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Scripture Reading: Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:18; 9, 2 Cor. 4:11, 13
III. Letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly, that we may be ready to speak in the meetings — Col. 3:16.
IV. Being filled in spirit, speaking the word of God — Eph. 5:18-19.
V. Speaking the word of God according to the experience of life — 2 Cor. 4:11, 13.
I do not know what kind of response the brothers and sisters have had to the previous two messages concerning the matter of speaking for the Lord. We ought to speak for the Lord to the extent that we speak everywhere: at home, at school, in the office, and even the more in the meetings.
If what we speak is merely doctrine, eventually we will run out of words. That is, there will be nothing left to say; it will all have been said and exhausted. However, God’s word can never be exhausted by speaking. Our teaching can never be exhausted. Heaven and earth are on our side. The more we speak, the more teaching we have. But although we do have the teaching, I am afraid that we do not have words to express it. Without the proper vocabulary, we cannot adequately expound it. We will speak and speak, stammering, unable to fully express it.
The Bible is complete. In Colossians Paul says that Christ is the Head (2:19), the portion of the saints in the light (1:12), the image of the invisible God (v. 15), the Firstborn of all creation (v. 15), the Firstborn of the new creation (v. 18), the Head of the church (v. 18), the mystery of God (2:2), and the embodiment of God (v. 9). Then in chapter 3 Paul says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom” (v. 16). The word let is very significant, and the word dwell is also very meaningful. You cannot let a table dwell in you. You cannot even say that you let a dog dwell in your house. The word dwell is a verb of dignity, proving that Paul regarded the Lord’s word as a living person.
Let implies that this living word is waiting outside your heart, knocking on the door of your heart as a guest would knock on the door of your house. When you hear the knocking, you let him in. To let the word of Christ dwell in us richly means that this word is living, waiting outside the door of our heart for us to welcome Him and to let Him in. If we let Him in, the word of Christ will make home in us.
The Chinese version of the Bible translates this verse, “Store the doctrine of Christ in your heart richly.” In this translation the word is something dead; it is fully under the control of man. If the word is something lifeless, it is like money that you can either put in your pocket or save in the bank. However, you cannot treat a living person in this way. You must let him come in and let him settle down in your house.
Paul says that we should let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. This is consistent with the Bible’s teaching that the word of the Lord is the Lord Himself (John 1:1). Strictly speaking, to believe in the Lord is to directly receive the word of the Lord. To believe in the Lord is to believe in the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord is the Lord Himself, and it is the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). Therefore, the word of the Lord is spirit and life (John 6:63).
This living word is an entity of life; it is a person with life. He is waiting for us to let Him in. He is waiting for us to open the door. His living in us richly depends on whether or not we exercise wisdom. If we use wisdom, then He can dwell in us richly; if we do not use wisdom, then He will dwell in us poorly. During the past number of years, I have been like a wandering sojourner on the earth, like a leaf floating on the water. I have traveled through many places in the world. I have had much experience in being a guest, and I have stayed with virtually every kind of family. No home, whether it is the home of a high and famous official or the home of a poor and lowly man, can compare with my own home. This is because I cannot dwell in another person’s home; I can dwell there only in a restricted way. As a guest, I cannot bring too many things with me. Even if I do bring many things, sometimes it is not convenient to use them. At other times I do not even have space to put my things. How can this compare with dwelling in my own home?
To dwell richly is a matter of being able to display everything. In my home all my books are displayed. All my reference books are valuable books that I have accumulated over several decades. I have over fifty English translations of the Bible and eight Chinese translations, as well as many dictionaries of various sizes. In my home it is very convenient for me to use them. Therefore, I dwell in my home richly. I use this illustration to show you that the Lord does not dwell in us richly, because we have given Him too little space.
We all love the Lord and are willing to let the Lord make His home in us. However, He cannot feel at ease within us. The Lord cannot make His home in us comfortably. He walks in one direction, and He hits the door; He walks in another direction, and He bumps His head. Sometimes it is unintentional, and at other times it is because we have no wisdom. In Colossians 3:16 Paul says, “In all wisdom.” You must give careful consideration to the design of a house. You must use a ruler and measure to see if it will be comfortable and fitting to live in. You need to exercise wisdom to measure a house and to test it to see if it is suitable for use. For example, in one place where I was a guest, the brothers received me with a loving heart, and they let me stay in the best house. But the closet was too large, with two big sliding doors that were like two city gates. When I opened the door to hang my clothes, I bumped my head, and once the clothes were hanging in the closet, the door would not close easily. I was also a guest in a home where there was a step at the front entrance and another step in front of the bathroom. As an elderly man, I was afraid of falling, so I lived there in fear and trembling.
