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Scripture Reading: John 21:15-17; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:1-3; Luke 15:4-24, 32
I hope that there will be a genuine revival among us by our receiving this burden of shepherding. If all the churches receive this teaching to participate in Christ’s wonderful shepherding, there will be a big revival in the recovery. In the past we did much speaking and teaching with very little shepherding. Shepherding and teaching should be like two feet for our move with the Lord. Our shepherding should always be with teaching, and our teaching should always be with shepherding.
We have seen from our crystallization-study of the Gospel of John that its last chapter, John 21, reveals the apostolic ministry in cooperation with Christ’s heavenly ministry. In His heavenly ministry Christ is shepherding people, and we need to cooperate with Him by shepherding people. Without shepherding, our work for the Lord cannot be effective. We must learn all the truths so that we may have something to speak and go to contact people to shepherd them. (The Vital Groups, p. 40)
When the Lord stayed with His disciples after His resurrection and before His ascension, in one of His appearings, He commissioned Peter to feed His lambs and shepherd His sheep in His absence, while He is in the heavens (John 21:15-17). Shepherding implies feeding, but it includes much more than feeding. To shepherd is to take all-inclusive tender care of the flock. (Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John, p. 131)
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In order to take care of the church properly, the elders have to receive this charge from the Lord. They must shepherd the saints conscientiously. The Lord asked Peter in John chapter 21, “Do you love Me more than these?” Peter answered the Lord, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” Then Jesus said to him, “Feed My lambs” (v. 15). To feed is to nourish others with the riches of the inner life. This is a mouth-to-mouth feeding. The second time, the Lord said to Peter, “Shepherd My sheep” (v. 16). To shepherd the sheep is to take care of all the needs of the sheep. The third time, the Lord said to him, “Feed My sheep” (v. 17). At the time the Lord said this to Peter, Peter had been following the Lord for over three years. After His resurrection, the Lord charged him especially with this matter of shepherding the sheep. This shows how important it is to shepherd the sheep. Later, when Peter wrote his first Epistle, he entreated the elders to shepherd the flock of God (1 Pet. 5:1-2).
Shepherding refers to caring for all of the needs of the sheep, whether the need is grass, water, or shelter. All the sheep are to be well provided for and well tended to. Of all the needs, the most important one is the feeding, that is, the mouth-to-mouth feeding. This is the duty of the elders. If all the elders in the various localities would do this, the saints would receive the suitable care. In the past, we baptized many but brought in few. The reason for this was the lack of feeding and care. Our messages were high and deep, but after the messages there was not much care. In the end, the flock was without shepherds. There was preaching without shepherding and teaching without feeding. This was our shortcoming in the past. Among us there is the begetting and the teaching, but there is a lack of feeding. As soon as a baby is born, what he needs most is feeding. A baby will not grow just by teaching him. (A Timely Trumpeting and the Present Need, pp. 52-53)
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In his first Epistle, Peter spoke in 2:25 of Christ being the Shepherd and Overseer of our soul, our inner being and real person. Then in 5:1-2 he told the elders that their obligation is to shepherd God’s flock according to God. According to God means that we must live God. We must have God on hand. We have God in our understanding, in our theology, and in our teaching, but we may not live God when we are shepherding people. When we are one with God, we become God. Then we have God and are God in our shepherding of others. To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to what God is in His attributes. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness. According to God is at least according to these four attributes of God. We must shepherd the young ones, the weak ones, and the backsliding ones according to these four attributes. Then we will be good shepherds.
