Since Life Lessons and the home meetings are closely related, we need to have a basic knowledge of Life Lessons.
First, the Life Lessons have been specifically prepared for the home meetings of new believers. The first two volumes cover different matters between a believer and God which he should know, understand, and practice immediately after his salvation. Then the last two volumes cover the full salvation which God has prepared in Christ for us who have believed into Him, the riches which we have obtained in Christ, the experience which we should have in Christ, the things which we should accomplish in Christ, and the goal which we should attain in Christ.
Second, it is difficult to avoid certain terms which are relatively deep and hard for new believers to understand. There is no need for added explanation while reading these lessons in the meetings. As lesson after lesson is read, a thorough understanding of the terms will be acquired. Even if there is not such a thorough understanding at the time, this understanding will be gained gradually.
Third, knowledge is empty and the letter kills; only Christ is reality and only the Spirit gives life. Thus, there must be prayer, confession of sins, and the abundantly rich filling and saturation with the Spirit of Christ before reading these lessons. In reading, there should be the practice of depending less on the mind and more on the spirit, rejecting the old way of knowledge and emphasizing the new way of life. Sentence after sentence that is being read should be pushed out by the spirit with life that others’ spirits may be touched for them to receive the life supply of the pneumatic Christ. This point can be considered to be the most important.
As a matter of fact, the word of God does not require us to use our mind too much to think. Rather, it requires our spirit to touch the Holy Spirit. Then we are spontaneously enlightened within. Thinking causes us to have only knowledge, and knowledge is merely the letter, which is empty and which kills. When we use our spirit, we touch life. Life contains Christ, and Christ is the reality.
If we all exercise in this way when leading a home meeting, from the beginning people will touch the Spirit in their spirit, touching Christ and receiving life. They will not fall into Christianity’s old way of knowledge. We have observed in certain students in the seminaries that the more they read the Bible, the more deadened they become. As they study, God seems to be gone, and their faith toward God is also gone. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and must use their spirit. If they use the wrong organ, they will have no way to worship God. If a person is speaking, but we cover our ears and only keep our eyes open, we will hear nothing. We hear with our ears, and we see with our eyes. In the same way, in order to touch God we must use our spirit.
The Bible is not merely the letter. The Bible is God’s word, which is spirit and life. The Lord Jesus told His disciples, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). He said to the Jews that He is the bread of life and that he who eats Him shall live because of Him (vv. 48, 57). However, they did not know how to use their spirit but could use only their mind. As a result, they could not understand Him and began a contention.
In John 5:39-40 the Lord Jesus said to the Jews, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life....Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” The Jews searched the Scriptures not only once; they searched them again and again. However, the Lord said, “Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” This shows us that we may search the Scriptures, but we may not necessarily receive life. If we merely read the Bible without coming forward to the Lord and drawing near to Him, we can receive only knowledge but not the Lord of life. Knowledge is empty, and the letter kills. Only Christ is reality, and only the Spirit gives life. Therefore, the Lord Jesus told the disciples, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (6:63).