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There are several basic matters that we must know and practice in serving the Lord. These basic matters include preaching the gospel, helping new believers to have the assurance of salvation, and leading them to live the Christian life. Although it cannot be said that this is a fixed rule, we should not neglect these matters when we shepherd new believers. We must begin with preaching the gospel. After we bring forth new believers through the gospel, we should help them to know the assurance of salvation. We must use solid proofs so that they know clearly, without a doubt, that they have been saved by grace, they belong to Christ, and they are children of God. Following this, we need to lead the new believers to live the Christian life by helping them with items such as praying, reading the Bible, walking according to the spirit, and knowing the anointing. If we are well equipped in these three basic matters, we will have results when we contact people with the gospel.
Before we continue our fellowship, let me first say a word about the training. The brothers and sisters in the training must arrive on time; you must not be late. Being late to a meeting is the worst habit that a Christian can have; it indicates disrespect to the Lord and indifference toward the meeting. If the president were to come to the meeting or if he were to invite us to attend a gathering, we would never be late. Being late shows indifference toward the gathering and disrespect to the one who invited us. In the present atmosphere of so-called religious freedom, Christians have become accustomed to arriving late to meetings and leaving early without any feeling. We must realize that the Lord’s presence is in the meetings; the Lord Himself is in our midst. Hence, we should demand of ourselves that we arrive five minutes before the scheduled meeting time. Since we have the desire to serve the Lord, we should set a good example by not arriving late to any meeting.
Furthermore, in the training there is no so-called honor or shame. Therefore, we should not be afraid of making mistakes. When we do something right, we can miss an opportunity to be adjusted. If we do something wrong, we learn by being corrected. If we do not make mistakes now, we will make a mistake later in our life, but by then it may be too late to be adjusted. However, if we are corrected now, we will receive the benefit.
In 1931 I wrote articles for The Morning Star magazine in my locality. Two years later I went to Shanghai and was placed by Brother Nee in the literature work. After a short time I was asked to be the chief editor of The Christian magazine when publication was resumed. I learned many things, and I also taught others. Many of the brothers and sisters who came to serve were either high-school graduates or were studying in college. I needed to train them before they could copy or proofread the manuscripts. Through this kind of training I learned many lessons.
We must learn to be accurate in our service. A little mistake can have serious consequences. This is true in knowing the Bible, in expounding the truths, and in spiritual experiences. It is also true in shepherding people and in administrating the church. I advise the young people to be serious in their learning while they are still young and in the stage of learning.
We must also be accurate in listening to others. We should not only listen accurately to what they say but also correctly understand what they mean. Generally, when people listen to others, they often inaccurately hear what is spoken, and their understanding is not according to what others mean but according to their own consideration and concept. As a result, they completely misunderstand others. In our service to the Lord we must understand those whom we shepherd. Otherwise, we may think that someone does not have a problem when he has a problem, or we may think that someone has a problem when he does not have a problem. Our helping others in spiritual matters may be likened to the diagnosis of a medical doctor. If the doctor’s diagnosis is inaccurate, his prescription will be wrong. We must learn to be accurate. In the character training that I held in 1953, I listed thirty items of the character of a serving one. The first group of character items consists of being genuine, exact (or, accurate), and strict. In order to serve the Lord, our character needs to be trained in many aspects. We should not think that the education we received included our character. The education that we received was rather shallow. In order to serve the Lord, we must be trained in our character.
Concerning shepherding new believers to live the Christian life, in chapter 1 we spoke about praying, reading the Bible, meeting, preaching the gospel, fellowshipping with the Lord, consecration, walking according to the spirit, and knowing the anointing. In addition to these items we should lead the new ones to experience Christ as life, that is, to know that Christ is their life. This is to lead them to have a practical Christian life. This is the most important and central matter in our shepherding. The center of the Christian life is in the experience of Christ as life.
In order to experience Christ as life, we need to be regenerated. A person who is not regenerated cannot experience Christ, because he does not have Christ as life. When we are regenerated, the Spirit of God brings Christ into us to be our life. In other words, as soon as we are regenerated, the Holy Spirit enters into us and imparts the divine life into us. This life is the life of God, that is, Christ Himself. Hence, Colossians 3:4 says, “Christ our life,” and Galatians 2:20 says, “It is Christ who lives in me.” These two verses are crucial. When we shepherd new believers, we must open the Bible and ask them to read these two verses, showing them that Christ lives in us to be our life.