In addition to the shepherding by the main function of the gifted persons, Christ as the Head of the church also charged the apostles to appoint elders (overseers) in all the local churches to carry out His shepherding of His flock (1 Tim. 3:1-7; 5:17a). The Head of the church gave many gifted persons to function in shepherding for the building up of His Body, but the Body is manifested in the local churches. The Body is universal and abstract, but the churches are located and substantial. In the local churches, the elders as the local shepherds are needed. The local shepherds are more practical. Christ as the Head of the church charged the apostles, the universal shepherds, to appoint some local elders to take care of the located churches. (The Vital Groups, pp. 60-61, 63)
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First Peter 5:2a says, “Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion but willingly, according to God.” To shepherd according to God means according to God’s nature, desire, way, and glory, not according to man’s preference, interest, and purpose. The elders should not shepherd the flock according to their opinion, concepts, or likes or dislikes. Instead, they should shepherd according to God’s choice, desire, intention, and preference. The elders must shepherd the saints as the flock of God altogether according to God’s thought, feeling, will, and choice. They must shepherd according to God’s likes and dislikes. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1845-1846)
My burden in this message is that we have to learn of the apostles, the elders, and even of the Triune God. We have to follow the steps of the processed Triune God in His seeking and gaining fallen people. Luke 15 records that the Pharisees and scribes criticized the Lord by saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (v. 2). Then the Lord told three wonderful parables, which unveil the saving love of the Triune God toward sinners. (The Vital Groups, p. 39)
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We often condemn others, exposing their failures and defects. We must admit that to speak well of ourselves and to expose others’ defects is our natural disposition. Our disposition is like this by birth. There is no need for us to speak about others’ defects, but we may simply like to do it. Many times the brothers come together and speak about others’ weak points, defects, and failures. I have learned the lesson to be fearful and trembling about speaking of others’ defects. In the world the legal term for this is defamation. Why do we need to speak in a defaming way? However, nearly all of us do this. Because by the Lord’s mercy and grace I have learned the lesson, it is very hard for you to hear me speak of anyone’s defects. Whenever I speak of others’ shortages, I am condemned, saying to myself, “Do you not have shortages?” The Pharisees and scribes brought a sinful woman to the Lord and said, “Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do You say?” (John 8:5). First, the Lord stooped down. This was to show them humility. He did not stand, saying, “What! Do you come to Me? Let Me tell you something!” The Lord stooped down to write on the ground. According to my study of the Bible, I believe that what the Lord wrote was, “Who is without sin?” It is as if He said, “There is no doubt that she is sinful, and she got caught. But are you without sin?” They charged the Lord to say something, so He said, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (v. 7). Their conscience was caught. Everyone, beginning from the older ones, the experienced ones, was smitten. Who is without sin? When you speak of others’ shortages, do you not have shortages? Yet according to our disposition by birth, to speak about others’ defects is our “hobby.” Do you like to expose your own shortages? You do not; you like to cover them. (A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord, pp. 41-42)
I love Luke 15. Verse 1 says, “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Him to hear Him.” The gentlemen and righteous men were not joined to Him, but the tax collectors and sinners were. Therefore, the Pharisees murmured and complained again. Then the Lord spoke three parables. The first is concerning a shepherd seeking the one, unique, lost sheep. Of one hundred, this one was a lost one, so the shepherd came purposely for him. Why did the Lord go to a house full of sinners and tax collectors? It was because among them there was one lost sheep of His, whom He had come to seek. The second parable is concerning a woman who lit a lamp and swept the house to seek her lost coin. The third parable is about the prodigal son. The shepherd is the Son, the woman is the Spirit, and in the parable of the prodigal son there is the Father. As the prodigal son was returning, he was preparing and considering what to speak to his father. He prepared himself to say, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants” (vv. 18-19). While he was walking and thinking like this, the father saw him. Verse 20 says, “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him affectionately.” That the father saw the son a long way off was not an accident. From the time the son left home, the father must have gone out to look and wait for his coming back every day. We do not know how many days he watched and waited. When the father saw him, he ran to him. This is the Father’s heart. The father interrupted the son while he was speaking his prepared word. The son wanted to speak the word he had prepared, but the father told his servants to bring the robe, the ring, and the sandals and to prepare the fattened calf. A teacher among the Brethren told me that in the whole Bible we can see God run only one time, in Luke 15, where the father sees the returning prodigal son. He ran; he could not wait. This is the Father’s heart.
