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Scripture Reading: Heb. 10:19-20; Matt. 3:1-2, 4; Rom. 15:16; Rev. 5:9-10a; 1 Pet. 2:5; Matt. 28:19; Heb. 10:24-25; 1 Cor. 14:26, 31
I. The newness in nature of the new way — Heb. 10:19-20; Matt. 3:1-2, 4; Rom. 15:16.
II. The universal priesthood in the new way — Rev. 5:9-10a; 1 Pet. 2:5:
А. Preaching the gospel — everyone ought to go — Matt. 28:19.
B. Meeting in homes and groups — everyone should participate — Heb. 10:24-25.
C. Prophesying for the Lord — everyone is able — 1 Cor. 14:26, 31.
Since 1984 we have mentioned the practice of the new way, and about four and a half years have gone by. Everyone has said much about this new way, but I feel that there is the need for further revelation, vision, and light concerning this way. In other words, we still need to see the inward reality of this new way.
Every divine thing in the Bible has its outward appearance and its inward reality. In the same way, when we mention the new way, there is a distinction between its outward aspect and its inward aspect. It is easy for us to see just the outward manifestation of the new way. Whether in the East or in the West, the impression that I have received from most brothers and sisters when they have talked about the new way is that they refer mostly to some outward methods. For example, we used to preach the gospel in one kind of way, and now we have changed the method. According to the understanding of the brothers and sisters, this new method is the new way. Another example is that we used to meet in one kind of way, and now we have changed to meet in another kind of way. Even in our service we used to have one kind of practice, and now we have changed to another. According to the understanding of the brothers and sisters, all these new methods are the new way. Actually, this kind of understanding is wrong. It is true that in the Old Testament as well as the New there are definite ways to carry out all of God’s commandments and instructions. However, within all the ways there is the inward nature.
For example, here we have a cup. When we see this cup, we realize right away that it is to contain liquid as its content. The way it is shaped tells the nature of the content. Another example is that of shopping in department stores. If you buy a rectangular item, the salesman will surely put it in a rectangular box. Hence, for everything the method must match the inward nature of the thing itself. According to the revelation of the New Testament and our experience of serving the Lord for so many years, we have seen clearly that there are four main points in our service to the Lord.
The first matter in the Christian service is the preaching of the gospel. This is like marriage and childbirth. After a young couple become married, the first thing that occurs is childbearing. After a child is born, the center of the family is shifted to the child. If a couple has no child, there is a big lack. Children are the focus of the family. This is true in the West as well as in the East. It is a natural law that God put into man. Praise the Lord that we are all saved today. In other words, we are all married. What ought to follow is childbearing. The spiritual childbearing is the preaching of the gospel. Paul says, “Though you have ten thousand guides in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15). Paul preached the gospel and led many to salvation. These Corinthian believers then became the spiritual children begotten by Paul.
The Lord told us in John 15:5 that He is the vine and that we are the branches. The usefulness of the vine does not lie in its blossoms; it is not for people to appreciate the flowers. Rather, it is for fruit-bearing. If a vine does not bring forth fruit, its destiny is to be cut off (v. 2). The meaning of being cut off is not to go to hell nor to go into perdition. Rather, it means that believers will lose their enjoyment in Christ. Originally, you are a branch abiding in the vine. Everything that the vine is and has is your portion and enjoyment. But if you only enjoy and do not bear fruit, you will lose the rich enjoyment of Christ.
It is a terrible thing to be cut off from the vine. The Bible says that the consequence of being cut off is a kind of punishment and loss. To avoid the destiny of being cut off, we must bear fruit. For us who are serving the Lord, the primary thing is the preaching of the gospel. In the long run the fruit-bearing must be done in an optimal way. There must not be too many or too few; it must not be done too quickly or too slowly.
After the fruit-bearing comes the nourishing. Every mother knows that the first thing a newborn child does is drink milk. Hence, the first thing a mother has to learn is how to nurse her child. In the past our way has been to invite people to come to the meeting in the meeting hall on the Lord’s Day morning immediately after we baptize them. We realize now that this method is not so correct. After a child is born, we do not ask him to come to us to be fed. Rather, we have to go to him and feed him with milk. If we cannot go to the homes of the new ones daily, we should go at least once every three days. The best way is to go every day. When we go to the homes of the new brothers and sisters and feed them with spiritual food, this is what we call the home meetings.
