THE VITAL GROUPS

MESSAGE ELEVEN

NOURISHING PEOPLE IN THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST

OUTLINE

1. The members of the vital groups have to learn how to nourish people to continue their cherishing of people.
2. To cherish people is to make them happy, pleasant, and comfortable; to nourish people is to feed them with the all-inclusive Christ in His full ministry in His three stages.
3. Both cherishing people and nourishing people should be by the divine and mystical life in resurrection, not by the natural life in the old creation.
4. The model of Christ cherishing the churches and nourishing the churches in taking care of the churches—Rev. 1:12-13:
   1. He takes care of the churches as the lampstands in His humanity as "the Son of Man" to cherish them—v. 13a:
      1. By dressing the lamps of the lampstand—Exo. 30:7.
      2. By trimming the wicks of the lamps of the lampstand—Exo. 25:38.
   2. He, as the High Priest, takes care of the churches as the lampstands in His divinity with His divine love, signified by the golden girdle on His breasts, to nourish the churches—Rev. 1:13b:
      1. With His divine and mystical ministry by love in His three stages.
      2. That the churches may grow and mature in His divine life and become the overcomers in His sevenfold intensification.

In the previous message, we saw that we need to cherish people in the humanity of Jesus. To cherish people is to make them feel happy and comfortable. To nourish them is to feed them, to give them something to eat. In Ephesians 5 Paul speaks about Christ's care for the church by these two things: cherishing and nourishing (v. 29).

I. LEARNING HOW TO NOURISH PEOPLE

The members of the vital groups have to learn how to nourish people to continue their cherishing of people. Cherishing without nourishing is in vain. When a mother wants to feed a naughty child, she will first make him happy by cherishing him. But without nourishing him, her cherishing is meaningless. After cherishing the child, the mother nourishes him with food. This is the way that Christ as the Head takes care of His Body, the church. He nourishes us after cherishing us.

Revelation 1 shows us how Christ cares for the churches. Revelation is a book of signs. A sign is a symbol with spiritual significance. The first sign in Revelation shows us Christ in His humanity as the High Priest, and the last sign is the New Jerusalem. As the Son of Man, Christ as the High Priest is taking care of all the churches as lampstands (1:12-13). On the one hand, He is cherishing the churches in His humanity; on the other hand, He is nourishing the churches in His divinity. The members of the vital groups have to learn these two things. When we visit people, invite them to our home, or contact them before and after the meetings, we must be one with Christ to cherish and nourish them.