To speak truthfully, we have lost this spirit among the co-workers, elders, and vital groups. We do not have such a loving spirit that loves the world, the worst people. We classify people, choosing who are the good ones. Throughout my years I have seen many good ones. Eventually, very few of the good ones remain in the Lord’s recovery. Rather, so many bad ones remain. In the beginning I also was one who classified them as bad, but today many bad ones are still here. If it were according to our concept, where would God’s choosing be? Our choosing depends upon God, who chose His people before the foundation of the world. The Bible says that God hated Esau and loved Jacob. If we were there, none of us would have selected Jacob. This man was too bad. We would have selected Esau, the gentleman. From his mother’s womb, Jacob was fighting, and when he was born, he grabbed his brother’s heel. Eventually, he did everything that caused Esau to want to kill him. His mother Rebecca knew this, so she sent him away to his uncle’s house, but when he went there, he did the same thing; he cheated his uncle by getting four wives from him. This is to live like a gangster. None of us would have chosen Jacob. It is not up to our choosing, our selection. It is based upon God’s eternal selection.
If we lose this spirit, whether we are elders, co-workers, or serving ones, we are finished. This is the main reason why we are so barren, bearing no fruit for so many years. Recently, a brother went to care for a couple, but he did not have this spirit. He visited them no more than ten times and became disappointed. Since the couple had no heart for this brother, he reported that it was useless to visit them further. When Pastor Yu visited me, I did not care for him, but he continued to come for three or four months, week after week. We need to have this spirit. We all have to change our concept. Therefore, we need discipling. We have too much of the natural thought. We need to be discipled to have the divine concept, the concept of the Father’s heart and the heart of the Lord Jesus, who came to save sinners.
Once we condemn anyone, we lose the position to take care of that one. Condemnation does not stir up our care for others. Who among the human race is loveable? In the eyes of God, everyone is not loveable in themselves, yet God still loves them; that is, He loves the world. (A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord, pp. 27-29, 30, 31)
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As I have said before, the spirit of not shepherding and seeking others and being without love and forgiveness is spreading in the recovery everywhere. I believe that not having the Father’s loving and forgiving heart and not having the Savior’s shepherding and seeking spirit is the reason for our barrenness. I realize that you all work hard, but there is almost no fruit. The Lord says, “By the fruit the tree is known” (Matt. 12:33), but we are a tree without any fruit. Everywhere among us barrenness is very prevailing. A good, gentle pastor may not have a particular gift, such as the gift of speaking; he may simply visit people and welcome them when they come to his meeting, but according to statistics, he will have a ten-percent yearly increase. We, however, do not have even a ten-percent increase. Can you see how barren we are? Many of you are good speakers, knowing the higher truths. The truths we hold are much higher than those in Christianity. However, we do not have fruit because we are lacking in the Father’s loving and forgiving heart and the Son’s shepherding and seeking spirit. We condemn and regulate others rather than shepherd and seek them. We are short of love and shepherding. These are the vital factors for us to bear fruit, that is, to gain people. I am very concerned for our full-time training. Do we train the young ones to gain people or to regulate people? We have to reconsider our ways, as Haggai said (Hag. 1:5). Our way is not right; something is wrong. (A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord, pp. 40-41)
Our shepherding should be according to God’s love toward the fallen human race. The fallen human race is joined with Satan to be his world in his system, but God has a heart of love toward these people. (The Vital Groups, p. 38)
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We must be shepherds with the loving and forgiving heart of our Father God in His divinity and the shepherding and finding spirit of our Savior Christ in His humanity. We also must have the heavenly vision of all the divine and mystical teachings of Christ. Shepherding and teaching are the obligation of the vital groups and the basic way ordained by God to build up the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem. (The Vital Groups, pp. 55-56)
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If this kind of fellowship is received by us, I believe there will be a big revival on the earth, not by a few spiritual giants but by the many members of Christ’s Body being shepherds who follow the steps of the processed Triune God in seeking and gaining fallen people. (The Vital Groups, p. 40)
Although Hymns, #471 speaks of a saint returning to the Lord, we rarely sing this hymn because we have neglected the matter of restoring the dormant saints. I wrote this hymn at the start of the work in Taiwan because I felt a need to help the saints who were weak, backslidden, or cold. I used this hymn to stir up an atmosphere to help the weak ones and restore the backslidden ones. When we first arrived in Taiwan, we did not have an atmosphere of preaching the gospel, studying the truth, and pursuing the growth in life. We also did not have an atmosphere of taking care of people or serving the Lord. Hence, we felt that we needed to stir up such an atmosphere.