Whether in the East or in the West, the churches baptize a large number of people every year. But year after year the church attendance has not increased appreciably. The reason for this is that most of the newly baptized ones soon die. Take Kaohsiung as an example. In 1952 there were sixty people meeting here. By now thirty-seven years have passed. If we use sixty as a base number, and we baptize an average of two hundred per year, we should have brought in over seven thousand. But the number of attendants in Kaohsiung today is only about twelve hundred. Where are the other six thousand? Perhaps they have all died. The reason for this is that after a person is saved, we are zealous to remind him to come to the meetings. If he does not show up this week, we may call him by phone. There is still some zeal within us, but this zeal does not last long. After two or three months no one cares about where these newly baptized ones are anymore. This is why I have said that in the past we begot many, but with the begetting there was no nourishing. Even when there was the nourishing, the nourishing was not done properly.
We make appointments for people to come to the meetings. We use the phone to invite them to come. We even hire taxis to pick them up for the meetings and prepare love feasts for them to attend. All we think about is for them to come, come, come. It never occurs to us that we can also go, go, go. In the past when the new ones came, we considered that they were so obliging and kind to have come to us, that they have done us such a big favor and have so highly honored us. Now why not turn the thought around? Rather than painstakingly inviting them to come, why do we not go to them to do them a favor and honor them? In the future we have to turn the matter around. We will no longer oblige people to come to the meetings. Instead, we will go to their homes to meet with them.
For example, if ten persons have been baptized, each one of us should claim one of these to care for. It would be best if some would fight for them, saying, “This one is mine. I want this one!” This is a good sign. I hope that no one would be so polite as to say, “Oh, I cannot do it. You take all of them!” Outwardly speaking, this is politeness. But actually, this is going backward. This is to shrink from responsibility. If every one of us would bear the responsibility of nourishing others, I absolutely believe that the newly baptized ones will not die, for they will all be sustained by the home meetings.
Concerning the new way, the two words that I like the best are go and home. To go is to beget children, and the home is where the nourishing is done. Both the begetting and the nourishing are important matters. But after the begetting and the nourishing, there is still the need of teaching. Ephesians 4:8 and 10-11 say clearly that the ascended Head in His ascension has given many gifts to men. Some are apostles, some are prophets, some are evangelists, and some are shepherds and teachers. According to man’s natural concept, we think that all these gifts are workers sent out to work. For example, the evangelist is naturally one who goes out to travel and to preach. We consider that this work is something that we cannot do. Actually, the gifts that Paul mentions here are for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, and the work of the ministry is for the building up of the Body of Christ. In other words, these gifts are for the perfecting of the saints.
Suppose I am a giant in evangelism. When I call a gospel meeting, three to five thousand people would come and listen to me. After the meeting I would have a thousand baptized. How can I take care of all these one thousand by myself? I must start a work similar to what is done in the teachers’ college, which is to raise up fifty to a hundred students to do the work of nourishing. In the end I will not be the only one who can beget, nourish, and teach. Instead, fifty, or even five hundred, will be raised up. Then everyone will be able to beget, nourish, and teach. This is the perfecting of the saints. The perfecting mentioned in Ephesians 4 is this kind of teaching.
We all know that it is easy to beget a child. It is not too difficult to raise him up either. But teaching children takes many months and years. According to the present system of education, a child must receive sixteen years of education. Only after he finishes his college education can he be considered as having successfully completed his training. To be successfully educated means to be perfected. In spiritual education, only when a saint has been perfected to the extent that he can do the work of the New Testament ministry can his education be considered as completed. The work of the New Testament ministry is none other than the building up of the Body of Christ. This is a term that Christianity knows nothing about and is a work that is not found in Christianity, but it certainly is in the Bible. Moreover, the Lord has shown us that when all the saints, old and young, men and women, are perfected, they can all build up the Body of Christ.
The building up of the Body of Christ does not depend on a few people. It does not depend on the responsible brothers in a church. Nor does it depend on the co-workers or the full-timers. Rather, every one of the perfected saints should participate in the work of the building up of the Body of Christ. Begetting, nourishing, teaching, and building are the four major steps in the new way. When every one of the saints in the church can beget, nourish, teach, and build, God’s eternal purpose is fulfilled. God’s eternal purpose is to have the Body of Christ, and the steps to arrive at this purpose are the begetting through the preaching of the gospel, our nourishing through the home meetings, our teaching through the small group meetings, and our building up through the church meetings.
