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Scripture Reading: John 15:12, 17; Matt. 20:25-27; 23:8-11; 1 Pet. 5:1-3, 5; Rom. 12:4-5; Rev. 1:5b-6a; 5:9b-10a; John 15:5, 8, 16; 21:15b, 16b, 17b; Acts 8:1; 11:19-22
In the last two chapters we have seen that life is the primary thing in the practice of the church life. For the experience and enjoyment of life we need to feed on the Lord Jesus. As we eat, we grow in life, and the issue is the building. We have also seen what the Lord Jesus is, where the Lord Jesus is, and the way to eat Him. The best way to eat Him is to call on His name and pray-read His Word.
In this chapter I will cover eight additional points. These are very practical and strategic for the church life. They are not items of our Christian faith but are necessary things in the practicality of the church life. To be prevailing, a local church must have these items as parts of its practice.
First, we must practice brotherly love (John 15:12, 17). The name Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7) means “brotherly love.” We have to love one another, yet our love should not be something worldly, emotional, or fleshly. It must be in the spirit, full of the life of Christ. However, we should not spiritualize our love. We have to love from our spirit, but sometimes our love has to be material. If we see a material, physical need of a brother, we should meet that need but not in a worldly way. We must pray and seek the Lord’s leading as to the way. The worldly way is to make an open show of our love or to have some self-serving purpose in our love. But the proper brotherly love in the church life has no self-serving purpose and does not make any kind of show.
Suppose a brother is out of a job and does not have any money. Further, he is sick and in need. We should seek the Lord’s leading and wisdom as to the way to minister something to meet his need. Many times the Lord will lead us not to let him know that we are offering something to meet his need. We do it in secret. By this way our love helps him and also glorifies the Lord.
Do not love in a fleshly way. Sometimes when the young people do not love someone, they simply do not care for that person. But when they start to love someone, they love in a way that causes damage to others. As an example, one brother may be twenty-one, and the other twenty. They begin to love one another, and as a result, one’s shirt and shoes are upon the shoulders and feet of the other. This is a kind of fleshly love. There is no discernment in the spirit and no limitation or restriction. Regardless of how much we love each other, we still must keep a distance of discernment in the spirit and be restricted.
If for some reason a brother needs a shirt or a pair of shoes, we have to love him and do something to meet his need but not in a fleshly way. It must be in the spirit. As we look to the Lord, exercising the discernment in our spirit, He may lead us to place five dollars in an envelope and designate it for the brother. Inside the envelope we may also put a note telling him that the enclosed money is from the Lord to him for purchasing a shirt. Then we put the envelope into the offering box without exposing from whom the gift came. Maybe we type it so that he cannot discern who gave him the gift. The envelope will be given to him by the church, and when he opens it and reads the designation, he will be very much touched by the Lord. To him the five dollars is like manna that came from the heavens. By this way we will never stir up a brother’s fleshly gratitude. Genuine love was expressed toward the brother, and it was a glory to the Lord; yet the whole thing was hidden from him. Materially, he could not know who gave him the gift, but spiritually he realized the love of the Lord in the giver towards him. The one receiving the gift senses the love in the Lord of the one giving the gift. This kind of love is pure, yet hidden. It does everything to profit the church and to profit the dear brother. It also glorifies the Lord and does not give the enemy any way to come in and damage anything.
On the other hand, if I am a needy one, I should not let others know my need. In China we had a co-worker who was an elderly sister, the oldest one among us. She always told us not to have a faith that demands others’ love. To have such a faith declares that I have faith in God for my living, yet I would let you know how much I need. We should never show our poverty but should do our best to work and earn some money.
If we love others, we should never burden others. Some saints think that because we have brotherly love, there is no need for them to work very much. This is not brotherly love. Brotherly love always takes care of others. It never burdens others. Learn to take care of your own needs by working properly, working hard, and earning something for others.
In the church in Taipei, Taiwan, every Lord’s Day and even after some weekday meetings, when the responsible ones open the offering box, there are many envelopes and wrappings with money enclosed. They are designated to a certain sister who is sick in the hospital, or to a brother who needs the tuition for his schooling, or to many others who are in certain needs. All kinds of wrappings are there, yet the people who receive the help do not know who rendered it. Only the Lord knows. This is a basic love.
