LESSONS ON THE GOD-ORDAINED WAY
Lesson Twenty-Nine
The Need of Full-timers
Scripture Reading:
Rom. 12:1 I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.
Matt. 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
2 Cor. 5:14, 15 And He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised.
2 Tim. 2:3-4 Suffer evil with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please the one who enlisted him.
3 John 5-8 Beloved, you do faithfully in whatever you have wrought for the brothers, and this for strangers, Who testified to your love before the church; whom you will do well to send forward in a manner worthy of God; For on behalf of the Name they went out, taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to support such ones that we may become fellow workers in the truth.
Phil. 1:5-6 For your fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now, Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun in you a good work will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
I. Needing full-timers for the spreading of the Lord’s recovery—Rom. 12:1; Matt. 24:14:
A. The Lord’s recovery being in need of more full-time workers—Rom. 12:1.
B. The full-time trainees being trained to be such a strong army for the Lord—2 Tim. 2:3-4.
C. Endeavoring to have out of every twenty saints meeting in the Lord’s recovery there should be one full-time serving one.
D. Training the young saints.
E. Working for the preaching of the gospel on the college campuses requiring full time laborers.
II. The real meaning of being full-timers—2 Cor. 5:14-15:
A. Presenting our bodies a living sacrifice—Rom. 12:1.
B. The real meaning of full-timers being to live to the Lord—Rom. 14:7-9; Gal. 2:19b-20.
C. Being the faithful servants to spread the truths and to serve food to the Lord’s people at the appointed time—Matt. 24:45:
1. As job-dropping full-timers
2. As money-making full-timers
D. Being a pattern and not replacing the saints—Eph. 4:12.
III. The perfecting of full-timers—2 Tim. 3:14, 17; Phil. 4:8-9:
A. Becoming very knowledgeable of the truths—1 Tim. 2:4; John 8:32; Eph. 6:14.
B. Growing absolutely in the divine life—Eph. 4:13; Col. 1:28.
C. Being built up in their character—2 Tim. 3:10.
D. Being trained in how to present the truths—2:15.
IV. The supply of full-timers:
A. What our God demands He will supply.
B. Following the Lord and trusting in Him for our living—Luke 8:2-3.
V. The fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel—Phil. 1:5-6; 3 John 5-8:
A. The practical way to support the job dropping full-timers—Phil. 4:15-16, 18:
1. Besides the saints regular giving to the Lord through the church, they should practice the giving of an additional five percent of their income every month for “fellowship unto the gospel”—Phil. 1:5-6; 1 Tim. 6:17-19.
2. Every church must participate in a “fellowship unto the gospel” account.
B. Supporting the full-time elders—5:17.
Excerpts from the ministry:
NEEDING FULL-TIMERS FOR THE SPREADING
OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY
The Lord’s Recovery Being in Need of More Full-time Workers
The Lord’s recovery is in need of more full time workers. Throughout the years in the United States, we did not promote this, yet a good number of brothers were raised up by the Lord to take the full time way. However, we need many more full timers. According to my observation, a number of you who are elders should go full time. The Lord knows who you are. Just be faithful to His speaking and His leading to go full time.
Without time we can do nothing, and our body is fully in time. Romans 12:1 tells us to present our body. Actually, this means to present our time. If you do not present your time, how could your body be presented? You may say that you will present your body and reserve your time, but your body goes with your time. Thus, there is the need of a good number of saints who are ready, according to God’s sight, to go full time. (Elders’ Training Book 5, Fellowship Concerning the Lord’s Up-to-date Move, p. 136)
The Full-time Trainees Being Trained to Be Such a Strong Army for the Lord
We should endeavor to have one out of twenty saints in our locality serve the Lord with all of their time. In this way nineteen saints can support one full timer. The saints need to be helped by us to give for the sake of supporting full timers for the Lord’s move on this earth. We need the full timers for the spread of the Lord’s recovery. If the Lord had five thousand full timers in His recovery today, the result would be marvelous. The United States is a strong country because it has a strong military. The full time trainees should be trained to be such a strong army for the Lord. (Elders’ Training Book 9, The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (1), pp. 14-15)
Endeavoring to Have Out of Every Twenty Saints Meeting in the Lord’s Recovery
There Should Be One Full time Serving One
Out of every twenty saints meeting in the Lord’s recovery there should be one full time serving one. Although I cannot say that this is a revelation from the Lord, I feel very clear inwardly that this is an excellent way. I also trumpeted this call very clearly in the United States, hoping that all the more than six hundred churches on the six continents would be able to do this. This is the first principle for carrying out our change of system, that one out of twenty of the saints would be full time.