When I stay in my own house, I do not have these problems. The whole house is on the same level, with no steps. I can walk around my house with my eyes closed because I designed it myself with much consideration. I measured everything with a ruler, and I also used other houses as references. I measured the house many times, and then I tested it and adjusted it. In preparing a suitable dwelling place, elderly people have their own problems, weaknesses, and complications. Our Lord Jesus also has His own complications. The Lord Jesus is not that simple. We may say to Him, “Lord, I love You. Come in. Make Your home in my heart.” After He comes in, we give Him only a large room; all the other small rooms may be locked. In such a situation, how can He be at home? If you desire to prepare a good dwelling place for the Lord, you must use wisdom to make Him feel at home everywhere. Then He can dwell there richly.
On our side we need to use wisdom. If wisdom is properly exercised, the word of the Lord will dwell in us richly. In these days we are talking about speaking for the Lord. We all know that in order to learn a language well, we must pay attention to three things: first, a broad vocabulary; second, correct grammar; and third, the use of idiomatic expressions. If we have these three points, it will be very easy to practice. Whether we are speaking or writing, it will not be difficult. Today if we want to speak God’s word, we must ask ourselves whether we have a broad vocabulary in us. Is our vocabulary sufficient? If you know many words and have an extensive vocabulary, you can speak in any way you desire. You will have a great deal to express, and you will be able to speak fluently. However, often when we speak to others concerning the Lord, we do not have sufficient words to express ourselves. We stammer, not knowing what to say. We are not familiar with the Scripture verses, and after a few sentences we run out of words. This means that the word of the Lord is not dwelling in us richly. Therefore, we find it very difficult to speak, and we have no way to speak. When we speak, we are very restricted.
In 1960, when I first arrived in the United States, I found that my grammar was adequate but that my vocabulary and familiarity with idiomatic expressions were not sufficient. Therefore, my speaking was quite restricted. Then I practiced speaking. During the past twenty years I have been learning English every day. Whenever I see a new word in a verse, I look it up in the dictionary. In this way I have learned many new words.
Today, for the Lord to go on, we all must speak for Him. If we do not speak for Him, the word cannot go out, and He will not have a way to go on. The book of Acts tells us that the word of the Lord grew and multiplied (12:24) and that it was strong to the extent that it finally gained the victory. The word of the Lord being victorious is the Lord being victorious; this is the way for the Lord to go on.
Thank the Lord for His mercy that in the past fifteen years the word of the Lord has been rich among us. However, does the word dwell in us richly? We have been listening to messages for twenty to thirty years, and we have taken in quite a number of spiritual matters. However, when the time comes for us to speak, there seems to be a faint outline within, yet we cannot speak it out. We may say, “It is true that I have heard that message, and it is something like...”; but we do not know how to speak it because we have not allowed the word of the Lord to dwell in us richly.
The word of the Lord is like a living person. The word is the Lord Himself. We must welcome Him, and we must open the door to let Him in. Not only do we need to let Him in, but we also need to give Him the ground, the room, and the suitable environment for Him to settle down. Then He will be able to open everything to us, and He will be able to exhibit everything in us. This is to let Him dwell in us richly. At this time we need to use all wisdom to love the Lord, to desire the word of the Lord, and to let the word of the Lord dwell in us to become our expression, our utterance. Then we will be able to use the word freely.
You need to exercise all wisdom to open your whole being to let the word of the Lord as a living person dwell in every inward part comfortably and freely. Then when you want to speak for Him, this word in you will be living, rich, and available. You will be able to use it freely. Because of the educational standard in Taiwan today, the level of knowledge of everyone in Taiwan has been raised. The age has also changed. As Christians in the twentieth century, we cannot speak for the Lord in an unsophisticated way, saying, “It is so good to believe in Jesus. We can eat and sleep in peace. After we die, we will go to heaven and not to hell.” No one would listen to this kind of speaking today.
You must have something substantial to speak. For example, you must be able to speak clearly on Romans 8:2, which says, “The law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” Such a clear speaking would shock the knowledgeable university students. They would ask, “What is the law of sin and of death? I want to hear about it.” Then you may show them a “diamond” by saying, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin...If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:34, 36).
When you let the word of the Lord dwell in you richly, you will have wisdom to bring out different verses for the different people you meet. You may read Genesis 1:26, which says, “God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” Or you may read John 1:1, which says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Try reading these verses. All those who hear will be amazed because they had no idea that such deep and mysterious things are in the Bible.
