We can enter into a new revival by participating in Christ’s heavenly ministry to feed His lambs and shepherd them in order to take care of God’s flock; we are learning to shepherd people according to the pattern of the Lord Jesus in His ministry to carry out God’s economy.
There are three main ways or steps for us to enter into a new revival, the revival that will bring the Lord back; such a revival is not a movement but a result of our daily living.
First, we need to see and live according to the high peak of the divine revelation; our daily living needs to be controlled by the vision of God’s eternal economy.
This means that we need to see and realize that God is dispensing Himself into us to regenerate us, transform us, and conform us to the image of Christ so that we may be built up in the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem.
Our daily living needs to be governed by the vision of God’s eternal economy concerning Christ and the church.
The result of living according to the highest peak of the divine revelation is that we enter into a new revival, for we will be revived every morning and overcoming every day.
Second, we need to live the life of a God-man; we need to imitate the Lord and follow His pattern of living a God-man life.
This doesn’t mean that we need to outwardly imitate Jesus and adjust ourselves according to what He has done and said; rather, it means that we need to eat the Lord and be molded into His pattern.
If we read the Gospels we see many examples of what kind of a pattern the Lord Jesus was; He did not live by His human life but denied Himself and lived by the divine life.
Right from the beginning of His ministry on earth, He went to John the Baptist and was baptized to fulfill all righteousness; He recognized that, according to His flesh, He was good for nothing except death and burial.
In everything that He did, He looked up to the Father as the source, and He didn’t speak anything of Himself but what the Father told Him.
He didn’t do what He wanted to do but what the Father told Him to do, even what the Father Himself was doing. He didn’t seek His own glory but the glory of the Father, expressing God in His human living.
In case after case, situation after situation, we see that the Lord Jesus lived a life of contacting God; He lived in the presence of God without ceasing.
Furthermore, He lived a life of contacting people, ministering God into them so that they may be released from the slavery of sin and be brought into the jubilee of God’s New Testament economy.
Such a One lives in us, and His living needs to become our living; we need to learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus, and we need to live the life of a God-man to enter into a new revival.
When the Lord gains a corporate God-man living, a model of living in God’s economy, there will be an ultimate revival that the world has never seen, and this will bring the Lord back.
Third, we need to enter into the Lord’s shepherding ministry, caring for the dear saints in love according to Christ, the Good Shepherd.
Learning to Shepherd People according to the Pattern of the Lord Jesus in His Ministry
We can enter into a new revival by participating in Christ’s heavenly ministry to feed His lambs and shepherd His sheep so that we may take care of God’s flock (John 21:15-17; 1 Pet. 2:25; 5:1-4; Heb. 13:20-21; Rev. 1:12-13).
The church is the flock of God, issuing in the Body of Christ.
When we shepherd others according to God, we cooperate with Christ in His heavenly ministry of shepherding. We need to shepherd people according to the pattern of the Lord Jesus in His ministry for carrying out God’s eternal economy (Matt. 9:36; John 10:11; Heb. 11:30; 1 Pet. 5:4).
On one hand, we need to live the life of a God-man; on the other hand, we need to shepherd God’s people according to the pattern of the Lord Jesus.
To shepherd people is to cherish them and nourish them according to the pattern of the Lord Jesus.
When He was on earth, He was a pattern to us; now, in the heavens, He is still shepherding us all for the carrying out of God’s economy to build up the Body of Christ.
The content of God’s entire New Testament economy is Christ as the Son of Man cherishing us and as the Son of God nourishing us.
Christ as the Son of Man is cherishing us by redeeming us from sin, accomplishing His judicial redemption through His death (1 Tim. 1:15; Eph. 1:7).
Christ as the Son of God is nourishing us to impart the divine life into us abundantly, carrying out His organic salvation in His resurrection (John 10:10; 1 Cor. 15:45; Eph. 5:29).
God sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins in His humanity (1 John 4:10) to cherish us; He sent His Son to us that we may have life and live through Him (v. 9) to nourish us.
God gave us His only begotten Son so that we may believe into Him and not perish through His redemption in His humanity (this is cherishing) but may have eternal life in His divinity (this is nourishing).
The first part of the New Testament speaks of Christ as the Son of Man who came to redeem us from sin, thus cherishing us (1 Tim. 1:15; all the four Gospels); the second part speaks of Christ as the Son of God imparting the divine life into us abundantly to nourish us (John 10:10).
For example, Christ had to pass through Samaria – He purposely detoured through Sychar to gain one immoral woman, cherishing her by asking her to give Him something to drink in order to nourish her with the flowing Triune God as the river of water of life (see John 4:3-13; Rev. 22:1).
He cherished and nourished those around Him, even making a detour from His original trip so that He may shepherd one immoral person and release her from her sins.
In John 8 we see another case – He as the One without sin did not condemn the adulterous woman but cherished her for the forgiveness of her sins judicially and for the setting her free from her sins organically (John 8:1-11, 32, 36).
By not condemning her but forgiving her sins judicially, the Lord cherished her; by telling her to go and sin no more, thus setting her free organically, He nourished her.
It is also significant that the first one saved by Christ through Christ’s crucifixion was a robber sentenced to death (Luke 23:42-43).
In Luke 19 the Lord Jesus went to Jericho just to visit and gain one person – Zaccheus, a chief tax collector, and His preaching was a shepherding (Luke 19:1-10).
He didn’t come to condemn or regulate man: He came to visit man, make man feel comfortable to be with Him, and feed man with something of the divine life so that man would be released from sin and enter into the kingdom of God to enjoy the jubilee.
