LESSONS ON THE GOD-ORDAINED WAY
Lesson Fourteen
The Principle of Nourishing New Ones
Scripture Reading:
Eph. 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, Even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
1 John 4:8, 19 He who does not love has not known God, because God is love. We love because He first loved us.
1 Pet. 2:2-3 As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation, If you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Acts 20:20 How I did not withhold any of those things that are profitable by not declaring them to you and by not teaching you publicly and from house to house,
Col. 1:28-29 Whom we announce, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ; For which also I labor, struggling according to His operation which operates in me in power.
1 Cor. 4:17b …who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church.
I. Contacting people with the spirit to enliven their spirits—Eph. 2:4, 5:
A. The key point in our bringing people to salvation is to help them to make the “connection” with the Lord that they may be quickened by the Lord within—Eph. 2:4-5.
B. When we go to the home meetings, we have to touch others’ spirits, open them up, and enliven their spirits—Rom. 8:15b-16.
C. We have to help others according to this principle; this is what we mean by feeding:
1. Our going to home meetings is on the basis of the experience of life which we have after salvation—1 Pet. 2:2-3.
2. Corresponding to the word of the truth in the Bible, to render a proper feeding to the new ones—Matt. 28:20, 1 Pet. 1:23.
D. Learning how to bring people to have a personal contact with the Lord by their spirit directly—John 3:5-6, 4:24.
II. Love prevails—1 John 4:8, 19:
A. God is love; we love because He first loved us—1 John 4:8, 19.
B. The spirit that God has given us is a spirit of love, hence, it is of power and of sober mindedness—2 Tim. 1:7.
C. Love being the most excellent way—1 Cor. 12:31b, 13:13:
1. The church is not a police station to arrest people or a law court to judge people—Matt. 9:10; John 8:10-11.
2. The church is a home to raise up the believers, a hospital to heal and to recover, and a school to teach and edify people—1 Thes. 2:11; Luke 10:33-35; 1 Cor. 4:15-17.
