A Spirit of Love

Love is necessary to care for the members so that the Body may be built up

/ livinglywrong

“I have pointed out that there are certain brothers and sisters who apparently do not have any gifts. However, they are absolutely for the Body. To be for the Body is a matter of love, and to care for the members of the Body requires love. If we do not have love, how can we care for others? Love is necessary to care for the members so that the Body may be built up. Thus, love is the greatest gift. Nothing edifies people as much as love does. Love is a spiritual antibiotic. If there is love in a local church, there will be no need to worry about spiritual diseases. Love is the best medicine to cure such diseases. Love is a gift, even the greatest gift.”

(Life Study of 1 Corinthians, message 60)

How do we care for every member of the church?

/ livinglywrong

“According to our experience and learning and based upon the clear revelation in the New Testament, the proper group meetings should consist of two sections. The first section should include fellowship, intercession, mutual care, and shepherding, and the second section should carry out the perfecting of the saints through teaching. In the first section of the group meeting, the attendants should fellowship concerning each person’s present spiritual condition and practical environment…

The group meeting is eighty percent of the church life, and the church life is a life in the Body. In our physical body it is impossible for a problem in one member to be hidden from all the other members. The circulation of life in our body carries the feeling in one member to all the members. Thus, we should not hide our problems from the other members in the church life…For the practice of the group meetings, we must first overcome this to have a real, genuine, practical, and thorough fellowship concerning each person’s current spiritual condition and practical situation. A proper group meeting does not depend on singing and praying in a formal, religious way. It depends on this kind of fellowship.

After fellowshipping about each other’s situations, the attendants in the meeting will spontaneously be stirred up to intercede, to pray, for one another. This prayer will not be formal or like a theatrical performance but will be sincere and practical. After the fellowship and prayer the attendants in the group meeting should extend their loving concern for one another in the exercise of a definite and practical care. After becoming aware of a brother’s practical situation, some saints in the meeting may consider whether the brother is in need of financial help or some other practical care. Then, after caring for a brother in this way, some may go to visit him. This is the practice of the practical shepherding.

I would say that this principle regarding the practice of the group meetings is “scientific.” As such, it cannot be changed. Everything in this universe is governed by a God-ordained law, a spontaneous principle. In order for the church to be fully built up, we must have proper group meetings, and for the group meetings in the practical church life, there is the need of fellowship, intercession, care, and shepherding. In this way, every member of the church, regardless of how large that church may be, will be taken care of. The way to care for every member of the church is by the proper group meetings.”

(CWWL 1990, vol. 2, “The Practice of the Group Meetings,” ch. 6, pp. 39-40)

The Lord trusts in His members, not in spiritual “giants”

/ livinglywrong

“The Lord trusts in His members, not in spiritual “giants.” As small members in the Lord’s Body, we all are very useful to Him. Every member must work; every member must function; every member must visit others. Then we will all become vital. Do not think that by hearing a stirring message and praying for three days and three nights something miraculous will happen to us to cause us all to be vitalized. There is not such a thing. Through my study I have found out that no revival really works. But the sevenfold Spirit is now moving on this earth (Rev. 5:6). He is moving in Australia, in New Zealand, in South America, in Central America, and in North America. He is moving in many places and in many hearts. He is also moving in our hearts. If we all would realize that we do not need a great “revival” but simply need to go out to visit people, this would be much more effective than a hundred spiritual giants.

We should not trust in specially gifted persons. We should not consider them more capable than we are. In reality, we may be much greater than they are. We need to receive mercy from the Lord to labor. According to my experience, if I do not labor, I cannot be healthy. When I labor, all the illnesses become afraid of me. However, when I cease to labor, illness may come. We should not welcome sickness. Rather, we should love people. Every day we need to be beside ourselves, doing things that other people would consider foolish. Every day we need to contact people and speak to people about Christ.”

