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: (2006 ICSC, msg. 3)
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. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” msg. 4)
B. Our shepherding should be according to God’s love toward the fallen human race—Luke 15:17-18. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” msg. 4)
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. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” msg. 4)
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: (2000 ICSC, msg. 5)
A. According to God means to live God—v. 28. (2006 ICSC, msg. 3)
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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 3)
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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 3)
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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 3)
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: (2000 ICSC, msg. 5)
A. The members of the vital groups must shepherd people by cherishing and nourishing them—Matt. 9:10; Luke 7:34: (2006 ICSC, msg. 4)
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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 4)
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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 4)
3. To shepherd is to take all-inclusive, tender care of the flock—John 21:15-17; Acts 20:28: (1999 MDC, msg. 6)
a. Shepherding refers to caring for all the needs of the sheep—John 21:15-17. (1999 MDC, msg. 6)
b. All the sheep need to be well provided for and well tended to—vv. 15-17. (1999 MDC, msg. 6)
B. The shepherding that builds up the Body of Christ is a mutual shepherding—1 Cor. 12:23-26: (2006 ICSC, msg. 1)
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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 1)
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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 1)
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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 1)
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: (2006 ICSC, msg. 5)
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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 5)
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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 5)
C. The endurance of hope is the long life of our work of faith—vv. 2-3: (2006 ICSC, msg. 5)
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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 5)
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: (2006 ICSC, msg. 5)
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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 5)
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. (2006 ICSC, msg. 5)
VI. Shepherding is crucial for the practice of the vital groups—Heb. 13:20-21; John 21:15-17: (1999 MDC, msg. 6)
A. “The greater part of the function of today’s vital groups is also feeding and shepherding”—vv. 15-17. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” msg. 2)
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. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” msg. 2)
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. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” msg. 13)
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. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” msg. 13)
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. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” ch. 6)