2022-5丨General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

Message One Loving the Lord and Loving One Another— the Most Excellent Way for Us to Be Anything and Do Anything for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

III. Among the co-workers, the elders, the responsible ones, and everyone in the vital groups, love must prevail—1 Cor. 12:31b; 13:4-8, 13:

1 Cor. 12:31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And moreover I show to you a most excellent way.

1 Cor. 13:4 Love suffers long. Love is kind; it is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not puffed up;

1 Cor. 13:5 It does not behave unbecomingly and does not seek its own things; it is not provoked and does not take account of evil;

1 Cor. 13:6 It does not rejoice because of unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

1 Cor. 13:7 It covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Cor. 13:8 Love never falls away. But whether prophecies, they will be rendered useless; or tongues, they will cease; or knowledge, it will be rendered useless.

1 Cor. 13:13 Now there abide faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

A. We have been regenerated to be God's species, God's kind (John 1:12-13), and God is love (1 John 4:8, 16); since we become God in His life and nature but not in the Godhead, we also should be love; this means that we do not merely love others but that we are love itself.

John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name,

John 1:13 Who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

1 John 4:8 He who does not love has not known God, because God is love.

1 John 4:16 And we know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.

B. We must keep ourselves in the love of God and be constrained by the love of Christ to lay down our lives on behalf of the brothers—Jude 19-21; 2 Cor. 5:14; 1 Pet. 1:22; 1 John 3:14-16; 4:7-21.

Jude 19 These are those who make divisions, soulish, having no spirit.

Jude 20 But you, beloved, building up yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

Jude 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

2 Cor. 5:14 For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died;

1 Pet. 1:22 Since you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned brotherly love, love one another from a pure heart fervently,

1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. He who does not love abides in death.

1 John 3:15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

1 John 3:16 In this we know love, that He laid down His life on our behalf, and we ought to lay down our lives on behalf of the brothers.

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God, and everyone who loves has been begotten of God and knows God.

1 John 4:8 He who does not love has not known God, because God is love.

1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was manifested among us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might have life and live through Him.

1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God has loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:12 No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

1 John 4:13 In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given to us of His Spirit.

1 John 4:14 And we have beheld and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.

1 John 4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.

1 John 4:16 And we know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.

1 John 4:17 In this has love been perfected with us, that we have boldness in the day of the judgment because even as He is, so also are we in this world.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear has punishment, and he who fears has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us.

1 John 4:20 If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

1 John 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him, that he who loves God love his brother also.

C. God first loved us in that He infused us with His love and generated within us the love with which we love Him and the brothers (vv. 19-21); to abide in God is to live a life in which we love others habitually with the love that is God Himself, that He may be expressed in us—vv. 16-17; Hymns, #546 and #547.

1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us.

1 John 4:20 If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

1 John 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him, that he who loves God love his brother also.

1 John 4:16 And we know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.

1 John 4:17 In this has love been perfected with us, that we have boldness in the day of the judgment because even as He is, so also are we in this world.

Hymn 546—I love my Lord, but with no love of mine

1 I love my Lord, but with no love of mine, For I have none to give;

I love Thee, Lord, but all the love is Thine, For by Thy love I live.

I am as nothing, and rejoice to be Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in Thee.

2 Thou, Lord, alone, art all Thy children need, And there is none beside;

From Thee the streams of blessedness proceed, In Thee the bless'd abide.

Fountain of life, and all-abounding grace, Our source, our center, and our dwelling-place.

Hymn 547—Something every heart is loving

1 Something every heart is loving: If not Jesus, none can rest;

Lord, my heart to Thee is given; Take it, for it loves Thee best.

2 Thus I cast the world behind me; Jesus most beloved shall be;

Beauteous more than all things beauteous, He alone is joy to me.

3 Bright with all eternal radiance Is the glory of Thy face;

Thou art loving, sweet, and tender, Full of pity, full of grace.

4 When I hated, Thou didst love me, Shedd'st for me Thy precious blood;

Still Thou lovest, lovest ever, Shall I not love Thee, my God?

5 Keep my heart still faithful to Thee, That my earthly life may be

But a shadow to that glory Of my hidden life in Thee.

