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Something must be improper or wrong if we are not bearing fruit

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“Barrenness is an even more subtle enemy. Some married couples are not able to have children, and this becomes a big problem to them. According to human desire, the meaning of a couple’s life is to have children. Likewise, if we do not bear fruit, beget some spiritual children, there is not much meaning to our church life. Without fruit-bearing, there is no practical church life. Suppose that we baptized fifty-eight new ones in the next Lord’s Day church meeting. All of us would be excited and joyful in the Lord. But we do not have much joy, because we are barren. Barrenness is the biggest enemy that annuls the proper church life.

If we cannot have children in our human life, we can have the Lord as our replacement. But the Lord will not be the replacement for the fruit that we do not bear in the church life. We may feel that we have been enjoying the Lord every day, but a tree is known by its fruit. The real church life can be evidenced only by fruit-bearing. If we have not borne fruit for three years, for five years, or even for ten years, our enjoyment of Christ should be questioned. Something must be improper or wrong if we are not bearing fruit.

In the seven epistles to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3, the Lord touched the deadness with Sardis and the lukewarmness with the Laodiceans, but He did not touch barrenness. This is because He had already dealt with this very seriously in John 15. In the four Gospels the Lord did not deal with deadness or with lukewarmness. But He dealt with barrenness to the uttermost in one chapter—John 15. Some people would say that this is a chapter on abiding in Christ. Actually, however, it is not on abiding but on fruit-bearing. Abiding is for fruit-bearing. The Lord said, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes it away…If one does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up” (vv. 2a, 6a). For a branch to be cast out means that it is cut off from participation in the riches of the life of the vine.

If we do not bear fruit, there is a danger that we will be cut off from the vine tree. This does not mean that we will suffer eternal perdition but that we will lose our enjoyment of Christ as our portion. This proves that if we do not bear fruit, there is a problem with our enjoyment of Christ. This is just like a couple who cannot bring forth children. They may say that they do not feel that anything is wrong with them, but actually something is wrong, which is preventing them from having children. They may even go to some doctors to find out what is wrong with them. This is an illustration of our problem of barrenness. We may feel that there is nothing wrong with us, but based upon the fact that we have not borne fruit, we must realize that something is wrong with our enjoyment of Christ. If we do not have fruit, our so-called enjoyment of Christ can be a self-deceiving matter. It is not so real.

We may think that we have seen a number of saints who have not borne fruit for quite a long time, but we did not notice that they were cut off from the enjoyment of the Lord. My answer to this is that the matter of life is a mystery. There may be a couple who cannot bear children, but no one can see the reason. In the same way it may seem that we are doing quite well, but where is our fruit? This is a test. If we are not bearing fruit, this is evidence that we have lost our enjoyment of Christ. In this chapter I want us to realize that every day, day and night, these three enemies are around us: deadness, lukewarmness, and barrenness.

In the previous chapter I shared that we need to get some companions, at least two or three, with whom we can labor in the gospel. We should never work by ourselves. Instead, we should work by fellowshipping with our companions. The trouble is that we do not like to have fellowship with others. We are self-contented, and some of us may think that we are omnipotent and all-capable. But according to my over sixty years of experience, none of us is omnipotent. Each of us is very limited in his capacity and ability. You need the help, and I need the help. My helpers in the work know how much I need them. I purposely fellowship with them and ask them questions in order that I may learn. I want to be taught by them. If there is no fellowship among us in our work, there cannot be the real one accord. We need to labor in oneness through thorough fellowship. Because of our unwillingness to have thorough fellowship, we are dead, lukewarm, and barren. We must get some companions and open up ourselves to fellowship with them to the uttermost.”

(The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Chapter 3, Section 2)

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The genuine care for one another needs to be recovered among us

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“Verses 24 and 25 of Hebrews 10 are the basis for our practice of the group meetings. These verses say, “Let us consider one another so as to incite one another to love and good works, not abandoning our own assembling together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day drawing near.” These verses first say that we need to consider one another. This implies that we have a genuine care for all the members of our vital group. To care for one another means to consider one another. Today we may not care for others. We do not really care whether or not a certain brother comes to the meeting or whether or not a certain sister is sick. The genuine care for one another needs to be recovered among us.

Proper wives always have their husbands in their consideration. A sister may make sure that her husband has a coat to wear as he is leaving the house. This means that she is considering her husband, caring for her husband. We need to have this kind of practical care for one another. To consider one another in a practical way is to love one another. We say that we love one another, but in what way do we love? We may not care for anyone in a practical way. Love means practical care and consideration. When we consider one another, we incite one another to love and good works. We stir up one another. If someone cares for me, that spontaneously stirs me up, incites me, to love and good works. To love here is not an infinitive. Love is a noun, just as good works is a noun. We incite one another to love and good works by caring for one another, considering one another.