If this kind of love is practiced, it proves that the church that I am in loves the Lord and that the saints there mean business with the Lord. This kind of love builds. It confirms, strengthens, and unites. As one built up in a local church like this, could I ever be distracted from the church? It is impossible. This is real love. We need love like this, a love that is not expressed in a worldly or fleshly or emotional way, but in the way that is full of the life of the Lord and absolutely in the wisdom of the Spirit. We practice brotherly love, yet we do not know who does this or who does that. We only know that the Lord does it through the saints in the church.
In the church no one should exercise lordship. Matthew 20:25-28; 23:8-11; and 1 Peter 5:1-3, 5 reveal that the rulers of the nations exercise lordship over the people, but in the church there is no exercise of lordship. We have the lordship, but it is the lordship of the Lord Himself. No one in the church, regardless of how much responsibility he bears, how much life he ministers to the saints, or how much he has been afforded the Lord’s grace for the building up of the local churches, should ever exercise any lordship over others. We all are brothers (Matt. 23:8). We only exercise “brethrenship”; we do not exercise any kind of lordship.
The dear ones who take the lead in all the local churches and all the other brothers and sisters should never consider that there should be anything as a kind of human lordship exercised in the local churches. We do not have any kind of classes in the church life. We only have one class, the brethren. There are no upper and lower classes. I say again, one may be used very much by the Lord and may be full of the Lord’s presence, the Lord’s life, the Lord’s power, and even the Lord’s authority, but he should not exercise any lordship over others. To exercise any type of lordship over anyone is absolutely wrong. The Lord Jesus said, “Whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant” (20:26). The greatest one in the local churches is one who is a servant to all the brothers. We do not exercise lordship, but we do have volunteer slavery. We are not enslaved by anyone, but we like to be a slave to everyone. This is wonderful, and this is the church life. We do not have any human master (23:8). We only have one divine Master, the Lord Jesus.
Neither should we call someone father. To do so absolutely contradicts the Lord’s teaching in Matthew 23:9. We have only one Father, our Father in heaven. There are no ranks in the church life. There are no high ones or low ones. All are on the same level and of the same rank. We all are brothers.
We do not exercise lordship, but we do exercise obedience. We obey one another. In 1 Peter 5:5 the Bible says, “Younger men, be subject to elders.” The Bible also says, “Being subject to one another” (Eph. 5:21). Not only the younger ones are subject to the elderly ones; even the elderly ones have to learn subjection. All are subject to one another. This is the balance. One-way traffic always goes to an extreme. We need two-way traffic. As an example, sometimes in a family, the little ones balance the parents. The children might say, “Daddy, why do you sleep so late? Mommy, now is the time for you to go to bed. Mommy, Daddy, why do you talk so much? Mommy, why do you love yourself so much? Why don’t you love Daddy? Daddy, don’t you see that my uncle needs something?” At times our children are used by the Lord to speak something to us. We parents all need the balance of our children. We should never think, “I am the daddy, so everyone in the family has to listen to me.” We all need balance.
In the church life the brothers should never force the sisters to be subject to them. Some brothers in certain so-called local churches have declared to the sisters that based on 1 Corinthians 11:3 they are the head of the women, and all the sisters must be subject to them. Surely this kind of head needs to be balanced. The brothers need the balance from the sisters. We all need to learn something from others. Learn to be subject to others. Without this kind of balance there will be only one-way traffic, and this always leads to an extreme.
In the church I may be one of the local elders, yet I still need to be subject to all the brothers, even to the sisters, and listen to them. All the elders must listen to others’ concepts, others’ sensations, others’ feelings, and others’ words. Then they should bring all the fellowship to the Lord and seek the Lord’s leading. Maybe the decision will be made not according to what the elders felt but partly according to what the brothers and the sisters feel and partly according to the Lord’s revelation. Then the church is kept in balance and can go on in a proper way.
It must be our practice that all the members of the church are functioning members in the Body (Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 14:24-26, 31-32). It should not be that only a few are the functioning members, and the rest are passive. All must be active members. A serious degradation among Christians is that most of them are passive. Therefore, we must exercise the real Body ministry. Today when people speak about the Body ministry, they consider that two, three, or four ministering is the Body ministry, but the Body ministry is when all the members are functioning. If three hundred meet together, all three hundred must function.
Our body has many parts. When we walk or jump, every part of our body functions; not one part is passive. Every saint must be encouraged to enter into this practice. If we are about to call a hymn, it is better to help a younger one or a weaker one call it. Also we must help all the members to stand up and say something. Perhaps one may only say, “O Lord Jesus”; however, this may be the beginning of his functioning.
On the other hand, some are too active. These need to give opportunity to others and become active in helping others to function.
