We need to see and practice the crucial points concerning the light and revelation that we have received from the Lord regarding the scriptural way to meet and to serve for the building up of the Body of Christ.
This week in our deeper study of what is the Genuine Church Life according to the Bible we come to the matter of the Scriptural way to meet and to serve for the building up of the Body of Christ.
As believers in Christ, we need to measure ourselves not only according to the moral law of God but also according to the law of God’s house (see Ezek. 43:10-12), the church according to God’s heart together with all its features and specifications as seen in the Bible.
We need to measure ourselves according to the charter of God’s house, checking to see whether all saints in the church life practically live under the headship of Christ; whether our church life is a house of feasting with all saints serving, testifying, and loving the Lord; and whether we are in the constant circulation of the divine life, the fellowship of the Body, in the church life.
When we check ourselves according to the pattern of God’s house, we will be exposed and humiliated, and our response will be, Lord, I want what You want: I want the church life, for it is the genuine church life that satisfies You today!
The practical expression of the church is the meetings; do our meetings match the blueprint of God’s house?
Yes, the Lord did promise in Matt. 18:20 that, wherever two or three are gathered in His name, He is in their midst, but do our meetings in the church life match the standard in the New Testament?
Every meeting – no matter the size – should be for the building up of the Body of Christ. The Lord has revealed to us what the God-ordained way to meet and serve is, but are we up to standard in all the meetings of the local churches?
Whether we have vital group meetings, we prophesy in the meetings of the church, we preach the gospel by visiting people, or we care for the new ones, the principle is the same – we must make all the saints the members of the Body of Christ, with everyone working, everyone functioning according to His measure, for the building up of the Body of Christ.
No matter what activities we do in the church life or what kind of meetings we have, we need to bring out the organic function of all the saints so that all may function in their measure for the building up of the Body.
There is something in each member of the Body – an organic function, which is a function in life, a function that the divine life within him has; we need to foster the organic function of every saint, whether in gospel preaching through visitation, group meetings, perfecting, and prophesying. It is good to tell the Lord,
Lord Jesus, we love You and we pour out our heart of love upon You in the church life. We are here because You have the first place in our heart. May our church life be under the headship of Christ and be a house of feasting. We love the church life, Lord, for You desire the church life. Recover more the genuine church life. We want to sit at Your feet, listen to Your word, open our heart to You so that You may open Your heart to us. Lord, may You gain what You are after int his age. Recover the genuine church life for the building up of the Body of Christ!
Seeing and Practicing the Crucial Points of the Scriptural Way to Meet for the Building up of the Body of Christ
The traditional way to meet in Christianity annuls the organic function of the believers as members of the Body of Christ, and it replaces it with a clergy-laity class; this way matches our natural preference and taste.
We may not meet in the traditional way in the church life, but we may have a modification of this way, something that meets our preference and taste.
We must see and practice the crucial points concerning the light and revelation we have received from the Lord regarding the scriptural way to meet and to serve for the building up of the Body of Christ.
First we must see and then we must practice; the visions and revelations in God’s word are the base of what we practice, and whatever we practice has to match by what we see in God’s word.
Functioning as Priests of the Gospel – Preaching the Gospel and Saving People by Visitation
Paul said concerning the believers, I have begotten you through the gospel (1 Cor. 4:15); his preaching of the gospel begot the believers as sons of God, for he dispensed the divine life into them.
As Paul said in Rom. 15:16, we all are laboring priests of the gospel; the Lord put us together with some other saints, and He sends us out two by two to visit others and preach the gospel in their homes so that the kingdom of God would increase (Luke 10:1-6).
Praise the Lord that, one day, someone came to visit us and preach the gospel to us. We need to be those who welcome the new neighbours in the neighbourhood and speak to them about the gospel.
We need to be those who have neighbourhood children meeting to teach the children the word of God, and thus reach their parents for their salvation. We need go with the saints to knock on doors and speak the gospel to people, saving them by visiting them.
