Minister Life, Serve the Saints, and Dispense the Lord’s Sweet and Nourishing Words

As good ministers of Christ, we need to minister life and serve the saints according to the principle of life, focusing only on Christ and on nothing else; our lips should drip fresh honey to strengthen and nourish the saints, not criticizing words or reviling speaking.

Amen, Lord Jesus, make us the good ministers of Christ Jesus!

There are many principles of what a good minister of Christ Jesus should be, and we can take these before the Lord to pray over them.

We are all learning how to serve the Lord by ministering Christ as life to others.

We aspire to be the Lord’s good ministers, those who are like stewards, giving food to the people of God and to all those who need it.

The food we impart to others is the truth in the word of God, the living word of the Lord.

The Bible is full of God’s speaking, and we can come to the Bible with a heart that is turned to the Lord and a spirit that is exercised to take in the word of God by means of all prayer and petition.

When we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord in His word, He speaks to us, He reveals to us His desire and His purpose, and He infuses us with something fresh of Himself.

The Lord’s living message, His living word, becomes our commission.

When we meet others, we impart this word to them also for their nourishment, strengthening, and supply.

As believers in Christ we have received grace from the Lord, and day by day we need to receive grace upon grace so that we may be filled with grace, have grace reign in us, enjoy the Lord’s grace, and be good stewards of the varied grace of God.

This is what we are, good stewards of the varied grace of God.

We contact the Lord in His word and have His oracle, His up-to-date speaking, and then we go to others to speak the word of God to them.

Actually, our speaking is not merely an imparting of Bible teaching or doctrine; our speaking is the ministering of Christ as life, for we have received, enjoyed, and experienced Christ, and now we impart Him to others also.

Our speaking to others is not to gain any praise or glory from them, nor is it to obtain their appreciation toward ourselves; rather, we are slaves of God and we serve others for the Lord to impart Himself into them.

For this, we need to reject our self and put it aside by the continual exercise of our spirit.

When we continually exercise our spirit, the self is rejected, and allt he glory goes to God. Amen, may God gain all the glory and may the self be put aside!

Minister Life and Serve the Saints in the Principle of the Tree of Life

A good minister of Christ ministers life to others, for he serves the saints according to the principle of the tree of life, not the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9; John 10:10b; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:6; 4:10-12; 1 John 5:12, 16a).

When we speak to others, we don’t impart mere doctrine, good things, and positive matters; we exercise our spirit to minister life to them.

We need to follow the principle and rule of conduct according to Paul’s pattern in the church in Corinth.

In all things we need to concentrate on Christ and not on any persons, things, or matters other than Him.

Our unique focus is Christ; He’s the unique center appointed by God, and even when we see the problems among the saints and in their personal life, we need to simply minister life to them and serve them with Christ as life.

For us to be a good minister of Christ, we need to be careful in the church life.

We do not behave and serve according to the principle of the tree of knowledge but rather, according to the principle of the tree of life.

We may see a saint being weak and another saint committing sin; the first one needs a certain help and the second one also needs help, but in a different way.

We may think we should correct them and adjust them, but do we approach them to minister life to them or do we do it according to the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

We need to be those who enjoy God, breathe in God, live in God, and be joined to God; in our daily living, we need to enjoy God and be filled with God as life.

Then, when we come to others, we will be God’s spokesmen and His expression, and our words will be His words.

In Ezek. 37:10 the prophet did as he was told by God: he spoke to the valley of dry bones, and the breath came into them, they lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Our speaking should impart life and minister the supply of life to others.

Therefore, we ourselves need to be those who daily wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb so that we may have the right to the tree of life (Rev. 22:14).

We need to apply the precious blood of Christ and be under the constant washing of the water in the word of God so that any defect, weakness, sin, and spot in our Christian life and living would be washed away.

In this way, we are brought near to God to enjoy Him as the tree of life.

Then, when we speak to others, we will minister life and serve them according to the principle of the tree of life.

All the Epistles in the New Testament were written according to the principle of the tree of life.

The writers of the Epistles enjoyed God, breathed in God, and lived in God; they were filled with God, so when they spoke and wrote, God as life flowed out through them.

