In these messages we have been concerned with the matter of strengthening the small group meetings. In order for the church to be built up by the saints, we must labor on the Lord’s word. To labor on the Lord’s word is to build up ourselves in our most holy faith.
Today, in the twentieth century, especially in the United States and in Taiwan, education is popular, and the standard of education is high. Technology is advancing daily. In such an age, if we are illiterate, we will be of little use to society. We will not be able to do anything except eat and sleep every day, and we may even become barbarians, knowing nothing but quarreling and fighting. If a man is not educated, he will be very uncultured. The more educated a man is, the more refined he will be. Men in the world are seeking after worldly knowledge. Although they may obtain such knowledge, they know nothing about spiritual matters. Concerning spiritual matters, they are ignorant.
We have all believed in the Lord. We love the Lord and we love the church. This is wonderful. Yet most of us are short of spiritual education. Because of this, in God’s hand we are not very useful. On the side of our old creation, our flesh, we have received adequate education. But on the spiritual side, we have not labored for our spiritual education to prepare and build up ourselves. This is what concerns me.
During the fellowship of these few weeks, we have exposed the poor and ignorant situation of Christianity. Because of the Lord’s mercy, we have been raised up by Him. In the past sixty years the Lord has continually granted us bright and rich truths. Especially in these past twenty years, after the Lord’s recovery came to the United States, we have continually seen new light, and we have published a great deal concerning biblical truths. We have expounded in detail the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, and we have printed these expositions in many books. But my point is this: We cannot say that we have attained simply because we have some truths and some books. Have we read these books? Have we digested the truths contained in them? Have we built up ourselves in our most holy faith? This is the key.
Our meetings are not so rich, and they are lacking and sometimes even void of the living word. Because you have not received an adequate spiritual education, when someone mentions a spiritual matter, many of you become speechless. If you have not received a proper elementary, high school, and college education, your speech will indicate that you are an uncultured person, or what is commonly known as a “country boy.” Among Christians today there are many spiritual “country boys.” Many among us are also spiritually uneducated. To me, the Chinese-speaking meeting is a heavy burden. Sometimes I sigh because during the meetings it seems that you do not know how to exercise your spirit to speak the Lord’s word. But in other places you have a lot to speak. In the previous message I mentioned that we must exercise to speak the Lord’s word, but after my speaking no one exercised. It is like a coach practicing with his players. Suppose the coach passes the ball to his players, and no one continues to play. Rather, suppose they say, “You are the coach; you are an expert. We will watch you play because playing ball is the coach’s business.” Some of the saints have come from a distance to attend this meeting. A number of them said that if I were not speaking, they would not come. You want to hear me speak. If I do not speak, you will be unhappy. However, I also want to hear you speak. If you do not speak, I will also be unhappy.
It is difficult to deal with this concept of not opening our mouth to speak. If the older ones do not speak, the younger ones will also be silent. The older ones take the lead, and the younger ones follow. In the end, no one speaks. In the natural realm it is easy to speak and difficult not to speak. In your own home would it be possible for you to be completely silent for an entire day? When you are at home, it is impossible for you not to speak, but once you are in a meeting, it is easy for you to stop speaking. We have said repeatedly that we need to exercise to speak the Lord’s word. But eventually, we still do not speak. What is the reason? I agree with the Chinese proverb which says, “What is impregnated within will take form without.” The Lord Jesus said, “...for out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). Because you are not filled within and you are short of content within, you have nothing to speak. For this reason I am very burdened.
I feel that everything in the United States is very good. However, if you are not one who loves the Lord, I wish that you would not come to the United States, because in the United States there are also many evil things. In this country people receive high wages for their jobs. The income from one person is sufficient to support an entire family. People are required to work only eight hours a day and five days a week. For many people there is no work on the weekends. All the weeknights and the whole weekend afford people extra time for entertainment. However, in the worldly entertainments all the lusts come in; all the sinful things creep in. Therefore, it is dangerous to live in the United States if you are not one who loves the Lord and seeks after the Lord. You may be busy working every day to earn money, but it is still meaningless to have so much money. If you have a large amount of money, though you may not sin now, one day the abundance of money will encourage you to sin.