The first move of the church must be to recover the saints who have not been meeting and those with whom we have lost contact. According to our records, this is not a small matter. The church in Taipei has more than fifty thousand information cards. If we subtract the ones who meet regularly, the ones who have gone abroad, and the small number who have passed away, there are still at least forty-five thousand. Since the church in Taipei typically accounts for about half of the saints on Taiwan, there should be more than ninety thousand dormant saints on the whole island.
These saints are the harvest from our past labor and hard work. They were baptized, and they filled out information cards. They are our family members, but they have all disappeared; therefore, we must take this matter seriously. Now is the time to put the affairs of our household in order, and the first matter we should address is to find these saints in order to bring them back. If we would do this thoroughly by the Lord’s grace, we could recover two-thirds of them within two to three years. It would not be surprising to recover three to five thousand during the first half of this year, but recovering the majority will require a long-term effort by the saints who regularly meet in small groups. This is something that requires labor, but at least two-thirds will be recovered if we do it well. If thirty thousand saints are recovered, this will greatly strengthen the testimony and service of the church in Taipei.
In order to recover these brothers and sisters, our initial plan is to thoroughly examine the existing information cards. Among the fifty thousand names in the church in Taipei, about ten thousand of the addresses are accurate. Of this number, there are approximately five to six thousand saints who participate in the church life regularly and about six thousand more who come to an occasional meeting. Thus, we have accurate address information for these saints. The information regarding these six thousand saints who occasionally meet has been distributed to each small group; this is a very good situation. We need to begin by recovering the brothers and sisters who seldom attend meetings but whose whereabouts are known. This involves a work of visitation and restoration.
We also need to locate the nearly forty thousand saints whose whereabouts are unknown. This is very time consuming, and we are in the process of looking for a way that the churches in Taiwan can coordinate with each other in order to find these saints. We have begun by distributing these information cards to each small group so that they can at least go to the addresses that are listed on the cards. This is a way for us to begin to restore these saints.
The key to recovering these saints is for the brothers and sisters who regularly meet in the small groups to receive a burden. Without a burden, it will be difficult to move; with a burden, there will be grace. We need a burden to visit eight or nine, not just one or two. On average, each saint needs to be willing to contact at least eight. This is a great and difficult task. Nevertheless, I want to encourage you with one statistic: when the number of saints attending the meetings increases to forty thousand, approximately one out of every thirty people in Taipei will be one of our brothers and sisters. This will make it quite easy for us to penetrate every social level with the gospel. We will have brothers and sisters in every trade and profession, whether accountants, business owners, army generals, university professors, homemakers, or taxi drivers.
Our testimony needs to be strengthened. The saints who are wandering outside are scattered and not enjoying the riches of our family. They are truly like the prodigal son who could not find even carob pods to eat (Luke 15:13-16). But in the Father’s house, in God’s house, which is the church, the food is plentiful. Therefore, we must be compassionate toward them and bring them home to enjoy the riches in the Father’s house with us.
Before going out, we need to pray thoroughly. I can absolutely testify to the effectiveness of prayer. In 1932, when the Lord raised up the church in Chefoo, I could see the effectiveness of our prayer every day. The Lord would bring people in ways that were quite wonderful. We have to believe that our concern matches the Lord’s concern on the throne; in fact, His concern has touched us to be concerned for others. Thus, we must receive a burden to pray. In the beginning we may not know the names of the ones who need to be restored. We may only know that there are forty to fifty thousand who need our prayer. We can tell the Lord, “Remember these saints.” I believe that if two to three thousand pray daily, the Lord will hear our prayer.
Visiting dormant saints needs much consideration. If we do not do it properly, we will drive them further away. If our visiting will only drive them further away, it would be better not to visit them. When saints ask me what they should do when they visit, it is difficult to give a specific answer because I have found that my ways do not always work.
