THE FOURTH PART: THE PATHWAY OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY
God-Ordained Way
Message Fourteen
The Organic Shepherding according to God in the Vital Groups
Scripture Reading: John 21:15-17; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2, 4; 1 Thes. 1:3; Matt. 7:13-14; 1 Pet. 2:25
I. In His heavenly ministry Christ is shepherding people, and we need to cooperate with Him by shepherding people; without shepherding, our work for the Lord cannot be effective—Heb. 13:20-21; John 21:15-17:
A. We should be those who are always shepherding and teaching by speaking forth Christ to others—Matt. 9:10; Luke 7:34; Matt. 24:45-47.
B. Our shepherding should be according to God’s love toward the fallen human race—Luke 15:17-18.
C. We have to follow the steps of the processed Triune God in His seeking and gaining fallen people—vv. 3-7; 8-10; 17-18.
II. In order to fulfill the central work of God, we need to shepherd according to God; we need to shepherd people by cherishing and nourishing them according to the pattern of Lord Jesus and of Paul—1 Pet. 5:2; Matt. 9:36; John 10:11; Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 5:4; 1 Tim. 1:16; Acts 20:28:
A. According to God means to live God—v. 28.
B. To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to God’s nature, desire, way, and glory, not according to our preference, interest, purpose, and disposition—v. 28.
C. To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to what God is in His attributes—Rom. 9:15-16; Eph. 2:7; 2 Cor. 1:12.
D. In order to shepherd according to God, we need to become God in life, nature, expression, and function—John 1:12-13; 3:15.
III. In the Lord’s recovery today, there is a desperate need to practice the vital group so that the believers may have the organic shepherding of Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:12-16; John 21:15-17; 1 Cor. 12:23-26:
A. The members of the vital groups must shepherd people by cherishing and nourishing them—Matt. 9:10; Luke 7:34:
1. To cherish people is to make them happy, pleasant, and comfortable (Matt. 9:10; Luke 7:34); to nourish people is to feed them with the all-inclusive Christ in His full ministry in His three stages—incarnation, inclusion, and intensification—Matt. 24:45-47.
2. Cherishing and nourishing people should be by the divine and mystical life in resurrection (with the Lord’s presence as the charming factor), not by the natural life in the old creation—John 5:19, 30; 6:57; Gal. 2:20.
3. To shepherd is to take all-inclusive, tender care of the flock—John 21:15-17; Acts 20:28:
a. Shepherding refers to caring for all the needs of the sheep—John 21:15-17.
b. All the sheep need to be well provided for and well tended to—vv. 15-17.
B. The shepherding that builds up the Body of Christ is a mutual shepherding—1 Cor. 12:23-26:
1. All believers, regardless of their stage of spiritual growth, need shepherding; we all have defects and shortcomings and need others to shepherd us—vv. 23-26.
2. All of us need to be under the organic shepherding of Christ and to be one with Him to shepherd others—1 Pet. 2:25; John 21:16.
3. We are both sheep and shepherds, shepherding and being shepherded in mutuality; through this mutual shepherding, the Body builds itself up in love—Eph. 4:16.
IV. The vital groups should press on to shepherd others according to the apostle’s prayer in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 concerning the work of faith, the labor of love, and the endurance of hope:
A. Our faith is in God and in His power, in God’s Spirit and in His word, not in our ability, method, or anything else; the work of faith is the foundation of our Christian life and service—vv. 2-3.
B. The labor of love is the intrinsic motivation, the inner life, the real strength, and the key of the fruitfulness of our work of faith—vv. 2-3.
C. The endurance of hope is the long life of our work of faith—vv. 2-3:
1. The endurance of hope subdues all kinds of disappointments, discouragements, and impossibilities; it overcomes all kinds of oppositions, obstacles, and frustrations—1 Cor. 15:10, 58; 2 Thes. 3:5.
2. Such endurance consummates in gaining sinners, feeding the believers, perfecting the saints, and building up the church, the Body of Christ, for the kingdom of God and of Christ—2 Cor. 6:4; 1 Cor. 15:58.
V. The God-ordained way of shepherding in the vital groups is to have a living and working which are narrow and constricted—Matt. 7:13-14:
A. Many enter through the wide gate and walk on the broad way according to the worldly systems, satisfying the natural tastes to get the crowd, to maintain a career of man, and to achieve man’s enterprise—vv. 13-14.
