Dear Lord, as we think of Thy love for Thy church, in giving Thy life for her, cherishing and nourishing her, that she might become a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, to present her to Thee as Thy bride—
Lord, we feel so humbled because we do not love Thy church as Thou lovest Thy church. Lord, we pray that Thou wilt really put in our hearts such a love for Thee and for Thy church that we too may be willing to lay down our lives for Thee and for her.
Lord, it is our desire, our prayer, our longing, that our church may be built. It is our prayer that we may be built together, that Thy purpose, Thy desire for Thy church, may be fully realized.
So, Lord, we do commit again this time into Thy hands and look to Thee to reveal Thy heart to us and bring us into that which Thou hast for us. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
During the last few sessions, including this one, we have focused our attention on this matter of the government and the ministry of the local assembly. As we mentioned before, the reason why we want to address these two things is because we feel that, for the building up of the church, these two are very essential.
We would not say that these are the only two things, but we feel that these are very essential factors in the building of the church. As we look around and consider the assembly that we are in, we can see the tremendous need for these two things.
It seems as if much confusion is there on this matter of local government, and also local ministry. So this is the reason why we want to give this time to these two things.
Yesterday, we mentioned local ministry. What is local ministry? It is true that it is the will of God that all the members of the body of Christ must function and minister to one another. We need to minister Christ to one another so that the body may increase with the increase of God.
This matter of local ministry is really limited in the sense that it is the ministry of the Word of God in the local assembly. Every brother and sister can exhort, encourage, and comfort, as we find in 1 Corinthians 14. But not everyone, in a very real sense, can minister the Word of God in the local assembly.
This afternoon, we would like to consider this matter of how to minister the Word of God.
To minister the Word of God is a great honor, but it is also a tremendous responsibility. Oftentimes, we only think of the honor. “Oh, if I can minister the Word of God to His people—great.” But we forget that it is a tremendous responsibility.
We consider it as a great honor. Why? Because when we think that our God is such a holy, glorious God, who lives in unapproachable light, perfect—and yet He would use man as we are to be His spokesman, to speak for Him—who are we?
We are sinners saved by grace. We are imperfect. We are weak. We have been defiled and corrupted. Our lips are unclean. Our hearts are deceitful above all things. And yet God should condescend Himself to choose us to be His mouthpiece.
Now, brothers and sisters, it is almost unthinkable that God should use man to speak for Him. What an honor that is. But with that honor is a great responsibility.
Knowing who we are and what we are, how easy it is for us to misrepresent God. How easy it is for us to corrupt the Word of God because of our depravity. How easy it is for us to misunderstand His thoughts, lower His standard, twist His Word, and distort His words to suit our taste.
How easy it is for us to limit His Word because of our limitation. So, when you think of these things, brothers and sisters, you feel what a responsibility there is.
What is the ministry of God’s Word? Is it just doing some research on the Word of God, just as you do research on other books, and then trying to analyze it, put it in some form, and present it to the people? Is that the ministry of God’s Word?
No. The ministry of the Word of God is to impart Christ to people through the Word. It is not just giving out the Word, but in giving out the Word, you are really imparting Christ to people.
It is a ministry of the new covenant—not in letter, but in spirit. For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.
If we minister the Word of God merely as letter, it will become law to the hearers, and that will kill them. But if we minister the Word of God in spirit, then it liberates; it sets people free.
The ministry of God’s Word is life unto life; but to certain people, it is death unto death. It is a matter of life and death, a matter of eternal life and eternal death.
Now, brothers and sisters, when you understand what the ministry of God’s Word is, immediately you realize the tremendous responsibility there. Who is competent? Who is adequate to minister God’s Word?
No wonder you find the apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4, saying that, having this ministry, we faint not because of the mercy of God. When you really see what the ministry of God’s Word is, it makes you faint, because you know that you are not able to do that.
You cannot give life, and you do not want to deliver death. How can you impart Christ to people—not just give out some words? That is beyond anybody, except by the grace and mercy of God.
