The Need of Distributing Food at the Proper Time
Matthew 24:45 says that the faithful and prudent slave distributes food to God’s children at the proper time. The meaning of distributing food to God’s children at the proper time is profound. It does not mean merely to distribute food according to the seasons but to distribute different kinds of food according to the varying needs. This is something that requires time and research. Suppose we meet a new one, and without any regard for his condition we begin to share with him about the seventy weeks in Daniel. It is true that we are speaking God’s word, but that kind of “distributing of food” does not nourish him. Instead, it kills him. God’s word is life, but if we do not use it in a proper way, it becomes a killing factor to others. It can spoil a person’s appetite; the taste to come to the meeting will be spoiled because what he has heard has not benefited him.
I may have exaggerated a little, but I want us to see the absolute necessity of preparing the right kind of reading material for different meetings. This is in the principle of distributing food according to the proper time. The advancement of the various kinds of meetings hinges on this very matter. Whether or not a meeting brings profit to a person, attracts him, or stirs up the desire within him to join depends fully on this matter. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 1: The Vision and Definite Steps for the Practice of the New Way, msg. 11)
Preparing a Living Word for Each Kind of Meeting
This is a desperate, life or death situation. It is up to the elders, the helpers, and the co-workers in your locality. Come together to pray and find a way to get one or more persons charged to prepare messages, a living word for each kind of meeting. This would not be a hard thing if you have the heart to do it because we have the groceries in all the messages of the ministry.
However, you cannot simply pull out a message and apply it to a meeting. This does not work. The shoes will not fit the feet. You need to work, to labor. The messages are only the groceries. You cannot put groceries on the dining table for people to eat. You need to do the cooking.
To invite someone to bring a meal to you is to rely upon fortune. It depends upon what he will bring. He may bring barbeque, yet one side may be raw. You yourself must go to the rich groceries, message after message, pick up some good points, and put them together to make a living message, short, brief, yet to the point. You must also train all the attendants to have the ability to use the message. This will be living, this will be enriching, and this will be very attractive. The key is your cooking. This is implied in Paul’s word to Timothy, “Let the elders who take the lead well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching” (1 Tim. 5:17).
In 2 Timothy 2:15 Paul said, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman, cutting straight the word of the truth.” To cut straight the word of the truth is the cooking. You as an unashamed workman have to cut the word straight as in carpentry. When you pass on the word to others, you should not simply present the word as a whole. You have to cut it, that is, to cook it. If you expect to have a living church in your locality with these prevailing home meetings, it is crucial for you to prepare a living message every week, which will be very applicable, useful, and prevailing. Do not merely pick up a Life-study Message and use the first paragraph on the page. That will not work. You cannot simply buy groceries and place them unprepared on the table. You need the cooking. This must be your labor as elders. Otherwise, you had better all resign and give place to others to let them come in to try. Do not remain there to delay the Lord. See whether others could do it, even if you have to use the young people. I have been considering to bring the young people into this work and let them try. If the first generation could not do it, let the second generation do it. Even my grandchildren could do many things much better than I can. There is such a need to have the prevailing home meetings, but the key, the crucial point, is the preparation of a living message.
I would not prepare such messages for all the churches and charge the churches to read the same message. Each of the many churches in this country needs a different kind of spiritual help each Lord’s Day. Different churches on different Lord’s Days need a different supply. You cannot serve the same kind of meal to everyone in a hospital. To those with stomach trouble you need to serve a certain kind of meal. For those with heart problems you need another kind of meal. You must have different meals to feed different people. Only you as the elders in your locality know what kind of meals your family needs. No one else knows your family’s need. I considered this quite much. This must be done by each respective local church. The family cooking must be done by the family, each one respectively. Although in principle all the local churches should be the same, in this aspect all the churches could not be the same.
For a mother to serve the family by cooking is not an easy thing. My wife serves me every day. She has to decide every day what she should serve, what will be nutritious and easy to digest. The elders must pick up this responsibility. Otherwise, you should not expect to have a living church in your locality; it would be impossible. First Timothy 3:1 says, “If anyone aspires to oversight, he desires a good work.” I encourage you all to aspire, but I condemn any kind of ambition without the sense of responsibility.