(The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 12)

Neither faith nor love are ours

/ livinglywrong

That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love. (Eph. 3:17)

“To experience Christ we need faith and love (1 Tim. 1:14). Faith enables us to apprehend Christ, and love enables us to enjoy Him. Neither faith nor love are ours; they are His. His faith becomes our faith, by which we believe in Him, and His love becomes our love, by which we love Him. When we are rooted and grounded in His love, we grow and are built up in His life.”

(Ep 3:17, footnote 4)

How do we attract new ones into the church?

/ livinglywrong

“We have to make our group meetings so interesting. If our vital group meetings are full of truth, are living, and if we intimately love one another in the group, this will be a big attraction. We must have a living, active vital group. Then we should do our best to bring in the middle-aged ones.

Brother Watchman Nee stressed that the priesthood in the New Testament is universal, so he encouraged all the saints to serve, to be priests. We have not yet had a complete success in this matter. After I came to the United States, the Lord showed us that we need to pray-read His Word and call upon His name. We also began to practice having a time in the meeting for the saints to share after a message was given. This helped to bring the saints into more functioning. But the most prevailing way to bring all the saints into function is for them to enter into the group meetings in a living and active way.

Our groups should not be dormant, lifeless, and cold. If our groups are like this, no one will want to attend them. We have to keep our group meetings so interesting, so living, and so attractive. People need a proper social life, but to be social in a worldly way leads to sin. The church social life in the recovery leads to light, to the deeper and higher truths, and to the divine life. I believe that if we could get our practice exposed to others, they will be attracted. The group meetings that are living, attractive, and full of activities will be used by the Lord to gain others for the increase and building up of the church.

Everyone should bear a burden for the vital groups. Do not despise your burden and your portion. If a new one comes into a group meeting, and all the members of the group meeting speak, he will be surprised and attracted. Our group meetings must be living and active, with all the members in the group speaking.

According to my experience, the most attractive thing is the thorough fellowship. In your vital groups you must always practice the thorough, intimate fellowship. This brings in the mutual care in love. If a new one comes to our group and sees this kind of intimate, open, thorough fellowship and mutual care, he will be inspired. He would say that he has never seen people who are so one and who love, open to, and care for one another so much. He would say, “This is the place where I should be. I have to be among these people.” This kind of intimate fellowship and care for one another attracts people, so we have to practice this.

We must do everything we can to strengthen the vital groups. We should spend every drop of our blood, every bit of our strength, and every minute of our time to strengthen the vital groups, making the vital groups so beautiful, so high, and so attractive. This is the only thing we should stress to get people. A number of things can attract people but not so effectively as the vital groups.”

(Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, ch. 24)

Christians have been robbed of a great blessing

/ livinglywrong

“Man is communal. Christians are all the more communal. None of us would like to live by himself on a high mountain. We like to see people and to speak to people. Once we have the life of God within us, we spontaneously love other Christians. We cannot explain why this is so, but it is a fact. It does not matter what color skin they have, whether they are black, white, red, brown, or yellow. As long as they are brothers, we love them. Some have asked me, “Brother Lee, how many brothers and sisters do you have?” How should I answer? How many brothers and sisters do I really have? More than hundreds of thousands! They are countless! Wherever I go today, I have brothers and sisters!

Christianity has robbed the Christians of this great blessing. When they go to the worship service, even those sitting beside them would not acknowledge them. After the service is over, everyone goes home. I attended a worship service for two years in a denomination. Besides the pastor, I did not talk to anyone. I was not the only one who was like that. All the others were the same. In that kind of setting, no one needs to speak to another. But if you come to a home meeting with eight brothers sitting in a brother’s living room, it would be impossible for you not to speak. At least you have to greet each other. Once you greet each other, the blessing comes. In time you begin to know me, and I begin to know you, and we become acquainted with each other’s condition and difficulties. Spontaneously a mutual love and care will be developed.”

(Key Points on the Home Meetings, chp. 2)

Featured

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

/ livinglywrong


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.”

