Impart our own Souls to the New Believers and Exhort them to Walk Worthily of God

Like Paul, we impart our own souls to the new believers in Christ, and we exhort them to walk in a worthy way of the Lord for them to enter into the kingdom of God.

As we care for the saints in the Lord, we impart not only the gospel to them but also our own souls, for we spend ourselves with all we are and have to infuse them with the gospel, and we are like fathers, exhorting the believers to walk in a manner worthy of God so that they would enter into the kingdom of God. Amen!

We believers in Christ are those who have believed into the Lord Jesus and have received Him as our life and our person.

Furthermore, we have the word of God before us, and in the New Testament, we see a wonderful pattern of one who was shown mercy by the Lord to live the Christian life in an overcoming way. Paul was a pattern to us, the believers in Christ, in his living Christ, magnifying Christ, and ministering Christ.

Though he spent much time in prison, being outwardly limited and restricted, he lived Christ, magnified Christ, and ministered Christ as the Spirit in his spirit so that the church as the Body of Christ may be built up.

He learned to take Christ as his living (for to me, to live is Christ), pattern (no longer I but Christ who lives in me), and secret (I have learned the secret to do all things).

He took Christ as his everything, and though he was in prison, he still was a pattern to us in living Christ, magnifying Christ, and ministering Christ.

He was an ambassador of Christ, one who lived not by the mortal life in his old man but by the immortal life, which is Christ Himself, in his spirit.

He determined to gain the honor of being well-pleasing to Christ in all things, and he was constrained by the love of Christ to no longer live to himself but to live to the Lord.

We need to not only appreciate Paul as our pattern but even more, come to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to make us such ones.

We all are ambassadors of Christ, and we need to live in our spirit to express Christ and not ourselves.

Our desire should be to gain the honor of being well-pleasing to Christ in all things.

For this, we need to live Christ, grow Christ, express Christ, and propagate Christ in every respect.

We need to let the love of Christ constrain us so that we no longer live to ourselves but to the Lord, the One who died for us and has been raised.

And when it comes to relating to others, we should no longer know them according to the flesh but according to the spirit in the new creation.

Hallelujah, we are now a new creation in resurrection, and we no longer know one another according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

In our daily living, we need to be conscious of the Body of Christ and live in the Body, do everything in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body.

Live a Clean and Upright Life and Impart our own Souls to the New Believers in Love to Infuse them with the Gospel

In 1 Thes. 2:8 Paul said that he was yearning over the saints, being well-pleased to impart to them not only the gospel of God but also their own souls because they became beloved to them.

The fact that the apostles yearned over the believers showed that they were affectionately fond of them, like a nursing mother is affectionately interested in her child.

The apostles were affectionately desirous of the new believers in Thessalonica, having fond affection toward them even as a nursing mother was interested in the child whom she nourishes and cherishes. How sweet is this!

Because Paul and the apostles loved the new believers so much, they imparted into these new ones not only the gospel of God but even their own souls. Wow!

The prerequisites for infusing others with the salvation conveyed in the gospel that we preach are living a clean and upright life (1 Thes. 2:3-6, 10) and loving the saints, even imparting our own souls to them.

This should be our reality today, and if we feel it is not this way, we need to pray and ask the Lord to work this out in us.

When we care for the new ones, we not only have a schedule of calling them, visiting them, and caring for them; the new ones are not a chore or an assignment to us, but rather, we love them and care for them.

On our side, we live a clean and upright life, having no deception, uncleanness, or guile.

We are tested and approved by God to be entrusted by the gospel, and we do not speak with any flattering speech but rather, as God is our witness, we impart others our own souls, not only the gospel.

When we speak to the new believers and the young ones, we do not seek to gain glory from them, neither do we have a pretext for covetousness; we do not stand on any self-assumed authority nor do we seek anything for ourselves.

We simply love the saints with the Lord as our love, and we are imparting our own souls to them to infuse them with the gospel.

May the Lord grant us such a heart in our care and shepherding of the new ones.

May we be those who love the new believers, pray for them, and yearn over them.

May we be gentle among the saints, even as a nursing mother is gentle in cherishing her own children.

We may be a brother caring for a new believer, but in the Lord’s eyes, we are like a nursing mother, gently cherishing the new one to impart to him not only the gospel but even our own soul, for he has become beloved to us.

If we touch the feeling in the Lord’s heart toward the new believers and the young ones, we will be like Paul, being willing to spend all we are and have, even be utterly spent on behalf of the saints’ souls, imparting to them all that we are and have.

Just as a nursing mother gives all that she has to the little ones to cherish them and nourish them so that they grow in life and become children and then proper adults functioning in society, we need to be those imparting our own souls to others as we shepherd them.

When we pray for the saints and for the new believers in Christ, we realize how precious they are; we have a deep feeling that the new believers in the Lord are excellent, and we will be willing to give even our own soul, not just what we are and have, for them to be infused with the gospel.

The Lord Jesus did this also; many times He skipped a meal and stayed up late ministering to those around Him, being filled with compassion and love toward them.

The apostle Paul also did this, imparting to his spiritual children not only his possessions and what he was but even his whole being, his soul, so that they would be infused with the gospel and be built up together as the church, the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, infuse us with Your heart for the new believers and for all the saints. May we see how precious the saints are in Your eyes. Grant us to see the saints as the excellent ones, the ones that You love and You died for. Amen, Lord, may we be those who yearn over the believers and be well pleased to impart to them not only the gospel of God but also our own souls, because they have become beloved to us! Take our heart of stone, our heart that loves only those who love us, and replace it with Your loving heart, Your tender and caring heart for all men. Amen, Lord Jesus, may we be those who are pleased to impart our own souls to the new believers for them to be infused with the gospel. May our soul be constituted with Christ so that it may be poured out on the new believers for their going on with the Lord and their growth in life! Amen, Lord, may You in us live such a life and serve the believers in such a way so that we may be willing to spend not only what we have but even ourselves, our very being, on behalf of the saints!

