The church is God’s farm, His cultivated land, and we believers in Christ are God’s fellow workers, working as farmers together with God by an all-fitting life to sow the seed of life into people, water them with the Spirit of life by His healthy words, and labour on the saints to bring forth Christ. Amen!
How wonderful it is to see that we are not only teachers and shepherds, soldiers in God’s army, and contenders in the games to run the race, but we are also farmers working together with God in the cultivated land of God, the church life. Praise the Lord!
As contenders in the games, we need to be strict with ourselves and not allow anything of the outward environment to encumber us or hold us back.
But as farmers, we need to patiently labour on the land both to enjoy Christ and to minister Him to others so that the church as the farm of God would blossom and bear fruit unto God.
Our Christian life and work are multi-faceted and we have many different statuses as believers in Christ.
On one hand, we are Christians, those who are called by Christ’s name and belong to Him. On the other hand, we are soldiers in the Lord’s army, fighting on earth for the Lord’s interests.
Still, we are contenders in the games, runners in the Christian race, to obtain Christ as the prize.
There is a reward, a prize, promised to all believers in Christ who run the Christian race with endurance.
If we run with endurance the race set before us by taking Christ as grace and by looking away unto Jesus to be infused with faith to run the race, we will be rewarded by the Lord at His coming with Himself as our incorruptible crown.
Day by day, as we run the Christian race, the Lord works in us, and He works Himself into us so that His righteousness becomes our righteousness, His holiness becomes our holiness, and His glory becomes the glory manifested in us. Hallelujah!
Eventually, at the end of a lifelong process in which we cooperate with the Lord by being under His dispensing and allowing Him to work Himself into us in so many aspects, we will receive Christ as our crown of life, our crown of righteousness, our crown of holiness, and our crown of glory! Praise the Lord!
Day by day we need to behold the Lord to be infused with Him and reflect His glory.
We need to eat the Lord and also be under His sanctification, allowing His word to sanctify us by depositing the Lord’s holy element into our being.
Furthermore, we need to be saved from our self-expression so that we may express the Lord, seeking the glory of God and expressing God in His glory.
We are God’s Fellow Workers in the Church as God’s Cultivated Land, Working as Farmers together with Him
2 Tim. 2:6 says that we as believers in Christ are labouring farmers; may we consider what the Lord says to us in His word and may the Lord give us understanding in all things.
The church is God’s farm, God’s cultivated land (see 1 Cor. 3:6, 9); we are God’s fellow workers, working as farmers together with Him in the church as God’s farm.
Just as a soldier needs to follow the rules in the army and fight the battle to win the victory, and an athlete must run within the lines to receive the crown, so the farmer must labour diligently and patiently until he partakes of the fruit of his labour.
We today are working as farmers together with God by an all-fitting life to sow the seed of life into people and water them with the Spirit of life by His healthy words (2 Cor. 6:1a; Luke 8:11; John 7:38; 6:63).
Especially in this age of the decline of the church, we should be a farmer.
A farmer is one who every day, even all day long, is tending to the farm.
He is helping things grow in life. He prepares the soil, tills the ground, sows the seed, tends to the plants, waters the plants, trims them, and then harvests the fruit.
All these things require a long time and much patience.
The farmer doesn’t sow the seed and, as soon as a seedling grows, pulls it up to see if it is growing; rather, he is patiently waiting and watering the tiny sprouts until they become a rich crop.
Similarly, with the cattle, the farmer does not drive them too much, and he hurts them less. In dealing with both crops and livestock, farmers learn to have patience.
Similarly in the church life today, we are farmers working together with the Lord by His life; we are working as farmers together with Him by a life that is all-fitting.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians that one of the apostles sowed the seed, another one waters, but God causes to grow.
We are working as farmers together with the Lord to sow the seed of the word in the saints, water them by dispensing the word of life into them, and pray for them that the Lord would grow in them.
On the one hand, we minister the word; on the other hand, we need to know the condition of the soil of the hearts of the saints. We need to comfort the saints’ hearts.
We want to minister Christ into them and dispense the riches of Christ into their spirit, but first, we need to take care of their heart.
We need to learn to labour with the Lord, working as farmers together with God by His life to comfort the saints, make their heart happy in the Lord, and establish them in the faith.
Then, we need to patiently labour one with the Lord to minister the word of God into them so that the Spirit may be ministered to them and they would grow in life.
May we come to the Lord and fellowship with the saints in our vital group concerning the matter of being a labouring farmer.
And may we take Christ as our patience as we labour together with Him, realizing that growth in life takes time, and it is God who gives the growth.
