Week 14 The Practice of Service
LESSON FOURTEEN
GOSPEL PREACHING
Hymn 925
Scripture Reading:
Acts 8:4-5 Those therefore who were scattered went throughout the land announcing the word as the gospel. And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them.
1 Tim. 2:4 Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.
THE DEFINITION OF THE GOSPEL
The gospel is Christ, who is the very embodiment of the processed Triune God, reaching us as the consummated Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God for our enjoyment. According to the truth, the gospel is the entire New Testament. Christians are used to saying that there are four Gospels, but Paul told us that the entire book of Romans is the gospel of God (1:1, 15). It includes the preaching of God, the condemnation of God upon fallen man, and the Body life, including the local churches in chapter sixteen. Have you ever received such a broad view of the definition of the gospel? Personally, the gospel is a wonderful person, and according to the truth, the gospel is the entire divine revelation of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. God’s New Testament economy is the gospel. We have to believe in such a gospel, preach such a gospel, and live uniquely for such a gospel. The consummated Spirit, who is God Himself reaching us, eventually has become the seven Spirits in Revelation (1:4; 4:5; 5:6). The seven Spirits are also a part of the gospel.
LIVING UNIQUELY FOR THE GOSPEL
My intention is to impress you that in the universe and today on this earth there is something called the gospel which we are reminded and commanded to live for. The Lord commanded us to live for this gospel uniquely. What are we living on this earth for? Do we live for our profession or for our job to make a lot of money? What is man living for? Poor human society has so much activity but no goal. Do we have a goal? Our goal is the gospel, and our gospel is the Triune God processed to be the very Spirit within us as our salvation, as our life, as our life supply, and as our all-inclusive enjoyment.
What a wonder and what a glory to live uniquely for such a gospel. I have been living uniquely for this gospel for over fifty years. Hallelujah for this! It is worth it! When I was called by the Lord, my thinking was that God had called me to go to preach and teach in all the villages of my county, not even to my entire province. If I had done that all my life, I would have been more than happy. I never thought that I would be speaking in the United States and in other parts of the world to an international audience. By the Lord’s mercy I am living uniquely for the gospel!
GOING WITH THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST
At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord came as the very embodiment of the processed Triune God in resurrection and told us that all authority had been given to Him in heaven and on earth (28:18). The President of the United States sends ambassadors to many countries representing him with full authority, but why do we need this kind of authority, all authority in heaven and on earth? We need this authority to disciple the nations. All of us have to ask ourselves how many we have discipled. Have you believed in Him? Have you received Him? Do you have Him living in you? Are you one spirit with Him? Are you abiding in Him? Is He now abiding in you? Are you and He one? If you say yes to these questions, you have the authority in heaven and on earth to go! The worth and importance of the word “go” cannot be measured. Go, go, go! Go to Jerusalem first, then Judea, then Samaria, then to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8). Go to all the homes in all the countries. Go to your cousins’ homes, go to your in-laws’ homes. Go to the homes to disciple the nations.
THE SERIOUSNESS OF NOT BEARING FRUIT
Are you happy to remain in a barren situation for years? Second Peter indicates that it is possible for us to be idle and unfruitful, barren (1:8). Suppose tomorrow morning the Lord comes back. Then according to His word in Matthew 25, you will have to give Him an account of what you have been doing. What will you tell Him? Will you tell Him that you have had a good church life in your locality, that whatever He has given you is still here? Will you tell Him that He is a hard man, reaping where He did not sow and gathering where He did not scatter? What would the Lord say? Would the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful slave…enter into the joy of your lord” (25:23)? Or would He call you an evil and slothful slave (25:26)? According to Matthew 25, where will He put you? Do not forget that the one who is put into outer darkness is the one who has received the real gift, one talent. This one is not only saved but also gifted. The Lord is real, He will really come back, and His word spoken in Matthew 25 will be fulfilled. This is a serious and solemn matter.
THE LORD APPOINTING US TO GO FORTH AND BEAR FRUIT
AND THAT OUR FRUIT SHOULD REMAIN
John 15:16 says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I appointed you that you should go forth and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” In this verse there are some words which are quite crucial. The first word is “appointed.” We did not choose ourselves, but He chose us. We have no choice in the matter of being a branch of Christ, the vine, because He caught us. He chose us and appointed us to bear fruit. To bear fruit is the Lord’s appointment, His assignment. He did not assign us to do anything else. He appointed us to bear fruit. The Lord charged us to go forth and bear fruit. Can a branch go? The branches of a physical tree do not go. But we are not only living branches, but also movable branches. We have to go. This indicates that we have to reach people.
PUTTING THE NEW WAY INTO PRACTICE TO SEE THE LORD’S BLESSING
Your success in the new way depends upon your practice. With the right practice, you will eventually discover all the necessary details. But I assure you the blessing will be there with you. The Lord will bless your knocking on doors. The Lord will bless your setting up home meetings, and He will bless all the home meetings if you will practice this way according to what I have instructed. Do not use any natural way. The natural way will not work. Go strictly according to the instruction of the Lord’s new way. If you will be faithful to put all these things into practice, there will be some among you to help you to understand all the fine details.
I believe everyone can bring in one a month and that the home meetings will be very much blessed. The new ones will learn to go out knocking on doors, to take care of their home meetings, an after two or three years to teach others. Then you have to seek the Lord’s leading when to set up the Lord’s table with them. Maybe after a certain time they can have the Lord’s table meeting. You have to teach them how to live the Christian life, including their giving something to the Lord. Do not use the old way; everything must be new. Then you will see the Lord’s blessing. This is the way for the Lord to carry out His eternal economy that He may prepare His bride for His second coming. (Being Desperate and Living Uniquely for the Gospel, pp. 31-37, 43-47)
Reference: Being Desperate and Living Uniquely for the Gospel, ch. 3. The Life for the Preaching of the High Gospel, ch. 7; CWWL, 1963, Vol.3, Basic Principles for the Service in the Church Life, ch. 2.