You must prepare a good message for the general meeting. To merely charge one person to do it would not be adequate. It is too heavy for one to bear. The best way is for all the elders, the helpers, and the co-workers to work together to prepare a living message and charge a particular one to deliver this message in a living way. The way to deliver or present the message should be discussed and fellowshipped among those who prepare it. Be assured you will have a good message. This will edify you as the elders, the helpers, and the co-workers. (Elders’ Training, Book 08: The Life-Pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, msg. 4)
Carefully Selecting the Reading Material
Such a practice involves an effort on the part of the co-workers and the elders. We must carefully select the proper material for the home meetings. We need to spend an adequate amount of time to pray thoroughly, to observe the condition of the brothers and sisters, and to understand the need of all the homes and the groups. We need to know their conditions, and then we should search out the suitable material from our publications. A mother, in preparing a meal for the family, should consider the condition of all the members of the family. Sometimes one member of the family is sick, and she needs to prepare special food for that one. Sometimes the season changes, and she needs to shop for the proper kind of food. All this takes research as well as common knowledge. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 1: The Vision and Definite Steps for the Practice of the New Way, msg. 11)
Crucial Points Requiring Our Attention
in the Home Meetings—Nutrition and Hygiene
My point is that we cannot congratulate ourselves merely with the fact that all the small groups have been subdivided into the homes. Of course, the number is encouraging, but we still need to pay attention to “hygiene,” “medical supplies,” and “good nutrition.” If these things are not in place, our “infant mortality rate” will still be high. The subdivision will bring in death, not life. I hope that all the elders and co-workers will take note of this danger. If there is malnutrition and lack of hygiene, the death rate will increase. What then should we do? We must approach the problem from a few directions. On the one hand, we need to enhance our hygiene, which includes immunization. On the other hand, we need to pay attention to nutritional care. All the co-workers, elders, and full-time serving ones have a responsibility to look into these two matters. We need to bear the burden of these one thousand home meetings. For this reason, I beg the co-workers and elders to spend much time praying together and seeking the Lord together. Consider the weaknesses and the needs that exist in each home meeting. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 1: The Vision and Definite Steps for the Practice of the New Way, msg. 8)
Preparing the Proper Materials
for the Group Meetings
Once we gain some new ones, we need to study to find the way to take care of them. I have been considering what materials would be the best to use in the group meetings to teach people. We have both Life Lessons and Truth Lessons. Although these lessons are very well written, I feel that they are not so suitable, because they may be too much for the new ones to digest. Even The Holy Word for Morning Revival may not be suitable for the new ones in the group meetings. It is not good to feed people too much food; we need to give them the proper portions. In Hebrews 5:12-14 Paul mentioned two kinds of food: milk and solid food. We should not attempt to nourish a child with solid food. Hence, we need someone to labor in order to write some suitable materials for the group meetings that will nourish the new ones with milk. In order to have the profitable teaching and fellowship in the group meetings, some materials that can serve as a guideline are needed. I hope that some of the brothers will be raised up by the Lord to compose some proper writings for the group meetings.
Carrying Out the Teaching of the Truth
in the Group Meetings
Another problem is how to carry out the teaching of the truth in the group meetings. We need to find a way to carry out the teaching year after year for those who continue in the group meetings, and at the same time take care of the new ones who are saved and brought into the groups month after month. It is not adequate to prepare lessons for just one year and then repeat them year after year. After a group finishes a series of lessons, they will need a way to continue. In addition, new ones will be brought in continually. We will need a way to teach them also. The matter of human education has been studied by mankind for six thousand years. Today nearly the entire world has adopted the same kind of educational system. However, the way of human education cannot be applied directly to the church life. Therefore, we need to study to find a proper way to teach the truth in the group meetings.
The human life is not merely one generation; it is generation after generation. Eventually, in the group meetings we will have different generations meeting together. Each generation must be properly cared for. This problem may not appear in the first generation of the group meetings, but eventually another generation will come up, and we will have to face this situation of how to care for the group meetings with the different generations.
I have mentioned all these matters to show that we will need much preparation for what is ahead. Through the group meetings we will no doubt gain the increase. However, we need to labor much in order to care for all the saints in the groups. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 4)