Our job as labouring farmers is to be those working as farmers together with the Lord, by His life and strength, to minister Christ into others and care for the condition of their heart.
May we pray much for the saints and for the condition of their heart, that their hearts may be comforted being knit together unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding.
May we not rush to minister the high things in God’s word to others but first care for their heart, making them happy in the Lord so that they would open to receive the watering of the Spirit of life by the Lord’s word of life.
Hallelujah, the church is God’s farm, God’s cultivated land! Thank You, Lord, for coming into us as the seed of life and growing in us unto maturity so that we may bear fruit unto God and be built up together as God’s building, the church. We open to You for You to grow in us a little more today. We want to be those who are working as farmers together with God by an all-fitting life! Amen, Lord, Your life is all-fitting! Your life in us can meet our needs and others’ needs. We want to be filled with Your life and minister life to others so that they would grow in life in the church as God’s farm. Amen, Lord, we want to be God’s fellow workers who work together with God to sow the seed of life into people and water them with the Spirit of life by His healthy words. We want to learn how to comfort the saints’ heart so that they would be open to the Lord and be filled with the riches of Christ. Amen, Lord, grow in the saints. Comfort their heart. We want to be faithful to sow the seed and water the plants, but we trust in You that You would give the growth!
Being Healed by, Filled with, Purified by, and Constituted with God’s Word to Minister Christ to others for their Growth in Life
How can we be those working as farmers together with God by His life to sow the seed of life into people and water them with the Spirit of life?
Sometimes it seems like we ourselves do not have enough supply; how can we supply others if we are not filled with the Word?
We need to come to the Word of God and be filled with the healthy words in the Bible.
The word of God, as a grain of wheat, dispenses God as life into us to nourish us; we need to be filled with and nourished by the word of God so that we may have a supply to minister to others also (Jer. 23:2-29).
The word of God is also Spirit and life (John 6:63); the word that the Lord speaks to us instantly and in a living way is Spirit and life to us, filling us and overflowing through us to nourish others also.
The seed we sow is the word of God that we minister. The word of God is living and operative.
We need to be filled with God’s word, nourished by the word of God, and constituted with the word so that we may minister the word of God to others.
As we come to the Lord in His word, His word not only nourishes us but even more, it purifies us, it breaks our self, our natural life, our flesh, our lusts and our concepts.
May we be patient and trust the word of God.
We take in God’s word, we allow the word to operate in us, and we minister the word of God, trusting in the Lord to cause His word to become living and operative.
God sends forth His word, and the word will not return to Him until it accomplishes what God wants it to accomplish.
Therefore, we need to have patience with the word of God in its operation in us and in its operation in the saints.
When we minister the word to others, working as farmers together with God by His life and with His word, the word operates in others, purifies us, breaks us, and fills us with the element of God.
The word will even become a hammer in us and in the saints to destroy the self. It’s not us who need to destroy our self or the self of the saints but the Word does it.
May we advance in our skills to minister to the saints so that the Lord may bring them to where they need to be.
The word can be grain to nourish us, fire to purify us, a hammer to break us, and rain and snow to water us.
God has sent forth His word as rain and snow to water His people in order to sanctify them, transform them, and conform them to His image so that the Body of Christ may be built up (Isa. 55:8-11; John 17:17; Eph. 5:26).
When we come to the Lord’s word, when we open to the Lord and come to His word to touch Him in a living way, God sends forth His word as rain and snow to water us, His people.
As He waters us, He sanctifies us and transforms us, and the result is that we are conformed to His image for the building up of the Body of Christ.
1 Pet. 2:2 says that the word of God is like milk; as newborn babes, we need to long for the guileless milk of the word in order by it we may grow unto salvation.
There are many portions of the Bible that are easy for us to take in as milk.
There are portions of God’s word that are the good word (Heb. 6:5) and the word of grace (Acts 14:3; 20:32).
When we read some parts of God’s word, we feel like a child enjoying a refreshing glass of milk.
Other portions of the word, however, have more weight; they are like solid food (5:12), even the word of righteousness (v. 13).
When we eat the word, both drinking the milk of the word and eating the solid food in God’s word, we grow in life and we gain weight of maturity.
God’s word also brings health to our body.
Prov. 4:20-22 indicates that, if we pay attention to God’s word and incline our ear to the Lord’s speaking, keeping God’s word in the midst of our heart and not letting them depart from our sight, the words of God become life to us and healing to our flesh.
Wow, the word of God can even be healing to our flesh!