B. We must exercise to be the few who enter through the narrow gate and walk on the constricted way to bring in God’s elect, to bear the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to carry out God’s economy—vv. 13-14.
VI. Shepherding is crucial for the practice of the vital groups—Heb. 13:20-21; John 21:15-17:
A. “The greater part of the function of today’s vital groups is also feeding and shepherding”—vv. 15-17.
B. “I hope that in these next few years we will practice anew the vital groups with the elements of feeding and shepherding. If we do not know how to feed and shepherd others, we cannot have the vital groups”—vv. 15-17.
C. “Every one in this small vital group must be a shepherd; …No other way is more prevailing than this shepherding way”—Heb. 10:24-25.
D. “I hope that we would pray, ‘Lord, I want to be revived. From today I want to be a shepherd. I want to go to feed people, to shepherd people, and to flock people together”—John 21:15-17.
E. “If we practice these things, there will be a real revival in the Lord’s recovery. We must be shepherds with the loving and forgiving heart of our Father God in His divinity and the shepherding and finding spirit of our Savior Christ in His humanity. We also must have the heavenly vision of all the divine and mystical teachings of Christ. Shepherding and teaching are the obligation of the vital groups and the basic way ordained by God to build up the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem”—vv. 15-17.
Ministry Excerpts:
COOPERATING WITH CHRIST BY SHEPHERDING PEOPLE AS HE SHEPHERDING PEOPLE IN HIS HEAVENLY MINISTRY
I hope that there will be a genuine revival among us by our receiving this burden of shepherding. If all the churches receive this teaching to participate in Christ’s wonderful shepherding, there will be a big revival in the recovery. In the past we did much speaking and teaching with very little shepherding. Shepherding and teaching should be like two feet for our move with the Lord. Our shepherding should always be with teaching, and our teaching should always be with shepherding.
We have seen from our crystallization-study of the Gospel of John that its last chapter, John 21, reveals the apostolic ministry in cooperation with Christ’s heavenly ministry. In His heavenly ministry Christ is shepherding people, and we need to cooperate with Him by shepherding people. Without shepherding, our work for the Lord cannot be effective. We must learn all the truths so that we may have something to speak and go to contact people to shepherd them.
Shepherding is something divine. In order to be a shepherd, we must be a witness of Christ, a member of Christ, and a brother of Christ, sharing His sonship. Then we will participate in the oracle of the sonship to become a prophet. As a prophet for God’s oracle, we will speak for the Lord. Meanwhile, we need to shepherd people. This is the way to be fruitful, to have the multiplication and the increase. If this kind of fellowship is received by us, I believe there will be a big revival on the earth, not by a few spiritual giants but by the many members of Christ’s Body being shepherds who follow the steps of the processed Triune God in seeking and gaining fallen people. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” msg. 4)
Shepherding and Teaching by Speaking Forth Christ to Others
We bear fruit through contacting people by shepherding them. We should be those who are always shepherding and teaching by speaking forth Christ to others. All the apostles are top speakers of the word of God. While they are speaking the word of God, they also shepherd the saints, the churches, and their co-workers. Paul especially was a pattern of one who taught and shepherded people. In 1 Timothy 3:2 Paul says that the elders should be “apt to teach.” Then in 1 Timothy 5:17 he says that the elders who labor in word and teaching are worthy of double honor. All of us should follow this pattern of speaking for God and shepherding others.
According to God’s Love
Our shepherding should be according to God’s love toward the fallen human race. The fallen human race is joined with Satan to be his world in his system, but God has a heart of love toward these people.
Following the Steps of the Processed Triune God
in Seeking and Gaining the Fallen People
My burden in this chapter is that we have to learn of the apostles, the elders, and even the Triune God. We have to follow the steps of the processed Triune God in His seeking and gaining fallen people. Luke 15 records that the Pharisees and scribes criticized the Lord by saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (v. 2). Then the Lord told three wonderful parables, which unveil the saving love of the Triune God toward sinners.
The Son as the shepherd would leave the ninety-nine to seek the one lost sheep (vv. 3-7).
The second parable is that of a woman seeking a lost coin (vv. 8-10). This signifies the Spirit seeking a lost sinner. The Son’s finding took place outside the sinner and was completed at the cross through His redemptive death. The Spirit’s seeking is inward and is carried out by His working within the repenting sinner.