This ministry of God’s Word is a tremendous responsibility. It is something that we cannot approach very lightly and carelessly.
We need to have a certain attitude when we approach God’s Word. We mentioned already that God’s Word is God’s work. If you read the Scriptures, you will find that if you take the Word of God away from the work of God in this world, there is no work.
When you touch God’s Word, you are touching God Himself. Therefore, brothers and sisters, before we can think about how to minister God’s Word, first of all we need to have a proper attitude towards God’s Word.
What is our attitude when we touch God’s Word? The prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 66:2:
But to this man will I look,
even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and that trembleth at My word.
Now, brothers and sisters, when we come to the Word of God, we need to have an attitude. We need to have the right spirit. We come to God with an afflicted and contrite spirit.
You do not come to the Word of God with a proud, lofty, arrogant spirit. You come in humility because you are coming to the Word of God, and you tremble at His Word.
Dear brothers and sisters, I am afraid that today people treat God’s Word so lightly. They read God’s Word as if they are reading a history book—or worse, a novel, a fiction.
We do not have the right attitude when we approach God’s Word, and because of this, we do not know God’s Word. God will not reveal His Word to us if that is the attitude we have.
But when we come to His Word with a contrite spirit and with trembling, with fear and trembling—now, brothers and sisters, it is true that on the one hand we do come to Him with boldness.
Just as Hebrews 10 says, we may approach the throne of grace with boldness, with holy boldness. Why? Because of the blood of our Lord Jesus; because of the new and living way that He has opened for us; and knowing that He is a High Priest interceding for us.
On such a basis, we can come to God with holy boldness. That is true. But, dear brothers and sisters, at the same time, that boldness does not mean that we are so bold that we become careless.
We know Who He is. We know what His Word is. We come with fear and trembling, lest we mistreat His Word, misunderstand His Word, or, because of our weakness, somehow weaken the Word of God by trying to bring it down to our level instead of letting it lift us to His level.
Brothers and sisters, what is our attitude when we come to the Word of God?
With the right attitude, then we are able to deal with this matter of how to minister God’s Word.
In this matter of God’s work and the ministry of God’s Word, you will find that God always emphasizes more on the person than on the work.
You remember the apostle Paul. In his letter to Timothy, he says, “Take heed to thyself, and to the teaching.” Now, the teaching is important, because when you are ministering the Word of God, you are teaching the Word of God. It is important.
But the apostle Paul says, “Take heed to thyself, and to the teaching.” You are more important than what you are going to teach. Why? Because the type of person you are will produce the kind of teaching you will teach.
To the pure, everything is pure. To the defiled, everything is defiled; even their conscience is defiled. So, when we approach the Word of God, we as persons must be right.
If we are not right with God, when we approach the Word of God, we will not be able to understand it. Or, as some people say, they do not dare to touch God’s Word because whatever they read seems to say to them, “You are wrong.”
It is as if the Word of God is judging them all the time, and because of that, they dare not touch God’s Word. Why? It is because of what they are. The kind of person you are will find the kind of Word you read.
So, brothers and sisters, it is very important: when you touch the Word of God, you have to be the right kind of person.
God always emphasizes more on us than on what we do for Him. Unfortunately, you find in this world, and in the Christian world, that it seems as if what we do is more important than what we are. This is really the very opposite of what God is looking for.
It is what we are that is more important than what we do.
Let us turn to 2 Corinthians 4, beginning with verse 1.
Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not:
but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully;
but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish:
in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving,
that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.
When the apostle Paul considered this matter of ministering the Word of God, he said, “Having this ministry, because we have received mercy, we faint not. But we have rejected the hidden things of shame.”
Now, do not think that because you have a certain understanding of God’s Word, therefore you can deliver His Word in spite of what you are. Paul says that in order to minister God’s Word, we reject the hidden things of shame in our lives.
