We cannot make others spiritual, nor is there a method to make ourselves spiritual. Nevertheless, those who serve the Lord need to bear a certain amount of responsibility. The responsible brothers in each locality should have a thorough dealing with the Lord before every meeting. Many years ago when I was serving in a locality, I had to bear a great part of the responsibility in the meetings. Before every meeting I would go to the Lord. Even if a meeting was one and a half hours long, I would often spend two to three hours before the Lord. I did this because I desired to enter God’s presence so that I could touch Him and receive a burden from Him, not because I needed to give a message. I opened myself to the Lord and said, “Lord, what is the responsibility that I should bear in this meeting? What is Your feeling for this meeting?” In this way, I could often touch God’s feeling in His presence. Then I could spontaneously become a mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit in the meeting. I could open my mouth either to pray or praise and thereby add some weight and content to the meeting.
However, in many places the saints have the impression that the meetings are not important. It seems as if everyone lets the meeting take its own course; no one bears responsibility and no one is a mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit. From beginning to end, the entire meeting is empty and light and altogether meaningless. Such a condition spoils the appetite of the saints, and they no longer desire to come to the meetings. This can be compared to our eating. When we eat something that tastes bad, we do not want to eat it again, and if we do eat it again, we will loathe it. In the same principle, if the meetings are lacking in supply, the brothers and sisters will stop coming after two or three times. This is because their appetite for the meeting has been spoiled.
Some saints love the Lord, fear the Lord, and pursue the Lord; they feel that as Christians they should always meet together. However, when they meet together, they feel miserable, as if they are being punished. They are troubled because although they know that it is necessary to meet, they suffer much when they meet together. It is true that all the saints should participate in the meetings before the Lord, and we cannot put the responsibility for the meetings on any person or persons. However, the responsible brothers and the full-time serving ones in the church have no excuse; they should bear the responsibility. Despite the fact that we have no distinctions in order and rank in our service, according to spiritual condition, the elders, co-workers, and full-time serving ones should bear more responsibility than the rest of the brothers and sisters.
Regrettably, many responsible brothers and full-time serving ones are indifferent toward the meetings of the saints and do not have a sense of responsibility. They will bear the responsibility for giving a message only when there is a need for them to give a message. If they do not need to give a message, the meeting will often be affected by their indifference, because no one is responsible.
Although the responsible brothers sometimes pray together twenty minutes before meeting, this is not enough. Something that is carried out only according to one’s convenience cannot be successful. Everything in the church must be carried out with a strong burden in order to become successful. To have a strong burden means that none of the responsible brothers and full-time serving ones lay aside their responsibility in any meeting; rather, they all bear responsibility. This is a very serious matter.
We need to spend more time to fellowship concerning this matter. The responsible ones and the serving ones are indebted to the church. The full-time serving ones have given up their whole life to serve the Lord. They have forsaken their future and the world and set themselves apart solely to serve the Lord. According to the worldly term, they have become professionals; this is their occupation. Nevertheless, according to the condition of our meetings, it does not seem as if they work as professionals. Many of them do not care for the meetings and are indifferent before and after the meetings. Some saints, who are professionals, work during the day and must hurry in order to make it to the meetings, even forsaking their meal. However, the full-time serving ones, who have no excuse and who have the time to prepare and come to the meetings early, are barely able to make it to the meetings on time. In the meeting they sit indifferently with their Bible and hymnal. When the meeting is over, the working saints go home quickly, and most of the full-time serving ones also go home unconcerned.
In this kind of situation it is difficult to bring in the Lord’s blessing. Every businessman knows that no one can succeed if he works merely eight hours a day in the office. Every good businessman works even in his dreams. When he is walking on the street or drinking coffee in a coffee shop, he is considering his business. This is the way his business can be successful. A businessman who works only eight hours in the office will never be successful. This is true in every occupation. Everyone who is successful in business puts his whole being into his business.
The workers may serve merely according to form and arrangement, arranging for when a brother should bear some responsibility in a place or when another brother should give a message. If this is the case, our work will not have the Lord’s presence, and it will merely be a job. All our work should come out of a burden, just as a mother who cares for her children sets her heart on them day and night, hour by hour, and moment by moment. Only this kind of mother will be able to accomplish something in her children. Likewise, as serving ones we should put our heart in our work, our service, day and night, hour by hour, and moment by moment. We should put our whole being into our service. Whenever we have an opportunity to meet someone, we should immediately give him “a shot” so that he can be supplied. We should always minister to people, whether it is an opportune time or not, or whether they feel happy or not. All the full-time serving ones should be like this. If all the full-time serving ones and the responsible brothers in a church are willing to do this, our degree of spirituality will increase tremendously.
God’s grace always comes to people through man as a channel, a vessel. God’s blessing and grace have their conditions. For example, if we do not preach the gospel, no one will be saved. This is a fixed principle. Genesis 2:5 clearly shows that in order for the plants of the field to grow, man must work the ground, and Jehovah must bring rain upon the earth. The person who digs the deepest channel in his field will receive the most water. If someone does not cooperate by working, when God abundantly pours out His blessing, it will not flow to that person. This is an outward test and an inward proof. If the Lord’s servants are uninterested and unresponsive when they contact souls, they should not be in this line of work.
Businessmen know how to respond to business; no matter where they are, they will respond to their particular business. For example, a person who sells beverages will always respond to thirsty people and sell them a drink. We should be the same; whenever we meet people, we should respond with a burden. For example, when we meet a brother, we may realize that he has not consecrated himself, has not dealt with sin, or does not know how to pray. The response within us is our “business.” This response causes us to do business. We should generate business as soon as we meet people; if we cannot generate business, we should go and pray to the Lord.
For example, although a certain brother has a heart, there may be a lack within him; he may need the Lord’s enlightenment concerning a certain matter. If we are not clear, we should pray to the Lord, even spending a few days to pray and touch the Lord’s leading. Then we should be able to help this brother touch the Lord’s leading, and we can go contact this brother again. If we are interested in people before the Lord, responding as soon as we meet the brothers and sisters, we will be richer and more advanced than we are today. This is the need among the serving ones. This is a very important matter that is lacking among us.
It is very clear that our gospel preaching has become a formality; it is not spontaneous and in the spirit. Our gospel preaching has become a formal, practical church matter. For example, when we know that there will be a gospel meeting, we begin to do the work of evangelism as if we are working in an office. This is not healthy. The saints should regularly and spontaneously help people to be saved, not because of any encouragement, arrangement, or decision of the church. When there is a baptism in the meeting hall, the saints should be able to bring people to be baptized, not paying attention to outward form. This problem cannot be solved simply by our fellowship. All those who serve the Lord need to deal with this problem before the Lord. We need to ask the Lord to give us a new start in this matter; otherwise, in the long run, we will suffer serious loss on the spiritual side.