Because of the Son’s step of seeking the sinner by dying on the cross and the Spirit’s step of sanctifying by searching and cleansing the sinner’s inward parts, the sinner comes to his senses. This is shown by the prodigal son’s coming to himself and desiring to return to his father (vv. 17-18). First Peter 1:2 reveals that before we received the sprinkling of Christ’s blood, the Holy Spirit sanctified us. This is His seeking sanctification. The sinner is awakened by the Spirit’s seeking to cause him to return to the Father. When the prodigal son returned, his father saw him while he was still a long way off. This indicates that the father was expectantly waiting and watching day by day for his son to return. When his father saw him, he ran to receive his returning son (Luke 15:20). This shows that God the Father runs to receive the returning sinners. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” msg. 4)
SHEPHERDING ACCORDING TO GOD
Shepherding the Saints as the Flock of God According to God,
That Is, According to God’s Nature, Desire, Way, and Glory
Through their experience of the dispensing of the divine Trinity, the believers may also shepherd the saints as the flock of God according to God, that is, according to God’s nature, desire, way, and glory. In Acts 20:28 Paul says to the elders in Ephesus, “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He obtained through His own blood.” The main responsibility of the elders as overseers is not to rule over the flock but to shepherd the flock, to take all-inclusive tender care of the flock, the church of God. Shepherding the flock of God requires suffering for the Body of Christ as Christ did (Col. 1:24). This kind of shepherding with suffering will be rewarded with the unfading crown of glory (1 Pet. 5:4).
Shepherding According to God’s Likes and Dislikes
First Peter 5:2a says, “Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not by way of compulsion, but willingly, according to God.” To shepherd according to God means according to God’s nature, desire, way, and glory, not according to man’s preference, interest, and purpose. The elders should not shepherd the flock according to their opinion, concepts, or likes or dislikes. Instead, they should shepherd according to God’s choice, desire, intention, and preference. The elders must shepherd the saints as the flock of God altogether according to God’s thought, feeling, will, and choice. They must shepherd according to God’s likes and dislikes. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 169)
Shepherding According to What God Is in His Attributes
John 21 is a chapter on shepherding. In our crystallization-study of the Gospel of John we saw that this chapter is not merely an appendix but also the completion and consummation of the Gospel of John, a book on Christ being God coming to be our life. The writer of this Gospel spent twenty chapters to unveil such a Christ. Eventually, such a book has a conclusion on shepherding. If we do not know what shepherding is, the entire Gospel of John will be in vain to us. It is only when we shepherd others that we can know John in an intrinsic way. Shepherding is the key to the Gospel of John.
In his first Epistle, Peter spoke in 2:25 of Christ being the Shepherd and Overseer of our soul, our inner being and real person. Then in 5:1-2 he told the elders that their obligation is to shepherd God’s flock according to God. According to God means that we must live God. We must have God on hand. We have God in our understanding, in our theology, and in our teaching, but we may not live God when we are shepherding people. When we are one with God, we become God. Then we have God and are God in our shepherding of others. To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to what God is in His attributes. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness. According to God is at least according to these four attributes of God. We must shepherd the young ones, the weak ones, and the backsliding ones according to these four attributes. Then we will be good shepherds.
Without shepherding, there is no way for us to minister life to others. John is the Gospel of life. If we want to enjoy life and minister life to others, we must shepherd them. The real ministering of life is shepherding by visiting and contacting people. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” msg. 7)
THE MEMBERS OF THE VITAL GROUPS LEARNING HOW TO NOURISH PEOPLE
The members of the vital groups have to learn how to nourish people to continue their cherishing of people. Cherishing without nourishing is in vain. When a mother wants to feed a naughty child, she will first make him happy by cherishing him. But without nourishing him, her cherishing is meaningless. After cherishing the child, the mother nourishes him with food. This is the way that Christ as the Head takes care of His Body, the church. He nourishes us after cherishing us.
Revelation 1 shows how Christ cares for the churches. Revelation is a book of signs. A sign is a symbol with spiritual significance. The first sign in Revelation shows Christ in His humanity as the High Priest, and the last sign is the New Jerusalem. As the Son of Man, Christ as the High Priest is taking care of all the churches as lampstands (1:12-13). On the one hand, He is cherishing the churches in His humanity; on the other hand, He is nourishing the churches in His divinity. The members of the vital groups have to learn these two things. When we visit people, invite them to our home, or contact them before and after the meetings, we must be one with Christ to cherish and nourish them.