III. Feeding the newborn babes with baby food—1 Pet. 2:2-3:
A. Realizing that the new ones are babes in Christ—John 21:15.
B. Learning to feed the newborn babes—1 Pet. 2:2.
C. Not stumbling the newborn babes—Matt. 18:6, 10.
IV. Learning to care for the home meetings in a flexible way—Acts 20:20:
A. Feeding the new believers in the home meetings—Acts 20:20.
B. Grasping every opportunity to feed the new believers.
C. Spending our time in a wise manner in caring for the new believers.
D. Preparing for the home meetings.
E. Caring for the home meetings according to its atmosphere.
F. Caring for the home meetings in a living, inspiring, and unveiling way.
G. Learning to use the words of the new believers in a positive way.
H. Dealing with problems in the home meetings.
I. Learning to care for the home meetings according to a definite goal.
J. Learning to care for people being a lifelong matter.
V. Long-term faithfulness, laboring and struggling—Col. 1:28-29:
A. The growth and spreading of life needs a certain amount of time and labor—1 Cor. 3:6.
B. The word “struggle” means to fight, to wrestle. Paul used this word to describe our labor in the gospel—Col. 1:29.
VI. Learning to become the right kind of person—the kind of person that we want the new ones to be—1 Cor. 4:17b.
Excerpts from the ministry:
CONTACTING PEOPLE WITH THE SPIRIT TO ENLIVEN THEIR SPIRITS
The Key Point in Our Bringing People to Salvation Is to
Help Them to Make the “Connection” with the Lord
That They May Be Quickened by the Lord within
Basically, what a newborn baby needs the most is feeding. From experience we know that after a person is baptized, he may, experientially speaking, be only half saved. We need to help him to be fully saved. For example, after we preach to a person with the booklet The Mystery of Human Life and the person has prayed and received the Lord, we may perceive that he is ready for baptism. Subsequently we baptize him. But it is possible that the person has not touched the Lord within yet. This is like having the lamps, the electric wires, and the bulbs all installed; but the electricity is not yet connected. For this reason, the key point in our bringing people to salvation is to help them to make the “connection” with the Lord. They have to be quickened by the Lord within. (Messages in Preparation for the Spread of the Gospel, p. 54)
When We Go to the Home Meetings,
We Have to Touch Others’ Spirits,
Open Them Up, and Enliven Their Spirits
Every time we meet with the newly baptized brothers and sisters, we have to touch their spirits. We should render them help according to this point. The Life Lessons can be used as a means, but they cannot be applied in a rigid way. We have to consider carefully if a point or a passage will touch others’ spirits or not. If others’ spirits are touched, we have to give them some further enlightening and revelation. After a person is saved, we have to have long conversations with him. During the conversation you have to tell him, “We have a spirit within us. The Lord has died on the cross for us to be our Savior. He has resurrected from the dead to become a life-giving Spirit to live in our spirit. These two spirits are now mingled to become one spirit.” You must explain to him this crucial point. At the beginning he may be listening with his mind. But after you talk for a while, he will be led to touch his spirit. This kind of fellowship must also be based on your experience. If you have no experience of touching the Spirit, you will not be able to do this. But if you have this experience, he will understand immediately after you explain to him. Based on this principle, when we go to the home meetings, we have to touch others’ spirits. We must open them up and enliven their spirits. (Messages in Preparation for the Spread of the Gospel, pp. 55-56)
We Have to Help Others According to This Principle;
This Is What We Mean by Feeding
Our Going to Home Meetings Is on the
Basis of the Experience of Life
Which We Have after Salvation
Following this, we must open them up further by telling them that we need to call on the Lord and to pray. To pray is not just to beg the Lord to do something for us. Prayer is a kind of calling on the Lord Jesus. This kind of calling is not just from our mouth but from the depth of our being, our spirit. Our spirit is the source of our calling on the Lord. We have to call from our spirit, “O Lord Jesus”! In this way, we will have a certain sensation; we will feel different within. In this calling we touch our spirit, and we exercise our spirit.
Learning How to Bring People to Have a Personal Contact
with the Lord by Their Spirit Directly
In order to fulfill the New Testament priesthood of the gospel, we must learn how to bring people to have a personal contact with the Lord by their spirit directly. This is the central, crucial point of our contact with people. We must learn this skill and practice it. In doing anything, we firstly need a practical, particular way. Then we need to exercise the proper skill. We must do things, not in a natural way but in an instructed, trained way. Without the proper way and the skill to carry it out, we cannot do anything effectively. We need to learn the way and the skill.
In the Gospel of John, there are two illustrations of the Lord’s skill in bringing people to contact God. The first is the case of Nicodemus in John 3. Nicodemus took the initiative to come to the Lord, and the Lord said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6). The Lord Jesus pointed Nicodemus to the two spirits. The second case is that of the Samaritan woman. The Samaritan woman did not take the initiative to contact the Lord. Rather, the Lord Jesus approached her, asking her to give Him a drink. That led their talk to the Spirit. Jesus said, “God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and reality” (John 4:24). The Lord Jesus eventually showed the immoral woman the need to exercise her spirit to contact God as the living water.
The Lord used his skill to bring both Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman to contact God by their spirit, but He applied His skill in different ways. By these two cases we can see that regardless of the way we talk to people, we must have the skill to bring them to contact God as the Spirit by their spirit. One cannot be regenerated without contacting the Spirit directly by his spirit. We may know how to teach or instruct people, but we have not learned the way to enliven them in our contact with them. We must be like electricians who know how to make the proper connections to bring the electricity directly to a person in need. (Elders’ Training Book 11, The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (3), pp. 75-76)
LOVE PREVAILS
Love Being the Most Excellent Way
The end of 1 Corinthians 12 reveals that love is the most excellent way (v. 31b). How can one be an elder? Love is the most excellent way. How can one be a co-worker? Love is the most excellent way. How do we shepherd people? Love is the most excellent way. Love is the most excellent way for us to prophesy and to teach others. Love is the most excellent way for us to be anything or do anything.