Consider the example of boxing. A teacher may teach boxing in the classroom in one way, but when it comes to the actual boxing match, the teacher’s instructions may not work. In a boxing match, one has to make adjustments according to the actual situation. Consequently, the most important matter in visiting is to have a praying and learning spirit, saying, “O Lord, only You can restore this one.” None of us can do this in ourselves. Those with no experience will certainly face difficulties, but even those with experience cannot rely on what they have learned in the past, because every person’s situation is different. We must look to the Lord, praying, “Have mercy on me. I can do nothing. Give me the wisdom and the words I need to speak.”
As we seek out the saints, we must rely on the work of the Holy Spirit. I truly believe that my return to the meetings was altogether the work of the Holy Spirit; it was the Holy Spirit who brought me back. The work of the Spirit is likened in Luke 15 to a woman who lights a lamp to seek a lost coin. The Holy Spirit is able to shine upon the saints with the Lord’s word and is willing to search for them until they are found (vv. 8-9). (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 4: The Increase and Spread of the Church, pp. 162, 163-165, 165-166, 172)
The end of 1 Corinthians 12 reveals that love is the most excellent way (v. 31b). How can one be an elder? Love is the most excellent way. How can one be a co-worker? Love is the most excellent way. How do we shepherd people? Love is the most excellent way. Love is the most excellent way for us to prophesy and to teach others. Love is the most excellent way for us to be anything or do anything.
The church is not a police station to arrest people or a law court to judge people, but a home to raise up the believers. Parents know that the worse their children are, the more they need their raising up. If our children were angels, they would not need our parenting to raise them up. The church is a loving home to raise up the children. The church is also a hospital to heal and to recover the sick ones. Finally, the church is a school to teach and edify the unlearned ones who do not have much understanding. Because the church is a home, a hospital, and a school, the co-workers and elders should be one with the Lord to raise up, to heal, to recover, and to teach others in love.
Some of the churches, however, are police stations to arrest the sinful ones and law courts to judge them. Paul’s attitude was different. He said, “Who is weak, and I am not weak?” (2 Cor. 11:29a). When the scribes and Pharisees brought an adulterous woman to the Lord, He said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). After all of them left, the Lord asked the sinful woman, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you” (vv. 10-11). Who is without sin? Who is perfect? Paul said, “To the weak I became weak that I might gain the weak” (1 Cor. 9:22). This is love. We should not consider that others are weak but we are not. This is not love. Love covers and builds up, so love is the most excellent way for us to be anything and to do anything for the building up of the Body of Christ. (The Vital Groups, pp. 74, 75)
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We need to have this kind of love and go to tell all the dormant ones who think that the church condemns them that the church does not condemn anyone. Rather, the church wants to see all the dormant ones come back. If they all would come back, I would weep with tears of thanksgiving to the Lord. The Lord can testify for me that I do not condemn anyone. We have no qualification to condemn anyone. Without the Lord’s mercy, we would be the same as the dormant ones. Therefore, we must love them. It all depends upon love, as the wise king Solomon said, “Love covers all transgressions” (Prov. 10:12). We love people. We love the opposers, and we love the top rebels. I really mean it. We love them and do not hate them. Who am I? I am not qualified to condemn or to hate. Am I perfect? Even the prophet Isaiah, when he saw the Lord, said, “Woe is me, for I am finished! / For I am a man of unclean lips, / And in the midst of a people of unclean lips I dwell” (Isa. 6:5). Who is clean today? If we criticize people and say something bad about them, we are not clean. (A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord, pp. 32-33)
Love is not jealous, is not provoked, does not take account of evil, covers all things, endures all things, never falls away, and is the greatest (1 Cor. 13:4-8, 13).
The elders need to realize that in their shepherding, they have to cover others’ sins, not to take account of others’ evils. Love covers all things, not only the good things but also the bad things. Whoever uncovers the defects, shortcomings, and sins of the members of the church is disqualified from the eldership. Our uncovering of the members under our eldership, our shepherding, annuls our qualification. Love also endures all things and never falls away. First Corinthians 13 concludes by saying, “Now there abide faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” (The Vital Groups, pp. 71, 72)
