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Confronting Crisis
in the Full-time Serving Life
Message One: The Way to Handle Crisis
Every Stage of Growth Has Its Particular Crisis
As a person grows spiritually, various crises are bound to confront him.
Just as there are particular problems with each stage of our physical
growth, so it is with our spiritual growth. Every stage of life has its
own particular temptation, limitation, and struggle. No one can escape
having to confront such crises; but the degree to which each person will
be affected will differ. If a person has a healthy spiritual condition,
he may be relatively immune from crises. But he should not think that
he is completely free of them. The moment his spiritual health declines,
a crisis will manifest itself. Therefore, do not be proud if you seem
free from a crisis, for it is only hidden, awaiting its opportunity. You
can never stop guarding against it, for the moment you relax, it will
come in immediately to do its best to swallow you up.
The Way to Deal with Crisis: Maintain a Healthy Condition by Being
Controlled and Exercised
1. Be Controlled by Christ and the Church
The way to deal with crisis is to maintain a healthy condition. Such healthiness
is the result of what regulates you, and your exercise is based on this
controlling factor. We, as co-workers, should all be able to identify
Christ and the church as the two major controlling factors in our life.
This realization, however, may be doctrinal. There are many examples of
brothers who are able to proclaim they are for Christ and the church and
yet who damage the church in practice. Therefore, when we say that we
are controlled by something, we should also exercise accordingly. If we
say that we are controlled by Christ, then we should be regulated by the
operation of life. If we say that we are controlled by the church, that
should mean we are controlled by the practical Body life. Both of these
aspects bear a kind of fruit. If we bear the fruit of the Spirit by being
controlled in such a way, then we are healthy.
Some saints claim to have the leading of the Lord, but there is no fruit
to confirm their claim. Instead of the fruit of peace, they produce discord.
To be controlled by the Lord is to be controlled by life. To be controlled
by life is to be controlled by the Spirit, and the Spirit bears its fruit.
To my understanding, the top fruit of the Spirit is peace. As you are
claiming to be for Christ, do you have peace with God, peace with man,
and peace within yourself? In light of such a test we would hesitate to
claim to be fully controlled by Christ. Perhaps you have peace within
yourself and peace with others, except for one particular brother. This
shows you are lacking. The fruit of the Spirit, particularly peace, determines
whether we are truly regulated by Christ.
What does it mean to say we are controlled by the church? And to what
extent do you know that the vision of the church controls you? As elders
or workers we are easily burdened by the things we set the direction for.
When the church controls you, however, there are two aspects: first, you
are not free, and second, you are very free. To be not free means that
you are limited by the brothers and sisters in the church life. You have
to be willing to let the church life confine your life. Then you are somewhat
controlled by the church. But that is only one aspect. You must also be
free. Are you able to be really free to give yourself fully to that thing
to which the church has confined you? If so, then you know you are truly
controlled by the church.
Let us say you are really burdened about something, but the brothers do
not agree with your burden. This is the confinement. Taking such limitation
doesn't mean you are really under the control of the church life, but
it is a good beginning. Now, do you have the ability to be very free according
to the how the church has confined you? That reveals whether you have
really given control of your life over to the Body or not. We should always
respect how the Lord is leading each brother and sister, but are we able
to be confined, and then in that confinement to be very free to exercise
to care for whatever we have been committed with? You may desire to give
a message in a meeting, but the brothers may ask other brothers to give
the messages. Are you able to come to the meetings and be fully released
to stand with those sharing the message? You lose your freedom, and this
becomes the gaining of your freedom. You lose what you desire, and you
become very released in what the church desires. This becomes an extremely
crucial lesson for us to learn as we go on to serve the Lord in the church
life. If you can say that you are operating in others' burdens in the
same measure that you are operating with regard to your own burden, you
are doing quite well.
Thus, the fruit of the Spirit, in particular peace, is what indicates
that we are controlled by Christ. And our ability to operate within our
confinement is what indicates that we are controlled by the church. In
addition to this, we need to see one more item which must control us in
order for us to be healthy - the realization of the soul-life.
2. Be Controlled by a Healthy Awareness of the Soul-Life
Dealing with the soul-life is a life-long struggle. It is more difficult
to deal with your soul-life than it is to deal with sin or the flesh,
for the operation of sin and the flesh are easily identified. You don't
need anyone to tell you that you are wrong when you are in the flesh or
sin. The soul-life, however, can invade you and destroy your ability to
follow the Lord without your even realizing it. We should lead a normal
human life. We should even have a proper hobby. But we should guard against
the development of the soul-life.
Your going on as a full-time servant of the Lord has much to do with how
much you allow your soul-life to be nurtured while you are serving the
Lord. Your going on will not be based upon how faithful or how fruitful
you are. It will be determined by how you handle your soul-life when others
commend you, respect you, or pay attention to you. It will be determined
by how you handle your fruitfulness or the light you receive from the
Word.
How many would dare say they don't require anything soothing to the soul-life?
We may be able to maintain something consistently for a short period of
time without any reward to the soul-life, but after a longer period, we
may give up. How many can stand praying and have no one respond with their
"amen's"? How many could continue to read the Bible if they are receiving
no particular light? Who can preach the gospel month after month even
though no one gets saved? Who can say at such times, "Praise the Lord,
I've been faithful; that's what matters"? I'm afraid that if after two
months you hadn't been able to give a good testimony, get anyone saved,
or get some major light from your labor in the Word, you would just go
get a job. Why? Because it doesn't go along with your soul-life.
