BASIC WORD - HEALTHY WORD

                                                            THE HEALTHY WORD

Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 1:10 ; 4:6 ; 6:3 ; 2 Tim. 1:13 ; 3:16 ; 4:3 ; Titus 1:9 ; 2:1 ; 1 Cor. 1:18 ; Phil. 2:16

The word healthy implies two elements. Negatively, there is an element that kills germs. Every day our body is fighting against germs. The physical life is a struggle between the human life and germs. Similarly, there are spiritual germs from which we must be constantly protected. Therefore, healthy teaching is full of antibiotics—the germ-killing element. Positively, there is the nourishing element. By these two elements we are made healthy. The healthy word is not a doctrinal shell but rather is the truth. The healthy word and the healthy teaching are the truth, containing the killing element and the nourishing element.

First Corinthians 1:18 mentions the word of the cross. The word of the cross is the killing word. Every chapter of 1 Corinthians contains the word of the cross, because the believers in Corinth had been deceived and brought into contact with spiritual germs. Each chapter of 1 Corinthians concerns a different problem in the church life. Every problem was a disease. Because the Corinthians were full of germs, they needed the spiritual antibiotics in the word of the cross, the killing word.

Philippians 2:16 mentions the word of life. Philippians is full of the word of life, the nourishing word. For example, in 1:20 and 21 Paul says, “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. For to me, to live is Christ.” Another example is in 4:13 , which says, “I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me.” Thus, in the Bible there are two kinds of words: the word of the cross and the word of life. The word of the cross is the killing word, and the word of life is the nourishing word. On the one hand, the healthy word kills the germs in us; on the other hand, the healthy word nourishes us.

The Word of God Being Composed of Christ, His Death, and His Resurrection

The word of God is actually composed of three elements—Christ, His death, and His resurrection. The basic ingredients of the Bible are not stories or doctrines but Christ, His death, and His resurrection. When we read the Bible, if we pick up only stories or doctrines rather than Christ, His death, and His resurrection, our Bible reading is in vain. Regardless of what chapter or verse we read, we should always take in and enjoy the three basic ingredients—Christ, His all-inclusive death, and His resurrection.

The first few verses of the Gospel of John do not mention the death or resurrection of Christ, but if we eat the healthy word by pray-reading these verses, the result will be that the germs within us will be killed, and the weaknesses within us will be swallowed up. This is a killing produced by the killing element of Christ’s death in the word. As we continue pray-reading, we will be supplied with life by the same word, which also contains the nourishing element of Christ’s resurrection. This is the Christian life—a life of receiving killing and nourishing from our God through the Word.

The proper reading of the Bible always transmits a killing element into us. If we do not receive any killing when we read the Bible, our reading is in vain. Our physical eating similarly enables our body to kill the germs in us. If we do not eat properly every day, we will quickly become sick from many germs. As long as we eat well and regularly, we do not need to take antibiotics. Through our eating we will naturally have the killing element. In the same principle, every time we read the Word, we receive a killing element. Actually, it is not we ourselves but the negative things within us, such as our natural life and our flesh, that are killed.

BEING LUMINARIES HOLDING FORTH THE WORD OF LIFE

Without the Bible human society would be in total darkness. Although the Bible is available to everyone today, regrettably, not many Christians apply the Bible in a practical way to their daily living. If we, the children of God, apply the holy word of our heavenly Father practically to our daily living, we will witness the transformation of our life, and we will influence our family, friends, neighbors, and other relatives. This is to hold forth the word of life (Phil. 2:16). To be luminaries shining over the darkness by holding forth the word of life is the best way to preach the gospel (vv. 15-16). In this way we may bring one person to the Lord every year. Those around us will spontaneously no longer be in darkness but will be under our shining and thereby see the way that leads to salvation and to God. It is in this way that we can live a life of testimony.

Christianity has many organizations and activities, but not many Christians daily eat the word of God. In the Lord’s recovery we have no organizations or activities; rather, we have only the living Christ. We eat His word, take Him in, live Him, grow Him, and produce Him. In this way we are luminaries shining over those around us. This depends on our coming to the holy Word every morning and throughout the day. In the morning we need to come to the Word to be nourished by pray-reading. Later in the day we can read three or four chapters. By reading three chapters in the Old Testament and one chapter in the New Testament each day, we can read the whole Bible once a year. If we continue for several years in this way, reading through the Bible once a year and pray-reading verse after verse, we will be spiritually healthy, receiving the nourishing and killing element in the Word.

THE CHURCH NEEDING TO BE THE PILLAR AND BASE OF THE TRUTH

In the past fifteen years we have been ministering mainly concerning Christ, the human spirit, the experience of life, and the ground of the church. In the local churches in the United States these four things have been built up as four pillars. Most of the saints are very strong and clear concerning these matters. Regrettably, however, we have not adequately stressed the matter of the truth. Hence, in our building we are lacking the pillar of the truth. Because of this lack of the truth, in recent years several corrupting things have crept into the churches from God’s enemy. In the absence of the light of the truth, certain things have crept in. For instance, a brother declared that he is the leader in the Lord’s recovery. This exposes a terrible lack of the truth. In His New Testament economy God does not allow any kind of human leadership among His people, because He has given the headship and lordship uniquely to Christ His Son. To call someone other than Christ the leader leads to a hierarchy, which insults the headship of Christ. If in the past years the pillar of the truth had been built up in the churches, all the saints would know that among the Lord’s people today there is no organization and therefore no official leadership. We all would refute anyone who dares to say that he is the leader. We would be not a people under darkness but a people under the light and full of the truth. We would know that in the Lord’s recovery there is no organization and that no one sent by God would say that he is the leader.

The United States is a strong nation mainly because it has a strong constitution and because the people of this country uphold the Constitution. Even the president must follow the Constitution. Likewise, a strong local church is one in which all the saints uphold the truth. This should be the condition and the situation of every local church. Every brother and sister in the church should know the truth that in the church we practice neither autocracy nor democracy but the headship of Christ. We need to know and practice this truth.

I encourage all the saints to make a vow before God: “Lord, from today I will be a person of the Bible. I will study and pray-read the Bible. I will pick up the truths from all the doctrines.” Only in this way can we grow in life, the church be built up, the kingdom of God be established on the earth, and we be matured so that the bride will be prepared and the Lord Jesus Christ can come back.