It all depends upon love

/ livinglywrong

[Luke 15] Verse 20 says, “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him affectionately.” That the father saw the son a long way off was not an accident. From the time the son left home, the father must have gone out to look and wait for his coming back every day. We do not know how many days he watched and waited. When the father saw him, he ran to him. This is the Father’s heart. The father interrupted the son while he was speaking his prepared word. The son wanted to speak the word he had prepared, but the father told his servants to bring the robe, the ring, and the sandals and to prepare the fattened calf. A teacher among the Brethren told me that in the whole Bible we can see God run only one time, in Luke 15, where the father saw the returning prodigal son. He ran; he could not wait. This is the Father’s heart.

To speak truthfully, we have lost this spirit among the co-workers, elders, and vital groups. We do not have such a loving spirit that loves the world, the worst people. We classify people, choosing who are the good ones. Throughout my years I have seen many good ones. Eventually, very few of the good ones remain in the Lord’s recovery. Rather, so many bad ones remain. In the beginning I also was one who classified them as bad, but today many bad ones are still here. If it were according to our concept, where would God’s choosing be? Our choosing depends upon God, who chose His people before the foundation of the world. The Bible says that God hated Esau and loved Jacob. If we were there, none of us would have selected Jacob. This man was too bad. We would have selected Esau, the gentleman. From his mother’s womb, Jacob was fighting, and when he was born, he grabbed his brother’s heel. Eventually, he did everything that caused Esau to want to kill him. His mother Rebekah knew this, so she sent him away to his uncle’s house, but when he went there, he did the same thing; he cheated his uncle by getting four wives from him. This is to live like a gangster. None of us would have chosen Jacob. It is not up to our choosing, our selection. It is based upon God’s eternal selection.

…I want to shepherd and disciple you from the Bible so that you can see this matter and have a change. I am discipling you to change your concept. The God-man concept is that Christ came to save sinners, especially the top sinners. He saves the “gangsters,” even the leader of the “gangsters,” Saul of Tarsus. Paul said, “Faithful is the word and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost” (1 Tim. 1:15). Paul could say this because he was the top sinner opposing Christ. He rebelled against Christ, but while he was rebelling, Christ knocked him down, called him, and saved him. Jesus Himself said, “Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill…I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:12-13). That is why He was there among the sinners and tax collectors, eating and feasting with them, reclining at table and enjoying with them.

If we lose this spirit, whether we are elders, co-workers, or serving ones, we are finished. This is the main reason why we are so barren, bearing no fruit for so many years.

…Whenever we criticize others, we miss grace and instead suffer God’s resistance. We all must learn to shepherd one another. This does not mean that since I am shepherding you, I do not need your shepherding. I need your shepherding. We all have defects and shortcomings. Everyone has defects. Therefore, we have to humble ourselves to meet God’s grace. This strengthens our spirit to visit people and to take care of people regardless of whether they are good or bad. Regardless of what they are, we must go to visit them and keep visiting. According to their statistics, the Jehovah’s Witnesses knock on six thousand doors to visit people in order to gain one. They do this legally, but we do not. We have no such law forcing others to go out. However, I am trying my best to help the church to build up the vital groups with such a shepherding spirit full of love and care for others.

We need to have this kind of love and go to tell all the dormant ones who think that the church condemns them that the church does not condemn anyone. Rather, the church wants to see all the dormant ones come back. If they all would come back, I would weep with tears of thanksgiving to the Lord. The Lord can testify for me that I do not condemn anyone. We have no qualification to condemn anyone. Without the Lord’s mercy, we would be the same as the dormant ones. Therefore, we must love them. It all depends upon love, as the wise king Solomon said, “Love covers all transgressions” (Prov. 10:12). We love people. We love the opposers, and we love the top rebels. I really mean it. We love them and do not hate them. Who am I? I am not qualified to condemn or to hate. Am I perfect? Even the prophet Isaiah, when he saw the Lord, said, “Woe is me, for I am finished! / For I am a man of unclean lips, / And in the midst of a people of unclean lips I dwell” (Isa. 6:5). Who is clean today? If we criticize people and say something bad about them, we are not clean.

(A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord, chp. 2)

Featured

Old Way/ New Way

/ livinglywrong
 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
Featured

We do not open up to others, because we are afraid to be known by them

/ livinglywrong

“… 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)