Cherishing and Nourishing People
To cherish people is to make them happy and to make them feel pleasant and comfortable. We must have a pleasant countenance when we contact people. We should be happy and rejoicing. We should not contact anyone with a cheerless countenance. We must give people the impression that we are genuinely happy and pleasant. Otherwise, we will not be able to cherish them, to make them happy.
Then we should go on to nourish them. We do not nourish people when we speak to them about marriage, courtship, politics, the world situation, or education. To nourish people is to feed them with the all-inclusive Christ in His full ministry in three stages. When we speak to people about Christ, we should not speak to them in an incomprehensible way, in a kind of language that they do not understand. We have to find a way to present the all-inclusive Christ to everyone. If a person wants people to eat beef, he must find a way to cook it to make them desire to eat it. Similarly, we have to “cook” the all-inclusive Christ. There are many different ways to cook the same thing. I have been cooking Christ in this country for over thirty-three years with about three thousand messages.
In order to nourish people with Christ, we first have to seek Christ, experience Christ, gain Christ, enjoy Christ, and participate in Christ. In Philippians, especially in chapters 2 and 3, Paul uses different expressions and utterances to portray how he was seeking and pursuing Christ in order to gain Christ. He says that we should do all things without murmurings and reasonings. The sisters who are seeking Christ should learn not to murmur, and the brothers should learn not to reason. If you murmur and reason, you will offend the indwelling Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God, because this God is working in you so that you may work out your salvation (2:12-14). Our salvation is our gaining and experiencing Christ. To gain Christ is to work out our own daily organic salvation.
By the Divine and Mystical Life in Resurrection
Both cherishing people and nourishing people should be by the divine and mystical life in resurrection, not by the natural life in the old creation. When something divine is operating in a human being, this human being becomes very mystical. When I was a young man, I worked for more than seven and a half years in a big corporation. Suddenly, I resigned from my job so that I could preach Christ with all my time. They asked me how I could make a living. My answer was that the Lord Jesus would provide for me. I became mystical to my classmates and friends and also to my relatives. They could not understand why I would give up my job to serve the Lord with all my time. I was a mystery to them.
We should cherish people by the divine and mystical life in resurrection. In resurrection means that there is nothing natural in our care for people. Anything that is of our natural life should not be used. Our life must be in resurrection. In other words, our natural life must be crucified and resurrected to become a human life in resurrection. The young people have to learn how to labor in the gospel on the college campuses not by their natural life but by God within them as their life. This is the divine life, and this divine life makes us a mystery. Someone whom you contact may ask you where you have graduated from and what kind of degree you have. You may say that you have a degree from Harvard in biochemistry. They may ask, “What are you doing here?” When you say that you are learning to preach Christ, they will not be able to understand what kind of person you are. They would consider, “This person has graduated from a top university with an excellent degree. The whole world needs him. He could get an excellent job. Why would he come here to preach Christ?” This makes you a mystical person. You have been educated highly, but you are now doing a job which seemingly is not that high but very mystical. You have become a divine, mystical person in resurrection. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” msg. 11)
Group Meetings in Mutuality
The group meeting revealed in Hebrews 10:24-25, strictly speaking, is not a meeting for gospel preaching, feeding the new believers, or prophesying. The group meeting is a meeting for mutuality. The reason I do not use the word small in regard to the group meeting is because a small meeting is a home meeting. The group meeting, however, may not be very small. Its size may be from twenty to forty members.
Some among us have not yet entered into the proper realization and practice of the group meeting. According to the New Testament, the group meeting comprises mutuality in shepherding, caring, interceding, teaching through asking and answering questions, perfecting, and equipping. The group meeting is eighty percent of the practical church life. The church life is inadequate without the group meetings. We are weak and very short in our practice of the church life today because we do not have the proper group meetings in mutuality.
The meetings of the church should be in mutuality. Mutuality is different from plurality. The responsibility of the eldership in the church should be borne in plurality. The responsibility of the eldership in the church life should be taken care of by at least three persons. In a local church there should not be less than three elders. Actually, the more elders the better. The eldership is a matter of plurality.
