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Some who have served in the church for many years do not know how to lead or help the new full-time serving ones to have a proper equipping and learning before the Lord. Thus, the following three points can be regarded as directions on how to lead the young people in their service.
If a young person graduates from college and desires to learn to serve full time, the first thing he should learn is the truth. Every morning the full-time serving ones should spend much time on the matter of learning the truth through the use of the Recovery Version of the New Testament with its footnotes and cross references and with the help of the Life-study messages. If they spend four hours every morning to do this, they will be able to study the New Testament once in two years. This is a necessary equipping.
Second, the full-timers must learn to preach the gospel. Not only should they know how to preach the gospel, but they should also help the saints to open their homes for the preaching of the gospel, even to the extent that they would “force” all the saints to open their homes. To do this in a proper way requires the full-timers to exercise wisdom. We have to think of a way to help the saints to open their homes, whether they are strong, weak, or have stopped meeting for a long time. Then we have to help them to invite their relatives, neighbors, colleagues, and classmates, and we also have to lead them in preaching the gospel. They should not ask the elders and co-workers to preach the gospel; rather, they should do the preaching themselves. Once they speak, they will be vitalized and will have the heart to pursue, learn, and be equipped. The best way to recover the saints, especially those who have stopped meeting for a while, is to ask them to preach the gospel to other people. Once they speak, their cold hearts will be rekindled, and they will spontaneously come to the meetings.
Third, full-timers must learn how to have small groups. The church has to divide into small groups with eight to twelve people in each group. The full-timers must learn to lead a small group. The secret of leading a small group is that you should not be the one doing everything, but you should only help the saints to form the group. Then you should discuss with them how to take care of the group meeting and how to take care of the saints. As to the principle of grouping, do not group the saints according to their spiritual conditions; instead, group them according to geographical boundaries. For example, if there are eight saints living in a brother’s neighborhood, you can arrange for them to come together to form a group. As for the meeting location, they can rotate among their homes after discussing among themselves and agreeing to a proper sequence in rotation.
It is best not to have the title of “group responsible one.” Do not ask any particular person to take the lead either. Instead, let everyone in the group take the lead and bear the responsibility of the group. Although it is the full-timer who helps the small group, he is neither the one who calls the meeting nor the one who takes the lead. All the members of the group must take care of and bear the responsibility of all the matters and decisions related to the group.
There are at least one thousand saints in metropolitan Manila. These one thousand saints should establish one hundred small groups. First, you have to take a proper “census” by locating all the saints according to their information cards. Then, no matter what their spiritual situations are, you have to arrange groups for them. The content of the small-group living may consist of gospel preaching, feeding, and edification. If the number of people in a group increases, they can divide into two groups. In this way the church will spontaneously multiply and increase.
Hence, the full-timers have to mainly do these three things: learn the truth, preach the gospel, and lead the small groups. To lead the small groups is actually to feed the lambs. In John 21 when the Lord spoke of feeding the lambs, He used different words, indicating that different kinds of edification should be rendered to different kinds of people. In verse 15 He said, “Feed My lambs”; in verse 16 He said, “Shepherd My sheep”; and in verse 17 He summed everything up by saying, “Feed My sheep.” Lambs denotes little lambs, referring specifically to individual lambs, whereas sheep denotes a flock, referring to the church (10:14, 16; Acts 20:28). Feeding means to render the life supply to others, nourishing them with the riches of life; shepherding, on the other hand, is related to the building. We shepherd the saints by feeding them unto the building up of the church (Matt. 16:18; 1 Pet. 2:2-5). Today in the church there are many lambs. In particular, all the brothers and sisters who are not meeting regularly are lambs. There are also some who have been meeting for twenty years but are not grown up; these are the “old lambs.” All the full-timers must learn to shepherd these lambs, recover them, and supply them with the guileless milk of the word so that they may gradually grow in life. Then the full-timers must continue to shepherd them in order that they may be built up into a dwelling place of God in spirit (Eph. 2:22).