They became His spokesmen and His expression, and their words were the words of God.

The message of every Epistle in the New Testament is to lead people to enjoy God in Christ as their life. In the church life, we need to do the same thing.

We need to minister Christ as life to others, not correct them, adjust them, expose their failures, and give them mere teachings according to the Bible.

If there is someone that we may not like by disposition, we should go to the Lord and deal with Him so that our disposition may be broken and dealt with; the Lord then will be the love in us toward that person.

God desires to mingle Himself with us so that He may be our very element, our constitution, and our everything.

We need to come to Him again and again, enjoy Him as the tree of life, and be mingled with the Triune God.

Then, when we speak to others, our yardstick for measuring our speaking and every message should be the tree of life.

Any message that is apart from God coming to be man’s life is a wind of teaching, something that distracts man from God’s economy (Eph. 4:14).

May we be the real prophets of God today, the good ministers of Christ Jesus, those who minister life and serve others according to the principle of the tree of life.

May we come to the Lord to enjoy the tree of life, live in God, allow God to fill us, and do all things in oneness with the Lord so that we may become the Lord’s expression and speak for God, even speak forth God into others.

May we be delivered from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and live in the tree of life, serve in the principle of the tree of life, and help others come to the Lord to enjoy Him as the tree of life.

Lord Jesus, mingle Yourself more with us today. We come to You to enjoy You as the tree of life. We want to be filled with You as life and live in You today so that we may be Your expression and Your spokesmen. Amen, Lord Jesus, make us the good ministers of Christ who minister life to others and serve the saints according to the principle of the tree of life. Deliver us from the tree of knowledge; bring us fully into the tree of life so that we may enjoy God as life and express God’s life. Amen, Lord, we wash our robes in Your precious blood and by the washing of the water in the Word, and we come to You to enjoy the tree of life! Hallelujah, we have the right to enjoy God as life! Praise the Lord, we can be filled with God as life and we can minister life to others! Amen, Lord, may our speaking convey You as life. May our message bring others and lead them into enjoying God in Christ as their life!

A Good Minister of Christ Dispenses the Lord’s Sweet and Nourishing Words to the Needy Ones

A good minister of Christ is one who helps others to think the one thing, which in Philippians refers to the subjective knowledge, experience, and enjoyment of Christ (Phil. 1:20-21; 2:2, 5; 3:7-14; 4:13).

First, we ourselves focus on and think the one thing, and then we help others to do this.

The one thing we should focus on is the pursuing of Christ to gain Him, lay hold of Him, and possess Him.

Day and night, we want to gain Christ, possess Him, pursue Him, and lay hold of Him so that we may be filled with Him.

We want to have the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

A good minister of Christ is like the Lord’s loving seeker described in Song of Songs 4:11 – “Your lips drip fresh honey, my bride; / Honey and milk are under your tongue.”

The loving seeker of the Lord drips honey from her lips, and there is honey and milk under her tongue.

Honey is sweet; it restores the stricken ones, the afflicted ones, and the weaker ones.

However, honey is not produced overnight; it takes a long time of gathering, inward activity, and careful storage.

What should drip from our lips is not gossip, jokes, or rash words, but sweet and refreshing words.

A good minister of Christ dispenses the Lord’s sweet and nourishing words to the needy ones; in this way, we minister life to others for their refreshing and strengthening.

As portrayed by this verse in Song of Songs, the sweet and nourishing words are not flowing like a torrent but are dripping, and they supply the hearers.

May there be much honey and milk under our tongue. May we have fresh honey dripping from our lips.

The sweetness of honey and the nourishing milk under the tongue of the Lord’s loving seeker indicate that she has stored up the riches of the Lord as her spiritual food (Psa. 119:11; Col. 3:16).

We need to store up God’s word in our heart, treasure His word, and allow the word of Christ to dwell in us richly day by day.

There must be an inward storage of the riches of Christ so that we may be able to minister something of these riches to others.

When we store the riches of Christ in us, we have so many riches in us that food seems to be under our tongue, and we can dispense this food to the needy ones at any time.

May we have an indwelling treasure of the Lord’s sweet and nourishing words, a treasure that we work on daily to obtain.

