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God is a God of purpose. In order to carry out His purpose, He has a way, or an economy. God’s economy, that is, His way of achieving His eternal purpose, is to dispense Himself into His chosen people. We are among those chosen by God for His purpose. Let us consider the place of God’s Word in His economy.
In order to realize the importance of God’s Word in His economy, we must understand that among the various religions on the earth, no book except the Bible can be called the Word of God. No religion has the Word of God. Yes, the Muslims have the Koran, but that is largely an imitation of the Old Testament and a little part of the New Testament. As for the writings of Hinduism and Buddhism, those writings are simply devilish.
On the whole earth the Bible stands alone as the Word of God. It is logical and full of wisdom. It is practical, clear, inspiring, and transparent. It is the word spoken by God and was ordained by Him to be put into a readable, understandable form.
Because God is abstract and mysterious, it is hard to understand Him. Catholicism introduced images in an attempt to help people understand what would otherwise be hard to grasp. But God has not given us figures, like images or idols. What He has given is the Word. Although He is mysterious, He makes Himself clear in His Word. Yes, the Spirit is mysterious and hard to grasp, but we have the Word, which is solid, readable, and understandable. The black and white word is also accurate; it leaves little room for argument.
Suppose that since Pentecost there had been no Bible among the human race. What would there be on earth today? You may say, “Don’t we have the Spirit?” Yes we do, but without the Bible the Spirit would be a delusion. The period when the Bible was locked up by the Catholic Church was the darkest age in human history. Martin Luther not only recovered justification by faith; he unlocked and released the Bible. Four hundred years ago the Bible became a freed book. It is the Word of God that has kept the things of God on the earth. Satan today subtly tries to keep people from the Bible. Christians may have a Bible on their bookshelf at home, or once a week they may have it in their hands, but when they open its pages, they see very little light. Most Christians today are in darkness because they do not read and understand the Word.
The Triune God is revealed in the Word. He has created the universe. He has been incarnated and has passed through thirty-three and a half years of human living. The all-inclusive death of Christ, His resurrection, and His ascension have all been accomplished. Our God has passed through all these things. There is nothing left undone. In eternity past our God was without creation and without incarnation, but now the universe has been created. Even more, the very Creator has entered into His creatures through incarnation. He has experienced human living, He has been to the cross and died there, He has entered into resurrection, and He has even ascended to the heavens. Now He has returned to the earth as the Spirit who gives life. This is the very God whom we worship and whom we have received.
But these matters are abstract; how can we grasp them? The Lord knows our situation. Therefore, He has spoken and has had His word written down. Now this book is in our hand.
The Bible illustrates that the word of God is like a seed (Matt. 13:23). Within a seed there is a life concealed. A seed appears to be merely something physical, but inside is something abstract and mysterious. The life cannot be seen, but if that seed is sown into the earth, it will sprout, blossom, and bring forth fruit. This growth is the expression of the life of the seed. The word in the Bible is like a seed, conveying God Himself as life to you. Sow this word into yourself, and after a while, life will spring up within you. It will grow, blossom, and bear fruit.
What is the position of God’s Word in His economy? It is the embodiment of God. Where is God today? He is in the word. When we preach the gospel, we preach the word. In Ephesians 1:13 it is called “the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation.” The gospel of our salvation is the word of the truth. Within the word is God Himself with His salvation.
Now that you are saved, you must day by day contact God. You cannot do this by closing your eyes and meditating. If you try meditating, you will find that you are off on a journey around the world. To meet God, open the Bible. God is there. It is not superstitious to say this. God is in the word. The Lord Jesus said, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). It is not too much to say that a seed is life, because the life is within it. In the same way, we may say that the word of the Bible is spirit, because within the word, the substance or essence is God Himself who is Spirit. To come to the Word is to come to God Himself.
If you do not open yourself and exercise your spirit, however, your coming to the Word may be in vain. You should not read the Bible as though it were a newspaper. God, even so, is merciful, and many times people have opened the Bible with no intention of finding God. He nonetheless has met them.
Before he was saved, one of my co-workers considered Christianity as a foolish, Western religion. He was a member of a political party and a leading young man in his district. In his thought China already had Confucius’s teaching; it did not need a foreign religion from the West. One day he went into a Buddhist temple. For some strange reason, there on the table for worship was a large opened Bible. Who had put it there he did not know, but he recognized it as the Bible of that Western religion, which he despised. Being curious, he wanted to see what the book said. It was opened to Psalm 1. He read it and was most surprised. How could that Western religion have something better than Confucius? He stole the Bible from the temple and took it home with him.