The hidden things of shame—are there things in our lives that we feel ashamed of? We do not like people to know about them, and because of this, we hide them.
They may be things that are questionable in our lives, things that we know are not quite right, or even things that we know are wrong. Yet there are things that we ourselves are ashamed of. We do not like people to know about these things, and in order that people will not know, we hide them.
Are there such things in our lives? If there are, then you will find that they will greatly affect your ministry of God’s Word. You may even say the right word, but you are the wrong person, and the Holy Spirit will not bear witness to what you deliver.
There is no life and no power there.
Paul says that you have to reject the hidden things of shame in your lives. Reject is a strong word. It is not because you are able to hide it from people and keep it hidden that therefore it is all right.
You have to reject them. Reject is a strong word. Cast it away. Have it dealt with, so that as you stand before God’s people in delivering His Word, you are transparent. You are not afraid to let people look into your life.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we have hidden things of shame and we hide them, we are hypocrites. We live two lives: one before man and one before God; one in public and one in private.
If that is the case, we are not qualified to deliver God’s Word.
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, He was very severe. He denounced the hypocrites. He said, “Woe to you, hypocrites.”
You know, our Lord is so loving. The little children loved to come to Him. He is so loving that He would not refuse a sinner. Yet in His life, you find that the one person He denounced so strongly was the hypocrite.
A hypocrite is one who has two faces, one who lives two lives—one in public and one in private. Brothers and sisters, that is what the Lord hates.
Look at the life of our Lord Jesus Christ when He was on earth. He was transparent. He lived only one life. His life before God was the same life as before man. His life by Himself alone was the same life as He lived among people.
He was an open book—not only before God, for before God, even if you close it, it is open—but before man. Before man, you can close your book, but our Lord Jesus was transparent and truthful.
Even His enemies realized that. They said, “Thou art true, and carest not for any man.” Why? Because He is the Word. He is the Word become flesh.
So, you see, in ministering the Word of God, it demands that we reject everything of shame in our lives.
Paul continues: “Not walking in deceit.” If you have anything hidden because you are ashamed of it, because you know it was not right and is not right, then you will walk in deceit. You have to pretend. You have to put on a façade. You are not true.
And, brothers and sisters, more than that, walking in deceit means that you may have some ulterior motive in your heart. When you are ministering the Word of God, you are trying to get something for yourself.
Either you are looking for recognition—“See this brother, how he knows the Word of God”—or maybe you are ambitious. There might be some ulterior motive in you, some gain for your personal reasons. That is walking in deceit.
Those who minister the Word of God must not walk in deceit. Our motives must be searched by the light of God, that we have no other motive than to do the will of God.
No other motive than to fulfill what the Lord has called us to do. No other motive but to build the church—not for ourselves.
Nor falsifying the Word of God. You see how easy it is for us to falsify the Word of God, to adulterate the Word of God, and to distort the Word of God—to change the Word of God to suit our need, our taste, or to please the hearers.
We are not cutting the Word of God in a straight line, as we find in Timothy.
Dear brothers and sisters, oftentimes when we are ministering the Word of God, we compromise His Word. Why? We want to please our hearers.
If we deliver God’s Word as we are given it, we are afraid. People may reject us. People may not be pleased with us or happy with us. In order to get their approval, we can falsify.
Now, falsify does not mean that you change it completely. You may change it a little bit, or you may add a little bit to it.
You remember, even in the Garden of Eden, when Satan came to tempt Eve, and when Eve answered Satan, you find that it was all falsifying the Word of God.
Satan said, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” What an insinuation. At that time, man lived by the fruits of the trees, and God had provided all these trees with fruits for man to eat.
Satan simply said, “Does God say you cannot eat any fruit of the trees?” In other words, God is so cruel; He wants to starve you to death. He does not love you. He falsified the Word of God.
And Eve returned by falsifying it, saying, “No, no, no. God said you cannot eat only of this tree. God said you cannot touch it too.” God did not say that they could not touch it.