Some news has come in from two local churches. One locality which has one hundred eighty in the meetings is willing to produce nine full timers, and the other locality which has eighty in the meetings will produce four full timers. Now the church in Taipei, which has four thousand people regularly attending the meetings, has produced two hundred full timers. This altogether corresponds to the principle of one out of twenty. I am very happy about this. (The Furtherance of the New Way for the Lord’s Recovery, p. 14)
Training the Young Saints
I am also burdened to train some young saints, not with the expectation that they all will become life-long full-timers to serve the Lord. But we do have an expectation that many of the young college graduates among us will spend either one or two years of time to learn something of the Lord, that is, to learn the Word and to learn the lessons in life. After such a training, they may decide to go back to continue their schooling or they may go back to get a job. Of course, by having such a training, some will be tested out and approved to be life-long, full-time servants of the Lord. Without this kind of training, how could we have these persons tested out? We feel that the trainings are the best way to get these persons tested out. (Elders’ Training, Vol. 9, p. 57)
Working for the Preaching of the Gospel on the College Campuses
Requiring Full time Laborers
Practically speaking, the work of preaching the gospel can mostly be by full timers. To work for the preaching of the gospel on the college campuses in the United States requires full time laborers. The recovery has been in the United States for twenty three years, and we have discovered that the spread of the gospel of God’s New Testament economy requires a good number of full time workers.
When the full time workers are doing much work on the college campuses, the saints who are not the full time workers can also surely participate in that work. (The Way to Practice the Lord’s Present Move, pp. 65-66)
THE REAL MEANING OF BEING FULL-TIMERS
Presenting Our Bodies a Living Sacrifice
Romans 12:1 says, “I beg you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your most reasonable service.” Actually, for one to present his body to God is to go full time. If you do not go full time, how could your body be free to be presented to God as a living sacrifice? Our entire being is contained in our body, and our body is confined in our time. Therefore, the body is the center of these two things, the center of our being and the center of our time. The being is what we are, and the time is where we exist. We can change the places where we live, but we cannot move ourselves out of time. You always remain in time. To present your body to God means you give yourself to God. This is to be full time. We Christians should all be full timers. We have to give ourselves to Him. We do not give ourselves to anything else, only to our saving God. (Elders’ Training Book 8, The Life-Pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, p. 105)
The Real Meaning of Full-timers Being to Live to the Lord
The real meaning of being full time is to live to Him. To go full time does not mean to drop your job and become a preacher. It does not mean that you give up your business and become one who preaches the gospel or who labors in the word all the time. A full timer is one who lives to the Lord. Who should be such a one? Every believer, without one exception. As long as you are a believer, you have to realize you should be one living to Him. We have to live to Him because He is ours and we are His. To live to Him is based upon the fact that we are His. Not only is He ours, but we also are His.
To be full time means that you live to the Lord. You do not live for Him but to Him. This is a great privilege. A full timer does not mean what we may think. A full timer is one who lives to the Lord; every believer, as one bought by the Lord with a price, should be a person living to the Lord. He is yours and you are His. He and you are one. He is to you and you are to Him. There is no distinction in anything. He does not need your permission to use You, nor do you need His permission to use Him. (Elders’ Training Book 8, The Life-Pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, pp. 116-118)
Being the Faithful Servants to Spread the Truths
and to Serve Food to the Lord’s People at the Appointed Time
Actually, though, I do not care that much for the increase. I care for the spreading of the truths so that they can get into the needy hearts. If we spread these truths, we will become the faithful servants to serve food to the Lord’s people at the appointed time (Matt. 24:45). Then we will fulfill the commission of the Lord’s recovery. This is where my heart is. I will die to this. I told the brothers in the Far East I will not stop until my entire being is exhausted by this ministry. I hope you all will say the same thing.