We can even take them a step further and tell them that John 3:36 says, “He who believes into the Son has eternal life.” This eternal life is Christ. The Son in this verse is the Lord Jesus, and to believe into Him means to receive Him. When we believe into the Son, we receive the Lord into us and thereby have eternal life. Theory or philosophy cannot give us eternal life. Only the Lord Jesus in His salvation can be our life.
We must help the new believers see that Christ is not only on the throne, but He is also in us. He is the heavenly Christ on the throne of God, and He is also the pneumatic Christ in our spirit to be our life. Hence, we must point out that Christ is the Spirit. Christ resurrected from the dead, and in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. When He died on the cross, He was the Savior, the Redeemer. Now He is the life-giving Spirit so that when we believe into Him, He can enter into us to be our life.
We must help the new believers to see that Christ is the life-giving Spirit to be our life. Otherwise, it will be difficult to lead them to live Christ, to live in the life of Christ, and to experience Christ as life. This is the greatest shortage among Christians. Thousands of believers love the Lord but do not know that the Lord is in them as the Spirit to be their life. As a result, their love for the Lord and their pursuit of the Lord are rather religious. On the one hand, we should stress the fact of the Lord’s being the life-giving Spirit to be our life, and on the other hand, our experience of this must increase and become richer.
When we shepherd new believers to experience Christ as life, we also need to tell them that every believer has a regenerated spirit, a spirit that has been enlivened with the life of God. We have given many messages concerning this matter, including messages in the Life-studies of the New Testament. We should read these messages. In particular, we should read the Life-study messages on Romans 8. Then we will be equipped to lead new believers to know, in a brief and concise way, their regenerated spirit. We need to tell them that man is precious because he has a spirit. Man has a body without and a spirit within, and in between is the soul. It is by the spirit that we contact the Lord Jesus, who is the life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit. If we want to experience God and take Him as our life, we must be in our spirit and not in our mind.
We can explain further with an illustration. When you argue with someone, you are either in your emotion or in your mind but never in your spirit. The more you are in your mind, the easier it is for you to become angry. Eventually, anger will erupt from your emotion. Therefore, when you want to have an argument or are about to get angry, you should not act according to your mind or your emotion. Instead, you should act according to your spirit. In Romans 8:4 Paul says that we should walk according to the spirit. When we are about to become angry, we should immediately turn to our spirit. When we are in our spirit, we are not in our mind or in our emotion; we are in the Lord Jesus. Since the Lord is the life-giving Spirit, when we are in our spirit, we experience Him as our life. At such a time it is likely that the Spirit will lead us to stop arguing and to go to our room to pray.
The sisters should have this kind of experience when they go shopping. They must follow the Spirit and walk according to the indwelling Spirit. This is to take the Lord Jesus as their life. They should always fellowship with the Lord and pray. In particular, they should pray-read the Lord’s Word. Pray-reading the Word will help them to turn away from so many people, things, and matters that are outside the Lord and to turn to the Lord. In this way their thoughts, behavior, and chores will be done from the spirit. This is to take the Lord as their life. This is also to experience Christ as life. We need to stress this point again and again. In his Epistles Paul speaks thoroughly concerning this point. In Galatians 2:20 he says that Christ lives in us, and in verse 19 of chapter 4 he says that Christ is being formed in us. In Philippians 3:9 Paul tells us to live so that we may be found in Christ. Paul also says that Christ should be magnified in us so that we can say, “To me, to live is Christ” (1:20-21). This is to experience Christ.
To experience Christ in this way is to do the will of God. We do not have to focus on doing the will of God. As long as we live Christ, we are doing the will of God. Furthermore, we will be sanctified, overcoming, spiritual, and one spirit with the Lord. Thus, we will remain in the church, participate in the church life, and live in the Body, coordinating and serving in harmony with all the saints. Experiencing Christ as life is the foundation not only of our spiritual life but also of our coordination and service in the church.
