In the perfecting by the gifts, all the saints need to grow. The main thing in perfecting the saints is to nourish them. Mothers raise their children not just by teaching them but by feeding them. While the mothers are feeding their children, they may also teach them. If the children do not listen to their mother, the mother may tell them that she will not let them eat. If they behave, they can eat. If they do not behave, they do not get to eat. Feeding is the best way to train people. If we are the gifts—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers—we must learn how to perfect the saints by feeding them. The hungry saints need to be nourished with Christ as their life supply. Whenever I give a message, I pray and look to the Lord that I can have something to feed the saints. The saints are happy when they have something to eat. The best way to perfect the saints is to feed them that they may grow. In Ephesians 4:13 Paul mentions a full-grown man. In verse 15 he says that we need to grow up into Christ in all things. Then in verse 16 he says that all the Body causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. Paul emphasized our need to grow.
When we feed the saints, our ministry is according to the tree of life. What we share with the saints should not be in the realm of good or evil, right or wrong, yes or no. This is in the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a symbol of God’s enemy, Satan. We just want to feed the saints. We do not care for what is right or what is wrong. The Lord did not send me to the United States to condemn people, to judge people, or to tell people who or what is right or wrong. He sent me to this country to present Him. In all the years that I have ministered in the United States, I have presented Christ to the saints. Let us all forget about who is right or who is wrong, about what is right or what is wrong. We need to forget about the past and go on together with the Lord and in the Lord according to the tree of life.
Because we are so closely related to one another in the church life, there is always friction among the saints. Love always creates problems. Because a husband and wife are close to one another, there are times of friction between them. Because we have been together in the church life for many years, there is also friction among us. This is why we need the Lord’s mercy and His sufficient grace. We should not care for who is right or who is wrong. I always make mistakes. Many times I feel that I am the totality of mistakes. My wife sees the mistakes that I make more often than anyone else. The husbands are frequently corrected by their wives. This is because the wives see all the mistakes that their husbands make. Actually, all of us are mistaken people. In the church life we have to take Christ as our person to forgive one another. We should not care for who is right or who is wrong. We should only care for life. Our living and our ministry must be according to the tree of life.
First, all the saints have to grow up into the Head in all things. Then out from the Head, the whole Body issues the life supply to all the members for the building up of the Body. Sooner or later, all God’s chosen ones, God’s redeemed ones, will arrive at the point where they all have grown up into the Head in all things. In this growth the life supply is dispensed to all the members for the building up of the Body. I have learned the secret of dispensing Christ as the life supply to the saints. I am still trying to learn more; then I can afford even more life supply. I do not have the burden to give the saints more teaching, more knowledge, and more biblical interpretations. My burden is to dispense more of Christ as the life supply. I hope that we can all take care of dispensing Christ as the life supply and forget about right or wrong, good or evil, yes or no. Let us forget about good or evil, right or wrong, and yes or no, and only care for Christ as our life and our life supply.
With the Head as the source, all the Body issues the life supply to all the members for the building up of the Body. When a member of our physical body gets hurt, the rest of our body supports that wounded part with the life supply. In the Body of Christ, we should do the same thing. If a member of the Body is weakened or hurt, we should not talk about this member, criticize him, or condemn him. We should support that wounded member with the life supply. For us to dispense the life supply to the needy members depends upon how much we have grown up into the Head. The life supply that we dispense to others depends upon how much of the life supply that we ourselves have received from the Head. If I do not receive the supply from the Head, how can I have anything with which to support the other members? We have to grow up into Him in all things so that we may receive the life supply. Then we will have the life supply to dispense to others and to support others with.