Many times physical illness is caused by anxiety or anger; when we come to the word of God and let it dwell in us richly, our sickness often disappears.
We can all testify that, when we get into the Word, joy comes in, and we are healed by the enjoyment of the Lord in His word.
Anything that bothers us is killed, and we are brought into resurrection.
When we physically eat good food, our body becomes healthy; when we eat the healthy word of God, we will be healed spiritually and we will live a healthy Christian life. Hallelujah!
In our contact with the saints, as those working as farmers together with the Lord, we need to have only one motive: to minister Christ to them so that they may grow in the Lord (1 Tim. 5:1-2).
We are not here to correct the saints or teach them this or that; in all our labouring together with the Lord in the church as God’s farm, we need to minister Christ to the saints.
When we deal with older ones, we should not rebuke them but rather, exhort them as fathers, elderly women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, in all purity.
In all our dealing with the saints, we need to have love, purity, and wisdom.
Lord Jesus, we come to Your word to drink the guileless milk and partake of the solid food so that we may be nourished with the words of the faith. Amen, Lord, we want to eat and drink You in the word so that we may grow unto salvation. Fill us with Yourself as we eat You in the word. Operate in us through Your living word. May Your word be so living and operative in us to nourish us, purify us, and break the self and natural man. May Your word be like the rain and snow falling from heaven to water us and make us grow in life. May Your word accomplish in us what You desire to accomplish. May Your word dwell in us richly in all wisdom so that it flows through us to others to nourish them. Amen, Lord, may Your word even heal our body, restoring the joy of our salvation and causing us to be healthy in our body, soul and spirit! Heal us, Lord, and purify our inner being. Fill us with Your word. We want to be those working as farmers together with the Lord to minister God’s word to His people. May our contact with the saints have only one motive – to minister Christ to them so that they may grow in the Lord.
Read this article in the Romanian language – citiți acest articol în limba română la următorul link, Ca împreună-lucrători ai lui Dumnezeu, lucrăm ca agricultori împreună cu El în pământul cultivat a lui Dumnezeu.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, vol. 2, “Life Messages, Volume 1,” pp. 242-244, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Being a Vessel unto Honor, a Fully Equipped Man of God, by being Empowered in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus to Fully Accomplish our Ministry in the Unique Ministry of God’s Economy (2024 April ITERO), week 3, Being Empowered in the Grace Which Is in Christ Jesus to Be Teachers, Soldiers, Contenders, Farmers, and Workmen.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– Among the fellow workers, a portion from, The Normal Christian Church Life, Chapter 8, by Watchman Nee.
– 4 Characteristics of Blessed People You Might Not Expect, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– Growth in life needed, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 24.
– Following the Vision or Following a Man, via, Shepherding words.
– Present Burden of the Lord’s Move to Europe, via, Living to Him.
– A co-worker of God – bound together with God, a portion from, Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit, An, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee.
– God’s Farm, God’s Building, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– A good minister of Christ, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon, Chapter 8. - Hymns on this topic:
– The seed is planted, wheat is grown / And meal is the sum / Of all the growth upon God’s farm, / Where Christians grow as one; / But all the growth in life is for / The building of the church, / That God and man may have a home / And both may end their search. / The farm is for the building, / for God and man a home, / Where both may dwell among / His people gathered into one. (Hymns #1242 stanza 2 and chorus)
– Thou art the food and the water of life, / Thou canst revive me, my spirit upbear; / I long to eat and to drink here of Thee, / Thyself enjoy through my reading and prayer. / Thou art the Word with God’s fulness in Thee, / Thou too the Spirit that God my life be; / Thee in the Word I enjoy as my food, / Thou as the Spirit art water to me. (Hymns #811 stanzas 2-3)
– Our spirit we must exercise / To take the Word most inwardly, / And then to give the Spirit forth; / The two as one with us should be. / Lord, may Thy Word in me become / The Spirit as my life supply, / And may Thy Spirit in Thy Word / My true expression be thereby. (Hymns #815 stanzas 6-7)
About aGodMan
Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1986, vol. 1, “Elders’ Training, Book 7: One Accord for the Lord’s Move,” p. 143
The church is God’s farm, His cultivated land, and we are both the plants in God’s farm and the farmers cooperating with the Lord to sow the seed and help it grow in others.
To do this, we need to eat the word, be healed by the word, be nourished with the word, and be constituted with the word so that we may minister the word to others.
Ameen!!!!
As faithful farmers, we must be diligent and patiently sow Christ, as the Seed of life, into people.
We must regularly water them by cherishing and shepherding them until God cause them to grow in the divine life.