Not only should the full-timers learn these three things, but every saint should also learn them. First, you all have to learn the truth. This requires that you pay the price and make an effort to study carefully. One time I asked the elders what the meaning of Jesus is and what the meaning of Christ is. It was as if they were all inexperienced, for none of them could give me a clear answer. Since we all have been serving in the church for years, we should not have some who are still inexperienced. Suppose you teach a group of students English, but at the end some of them have not learned anything, and others have learned only half of everything. Would you continue to teach them? Most of the churches in the Lord’s recovery are currently in this kind of situation. The majority of the saints have learned only half of the truth, so ultimately no one has learned the truth in a complete way. Thus, there is no way to build up the service and no way for the Lord to go on.
Now that all the Life-studies of the New Testament have been published, I hope that all the churches would take this set of books as the basis for their study and greatly promote the learning of the truth. In every church we have to help all the saints to study the Recovery Version of the New Testament, especially the footnotes, in a careful and thorough way. This will truly be a great task. In the past we felt that we had nothing to do. Actually, this was because we did not do anything and did not want to do anything. Even when we truly wanted to do something, we could not find the way to do it, so we lost interest in doing anything. However, now the way has been clearly presented to us, and everything depends on whether or not we are willing to pay the price. If we are willing to pay the price, I believe that in three to five years the whole church will make great progress in learning the truth.
Second, we have to encourage all the saints to preach the gospel from house to house. This will be very effective. All the full-timers should receive the burden to do this. When you go to the saints concerning this matter, do not go to the brothers first, because most of them will say that they do not have the time. You should contact the sisters, who are more likely to receive the burden because their hearts are softer. It is the same with the matter of the small groups—you have to work on the sisters first. Once they are set on fire, it will spread to the brothers, and eventually every home will be opened.
We should also have a good campus work. There should be some who preach the gospel to the college students in every college. This is a crucial work. Furthermore, we must also do the children’s work in a serious way because the children are the future of the church. You may want to consider preaching the gospel to the children first. Then, aside from gaining the children of the saints, you must also gain some from the unbelievers. This work is very worthwhile. If these five items—promoting the learning of the truth, preaching the gospel from house to house, shepherding in the group meetings, doing the campus work, and doing the children’s work—are properly established, the church life will be living and healthy and will surely increase and multiply.
In order to serve, we all must be equipped with the truth, and in particular, we all must be familiar with the New Testament. All of you who have the heart to serve full time must get yourselves fully equipped by studying the Life-study messages thoroughly. Otherwise, when you go to establish the work, shepherd people, and speak to people, you will have nothing to say.
In this matter the co-workers should take the lead. We do not force the saints to read the Life-studies, but every co-worker should read the Life-study messages in a thorough way. In America all the doctors and nurses in the hospitals have to take examinations every year. In Taiwan some organizations also require their employees to take annual examinations. We have never held any examinations for the co-workers, so no one really knows whether they are qualified in the matter of the truth. It seems that once a person becomes a co-worker, he obtains a very secure job, and no one can dismiss him. Some co-workers even think that as full-time serving ones they are special people and that everyone has to listen to them. It is inappropriate and wrong to think this way. From now on we will not allow this kind of situation. Whoever wants to be a co-worker or to continue to be a co-worker must pass through an examination once a year.
Many Christians acknowledge that the churches in the Lord’s recovery know the truth the most. However, we have to ask ourselves how many of us are really like this? Actually, the majority of the saints do not know the truth that much. Therefore, I hope that the Lord will be gracious to us by stirring up the churches all over the world to rise up and pursue the truth. I believe that if we endeavor for three to five years, the saints will be revived by studying the Word. This will bring in a big revival on the earth.
I hope that we can stir up this kind of a pursuing atmosphere in the church life. From now on, there should not be any more idle talk in the saints’ homes. Even when they converse, they should also study the truth. For example, when you go to a saint’s home, you should not just greet him and ask, “How are you?” Instead, you should ask him, “What does the genealogy in Matthew 1 talk about?” You may also go further and ask him, “Do you know that there are three important names in the genealogy in Matthew 1? They are Abraham, David, and Mary. These are three crucial persons who brought in Christ.” When you meet a saint on the street, instead of talking to him about other things, you should ask him, “Which verse in the Gospel of John says that the Lord is edible? How did the Lord say that He is edible? Why did the Lord say that He is edible?” Thus, in a conversation of just two minutes both of you will be reminded, supplied, and mutually nourished. We have to change the atmosphere and encourage the brothers and sisters to read the Life-studies. Even when we are facing matters related to national affairs, such as an election, we should not talk about them. Let those who belong to Caesar be occupied with Caesar’s business. As those who belong to God, we ought to be occupied with God’s business (Luke 20:25).