Maybe not all the saints can go, but those who go with a vision and a burden, they will bear fruit corporately. Having big gospel meetings with one man speaking and the other listening annuls the function of the saints.
All the saints should preach the gospel to their friends, neighbours, and relatives, and then once a month we should have an in-reaping meeting, where we get together to hear a gospel message; this will edify the new ones and will strengthen and encourage the saints.
We should not depend on a gospel meeting but all the saints should preach the gospel!
Lord Jesus, may we be the functioning priests of the gospel today, those who speak to our neighbours, friends, and relatives concerning Christ and the gospel for their salvation! Save us from relying on others to preach the gospel, and cause us to rise up and preach the gospel in our daily life, functioning in our measure in the Body to bear fruit corporately!
Nourishing and Cherishing by Meeting in the New Believers’ Home so that our Fruit may Remain
In Acts 5:42 we see that the believers met day by day and from house to house; furthermore, the apostle Paul also exhorted the saints in Ephesus both publicly and from house to house – both corporately and one by one, even with tears.
After begetting new believers, we should go and visit them in their homes to nourish them and cherish them. The Lord Jesus commissioned Peter and us all by saying, Do you love Me?… Feed My lambs (John 21:15).
Paul and the apostles were gentle in the midst of the believers, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children (1 Thes. 2:7).
Peter also says that the believers should long for the guileless milk of the word that by it they may grow unto salvation (1 Pet. 2:2); we need to visit the new ones and help them love God’s word, eat the Lord in His word, and enjoy Christ every day.
After someone is born again through our preaching of the gospel, we should go visit him to cherish him in the Lord’s humanity and nourish him in the Lord’s divinity to help him grow in life.
Our way of contacting people is not merely in big meetings but one-on-one, even as the Lord saved us and personally cares for us through members of His Body. When we contact people by visiting them, we will stir up their function to continue to do what we do.
Teaching and Perfecting the Saints through the Vital Group Meetings unto the Building up of the Body
We must teach and perfect the saints through the vital group meetings unto the New Testament work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ (see Heb. 10:24-25; Eph. 4:11-12).
In our vital group meetings as believers we need to have mutual fellowship and intercession, mutual care and shepherding, mutual teaching and studying the truth, and mutual instruction in the pursuit of the growth in the spiritual life.
This should be done for the promotion of the preaching of the gospel, the care for the new ones, the conducting of the group meetings, and all other kinds of serve in the church life.
As we get together as vital groups in the homes of the saints, we need to do everything in mutuality for the bringing out of the organic function of all the saints. Someone may have a question – and we all need to learn to answer, not looking at the older or more mature one to give the answer.
Our vital group meetings should be filled with mutual teaching and perfecting unto the building up of the Body of Christ. We need to endeavor to build up an atmosphere of mutuality in the group meetings, each one asking questions, opening to others, and learning to answer questions.
We shouldn’t just read the Bible the whole time, neither should we read an entire message during this time; we should all learn to function, open our situation, ask questions, dig in God’s word, intercede for one another, fellowship concerning things, and preach the gospel and care for others.
Whatever we do should be for the promoting of the organic function in the saints. The vital group meetings are the main part of the life and service of the church.
If we would have such meetings of mutuality with mutual fellowship and intercession, shepherding, care, and pursuit of the growth in life, the saints will be attracted, and the group meetings will become the main part of the church life.
Lord Jesus, recover the vital group meetings in the homes of the saints in mutuality for the teaching and perfecting of the saints unto the building up of the Body of Christ! May our group meetings be filled with mutual fellowship and intercession, mutual care and shepherding, mutual teaching and studying the truth, and mutual instruction in the pursuit of the growth in the spiritual life. May all the saints learn to function in their measure in mutuality for the mutual perfecting and teaching in the group meetings!
Pursuing and Desiring Prophesying in the Church Meetings for the Building up of the Church
We must lead the saints to pursue and desire prophesying in the church meetings, so that they all would be speaking for the Lord, speaking forth the Lord, supplying life to others, and speaking and listening to one another in mutuality for the building up of the saints and the church (1 Cor. 14:1, 3-5).