We need the intimate fellowship with one another with the practical care and shepherding. One sister may point out that another sister in the group is absent because she is having some particular trouble. After sharing with the other group members the nature of the problem, the group can pray for her and fellowship about how to give her the practical care and help.

If a brother has lost his job, we should pray for him. We should also consider his material situation. This is real love. James in his Epistle says, “If a brother or sister is without clothing and lacks daily food, and any one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, yet you do not give them the necessities of the body, what is the profit?” (2:15-16). In his first Epistle, John says, “Whoever has the livelihood of the world and sees that his brother has need and shuts up his affections from him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word nor in tongue but in deed and truthfulness” (3:17-18). If we see brothers who are in need and merely tell them that the Lord will take care of them, that is not love. That is vain talk. We should care for one another, consider one another, in a practical way.

This kind of care stirs up our love and our good works. These good works may refer to small things or big things that are related to God’s economy. A saint in your group may not think about God’s economy. God’s economy seems too abstract and unattainable to him. He thinks that we talk much about God’s economy but that this has nothing to do with our present need in our daily life. Through our loving care for this brother, he will be incited to consider God’s economy. Without such a loving care and consideration of one another, we may be very indifferent toward the things of God’s economy concerning Christ and the church. But once a brother is loved in some practical care, that impresses him and incites him to think about the Christian life and about God’s economy. When a brother who is Italian cares for another brother who is Chinese, this is a marvelous testimony. This shows that the different races are swallowed up in the new man and testifies of the practical love among the members of the Body of Christ.

Paul says that we should consider one another so as to incite one another to love and good works, not abandoning our own assembling together. Today our vital group meeting is our own assembling together. For the Hebrew believers at Paul’s time to abandon their own assembling together would have been to return to the Jewish way of meeting and to abandon their assembling together as Christians. Paul exhorted them not to abandon their own assembling together as Christians. Hebrews 10:25 says that in the group meetings we should exhort one another, and so much the more as we see the day drawing near.

The first thing we have to do in the vital group meetings is to have a thorough fellowship together so that we can know the members of our group in an intimate way. The more thorough our fellowship is, the better. Do we know the occupations of the saints in our vital group and where each one works? Do we know the first and last names of every member of our vital group with their proper pronunciation? By considering these questions, we can see that our fellowship has not been thorough. To love one another involves a lot. We need to endeavor to know one another intimately in the Lord. If someone is absent from our vital group meeting, we should immediately ask where he or she is. We say that our group should be blended, but our blending has not been completed, because we do not know each other thoroughly. When you take action together in serving the Lord, you will see that this is very important. Week after week we have been meeting together, yet we still do not really know one another.

We should know each other’s situation and condition in an up-to-date way. Then we will realize there is the need of practical care. If we realize that a sister is sick, we can fellowship about how to render the proper and practical care to her. We can fellowship about who would be burdened to go or about who could and should go. In the larger prayer meetings of the church, we pray in a general way, but the prayer for one another in the groups is specific with a view to the practical care and shepherding. We may pray for a few minutes, and then we can arrange for some person or persons to visit our sister. This is the shepherding. Later, the one who visits should let the group know the situation of this sister. This is what is implied when we say that the group meetings are eighty percent of the church life.

The new ones whom we bring to our group meetings will not merely be taught by us outwardly. They will observe our practice. This is similar to the children in a family learning things by observing the way the family lives and acts. The new ones will follow the pattern that they see and hear in our vital groups. This is why we must learn how to fellowship with one another and how to get ourselves released.”

(Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, ch. 17)

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Verses about the church in certain localities being in a house

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“Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. And greet the 1church, which is in their 2house.” (Romans 16:3-5a)

Rom 16:51 church
The church in Prisca and Aquila’s house must have been the church in Rome. When they were living in Ephesus (Acts 18:18-19), the church in Ephesus was in their house (1 Cor. 16:19). Wherever they were, they were willing to bear the burden of the practice of the church by opening their home.

Rom 16:52 house
Showing that the early saints met primarily in their houses. Such a practice corresponds with Acts 2:46 (see note 3 there) and 5:42.

“Aquila and Prisca greet you much in the Lord, with the 1church, which is in their house.” (1 Cor. 16:19b)

1 Cor. 16:191 church
This means that when Aquila and Prisca lived in Ephesus, the church there met in their home (Acts 18:18-19, 26). When they lived in Rome, the church in Rome met in their home (Rom. 16:5; cf. Col. 4:15-16; Philem. 2).

