We need to Care for the Saints in Love and Minister Christ as the Sin-Dealing Life to them

As those learning to shepherd the flock of God, we need to take care of the saints in everything and in every way for the dispensing of Christ into them; we need to contact the saints and minister Christ as the sin-dealing life into them, for the life of Christ is a life that deals with any sin.

Christ is right now in His heavenly ministry shepherding His flock; He shepherds the churches corporately and the saints individually by ministering the life supply to us and caring for us in an all-inclusive, tender way.

We as believers in Christ are the recipients of the Lord’s shepherding both directly and indirectly; on one hand, Christ as the Head shepherds us, and on the other hand, the faithful believers who are one with Christ also shepherd us.

We need to enter in Christ’s wonderful shepherding in His heavenly ministry; we need to be one with Him in His shepherding and learn to shepherd the saints according to God.

Even as He shepherds us, so we should shepherd others. Actually, our being shepherded by Him is a commission for us to shepherd others also.

However, for us to be able to shepherd others, we need to be delivered from caring mainly for ourselves and learn to care for others.

We need to care for the souls of the saints around us, being one with the Lord to care for the welfare of their inward being and exercising to oversee the condition of their real person.

Amen, we need to care not only for the outward needs of the saints, which are more obvious and practical but also for their inward needs, that they would be a in a good condition not only outwardly but also inwardly.

On one hand, we need to be interested in their situation and help them to the best of our ability; on the other hand, we need to care for their soul, meeting their inner needs.

The only way we can do this is by first allowing the Lord to shepherd us and minister to us; we first need to enjoy the rich life supply from the Lord and have our soul made happy in Him, and then we can cooperate with Him to shepherd others also.

May we be those who do not merely wait for others to shepherd us but even more, cooperate with the Lord to shepherd others by dispensing Christ into them according to their need.

It is only the ministering of Christ into others according to their need and in oneness with the Lord that we can shepherd others according to God.

We need to Contact the Saints and Minister Christ to them as the Sin-Dealing Life

Sometimes in the church life, we notice that there is a brother or a sister that commits sins and even lives in sin; if we know such a thing, we should not speak about it to others but rather, we need to pray for him and learn to minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to him.

We cannot deal with others’ sins, neither should we expose their sins either publicly or in person; rather, we need to minister Christ to them so that He as the sin-dealing life would deal with his sins.

First, we need to enjoy the Lord and allow Him to deal with any sin; we need to be dealt with by enjoying Christ’s sin-dealing life.

We need to open to the Lord, enjoy Him in His Word, and allow Him to shine in us and on us; then, we need to allow Him to simply flow out of us.

In Lev. 10:17 we are told that the priests need to eat the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, which is most holy; in this way, they bear the iniquity of the assembly and make expiation for them before Jehovah.

As believers in Christ, we are priests of God, and we can bring God to man and man to God.

Also, when we notice that the saints sin, we can bear them before the Lord in prayer and then, as we contact the saints, we can minister Christ to them as the sin-dealing life.

As we enjoy Christ as the sin-dealing life, we have the capacity to bear the iniquity of God’s people. It is not our job to expose others or criticize them; criticism, judgment, and exposing others’ sins and faults only bring in discord and offenses.

May the Lord save us from pointing out someone’s fault and condemning him; may we be rescued from doing the job of the accuser of the brothers, Satan, in pointing out others’ sins and faults.

A person who sins usually has his heart hardened (Heb. 3:13); if we are going to minister Christ to him, we need to trust in the Lord that we would have the grace with the Spirit to soften his hardened heart.

For us to be able to do this, we ourselves have to be dealt with first, so that we don’t come to others with a judging or a superior attitude but one with the Lord, being humble.

We need to learn how to soften others’ hearts and warm them up. Once their heart is softened, we can minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to them, and this life will work within them.

We need to contact the Lord and then contact the saints to minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to them; this will shepherd them, for it is this Christ in them that will deal with any sin.

We don’t need to mention others’ faults or sins; we simply need to minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to them, and this life will operate in them, supply them, and cause them to deal with any sin and fault.

This, however, takes time; recovering the sinning saints takes time, it’s not an overnight matter.

Sometimes it may take six months, eight months, or even a year to recover a sinning brother. We may even have to fellowship with another burdened saint and pray together to minister life to the sinning one, and together shepherd this one.

We need to do our best to recover a fallen saint; when a brother is overtaken in some offense, we who are more spiritual should restore him (Gal. 6:1).

Even as the Lord goes after the one lost sheep to recover it and bring it back to the flock, so we need to cooperate with His wonderful shepherding to minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to the saints for their shepherding and being restored.

We do this in the Body and as the Body, in fellowship and coordination; the Lord in His Body moves in more than one saint to care for and shepherd a sinning one, and we can fellowship and pray together how to do this.

If two of us can work together to help a sinning one be recovered, this is a great help to the church life.