I hope that through my fellowship today, we will be enlightened to see that we must speak for the Lord. Only through our speaking for the Lord can the Lord have a way to go on, and we also will have a way. To speak for the Lord, we must be equipped, and we must have a reserve supply. We must use all wisdom to receive this living Lord, to let this living word dwell in our being. If so, we will have the words to speak at school and at work. Even when the sisters go to the market or to the fabric store, they will have words to speak to whomever they meet. They will be able to preach the word of God to others.
I exhort all of you to always carry a Bible. The older brothers and sisters who cannot read small print can purchase a Bible with large print and separate it book by book. They can make a booklet out of the Gospel of Matthew and a booklet out of the Gospel of Mark. I did this when I was young. I used to bring the Bible to work so that I could read it at any time. Every word and every phrase of the Bible is a diamond. It is regrettable that few would show these diamonds to others. I hope that each of you will learn to speak the word of the Lord, using all wisdom to receive the word of the Lord into you as you would receive a living person, that He may feel at ease and richly dwell in you.
We need to equip ourselves daily. We need to be those who have a reserve supply. For example, when we meet an older person, first we need to consider what an older person would most like to hear. What the older Chinese people like to hear most is, “Children, honor your parents.” Therefore, when speaking to an elderly Chinese lady, I would open up my Bible and show her Ephesians 6:1-3: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with a promise, ‘That it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.’” This elderly lady would think to herself that she has never heard this kind of word in Buddhist teaching. She would think, “This is very good. I want to believe in Jesus. After I believe in Jesus, my children and grandchildren will all have to honor me. They will all have a long life and will be blessed.” This is wisdom.
Perhaps the lady next door often quarrels with her husband. The best verse for you to use to preach the gospel to her would be Ephesians 5:25. You may say to her, “Look at what the Bible says: ‘Husbands, love your wives.’” This word would be the gospel to her. It would certainly touch her heart, and she would think, “Not for any other reason, but just so that my husband will love me, I need to believe in Jesus. If I believe in Jesus, and he also believes, then he will love me.” The word in the Bible is too rich. We should use it. We must have a reserve supply that we may use it freely.
When you meet a young person, you can read Proverbs 1:7 with him: “The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge.” We need to receive the word of the Lord into our being. There are sixty-six books in the Bible with over twelve hundred chapters. If we would choose only one golden verse out of each chapter to be stored in us, we would have over twelve hundred verses to speak. If every brother and sister in the church would do this, we would all become a house of scholars, and whatever we utter would be a scholarly composition. I hope that the church in Taipei will become such a church where every saint, whether old or young, will speak the word of the Lord everywhere in a logical, meaningful, valuable, and skillful manner, speaking until others are attracted, until everyone has heard the word of the Lord. This must not be practiced in a rigid way. We must spend time to research continuously.
What we have just said concerns speaking in a general way. Now we come to the matter of the meetings. Following the word “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom” is “teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16). When our daily speaking becomes so fine, songs and hymns will issue forth. But if our ordinary speaking is not adequate, it will be difficult to bring forth songs and hymns. For example, if you speak Romans 8:2 to people all the time, “The law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death,” repeating it again and again, eventually a short song will be composed, and you will spontaneously sing it. When you come to the meeting, you will have more words, and the words will again become a song. That is why Paul could say, “Teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” It is very difficult to discern whether this teaching is by speaking or by singing. According to the context, it is teaching by singing. When you sing to me Romans 8:2, you are teaching me; then when I sing to you Genesis 1:26, I am also teaching you.
It is not only a matter of teaching but also of admonishing one another. Your singing admonishes me, and also my singing admonishes you. This is to admonish one another. We are still far from this condition, but I believe that if we would be willing to practice, this condition will be among us in less than three years. Then there will be much variety in our meetings. You will speak, I will speak, he will speak, and everyone will speak. You will sing, I will sing, he will sing, and everyone will sing. There will be speaking to one another, singing to one another, and the teaching and admonishing of one another. What an enjoyment it will be to come to such a meeting!
Ephesians 5:18b and 19 say, “Be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord.” Bible readers all know that Ephesians 5:19 is a sister verse to Colossians 3:16. These two verses are parallel; they speak concerning the same matter. The difference is that in Colossians 3:16 the word comes into our being, and in Ephesians 5:18b-19 the Spirit comes into our being. This also proves that when the word comes, the Spirit also comes. Where the word is, there the Spirit is also. The word and the Spirit are inseparable.