“Greet the brothers in Laodicea, as well as Nymphas and the 1church, which is in his house.” (Col. 4:15)

Col. 4:151 church
The church in the house of Nymphas was the local church in Laodicea, which met in Nymphas’s house. Such meetings in the saints’ homes afford every attending believer the opportunity to function, and they also strengthen the mutual fellowship among the saints.

“And to 1Apphia the sister and to 1Archippus our fellow soldier and to the 2church, which is in your house” (Philem. 2)

Philem. 21 Apphia and Archippus
According to the familial nature of this Epistle, Apphia must have been Philemon’s wife, and Archippus, his son.

Philem. 22 church
Philemon lived in Colossae (v. 2 cf. Col. 4:17; v. 10 cf. Col. 1:2; 4:9) and according to history was an elder of the church there. It must have been that the church in Colossae met in his house. Hence, it was the church in his house.

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How should we meet according to God’s economy?

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“And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the 1temple and 2breaking bread from 3house to house, they partook of their food with exultation and 4simplicity of heart” (Acts 2:46)

Acts 2:461 temple
In the initiation of God’s New Testament economy, the early believers and even the first group of apostles were not clear that God had forsaken Judaism with its practices and facilities, including the temple (see Matt. 23:38 — “your house,” referring to the God-forsaken temple). Hence, according to their tradition and habit, they still went to the temple for their New Testament meeting.

Acts 2:462 breaking
The early believers remembered the Lord by breaking bread daily in their houses; this showed their love and enthusiasm toward the Lord.

Acts 2:463 house
Or, at home; in contrast to in the temple. Meeting in homes as the Christian way of meeting together is fitting to God’s New Testament economy. This way differs from the Judaic way of meeting in the synagogues (6:9). It became a continual and general practice in the churches (cf. Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Philem. 2).

Acts 2:464 simplicity
Or, singleness; describing the heart’s being simple, single, and plain, having one love and desire and one goal in seeking after the Lord.

“Now Peter and John were going up into the 1temple at the ninth-hour prayer” (Acts 3:1)

See note 461 in ch. 2 [above]. It was not only the early believers who were not clear concerning God’s New Testament economy in relation to the Judaic temple; even the early apostles did not have a clear vision concerning God’s abandoning of the Judaic things. Hence, even after God poured out the Spirit upon them on the day of Pentecost to initiate a new dispensation, they still would not separate themselves from the Judaic temple. At the initial stage God tolerated their ignorance in this matter. But this led to a mixture of the church with Judaism, which was not condemned by the early church in Jerusalem (cf. 21:20-26). Eventually, the temple was destroyed by Titus with his Roman army in A.D. 70, as prophesied by the Lord in Matt. 23:38 and 24:2. That destruction cleared up the religious mixture.

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Fellowship on opening our homes with Andrew Yu in Diamond Bar, 9/11/2011

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What is to practice the church life according to the God-ordained way?

  1. Work the truth into all the saints
  2. Work the church life into the homes
  3. Work the gospel into our living

In order to do this, we need to move away from the “meeting” mentality to the “person” mentality.

Four new words to replace the word “meeting”:

  1. Prayer (together in the homes)
  2. Care (for one another in the homes)
  3. Share (the Lord’s riches in the homes)
  4. Bear (fruit in the homes)

This is the essence of the church life!

“Do you know what is the universal language? Not Chinese, not English. Love! Love is the universal language. It transcends all barriers. It doesn’t matter. You know as long as you love, I don’t care what color of skin you are. Then you open up, and then you have the real Body life.”

