Msg. 7 The Secret of the Blessing on the Church: the Person, the Spirit, and the Way

GENERAL SUBJECT:
CRUCIAL PRINCIPLES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CHURCH

Message Seven
The Secret of the Blessing on the Church: the Person, the Spirit, and the Way

Scripture Reading: 1 Sam. 1:10-11; Isa. 6:8; John 20:22; Luke 24:49

I. From Genesis to Revelation, we can see that God has always been seeking man, gaining man, guiding man, and working through man—Exo. 3:8-11; Judg. 7:4-7; Isa. 6:8:

A. The greatest necessity in God’s work is human cooperation—Exo. 3:8-11:

1. At the time of Noah, God wanted to save men; God have to find Noah; but if He did not gain Noah, He could not fulfill His purpose—cf. Gen. 6-7.

2. God intended to deliver the children of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, but He first had to gain Moses; without Moses, God had no way to save the Israelites—Exo. 3:8-11.

3. Judges also tells us that God selected three hundred who lapped the water into their mouth with their hand; it is these few people whom God used to defeated His enemy—7:4-7.

4. We see this in the story of Samuel as well; God gained Samuel and accomplished His purpose through him in that age because Samuel’s mother had an aspiration toward God concerning her son—1 Sam. 1:10-11.

B. God said, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?”—Isa. 6:8:

1. The overcomers are those who care for God’s interests above everything, including their necessities.

2. We cannot have two interests; we cannot maintain God’s interest as well as our own interest—Matt. 6:24.

3. Some people only care for their own affairs, and they have no heart for the propagation of the gospel or for God’s work；these ones are occupied by vainglory, enjoyment, families, or ease.

C. We must learn to care for God’s interests and not for our benefit, in order for God to have a way, and allow Him to flow through us—cf. John 2:17; 2 Cor. 11:28.

D. The principle in God’s work is to gain people and by gaining them to have a way to go on to carry out of God’s economy—Acts 9:15; 13:1-2:

1. The right priority is not for us to work for God but for God to work Himself into us—Eph. 2:10; Phil. 2:13.

2. God’s unique work is to work Himself in Christ into His chosen people, making Himself one with them for the Body of Christ—Gal. 4:19; Eph. 3:17a; 4:16.

3. It is not that we work for the Lord but that He works on us; therefore, we should not be merely the Lord’s workers but the Lord’s work—2:10.

4. In the church the most important thing is the person; the importance of the person far exceeds that of the work; the kind of person we are determines the kind of fruit we produce—2 Tim. 2:20-22; Matt. 7:17-18.

5. If our person is wrong, we may build up something by what we do but tear down more by what we are.

E. We must be built up as proper human beings; this is a matter of our character, that is, our behavior and habit; a person who has been properly built up is a right person with a right character; in order to serve the Lord, to preach the gospel, and to establish churches, we must build up a character that is useful to the Lord—2 Tim. 2:21:

1. A person’s usefulness, the things that can be entrusted to him, the responsibilities he can bear, and the things he is able to accomplish altogether depend on his character; a carpenter determines the use of a piece of wood based on its quality; laziness ruins one’s usefulness; accordingly, character has very much to do with the Lord’s service.

2. Their character was simply their person; they became persons useful to God because their character could be used by Him; since Abraham, Moses, and Paul all had an excellent character, God greatly used them; the destiny of our usefulness to the Lord hinges on our character.

3. We must be the right persons, absolutely one with God; then we can have God as our faith and pray according to our knowledge of God’s will for the fulfillment of His economy.

4. Our character need to be broken that we may participate in the building; character is the last enemy for those of us who love and pursue the Lord.

II. The unique work in the Lord’s recovery is a work carried out by the Spirit—Acts 1:8; 2:4; 13:2, 9:

A. The Lord was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit as life within us; after His ascension He poured out the Spirit of power for producing the church; so we can know that there are two aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit: on the one hand the Spirit as life within us, and on the other hand outside of us as power on us:

1. The breathing of the Spirit in John 20 is for life, the blowing of the Spirit in Acts 2 is for move; the breathing is for life and the blowing is for power; just like when the wind blows the sailing ships, they will move.

2. In Ezekiel 1:4, the strong stormy wind from the north is a figure, a picture, of the mighty Spirit of God; God’s visitation always begins with the blowing of the wind of God upon our being—Acts 2:2, 4; Psa. 75:6-7a; 48:2; John 3:8.

3. Whenever God visits us and revives us, His Spirit blows upon us like a mighty wind; this stormy wind is God Himself blowing upon us to bring a storm into our life, into our work, and into our church—Ezek. 1:4.

B. There are two aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit:

1. The inward aspect for life—the essential Spirit—John. 14:17; 20:22.

2. The outward aspect for power and authority—the economical Spirit—Luke 24:49; Acts 1:5, 8.

C. The way to experience the infilling of the Holy Spirit: we need to take some time to go to the Lord to deal with Him and to let Him deal with us, apply the cross to our soulish life; there is no other way—Acts 1:14; 2:1-4.

D. The way to experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit—1:14; 2:4:

1. To be hungry in our spirit—Isa. 44:3.

2. To pray earnestly—Acts 1:14; 2:4; 4:31; 8:14-17.

3. We must be obedient—Act 5:32.

III. God-ordained way—the proper way for saints to meet and serve according to His ordination and the biblical revelation—1 Cor. 12:6; Acts 5:42:

A. The traditional way to meet and to serve has resulted in a declining membership and accommodated the dead man’s taste; it is a way of mixture, it binds and annuls the organic function of the living members of Christ; it also chokes and kills the members of Christ, leaving no possibility of building up the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 12:6; Eph. 4:15.

B. The new way is a way that causes us to be revived; by this God-ordained way, everyone will be perfected, everyone will be useful, and everyone will have the development of his capacity in the divine life; every saint will be occupied, the numbers will increase, and the life and spiritual knowledge will grow; only such a group of people who are to be constituted as the Lord’s bride through practicing the new way will be able to bring in the Lord’s return—John 3:29a; Rev. 21:2; 22:17; 2 Cor. 4:16.

C. If we reject the God-ordained way, we have no way to go on; my ministry will stop; if I would not take it or pass it on to the saints, I am finished in the ministry.

D. We need to call on the Lord and strive together for the practice of the new way; if we are willing to meet in this way and labor faithfully, the entire church life will be organic, not organized; all the saints will participate in the church life, instead of a few people replacing everyone else; this will be a flourishing and blessed situation, and the results will be rich and glorious.