Love prevails. We should love everybody, even our enemies. If the co-workers and elders do not love the bad ones, eventually they will have nothing to do. We must be perfect as our Father is perfect (Matt. 5:48) by loving the evil ones and the good ones without any discrimination. We must be perfect as our Father because we are His sons, His species. This is most crucial. How can we be a co-worker and an elder? It is by love in every way. We must love any kind of person. The Lord Jesus said that He came to be a physician, not for the healthy ones, but for the sick ones. The Lord said, “Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill” (Matt. 9:12).
The Church Is Not a Police Station to Arrest People or a Law Court to Judge People
The church is not a police station to arrest people or a law court to judge people, but a home to raise up the believers. Parents know that the worse their children are, the more they need their raising up. If our children were angels, they would not need our parenting to raise them up. The church is a loving home to raise up the children. The church is also a hospital to heal and to recover the sick ones. Finally, the church is a school to teach and edify the unlearned ones who do not have much understanding. Because the church is a home, a hospital, and a school, the co-workers and elders should be one with the Lord to raise up, to heal, to cover, and to teach others in love. (The Vital Groups, pp. 74-75)
The Church Is a Home to Raise Up the Believers,
a Hospital to Heal and to Recover,
and a School to Teach and Edify People
After a few days, you should go see them again to ask if they have called on the Lord and if they have had any feeling after calling on Him. Then you should go on to touch their living. Take for example the playing of mah-jong. You can ask if they liked mah-jongg playing before they were saved. What is their experience now after they are saved? If they say that the interest seems to have waned, you should ask them why this is so. If they say that they do not know, you should tell them that when they call on the Lord all the time, the Lord gives them the proper feeling that takes away their love for the game of mah-jong. This is not all. The more they call on the Lord, the more the Lord will touch them about the game. They will feel sinful and filthy when they touch the game again. We have to help others according to this principle. This is what we mean by feeding. When we go to home meetings, the only way to render a proper feeding to the new ones is to do it on the basis of the experience of life which we have after salvation, corresponding to the word of the truth in the Bible. (Messages in Preparation for the Spread of the Gospel, p. 56)
FEEDING THE NEWBORN BABES WITH BABY FOOD
Realizing That the New Ones Are Babes in Christ
You must try to treat these newly baptized ones as nursing mothers treat their babes. This is one of the secrets of how to practice the God-ordained way, but it is a hard lesson to learn. You must learn to always have a subjective realization concerning every new believer, considering that they are babes. If you teach kindergarten, you realize that these students are little children, and you treat them accordingly. If you teach graduate school, you realize that these students are all college graduates. To treat them like little children would be wrong. You must have a proper psychological understanding.
The primary point, the prerequisite, is that you consider a newly baptized one as a babe in Christ. A new one may ask, “What is the Bible?” This may not sound like a babyish question, but you must answer as you would answer a baby; you must have this kind of concept. You must say the right words, and your attitude and tone must also be right. A new one may ask many questions, yet you must always have the concept that you are dealing with a babe in Christ. If you can learn this secret, you will be welcomed by every new one. They would like to hear your talk. In this way you can open the way to feed them. Sometimes after a meeting, I went over to see how the saints were talking to the newcomers. Many times the saints’ expression and tone were wrong in talking with these ones. You must speak something that will help a new one to open to you. He will open by saying something. Right away, you may realize that he has been newly saved. Then you have to talk to him by considering him as a babe. If you have learned this secret, after only two or three sentences, you will be warmly welcomed by him. He will open himself up to you, listen to you, and take your word. He will become very interested in whatever you say. (The Exercise and Practice of the God-ordained Way, pp. 171-172)
Learning to Feed the Newborn Babes
We all must go forth, bear fruit, and our fruit should remain. How do we preserve our fruit so that it will remain? The answer is in John 21:15: “Feed My lambs.” If we love the Lord, we are charged to feed His lambs. Every proper mother knows how to feed her newborn babe. Peter was charged by the Lord in John 21 to feed the lambs. Then later, in chapter two of his first Epistle, he wrote to all the new ones: “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word” (v. 2). Newborn babes cannot feed themselves; they need a nursing mother to feed them. We must be the feeding ones. We can bear fruit and have our fruit remain by learning to feed.
