Seeing the Great Importance of Life and the Desperate Need to Grow in Life

We need to see the importance of life and of the growth in life in our Christian life and church life. We may know the truth, we may love the Lord and read His word, and we may love the church and serve the saints in the Lord, but how much did we gain the Lord? How much did we grow in life this year?

We need to pay more attention to life than to work, because anything we do is based on what we are. We need to grow in life. We need to experience life.

We need to have a proper knowledge of the divine life so that we may cooperate with the Lord and grow in life in a normal way every day. Our function in the church life is based on our growth in life.

We cannot repeat the pitiful and sad history in Christianity today by not growing in life yet “doing many things for God”. It is very crucial for us to see the importance of life and the growth in life.

All the problems in the church life are solved when we pay attention to life and to growing in life, rather than to work or outward things.

The Primary Thing Emphasized in the Church Life is LIFE

The primary thing we should emphasize in the church life is not meetings, service, young people service, or anything else – it is LIFE. Among us in the Lord’s recovery and among all the Christians today there’s an urgent need to see that we have to grow in life.

If we don’t grow in life, there’s no way for us to go on, and eventually we become part of the degraded Christianity (Matt. 13:31-33; 2 Tim. 3:1-4). If we don’t grow in life, we are like little children carried about by every wind of teaching. But if we grow up into Christ in all things, we will build up the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-16).

The main thing we need to emphasize is life and the growth in life – even if you try to adjust, help, or correct someone, if he doesn’t have the proper growth in life, you can’t really help him. It is easy to try to improve ourselves or help others improve, but what really matters is that we would grow in life.

If we see problems in the church life and if we have problems, we need to focus on feeding and growing in life. Don’t try to “fix the problem” – eat the right thing, eat Jesus, pray for the Lord to grow in you, and the problems will be solved.

Without adequate growth in life, no matter how good, ethical, moral, and open saints we are, it avails to nothing – a dead corpse looks good, doesn’t sin, but is absolutely dead. We need to pay attention to life and to the growth in life!

Brother Lee’s Ministry – a Ministry on Life

I am not exalting any man but I want to be faithful to the Lord to speak from what He has shown me. Where in Christianity can you find books, messages, or sermons on life? Not the eternal life, but the growth in the divine life for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Very few people out there have a ministry of life, talk about life, or even write a book about life – much less really understand life, have proper knowledge of life, experience life, and grow in life. Yes, there are many gifts out there, there are many works of power, there are many sound teachings, but who speaks about life and helps you really grow in life?

We have to admit, before the Lord, that He has given His Body a gift by giving us brothers Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. Especially in the ministry of brother Witness Lee there’s so much speaking about life, growth in life, knowing life, and the experience of life.

Brother Lee’s ministry was very much a ministry on life. Here are some of the books and points in history when brother Lee spoke about life:

• The first book brother Lee came out with was, The Tree of Life, which really shows that life is versus knowledge, versus anything good. From this point on, he kept speaking about life.
• The Knowledge of Life, and, The Experience of Life, were two books compiled from his speaking in 1953-1954. If we read these books and practice them, we will be much helped in our experience of life. The first item of practice in the church is the matter of life – if you don’t know life, you don’t know the church life!
• When brother Lee went to the USA, in the first 10 years his emphasis in his speaking was life. In, The Economy of God (1964) he spoke concerning dealing with the inward person so that you may grow in life for the fulfillment of God’s economy. In 1964-1965 he spoke on, Practical Lessons on the Experience of Life, laying a good foundation on the matter of life and the growth in life.
• In the 1980’s brother Lee wanted to speak something to help the churches function in a proper way, but he realized that without the proper growth in life you cannot function properly. So he spoke on three matters: 1. How can we have growth in life. 2. How to function. 3. How to function effectively. – and he spoke on Romans 8, helping us to get into the experience of life, because without life, the Body of Christ is merely a theory to us!
• The Perfecting Training – 1981 – among many believers in Christianity there’s no growth in life at all, and among the saints the situation is similar. Brother Lee was very burdened that the saints would grow in life. We may mean business with the Lord, but how much growth in life do we have?
• The Life-study of the Bible – brother Lee had the burden not just to get into God’s word and understand it, but to find life in the Bible, to see the divine life, and to bring the points of life for our experience in our Christian life. He spent a considerable number of years getting into every book of the Bible, and now it is all in print.
• The Experience and the Growth in Life – a series of messages released by brother Lee when he went to Taiwan in 1989.

All throughout his ministry Witness Lee focused on life and growth in life. If we as saints in the Lord’s recovery don’t pay attention to life and if we don’t grow in life, we may not even truly be under this ministry. We need to desperately see the need for the growth in life!

The Most Significant Thing with Life is Growth

This whole week – and this whole series in the Morning Revival – we will discover what it means to grow in life and how can we grow in life.

The most significant thing with life is growth – life is not static, it doesn’t just come into our spirit and then stays there; rather, the divine life wants to grow in us, and we need to deal with our flesh, our spirit, our heart, our natural constitution, and with many other things so that we may grow in life!

In the church life we need to emphasize the growth in life and help one another turn to the Lord, eat Him, and touch Him in a real way, so that we may get the growth of life which comes from the Head.

We shouldn’t be political in the church life – we need to be honest, frank, sincere, never play politics, and focus only on growing in life and helping others grow in life! As the Body of Christ, we are the organism of the Triune God, and the most important thing about an organism is life and growth in life.

If we don’t grow in life, there are problems! We remain children, we are tossed about, we are deceived, and we “play with toys” like doctrines, gifts, etc.

The Corinthian believers had all these gifts and knowledge, but they were fleshy, carnal, and they had some very serious problems among themselves! Paul and Apollos and others came to them to help them grow in life (1 Cor. 3:6), so that they may be proper materials for God’s building.

For us to build up the Body of Christ, we need to grow in life. For us to be have no problems with others and in the church life, we need to grow in life. Oh, may we pay more attention to life than to anything else in the church life!

Lord Jesus, cause us to see our desperate need for growth in life. Save us from focusing on teachings, doctrines, gifts, or anything else. Lord, we want to grow in life. Give us today’s measure of growth in life. Make us those who are serious with You about growing in life. Lord, we don’t want to let You go – unveil us, shine on us, break through in us, and gain our cooperation to the maximum that You may have a way to grow in us!

References and Further Reading

• This sharing is inspired from brother Andrew Yu’s sharing and portions in, The Speciality, Generality, and Practicality of the Church Life (ch. 5), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, ITERO spring 2013 “The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body“, week 3 entitled, The Urgent Need of the Growth of Life and Growing in Life by Dealing with the Heart.
• Further reading:
  # Perfecting Training, ch. 1, and The Knowledge of Life, p. 175.
  # Recommending: life-study of the Bible radio broadcast and the text of the books online.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # I’m so happy in this lovely place, / In the garden growing in His grace! / There is no finer pleasure / Than to eat the living tree / And to get the living water into me.
  # Lord, grant me today’s supply of grace; / May Your divine life grow apace; / Little by little, day by day, to grow / More and more, into You.
  # Oh Jesus now grow in me; / I want for You to be / Pleased to be in me what You want to be / And when it gets too hard feel free / To grow some more in me.
• Pictures credit: instagr.ams by me here and here.