Exhorting the Believers to Walk in a Manner Worthy of God to Enter into the Kingdom of God

On one hand, the apostles were tender among the new believers in Thessalonica, as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.

On the other hand, he was like a father to his own children, exhorting them and consoling them and testifying (1 Thes. 2:10-11).

It is very interesting to see that Paul emphasized very much the manner of life that the apostles had when they were with the Thessalonian believers; he stressed this very much because this opened the way to bring the new converts into God’s full salvation.

We need to learn from the pattern of Paul to not only preach the gospel to the unbelievers and then learn to shepherd them but also be like a nursing mother, tenderly cherishing the new believers, and like an exhorting father.

God called us according to His selection (1:4).

We used to be in the kingdom of Satan (Matt. 12:26), but through the salvation in Christ, we were called, we have believed into the Lord, and we entered the kingdom of God.

Now we are in a sphere in which we can worship God and enjoy Him under the divine ruling with the view of entering into God’s glory.

Therefore, we need to walk in a manner worthy of God so that we may enter into His kingdom and be ushered into His glory.

This is what Paul had in mind when he was exhorting the new believers in Thessalonica; he not only gave them the milk of the word to help them grow unto salvation but even more, wanted to perfect them to have a proper Christian walk.

Today not many believers are taught to have a Christian walk that will enable them to enter into the kingdom of God, a walk that will usher them into God’s glory.

But this is what Paul taught young believers.

May we be those who follow the pattern of the apostle Paul as seen in 1 Thes. 2:1-12, being pure in heart and intention when we care for the new ones.

Especially regarding money and possessions, we need to be pure in our motives.

Paul could say that all the Thessalonian saints saw how the apostles worked night and day so as not to be burdensome to any of the saints, they proclaimed to them the gospel of God.

Paul fed his spiritual children not only with the word of God, the healthy teaching of God’s economy, but also with his own living of Christ.

He was pure in all matters, both in his speaking and in his handling of money, and he cared for the believers in love.

He imparted to the believers the gospel and his own soul.

With each one of the saints, the apostles were like a father to his own children, exhorting them, consoling them and testifying, so that the believers may walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls us into His own kingdom and glory (v. 12).

May we be such ones today. We may not be a full-time serving one (in the sense of job-dropping full-time serving saint) or an elder in the church, but we all can follow the pattern of Paul, praying to the Lord that we would live and serve even as Paul did.

We want to be pure in our motives, especially concerning money; we want to be sincere, honest, and faithful concerning money so that we do not adulterate the word of God and peddle it.

If we’re pure in the way of dealing with money, we will have no motive to use words of flattery toward others, we will not have any pretext for covetousness, and we will never seek glory for ourselves.

Instead of this, we will do our best to please God, and we will be a pattern for others to follow.

This is a result of our dealing with our greed before the Lord and having any money matters under our feet.

May we be those who follow Paul’s pattern and also be a pattern to others, cherishing them as mothers and exhorting them as fathers that they would walk in a manner worthy of God.

We ourselves need to walk in a manner worthy of God, and then exhort others to do the same.

Such a walk will lead us into the kingdom of God and will usher us into the glory of God.

May the Lord gain a reproduction of the life of Jesus in us today and may we follow the pattern of the apostle Paul in our living and serving in the church life today.

Lord Jesus, we want to have a walk that is worthy of God. We want to live God and therefore walk in a manner worthy of Him so that we may be led into the kingdom and be ushered into the glory of God. Amen, Lord Jesus, we love You and we want to live one spirit with You. We take You as our life and as our person. We want to be one with You in caring for others. May we have Your loving heart and tender care for others. May we be like fathers in exhorting the believers to walk in a manner worthy of God so that they would be able to enter into the kingdom of God. Amen, Lord, we want to follow Paul’s pattern in caring for the new believers. Make us a pattern to other believers in the Lord in our daily walk and in our service to the Lord. Save us from the love of money. Purify us in our motives, especially concerning money and financial matters. Oh Lord, may our greed be dealt with and may any money matters be under our feet. Make us pure in heart to see God and serve the saints in the church as the Body of Christ.

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, Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, msgs. 12-13 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 7, entitled, The Pattern of Paul.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The Ministry of Reconciliation, article via, Shepherding words.
  – Walking worthily of God, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee.
  – How to be Filled with Real Faith in Jesus Christ, article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The New Testament believers’ incorporation of the Triune God in Their virtues, walk, and practical service, article by Kerry S. Robichaux in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Walking worthily of God, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee.
  – The Last Adam Became a Life-Giving Spirit for Life to bring forth New Jerusalem, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Go, labor on; spend, and be spent; / Thy joy to do the Father’s will; / It is the way the Master went; / Should not the servant tread it still? / Go, labor on: ’tis not for nought; / Thy earthly loss is heav’nly gain; / Men heed thee, love thee, praise thee not; / The Master praises, what are men? (Hymns #896 stanzas 1-2)
  – It is by the life convincing / That the people may believe; / It is by the life imparting / That the souls may life receive. / Always in the Lord abiding, / As the branches fruit to bear; / By the inner life out-flowing / Christ with others we may share. (Hymns #925 stanzas 2-3)
  – To the lost world minister Christ, / Not just by word, but by life, / Imparting Christ by living deeds / To the poor souls living in strife. / To the lost world minister Christ, / By daily walk making Him known; / Imparting Christ by whom you live, / Share with all men what you own. (Hymns #922 stanza 1 and chorus)