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Old Way/ New Way

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 Old Way New Way
Caring for the meeting Caring for people
Being isolated in my home Opening my home to saints and /or visiting saints in their homes
Only staying in or thinking about my district/locality/state/country Blending, visiting, migration; praying for the Lord’s move all over the Earth; being Body-conscious
Being set, settled, and occupied Being open to migrate
Big meetings Twos and threes
Charismatic speakers Every member functioning
Scheduled activities / special events Everyday activities done together
Big Small
Meeting hall Homes
Individual spirituality Corporate building up
Criticizing the elders and/or other saints Being a pattern of the healthy church life
Spiritual giants Vital groups
Trying to become a five-talented member Investing my one talent
Regulating behavior Growing in the divine life
The principle of the tree: outward display, deeply rooted in the earth, a lodging place for birds (Matt. 13:32) The principle of the mustard seed: small, sojourning, good for food
Having meetings Wanting to be with the saints
Taking care of meetings Taking care of people (saints, new ones, unbelievers)
Hierarchy/clergy-laity Mutuality
One-directional working on a few “promising” ones Mutual caring among all
Top to bottom: having a top-down one-directional organized church structure Bottom to top: everyone actively initiating and functioning
Small to big: making one home meeting bigger and bigger Few to many: multiplying one home into many homes
Meeting once or twice a week Contacting saints regularly throughout the week (because I need them)
Dressing up and putting on a performance for the big meetings Being genuine with one another, getting to really know one another, loving one another
Brothers doing everything, sisters being left out (including husbands and wives) All members especially sisters functioning, couples and families serving together, brothers heading up and covering
Inviting new ones to our meetings and conferences Visiting new ones where they are, especially in their home
Only meeting with saints who are from my cultural background or language Being open to blend with all the saints
The 20% church life The 80% church life
Brothers being 2/3 of the saints Sisters being 2/3 of the saints
Looking to a “pastor” or leading brother to run the home meeting and give a teaching/message Every member functioning in mutuality in the homes, learning by asking and answering questions
Focusing only on college students All saints being cared for
Living to our children Living with the tabernacle (Christ and the church) as our center
Not letting others care for our children Caring for one another’s children so the sisters can make it to the meetings
Barrenness Corporate bearing of remaining fruit
Formulaic meetings (pray-eat-sing-read) Organic functioning of every member, following the leading and flow of the Spirit
Focusing on the Lord’s Day meetings Daily church life
Following our jobs Following the Lamb
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We do not open up to others, because we are afraid to be known by them

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“… When we come together in the vital groups, we should release ourselves by opening up to one another. We may have been with one another for years, but we do not really know one another. Instead, we like to hide ourselves in certain things from the saints. I am afraid that not one of us is really open. All of us are pretending to be “good” members of the vital groups. We may show up on time and behave ourselves as nice ladies and gentlemen, but this is seclusion. We do not want to talk openly with the saints in our vital group because we are secluded. To talk openly with the intimate and thorough fellowship in Christ is to be released.

We do not open up to others, because we are afraid to be known by them. As a result, we cannot receive the inner healing from the Lord. We may be sick of “gangrene,” but we want to cover and hide our sickness from others. We need to realize that the other members of our vital group are our doctors. If we open ourselves up in a proper way to the other saints in our group, we will be healed. But instead of opening up, everyone is hiding. Some of us are released, but we are not absolutely released, because we are not used to being open to others. We are not open, but closed and secluded.

When we come together, we may feel that there is not much to do. I have said that the group meetings are eighty percent of the church life, and the first item of the group meetings is to come together to fellowship in an intimate, thorough, and spontaneous way. Maybe a sister would open up by saying, “I can’t tolerate my children. Would you tell me how to overcome my temper?” Why would we not open up to one another in this way? Instead of seeing a scenery of intimate fellowship in the vital groups, I see a very behaving scenery. Everybody behaves. No one wants to make a mistake. Everyone wants to be a “good boy” and a “good girl.” I have seen this for many years, and I am disgusted with this. I want to see a group of seeking saints coming together to gain the Lord Jesus.

But where can we see a group of saints practicing the New Testament revelation today? Who is denying himself? Who is being renewed, transformed, and conformed to the image of the One who has passed through death and resurrection? Gradually, we have drifted into practicing a routine church life, but where is the Spirit and where is the leading of the Lord? There is not much leading of the Spirit among us. Instead, you act by your way, and I act by my way. You pray by your way, and I pray by my way. Who is going to be adjusted? Who is going to learn? If we are not inwardly adjusted and transformed, then where is the church life?

We have lost the impact in winning the sinners because we are a group of behaving people. We do not have the real spirituality as the power from on high, as the impact. In nearly everything, we have lost our spiritual impact. This is why we need a strict training. Otherwise, there will be no remedy to our situation. We love the recovery, we love the Lord, we love the church, and we are so good. We behave ourselves so that we do not offend anyone or make mistakes in the church life. But this is not the church life. This is a kind of top social club. The church life, however, is a group of Jesus-lovers who seek after Him.

These lovers of Jesus are ones who, after being regenerated, go on to learn the lesson of denying themselves in everything so that they can be renewed. They are living, serving, and meeting not by their doing and adjustment but by the Holy Spirit’s leading. They are being renewed even in the way they deal with their children and in the way they talk to their spouse.

… We need to be transformed in everything. The Lord needs a group of people who have been regenerated, renewed, transformed, and conformed to the firstborn Son of God so that they can be built up together. This building is the Body and the practical church life.

I appreciate that the Lord has raised up so many churches on the earth, but the actual situation of the churches with respect to the practice of the God-ordained way is not that much up to the standard. This is why we need to raise up the vital groups. The remedy is here. In our vital groups, we must have much and thorough prayer to get ourselves blended with others in love. Whenever we come together, we should open up to one another to have an intimate and thorough fellowship.”

(Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, Chapter 15)

We all must be properly emotional and full of expression

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“In [Romans 12:15] Paul says, ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.’ We must be transformed before we can rejoice and weep with others. Some people were born in such a way that they are unable to weep or to rejoice. Regardless of how happy or joyful you are, they remain expressionless, resembling the statue of Mary at the entrance of a Catholic church, which never changes its expression. Some brothers and sisters are like this. They do not know how to rejoice or to weep with others; they seem to be stones without human affection. However, the church life needs emotional people. We all must be properly emotional and full of expression. I would like to have a face that can express all my emotions properly and adequately. We cannot put together people with stone faces and call it the church life; we must be living stones, stones full of affection. We must learn to rejoice and to weep with others.”

(Life-Study of Romans, pp. 315-316)

The divine life is needed for family life

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“Suppose we did not have the divine life within us. This would certainly make family life very difficult, especially in relation to our in-laws, and particularly, to the mother-in-law…. For both a husband and a wife, a mother-in-law can create a difficult situation. For this reason, humanly speaking, it is better that a married couple not have a mother-in-law live with them.”

(Life-study of 1 Peter, pp. 173-174, 182)

What does it mean to serve God?

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“The dictionary tells us that a priest is a person who serves God professionally. Most Christians would tell us that a priest is one who serves God. This is right, but what does it mean to serve God? Today’s Christians would answer that to serve God is to work for God. This answer is wrong! To say that a priest is a person who serves God is right, but to say that to serve God is merely to do something for God, is wrong.

To realize what a priest is, we must first see God’s eternal plan. God is a God of purpose. He has a purpose which He wants to accomplish. According to the revelation of the Scriptures, God has a plan to work Himself into a group of people in order that He might be their life and they might become His expression. Based upon this plan, God created man.

Man was destined to receive God, to be filled, saturated and permeated with God, and to have God flow out of him that he might be the living expression of God. This is a brief definition of a priest. He must contact God, be filled with God, and be possessed by God completely that he may be built up with others in the flow of the life of God. Then the priesthood will be God’s living, corporate expression.

Christianity’s concept is that if we love the Lord, we must work for Him. This is a natural, religious concept, not the revelation of the Bible. God never intended to call us merely to work for Him. God’s intention is that we must first open ourselves to Him that He may come into us to fill and flood us until He has taken possession of every part of our being. Our whole being must be saturated and permeated with Him. Then we will be one with Him. We will not only be clothed outwardly with Him as power, but permeated inwardly with Him as everything. Then spontaneously, God will flow out of us, and we will be built up with others in this flow of life.

I must repeat that a priest is not one who merely works for God. God has no intention of calling us to do something for Him. His intention is that we answer His call by opening ourselves to Him and saying, “Lord, here I am, not ready to work for You, but ready to be filled and possessed by You and to be one with You.” Not until we are one with the Lord can we ever work for Him and be a real priest. The main function of a priest is not to work but to spend time in the presence of the Lord until he is one with Him in the spirit. The priesthood that God plans to have is a corporate man who is saturated and permeated with Himself.”

(The Priesthood, chapter 1)

God does not want us to be always up or to be always down

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God does not want us to be always up or to be always down. Even in nature the alternating of day and night testifies of this. There is no such thing as an unending day or night. Rather, there is the alternating of day and night, night and day. God did not create us so that we would have a day or night that would last for many years. This may be according to our way, but it is not according to God’s way.

Young people, you must know your rule, your limit. This means that you must know how much God has measured to you, how much He has apportioned to you. This restriction, this limitation, is a very practical dealing with our flesh. Our natural man wants to be without limitation. However, God knows our problem. Therefore, He sets up boundaries and restrictions so that we may stay within the measure that He has apportioned to us.

(Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 444-445)

The Christian’s happiness is not to be found in external things, but in learning to enjoy God Himself in the midst of trial

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“What is the significance of suffering? This, that the devastation it brings to the old creation provides an opportunity for the God of resurrection to impart Himself to His creatures, so that they emerge from the death process with a divine element in their constitution. The primary purpose of suffering in this universe, particularly as it relates to the children of God, is that through it the very nature of God may be wrought into the nature of man. “If indeed our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). Through a process of outward decay an inward process is taking place that is adding a new constituent to our lives.