Mutuality is for the church meetings. Formerly in our practice, we had only one or two speakers in the meetings. Today some may think that if we arrange to have eight to ten speakers in the meetings, we have mutuality. Actually, this is plurality, not mutuality. The ten speakers would become clergymen, and the rest of the saints would become laymen. In the church meetings, however, everyone can speak to build up the church. This is mutuality. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “Elders’ Training, Book 11: The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (3),” ch. 11)
WORK OF FAITH, LABOR OF LOVE AND ENDURANCE OF HOPE
Work of Faith
In verses 2 and 3 Paul goes on to say, “We give thanks to God always concerning you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering unceasingly your work of faith, and labor of love, and endurance of hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father.” Here we see that when Paul prays for the church he gives thanks to God for three matters: for the work of faith, the labor of love, and the endurance of hope. Faith here indicates the nature and strength of the work. Our work is our faith. This means that the nature and strength of our Christian work is faith. The strength with which we work and the nature of our work should both be faith. Our Christian work should be of the nature of faith, not of the nature of human knowledge, ability, or power.
Labor of Love
We need to understand the difference between work and labor. Work may be something which is not very deep and which may not be very difficult. Labor, however, is both deeper and harder than work. When we are doing a work that is difficult to accomplish, that is a labor. This labor should be of love. Love is the motivation and the characteristic of our Christian labor. This means that love is the expression. Our Christian work eventually becomes a labor, something that is deeper and more difficult. For this labor, faith alone is not adequate; we also need love, a love that is lasting.
Raising children is a good illustration of a labor of love. Mothers know that caring for a child is a labor, not merely a work. After giving birth, a new mother will have a tender love for her infant. For a while she will work happily to care for the child. Eventually, however, that work will become a labor that presses and exhausts her. How good it is that the Lord has created within this young mother a mother’s love for her child! Without such a love, she would not be able to bear the burden of caring for her child over the years. This love motivates her to care for her child. It is also the characteristic, the expression, of her labor. This illustrates that in the Christian life first we have a work of faith and then this work becomes a labor of love.
Endurance of Hope
From the work of faith and the labor of love we go on to the endurance of hope. Hope is the source of endurance. All mothers know that caring for children requires endurance. It takes endurance for a mother to bear all the troubles that come with raising children.
In the church life as well as in the family life we all need endurance. We must be trained, educated, first to work, then to labor, and eventually to endure. An apostle is one who endures. As long as he has endurance, he is qualified to be an apostle. In 2 Corinthians we can see the endurance of the Apostle Paul. Such endurance is the topstone of our work. Elders, endurance is the topstone of the eldership. Likewise, in the work of shepherding others, endurance is crucial. If we would be successful in shepherding the saints, we must exercise endurance. Endurance involves suffering, not enjoyment. Shepherding always involves an amount of suffering.
In 1:3 Paul speaks of the endurance of hope of our Lord Jesus Christ. This endurance comes from the hope in the Lord’s coming, or from the hope in the coming Lord. Hope is the source of endurance. (Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, msg. 1)
THE GOD-ORDAINED WAY BEING TO HAVE A LIVING AND A WORKING THAT ARE ALWAYS NARROWED AND CONSTRICTED
We are being trained in the God-ordained way revealed in the Bible. The God-ordained way is to have a living and a working that are always narrowed and constricted. The gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life. But the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. In the spiritual field there is no broad way. The way in the spiritual field is always constricted. On this way our freedom is always restricted.
Every tree is restricted. If all the trees grew without restriction, that would be a calamity. But all the trees grow and spread in the way of constriction. The trees need the God-ordained constriction plus the human cutting, the human trimming. The trimming is human. The constriction is God-ordained. Even though the trees are constricted according to God’s ordination, they still need the human hands to trim them.
We should not expect to be flourishing and spreading in an unrestricted way. Our going to Russia was not our kind of flourishing. It was the Lord’s doing. We have seen the Lord’s constriction even in our going to Russia. When we drive on the highway, we have to drive within the lines. That is constriction. If we do not drive in this way, we will damage ourselves and others.