Sometimes a new one would not open himself to you; he would not say anything. He would welcome you into his home and would sit with you until you speak something, but he would not say anything. What should you do? Again, you must try to talk to him as to a babe. You may ask, “Shall we sing a song?” Surely he would be very agreeable to this. You may ask, “Do you have a song?” He might have one. This is a start, and this is to talk as to a little babe. Never forget that the new one is a spiritual babe. According to Peter, the newborn babes need milk, yet they do not know how to drink.…When you go to hold a home meeting with the little babes, you must have the proper attitude. You must have the attitude that you are coming to “play” with these little babes. You must learn this. You may even sing a simple children’s song with them. You must learn that, regardless of the new ones’ age, position, or social status, they are babes. (The Exercise and Practice of the God-ordained Way, pp. 172-174)
Not Stumbling the Newborn Babes
[In the matter of helping the new believers,] do not think that the matter of idols is an easy item to handle. This is a very difficult matter. A number of the newly saved ones have been stumbled by this matter. When you feed them in many other matters they would accept it, but when you come to the matter of idols, they might not accept your word. This is especially true with the Chinese concerning the worship of their ancestors. Many would not forsake this practice, so it is hard to know how to answer them. Of course, we cannot say that it is all right, yet if we condemn this in the wrong manner, we will lose them. Therefore, you must remember that this one is only a babe. He knows many things, yet he knows nothing concerning the Lord. You must learn to “play” with him in your conversation. While you are talking to him as to a babe, you have to look to the Lord for the wisdom to handle the situation without stumbling him. Eventually, you will be able to convince him, but not like a professor convincing a student. That kind of attitude can never work out anything. You must hold the attitude that you are talking to a babe.
Another difficult item is the matter of making restitution for past transgressions. We all did things that were wrong in the past. We all wronged others. Sometimes we wronged others financially in material things. After a new one has been saved, they will sooner or later encounter this problem. We must be very careful not to bring up this problem too soon. In the New Testament, there is no teaching that charges us to tell the newly saved ones to clear their past. To do this is wrong. The Lord’s dynamic salvation will work out this result. Zaccheus was saved, and immediately he told the Lord, “Behold, the half of my possessions, Lord, I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusations, I restore four times as much” (Luke 19:8). This was a dynamic reaction to the Lord’s dynamic salvation. It was not the result of any teaching.
Another difficult question is regarding the matter of marriage. Today on this earth there are a lot of illegal marriages. Young men and young women live together as husband and wife, yet they were never married. Are they husband and wife or not? You may have a new one, a young lady, who was saved in a marvelous way, yet she lives with a young man without being married. They may even have a child. Eventually, this question concerning marriage will be brought up. Are the two of them husband and wife? What would you say? If you say “no,” you will stumble them, but you cannot tell them that this is not a problem, because this is a big problem.
One secret you have to learn and always remember is that you are dealing with babes. I was there with one husband and four wives; all five were babes. On the one hand, I was “playing” with them, but on the other hand, I was really helping them. My visit did not stumble or damage them. If I had been careless and had been like a preacher, a pastor, or a Bible teacher, I surely would have damaged them. Just by my one visit, all five would have been stumbled. Therefore, learn to hold home meetings always with the realization that you are dealing with babes. This will safeguard you, and this will open the way for you to render the proper help to them. Do not forget that the new ones were deeply fallen sinners, so it is not so easy for us to rescue them out of their fallen situation and condition in a quick way. Some are not so complicated, but many cases are really complicated. (The Exercise and Practice of the God-ordained Way, pp. 175-177)
LEARNING TO CARE FOR THE HOME MEETINGS IN A FLEXIBLE WAY
Feeding the New Believers in the Home Meetings
Whatever we do in all kinds of meetings must be living, stirring, and something the Spirit can use to inspire and unveil something to people concerning the mystery of God. We should do nothing merely as a religious activity. To help people to be revived or to love the Bible can also be a religious activity which is common in Christianity. This kind of work is very general. But to read and sing a hymn such as #537 in Hymns concerning Christ being so subjective would impress a new believer in a particular way. To stress that Christ is subjective is something really new to Christians in Christianity. Christ is not only a historical person who is merely objective; rather, the Christ who is our Savior is so subjective. To help a new one with such a particular subject is to care for the home meetings in a living, stirring, and unveiling way, free from any religion.