We need to patiently nurture them with two aspects of foods that satisfy both our need and God’s need for His building.
We need to eat and drink the Word of God in order for us to experience the inward operation of the Word to make us healthy and to become fully mature in the divine life.
Amen! The building of the church is a matter of life.
Just like a plant, we need to allow God to cause us to grow bit by bit in life.
Aaaaamen.
Lord heal us, nourish and constitute us with your word. make us co labourer in your vineyard, to minister your word for growth in life and building up of the church.
As labouring farmers we need to be patient so that the tiny sprouts would not be ruined!
God’s building is a matter of the growth in life, only God can cause the growth!
For the growth in life for God’s building we need the guileless milk of the word, the word of grace like milk, we also need weightier portions of the word as solid food, the word of righteousness to bring us unto maturity!!
Amen, Lord Jesus.
In battle, we must be bold but in building, we must be wise and patient in the matter me of life and planting.
God’s farm is cultivated to grow Christ.
Praise the Lord for His Words. Lord, keep us and all the saints enjoying Your words today!
When we get into the word, joy comes in to heal. The word kills the bothering things in us and brings in the resurrection.
Praise the Lord! 🙌😃🙋🏼
To be an athlete requires quickness whereas to be a farmer requires patience.
As labouring farmers we are to minister Christ to sow the word as the seed of life that will cause others to grow in life for God’s building.
For this we must eat, drink, digest and assimilate the word of God – as the milk of the word and then the solid food that we would be mature in life for God’s building.
When we get into the Word, joy comes in to heal. The word kills the bothering things and brings in resurrection. HWMR – W3d5
08/09/24 Being Empowered in the Grace, which is in Christ Jesus, to Be Teachers, Soldiers, Contenders, Farmers, and Workmen (Week 3, Day 5)
4.) To Be Faithful Farmers
Second Timothy 2:6 says, “The laboring farmer must be the first to partake of the fruit.” Here, Paul likens Timothy to a farmer. Just as a soldier must win the victory and an athlete must receive the crown, so a farmer must partake of the fruit, the food. This requires patience. As athletes, we should be quick, but as farmers, we need to be patient.
As a contender, an athlete must not waste time running his course to win the prize. But as a farmer, he must be patient and must not rush everything in his work in farming. As a soldier, he must be bold to go to the frontline to fight the battle. But as a builder, we must be wise to build the building structure properly. Farming is related to building.
First Corinthians 3:9 says, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s cultivated land, God’s building.” We are God’s fellow workers. On the one hand, we are the farmers; on the other garden, we are the builders. On the one hand, all the saints are God’s cultivated land, growing Christ within us. On the other hand, all the saints are also God’s building, being built with Christ, in His divine life and nature.
In First Corinthians 3:6, Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.” Apparently, Paul’s ministry was a matter of planting and building. Actually, His ministry is a matter of life and growth in life. When we minister the words of Christ to the saints, they shall eventually grow in the divine life and also become the building materials for God’s building.
As faithful farmers, we must be diligent and patiently sow Christ, as the Seed of life, into them. We must regularly water them by cherishing and shepherding them until God cause them to grow in the divine life. We can not force the saints to grow immediately; we need to patiently nurture them with two aspects of foods:
1.) Spiritual milk ~ the good word (Heb 6:5) and the word of grace (Acts 14:3), which are related to the objective work of Christ in His redemption for us. Spiritual milk is for the new believers, the newborn babes, to be nourished (1Pet 2:2).
2.) Solid foods ~ the weightier portions of God’s Word, which are related to the word of subjective righteousness for our organic growth in life (Heb 5:12-13). Solid foods are for grown-up believers to be fed in order for them to grow into maturity (Heb 5:14).
Spiritual milk is to confirm and strengthen our faith in Christ’s work of redemption, which satisfies our need of being saved from perdition. Solid foods are to satisfy God’s need for His building by nurturing us with His weightier words of righteousness in order to make us the proper materials for His building. God is causing us to grow unto maturity by being saturateling us with His divine elements through His words of righteousness.
The Word of God is likeness to rain in summer and snow in winter to water us in order for us to oriduce seed for fruit-bearing and the bread for our satisfaction (Isa 55:10-11). The Word of God not only nourishes us to beautify us and make us healthy and strong spiritually, but it also inoculates us to kill the spiritual germs and heal us of the negative illness within us, such as our anxiety and anger (Prov 4:20-22). Therefore, we need to eat and drink the Word of God in order for us to experience the inward operation of the Word to make us healthy and to become fully mature in the divine life (Eph 5:26; Heb 4:12).
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