Ephesians 5:18b does not mention the Holy Spirit, but it does say, “Be filled in spirit.” This is quite significant. This means that from the time that you let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, you need to learn to exercise your spirit; you need to stay in your spirit. The word of the Lord is already in your mind, but how do you cause the word of the Lord to become spirit? You need to exercise your spirit. When you exercise your spirit and use your spirit, the Holy Spirit will fill your spirit. The best way to exercise the spirit is by praying and singing. I encourage you to try it. Keep on praying and keep on singing. The more you pray and the more you sing, the more you exercise your spirit. The result will be that your spirit is filled with the Holy Spirit. When you come to the meetings, spontaneously you will speak and sing with psalms and hymns. I hope that from now on the brothers and sisters will all receive this new concept. I hope that from today you will prepare yourselves according to these two verses, opening yourselves to the living word of the Lord, letting Him dwell in you richly, and then exercising your spirit to pray, sing, and be filled in spirit with the Holy Spirit. When you are equipped, it will then be easy to speak to your colleagues, and it will also be easy to speak in the meetings.
In the meetings we have often heard some very shallow testimonies. In 2 Corinthians 4:11 Paul says, “We who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” This was Paul’s experience. Paul was always being delivered unto death for the sake of the Lord, the Lord’s work, the Lord’s ministry, and the Lord’s gospel. The death of the Lord Jesus was doing the killing work in his being. The result was that the life of the Lord Jesus was also manifested in his body. He experienced the Lord’s death and resurrection, and what he spoke was his experience of the Lord.
We who follow the Lord, who are faithful to Him, who serve Him, and who speak for Him are persecuted everywhere, being put to death by others. This is to allow the death of the Lord to operate in our being. The result is that a fragrance will come forth from our being. What we should speak is this experience, this kind of testimony. When we are speaking to others or in the meetings, we should have this kind of speaking as our basis. We should not speak God’s word in a vain way without any experience of our own. We all must spend time to experience the Lord daily and then speak the word of the Lord according to our experience.
For example, we may speak Romans 8:2 to others: “The law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” Merely to speak these words is a speaking without experience. However, after speaking this verse, if we would add a testimony of our experience, speaking Romans 8:2 according to our experience, this speaking would carry much more weight and have a much richer taste.
Brothers and sisters, according to the revelation of the Bible, every member of the Lord’s Body needs to let the living word of the Lord dwell in him in all wisdom. We should never comfort ourselves with the thought that we can speak a little better than the brothers and sisters in the denominations. Christianity gives people the impression that whoever wants to be a preacher must study at a seminary. Unconsciously, we have also been influenced to think that we are not preachers. The revelation of the New Testament demands that every brother and sister use all wisdom to let the word of the Lord dwell in them freely. We all need to be up to the standard of the Bible.
If we all practice this way, eventually everyone will be an apostle, a prophet, a shepherd, a teacher, and also an evangelist. Thirty years ago, while I was living in Manila in the Philippines, several brothers and I went to the hospital to visit a brother who was ill. The sick brother’s relatives and friends were all from the denominations. When one of them saw us praying around this sick brother, he asked in amazement, “Are you all pastors?” What do you think his concept was concerning prayer? He must have thought that prayer was the pastor’s business. His concept must have been that one normally seeks out a pastor for prayer just as one would seek out an attorney for a lawsuit or a physician for an illness. When a Christian has fallen to the point where he cannot pray and must seek out a pastor for prayer, he has been totally damaged by the concept of the clergy-laity system in Christianity.
The basic principle of Christianity is to let the clergy be the priests. At a funeral a pastor is needed to preach a sermon about going to heaven, and at a wedding a pastor is needed to give a word of exhortation. A newborn baby is to be brought to the church to be blessed by the pastor. Most Christians consider spiritual matters as specific duties of the ministers. In their concept church members only need to attend the church services. When I was a member of a denomination, I attended a prayer meeting at which only three people were present: the pastor, his wife, and the caretaker. When they saw me, they were shocked, and they said, “You are not a pastor. Why have you come to the prayer meeting?” We have not fully put off this fallen condition among us. Three hundred people may come to the Lord’s Day meeting, but only thirty may attend the Tuesday prayer meeting. The other two hundred seventy people, or ninety percent of the saints, apparently have disappeared. The ninety percent come to hear the message. In other words, the ninety percent come to attend the service but not to pray.
A few days ago I attended a memorial meeting for a co-worker. When I saw that the two elders were functioning as pastors for the funeral, within me I was blaming the brothers who were merely sitting there. I believe that there were many who knew the brother who passed away in a more thorough and intimate way than the two elders who were speaking. Why were they not willing to come forth to speak? Why did the elders need to do the speaking? Could not the brothers do it? I believe that if we had let the brothers and sisters do the speaking, it would have been done in a better and more beautiful way. We still have the poison of Christianity among us. Once the leaven is mixed with the flour, it is very difficult to clear it out. I hope that we will clear away those traditions, turn from the past, and learn to speak the word of the Lord. I hope that everyone will practice exercising his spirit, letting the Holy Spirit fill his spirit, and will rise up to speak for God.