When we shepherd a new believer, we need to pay attention to several matters. First, we should not act like a teacher and give lessons or admonitions. We are not his teacher; we are only a saint who has led him to salvation and who is also helping him to live the Christian life, to experience Christ, and to experience the growth in life. We must have such an attitude and spirit. We should speak with an ordinary tone and not as a professor giving a lecture.
Second, we should speak clearly concerning regeneration and let the new believer know that through regeneration Christ lives in him to be his life. When we speak of Christ being life, we must stress the matter of regeneration, for it is only through regeneration that Christ can come into us.
Third, when we quote the Bible, we should avoid being complicated. The teaching concerning the experience of Christ as life is relatively deep and mysterious. If we are complicated, the new believer will be distracted and be in his mind.
Fourth, we should endeavor to help him touch his spirit. This requires practice. Experiencing Christ as life is a crucial point. As a rule, we should practice daily to experience Christ and take Him as life. This requires us to continually exercise until we become skillful.
One brother testified that when he was in the brothers’ house shepherding the high-school brothers, he exhorted them not only to study but also to be trained in their character and in their pursuit of spiritual matters. He told them to learn to be joined to the Lord in every matter and to live according to the inner sense of life by calling on the Lord’s name. For instance, they should not use someone else’s toothpaste to brush their teeth, nor should they take up too much space with their towels. Strictly speaking, however, in order for these practices to be proper, they must be the manifestation of experiencing Christ as life. When I was young, I met a group of people who were not Christians. They had a cultivation according to the Chinese ethical philosophers, and thus their conduct was very proper. After I was saved, I met some saints who loved the Lord, but their outward conduct could not match that of the ethical group. These Christians loved the Lord, but they did not walk or live according to the indwelling Spirit. If we do not walk and live according to the indwelling Spirit, all the outward teaching concerning our character becomes regulation. However, if we walk according to the Spirit and live Christ, what we live out will correspond to the teaching concerning character.
The cultivation of a person’s character, at most, can develop the bright virtue, as taught by Chinese ethical philosophers. However, as saved ones, we should walk according to the Spirit and live Christ. If we truly walk according to the Spirit, the standard of our living will be higher than the standard of human morality. Human cultivation of character is merely according to dead regulations, whereas a life that is lived out according to the Spirit is the expression of Christ’s life. Therefore, when we serve in the brothers’ or sisters’ houses, we should not make outward demands, such as allotting a specific space for their towels. Rather, we should lead them in life, teaching them how to touch their spirit and to do things according to their spirit, not according to convenience. We must realize that as saved ones, we have the Lord living in us, and He is leading us in every matter.
In the training center used by Brother Nee in Shanghai, there was a communal bathroom with water basins. The training required that we wash and wipe the basins clean after each use. Some brothers wiped the basins hastily and carelessly. They did not keep the regulation, because they did not walk according to the Spirit. If we walk according to the Spirit, even if there is no outward regulation, the Lord would lead us to keep the basins clean. When we walk according to the Spirit, we express something of life, something living, and not dead regulation. Others may think that we have a very high standard of cultivation, but we are walking according to the Spirit.
When I was young, older family members often taught us not to talk too much. They would say maxims, such as “When eating, do not talk,” and “The mouth is the primary source of calamities.” However, to live Christ is not to use maxims to restrict ourselves. To live Christ is to let Christ live in us. When He speaks, we speak, and when He does not speak, we do not speak. Our living and conduct are not according to the cultivation of ethical philosophers or maxims passed down from older generations. Rather, we live Christ entirely according to the Spirit. We can have a particular living by taking Christ as life; hence, it is altogether something living. The cultivation of character taught by ethical philosophers is dead in nature; it is merely an improvement in one’s behavior.
Our practice should not be aimed at merely being correct outwardly. Rather, we should ask whether our correct behavior comes from cultivation or from Christ. If we walk according to the Spirit, there will be a situation in our living that is superior to that of the cultivation by ethical philosophers. Furthermore, our situation will be living and bright. This is most precious, and it is the kernel of the Lord’s recovery today. I hope that every brother and sister in the Lord’s recovery will live this kind of life. In the small group meetings we should speak more concerning taking Christ as life. We need to have more experience and more exercise in this matter.