One time I was given hospitality at a couple’s home. They were Chinese who lived outside of China and had never studied in a Chinese school, but they spoke very good Chinese. The hostess told me that because she had been meeting and listening to messages in the Lord’s recovery for a long time, she had learned Chinese very well. When I listened to her fellowship, however, I realized that she did not know the truth very much. Eventually, I found an opportunity to tell her, “I am really grateful that you gave me hospitality and had three or four suits made for me, but I am very concerned about your spiritual situation. I hope that the next time I come we can talk about the truth.” We all should do this to stimulate the lambs in our small group. Do not be afraid of offending others. We may offend someone today and tomorrow, but he will be grateful toward us the day after tomorrow.
Someone may ask whether it is necessary to follow a certain sequence in pursuing the truth or whether the method of teaching, reciting, testing, and praying that we used in the past is the proper way to study. Others may ask whether it is proper for the full-timers to study gospel materials such as Gospel Outlines in order to preach the gospel. Actually, in pursuing the truth it does not matter which book we study. We may study Matthew, Romans, or Revelation. Basically, every book in the New Testament is all-inclusive, speaking mainly concerning Christ and the church. Hence, we do not need a definite sequence in our pursuing. The crucial thing is that we must be willing to spend an adequate amount of time to study. The full-timers should spend four hours every day in the morning to study. Then they will be able to finish the entire New Testament in two years. The saints who have a heart to pursue can spend at least an hour a day; then they will be able to finish the New Testament in eight years. Some may think that eight years is too long, but when you finish it, you will not feel that it was too long. Bear in mind that you may start from any book. The most important thing is that you must be willing to put in the effort and continue steadfastly.
As for books like Gospel Outlines, you can pursue them when you have extra time. You have to spend all your effort on the study of the Recovery Version of the New Testament and the Life-studies. After you have finished all the Life-studies, you may get into the materials for gospel preaching. If you have studied the Life-studies thoroughly, you will be able to handle all the services in the church. Concerning how to lead the saints, your focus should be to cause the saints to become constituted with the truth and to be able to present the truth using clear logic. Take the book of Romans for instance. The whole book can be divided into four stations, each consisting of four chapters. This has been clearly presented in the Life-studies, and you have to make good use of them to help you to memorize these main points.
The book of Romans has four stations. Chapters 1 through 4 are the first station, which is justification. Chapters 5 through 8 are the second station, the station of sanctification. Chapters 9 through 12 are the third station, the station of the Body of Christ, because chapter 12 says that as members the believers are becoming one Body. Chapters 13 through 16 are the last station, the station of the church life, because chapter 16 mentions the local churches in different places, such as the church in Cenchrea, the church in the home of Priscilla and Aquila, and the churches of the Gentiles.
Over the past nineteen centuries many people have studied Romans, but none of them were able to say that the last station of this book is on the local churches. The book of Romans is concerning the gospel of God (1:1-4). As sinners, we need justification and then sanctification. Sanctification is transformation, which constitutes us into the Body of Christ. This Body is expressed as churches in different localities. This is the subject of Romans. The Life-study of Romans takes this line as its center and speaks of numerous truths in a clear way. Now a life-study of the entire New Testament has been accomplished. We have to encourage the churches in every place to study the Life-studies carefully, because the Life-studies are full of diamonds.
For example, although we all have read Romans 8, we may not be clear concerning what it talks about. Now the Life-study of Romans tells us clearly that the subject of Romans 8 is that the Triune God is dispensing Himself into the tripartite man. If you could ask Martin Luther about the subject of Romans, he would tell you that Romans speaks about justification. His explanation would stop at only the first station. Hence, we all have to diligently learn the truth. This is what is meant by the Chinese saying, “Reading is always beneficial.” As long as we open the Life-study messages and study them every day, regardless of what chapters or verses they cover, we will profit from them.