When we come together on the Lord’s day to prophesy, we all need to be mutually listening and speaking. The prophesying meeting should spark something in the saints.
Every believer should first be cared for in his home by the visiting saints, be in group meetings to be perfected and taught, and then desire prophesying in the church meetings to speak for the Lord and speak the Lord into others.
It should be our aspiration and preparation all throughout the week that we would prophesy on the Lord’s day, speaking and listening to one another in mutuality for the building up of the church.
This kind of prophesying is what every believer can and should do (1 Cor. 14:31, 24), and this kind of prophesying for the building up of the church is the most excelling of all gifts, being highly recommended by Paul in 1 Cor. 14 (see vv. 12, 39).
Lord Jesus, put in us a desire to pursue and desire prophesying in the church meetings! May we desire and pursue speaking for the Lord, speaking forth the Lord, and supplying the Lord to others. Oh Lord, may there be much speaking and listening to one another in mutuality in the prophesying meeting, so that the church and the saints would be built up! May we be those who prophesy for the building up of the church!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ricky Acosta for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1989, vol. 2, “The New Testament Priests of the Gospel,” chs. 6, 8, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Genuine Church Life (2017 Thanksgiving Conference), week 5, The Scriptural Way to Meet and to Serve for the Building Up of the Body of Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
# We must ever preach the gospel / By perfecting in the homes / Through the word and prayer and singing, / Never laboring alone. / We must ever preach the gospel, / Learning how to prophesy / For the building of the Body, / Thus the Lord to glorify. (Song on, We must ever preach the gospel)
# As the members we’ve been quickened / Not as individuals free; / We must always serve together, / All related mutually. (Hymns #913)
# I want to encourage you all, / Without your supply I would fall. / Never think that your Christ is small. / Christ needs you, and so do we all. (Song on, I’m thankful that God has placed me)
About aGodMan
The words beget, nourish, and teach can all be found in the Bible. For example, Paul says, “I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15). He does not say “saved you,” but “begotten you.”…By dispensing the life of God into you, I beget you. After begetting, there is the nourishing. The Lord said to Peter in John 21, “Do you love Me?…Feed My lambs” (v. 15). Paul also says, “We were gentle in your midst, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children” (1 Thes. 2:7)….Paul cared for the saints like a nursing mother would care for her own baby. Peter says to the saints in 1 Peter 2:2 that believers should “as newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation.” When a new one is born, he needs to be nourished. Only then will he grow. The third step is the teaching. Paul says that he was not just a nursing mother to nourish and cherish but a father to entreat, console, and teach. Ephesians 4 says, “He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints” (vv. 11-12). Teaching perfects people. In this way not only do the saints grow in Christ, but they also mature in life.
[This teaching and perfecting occurs mostly in] the small group meeting, [which] should include five main items: fellowship, intercession, care, teaching of the truth, and help in the growth in life….After we come together, we should spontaneously fellowship. The fellowship will bring in the need for intercession, and from this fellowship and intercession the mutual care, concern, and shepherding will develop. After that there will be some studying and teaching of the truth, with the rendering of some help in life….All this must be done in an organic and spontaneous way. The mutual fellowship should be open and spontaneous. The mutual intercession also should be sincere and spontaneous….This kind of organic meeting is what Hebrews 10:25 describes as “our own assembling together.” Such a meeting is like a family gathering with spontaneous, mutual fellowship in which some may ask questions and others may all answer. There is mutual teaching and mutual learning….Whether a person has been saved for a long time or for a short time, he can speak like all the others.
After the saints are perfected, have knowledge in the truth, and have the experience in life, they will spontaneously be able to speak for God, that is, to prophesy. First Corinthians 14 shows us that prophesying is the most excelling gift because it builds up the church….Everyone should be working, because 1 Corinthians 14:31 says, “You can all prophesy one by one.” (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1989, vol. 2, pp. 83, 62, 83)
主に感謝します! アーメン
[Thank you Lord! Amen ]
O Lord bring us up to Your standard!