Preparing for the Home Meetings
Before visiting the new ones in the home meetings, some time should be given for preparation. In that time of preparation, there should be some fellowship among the members of the visiting team concerning the goal of the home meeting. You should not go to the home meetings without a definite purpose. Of course, you should not make your purpose a legality, without any flexibility. However, regardless of how flexible you are, you must have a purpose with a goal.
Caring for the Home Meeting According to Its Atmosphere
The way we care for a home meeting—the hymns we sing and the verses we read—should be according to the particular atmosphere of that home meeting. To begin a home meeting by singing a hymn without raising up a proper atmosphere is to practice a religious way. To just sing a hymn is something of religion. To our general understanding, to open a meeting with a song is not wrong. But according to our recent learning and practice over the last few years, this kind of practice is wrong. This religious practice may only confirm the new one’s past understanding of Christianity. (The Exercise and Practice of the God-ordained Way, p. 183)
The new way is something living and altogether outside of religion. The new way is unveiling, revealing, and inspiring. The new way is not a work in the style or form of any type of religion. It is something altogether in the reality of life. When you minister Christ, stressing His being subjective, not only will the new one receive some help, but also those who are taking care of the home meeting with you will receive some help. (The Exercise and Practice of the God-ordained Way, pp. 182-184)
Caring for the Home Meetings in a Living,
Inspiring, and Unveiling Way
The way we open a meeting must be living and spontaneous, free from any kind of religion. Whether we pray, call a hymn, open the Scriptures, or ask the new one to speak something, we must do it in a living way, having prepared the atmosphere. It may be that before a certain hymn is sung, one of the brothers or sisters may first read something from the Word. The other attendants may feel to reread this portion of the Word. Then someone may expound this portion of the Word with one or two sentences. Following this, there may be some pray-reading of this portion. To finish this kind of reading may take ten minutes. Such reading will impress the new one with something living and prepare him for getting into the hymn. In this way, his participation is something more than merely singing a hymn. (p. 183)
Learning to Use the Words of the
New Believers in a Positive Way
In a recent campus meeting, though a new brother had received some help from the practice of calling on the name of the Lord, he asked how calling on the name of the Lord is different from the feeling one receives when repeating a motto such as, “Don’t quit” or “Never give up.” (p. 184)
Dealing with Problems in the Home Meetings
Some saints were meeting with a new believer who has recently quit his job. In caring for this new one, one of the brothers offered to help him write a resume in order to find a new job. The brother also felt that the new one needed some help concerning the matter of authority, but was unsure how to share this matter and remain in the realm of feeding a babe in Christ. (p. 185)
Learning to Care for People Being a Lifelong Matter
For many years in the churches, we have suffered loss for two reasons. We did not feed people in home meetings, and we did not know how to feed people. In the past someone may have been baptized, and we may have had the burden to visit him; but after several visits, we lost interest because we did not know what to do, and there was little result. Likewise, the new believer we visited had little interest in continuing to receive our visits. We all must learn to do the work of home meetings to nourish the new believers with baby food.
From 1940 to 1943 in the church in Chefoo, I began to learn how to visit the homes and how to take care of new believers. Now I am just opening some doors for you to learn as much as you can. In this training, I am simply opening the doors and giving directions for you to go and learn more. Gradually, day after day, as we take care of two or three new believers year-round, we will bear two or three remaining fruit yearly into the church life. In the course of our lifetime, we may bring one hundred to one hundred fifty into the church life. Be assured that when we enter into the eternal tabernacles (Luke 16:9), these one hundred to one hundred fifty will welcome us. What a wonderful life this is! Doing the work of nourishing the believers in the home meetings builds the church and helps us to know what it means to be built up with others. (The Exercise and Practice of the God-ordained Way, p. 188)
LONG-TERM FAITHFULNESS, LABORING AND STRUGGLING
The Growth and Spreading of Life Needs a Certain Amount of Time and Labor
The spreading of life needs a certain amount of time and labor. If you do not till the ground, sow the seed, water, and add fertilizer, the seeds may not grow well. You cannot just sow the seed, go home to sleep, and expect that the seeds will grow properly. In a sense, the seeds grow on their own, but in another sense, there is still the need of proper care, fertilizing, and watering. Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made to grow” (1 Cor. 3:6). Thus, there is the need of proper, adequate labor with a sufficient amount of patience.
