TAKING THE SHEPHERDING WAY
TO PREACH THE GOSPEL AND REVIVE THE CHURCH

SERIES THREE
TAKING THE SHEPHERDING WAY
TO PREACH THE GOSPEL AND REVIVE THE CHURCH

Message Four
Making Friends for the Gospel

Scripture Reading:

Matt. 11:19    The Son of Man came eating and drinking; and they say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by her works.

Luke 16:9       And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles.

LORD JESUS BEING A FRIEND OF SINNERS

The Bible says that Jesus is a friend of sinners (Matt. 11:19). What is the meaning of a friend? A friend is a person whom one loves in an extraordinary relationship. Friendship is a relationship that is out of the ordinary, that pays no regard to status.…The Lord Jesus is the Savior, and we are sinners; this is the “normal” relationship. Under this normal relationship, there are “proper” procedures. For example, a sinner must believe and be baptized before he can be saved. This is the proper procedure under a normal relationship. The Bible, however, has a wonderful declaration: the Lord Jesus is also a friend of sinners. This is a great thing. This means that apart from the normal relationship of Savior with sinners, there is another relationship—that of a friend. A sinner can bypass the “proper” procedure and confer with Him as a friend. He can ask the Lord, “How are you going to save me?” In other words, a sinner can receive the Lord as the Savior without going through the proper procedures of salvation such as repentance, confession, believing, receiving, and baptism.…If our preaching is based on the fact that the Lord is a friend to sinners, we will bring sinners to the Lord immediately. Once we push a sinner into the presence of the Lord, something will happen. (CWWL, vol. 60, “Miscellaneous Records of the Kuling Training (2),” msg. 32)

INVITING OUR SINNER-FRIENDS
THAT THEY MAY RECEIVE THE LORD JESUS AS THEIR FRIEND

Luke 5 gives us an excellent example. The Lord Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi, who was a slave to money, and He called him to follow Him. Upon hearing the Lord’s calling, Levi left all, rose up, and followed the Lord. In this way he was saved. Once he was saved, he gave a great reception for the Lord Jesus in his house. However, he did not invite Jesus alone, nor did he invite prominent officials and famous persons. Instead, he invited many tax collectors and sinners (vv. 27-29). Because he himself was a vile sinner, he did not have good men as his friends but rather a crowd of wicked men, all of whom he invited to recline at table with the Lord.

I hope that all the saints, especially those who are newly saved, will do this one thing—hold a reception for Jesus and invite all of your friends, even the friends who are disreputable. You and I do not have reputable friends. What we have are “sinner-friends,” such as drinking friends, gambling friends, dancing friends, playing friends, and deceiving friends. Seriously speaking, where can you find good people on this earth? All are sinners. We did not have good friends before we were saved, but after we got saved, the Lord Jesus became our good Friend. We should hold receptions at our homes for the Lord Jesus and invite our sinner-friends that they may receive the Lord Jesus as their Friend. (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, msg. 4)

MAKING FRIENDS BY MEANS
OF THE MAMMON OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS

In Luke 16:9, which says, “Make friends for yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles.” Fallen man is unrighteous, but it pleases God in His mercy to use us, the unrighteous people, to preach His gospel. Furthermore, not only has God put unrighteous money into our hand; it also pleases Him to use that unrighteous money to preach the gospel.

The people whom we save by preaching the gospel become our good friends. They are also our friends by means of the unrighteous mammon. If we would preach the gospel in this way, there will be many people welcoming us when the Lord returns. The people who welcome us are those who were saved through our investing of our energy and our money.…We must be honest and ask ourselves, “How many people will welcome us when the Lord returns?” (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 5: Concerning Various Aspects of Church Service, msg. 12)

THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY
TO GAIN THEIR CLASSMATES
BEING TO BEFRIEND THEM

Hence, we need to pray for the saints so that they would continue steadfastly in the burden for the gospel and would not fear difficulties.…If we have a burden for the gospel, we would each bring one person to salvation every year. The most effective way for the students to preach the gospel to their classmates and to gain them is to befriend them. Do not develop friendships blindly; rather, make friends for the gospel. Young students are pure, but when they are in middle school, they are exposed to all kinds of secular ideologies. Our pure gospel is superior to any secular ideology. If we can make friends with our classmates and preach the gospel to them, it will be easy for them to receive the gospel. (The Purpose of God’s Salvation, msg. 9)

FREELY HEARING THE GOSPEL

Since we can continually preach the gospel in our homes, we will have many opportunities to invite our relatives, friends, and neighbors to come and freely hear the gospel. We need to pay attention to the word freely. In the past we have not been so wise. Throughout the year we may not have spoken much to our relatives, friends, and neighbors, but when the New Year’s gospel meeting approached, we tried to invite people, often compelling them to come and hear the gospel. This is not the proper way. The best way is to converse with our relatives and neighbors in our daily life and to establish a basis for friendship by contacting and getting to know them in a normal way. We may, for example, invite them for tea and say nothing to them about the gospel. Then at some time in the future, we can let them know that we are having a meeting in our home to read the Bible with some friends and to speak concerning the Lord Jesus and that they are welcome to come. If we have a relationship with them, it will be much easier to invite them.…We also should not give them a strict time to arrive. Some may come a little late, and we should let them. Some may need to leave a little early, and we should not compel them to stay to the end. We should let them freely come and freely leave. Nevertheless, they will always receive something when they come. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 4: The Increase and Spread of the Church, msg. 12)

OUR NEEDING TO BE FLEXIBLE
AND NOT TO BE LEGAL IN THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL

In preaching the gospel, we need to learn to be wise, but we do not need to be legal.…In the past I have mentioned that it is profitable to build up a kind of friendship with our gospel contacts. However, we should not make this a legal matter. In other words, building up a friendly relationship may take only half a minute. Immediately after a friendship has been built up, we need to do our job of speaking Christ to people. Our job is not to build a friendship but to preach the gospel.…Selling, not building up a friendship, is the salesman’s job. Likewise, our job is to “sell” Christ.…We need to be flexible, keen, and alert when preaching the gospel. But we should never be legal.…Some sinners can be gained simply by having a conversation with them. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 1, “Fellowship and Questions concerning the Gospel,” msg. 1)

SPENDING MONEY, ENERGY, AND OUR PERSON
FOR THE SAKE OF THE GOSPEL

If we want the Lord to have an outlet and for the gospel to spread, every brother and sister should have the attitude of spending their money, energy, and person for the sake of the gospel.…We must remember what the Lord said concerning using unrighteous mammon to make friends while the mammon is still useful (Luke 16:9). We need to use unrighteous mammon to preach the gospel and bring people to salvation. Those who are saved due to our money are the friends whom we have made with our unrighteous mammon. When unrighteous mammon fails, all these friends will welcome us into the eternal tabernacles (v. 9). (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 5: Concerning Various Aspects of Church Service, msg. 18)