If we want to work for the Lord, we must learn continually. The Lord’s work requires not only one person with a Ph.D. but many, who know astronomy, geography, business, economics, and other subjects, because all these are related to human living. In the Chinese educational system, economics is an all-inclusive subject, but the Lord’s work is even more inclusive than economics. Up to this day I still read the newspaper every day. In this way I read about events and people, discovering how successful people work and how they spend their lives. This is for my learning. In addition, we should pay attention to major world events, not for our curiosity but for our learning. From this kind of learning, we can draw lessons and be enlightened in the understanding of matters and people and in the experience of conducting ourselves in life and dealing with others. Even though the people in the news may not have believed in the Lord, they are still the outstanding ones in human society. They are not only successful in work but also wise and virtuous, worthy for us to draw lessons from.
Our learning should be of many aspects. Learning even carpentry and iron-working is useful, if it is possible to do so. For the sake of our literary work, it is especially good to have much learning in languages. Besides our native Chinese language, we must also learn English and Spanish, and if possible, we should know German and French. Even though the process of learning is difficult and troublesome, learning makes our dealings more convenient. When certain American brothers came to Taiwan, they learned a little Chinese, so it is now much easier to converse with them. In the same way, if we cannot communicate in people’s native languages when we go overseas, it will be as if we are deaf and dumb. Therefore, we must continue learning.
According to our observation, not only do the older co-workers lack a spirit of learning, but even the young ones do not have a high spirit of learning. Although they are more aggressive, in general their endeavoring is still not adequate. For the most part, all learning must be self-initiated, for example, through reading more literature and using dictionaries. You cannot be carefree, passing over all the unknown words as you read, or else what you do not understand, you will continue to not understand, and what you are not able to do, you will continue to not be able to do. Do not let things go by loosely. If you research what you do not understand and learn to do what you cannot do, you will definitely progress, and what you learn will be substantial.
Every young person who desires to serve the Lord should memorize 1 and 2 Timothy and diligently study every point mentioned in them. There are no other books in the Bible that instruct us concerning how to serve the Lord as these two do. Someone once asked where in the Bible the word training can be found. In principle, it is in 1 Timothy. Verses 7 and 8 of chapter four say, “Exercise yourself unto godliness. For bodily exercise is profitable for a little, but godliness is profitable for all things.” Exercise is even more strict than training.
The word exercise here is related to the well-known Olympic games. Here Paul was referring to the way athletes in the Olympics exercised their bodies, saying that we Christians also must exercise unto godliness. In 3:16 he told us what godliness is: “Great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh.” We must exercise to let God be manifested in the flesh. This is a matter of our entire Christian living. The entire Christian life is God manifested in the flesh, so we must all exercise in this way. If all the young people could set aside a few years to exercise like those who participate in the Olympics, the whole earth will be turned upside down. At first, exercising may seem unbearable, but as we come closer to the goal, we become more proficient. This requires training. This is the way with physical things, and it is more so with spiritual matters.
First Timothy shows us that training is the exercise unto godliness. This exercise first demands that all those who are learning to serve the Lord should not speak different teachings in their service. Do not assume that one who serves the Lord can speak anything he wants to about heaven and earth, east and west, and everything else. It is true that you can speak on many matters, but one thing you cannot speak is a different teaching. There is a standard by which we call a teaching “different.” In 1:3-4, Paul said to Timothy, “Not to teach different things...rather than God’s economy.” The standard is God’s economy. Whatever does not match God’s economy is a different teaching.
The most effective booklet to use when we go door-knocking and preach the gospel is The Mystery of Human Life. This gospel booklet is very effective because it was written altogether according to God’s economy. An economy is a plan, an intention. God’s economy is God’s plan, and this plan, this intention, is for the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—to dispense Himself into man step by step to be man’s life and be lived out from him in order to gain corporate sons who are constituted to be the Body of Christ, which appears in each locality as the local churches in which we, the members of the Body, serve the Lord. This is the definition of God’s economy, and it is the criterion for determining whether or not a certain teaching should be taught. If a teaching matches this criterion, it can be taught, but if it does not match this criterion, it cannot be taught, because a teaching that does not match God’s economy is “different.” Christianity is divided because of different teachings. A different teaching is not necessarily a bad teaching, nor does it have to be an improper or erroneous teaching. On the contrary, a teaching may be correct and good, but it still may be a teaching that differs from God’s economy.