THE PRACTICE HANDBOOK FOR THE DISTRICT SERVING ONES
SERIES ONE
BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR THE DISTRICT SERVING ONES
Message Three
Building Up a Personal and Affectionate Relationship with Christ
S. S. 1:2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! / For your love is better than wine.
John 12:3 Then Mary took a pound of ointment, of very valuable pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.
SEEKING CHRIST FOR SATISFACTION
Song of Songs is a book in the Bible that tells us how we can be properly satisfied with God. There is no other way except by pursuing after Christ, because Christ is the very embodiment of the Triune God. He is the reality of God. He is God in reality, God’s embodiment, coming to earth to give people the opportunity to receive Him for satisfaction.
Peter may be counted as the first one among the apostles, and Paul was a later one. They were seekers of God, but initially, they took the wrong way. Eventually, both Peter, a fisherman, and Paul, a learned scholar, found the way to seek Christ for satisfaction. Paul tells us in Philippians 3 that we have to pursue Christ to gain Him (vv. 12-14) because He is the most excellent way. All things other than Christ are dung (v. 8). Only Christ is excellent. Whatever we obtain or have obtained other than Christ is vanity. Paul says that it is dung. Do you like dung? But today many worldly people are gaining dung day after day. Dung is their food. Solomon says that they are pursuing vanity. Vanity of vanities is what they are eating. That is their food. Paul’s desire was to gain Christ, and he instructs us how to gain Christ as he did.
HIS LOVE BEING ATTRACTING,
HIS NAME BEING CHARMING,
AND HIS PERSON BEING CAPTIVATING
In this chapter our point is that we have to pursue Christ for satisfaction. Song of Songs opens in this way: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” (1:2a). The seeker longs for kisses, not just one kiss. The most impressive thing about weddings in the Western world is the time of kissing. The bridegroom opens the bride’s veil to kiss her with his own mouth. He does not kiss the ears or the nose of the bride but her mouth. This is the most personal and affectionate thing. Here is a book in the Bible that opens in such a way: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” This is what it means to pursue Christ.
According to the New Testament, God’s ordained way for man to receive Him in this kind of personal and affectionate way is first to believe in Him. To believe in Him is to receive Him as the divine life into us so that we may have an organic union with God in the divine life. Regretfully, very few Christians know what believing in Christ means. They know that they need to take Him as their Savior and Redeemer, but they do not know that to believe in Christ is to receive Him as the divine life into us so that we can have an organic union with God in His divine life. This is the first step.
Now that we have received Christ into us, what does God want us to do? Many Christian teachers teach people in the wrong way. They say that after one has believed in Christ, he should do many things. This is wrong. According to the New Testament, after we believe in Christ, after we receive Him as the divine life into us, we have to love Him (see 1 Cor. 2:9 and footnote 3, Recovery Version). Paul says that the Lord’s grace superabounded to him with faith and love in Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 1:14). Faith is to receive Christ, and love is to pursue Christ.
“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” This word indicates that to some extent the seeker has obtained a part of Christ’s love, but now she wants something more intimate. She wants to be kissed not just with one kiss but with the kisses of His mouth. Someone who is affectionate with another may kiss him on the cheek, but this expression of affection is not the first category of love. On the wedding day who would want to see the bridegroom kiss his bride on the cheek? He is expected to kiss his bride on the mouth as the expression of his utmost affection.
In her desire to be kissed with the kisses of His mouth, the seeker goes on to say, “Your love is better than wine” (S. S. 1:2b). She does not say that His love is as good as wine but that it is better than wine. Wine cheers, but Christ’s love cheers us in an unrivaled way. No wine can compare with His unrivaled love. Nothing is so cheering as Christ’s love.
Verse 3 says, “Your anointing oils have a pleasant fragrance; / Your name is like ointment poured forth; / Therefore the virgins love you.” Christ’s name signifies Christ’s person, His being, and Christ is the compound Spirit signified by the anointing ointment in Exodus 30. “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45b). This indicates that Christ’s name as His person is the anointing ointment. An ointment is always a compound. Christ is compounded with God, with man, with His death, with the effectiveness of His death, with His resurrection, and with the power of His resurrection. At least these six things are compounded together to be the anointing ointment, signifying Christ in His resurrection as the compound Spirit. If someone says your name, you respond because you are the person of that name. Christ’s charming name, His person, is the all-inclusive compound Spirit.
