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Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:11-12; Acts 5:42; 1 Tim. 3:2; 5:17; 1 Cor. 12:29; 14:31; Acts 6:1-5
All of us can and must be among the gifted persons listed in Ephesians 4:11. The key to your becoming an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, and a shepherd and teacher is the Word. If you take very little of the Word into you, you will not be much of a gifted person. But if your being is saturated with the living essence of God’s Word, not merely with the knowledge of it, you will surely be His sent one. How much you take the Word into you and let it mingle with your inward parts determines the extent to which you can be God’s spokesman. When you become the embodiment of God’s Word, you spontaneously are one of His sent ones, speaking for Him and shepherding others. You do not need any official title or appointment or position. Those are outward and count for nothing. But if you are filled and saturated with God’s living word, you are surely God’s apostle sent to this world and speaking for Him, and you are surely the shepherd caring for His people and teaching them God’s economy.
This is what God expects you to be. Do not say that you are not qualified. You have been chosen, saved, regenerated, and called by God. He is now working in you, saturating you with the Word. It is your duty to go to the Word, even in a legal way, morning and evening and during the day as well. Even if you can take only ten minutes each time, you will see how much benefit you receive.
Thou art the Word with God’s fulness in Thee,
Thou too the Spirit that God my life be;
Thee in the Word I enjoy as my food,
Thou in the Spirit art water to me.
Now to enjoy Thee I come to Thy Word,
On Thee to feed till my hunger is o’er.
Now in my spirit I turn unto Thee,
Of Thee to drink till I’m thirsty no more.
(Hymns, #811)
All the churches, both in the United States and abroad, have been making this turn to the Word. I encourage you to continue to do this increasingly.
“Every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and announcing the gospel of Jesus as the Christ” (Acts 5:42). The early saints were a teaching and preaching people. In homes and in the temple they taught and preached. Today’s situation is quite similar to what prevailed in Jerusalem in the time of the book of Acts. Then there was a strong background in Judaism. Now here in the United States there is a strong background in Christianity, including Catholicism. To meet this situation there needs to be a place and time set, known to all the people in the city, where the Word of God is taught in an atmosphere of preaching. In Anaheim we have already begun to do this on Lord’s Day mornings at 10:45. There is Bible teaching, but it is not in dead letters; it is delivered as gospel preaching. We teach the living word and preach the high, all-inclusive gospel.
Many of the young saints lack the proper knowledge of the gospel. What, for instance, is the difference between redemption, salvation, justification, and reconciliation? What is the difference between being saved by the death of Jesus and being saved by the life of Christ? There is more to the gospel than telling people that they are lost and bound for hell, but God loves them and Jesus died to save them; if they believe in Him, they will be saved and go to heaven. Consider the Gospel of John. This whole book is the gospel. It tells us of the Word being God and becoming flesh; of the vine, the husbandman, and the branches; and of the Lord’s deep, rich prayer in chapter 17. Even that mysterious prayer is part of the gospel. Have you ever realized that the gospel is so comprehensive? It is not only others who lack knowledge; even we ourselves are short.
Because of insufficient knowledge, both secular society and the so-called Christian churches are in darkness. In every place where the church is, that church must be a shining lampstand, shining forth the light of the truth of God’s Word. The churches can be such by having a preaching-teaching meeting regularly. We can then advertise the meeting by word of mouth, telling our relatives, neighbors, classmates, colleagues, friends, and acquaintances. Such a meeting, with an hour-long, attractively given message, will bring in a good increase, not from among the drifters but from those we know. The word will spread that there is such a place with the shining of the truth, and seekers will be attracted. In this way the whole church becomes a lampstand, with all of us as lights shining together.
If you are to have such a meeting, all of you must get into the Word. This is not the work of only two or three. Then the leading ones must be desperate to get a proper message for each Lord’s Day. It must be convincing and logical to the listeners. At first there may not be many new ones, but if you continue this way for a period of time, they will come. You cannot preach the same thing every time, like “Jesus can satisfy your hunger.” People will be turned away by such repetition. Every meeting must be full of truth, logical, and convincing. It must be able to subdue all the differing opinions. The burden for the meeting must be on the whole church, not just a few.
It is not easy to take the lead. First Timothy 3:2 tells us that one of the qualifications of an elder is that he be skillful in teaching, “apt to teach.” He must enjoy teaching and teach well. The elders are not the teachers in Ephesians 4:11, but they nonetheless must be skillful in teaching. First Timothy 5:17 says further regarding the elders, “Let the elders who take the lead well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching.” This verse says that the elders should be supported with the material supply, especially those who labor in the word. When their time is fully occupied in taking care of the church, they will have no way to make a living. Thus, I encourage all the elders to go to the Lord desperately each week to get a message for the preaching-teaching meeting. Do not take this matter lightly.
When Brother Nee was a young man, he picked up a burden to preach the gospel. Every Saturday he would fast for the whole day while he prepared. He would kneel, reading the Bible, praying about his burden, and preparing a convincing message. Then the next morning he would deliver a logical, well-reasoned message. This is an example of how the elders must labor in the Word.
This meeting is not only for the church but for the whole city as well. Every church that practices this will be a lampstand shining over the darkness. It will acquire a name as a place that knows the truth and can teach the Word. New ones will be added. Our own young people will be taught too. After perhaps four years of hearing such messages, all the saints will be ready to graduate. However, those who take the lead must not consider themselves professors. They are merely laborers, taking the lead for others to follow and help.