Let us rise up to go full time, either by dropping our jobs to go out or by remaining in our jobs to make more money and give every cent to the Lord’s move. Then the Lord’s move will not be short of men or money. We will be short of nothing. If the Lord can gain ten thousand saints in the United States to go full time with one kind of teaching, one kind of preaching, one kind of material, one kind of publication, one kind of way, and everything one kind, this will be our morale! The wise way is that we all take the full time way and speak the same thing, think the same thing, present the same thing, and teach the same thing, having the same essence, appearance and expression. Then we will have the morale, the impact, to defeat the enemy. This is what the Lord needs! (Elders’ Training Book 8, The Life-Pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, pp. 126-127)
Being a Pattern and Not Replacing the Saints
The full timers should not do anything to replace others or to replace others’ work. The work of the full timers, if they are really capable, is to show others a pattern and to develop others so that the others can do more. The full timers have been trained to work directly and not to do anything to replace others’ work. …The full timers must condemn themselves if they do anything in a place to replace the saints. This is to repeat the clergy laity system, which is condemned by the Lord.
The full timers are neither clergy nor laymen. They are simply ordinary members of the Body of Christ. Those who are not full timers should do the same thing as the full-timers. The only difference between the full timers and the other saints is the amount of time that each one puts in. (Elders’ Training Book 11, The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (3), pp. 99-100)
THE PERFECTING OF FULL-TIMERS
Becoming Very Knowledgeable of the Truths
We have the burden to train the full timers in the truths. Every full time trainee must become very knowledgeable of the truths. We want them to dive into the Recovery Version of the New Testament with the notes on the text and into the Life study messages. They must have a proper knowledge of the divine truths. Then when they go out, they will have something to speak. (Elders’ Training Book 9, The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (1), p. 15)
In every church there is the need of some full-timers to spend more time on the Word. It would be hard to have a full time job and bear the responsibility for the church meetings by laboring on the Word in this way to bring the saints into the crucial points of the truth. If we do go full time for the Lord we may suffer poverty, but this is still worthwhile. All of us have to endeavor. If we will be so busy in the Lord’s interest, many saints will follow us to get into the Lord’s interest. If we take the short cut, lazy way, the saints will also take this way. May the Lord grace us all to take the way of labor to get into the crucial points of the truth in the divine revelation. (Elders’ Training Book 6, The crucial Points of the Truth in Paul’s Epistles, p. 13)
Growing Absolutely in the Divine Life
We also have the burden to help the trainees to grow absolutely in the divine life. (Elders’ Training Book 9, the Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (1), p. 15)
Being Built Up in Their Character
Finally, they have to be built up in their character. They need to be trained to dress properly and to give people a good impression of their appearance. If we do not have a good appearance, who will listen to us or respect us? We must adjust ourselves. If a co worker teaches the truth without a necktie, the people’s confidence in him will be killed. The way we dress, cut our hair, and comb our hair will give us a proper appearance which can help gain people’s regard and respect. In the past we were too loose and self contented. Those who work for the Lord should dress in a way that is fitting in the Lord’s work. (Elders’ Training Book 9, the Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (1), p. 15)
Being Trained in How to Present the Truths
The trainees also need to be trained in how to speak to people. They need to learn how to present the truths as they have been expounded among us in the Recovery Version and in the Life study messages. We do not need to invent new messages. We can present the messages which we have already published. We need to present the better things. We have the groceries of the truth among us, so there is no need to try to get new groceries.