His love is attracting, His name is charming, and His person is captivating. He has drawn and captivated millions of His lovers to pursue after Him and is still doing the same today. Therefore, all His lovers would run after Him for their satisfaction. This is why the seeker prays, “Draw me; we will run after you” (S. S. 1:4a).
THE NEED FOR A PERSONAL
AND AFFECTIONATE RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST
Dear saints, in this chapter I want to impress you with something particular. After you have received Christ as your life, you must have a very personal seeking after Christ. No one can represent you or do anything for you in this matter. It must be personal. Every believer’s relationship with Christ must be personal and affectionate.
God works in a personal and affectionate way, not in the way of a movement. Some say that at John Wesley’s time in Oxford there was a movement. They also say that there was a great movement, a great revival, in Wales at the beginning of this century. This concept of having a movement is wrong. We do not want to have a movement in the Lord’s recovery. A person can be moved to join a movement and not have any personal contact with the Lord. Recently, we have stressed that God became a man that man may become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead. Although many responded to this truth, I was not very happy, because this response was a movement. In order to practice such a high truth, we need the personal and affectionate experience of Christ.
Since we have been born of God, we have become His children (John 1:12-13). John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Since God is Spirit and we were born of Him, what are we? That which is born of a cow is a cow. That which is born of Chinese is Chinese. Also, that which is born of God as the Spirit is spirit. This is logical. A paraphrased version of John 3:6 could read this way: “He who is born of God the Spirit is the spirit-God.” We were regenerated of God as the Spirit to be a spirit. As those who have been born of God, we are the children of God, the same as God in life and nature but not in the Godhead. Therefore, our relationship with God has to be personal and affectionate.
Wanting Him to be with Us in a Personal and Affectionate Way
In these days I feel very much that there is a warm, intimate, close affection between me and my God. The seeker said, “Draw me.” She did not say, “Draw us.” Draw me is personal. We want a drawing from the Lord that is His personal and affectionate doing. We want Him to be with us in a personal and affectionate way. All the religions, including Christianity, present a portrait of God that is inaccurate. They portray God merely as great, almighty, sovereign, majestic, and even unapproachable; no one can or even dares to touch God. To say that God is majestic is not wrong, but that is only one attribute of the Divine Being. Regardless of how great, sovereign, almighty, and majestic God is, when He wanted to build up His relationship with man, He took the personal, affectionate way. He took the way of becoming a man. If the Lord Jesus had come to Peter in a majestic way, Peter would have felt threatened. But He did not come to Peter as the majestic, untouchable God. Instead, He came to Peter as his countryman. Peter was a Galilean, and Jesus was also a Galilean. This is personal and affectionate.
The Way in Which God Came to Build Up
His Relationship with Man Being Personal and Affectionate
The Lord Jesus lived among men for thirty-three and a half years. This was the way in which God came to build up His relationship with man. This is the personal, affectionate way recorded in the New Testament from the incarnation to the day of resurrection. On the morning of His resurrection the Lord’s empty tomb was discovered by three sisters (Mark 16:1, 8). When they entered into the tomb, an angel gave them a message from the Lord, saying, “Go, tell His disciples and Peter” (v. 7). Peter’s name mentioned in this way is personal and affectionate. Peter’s intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus was particular, so it was stressed even by the angel. At the beginning of his contact with the Lord, Peter’s response was not too personal, but gradually, Peter’s transaction with the Lord became personal and affectionate.
The apostle John could recline on the Lord’s bosom (John 13:23). How personal and affectionate that was! The very God, the very Lord whom we seek, sets up a feast and invites us to feast with Him (Rev. 3:20). We must have such a personal and affectionate contact with Him. If we mail someone a letter, that affects him in a certain way. But if we come to him with a personal visitation and an affectionate contact, that makes a great difference.
Hymns, #437 (stanzas 1 and 6 with the chorus) says,
Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him?
Is not thine a captured heart?
Chief among ten thousand own Him;
Joyful choose the better part.
Captivated by His beauty,
Worthy tribute haste to bring;
Let His peerless worth constrain thee,
Crown Him now unrivaled King.