Brothers and sisters, in Christianity today, in the so-called ministering of the Word, you find how the Word of God is falsified and adulterated in order to suit the itching ears of men, or in order to gain from ministry.
They do not cut the Word of God in a straight line. You are disqualified if you do.
“But by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every conscience of man before God.” Manifestation of the truth—what is that? It is twofold.
On the one hand, you are able to present the truth as it is, without adulterating it, without changing it, and without corrupting it.
On the other hand, when you are presenting the truth, in a way you are also the embodiment of the very truth you are presenting to people.
It means that you are not just telling people a truth, but that it is true to you.
You can present the truth, and it is the truth, but that truth is not true to you. I do not mean that you do not believe it. Some people do not even believe it.
You may present the truth and not believe it yourself. You have lots of that in Christianity. But even if you do believe the truth, you cannot manifest it because it is not real to you. You have not experienced it. You do not know the power of that truth in your life.
Brothers and sisters, hear the apostle: “By manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every conscience of man before God.”
What is preaching? What is teaching? What is ministering the Word of God? It is not just trying to reach man’s mind—from mind to mind.
You study the Bible, you have gone to a seminary and finished some courses, and you have a certain understanding of the Bible in your mind. Then you deliver what you understand and know to the congregation.
When it comes out of your mind, the only place it can reach is other people’s minds. It cannot reach other people’s consciences, because even your own conscience has not been touched.
Lots of preaching today is in the mental realm—almost like teaching philosophy or teaching ethics. There is no difference.
What is real ministry of the Word? It is from conscience to conscience. Because only that which touches conscience transforms life.
If it only touches people’s minds, it does not change that person. You may have your head full of theology; it does not help your life.
When the Word of God comes forth, it touches people’s consciences. You remember on the day of Pentecost, when Peter stood up, and the eleven with him, and they preached the resurrection of our Lord Jesus—what happened?
Those who listened were pricked in their hearts. In other words, their conscience was touched—not merely their minds.
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus was not just a teaching to them, something for them to figure out: whether there was resurrection or not, whether it was possible, whether they could accept it. No.
When the resurrection of the Lord Jesus was presented to the people, their consciences were pricked. Why? Here was One whom they crucified, and He was raised from the dead. Now, what are you to do with that Person?
It is the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every conscience of man before God.
In delivering the Word, you are actually delivering yourself to people. You cannot deliver God’s Word without yourself being involved.
You are actually giving yourself. When you give out the Word, you give yourself out. Whether you can touch people’s consciences depends on whether the truth that you present is true to you.
That is the ministry of the Word of God.
We need to weep over this matter. Yes, especially in this country, the Word of God fills the air everywhere. But, brothers and sisters, where is the conscience being touched?
How do we deliver the Word of God? It has become so light to us, as if anybody can do it. It is a tremendous responsibility.
Paul was even able to say that if the gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those who are lost because the god of this world has blinded their eyes.
In other words, he delivered the Word of God in such a way, and discharged his responsibility in such a way, that if anybody did not see it and receive it, the responsibility was in that person, no longer in him.
Now, can we say that? Oftentimes, after we deliver a message, we find that the message does not seem to touch people, and we know that we are partly responsible because we are not what we should be.
But Paul could say, “If the gospel that I preach is veiled, the responsibility is not in me; it is in you, because your eyes have been blinded by the god of this world.”
The world has so occupied your mind, and your conscience is hardened, so that it cannot reach into your heart. We preach Jesus Christ; we do not preach ourselves. Yet in preaching Jesus Christ, you have to go out with what you preach.
This is the way that we are called to deliver the Word of God.
What are the fundamental necessities in delivering the Word of God? Those who are to minister God’s Word must have certain fundamental things; otherwise, it will not be truly a ministry of the Word.
Number one: those who minister the Word of God need vision.
We have been saying this again and again because we feel this is so important. Those in government need vision, because if they do not have vision, they are not able to lead the people.