One day, having some leisure time, he thought to himself, “Let me take a look at that Bible.” As he was reading it, he met God, or rather, God met him. He realized that he was a sinner, though always before he had been self-righteous. Although he had never heard the gospel or been to any Christian meeting, he repented, weeping and even rolling on the ground.
That young man was thoroughly saved and eventually became one of our co-workers. Here is a case of someone who was saved simply through the Word. Wherever the Word is, if the environment is conducive, life comes out. This is to say that the Spirit comes out. The Spirit in the word springs up in life.
The Bible is where we can touch God. How do you know that God became a man, that Jesus as God lived on this earth in human flesh, that He died on the cross for you, that you have been crucified with Christ, and that you have been seated with Him in the heavenlies? All this you know because the Bible says so. If you reject the Bible, that is like throwing away God and all His accomplishments, including redemption, salvation, and life.
Keep coming to the Word. Even if you read it more than a hundred times, you will not be bored. Each time it has a fresh supply for you. This is the place to touch God. The Pentecostalists may say that you can experience Him by speaking in tongues. I tried that way for a year and a half but did not get much result. From my experience I would say that the best way to be filled in spirit is to get into the Word. You may feel like a flat tire, but the Bible is the pump. It will fill you with pneuma. Fasting will not fill you; I have seen people try that. The more they fasted, the flatter they were.
If you “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” the result will be “singing with grace in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16). The parallel passage in Ephesians 5:18-19 tells us, “Be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord.” The word that fills you becomes the Spirit.
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him” (John 14:23). To have the Triune God abide with you, you need to keep His word. It is His word also that is the truth that sanctifies us (17:17).
I encourage you all to read the Word three times a day. If you have been reading it for ten minutes every morning, I am sure you have found how rich it is and that ten minutes is not sufficient. Dear saints, get into the Word. You will see what a difference it makes.
As you read, pray. Pray in a very living way, using what you read as your prayer. In this way you will take the word into you and receive a life supply. Its riches will satisfy you not just day by day but year after year as well. All the rich help is here in the Word. Christians all too often are looking for outside help; they want others to come and help them. But all the riches are right in the Word; this is the place to turn for help. Do not expect magical results, though; just come regularly three times a day, and you will receive the supply that you need.
We have tried different ways of getting an increase, but they have not been successful. The best way is to preach and teach the Word. Have you ever tried teaching your parents for an hour? You have to be prepared to say something reasonable, perhaps like this:
“Dad, you are older and have had more experience than I have had. Can you tell me what the purpose of human life is?” Then, because you are so familiar with the Word and have it always in your pocket, you can tell him what the Bible declares is man’s purpose. He may be impressed and ask you where you learned that. Then you can say, “From the Bible, Dad. Ephesians 1 and 3.”
Another time you may say to your parents, “Dad and Mom, did you know that there are three wills in the universe?” When they ask, “What three wills?” you can tell them about the divine will, the satanic will, and the human will. Even if they oppose you, they may find your talk so interesting that they will listen. Whether they will buy your cargo is up to them, but you have to try to sell it. Present it in an “attractive brochure,” not too short. An hour’s speaking is about right.
You need to do this on the campus too. If you try to get people to call on the Lord, if you tell them that Christianity is all wrong, or if you say that the Lord’s recovery is the only thing that matters, people will think that you are mentally off. You need to learn to teach others in an attractive way.
First of all, you must study the Word. Then it would be good for the churches to have a training meeting, a “teaching and preaching” meeting where people can hear the truths of the Bible in an atmosphere of preaching. If this is held on the Lord’s Day mornings, relatives and friends can be invited, and eventually others also will be encouraged to come. This meeting is not for the shallow gospel but for the broadened gospel, covering a span from eternity to eternity. Such a meeting will be a place where your acquaintances can come and hear the truth. I believe that this way is based upon the principles in the New Testament. The apostles in the book of Acts just preached and taught the Word.
How does this differ from what Christianity practices? First of all, their sermons often do not give the real truth from the Bible. Second, they usually have hired, professional preachers, teaching the laymen. Third, their teachings are all too often without much reality.