1. Whether or not we will be useful in the Lord's hands for the long run and whether or not we will bring in the blessing for a lasting time does not depend on what we can do but on how pure our heart is; we need to have a pure heart, purified from any form of subtle ambition in intention, purpose, motive, and action in the Lord's recovery—Matt. 5:8.

Matt. 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

2. Pride means destruction, and to be proud is to be a top fool; humility saves us from all kinds of destruction and invites God's grace—James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5.

James 4:6 But He gives greater grace; therefore it says, "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble."

1 Pet. 5:5 In like manner, younger men, be subject to elders; and all of you gird yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

3. We should never hunt to be the first in any work for the Lord (3 John 9); rivalry in the Lord's work is not only a sign of ambition but also a sign of pride; referring to our capacity, success, perfection, and virtue is a careless form of pride (Luke 17:10; Phil. 1:15; Gal. 5:25-26).

3 John 9 I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not receive us.

Luke 17:10 So also you, when you do all the things which are ordered you, say, We are unprofitable slaves; we have done what we ought to have done.

Phil. 1:15 Some preach Christ even because of envy and strife, and some also because of good will,

Gal. 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Gal. 5:26 Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

4. Thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think is another form of pride (Rom. 12:3); self-boasting, self-exaltation, self-glorification, self-will, self-justification, self-righteousness, and lusting after vainglory are all ugly and base expressions of pride (Gal. 5:25-26).

Rom. 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith.

Gal. 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Gal. 5:26 Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

5. Wanting to be great and not to be a servant and wanting to be the first and not to be a slave are also a sign of pride—Matt. 20:26-27.

Matt. 20:26 It shall not be so among you; but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant,

Matt. 20:27 And whoever wants to be first among you shall be your slave;

6. We should pray for one another, have an intimate concern for one another, cherish and nourish one another, and always cover one another, speak well of one another, and never expose one another's failures and defects (2 Cor. 7:2-3; Eph. 1:15-16; Philem. 4; 1 Cor. 13:4-7; cf. Matt. 24:49); we need to forgive one another and seek to be forgiven by one another (Col. 3:12-15).

2 Cor. 7:2 Make room for us; we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.

2 Cor. 7:3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts for our dying together and our living together.

Eph. 1:15 Therefore I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you and your love to all the saints,

Eph. 1:16 Do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,

Philem. 4 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,

1 Cor. 13:4 Love suffers long. Love is kind; it is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not puffed up;

1 Cor. 13:5 It does not behave unbecomingly and does not seek its own things; it is not provoked and does not take account of evil;

1 Cor. 13:6 It does not rejoice because of unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

1 Cor. 13:7 It covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Matt. 24:49 And begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with the drunken,

Col. 3:12 Put on therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, inward parts of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering;

Col. 3:13 Bearing one another and forgiving one another, if anyone should have a complaint against anyone; even as the Lord forgave you, so also should you forgive.

Col. 3:14 And over all these things put on love, which is the uniting bond of perfectness.

Col. 3:15 And let the peace of Christ arbitrate in your hearts, to which also you were called in one Body; and be thankful.

7. On the one hand, we should have a clear sight over the people for whom we care with much discernment, and on the other hand, we should be blind spiritually—Isa. 11:1-4a.

Isa. 11:1 Then a sprout will come forth from the stump of Jesse, / And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

Isa. 11:2 And the Spirit of Jehovah will rest upon Him, / The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, / The Spirit of counsel and might, / The Spirit of the knowledge and fear of Jehovah.

Isa. 11:3 He will delight in the fear of Jehovah: / He will neither judge by what His eyes see, / Nor decide by what His ears hear.

Isa. 11:4 But He will judge the poor in righteousness, / And decide with equity for the afflicted of the land. / And He will strike the land with the rod of His mouth, / And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.

8. We should not speak reviling words; to revile is to rebuke or criticize harshly or abusively; to revile is to assail someone with abusive language; to revile is not only to rebuke someone but also to sharply wound him and stamp him with open rudeness or contempt arising from arrogance—Gal. 5:14-15, 25-26:

Gal. 5:14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Gal. 5:15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another.

Gal. 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Gal. 5:26 Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

a. Revilers are ones who beat their fellow slaves, which means that they habitually mistreat fellow believers; revilers will not inherit the kingdom of God—Matt. 24:45-51; 1 Cor. 6:9-10.

