In the previous two chapters, we have seen some crucial matters relating to the preaching of the gospel on the campuses. In chapter one we saw the importance of the revelation and experience of the Spirit and the Body. In chapter two we saw the importance of prayer and the Word in our gospel preaching with the additional help of our homes. In this chapter, we still need to cover two other important matters related to our gospel preaching. First, we need a proper daily living and second, we need a universal love.
For our gospel preaching we need not only the words spoken out of our mouth, but also a life that shines before men. In this chapter, I am burdened for us to see that the real preaching of the gospel is a matter of witnessing. In Acts 1:8 the Lord Jesus said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the remotest part of the earth.” Witnesses bear a living testimony of the resurrected and ascended Christ in life, differing from preachers who merely preach doctrines in letters.
We must be persons of the gospel. Our person should match what we preach. Our preaching should not be a performance. We should preach what we live by. Our living is our preaching, and our life is the gospel. The gospel we preach should be our daily life. This is altogether different from much of the preaching in today’s religious system, which is often just a performance. An actor who is not a gentleman can perform as if he were a gentleman. It is a shame to the Lord, to His name, and to His gospel when Christians preach the gospel while their living is not according to the gospel. Our preaching must be with the Word, but our word must be matched by our daily life.
A proper daily living is important because many people are watching us. We have neighbors, friends, relatives, colleagues, classmates, and many other people around us. From the day that we tell them about Christ and His salvation, they are watching us. If we did not preach the gospel, they might not pay any attention to us. Since so many people are watching, the most convincing factor is not our words. The most convincing factor is our daily life. We need a daily life to match our preaching. Our conduct and behavior must match what we are as witnesses of the Lord Jesus. We must have the highest daily life to match our preaching, but this does not mean that we should have strict, legal standards of conduct. I do not believe in or like any kind of legality. A brother once told me that when he was a young man in the Amish church, there was a regulation concerning the width of a hat brim. This brother, however, prepared a hat with a narrower brim. When the pastor found out, he went to the brother’s house and admonished the brother not to wear the narrow-brimmed hat. This is an example of having legal standards of conduct. We should not have legal standards in the church life regarding the length of a brother’s hair and the length of a sister’s skirt.
We do not need any legal standards because we have something higher-the divine nature. Second Peter 1:4 says that we have “become partakers of the divine nature.” We have the divine nature within. The divine nature means everything in our Christian life. Since we have the divine nature, we do not need outward regulations to adjust our hair, clothes, and behavior. Any adjustments that we make should be made according to the divine nature within. Everything we do, say, and are should be checked with the divine nature. Every newborn child has the human nature. While little babies do not have any knowledge of outward regulations, they still have the human nature that regulates what they eat. Even though they do not know the words “sweet” and “bitter,” they will not keep anything bitter in the mouth; but if you put something sweet in the mouth, they will eat it. You do not need to teach them about sweet and bitter because they have the human nature with its human taste. As Christians, we have a nature that is much higher than the human nature. We have the divine nature with a divine taste. We must live a life that matches the divine nature within us. The divine nature will regulate our hair, clothes, and behavior. When we follow the divine nature within, we will know how to dress and behave.
Home | First | Prev | Next