May we remain in the Lord’s healthy words and partake of the healthy teaching of God’s economy so that we may have a rich deposit of the Lord’s sweet and nourishing words to dispense to others (1 Tim. 1:10; 6:3).

Day by day we need to take time to be with the Lord in His word, and we need to allow the word of Christ to dwell in us richly.

We need to store up our enjoyment of Christ, accumulate Christ, and be filled with Christ.

May we all spend time to have a kind of living that is a gathering with inward activity and careful storage of the riches of Christ.

If we do this, we will have a rich supply and deposit of milk and honey under our tongue, being ready to dispense the riches of Christ into others according to their need.

The top of the tongue is where man takes in food and tastes it, and under the tongue is where man stores food.

May we store up food in our being, accumulating the riches of Christ through much and prayerful consideration, opening to the Lord day by day to enjoy and experience Him, so that we have a rich deposit of the Lord’s sweet and nourishing words.

When we have such a deposit, we minister life to others when we meet them simply by dripping honey from our lips, that is, by imparting to them the Lord’s words constituted and deposited into our being.

We do not reveal all we have; we simply drip the Lord’s word to them to strengthen them, nourish them, and supply them.

To the new ones, we minister the guileless milk of the word so that by it they may grow unto salvation.

To the weak ones, we drip honey to them, imparting the Lord’s sweet and nourishing words into them for their supply, strengthening, and healing.

May we have a rich deposit of milk and honey under our tongue so that we may be able to minister the riches of Christ to those around us.

Honey restores the weak ones and milk feeds the immature ones.

We need to have a rich deposit of Christ so that at any time we can have our lips dripping fresh honey, the sweet and nourishing word of Christ.

May we daily have a morning revival with the Lord first thing in the morning, and may we experience Christ in His death and resurrection.

May our experience and enjoyment of Christ be stored up in us to become a rich deposit that drips from our lips for others’ nourishment and supply.

Lord Jesus, we come to You in Your word to be richly supplied with all that You are. We want to enjoy You, experience You, and be constituted with Your unsearchable riches. We want to gain a rich deposit of Christ in our being by allowing the word of Christ to dwell in us richly. Amen, Lord, may there be milk and honey under our tongue. May honey drip from our lips. We want to store up many riches of Christ in our being so that, when we speak to others, we minister the sweet and nourishing word of Christ to them. Amen, Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You today. Keep us in the healthy teaching of God’s economy and bring us on with You in the experience and enjoyment of Christ. May there be sweet words coming out of our mouth, sweet and refreshing words to give life to the hearers. May we be those who minister life to others by our speaking of the riches of Christ stored in our being!

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, 1958, vol. 1, “The Vision of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,” chs. 2, 4-5, 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 6, entitled, A Good Minister of Christ Jesus.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Man between the tree of knowledge and the tree of life, a portion from, The Flesh and the Spirit, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
  – A Good Minister of Christ, outline via, The Church in New York City.
  – The believers’ receiving and enjoying of Christ, a portion from, The Economy and Dispensing of God, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – The two trees: the way of life versus the religion of death, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Learning to Taste God in His Word, article via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The Purpose of God’s Calling – To Bring God’s Chosen People into the Good Land, via, Living to Him.
  – The Power that Enables Us to Choose the Will of God, article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The way to enjoy Christ as grace, a portion from, Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit, An, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee.
  – Do You Know How to Experience the Unlimited Christ? Read more via, Church in San Gabriel.
  – Grow unto Salvation for New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – We are washing all our robes the tree of life to eat; / “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!”—Jesus is so sweet! / We our spirits exercise, and thus experience Christ. / What a Christ have we! (Hymns #1151 stanza 3)
  – To the lost world minister Christ, / The very Christ you enjoy, / Imparting Christ to all your friends / As all their boast and their joy. / 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 stanzas 3-4)
  – Christ is the way and Christ the light of life, / In Him we walk and by Him we are led; / Christ is the living water and the food; / Of Him we drink and we with Him are fed. / Christ is the truth, ’tis Him we testify, / Christ is the life, ’tis Him we minister; / Christ is the Lord, ’tis Him we magnify, / Christ is the Head, and we exalt Him here. (Hymns #863 stanzas 2-3)