The Ministry of Life: we need to have a Surplus of Life to Minister Life to others

As believers in Christ who are becoming the reproduction of Christ as the tree of life, we have the ministry of life, and we can give life to others out of a surplus of life.

On one hand, we eat the tree of life and partake of God as life, and on the other hand, we abide in Him as branches in the vine, and we minister Christ as life to others to bring the tree of life to them.

This is similar to the physical process of eating.

First, we use our mouths to take something from outside of us into us so that we may partake of food. We enjoy the food with our mouth, and the food gets into our stomach.

However, the food doesn’t stay in our stomach forever; it is digested and assimilated, being imparted to every part of our being so that we may grow.

We need to daily have a healthy diet of Christ as the tree of life, and as we eat Him, we digest Him and assimilate Him, and His life is imparted to every part of our inner being.

We need to exercise our spirit, which is our spiritual “mouth” to partake of God. The function of our spirit is to contact God, worship God, receive God, retain God, and digest God.

As we exercise our spirit when we come to the Lord in His word, we contact God, we worship God, we receive God, we retain God, and we digest God.

Then, something happens in our being; we grow with the growth of God in us.

There’s digestion going inwardly, especially as we say Amen to the Word of God and give Him the thoroughfare in our being.

This digestion leads to assimilation, which is the spreading of the Lord as life to every part of our inner being.

Yes, the Lord is in our spirit, and we can contact Him and receive Him in our spirit, but He wants to spread from our spirit to all the inner parts of our being.

We need to learn to open to the Lord all the parts of our inner being to allow the Spirit to flow into us.

This is how we grow. This is how life is imparted into us for our growth in life so that we may have the ministry of life.

When there’s a surplus of the riches of christ which we have enjoyed, we have something of life to minister to others also, and this brings them into an organic union with the Lord for them to receive Christ as life.

May we be faithful to daily spend time with the Lord in His word, partake of His riches, and say Amen to His word inwardly.

It is normal for us to eat Jesus as the tree of life so that there would be an inward process of spiritual metabolism taking place.

As the Reproduction of Christ as the Tree of Life, we have the Ministry of Life

When we hear the word “ministry” we may think that it’s mainly some older brothers, some more mature ones, that are qualified to stand up on the podium and speak the word of God, and they minister life.

Yes, this is one way to minister life, and we thank the Lord for the joints of the rich supply in the Body which function in their measure to both impart life and to perfect us to function and minister life.

The ministry of life, however, includes all of us, all the members of the Body of Christ, no matter how insignificant we think we are in the Body.

Every member of our physical body is functioning in their measure, and none of them is jealous of others’ function nor is any other member over-functioning so as to be greater than other members.

There is the ministry of life, humanly speaking, in our eyes, our hands, our feet, and in every member of our human body.

We all as members of the Body of Christ have the ministry of life, for we eat Christ as the tree of life, we become a reproduction of Him as the tree of life, and we minister life to others.

Each one of us has a particular portion of Christ that is uniquely ours, and no one can replace our function in the Body.

We may think that we want to share something in the meeting but someone else has already shared that point; however, we need to realize we have the ministry of life and our portion is absolutely necessary.

We should not be discouraged but learn to function to minister life to others, for we have our unique experience of Christ which can feed those in the Body of Christ to cause them to grow in life.

Because we are believers in Christ and children of God, we not only have eternal life and may experience eternal life, but we can also minister this life to other members of the Body of Christ. Amen!

1 John 5:11-16 speaks of us having life, for we have the Son who is life, and that we can minister life to a sinning brother, if he sins a sin not unto death.

Yes, the Lord Jesus came to be life so that we may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10), but we also can pray and give life to a brother or a sister.

What does it mean to minister life to others? It is to impart Christ to him for his life and life supply.

When we see a brother sinning, we need to realize that he is short of the Lord Jesus.

Only when we live Christ we do not sin, so all our sins show that we have a shortage of Christ.

Only He can overcome sin and live a life without sin, so we need more of Him.

What a sinning saint needs is not a rebuke or criticism but life; he needs more of Christ.

When someone rebukes a sinning brother, this reduces his measure of Christ. What we need is more of Christ, not less of Him.

We need an addition of Christ; we need an impartation of Christ.

We all have the ministry of life, and we need to exercise to enjoy the Lord, have a surplus of the riches of Christ, and minister life to others.

We sin because we are short of Christ. Others sin because they are short of Christ.

The only help we need and the only thing that helps others is the ministry of life, that is, ministering Christ as life to others.

Rebuking or exposing are not necessary; what is necessary is life, more of life being ministered to one another.