Not Expecting to Do a Big Work and to Become a Great Person
Do not expect to be big. You need to be restricted. The environment in the church life narrows us down and restricts us. We have to enter through the narrow gate and walk on the constricted way. Do not expect to do a big work and to become a great person. Just live normally, commonly, always entering through the narrow gate and walking on the constricted way. Then be assured that you will bear remaining fruit each year. Also, many saints will be helped by you to pass through the narrow gate and walk on the constricted way.
I have been working for the Lord for over sixty years. Nearly every day I am learning to enter through the narrow gate and to walk on the constricted way. I want to be constricted. I do not want to maintain a career of man to achieve man’s enterprise. Instead, I want to bear the testimony of Jesus Christ to carry out God’s economy. We should live a normal, common Christian life, seeking after the Lord and pursuing Him all the time. Always exercise to enter through the narrow gate and to walk on the constricted way. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” msg. 13)
Training All the Ones Under Our Care by Taking the Tutoring and Coaching Way
We should take the tutoring and coaching way to train all the ones under our care to prophesy first in the group meetings as an exercise and then in the church meetings as a practice. Eventually, nearly all the ones under our care will be able to prophesy. Many of the saints have a heart to prophesy, but they do not know how to do it. We need to teach them. Most of the saints in the churches now prefer to have the meetings of mutuality revealed in 1 Corinthians 14 with all speaking for building up. They do not want to go back to the old way. When only one person speaks, he is overburdened and the audience eventually gets tired of his speaking. When many saints speak in the church meetings week after week, this maintains the freshness. Whenever we function in a meeting, that meeting is the best to us. If we do not function, we may say that the meeting was poor. When we function and are expecting to function, the meeting becomes an enjoyment to us, and we desire to come to the meeting. When all speak in the church meetings, this stirs up every member of the Body.
Carrying Out the God-Ordained Way with Much Patience and Learning
We need to pray definitely for the purpose of carrying out the God-ordained way in all the churches with much patience and learning. The leading ones and some of the leading seeking ones should also fellowship with the rest of the saints so that they may gradually, one by one, participate in the learning and practice of the God-ordained way. Some of the saints will follow the leading ones to practice the new way. But the leading ones will have to contact the others to fellowship with them so that they can gradually enter into the new way.
The leading ones and the leading seeking ones should also, if possible, visit the other churches that have advanced in the God-ordained way, that such a visit may render some mutual help in the carrying out of the God-ordained way. There needs to be the traffic among the churches in order that we may learn of others. In this way all of us will receive the mutual help in carrying out God’s ordained way to organically build up the Body of Christ.
Practicing the God-Ordained Way Requiring Our Diligence
Practicing the God-ordained way requires our diligence. We must set up a certain time every week to practice the new way. This is not an easy thing. If we do not budget our time, it will be wasted. For the Lord’s sake, we should dedicate at least three hours a week to the Lord to go to visit people. We can join with others in a team to carry this out. In principle, we should not let anything frustrate us from keeping this time set apart for the Lord’s interests. If we dedicate this time to the Lord, two remaining fruit can be brought into the church life each year. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “Elders’ Training, Book 10: The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (2),” ch. 8)
PRACTICING THE VITAL GROUPS WITH THE ELEMENTS
OF FEEDING AND SHEPHERDING
Christ, who is the believers’ Redeemer, Savior, and life, becomes the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4) and the great Shepherd (Heb. 13:20), who shepherds His believers as their Overseer (1 Pet. 2:25). The Chief Shepherd is Peter’s word; the great Shepherd is Paul’s word. All of God’s believers should be under this one Shepherd, who cares for the believers as their Overseer. The churches are so weak because they are missing the vital groups with Christ as the Chief Shepherd and Overseer. I hope that in these next few years we will practice anew the vital groups with the elements of feeding and shepherding. If we do not know how to feed and shepherd others, we cannot have the vital groups.
The shepherds’ feeding is not only for the growth unto the believers’ daily salvation but also unto their maturity in the divine life which is needed for the God-men to be built up in the Body of Christ (Heb. 5:14; Eph. 4:12-13). After observing the saints for so many years, I wonder how the Body of Christ could be built up. Some elders are too strong, while others are too weak. Both are wrong. If an elder is either too strong or too weak, he is disqualified from the eldership. Only those who are mild, not so strong and not so weak, are qualified to be elders. Some brothers are very good, but they do not like to talk to people. Because they know the Lord and the truth, they should be strong members of the vital groups, but they hardly ever speak. Some are so strong among us and others are so weak. As a result, there is no building. There is no building because we do not live the life of a God-man. The God-man living will make us fit to be built in the Body of Christ. This living is the issue of our feeding on the milk of the word so that we can grow in our daily life unto salvation.