This restores the fellowship among the saints and keeps the oneness of the Body.

Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with Your wonderful shepherding by ministering Christ as the sin-dealing life to others. Amen, Lord, we come to You to first be dealt with by You as we enjoy Your sin-dealing life; deal with any sin, trespass, and fault in us. Soften our heart, Lord, and cause us to have a soft and humble attitude as we contact the saints to minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to them. Make us one with You in Your shepherding as we care for the saints. Save us from exposing their sins and mistakes; save us from criticizing or judging the saints who sin and make mistakes. Oh Lord, grant us to have Your loving and caring attitude as we contact the saints to minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to them.

Caring for the Saints in love for the Dispensing of Christ into them to Keep the Oneness of the Spirit among the saints

We need to learn to take care of the saints in everything and in every way for the dispensing of Christ into them.

The Lord needs to advance in us and cause us to grow in life and be perfected to the point that we minister Christ to the saints to meet their needs.

We do this by contacting the saints and visiting them regularly and inviting them to our home for meals, and in our fellowship, with them, we can minister Christ to them (1 Tim. 5:1-2; 2 Chron. 1:10; Col. 1:28- 29; Jude 12; John 12:1-11).

When we open our home to the saints, we cherish them; as they are warmed up and cherished by the meal we have together, we can nourish them with something of Christ.

May we all learn to care for the saints in love for the dispensing of Christ into them; this will keep the oneness of the Spirit among the saints.

The oneness can be maintained only in love by the Spirit. If we only point out others’ faults and criticize them, if we judge others in our heart or in fellowship, we build up division and destroy the oneness.

But if we care for the saints in love to dispense Christ as the sin-dealing life into them, the problems among the saints will be gone after a period of time.

If we do this, we bear the iniquity of the people of God and also solve the problems of the people of God by ministering Christ to them.

May we all be diligent to keep the oneness and endeavor to live a life of love in the church life, caring for one another in the Lord.

Mere knowledge is not enough, for knowledge puffs up and kills, but love builds up (1 Cor. 8:1; 2 Cor. 3:6).

May we just love the Lord and love one another, living a life of love in the church life.

The primary thing is not to make sure everyone does the right thing, reads the Bible, and regularly attends the meeting; the primary thing is to love the Lord and love the saints, whether they are good or bad, with the same love.

As long as someone is a believer in Christ, he is a member in the church, and we should love him with the same love with which we love the other saints.

Loving the saints with the same love, even with the Lord’s love, will kill the germs, destroy the problems, and build a permanent, lasting oneness of the Spirit.

The reason people fall into sin is because of the shortage of life; for them to be recovered, we should give them life.

We can give life to others through our life-dispensing speaking each time we meet them.

May we learn to shepherd the saints according to God, ministering life to them and helping them to grow in life.

May we learn to pray for the saints so that we may minister life to them; instead of condemning, judging, or criticising them, we should pray and give life to them.

What we all need is more life; we need to be shepherded in life by others, and we need to minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to others, injecting others with life.

Once the proper medicine is injected into a sick person, the medicine will take care of the healing of that person.

As long as we inject others with Christ as the healing medicine, even without touching others’ sins and problems, there will be a healing going on, and they will be recovered.

Lord Jesus, we want to learn to take care of the saints in everything and in every way for the dispensing of Christ into them. Amen, Lord, we open to You and we allow You to work Yourself into us; fill us with Yourself as life, and cause the level of the divine life to grow in us. We want to learn from You, Lord, to minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to the saints to meet their needs. We open to You, dear Lord, and we bring the saints before You; make us those who minister life to them, dispensing Christ into them for the divine life to operate in them and cause them to advance with the Lord. Amen, Lord Jesus, make us those who minister Christ to meet the need of all kinds of people by contacting them and visiting them regularly, and by inviting them to our home for meals.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a message given by the brothers on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1988, vol. 3, “A Timely Word“, ch. 1, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Meeting God’s Need and Present needs in the Lord’s Recovery, week 5, entitled, Our Need to Walk in Newness of Life, to Serve in Newness of Spirit, and to Be Renewed in Our Inner Man Day by Day.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – To the lost world minister Christ, / Who is your life and your all, / Imparting Christ to all you meet, / All fallen ones, great or small. (Hymns #922)
  – Tend to His sheep and care for all their needs! / Bring God’s supply, which out of love proceeds! / Reach those whose burdens seem too much to bear! / Nurture their heart and soul through loving care! / Our Father’s care meets every inward need, / Binds all our wounds till we are buoyant, freed. / His tender love heals broken, wounded hearts, / Restores communion and His life imparts. (Song on, Shepherd the Flock)
  – In the church of Jesus there is love for you, / Love most pure and tender, love most deep and true; / Why should you be lonely, why for friendship sigh, / When the church of Jesus has a full supply? (Hymns #1278)