‘Tis that look that melted Peter,
’Tis that face that Stephen saw,
‘Tis that heart that wept with Mary,
Can alone from idols draw:
Only the face of tears that Peter saw, only the face of glory into which Stephen looked, and only the heart that wept with Mary can keep us away from the idols, the attractions, of this world. The Bible tells us that Jesus wept with Mary (John 11:35). Have you ever heard that God weeps? Many say that Jesus came to express God, but they mainly refer to the miracles that He did, not to the tears that He shed.
The Very God Whom We Pursue Being
Personal and Affectionate
Dear saints, my burden in this chapter is to share that you have to start seeking the Lord in a personal and affectionate way. I want to stress these two words: personal and affectionate. The very God whom we pursue is personal and affectionate.
I have been in the Lord’s fellowship for about seventy years, but there was one particular occasion when the Lord touched me in the most personal and affectionate way. In 1943 Japan invaded and occupied China. One day the military police of the invading Japanese army arrested me and imprisoned me for thirty days. Every day I was subjected to two very stern and strict examinations. At that time the Chinese knew how cruel the invading Japanese army was. They would kill a Chinese as they would a chicken. I do not believe that there were many Chinese who were arrested by the Japanese army and released after thirty days. All my relatives, friends, and brothers and sisters in the church were very concerned for my life.
On the first day of my imprisonment, the Japanese military police put me into a soldier’s bedroom; that night the Lord gave me a dream, indicating to me that the Japanese army would not hurt me. The next day they began to interrogate me. They threatened to pour cold water upon me if I did not tell the truth. I said to myself, “You don’t need to threaten me, because I will surely speak the truth. I am a man of truth.” After many times of their testing, they could not find anything wrong with me. After fifteen days of being imprisoned, I was alone in my small cell in the night. I stood up and I can testify that the Lord was in my presence embracing me. I said with tears, “Lord, You know why I am here.” This experience of the Lord was personal to the uttermost. In my whole life I never had a time like that in which the Lord was so personal to me. I was so personal and affectionate to Him, and He was the same to me.
We all need this kind of personal, affectionate, intimate contact with the Lord every day. This has become my habit. Every morning after rising up I go to my desk, and the first thing I say is, “Lord Jesus, I love You.” I am not just a poor man praying to a merciful God, but I am contacting a Savior who is personal and affectionate to me, as I am personal and affectionate to Him. We all need to take heed to what the seeker says: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” Right away her tone changes: “Your love is better than wine.” This is a personal, intimate prayer. “Draw me; we will run after you.” This is personal and affectionate. We need this kind of personal and affectionate seeking after Him, and we need to build up such a relationship with Him that is so personal and affectionate. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “Crystallization-study of Song of Songs,” msg. 1)
LOVING THE LORD AND POURING OUT EVERYTHING ON HIM
John 12:3 says, “Then Mary took a pound of ointment, of very valuable pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.” This verse does not say that Mary did something to serve the Lord Jesus. She simply loved Him and poured out upon Him all that she had. Verses 4 and 5 say, “But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was about to betray Him, said, Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” The Lord Jesus appreciated Mary’s love and said, “Leave her alone; she has reserved it for the day of My burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have Me” (vv. 7-8). Christianity as a religion emphasizes charity to the poor, but here the Lord Jesus, who is contrary to religion, cared more for His disciples’ love for Him than for their charity toward the poor.
The book of John presents a wonderful person and illustrates the way for us to contact Him. We should not appreciate His teachings, His miracles, the things that He does for us, or the Scriptures apart from Himself. Rather, we must appreciate Jesus for Himself. The way to do this is by loving Him. In chapter 21 Jesus asked, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” (v.15). In His recovery the Lord is bringing us out of the world, sin, and religion back to Himself. In this way the recovery is a foretaste of the coming New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem there will not be doctrinal teachings, gifts, and miracles. There will be only Jesus as the river of water of life and the tree of life for our enjoyment in eternity (Rev.22:1-2). First Corinthians 13 tells us that prophecies and knowledge will be rendered useless, and tongues will cease, but love never falls away (v. 8). We need to turn from all the temporary things to the Lord Jesus Himself.
HAVING A PERSONAL, INTIMATE,
AND LOVING CONTACT WITH THE LORD JESUS
In order for a student to learn mathematics, he does not need an intimate relationship with his school. However, this is not the way to deal with a person. Dealing with the Lord Jesus as a person and properly contacting Him requires that we have a loving affection for Him. The case of Mary in John 12 shows us the way to contact the Lord Jesus. It is not to kneel down and worship Him in a religious way. Instead, it is to pour out upon Him all that we are and have and tell Him, “Lord Jesus, I love You.” This pleases the Lord.