The Word “Struggling” Means to Fight, to Wrestle.
Paul Used This Word to Describe Our Labor in the Gospel
In Colossians 1:28 Paul said, “Whom we announce, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man full-grown in Christ.” We must announce Christ to the sinners. Then we must present them as matured believers to Christ. We sow the seed and take care of the seed until it grows unto maturity. Paul continued by saying, “For which also I labor, struggling according to His operation which operates in me in power” (v. 29). In this verse the word “struggling” means to fight, to wrestle. It is a word used in the sense of the Olympic games in which the participants had to struggle in competition. Paul used this word to describe our labor in the gospel. We in the Lord’s recovery should be laborers and strugglers. Anything that needs labor or struggling will not go very fast or grow very fast. (Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990, p. 97)
LEARNING TO BECOME THE RIGHT KIND OF PERSON—
THE KIND OF PERSON THAT WE WANT THE NEW ONES TO BE
We ourselves first must be the kind of person that we want [the new ones] to be. [For example,] if we lead the new ones to read the Bible and pray, yet we ourselves do not have the habit of reading the Bible and praying, then that is not acceptable. We cannot lead others to read the Bible and pray unless we ourselves do so. In the same way, how can we lead and exhort others to forsake the world if we ourselves love the world? If we tell new ones that the Lord today is the life-giving Spirit within them and that they should follow Him—the Spirit—in their spirit, then we ourselves must be such people—those who live in the spirit every day and walk according to the Spirit. This is not just a matter of practicing what we preach or of being a pattern; instead, it is that we ourselves are such people in our constitution. We love the Lord, fellowship with Him, long for His Word, enjoy praying, obey the Spirit, walk according to the Spirit, forsake the world as if it were dung, and live wholly for the Lord. If we are such people when we go to lead and care for a home meeting, then after a short while, we will produce a great effect on the new ones.
New believers, especially young people, really like to imitate spiritual people. When I was first saved, I saw an old pastor whom I really admired in my heart, so I imitated his every move and action. My sister studied theology in Nanking. When she returned, she told me that at the seminary she met many spiritual people who pursued the Lord. They all spoke gently and elegantly, walked slowly with a Bible in their hands, and after walking a few steps they would look up to heaven. By nature I am a quick, impatient, and impulsive person. After hearing my sister’s fellowship, I wanted to learn to speak cautiously and walk slowly. This illustrates how every saved one wants to imitate the good pattern of spiritual people. As long as we are proper people, when we go to visit two households for forty to fifty minutes every week, we will have a great influence on them. They might not say anything, but unconsciously they will be affected and will even pay attention to and imitate our way of dressing.
The most important thing in leading a meeting is our person; people bear children who are just like themselves. We learn Chinese ethical education from the time we are small, not according to how much our parents teach us but mainly according to what kind of pattern they show us. They live altogether according to the Chinese ethical teachings, so they unconsciously plant those things into us until it even becomes very hard for us to change ourselves.…We should not merely have a heart. We must also, more importantly, be right, and we must be the kind of person we want the new ones to be. (The Furtherance of the New Way for the Lord’s Recovery, pp. 78-80)
References: Messages in Preparation for the Spread of the Gospel, ch. 5; Elders’ Training Book 11, The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (3), ch. 8; The Vital Groups, Msg. 8; The Exercise and Practice of the God Ordained Way, Msgs. 19-20; Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990, ch. 14; The Furtherance of the New Way for the Lord’s Recovery, ch. 6.