The demand of the soul-life grows with age. When you are young, you don't
require much to be happy. As you grow older, however, the "palate" of
your soul-life develops just as does your taste for food. Thus the more
mature you are spiritually, the more you have to be controlled by this
realization of your soul-life. Our being controlled includes all of these
items: 1) Christ, practically in our peacefulness; 2) the church, as demonstrated
by the freedom we exercise in however the church would confine or place
us; and 3) the realization of our soul-life. These all require increasingly
fine and severe dealings as we reach further stages in our growth in life
and manifestation.
To be healthy we all need to be controlled by these three things: Christ,
the church, and the fear of the soul-life. The soul-life will utilize
anything to make its existence more clear or meaningful, including our
spiritual labor. Suppose I succeed in maintaining a peaceful condition
with the Lord, with the brothers, and within myself in a situation in
which others are opposing me. I am even peaceful with those who would
be my antagonists. The soul-life can use even this, saying, "You handled
that quite spiritually!" If I am guarded and controlled by the realization
that my soul-life must never be entertained, rather than enjoying this
thought I would deny it immediately.
The experience of ministering can become a nurturing-ground for the soul-life.
You need to develop your ability to speak for the Lord, but you should
not let it become an opportunity for the soul-life. If you speak something,
be careful. If you introduce something, be careful. Perhaps you are right,
but the soul-life is waiting to usurp. You know sin and you know the flesh,
but when the soul-life operates, you often don't even realize it. After
years of following the Lord you will one day realize you can go no further
because you have not been controlled by the healthy realization of the
soul-life. You didn't realize it, but your growth in life has become limited,
and now you are unable to break through. You were not careful enough to
watch and to deal with your soul-life.
Therefore we need to be constantly controlled by these three things: Christ,
the church, and a realization of your self, which equals your soul-life.
Be very aware of the soul-life, for when it is lived out, that is the
old man. The old man can do many good things, but it is against the Lord.
And it is always there ready to damage you.
3. Be Exercised to Have a Private Life That Can Be Public,and a Habitual
Enjoyment in the Word
What exercise is necessary to go along with these three controlling matters?
Firstly, we should exercise to be a person whose private life can stand
public scrutiny. In other words, if the saints knew about the things I
do in my private life, I wouldn't be embarrassed. Perhaps we cannot be
prevailing all the time, but we should try to guard ourselves. Are the
things in our life able to be manifested? Perhaps we are unable to overcome
some weaknesses. But we should never justify them. Just hide in the blood
of Jesus. This question, however, should be asked of the things in our
private life: If the saints knew about it, would they be bothered? Others
may not understand everything we do in our private life, but we shouldn't
do things which others would condemn.
Secondly, more on the positive side, we need to exercise to be with the
Lord. Your living is determined by how much you are before the Lord. I
cannot tell others that just because I have been saved forty years, I
don't need to read the Bible. If I don't read the Bible, I'm dead; it's
just that simple. If you are not exercised spiritually in a daily way,
your daily life will be limited. Yesterday's manna cannot work for today.
If, on the other hand, you are daily in the Word and in the ministry of
the Word, eventually you will be filled in spirit.
Now that you are full-time, your coming to the Word has become complicated.
Coming to the Word is your "job." When you were "just a brother" you came
to the Word or to a spiritual book simply to enjoy it. Now you are very
programmed. There is nothing wrong with studying the truth, but that should
not replace your daily habitual enjoyment in the Word and in the ministry
of the riches of the Word. You must build up this kind of daily habit.
This has much to do with your overall healthiness. Learn to be habitually
in the enjoyment of the Word and in the riches of the Lord's recovery.
Remember these two things. Firstly, you should be exercised in your daily
life. You feel that even your private life can stand the examination of
others. This does not mean that you should try to be religious. You may
have a hobby, or do some physical exercise, or any number of such things.
You know that other saints who see this would not be bothered, but would
feel quite peaceful. Secondly, you must be a person always coming to the
Word and to spiritual writings for enjoyment. Don't think that because
you have studied or labored in a particular way that you have been in
the Word sufficiently. You need to come to the Word habitually for enjoyment.
Concluding Word
If we want to be healthy, and therefore at least somewhat immune to any
crisis that can confront us at our particular stage of growth in life,
we need to be controlled and exercised. We need to be controlled by three
things: Christ, the church, and the proper awareness of the soul-life.
Then we must have two exercises. We must exercise to live a normal life
that the saints can approve of. And we must exercise to be in the Word,
in the spiritual riches, and in the Lord's presence. These five items
do not include the question of where we should serve. Nor do they include
our concern over how useful we are, or how fruitful we are. Nor do they
include our concern over our growth or manifestation. Yet how often we
stress these things, rather than being properly controlled and exercised.
Why is it that in the church life, even though everyone loves the Lord,
sometimes we are not able to go on together? It is because something "extra"
is being stressed, something outside of these five items.
Your healthiness will determine your ability to deal with all the crises
that are coming to you. When a crisis comes, you should say, "I am very
peaceful before the Lord, and I am very free in exercising in the church
life. I am not standing with my soul-life. I am taking care that I have
a healthy daily life, and I am habitually in the riches of the Word and
in the Lord's presence." Then the crisis will have no ability to overwhelm
you. It will not be so serious. The basic requirement for any full-time
brother or sister is quite simple. Anyone with this kind of simplicity
becomes immune to most forms of crisis. But if you do not pay attention
to these five matters, then when the crisis comes, it will be a real crisis.
May the Lord have mercy on us.
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