We have the burden in the full time training to train the young people not only to preach the gospel but also to teach the truth. We need to learn how to convince people with the higher truths. Actually, the teaching of the truths which the Lord has committed to us is included in the preaching of the gospel. Many wonderful truths have been given to us. The world is starving for these truths. This is why those who are full timers must become very knowledgeable of the truths and must accumulate the experience in life. (Elders’ Training Book 9, The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (1), pp. 15-16)
THE SUPPLY OF THE FULL-TIMERS
What Our God Demands He Will Supply
I can testify that I do not regret being subdued by Christ. When I was young, I had a good job with a good income. Then one day Christ came in to require me to give up my job and serve Him full time. However, I had a number of questions. The Lord told me simply to believe in Him. I said to the Lord that I was willing to suffer hunger for Him as long as He would take care of my wife and children. The Lord encouraged me to trust my wife and children to His care. Nevertheless, I was concerned about what would happen to my family if I left my job to serve the Lord. I realized that the Lord is the almighty One, but still I felt it was safer to have the family in my own care. I struggled with the Lord for a long time. I wondered why He had provided me with a wife and children if it was His intention that I serve Him. But after a while, I gave in to the Lord. This was nearly fifty years ago, and I can testify that the Lord has rewarded me a hundredfold. My point here is that whenever the Lord demands that we do something, He will most assuredly supply us for that matter. To live Christ is not only a demand; it is a requirement that implies a promise. Every demand in the New Testament implies that the Lord will supply what we need to meet that demand. The more He demands of us, the more He will supply us. (Life-Study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 162-163)
Following the Lord and Trusting in Him for Our Living
When you go full time, sometimes you also will be led by the Spirit into a hunger, with nothing to eat and nothing to live on. At that time you will be tempted by the Devil who would say to you, “You are a servant of God. Surely you can pray that God would do something as a miracle for you.” Eating is always a trap used by the Devil to snare man. The Lord Jesus, humanly speaking, was mainly supported by His followers who were the women. These women not only supported Him, but they also supported His other followers (Luke 8:2 3). Peter, James, and John all gave up their fishing occupations and became “crazy” in following Jesus.
Every saint should be a full timer. Every sister who is a housewife should also be a full timer. We have a reputation with most Christians that we are people who love the Lord. Many married sisters pretend and even declare that they love the Lord. Eventually it becomes manifest that what they really love is their children. They do not even love their husbands so much as their children. Such a sister who declares that she loves the Lord yet who really loves her children more is not a full timer. If a sister is really a full timer, whether her children live or are taken away by the Lord, it is the same. Hence, to be a full timer is not an easy thing. You need to say, “I can do all things in Him who empowers me. Whether I have my husband and my children or I lose everyone, I can bear it in Him who empowers me. I am a full timer.” (Elders’ Training Book 8, The Life-Pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, pp. 108-109, 112-113)
THE FELLOWSHIP UNTO THE FURTHERANCE OF THE GOSPEL
The Practical Way to Support the Job dropping Full-timers
I have been considering quite much the practical way to carry out this burden. I considered the practice of the China Inland Mission which was founded by Hudson Taylor. He was a real man of God, but just according to the portion he had in his time. We must remember that the Lord is moving on. However, it is worthwhile for us to go back to compare the various practices. Twenty eight years ago I visited the People’s Church in Toronto, established by Mr. Oswald Smith. Apparently, I was trying to have a sight seeing tour of the country, but my real heart was to see this famous church. They were famous in sending out missionaries. If they had twenty members, they would send one out for missionary work. I looked at their furniture and the church building. Everything was so old, but very clean and well maintained. There had been no fresh painting for years. They saved nearly every cent for sending one out of twenty members as a missionary. It was a great burden for them to carry, but they did it. That impressed me very much; I could never forget that.