Beloved brothers and sisters, through hardship and pressure a divine element is being wrought into the very fabric of our beings, so that we cease to be colorless Christians, but have a heavenly hue imparted to our lives that was lacking before. Whatever else suffering may effect in this universe is incidental; this is primary — to bring those whom the living God has made possessors of created life into the uncreated life of the God of resurrection. It is in the death experiences which come through suffering that the life of the creature is blended with the life of the Creator. We may know the living God without such drastic experiences, but only through death can we come to an experiential knowledge of the God of resurrection.

Suffering is the God-appointed lot of the Christian. The Christian’s happiness is not to be found in external things, but in learning to enjoy God Himself in the midst of trial. Paul and Silas could rejoice and sing His praises while they were in prison, because their happiness did not come from outer circumstances, but from an inner enjoyment of God. In Paul’s short letter to the Philippians, written during his imprisonment, there are over a score of references to joy. In deep distress he could still be joyful because in his affliction he was learning to know Christ, to appropriate Him and to enjoy Him. His outward circumstances were all conducive to sorrow, but it was in sorrow that Christ was imparted to him as the source of his joy.”

(The God of Resurrection)

If we would bear fruit, we must do so corporately

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THE PRACTICAL WAY TO BEAR FRUIT

While we need to enjoy the Lord by pray-reading His Word, this alone is not sufficient; there should be a practical result of our exercise in the Word. The practical issue of our enjoyment of Christ in the Word is fruit-bearing. If we do not bear fruit, we will not have good spiritual digestion. To bear fruit is to pass on to others the portion of Christ that we have enjoyed. Instead of keeping Christ locked up within us, we should pass Him on to others. Bearing fruit is more than simply preaching the gospel. Bearing fruit is the result of enjoying on a daily basis the Christ whom we have received. As a result of enjoying Christ, we spontaneously pass Him on to others, bearing them as fruit.

We should check ourselves in these two areas.

  • First, we should check to see whether we are enjoying Christ throughout the day. If we are enjoying Christ, then we are a branch in the vine.
  • Second, as branches in the vine, we should spontaneously bear fruit.

We need to ask ourselves whether we are bearing fruit or not. Regarding this matter, many of us have a problem. Our problem is that we do not pass Christ on to others. To enjoy Christ is to receive Christ into us; to bear fruit is to pass Christ on to others. Fruit-bearing involves a flow: Christ flowing in through our enjoyment of Him, and Christ flowing out through our fruit-bearing. All the brothers and sisters should bear the responsibility of bearing fruit. None of us has an excuse for failing to bear fruit. We should not say that we have no possibility of bearing fruit.

Forming a Nucleus

Although we have fellowshipped in the past concerning how to bear fruit, a number of saints may not be clear concerning this matter. Hence, I wish to pass on a few points that we should put into practice if we are to bear fruit. First, we need to form a nucleus with the saints to whom we are related. The reason we need a nucleus is that as branches, we cannot bear fruit individually. Trying to bear fruit individually is not effective. If we would bear fruit, we must do so corporately, and the first step in bearing fruit corporately is to form a nucleus.

Praying Together

Once we have formed the nucleus, the primary matter that we should attend to is prayer. It would be very good for the members of the nucleus to meet once a week simply to pray. Such meetings are very important. In principle, these gatherings are just as important as the meetings of the church.

After we have formed our nucleus and have begun to pray, we should list the names of our acquaintances. Our acquaintances include our relatives, classmates, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Each member of the nucleus may have a list that contains dozens of names.

After composing our lists, each of us should pray over our list, seeking the Lord’s guidance so that we can select two or three people—four at the most—for whom we should begin to care. By seeking the Lord’s mind in this way, we will become clear concerning which persons are the right ones for us to care for at the present time. After we have the Lord’s leading concerning certain ones on our list, we should pray for them, contact them, and try to bring them into the nucleus.

Adding People to the Nucleus

Once we begin praying, we should not expect quick results. Only after praying and endeavoring for a period of time will we bear fruit. After we have prayed together for a period of two or three weeks, we should seek to bring those for whom we have prayed into our nucleus one by one (bringing more than one at a time is generally too difficult). From then on, whenever we meet with our nucleus, we should come with new ones. This is the easiest way for us to bring people to Christ. If we succeed in bringing those for whom we are praying into the nucleus, they will be gained for the Lord.

If we put these points into practice, it will be easy for people to be gained. Of course, there are other things that the nucleus can and will do, but they are not nearly as important as the things I have outlined above: forming the nucleus, praying together, and bringing our friends into the nucleus. By praying as a nucleus and inviting our friends to it, our friends will gradually be brought to Christ and into the church life.