By the Lord’s grace we have already translated the Life-studies into many different languages. This is the proper way to propagate the truth. However, not only should we propagate the Life-studies as literature to other countries; we should also spread them into the saints’ homes. All the saints among us should have the Life-studies on display everywhere in their homes, such as on the coffee table and the nightstand. In this way the atmosphere of pursuing the truth will flourish among the saints.
Today the reason that the gospel of the Lord cannot be spread is that we do not know the truth. The truth is the gospel. If we speak the truth in every place, we are in fact preaching the gospel in every place. The entire Bible is the gospel of God, but it seems that we do not understand this. Now we have to turn this situation around so that all the saints among us will know how to speak the truth and preach the gospel. This will provide the Lord a broad way to fulfill His desire.
The co-workers in particular have to be constituted to the extent that they “forget” the heavens, the earth, who they are, and how many children they have. They should know only the Bible, the Life-studies, and the explanations in the footnotes in the Recovery Version of the New Testament. If there were one hundred co-workers among us who really knew the truth and who spoke it every day in the meetings and in the saints’ homes, this would not only change the atmosphere of the church but would even shake the whole society. If the saints have Life-study messages everywhere in their homes, their spiritual condition will be greatly revived. If they have the Lord’s word, it will be impossible for them not to be revived. This kind of prospect is not hard to attain. As long as we are willing to take the lead to encourage the whole church to read and to absorb what they have read, revival will definitely come.
Some people say that it is not easy to read the Word because they often forget what they have read. They also say that if they have to read the Life-study messages, it will be even more difficult. What they say is not wrong; to be constituted with the truth surely requires that we pay a price. One person’s way of studying, however, may be different from another’s. In order to be constituted with the truth, we need to learn some secrets. Consider learning English as an example. Although I studied English for only two to three years in my youth, I had a proper method of study. As a result, I gained a great advantage in learning English. Thus, I was able to understand the English Bible. Now I can understand every English book. If there are some unfamiliar words, I only need to look them up in the dictionary. This is all because of my proper learning in my youth. It is the same with studying the truth. Every book of the Bible contains the spirit of its writer. On the one hand, we have to study the meaning of the words thoroughly; on the other hand, we have to touch the spirit of the writer.
Second, in studying the truth you cannot be isolated from others. You have to go out to visit and fellowship with the churches. There is a Chinese saying that says, “Traveling ten thousand miles is better than reading ten thousand books.” Fellowship widens our horizons. For instance, if we are studying Romans, and the church in Taipei is also pursuing Romans, then we should go to visit them and receive help from them through fellowship.
Third, we have to learn to use the appropriate reference books and concordances. For example, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible has numbered and identified more than five thousand six hundred Greek words that are used in the New Testament. At present, almost all the Bible expositors and those who pursue the truth use this book. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament written by Gerhard Kittel and Word Studies in the New Testament by M. R. Vincent both contain deep analysis on the meaning and usage of every significant word in the New Testament. We have to know how to use these reference books. Fourth, if possible, it is best to learn Greek, which is the language in which the New Testament was written. If we can understand it, it will be very helpful in our study of the truth.
The Lord Jesus said that the truth shall set us free (John 8:32). There is light in the truth, and once we receive the light, we are set free. During the time of the Lord Jesus, the Pharisees and lawyers also read the Old Testament, but they studied only the letter without the light of the truth. However, once the Lord Jesus gave the explanation, the truth was revealed. For example, there was a group of Sadducees who did not believe that there was such a thing as resurrection, so they went to question the Lord. The Lord Jesus said to them that in Exodus 3:6, the section concerning the burning bush, Moses clearly pointed out that God is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. The Lord also told them that God is not the God of the dead but of the living (Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38). Since God called Himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, this proves that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who had died, will be resurrected. This example shows us that the Lord Jesus’ knowledge of the truth and the light of the Scriptures was very thorough, and the way He expounded the Scriptures was not only according to letter but also according to the life and power implied within them. This is also the focus of the Life-studies. Thus, we must make an effort to read the Bible and study the Life-studies in order to know the truth.
We do not need to worry about the shortage of material or about the way for us to pursue the truth. The only need is for us to be willing to spend the time and effort on this matter. If we all rise up to study the truth and to know and pursue the Lord, this will bring in a big, long-lasting, and genuine revival of the church.