In October of 1984 when I was considering the fact that there was nearly no increase or spreading among us, I went back to Taiwan. The church called a large gathering in a basketball stadium, which was filled with about twelve thousand people. The messages I gave were concerning the increase and spread of Christ and the church. My burden was for this. For years we did not have much increase or the spreading. We nearly remained the same. This caused me to reconsider our way. I considered our way and the ways of others, and I came to a conclusion. In any church out of twenty there must be one who drops his business or profession to take the full time way to preach and to teach. The nineteen others should do their best regularly, even weekly, to put aside a certain amount of their monthly income for the supporting of such a one. For nineteen to support one would be, humanly speaking, very easy. Each one simply saves five percent of their income. This would be sufficient to support the one who drops his job. This ninety five percent is the equivalent of a full time job for the one who drop’s his job. This will not burden the church. It will be easy. There is a proverb which says, “If all the people will lift, it is easy to lift up anything.” When the meeting hall in Anaheim was built, the brothers, climbing’ up the stairway, carried a steel beam weighing close to one ton from the yard and put it upon two steel posts. We were not able to use a crane. Simply with so many hands it was easy to lift that heavy beam. (Elders’ Training Book 8, The Life-Pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, pp. 135-136)
Besides the Saints Regular Giving to the Lord through the Church,
They Should Practice the Giving of an Additional
Five Percent of Their Income Every Month
for “Fellowship unto the Gospel”
Charge the dear saints that besides their regular giving to the Lord through the church, they should give an additional five percent of their income every month. Do not do it once a year. It is better to separate the amount for each month into four equal portions and put one portion every Lord’s Day into the offering box.
Whether or not in your locality there are these job dropping full timers, you should still practice this. In your place there may not be such, yet in other places there may be. …They should practice to save five percent of their income to take care of those in the other halls, in other churches, and even in other countries. If we are in one accord on the whole earth, the church must practice this, encouraging and charging all the saints each month to designate five percent of their income specifically for supporting the job dropping full timers throughout the whole earth. (Elders’ Training Book 8, The Life-Pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, pp. 136-137)
Every Church Must Participate in This Account
Do not say that you do not have any job dropping full-timers. All the churches on the earth have to do this. Leave to the Lord how much will be accomplished, but you must practice the five percent giving. Train everyone among us to practice the putting aside of an extra five percent, putting it aside uniquely for the fellowship unto the gospel. I believe that the Lord will bless this. This is for His spreading. How much He desires to spread through us! But for this spreading today, there is the need of financial support. We do not need to have a fund raising movement. We do not need to send someone to convince all the churches to contribute money. We simply need a regular, weekly practice of giving in this way, designated for the fellowship unto the gospel.
Any gifts should be designated with these words: “Fellowship unto the Gospel.” Every church should have such a separate “Fellowship unto the Gospel” account. This way is easy, unique, and universal. The saints could give one fourth of five percent of their monthly income each week. However, if there is no urgent need, they may practice giving monthly. (Elders’ Training Book 8, The Life-Pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, p. 137)
Supporting the Full-time Elders
Another verse concerning full time is 1 Timothy 5:17: “Let the elders who take the lead well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching.” “Double honor” means they need double support. You have to support them, but it does not mean you have to pay them. There is no word even as a hint in the New Testament telling us that the church paid somebody to be their preacher or to be there elder. Yet Paul did tell us there were elders who went full time and needed others to support them.
The last part of this verse says “especially those who labor in word and teaching.” To prepare the messages for all the meetings surely needs an elder’s full time. If you still have a job, you will not be able to labor so well in your leisure time, after office hours, or on weekends. You need to be full time to labor in the word. Paul says the ones who labor in the word and in teaching are worth even more than double honor. The ones who take the lead well are worthy of double honor, and the ones who are laboring in the word and teaching are worthy of more than double honor. Do not consider being full time as a profession. Do not consider yourself as a preacher that the church has to pay. Just consider going this way by being led of the Lord. (Elders’ Training Book 8, The Life-Pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, pp. 110-111)
References: Elders’ Training Book 5, Fellowship Concerning the Lord’s Up-to-date Move, ch. 9; Elders’ Training Book 9, The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (1), ch. 1, 5; The Furtherance of the New Way for the Lord’s Recovery, ch. 1; Elders’ Training Book 3, The Way to Carry Out the Vision, ch. 13; The Way to Practice The Lord’s Present Move, ch. 5; Elders’ Training Book 8, The Life-Pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, chs. 7-9; Elders’ Training Book 11, The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (3), chs. 11; Elders’ Training Book 6, The Crucial Points of the Truth in Paul’s Epistles, ch. 1. Life Study of 2 Corinthians, Msg. 18.