Those who are in ministry need vision, because without vision they are not able to direct God’s people. You know Proverbs 29:18. It is a famous verse: “Without vision, the people perish.” That is the King James Version.
In other words, without vision the people disintegrate. Or, in some versions, without vision the people lose restraint.
Vision is an absolute necessity for people who minister the Word of God. The Word of God contains sixty-six books. It touches so many things. It is so broad.
You need vision to know how to handle God’s Word. Because if you do not have vision, you will see in the Word of God a little here and a little there, a line here and a line there, and these things do not connect.
You need a vision that will somehow take up all the Word of God and join it into one. Vision is that which gives us a center.
The Word of God has a center, and not only a center, but an outline. You remember the apostle Paul says to Timothy, “Hold the pattern of sound words.”
There is an outline. There is a scope. It is almost like you have a center and then you have a circle. There are countless things in between, but they are all centered upon the center and circumscribed by that outline.
Now, that is the Word of God—not just a little here and a little there, isolated, unrelated, and sometimes even contradictory. No.
But where do you get that? That comes with vision.
By vision, we do not mean ordinary vision. Some people say, “Well, yesterday I saw a vision. I saw something floating in the air.” No, we do not need that.
By vision, we mean that the Spirit of God unveils to us that which is in the heart and mind of God, from eternity to eternity.
It is not something you see with your eyes. You may see something, but if you do, you may become blind because the light is too bright and too strong.
On the road to Damascus, Paul saw the Righteous One, but his eyes became blind. So by vision, we do not mean that you see something with your physical eyes.
By vision we mean that when God reveals, you see—but you do not see with your naked eyes. You see it in your spirit.
The Holy Spirit reveals the mind and heart of God to your spirit. So, deep down in your spirit, you see something. It has to do with the eternal purpose of God.
It is the purpose that God purposed in Himself even before the foundation of the world. It is according to that purpose that God has been working throughout the ages and centuries, and it is that which God will have in the eternity to come.
That vision concerns this eternal purpose of God. The whole Bible is to reveal that purpose, that heart and mind of God.
We call this eternal Word. God’s truth is eternal and everlasting because it is from eternity to eternity. But you need to see it.
Brothers and sisters, even in this world, we use the word in a broader way. If you want to do anything, you need a vision—or a dream. “I have a dream.”
Why? Because without a vision, you have no goal. You have no direction. You do not have that power within you to endure.
You will not have that passion within you to give yourself to it. Without vision, you will be a drifter. You just drift—meaningless, purposeless.
It is vision that gives us purpose, that sets our life in a certain direction. In spite of opposition and obstacles, it gives you the strength to press on.
Vision is that which unites and joins people together. People with one vision can work together. If they do not have the same vision, how can they work together? One wants to go one direction; the other wants to go another direction. That is disintegration.
Without vision, the people disintegrate, even perish. It ends up in nothing.
Brothers and sisters, do you know what is the basic need in the church today? Vision. Why is it that God’s people are scattered and disintegrated? Because they have different visions.
They do not have the vision.
You know, in the Scriptures you find vision and visions. Even the apostle Paul, when he testified before King Agrippa, after he finished his testimony, said, “King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”
The heavenly vision. But then in 2 Corinthians 12, he said, “I will come to visions and revelations.” So you find there are vision and visions, and actually visions should be part of the vision.
Unfortunately, we have many visions, but we have no vision.
It is almost like we are doing a puzzle. You have a puzzle there, but all these different pieces are scattered around, and they are very odd. As a matter of fact, no piece has any meaning by itself.
So we try to make meaning out of each piece. Some pick up one piece, and that becomes their vision or their reason. They try to make meaning out of that odd piece, and they become odd people.
Then other people pick up another piece, a different piece, and say, “Now this is our vision. That is what we see.” And sure enough, they become very strange people.
