Prayer: O Lord Jesus, we thank and praise You from the depths of our being. You have blessed the previous three meetings, and now You have brought us to this meeting tonight. As You have given us a glorious beginning and a glorious continuation, do grant us a glorious conclusion, so that we may see a blessing from You greater than what we have witnessed on the previous evenings. We pray that You would speak to us again and release to us the wonders in Your Word. Cleanse us with Your blood and anoint us with Your holy ointment. Anoint the speaker as well as the hearers. Anoint every one in this meeting so that we may all receive a supply from You. Lord Jesus, glorify Yourself and sanctify Your holy name. Lord, we exalt You, we worship You, and we joyfully praise You. Amen.
This is the last meeting. In the previous three meetings, we saw the origin of the Body of Christ, the elements, essence, and reality of the Body of Christ, and the living of the Body of Christ. Now we want to consider the service of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is an organism with its origin, its constituents, its elements, the essence in its constituents, and its reality which is manifested without. All these things spontaneously produce a certain kind of living.
In the previous message, we said that the living of the Body of Christ takes Christ as the Head, the life, and the center, and the Spirit as the essence and the reality, the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ as the rule, and life and the Body as the principle. I believe that we have all seen this and have received an amount of help from it. We now come to see the service of the Body of Christ. Although the word service is common, it is not a simple matter. According to its proper meaning, it is better to render this word as ministry. In common terms, a ministry means a special assignment. This is like a mail carrier who has been particularly sent to accomplish a special goal.
Although outstanding results are yet to be seen after four or five years of struggling and striving, the practice of the new way is becoming more and more apparent each day. This morning we had a meeting with the new ones who came in through the spread of our gospelization work. Among the two thousand attendants, over thirteen hundred people were saved within the past year in different towns and villages. They are the fruit borne by our gospel teams that have gone out. This work of spreading the gospel in the countryside is truly a special assignment. For the past fifteen months, since January a year ago, our brothers and sisters have gone to the countryside with a commission. They have been farming laboriously by sowing in tears. Now they are bringing in their sheaves with joy.
I sat there watching them meeting and singing. They did not look like new believers, but like professionals who knew how to sing, smile, and express themselves. I was deeply touched by them. I could tell from their testimonies that some were older, and others were younger; some were highly educated, while others were not; some were rough, and others were refined. Such a variety of people was simply too wonderful. This is the fruit of the new way. There was not even a hint of Christianity among them. They were living, organic, spiritual, and full of life. This is why I feel that since the Body of Christ is a living organism, its service must be living and organic. If we as the members of Christ can neither laugh or weep, jump or shout, it is difficult for our service to be effectual. Only when we are living can we serve successfully. When we are solemn and dull, we can only bind and shackle others. In gospel preaching, we ourselves must first be released by the Lord before we can release others.
The service of the Body of Christ is not only living and organic, it is also particular. Even the smallest thing we do in the Body of Christ is particular. Whether preaching the gospel or feeding the lambs, each member must receive a particular burden from the Lord and do his best to fulfill his own service. If a church has many preaching the gospel and shepherding the lambs, if it is full of gospel and shepherding activities, it will surely be prevailing. You all must learn to do the Lord’s work by special assignment so that you can fulfill your service in the Body. This does not mean that you must be full-time but that you should contact people spontaneously in your daily life. You can preach the gospel to your classmates while playing ball with them, and you can feed the lambs over the telephone. In any event, we all must serve in the Body of Christ, and we must do so in a particular way.
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