The nucleus is like a little fishing boat, and the members of the nucleus are like hooks that can catch people and bring them into the nucleus. To bring our friends into the nucleus is to bring them ninety-five percent of the way to Christ, Eventually, it is through this nucleus that our friends will also be brought into the church life. If we try this, we will discover that each member of our nucleus will bear at least one fruit every six months.

(Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1967, vol. 2, “Enjoying the Lord in the Word to Bear Fruit”, ch. 2)

In order for the gospel to go forth, we have to move

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Although God has made many preparations in the environment in order for us to migrate, we still have problems practicing migration. Such problems include our nature, habits, family relationships, relatives and friends, work factors, geographic factors, and property. There is also the inability to adapt to different languages, different customs, and new environments. In addition, there are hardships, costs, and losses suffered when we migrate. These matters cause us to hesitate. Furthermore, according to our natural disposition, Chinese people do not like to move. It is difficult to leave our native land. In general, migration is relatively easy for Caucasians but difficult for the Chinese. Unless we are forced to move, we are unwilling to go even to a nearby region, let alone to a faraway land. Our natural disposition, habits, environment, and human relationships make us inclined to stay in one place. Hence, we need the Lord’s deliverance in relation to migration.

We do not have to move for our sake or for the sake of our family, but we do need to move for the Lord’s sake and for His gospel. If we do not move, the gospel cannot go forth; if we stay in one place, the gospel will be held back. In order for the gospel to go forth, we have to move. In order to move, however, we must overcome the problems that hinder us. We need to be delivered from these problems by allowing the Lord to break our natural disposition and our lack of desire to move. We must also ask the Lord to enable us to overcome every factor that restrains us from migrating.

We need the Lord to break our natural disposition and habits in relation to migration. We ask the Lord to enable us to overcome sin and the world, but we must also ask Him to enable us to overcome all the things that restrain us from migrating. Most people would rather stay in one place than suffer moving to different places. We need the Lord to deliver us from this preference. We need the Lord’s grace to make us willing to move so that we would not be half Christians, ones who come but do not go. By the Lord’s grace, we need to be sojourners on earth who follow the footsteps of Abraham.

When Abraham was called, he obeyed and went from his land to Canaan, the land that God promised to give him. Abraham dwelt in Canaan as a foreigner; he was a sojourner who moved from place to place in a tent, thus confessing that he was a stranger and a sojourner on the earth (Heb. 11:8, 13). Wherever Abraham went, he pitched a tent and built an altar to Jehovah; he also called on the name of Jehovah and maintained God’s testimony on the earth (Gen. 12:6-8; 13:3-4, 18). The tent and the altar were inseparable in the life of Abraham. The tent was a symbol of his life of sojourning on earth, and the altar was a testimony of his calling on the name of Jehovah. Abraham built an altar only after he pitched a tent. He had the testimony of calling on Jehovah only when he lived a sojourning life. Likewise, if we want to serve God, declare His gospel, and maintain His testimony, we must live as sojourners; that is, we must move. If we stay in any place for a long period of time, we will lose the characteristic of a sojourner and the life of the tent. When we lose the life of the tent, we also lose the testimony of the altar. Hence, we cannot maintain God’s testimony when we lose the characteristic of being sojourners.

Whenever we stay in a place for a long time, we will be in danger of being rooted on earth. When we received salvation, the Lord uprooted us out of the world. However, some saints have not allowed the Lord to pull their roots out of the earth. Abraham obeyed God’s command immediately after he was called by going from the land of his birth, that is, from Ur of the Chaldeans (11:31). Some brothers and sisters have been called to be God’s children, but they have not obeyed God’s command to go out from their “Ur,” the place where their roots are in the earth. If they would be willing to migrate, the Lord would pull their roots out of the earth…

May we follow the example of Abraham, the father of faith, by always moving, living the life of a sojourner who pitches a tent and builds an altar as a testimony of God.

(CWWL, 1950-1951, vol. 2, “Serving According to Revelation,” ch. 8)

What should we do if there is no clear sense of the atmosphere or direction of the meeting?

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“Often the atmosphere of our meetings is cloudy or foggy, and our meetings seem to have no focus or direction; consequently, the saints do not know where the meeting is going or how to direct the meeting. In such a case, someone must take the lead to exercise his spirit and break through the “fog.” This may be done by simply choosing a hymn or praying in a strong way in the spirit. This is something we need to learn to do. We need to realize that what the Lord can do among us and the extent to which He can work depend on our cooperation. If no one is willing to cooperate with the Lord to function in the meeting, the Lord will be unable to move, and the meeting will be empty. If we are truly open to the Lord, the Lord will do many things.”