The One in the house at Bethany who was loved by a seeking woman was Jesus, the wonderful person, the Word who was from the beginning and was God Himself (1:1). Since Jesus is God, it seems that Mary should have knelt before Him in a reverent way. However, Mary did not do this. She simply poured the ointment upon Him and wiped His feet with her hair. To love the Lord in this way is not to render Him religious worship like the worship the Jews rendered to God at the altar in the temple. The best worship we can render to our Lord is to tell Him, “I love You, Lord Jesus.” While Mary was anointing and wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair, the priests were worshipping God in the temple by offering the sacrifices and burning the incense. However, where was God at that time? God was not in the temple in Jerusalem but in that small house in Bethany, enjoying the love of His seeking believer.
The religious ones would not have agreed with what happened at that house in Bethany. They might have said, “In order to worship God, I must go to the temple in Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice on the altar through a priest. Why should I go to that little house in Bethany?” However, the very God whom the religious priests sought to worship was Jesus, who was at Bethany. Some today insist on worshipping God in a cathedral or a church building. They do not see why they should meet with a small group of people who enjoy Jesus by singing and praising Him. We are not promoting our way of singing and praising, but we do emphasize that we must have a personal, intimate, affectionate, tender, and loving contact with the Lord Jesus. The seekers of Jesus in the ancient times met with the Lord in a personal way, not caring for religious teachings or rituals but contacting Him in an affectionate way. Although Jesus is the infinite God, His loving seekers can contact Him not only as God but also as a man, loving Him, talking to Him, and reclining on His breast (13:25). What we need today is not only to learn from Him, appreciate His greatness, and worship Him as God, but even the more to have a personal, direct, and affectionate contact with Him, speaking with Him in a human and intimate way. We all need to be revolutionized in our way of contacting the Lord.
HAVING A LIVING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD
The Gospel of John should not be merely a history or a chronicle to us. It must be living to us. If we read this book again and again, we will see that it presents a wonderful person. In the beginning, that is, in eternity, He was God, and one day He became a small man, a Nazarene by the name of Jesus, having no physical beauty or outward comeliness (Isa. 53:2). Even without knowing Him fully, we love Him, not for what He does or gives but for what He is. Rather than kneel before Him in a religious way, we should speak with Him in a loving, affectionate way. We can say, “O Lord Jesus, I love You. Lord, You are altogether lovely, and You are real, near, and available. I abide in You, and You abide in me. Hallelujah! I am one with You, and we can never be separated.” We need to contact the Lord in this way by talking to Him in an intimate way.
We must all have a living relationship with the Lord. There is no need to be occupied with doctrinal teachings or with works, miracles, gifts, power, or religious rituals. We simply need to deal with a living, lovely, divine and human person who is both God and man—the incarnated and resurrected One who brought God into man and I man into God. The One whom we love, contact, know, and follow is a living, real, and practical person. We enjoy such a person, He is life to us, and we are one with Him.
PRACTICE A PERSONAL, INTIMATE CONTACT WITH HIM
BY CALLING ON HIS NAME
We love to contact the Lord by calling, “O Lord Jesus. 0 Jesus!” Some people may say that calling on the Lord in this way is vain repetition. However, we do many things repeatedly. For example, breathing is the most repetitious thing that we do. We repeat our breathing twenty-four hours a day. If we give up breathing, we will die. Many in today’s Christianity are spiritually dead because they do not breathe the Lord by calling on Him (Lam. 3:55-56). The more we breathe the Lord by calling on His name, the more living we become. We must all love the Lord Jesus and practice a personal, intimate contact with Him all day long by calling on His name. We need to give up our old religious knowledge and teachings so that the living person of Jesus can become our enjoyment and experience. In the Gospel of John the center is not religious forms or doctrines. The center is the wonderful person of Jesus. We have no words to describe Him in full. We simply need to tell Him, “Lord, Jesus, we love You. We simply want to remain in intimate contact with You.” (CWWL, 1971, vol. 4, “Having a Personal, Intimate, Affectionate, Tender, and Loving Contact with the Lord Jesus”)
THE PATTERNS OF HAVING A PERSONAL
AND INTIMATE WITH THE LORD
Moses
In the foregoing message we saw that Moses was not only a friend of God, but also a companion, an associate, of God. Moses and God were partners in a single enterprise. As God’s companion, Moses knew God’s heart and could converse with Him in an intimate way.