This kind of meeting will really be in the nature of a training. Week after week, as we listen to the speaking on the Word, we will be learning. At the same time, we will be spontaneously trained. Then we can set up a small class in our home. Eventually, instead of just a few teaching and preaching, the whole church will be qualified. Besides the Lord’s Day meeting, there can be several home meetings, with classes for our neighbors and friends, where many of the saints can teach and preach the truth. This kind of preaching is the most prevailing. It will surely bring in the new ones and reap other benefits as well. It will lead to a real knowledge of the living word, to the growth in life, to the experience of Christ, to the shepherding of others, and to the building up of the young ones.
If the churches feel burdened, they can begin to have a preaching-teaching meeting, as we have suggested here. To make a success of this, the whole church needs to get into the Word with much prayer. If you read the Bible without prayer, you will be in the dead letter. You should spend twice as much time in prayer as you do in reading the Bible. Every church needs to be characterized by reading the Word and by praying. This is not to say that you need to come together to do this. Rather, individually the saints should be praying and reading the Word. On this earth we are the ones who pray, read the Word, and digest it. All the saints must know the Word, have life, have the Spirit, and have an impact through praying.
In the past too often the churches have called on those from other places to come and help them. This indicates a weakness on the part of the responsible ones. Why would you not labor on the Word yourselves and contact the Lord directly, instead of sending out a Macedonian call, “Come over...and help us” (Acts 16:9). It may seem humble to say that your church is weak and needs help, but is this wide-open door the best way to get help? What was the result of all the calls that went out for help? Eventually, one came who was not weak, and the churches were deceived. You must learn the lesson from this. Be strong. Do not look to Anaheim or to Brother So-and-so for help. Call the heavens and contact the Lord directly. Even if you feel weak, do not admit it. Be empowered. To be proud is ugly and sinful, but to be strong is necessary. You are not in need of outside help. Even if it is offered, you should seriously consider whether to take it. How much real outside help have you gotten these past few years? The supposed help that you have received has only further weakened, even poisoned, you. You opened the door to this because you thought you were weak.
A housewife with five children may feel unable to cope with her situation. She keeps asking one neighbor after another to come and teach her how to manage and show her how to cook for her household. No one has time to be of help until one day a woman comes and offers to cook for her, saying she will be glad to help her out. When the family eats the meal the woman has prepared, they all get sick. She has poisoned it. Is that the kind of help you want?
Do not open your door without investigating any offer of help. Be sure that the one who offers is qualified. Check his status and background.
This is not to say that you do not need the other churches and should try to go on in an independent way. You must keep the door of fellowship open to all the churches, even while you keep the door of weakness shut to offers of “help.” It would be a strengthening to the churches here if the leading ones could come together perhaps once a month. Every so often the churches in the area could also come together for a joint Lord’s table meeting. Such mutual fellowship will increase the life supply in the churches.
Be clear, though, that every local church is responsible for itself. One church must not come under the jurisdiction of another. A larger or stronger church has no authority over a smaller, weaker one. All the churches, whatever their size or condition, are on the same level, yet the churches should mutually nourish and strengthen each other. In this way we practice the local church life and also have the Body life. This is why we are here in the Lord’s recovery.
It would be good also for the leading ones to consider having a practical training, perhaps on a weekly or biweekly basis. They need to have some experience and training first, in order to have something to teach all the saints. Then the churches can come together on a weekday evening for practical training. In this way the churches will be further built up.
In the past we used to have “service groups,” taking care of the practical work that needed to be done, like mowing the grass and arranging the chairs. This use of the word service is not quite accurate in the biblical sense. The word service in Greek is the same as that translated “ministry.” What is the New Testament ministry or service? It is to be sent to others, to speak for God, to preach the gospel, and to shepherd and teach others.
How then should we regard the practical matters that need to be taken care of? It is the duty of all of us to take care of these matters. We do not have one group who are evangelists and another group who take care of cleaning the hall. All of us are to be perfected as apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. All of us also are to take care of the work that needs to be done, even though strictly speaking this is not the service. No one should think that his status is too high to clean the restroom.
As to functioning in the meetings, this is included in the work of the prophets, evangelists, and teachers and shepherds.
For many years I could not reconcile two verses in 1 Corinthians. In 12:29 it says, “Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all have works of power?” Obviously, the answer is no. But then 14:31 states, “You can all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be encouraged.” Why did Paul tell us in one chapter that not all are prophets and then two chapters later say that all may prophesy?
It was only recently that I saw that what Paul was saying was that not all are leading prophets. In a flock of sheep, for example, there are only two or three leaders. The rest are not leaders, but they follow what their leaders do. Not all are prophets in the sense of being leading ones, but all can follow the example of the leading ones to prophesy.
In Jerusalem several were selected to serve meals (Acts 6:1-5). Two of them were Philip and Stephen. Some Bible teachers are of the opinion that the choice of these two was a mistake, because Stephen was an eloquent speaker (ch. 7), and Philip was an evangelist (21:8). How could these two have been asked to wait on tables? I believe these examples tell us that all those who wait on tables can be good speakers! All those who arrange chairs can be evangelists. The ones who clean the restrooms may be leading evangelists. When the apostle comes, he can help mow the lawn. The proper service, then, is to be an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, and a shepherd and teacher. The practical work is not the service, but we all take care of it.
May the Lord bring us into the practicality of this word.