First Corinthians 14:26 says, “Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” Here God shows us the model for the church meeting. According to Ephesians 5, the psalms are not mainly for singing in the meeting but for speaking. Verse 19 says to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with our heart to the Lord. One can see that the hymns are not just for singing or for psalming but are for speaking one to another. Hence, in the church meeting before we sing a hymn, it is not bad to first spend some time to speak the hymns to one another. There is one kind of taste in singing the hymns, but there is a better kind of taste in speaking the hymns. The speaking of the hymns is a kind of prophesying.
Everyone has a desire to prophesy in the meetings, but many do not know what to speak. The simplest way is to choose a hymn and speak to one another. Every one of our hymns is a revelation and a message. When we exercise our spirit to speak the hymns, we express the content, atmosphere, and spirit of that message. The goal of prophesying is to build up the church, which is to build up the Body of Christ. When you speak a little and I speak a little, and when everyone speaks a little, the riches of Christ will be manifested. No matter how well a person may preach, he expresses only his own thoughts. But for everyone to prophesy is to have a love feast in the Chinese style, where everyone brings a dish and puts it on a long table. The riches will be exhibited fully before everyone’s eyes. In the church meeting everyone must bring forth the riches of Christ, everyone should speak, everyone should listen, and everyone should function.
What God is after today is not a congregation. What He is after is a Body. A congregation is an organization, but a body is not an organization. Rather, it is an organism. The members in a human body do not come about by organization. Rather, they come about organically. In the same way, the church of God does not come about through organization. Rather, it comes about organically. Today’s Christianity emphasizes the congregation. As such, it is surely an organization. As long as a learned and eloquent speaker comes and speaks persuasively, the congregation is kept together. Once the able speaker is gone, the congregation cannot remain. This is a congregation, an organization. What God is after is not a congregation; He is after a Body. Hence, Ephesians 1:20-23 says that Christ resurrected from the dead and transmitted all the riches of ascension to those who believe in Him. Those who believe in Him are the church, the Body of Christ. For this reason, the preaching of the gospel must be done by every member of this Body.
Matthew 28:19 says, “Go [you] therefore.” The you that is implied here does not refer only to the little company of disciples. It does not refer only to the hundred and twenty who prayed that day at Pentecost in the upper room. Rather, it refers to all those who believe in the Lord. All believers past and present are included in this “you.” We who are the disciples of the Lord should all go out. Only then will this match the nature of the Body that God desires. What God is after is not an individual gospel giant but a Body.
Hence, the preaching of the gospel must be done by every member of the Body. This is like my walking. When I walk, not only do my feet walk; my legs, shoulders, head, and even my whole body walk as well. We cannot find any place in the entire New Testament where the Lord charges only a minority of believers to preach the gospel. What we see is that the Lord commands all the believers when He says that “all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple all the nations” (Matt. 28:18-19a). All authority has been given to us. Therefore, when our gospel teams go out to speak to others, they have to be bold. They should not be afraid of heaven or earth. They should be afraid of no one, for the Lord Jesus has given us all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, every one of us can preach. No matter who we see, we can tell them boldly, “Repent, and believe in Jesus!” This is the organic functioning and the organic move.
Gospel preaching in Christianity is not an organic move. Rather, it is an organizational movement. Pastors are hired to come and preach while all the other believers rest and listen. This is organization. Today we are the members of the Body of Christ. All the brothers should go and preach the gospel. All the sisters should also go and preach the gospel. Everyone should go and preach the gospel. If we do this, this will match the nature of the content of the New Testament. Let me say again that the content of the New Testament has nothing to do with a congregation, a denomination, or an organization. What God is after is a Body. In the matter of preaching the gospel, all the members of the Body of Christ with no exception should preach and should move.
Not only should everyone preach the gospel; they should all participate in home meetings and group meetings as well. All the elders know that, on the one hand, they wish that there could be as many people as possible in their church. On the other hand, they are afraid that there would be too many people. This is because the more people there are, the more problems there are, and often it becomes impossible to take care of all the problems. Formerly, we used to set up leaders to take the lead. These leaders then became another kind of pastor and preacher. This way does not match the nature of God. Now every one of us is a leader. For example, if a small group has fifteen people, all fifteen come to speak and to learn. While others are speaking, I am learning, and while I am speaking, others are learning. If there are some mature ones in the small group, there is all the more reason for everyone to learn. Eventually, it will not be only one who is teaching; instead, everyone will teach. This is what is meant by everyone participating in the home and group meetings.