Moses made propitiation for the people according to God’s heart (32:33—33:3). From what the Lord says in verse 33, apparently He did not heed Moses’ word. Outwardly it may seem that God resisted Moses’ word, but inwardly He had already honored it. God was happy to have such a companion. God may have said to Himself, “I am glad to have Moses for a companion. He is intimate with Me, and He knows My heart and what I want to do. Moses knows that I want to forgive this people and continue to use them. However, I would not initiate this conversation in their behalf. But Moses, My companion, one who knows My heart, has initiated this talk.”
In verse 33 God said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will wipe him out from My book.” This word was an outward expression to uphold God’s honor. But what the Lord goes on to say in verse 34 indicates that He had forgiven the people: “And now, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My angel shall go before you, and in the day of My visitation I will visit their sin upon them.” Moses, the mediator, realized that God’s word here was an indication that He had forgiven the people. Moses had said, “If You will forgive their sin….” It seems that he was saying to the Lord, “Lord, I won’t say anything further. You speak a word. Now You tell me to go lead the people to the place of which You have spoken to me. I have no problem with this.”
We need to know God’s heart and also be a person according to God’s heart. Then we shall have God’s presence as Moses did. Moses had God’s presence to the full extent. But the children of Israel had God’s presence in a very limited way, for they were far from God’s heart. Moses, however, was a person very near to God’s heart, a person according to His heart. This was the reason he could have God’s presence to the full extent. We all need to learn that only a person like Moses can be a companion of God. Only this kind of person can share a common interest with God and be used by God to carry out His enterprise on earth. (Life-study of Exodus, msg. 177)
David and Asaph
Hezekiah and the leaders of the city worshipped God in the house of Jehovah (vv. 20-30). This indicates that the temple of God had been left to the idols and that in it there was not the worship of God. Hezekiah took the lead along with the leaders of the city to worship God in the house of Jehovah. In addition, they offered the burnt offering and the sin offering to God with the praising of God by the instruments made by David and with the words of David and Asaph. The burnt offering was for God’s satisfaction, and the sin offering was for the forgiveness of their sins. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, msg. 10)
How do we lay the foundation? The foundation is laid by praising and shouting. “When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Jehovah, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise Jehovah according to the directions of David the king of Israel. And they sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to Jehovah, saying, For He is good, for His lovingkindness is forever upon Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised Jehovah, because the foundation of the house of Jehovah was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, the old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes; and many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people; for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away” (vv. 10-13). (CWWL, 1969, vol. 2, “The Recovery of God’s House and God’s City,” msg. 3)
The Lord Jesus
As the God-man, the Lord Jesus lived a life that was the life of a man. However, this man lived by God and with God. We may even say that He lived God; He expressed God in His humanity. In the book of Luke we see a man living on earth full of the human virtues, yet He expressed the divine nature with the divine attributes. With this One God was expressed in a human being, for the life He lived was the mingling of divinity and humanity. His life was a blending of God with man. (Life-study of Acts, msg. 1)
Peter
The seeker said, “Draw me.” She did not say, “Draw us.” Draw me is personal. We want a drawing from the Lord that is His personal and affectionate doing. We want Him to be with us in a personal and affectionate way. All the religions, including Christianity, present a portrait of God that is inaccurate. They portray God merely as great, almighty, sovereign, majestic, and even unapproachable; no one can or even dares to touch God. To say that God is majestic is not wrong, but that is only one attribute of the Divine Being. Regardless of how great, sovereign, almighty, and majestic God is, when He wanted to build up His relationship with man, He took the personal, affectionate way. He took the way of becoming a man. If the Lord Jesus had come to Peter in a majestic way, Peter would have felt threatened. But He did not come to Peter as the majestic, untouchable God. Instead, He came to Peter as his countryman. Peter was a Galilean, and Jesus was also a Galilean. This is personal and affectionate. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “Crystallization-study of Song of Songs,” msg. 1)
Paul
Paul was a person in Christ, and he experienced Christ and applied Him in all his circumstances. Paul could be content because he applied the Christ in whom he lived and in whom he remained. This Christ is real, living, near, available, and prevailing. This Christ became Paul’s secret. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 351)
