Third, we need the church life. In these past years we have seen many people who pay their attention to the inner life and the light of truth, but they neglect the church life. There are not only the two aspects of life and light; we also need the other three aspects: the Body, the service, and the gospel. We are members of the Body, so we need the church life. We might have abundant life and adequate light, but if we are not living in the Body, in the church, we are disembodied. We are isolated members. An isolated member is a dead member. We may be dead because of isolation from the Body.
Fourth, we need to function, to serve, in the Body. As members of the church, we must realize what our function is and what kind of members we are. Do you have any member in your physical body which does not function? If someone’s foot does not function, it becomes a burden to him. If we do not function, we become a burden to the Body of Christ. Others have to carry us. We may even be incurably sick to such an extent that we are cut off. The Lord mentioned this kind of cutting off in John 15:6, which says, “If one does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up.” To be cast out as a branch is to be cut off from the Body. We need to function, to serve.
The main item of the service in the church is the work of preaching. As the Body, what are we living here for? We are here for the purpose of fighting the battle to subdue the enemy, to bring people back to God. This is not a kind of evangelizing work in Christianity. It is the testimony of the church, and all the members are the living witnesses. With these members there is a testimony, and this testimony is in the genuine preaching. The real preaching of the church is the living of the members. All the members live for this purpose. Their living is their preaching.
We have to know the Lord as our life within, we need to have adequate light from the Word, we must be in the church, and we have to function as living members in the church. In this way we become a living Body always cooperating and coordinating together in order to subdue the enemy and release the souls. To release the souls is the ultimate goal of our service. This is not merely a preaching work; this is the vital and ultimate goal of our Christian living.
For what purpose are we living here? It is to defeat the enemy and release the souls from his hand. In Matthew 12:29 the Lord said, “Or how can anyone enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will thoroughly plunder his house.” The strong man is Satan, and his goods are living persons. We have to plunder his house and release his goods; we must release the precious souls out of his hand. Again it seems that this is just the evangelizing work of Christianity. In actuality, though, it is very different. This is not merely a work; it is a living. We are living for gospel preaching.
All these words are right-evangelize, gospel, preaching-but they are inaccurately used by today’s Christianity. Christianity takes the evangelizing work simply as a work, an activity, a kind of program. The New Testament, however, shows us that gospel preaching must be a kind of living. This is our life. We are living here for this. Preaching is our life and living. Why are you living here? If you say you are living to study at college, you are wrong. As a Christian you are not living to study. Rather, you are studying for your living of preaching. Therefore, you have to preach in your school, not only by your word but also by your conduct, your living, and your work.
You have to speak. Some people say that we should not speak too much. However, you have to speak much. The more you speak the better. If you speak ten thousand words, and only one word is received by others, that is a profit. It is better than nothing. The Communists train their people to speak for their cause. However, if you study human history, you can see that preaching, or “propaganda,” was invented by the church. Do you know how the newspaper was invented? It was invented to a great extent by the Reformation. The reformers were the first to use newspapers for the purpose of preaching. Regrettably, today’s Christianity has lost this inheritance, and the enemy, the devil, and the worldly people have picked the newspaper up to utilize it. The church is far behind in this matter. We have to “propagandize”; we have to preach. Preaching is the invention of the church. We lost it, but now we have to recover it. Therefore, go out to preach.
To be a living person who preaches the gospel, you have to preach with your mouth, ears, eyes, nose, two hands, and two feet. With your two hands you have to write, and with your two feet you have to travel. We have to use our whole being for preaching. We are living preachers, not professional preachers. If you know God’s economy, then you realize that the purpose for the church’s being on this earth is preaching, and this preaching is not merely an evangelizing work. It is the living of all the living members of the Body. The whole Body, with all the living members, lives for the purpose of subduing the enemy, releasing the souls, bringing them to Christ, and building the Body with these persons as the materials.
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