If five hundred people are baptized today, immediately we should have five hundred brothers and sisters come forward to claim one baby each. Although they may not be begotten through you, yet when you claim them for your own, it is as if you had begotten them. After being nourished for six months, these new ones become stabilized. You will then lead them to the small group meetings so that they will get acquainted with those in the small group. In this way, gradually they will also know how to care for people and help people. When they see you praying and caring for people and meeting their need, they will learn to do the same. This is like a big family in which the younger brothers and sisters learn to do what the older brothers and sisters do. When we establish a model in the group meeting, the newly baptized ones will find many lessons to learn. This is to have all the members function together. A small group in which all the members function together becomes a body. Whenever the church moves, all the members act together in coordination as one body.
The preaching of the gospel is for everyone. The home and group meetings are also for everyone. Likewise, prophesying is also for everyone. When everyone comes together, all speak. Whatever task we set about to do, it is always difficult before we do it. But after we make up our mind to do it, we will joyfully bear the responsibility. Our daily responsibility as a Christian is to practice these four major steps of the new way. Knock on doors to preach the gospel and beget spiritual children; everyone has to do this. After a child is born, everyone has to bear the responsibility of nourishing. There must be not only the nourishing but also the teaching. After teaching there is still the perfecting, and after the perfecting there is still the prophesying. It seems as if all of these four steps put a demand on people. But if you do not do them, it would be hard for you to be a member of the Body of Christ in the Lord’s recovery. The question is: what kind of Christian do you want to be today? Do you want to be an overcomer, or do you want to be a loser?
The new way that the Lord has shown us is a way ordained by the Scriptures. Everything that He commands us to do matches the nature of His Body and the principles of the Body. Either we forget about the preaching of the gospel, or we have to do it together as a Body. In the same way, we either forget about the home meetings, or everyone has to do it together. Even if you cannot take care of two each week, at least you can take care of one every two weeks. To care for some is always better than not caring for any. A church in which everyone is functioning will not only beget new ones, but it will also retain, sustain, and maintain them. In caring for the new ones, there is the need not only to support them spiritually and in prayer but also the need to care for them physically and in their employment. This is the way to perfect people. In the end everyone will become children of a well-educated family. Everyone who is brought up in this church will be able to preach the gospel and to care for new ones. They will all have home meetings and will be able to care for new ones. They will also be able to have small group meetings to keep and perfect the new ones so that all will be built up together. Eventually, everyone will be able to prophesy. As long as we are willing to practice these things and the more we do them, the more we will become capable and skillful.
I hope that all the brothers and sisters would see that these words are all according to the truth in the Bible. The Bible tells us that to preach the gospel, we do not gather the people to us; rather, we go to them. The Lord has not sent us to remote Africa. As long as we will knock on our aunt’s door, it will be open to us. There is also our uncle’s door on which we have to knock. After the close relatives there are still the distant relatives. Besides these, there are still our classmates and colleagues. When your aunt is saved, she still has her aunts also. There is no end to this kind of preaching.
If you would pick up the burden for the gospel in an aggressive way, not only will you be able to taste the joy and blessing of salvation in this age, but also in that day when you meet the Lord, there will be a large group of people behind you. They will all have been saved through you. By then you will surely be exceedingly happy. On the contrary, if you preach to no one today and will not save anyone even when you see them dying, you will have a difficult time facing the Lord. By then there will be no chance for you to do it again. The Lord warns us in Matthew 24 that if we eat and drink with the drunken and the evil slaves, at an hour which we know not, the Lord will come and cut us asunder and will appoint our portion with the hypocrites (vv. 49-51).
In His New Testament economy, God desires to have a Body. This Body must have new ones. We hope that there will be more and more new ones added to the church. By this the meetings will be higher and richer. To achieve this, every member has to function. Everyone has to go out to preach the gospel. After people are baptized, everyone has to nourish. Do not be afraid that your legs will be tired of going to the home meetings. Every one of us should go out to establish the new ones and bring them to the small group meetings. After this we should bring them to the Lord’s Day morning meetings so that they would be cared for and perfected. After half a year those who are under your care will be able to do the same thing that you do. By then you can divide the small group and renew the cycle all over again. Go out again to knock on doors and bring people to salvation. Set up more home meetings and group meetings. By going on continuously in this way, the church will have the increase and spread.
The new way is not just a method; it is a matter of nature. The nature of the new way is to bring God into man to be mingled with man so that man may become the Body of Christ. To arrive at this point we must gain the new ones, feeding them and leading them to prophesy. Outwardly speaking, all these are methods. But these methods match the inward nature of the new way. Today whether it is preaching the gospel, nourishing others, attending home and group meetings, or prophesying in the meetings, all are moves of the Body. In the end the Body of Christ is produced and God’s New Testament economy will be accomplished.