The Lord cherished the parents by laying His hands on their children (Matt. 19:12-15); what a shepherding it was for the parents for the Lord to receive them and bless them!
We need to shepherd people according to the pattern of the Lord Jesus in His ministry for carrying out God’s eternal economy. Such a One now lives in us, and we can cooperate with Him in His shepherding ministry today.
Lord Jesus, we want to enter into a new revival by participating in Your heavenly ministry to feed Your lambs and shepherd Your sheep in order to take care of God’s flock. Amen, Lord, we just want to follow Your pattern in Your ministry to shepherd those around us according to God. Thank You for setting up a pattern of shepherding others by cherishing them in Your humanity and nourishing them in Your divinity. Thank You for coming to us in Your humanity to cherish us and with Your divinity to nourish us and give us life abundantly. Thank You for forgiving our sins judicially so that we may organically receive Your life and enjoy You as life. Thank You, Lord, for seeking us and finding us, not condemning us but receiving us, and giving us more of Yourself as life to shepherd us in Your organic salvation. We want to follow Your pattern to shepherd people today!
Cherishing People in the Humanity of Jesus and Nourishing them in the Divinity of Christ to Shepherd them by Loving them
The pattern of the Lord Jesus is laid before us, and we can clearly see and be infused with what He is and what He has done for us.
He didn’t just come to die for us and save us from eternal perdition; much more, He has come to shepherd us according to God, and we need to follow the pattern of the Lord Jesus to shepherd others.
However, if we look at our situation, many times we have to admit that we lack the Father’s loving and forgiving heart and we do not have the Savior’s shepherding and seeking spirit; the result is that we are barren, we do not bear fruit for the Lord.
In Matt. 12:33 the Lord said that it is by the fruit that a tree is known; we seem to be like a tree with no fruit.
We may know a lot of things, we may have a clear vision of God’s economy, and we may love the church life, enjoying the Lord with all the saints, but we may be barren, having no spiritual fruit before the Lord. Oh, Lord Jesus!
Instead of shepherding others, we may place regulations upon them or even condemn them, based on our knowledge of the word of God and of the ministry.
We lack love and shepherding; we lack a spirit of loving others and of shepherding others according to God.
When we meet some young ones in the Lord, we may impose certain rules on them or we may judge them based on what they wear and what they say. Oh, Lord Jesus!
May we all consider our ways (Hag. 1:5), realizing that the reason for our barrenness is not having the Father’s loving and forgiving heart and not having the Saviour’s shepherding and seeking spirit.
May we just learn from the Lord Jesus to shepherd others according to God, even love them with the love that the Lord has poured into our heart.
We need to cherish people and nourish them; we cherish them by making them feel happy and pleasant and comfortable, and we nourish them by feeding them with Christ.
We can cherish people to make them happy and to make them feel pleasant and comfortable in the humanity of Jesus (Matt. 9:10; Luke 7:34).
We can nourish people by feeding them with the all-inclusive Christ in His ministry of three stages – in the divinity of Christ (Matt. 24:45-47).
For this, we need to persevere; we need to first come to the Lord Jesus to be shepherded by Him by opening our heart to Him to be made happy and turning to our spirit to be nourished by Him.
Then, as those who are being shepherded by the Lord, we need to shepherd people according to the pattern of the Lord Jesus in His ministry by cherishing them in the humanity of Jesus and nourishing them in the divinity of Christ.
We need to learn from the Lord’s pattern not to condemn others but to make them feel comfortable with us so that we may have a way to minister something of Christ into them.
Just as the Lord did, we need to pay the price to care for others by cherishing and nourishing them so that they may be gained for the Lord.
Spending three years to gain one person for the Lord and in the church life is worthwhile; if we persevere in shepherding others according to the Lord’s pattern, we will bring much fruit for the Lord.
If we visit others in their homes to just spend time with them, make them happy, and minister something of Christ into them, the Lord will have a way to shepherd them and cause them to grow in life, be transformed, and be built up in the church as the Body of Christ.
Lord Jesus, save us from being barren; save us from not bearing fruit for the kingdom of God. Grant us the Father’s loving and forgiving heart and the Savior’s shepherding and seeking spirit so that we may shepherd people according to the Lord’s pattern. Save us from condemning or criticizing others; save us from imposing regulations and rules on them. Oh Lord Jesus, we open to Your shepherding; we open to Your cherishing us in Your humanity and nourishing us in Your divinity. We admit that we are short of love and shepherding. Grant us Your heart and Your spirit in caring for others so that we may shepherd them according to God. May we be those who cherish people in the humanity of Jesus and nourish them in the divinity of Christ, shepherding them according to God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” pp. 113-114, 131-137, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Vital Factors for the Lord’s Recovery of the Church Life (2021 ITERO), week 1, The Factor of Cooperating with the Lord to Bring In a New Revival That Will End This Age.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Jesus, our wonderful Shepherd / Brought us right out of the fold / Into His pasture so plenteous, / Into His riches untold. / Glorious church life, / Feasting from such a rich store! / Here where we’re dwelling in oneness / God commands life evermore. (Hymns #1221)
– God’s heart toward us is good in every way; / And our hearts too, in all we do and say, / Can minister and build up all the saints; / With cherishing and kindness, love constrains. / Tend to the sheep and care for all their needs / ‘Til, lacking nothing, God’s supply exceeds / Whatever seems too much for us to bear, / Restored in heart and soul by loving care. (Song on, Shepherd the Flock)
– We must ever preach the gospel, / Cherishing and nourishing; / Loving them as our dear children, / As our priestly offering. / We must ever preach the gospel / By perfecting in the homes / Through the word and prayer and singing, / Never laboring alone. (Song on, We must ever preach the gospel)
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