us. We need to listen to such a one and receive his help, be restricted by him, and even be subject to him. I believe that Paul was such a companion to Timothy and to Titus; Paul was like their father. For this reason Timothy and Titus had to learn submission, and they had to subject themselves to his authority (1 Tim. 1:1-2; Titus 1:4). We should also look for this kind of companion. The third kind of companion should be one who is younger and weaker. We should render him help and lead him like a big brother leading his younger siblings.
We should have these three kinds of companions. It is best for every believer to have two companions who are at the same level, a companion who is younger, and a companion who is older. The brothers should look for companions among the brothers, and the sisters should look for companions among the sisters. They should look for all three kinds of companions.
We would like to fellowship some more with regard to the cautions one should heed when looking for companions.
When the young brothers or sisters become companions, they must learn to fear God. We should never become so familiar with one another that we become loose, saying things or doing things that show no fear for God.
Under the fear of God, companions should also respect one another. We should avoid jesting and being loose because of familiarity. Being careless in our speech and our actions, such that the fear of God and our mutual respect are missing, will open a big door for Satan. Not only the young ones but even the older believers should not become relaxed concerning these two points. When I am with brothers and sisters and notice some kind of looseness, I immediately shut the door by becoming serious. It is right to be friends, but we should neither sacrifice the fear of God nor lose our respect for one another. If at any time we become so familiar with a particular companion that we lose the fear of God and become wild, loose, or relaxed, we should stop immediately and cut off that companionship. We must be on guard.
I have a very intimate friend who went to be with the Lord. Having been friends for twenty years, we knew each other very well, understood one another, and were in one accord. However, the Lord can testify that when we were together, we did not jest. Sometimes we might say a few words of humor, but we never engaged in frivolous, irreverent, self-indulgent, or careless speaking. We always had an atmosphere of fearing God. For this reason for twenty years our friendship did not have any problems. I wrote the hymn “Rest in the Lord” when he passed away. We came to know each other after we were saved. I chose him as my companion, and he also chose me as his companion. For twenty years we walked before the Lord together. Our friendship gave us only benefits because we did not lose our fear of God; instead of being loose, we always respected each other.
We should also guard against having natural affection, natural love. As companions in the Lord, we should love one another, but we should kill any natural affection. Natural affection is to be excessive in our love for one another. Natural affection is harmful, and it offends the Lord. We should love one another in the Lord, but we should not bring in any natural affection.
It is rather difficult to love without having natural affection. However, if we cannot restrain ourselves in this matter, our friendship will become a trap, and we will become loose. Anyone who cannot restrain his natural affection is also an unrestrained person before the Lord. We should be strict and restrained before the Lord in order to love our brother but reject natural affection. This also applies to the sisters. The sisters should love one another, but they should be restrained and not exercise natural affection. Friendship in the church is different from friendship in the world. People in the world love others in the realm of natural affection. But having more natural affection than love is often harmful. The brothers or sisters should love one another without natural affection. Our love must be in the Lord without any natural human affection. If we can know the difference between love in the Lord and natural affection and can guard against the exercise of natural affection, our companionships will be profitable, and we will not incur any loss.
I hope that the young saints will find three to five spiritual companions among the brothers and sisters in order to pursue the Lord together. On one hand, we should fear God and respect one another, and on the other hand, we should love one another and forsake natural affection. It is good to come together often in order to fellowship, pray, read the Lord’s Word, and learn spiritual lessons together. When we encounter difficulties or problems, we should bear one another and solve the problems together. Then our living will be according to the principle of the Body. The results and the benefits of such a living are unlimited. The breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ, His unlimited fullness, will be opened to us and will flow unceasingly into us. Furthermore, we will grow speedily in a balanced and steady way.