Nothing connects. Nothing is related. Brothers and sisters, some people latch on to one truth in the Bible and make it their center and circumference. It becomes a party, a sect.
We cannot be together. Why? Because we have different pieces, and we do not want to be joined together.
Some have a vision of doing this; some have a vision of doing that. As a matter of fact, nothing really exists or can continue without a vision.
Every group, every fellowship, every denomination, every system in Christianity—whatever it may be—must have a vision somewhere. Because without vision, they cannot continue.
Someone must have had a vision that started it, and other people began to receive that vision, so they came together. That vision enabled them to continue on.
But unfortunately, sometimes it is not a vision given by God.
We have in Christianity today certain sects. They have a vision, but it is not given by God. I do not want to name these people, you know.
Other people may have a vision, but it is a limited vision. They do not have the right center, and because of that, there is not the outline of the sound Word.
It is all lopsided, odd, and fragmented. How pitiful. Because of this, God’s people are so divided.
So you see how necessary it is for the church to have vision, and those who minister the Word of God should be the people who supply that vision. But if you do not have the vision yourself, how can you supply it?
Paul talked about the heavenly vision. His whole life and ministry were governed by that heavenly vision, and for that heavenly vision he gave his all.
He said, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” That vision was given to me on the road to Damascus. I saw it, and it transformed my whole life.
I got involved with it, even unto death. I was obedient to that vision. It is a matter of obedience.
What was the vision he saw on the road to Damascus? As he was approaching the city, you know God always allows you to go so far—far enough—and then what? His cord of love is drawn.
You know, like a baby, like a child: when a child learns to walk, he tends to walk away. When you go out, you tie a rope around him and hold him, you know.
But that is the way our heavenly Father deals with us. He has a cord of love, and the cord of love is really love. He allows you to go far, very far. But when you come to a certain point, He pulls it.
Here you find Saul of Tarsus. He was persecuting the church, and the Lord allowed him to do that—not only in Jerusalem and Judea, but even to cities of the Gentiles.
How far he had gone already. He found no place to persecute in Jerusalem. Everybody hid from him. He could not find them anymore. Probably they were in the catacombs. He could not find them, even in the cities of Judea. They all vanished.
So he got documents from the high priest to go to the Gentile cities, to seize those believers and bring them to Jerusalem. The Lord allowed him to do all these things.
Before he reached Damascus, I think probably Damascus was almost in view. The Lord has a way with us, you know. He always lets you go, go, go—far, far, far—almost there, but you never reach it.
Then the light from heaven shone upon him, brighter than the midday sun. It was so powerful that it broke him and prostrated him on the ground.
And he heard a voice: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.”
Somebody in heaven knew him, knew his name. Saul was not only famous on earth; he was famous in heaven.
“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.” Do you know what you are doing?
Even when he was in his mother’s womb, God had already set him apart. He was known by the Lord, even though he did not know the Lord. Is it true with every one of us?
God has a purpose for each one of us, but we do not know it. As a matter of fact, what is life? Why is life given to us? Why are we born? Why are we in this world?
God has a purpose. God has a meaning. God has a reason for you to be here. You are to be used by Him for His purpose.
You are like a horse, a mule, that will be used by God to plow the field so that the work of God might be done.
You are not free. There is Someone holding the control. But you are not doing that; you are doing the opposite.
Saul was doing a disservice to God instead of serving God. Evidently, God had spoken to him in some way from time to time.
I do believe that when Stephen was stoned, that young man Saul was watching the clothes of those people who stoned Stephen.
He witnessed Stephen crying out, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing there.” And he heard Stephen, even when he was dying, say, “Lord, forgive them.”
I do believe that when Saul saw this and heard this, his conscience was pricked. He knew he was doing something wrong. He knew it.
But his past education and his tradition were so strong in him that he tried to stifle his conscience. So the Bible says he persecuted even more fiercely.
Why? He was trying to silence his conscience.
So God said, “You kick against the goads. You try to go your own way, not the way of God.”