Matt. 24:45 Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time?

Matt. 24:46 Blessed is that slave whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.

Matt. 24:47 Truly I say to you that he will set him over all his possessions.

Matt. 24:48 But if that evil slave says in his heart, My master delays,

Matt. 24:49 And begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with the drunken,

Matt. 24:50 The master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know,

Matt. 24:51 And will cut him asunder and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. In that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

1 Cor. 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be led astray; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor homosexuals

1 Cor. 6:10 Nor thieves nor the covetous, not drunkards, not revilers, not the rapacious will inherit the kingdom of God.

b. Those who take in reviling words bear the same responsibility as those who speak reviling words; in order for the church to maintain the oneness, the brothers and sisters must withstand reviling words—v. 10; cf. Num. 6:6.

1 Cor. 6:10 Nor thieves nor the covetous, not drunkards, not revilers, not the rapacious will inherit the kingdom of God.

Num. 6:6 All the days that he separates himself to Jehovah he shall not come near a dead person.

c. The consciousness of sin comes from knowing God; in the same way, the consciousness of reviling words comes from the knowledge of the Body; reviling words are opposed to the testimony of the Body—1 Cor. 1:10.

1 Cor. 1:10 Now I beseech you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion.

Morning Nourishment

1 John 4:8 He who does not love has not known God, because God is love.

19 We love because He first loved us.

We are God’s species because we have been born of Him to have His life and nature (John 1:12-13). We have been regenerated to be God’s species, God’s kind, and God is love. Since we become God in His life and nature, we also should be love. This means that we do not merely love others but that we are love itself. As His species, we should be love because He is love.

God is love; we love because He first loved us (1 John 4:8, 19). God does not want us to love with our natural love but with Him as our love. God created man in His image (Gen. 1:26), which means that He created man according to what He is...God created man according to His attributes, the first of which is love. Although created man does not have the reality of love, there is something in his created being that wants to love others. Even fallen man has the desire within him to love. But that is just a human virtue, the very expression of the divine attribute of love. When we were regenerated, God infused us with Himself as love. We love Him because He first loved us. He initiated this love. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” p. 121)

To fulfill the obligations of a co-worker or an elder, you need to have a pure heart, purified from any form of subtle ambition in intention, purpose, motive, and action in the Lord’s recovery...Only those who are humble without ambition can be used by the Lord, can receive gifts from the Lord, and can be entrusted with the Lord’s ministry. We should never hunt to be the first in any work for the Lord. In the church, sometimes we need to arrange for certain ones to bear certain responsibilities. Those who are not assigned may act outwardly as if they do not care, revealing nothing either in their tone or in their expression, yet inwardly they are depressed and unhappy. This is the insidious work of hidden ambition to compete with others to be the first.

First, we need to beware of ambition, and second, we need to beware of pride. Pride is an attribute of our fallen nature by birth. God has His attributes, and we have ours...Who is not proud? Whoever is not proud is good for nothing. In the Lord’s work, however, we must try our best to guard against pride. Always remember that humility saves you from all kinds of destruction and invites God’s grace for you. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). If you are humble, grace comes. If you are proud, grace goes away; you have hindered grace...To be proud is to be a top fool.

Rivalry in the Lord’s work [is] not only a sign of ambition but also a sign of pride. We often are in rivalry with people in the Lord’s work... We all must admit that we are unprofitable servants [Luke 17:10]. We should neither compare ourselves to nor compete with others.

Referring to your capacity, success, perfection, and virtue is a careless form of pride... Instead, always say to the Lord, “Lord, I don’t have any capacity, nor do I have any success in Your work. Furthermore, I don’t have any perfection; all that I have is imperfection. Also, I don’t have any virtue; all that I have is failure.” This will preserve you from becoming proud.

To think more highly of oneself than one ought to think is another form of pride [Rom. 12:3]. Wanting to be great and not to be a servant and wanting to be the first and not to be a slave are also a sign of pride [Matt. 20:26-27]. In addition, we must see that self-boasting, self-exaltation, self-glorification, and lusting after vainglory are all ugly and base expressions of pride (Gal. 5:26). (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations,” pp. 270-271, 273-276)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations,” ch. 4; CWWN, vol. 57, pp. 239-240