Our intention is not to have two or three brothers do all the preaching. All of us must be the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. It is not too much to say that we must all be apostles. Apostle does not refer to a position; it simply means “sent one.” “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). The Lord was speaking to all the disciples when He said this, not only the apostles. Every believer, then, should be a sent one. If you go to your parents to speak for God to them, you are a sent one. Then, when you speak for God to them, you become His spokesman or prophet. What is it that you speak? It is the good tidings. This makes you an evangelist as well. When some people receive the gospel and become believers, you take care of them. This means that you are a shepherd too. You may even shepherd your parents, if they receive the word you spoke to them as an evangelist and as a prophet when you were God’s sent one. Finally, you may teach them from Genesis 2 about the tree of life and the woman built up from Adam’s rib. If you are all faithful like this, within a few years the whole town may be turned to Christ.
Let us love the Lord and come to Him to fellowship with Him by reading His Word and praying. Day by day live this way. You will have experiences of Him and also learn the teachings with the enlightenment. Then gather for the church meetings. In this meeting not just a few leading ones should speak. The elders take the lead. You must all do what the elders do. Whatever they speak, you speak. You follow and learn from them. Such meetings will be attractive, convincing, and subduing. In this way you will get the proper knowledge and enlightenment.
This will lead to increase. Among your neighbors and friends there will be some who will see your way of living. They will notice that you have the truth and know how to speak, preach, and teach. Behind the scenes pray for a few of them. God will answer your prayer; He will move according to the tracks that you have laid for Him in prayer. He is the way. There is no need to arrange and organize some program. In the Lord’s recovery all that we need is the Triune God and the Bible. We can take Him in through the Bible, and we can pray. This is the way we live.
Question: We have many dear friends in Christianity or in the world, and when we first came into the church, we damaged many of them by sharing in a wrong way. As you say, we need to pray and go to the Word, but I still would like some practical help as to what to do for these whom we have damaged.
Answer: The best way to heal this situation is to pray for the ones whom you damaged. Do not initiate anything. Contact the Lord and follow Him. As you do so, you will know His mind. He may lead you to go to some of them not only to become reconciled but also to say a word about God’s economy to them. If the Lord leads, you go. If not, do not go.
Do not feel that because you did some damage, you must try to set matters right. Do not initiate anything with that in mind. Simply follow the Lord’s leading. Do not go to others with the intention of correcting some damage you may have caused. To do so is to play politics. If you go, you do so because you are led of the Lord. You have no choice but to be one with Him. You do not care for the result but simply follow Him because you are one with Him.
This should be your attitude regardless of how many you have damaged. All the past is under the blood and is gone. Now is a new day. As the Lord moves, you move. What He does, you do. You are one with Him. The past is over. The future you do not know. You have only today. We Christians do not live in tomorrow or in yesterday. We have only today.
Question: There are two schools of thought on preaching the gospel. One is to be burdened, pray, and go as the Lord leads. The other is to “be ready in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2). Could you say something about this?
Answer: These two are one. If you keep contacting the Lord, you will find that you are preaching all the time. But if you neglect contacting the Lord and take up the exhortation to be ready in season and out of season, you will be keeping a regulation. This would be religious; that is, you would be doing something for God without Christ’s leading. When we keep contacting the Lord and live with Him, we will spontaneously preach the gospel. The Lord said, “He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit” (John 15:5). If you abide, surely you will bear fruit. If you do not bear fruit, it means that you are not abiding. Yet if you try to bear fruit without abiding, that is your doing and becomes religious.
God’s economy is a matter of life. You may compare it to the physical body. For a person to breathe, he has to be living. If you try to breathe yet you do not have life, you are seeking to fulfill a requirement. But when you are living, you breathe unconsciously, regardless of what you are doing. You may be busy and not notice that you are breathing, but nonetheless the breathing goes on. In the same way, if you abide in the Lord (have life), you will bear fruit (breathe).
There is no point in talking about someone’s physical problems if he is no longer alive. Doctors prescribe medication based upon the fact of your being alive. Once you are dead, they can do nothing to help you. Medication has no effect if you are dead. Surgery too would be useless. Many times a surgeon will not operate if the patient is weak. Even if the surgery was well done, without the support of the patient’s life, it would be in vain.
Life is what matters in the church life too. Christianity may maneuver, arrange, and organize, but in the Lord’s recovery we have seen that where there is life, there is no need for so many plans and schedules. The body does not plan what it will do and say during the day. As long as it is alive, all its members function spontaneously in a good coordination. In our life with the Lord, we contact Him by reading His Word and praying and by being one with Him all day long. We do not need to anticipate anything or regulate ourselves. Let us simply live Christ the way the branches abide in the vine.