(Basic Principles for the Church Meetings, ch. 1)

According to God’s economy, there are only four races on this earth

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“The Bible is a book concerning God with man. In between God and man, there is a third party, Satan. Satan always makes trouble, and all the trouble is the chaos. The Lord needs a group of people, the overcomers, who will be one with Him to conquer all the destructive chaos and triumph in His unique constructive economy.

THE ADAMIC RACE, THE ABRAHAMIC RACE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH, THE ABRAHAMIC RACE ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT, AND THE OVERCOMING RACE

In the first 10 1/2 chapters of Genesis, God was dealing with man as the Adamic race. But after these chapters of the Bible, God shifted to another group of people. The second group of people is composed of the descendants of one father, Abraham. God shifted from the Adamic race to the Abrahamic race. God‘s dealing with the Abrahamic race occupies nearly the entire Old Testament, from partway through Genesis 11 to the end of Malachi. The Old Testament covers the race of Adam and the physical descendants of Abraham. Both were a failure to God, but God could never be disappointed. He is the almighty One and the faithful One. He has the capacity to fulfill His faithfulness to keep His economy.

In the New Testament economy, God had a serious, vital shift to another group of people. He shifted from Abraham’s descendants according to the flesh to Abraham’s descendants according to the Spirit. The book of Genesis tells us that Abraham had two kinds of descendants, who were likened to the dust of the earth (13:16), and the stars of heaven (15:5). His earthly descendants are as the dust of the earth, and we, the New Testament believers as his heavenly descendants, are as the stars of heaven. The Jews, by their natural birth, all belong to the physical descendants of Abraham. Then all the believers in Christ, regardless of their race, are the spiritual descendants of Abraham (Gal. 3:7, 29). Regretfully, however, most of the spiritual descendants of Abraham, also fail God. Then to whom can God go in order to carry out His purpose?

At the beginning of the last book of the Bible, the Lord Jesus as the High Priest walking among the golden lampstands gives a call to another group of people, the overcomers. In Revelation 2 and 3, He says “to him who overcomes” seven times (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21). This is a sevenfold call to us, His believers, the spiritual descendants of our great father, Abraham. Christ calls out seven times for the overcomers.

The overcomers are the fourth race. The first race was Adamic, the second race was Abrahamic according to the flesh, and the third race was still Abrahamic, but according to the Spirit. However, even the spiritual Abrahamic race becomes a failure. Humanly speaking, it is quite disappointing, but divinely speaking, our God can never be shaken or disappointed. He is God! Regardless of what happens, He is still standing. Not only is He standing, but also He is the One who sat enthroned at the flood and who sits as King forever (Ps. 29:10). Because He is such a One, He produces another race, the top race, the super race, the race above all the races. This last race is the overcoming race!

From the time of Adam to the time of Abraham was exactly 2000 years. After the first 2000 years of human history, God shifted from the race of Adam to the race of Abraham. From the time of Abraham to the time of Christ was another 2000 years. Now we are here in the New Testament. The New Testament age is approaching 2000 years of history. Thus, there have been 2000 years for the Adamic race, 2000 years for the Abrahamic race according to the flesh, and almost 2000 years for the Abrahamic race according to the Spirit. What the Lord needs is the race of overcomers to conquer all the satanic chaos and triumph in the divine economy.

The book of Revelation is a book on the overcomers. The overcoming race in this book begins from Revelation 4 and continues through Revelation 22. The overcoming race brings in the success to God for His economy. We need to consider where we are today. Are we in Genesis 1-10 in the Adamic race, in the remainder of the Old Testament in the Abrahamic race according to the flesh, or in the New Testament, from Matthew to Revelation 3, in the Abrahamic race according to the Spirit? We may say that we are in the New Testament, but this in itself is not adequate. We must be in the last 19 chapters of the Bible, from Revelation 4 through 22, from the throne to the New Jerusalem.

We need to be those who belong to the overcoming race. If someone were to ask us what kind of people we are, we should be able to say, “I belong to a race of which you do not know. I belong to the race of the overcomers.” According to God’s economy, there are only four races on this earth — the race of Adam, the race of Abraham according to the flesh, the race of Abraham according to the Spirit, and the race of the overcomers. We should declare by faith that we belong to the race of the overcomers.”

(The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation, chp. 3, pp. 63-65)

Teaching the new ones to sing hymns is the best way to nourish them

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“To teach the new ones to sing the hymns is the best way to nourish them…. After the time we go to someone’s home to baptize him, the next time we meet in his home, we can begin to teach him to sing. After singing only four or five times, he will be infused and nourished by the hymns. He may have children at home. When you sing, they may not sing, but after you leave, they will start singing. By singing a little, the truths in the hymns will gradually enter into them.”

(The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1984, vol. 4, p. 416)