Lord Jesus, we need You as our life! We come to enjoy You as the tree of life so that we may be filled with You as life and become a reproduction of Christ as the tree of life. Hallelujah, we believers in Christ have the ministry of life, for we can minister life to other members in the Body! Amen, Lord, keep us enjoying You as life and taking You in as our life so that we may have a surplus of life to give to others for their supply of life. We need more of You, Lord! Our need is for more of Christ! Grant us to grow in life and be filled with life so that we can minister life to others by our words and by our prayer.

Having a Surplus of Life to Minister Life to others for their Growth in Life

In order for us as believers in Christ to minister life to others, we need to have the surplus of life out of which we can minister to others (1 John 1:1-2; 2:25; 5:11-13, 16).

Our concept needs to be changed so that we may realize that we sin not merely because we’re fallen and have defects but because we are short of Christ, we are short of His life.

For example, when a wife gives a headache to her husband, what she needs is not a rebuke but the ministry of life.

When a husband doesn’t listen to his wife or does not love her in the Lord, what he needs is not a reminder to love his wife but more of Christ as life.

Husbands may like to rebuke their wives, and wives may want to subdue their husbands. This, however, does not work.

What we need is to give up our efforts to do this or that, and we need to renounce our trying to improve ourselves; we just need more life.

One of the main reasons for the degradation among Christians today is that there are many who can preach, teach, and admonish, but there are not many who have the ministry of life, that is, there are not many who minister life.

May we be those who enjoy Christ day by day to the extent that we have a surplus of life to minister life to others for their growth in life.

What can mend the broken situation today is not rebuke, exhortation, or teaching; what is needed is the ministry of life.

Only the life-giving mending ministry can minister life to others for their growth in life, and the growth in life takes care of all the problems.

May we learn to minister life in the church life.

May we realize that there’s no other way to help others except by ministering life to them.

When we realize this, when we see that only the ministry of life helps, we will be exposed of our shortage of life.

How can we minister life when we ourselves are short of life?

We may be ready to rebuke, expose, or admonish, but instead of doing this, we should come to the Lord to receive more of Him as life.

We may see a brother or sister sinning and we may be ready to go and admonish them; before we do that, it would be good for us to come to the Lord and ask for His mercy on us so that He may supply us with life.

1 John 5:16 says that we can pray and give life to others.

We need to pray. We need to come to the Lord and ask Him to grant us the supply of life so that we may have a surplus of life for us to minister life to others.

It is not only the sinning one that needs more life – we need more of the divine life. If we pay the price to contact the Lord and gain the rich supply of life, we will have a surplus of life to minister to others also.

When we see a brother or sister sinning, we need to realize that this is an indication that he or she is short of life.

To minister life to them, we first need to have a surplus of life; we need to check whether we have life or we are short of life.

We need to wait on the Lord, pray, and open to Him in His word with much prayer and reconsideration to receive the supply of life and be filled with the Lord as life.

Then, we can go to the sinning brother or sister to minister life to them. And this life that we enjoy and minister is nothing else but God in Christ as the Spirit who gives life.

The true God is the eternal life, he who has the Son has the life, and the Spirit gives life; the entire Triune God is life.

We need to gain more of God. We need a greater portion of the Lord Jesus. We need to be filled with the Spirit.

What we need is not more doctrines or teachings: we need more of Christ, a surplus of Christ, so that we may minister Christ to others as the rich supply of life. Amen!

And we should not be discouraged if we ourselves are short of life; rather, we should be honest with the Lord and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, have mercy upon us. We want to be those who minister life to the brothers and the sisters, but we are so short of life. Oh Lord, the saints need life, but we ourselves also need the supply of life. We need more life. We need more of You as our life. Have mercy upon us and give us more life. Supply us bountifully with Yourself as life. Grant us to have a surplus of life so that we can minister life from this supply to others. Make us a reproduction of Christ as the tree of life to be those who minister life to others. May our contact with others be a reaching out of the tree of life to them to give them life!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1980, vol. 2, “The Mending Ministry of John,” ch. 11, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking the Way of Enjoying Christ as the Tree of Life (2022 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 6, entitled, Becoming a reproduction of Christ as the Tree of Life.
• Further reading:
  – A shortage of life, and, The Way to Help a Sinning One (via, The Mending Ministry of John).
  – Meeting by bringing the surplus of the good land as an offering to God, via, The Ground of the Church and the Meetings of the Church, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – The work must be the fruit of life, / Born through the Spirit’s flowing; / As branches of the Lord, the vine, / Fruit bearing, life bestowing. / ‘Tis Christ Himself through us to work, / Himself as life expressing, / And all the riches of His life / To others manifesting. (Hymns #910, stanza 2)
  – Christ to minister is service / Both to God and others too, / Christ, the surplus, e’er supplying, / Off’ring Him as service true. (Hymns #912, chorus)
  – Lord, Thy life abundant, / Flowing, rich and free, / Constantly refreshes / And empowers me. / Death by life is swallowed, / Weakness is made strong, / All my bonds are broken, / Gloom is turned to song. (Hymns #841)