Nourishing and Cherishing
Christ as the Head of the Body nourishes and cherishes us (Eph. 5:29). Christ’s shepherding includes nourishing and cherishing; nourishing is to feed us, and cherishing is to comfort us, to soothe us, to nurture us with tender love, and to foster us with tender care. All of this is to help us grow in the divine life that we may be full-grown and matured in it (Col. 1:28; Eph. 4:13). Cherishing people makes them happy. In the church life, sometimes we have to make people happy in the Lord.
The greater part of the function of today’s vital groups is also feeding and shepherding. Feeding and shepherding takes time and requires patience. We must have patience with endurance to practice the vital groups. We should not expect quick fruit. Quick fruit comes and goes. We have to spend our time to feed and shepherd others. This is what the Lord is doing with us.
Even today, as an old follower of Christ, I need His feeding and shepherding. I realize that very few people understand my suffering related to my age. The only one who knows my suffering is Christ, so I need Him to shepherd and feed me. He is my Chief Shepherd and great Shepherd. All of us need to be under the organic feeding and shepherding of Christ and be one with Him to feed and shepherd others. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” msg. 2)
Every One in the Vital Group Being A Shepherd
Shepherding works. We should not desire to be giant speakers to make a name for ourselves. People may be attracted to come to listen to us, but who will take care of them afterward? The way of having large gospel campaigns does not work. In some places this has been tested out. We may have big gospel meetings with many people, but eventually not many of them are added to the church. Also, we should not use famous or well-known people to testify in our meetings. This will not save people to be added to the church. Even if someone is the president of the country, he should be in the meeting just as anyone else. The way that can save people effectively must be by small vital groups, and every one in this small vital group must be a shepherd. After a short time, the church will be revived. No other way is more prevailing than this shepherding way.
For the shepherding of the saints, there must be the healthy teaching in the vital groups. In 1 Timothy 3:2 Paul said that an elder should be apt to teach. Teaching here is similar to parents’ teaching their children. An elder must be apt to render this kind of home teaching to the members of a local church. Then in 5:17 Paul said, “Let the elders who take the lead well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching.” Double honor refers to material supply for the support of the faithful elders, especially those who labor to teach others.
In the vital groups, we must have something to teach others. We are the prophethood, the prophets speaking for God, and the sonship, the sons of God. Every son must be a speaker. Today God speaks in the Son (Heb. 1:2), not only the individual Son but the corporate son. As a son of God, we must learn to be a speaker. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” msg. 13)
Teaching Them the Divine Truths in the Divine, Mystical Realm
All these divine and mystical teachings of our great Shepherd and Comforter are not only His unveiling and enlightening but also His nourishing to us for our growth and maturity in His divine life that the eternal economy of God may be consummated through us.
Christ came to seek the sinners that they might have His life and have it abundantly, so we should not go out to reach people in a shallow and empty way. We should go out full of the divine life so that people may have Christ’s life through us. We must be filled to the brim with Christ’s life so that His life flows out of us to be dispensed into others. We need to be saturated and soaked with Christ inwardly and outwardly. In this sense, we become Christ and the eternal life because we have drunk of God as the fountain, emerging into the spring, and gushing up into a river of life to flow out of our innermost being.
We also need to teach the divine truths to people to strengthen our shepherding and reach its goal. We may share with a theological professor concerning the four ins in John 14:17-20. Our going out as Christ to give people life and truth will attract and convince them. We need to be discipled to be such a Christ. On the one hand, we should shepherd people by dispensing the divine life into them. On the other hand, we should teach them the divine truths in the divine, mystical realm. This is my burden.
The Practice of These Things Bringing a Real Revival in the Lord’s Recovery
If we practice these things, there will be a real revival in the Lord’s recovery. We must be shepherds with the loving and forgiving heart of our Father God in His divinity and the shepherding and finding spirit of our Savior Christ in His humanity. We also must have the heavenly vision of all the divine and mystical teachings of Christ. Shepherding and teaching are the obligation of the vital groups and the basic way ordained by God to build up the Body of Christ consummating the New Jerusalem. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” msg. 6)