We also need to practice the universal priesthood (Rev. 1:6; 5:10), which means that every believer is a priest. In the practice of the church life, we should not have clergy or laymen but only priests. In the Body of Christ we are members, and in the service to God the Father we are priests. Therefore, we not only must function in the meetings; we also must serve. In the church there is much service, and everyone should take part in these services. Be a serving priest, not just a functioning member. We all must practice this.
In the church life we all need to bear fruit. The Lord Jesus said, “I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain” (John 15:16). This is not solely to have the outreach by preaching the gospel. Nor is it only to have “soul winning.” It is to impart life to others. In Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15, and Luke 24:47 we are told to go and preach, but in the Gospel of John we are told to go and bear fruit. The Gospel of John is a book on life; therefore, the preaching, the outreach, in this book is the impartation of life to others, causing them to become fruit.
Never say that numbers do not mean anything. In Acts 11:21 the divine record says, “A great number...believed.” If numbers do not mean anything, the Holy Spirit would never have said this. In married life we need children. If after a long period of time, a married couple does not have children, this indicates that something is wrong. Also the bringing forth of children is simply to impart the life we have into our children.
We also need some spiritual children. We need to impart our spiritual life into our spiritual children. If the local church in a certain place has fifty this year, the next year fifty-one, the third year forty-nine, and the fourth year forty-five, the church should not try to vindicate itself by saying that it does not care for numbers but only for quality. A local church needs numbers. Although in a spiritual sense, some members who are brought forth may be crippled, blind, deaf, or lame, it is still good. In appearance it may be a mess, but it is better than nothing, and something will come out of it. Physically, some lame fathers have brought forth very strong sons.
All local churches must encourage every brother and sister to produce. All the saints must endeavor to bring forth fruit, even remaining fruit. Do not be troubled thinking that if we bring forth many, the church cannot take care of them, and some will die. Perhaps this is true, but some will remain, and this is better than nothing. Every marriage that is normal produces children. We have to stress this very much and put it into practice.
The next point is the feeding of the lambs (John 21:15-17). Bearing fruit is one thing; feeding the lambs is another. If we are proper, on one hand, we bring many unbelievers to the meetings and, on the other hand, we take care of several new believers. We have to bear fruit, and we also have to feed the lambs. In these two matters we should not be special or particular. The church is for everyone, including the young people, the middle-aged ones, and the older ones. The church is for all kinds of people. We do not know from what direction the Lord will bring people into the church. While Peter was suffering persecution in Jerusalem, he might have thought that Saul of Tarsus surely was going to hell. But beyond Peter’s expectation, the Lord turned Saul into an apostle.
The church is not built up with the persons we intend to have but with the persons God has chosen before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). We cannot predict whether our children, our parents, our cousins, our schoolmates, or our neighbors will be the church people. Only the Lord knows. We just go in a general way according to the Lord’s leading and bear fruit. Do not do anything special, strange, or peculiar, and do not classify people. The Lord may even raise up some good saints from the opposing ones. Who will be saved, who will be the elders, who will be the spiritual ones, only the Lord knows. It is not up to us; it is up to Him. Yet we still have to do our duty to bear fruit and feed the lambs. This is not your work, nor my work, nor even our work; it is the Lord’s work.
In Acts 8:1 we see that persecution came against the church in Jerusalem, thus scattering the saints and forcing them to migrate. Acts 11:19 shows that the scattered ones preached the gospel as they went, and some local churches were raised up. Reports went back to the church in Jerusalem, and it sent Barnabas to have fellowship with them (v. 22). The spreading of the gospel and the church life in the first century began by the migration of the saints. The going out of the apostles began from Antioch (13:1-3).
Therefore, a good number of the saints in the local churches should be migrating ones; first migrating from city to city, and state to state within this country, and then migrating to other countries. For the sake of the Lord’s recovery, we should not be narrow-sighted and only set our eyes on the local church in the city where we reside. We need a larger view.
The more a church gives up people for migration, the more people it gets. The more a church keeps, the more it loses. Do not try to keep people. Do your best to give them for the Lord’s spread. Do not be narrow-sighted, thinking you will lose something. You will never lose. Even if you lose on this earth, surely you will gain in the heavens. Praise the Lord for the way of migration!
None of the points that we have covered in the last three chapters are aspects of our Christian faith. However, all of them should be put into practice; otherwise, a local church could never be strong and prevailing. If all these points are put into practice, a local church will become strong and prevailing. These are not items of our Christian faith, but they must become part of the practicality of the church life.
