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The apostolic ministry in cooperation with Christ's heavenly ministry fights for the brother by interceding for the saints according to God and His economy and by ministering the processed God into the saints for their overcoming supply and enjoyment—v. 25; 8:2; Luke 22:31-32; John 21:15-17; Acts 6:4; Rev. 1:12-13; cf. Exo. 28:9-12, 15-21, 29-30:
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We must be those who shepherd others according to God (1 Pet. 5:1-2), that is, according to what God is in His attributes, such as love, light, holiness, and righteousness.
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The elders need to realize that in their shepherding, they have to cover others' sins, to not take account of others' evils; whoever uncovers the defects, shortcomings, and sins of the members of the church is disqualified from the eldership.
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If the co-workers and elders do not love the bad ones, eventually they will have nothing to do; the Lord Jesus said that He came as a Physician, not for the healthy ones but for the sick ones—Matt. 9:12; John 8:7-11; Matt. 27:38; Luke 23:42-43; 15:1; Matt. 9:10; 19:13-15.
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We must follow the footsteps of the processed Triune God in seeking and gaining the fallen people—Luke 15:2-10, 17-18, 20.
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When we visit people, we must have the Lord's presence, and His presence is the charming factor; if we are crucified persons in resurrection, the Triune God's presence goes with us wherever we go, and people will be attracted to the Lord.
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To shepherd people, we must cherish them, which is to make them happy and to make them feel pleasant and comfortable; we must have a pleasant countenance when we contact people, not a cheerless countenance—Psa. 42:5, 11.
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In shepherding people, we must also feed them with the all-inclusive Christ in His full ministry of three stages—incarnation, inclusion, and intensification; in order to nourish people with Christ, we first have to seek Christ, gain Christ, enjoy Christ, and participate in Christ—John 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rev. 4:5; 5:6; Phil. 3:8-14.
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For eternity the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd us and guide us to springs of waters of life; when we are one with Him as the great Shepherd of the sheep to shepherd others, we are doing the work of eternity—Rev. 7:17.
Morning Nourishment
John 21:15 …Do you love Me… ?… Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs.16 … Shepherd My sheep.
17 … Feed My sheep.
1 Pet. 5:2 Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion but willingly, according to God; not by seeking gain through base means but eagerly.
The elders need to realize that in their shepherding, they have to cover others’ sins, to not take account of others’ evils. Love covers all things, not only the good things but also the bad things. Whoever uncovers the defects, shortcomings, and sins of the members of the church is disqualified from the eldership. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” p. 124)
Today’s Reading
In his first Epistle, Peter speaks of Christ being the Shepherd and Overseer of our soul, our inner being and real person (2:25). Then in 5:1-2 he tells the elders that their obligation is to shepherd God’s flock according to God. According to God means that we must live God. We must have God on hand. We have God in our understanding, in our theology, and in our teaching, but we may not live God when we are shepherding people. When we are one with God, we become God. Then we have God and are God in our shepherding of others. To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to what God is in His attributes. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness … We must shepherd the young ones, the weak ones, and the backsliding ones according to these four attributes.Without shepherding, there is no way for us to minister life to others… The real ministering of life is shepherding by visiting and contacting people. When we visit people, we must have the Lord’s presence. His presence is the charming factor, and that presence comes from the cross plus resurrection. We must be a person on the cross and in resurrection.
The first way of the members of the vital group to contact people is by cherishing them. Because we live by our natural life, our visitation is fruitless. To cherish people is to make them happy, to comfort them, to make them feel that you are pleasant to them, easy to be contacted in everything and in every way. Our contact with people must be so genuine. Genuineness can be produced only by the cross plus resurrection. Only a crossed-out, resurrected person can be genuine in everything.
In Ephesians 5 Paul speaks about Christ’s care for the church by these two things: cherishing and nourishing (v. 29). Cherishing without nourishing is in vain… After cherishing [a naughty] 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.
To cherish people is to make them happy and to make them feel pleasant and comfortable. We must have a pleasant countenance when we contact people. We should be happy and rejoicing. We should not contact anyone with a cheerless countenance. Then we should go on to nourish them… To nourish people is to feed them with the all-inclusive Christ in His full ministry in three stages… We have to find a way to present the all-inclusive Christ to everyone… We have to “cook” the all-inclusive Christ… I have been cooking Christ in this country for over thirty-three years with about three thousand messages.
In order to nourish people with Christ, we first have to seek Christ, experience Christ, gain Christ, enjoy Christ, and participate in Christ. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” pp. 114-115, 145-146, 152-153)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” chs. 6-8, 10-11; CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 3, “The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation,” chs. 3-4