Outline
Ⅱ
The believers are symbolized by the good seed, the sons of the kingdom who are sown by the Lord to grow in His kingdom—Matt. 13:24, 38:
A
The seed is the word of God (vv. 4, 19; Luke 8:11), Christ Himself (1 Pet. 1:23), sown into us to make us the good seed, the sons of the resurrection (Matt. 13:38; Luke 20:36-38).
B
The word of God as a grain of wheat dispenses God as life into us to nourish us; also, the word as fire burns us and many of the things in which we have confidence, and the word as a hammer breaks down our self, our natural life, our flesh, our lusts, and our concepts—Jer. 23:28-29.
C
As the good seed, we must follow the Lord into the ground to die and bear much fruit in resurrection; to die and experience the cross is to deny and reject our soul-life, our natural life, to live by the divine life—John 12:23-26, 31-32.
D
The sowing of the good seed is martyrdom, for "what you sow is not made alive unless it dies" (1 Cor. 15:36); we can be martyrs physically, psychologically, or spiritually (2 Tim. 4:6; Matt. 16:25; 1 Cor. 16:12; 2 Cor. 2:12-14).
E
Christ's love of affection constrains us to live and die to Him and makes us martyrs for Him—5:14-15; Rom. 8:35-37; 14:7-9; Rev. 2:10; 12:11.
F
The putting to death of Jesus in our environment cooperates with the indwelling Spirit to kill our natural man and release the divine life—Rom. 8:2, 13; 2 Cor. 4:10-13; Jer. 48:11.
G
All our service to the Lord must originate from God, not from ourselves, as we allow His death to operate in us so that His resurrection life can be imparted through us into others—2 Cor. 4:12-13; 1:8-9; 4:5; 10:13:
１
David loved God, feared God, and cooperated with God in order to let God work; although he had the ability to build the temple of God, he stopped when God's word came to him—2 Sam. 7:18, 25, 27; cf. Luke 1:38.
２
David's stopping established a twofold testimony in the universe: first, all the work in this universe should come from God, not from man; second, all that matters is what God does for man, not what man does for God.
３
The builder of the temple and the site of the temple both came out of David's being forgiven of his sins, out of what God did for David—2 Sam. 12:24-25; 24:1-10, 18-25; 1 Chron. 21:18; 2 Chron. 3:1; Psa. 51.
４
Sister M. E. Barber said, "Whoever cannot stop working for the sake of God cannot work for the sake of God."
Ⅲ
The believers are the salt of the earth, those who kill and eliminate the earth's germs of corruption and rottenness—Matt. 5:13; cf. Lev. 2:13:
A
Lot's wife became a pillar of salt and lost her salting function because she took a lingering look backward at Sodom, indicating that she loved and treasured the evil world that God was going to destroy—Gen. 19:15, 24-26; Luke 17:32.
B
To make a career of following the Lord, we must give all we have and all we can do to it; otherwise, we will be a failure, becoming the tasteless salt and being thrown out of the glorious realm into a sphere of shame—14:31-35; cf. Rev. 3:21; John 16:33.
C
We should not be disappointed or discouraged but strengthened and enabled to live out the divine economy by the processed and consummated Triune God as the all-sufficient grace—1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 12:9; 2 Tim. 4:22; Col. 4:6.
Morning Nourishment
Matt. 5:13 You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has become tasteless, with what shall it be salted? It is no longer good for anything except to be cast out and trampled underfoot by men.Luke 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife.
David’s stopping established a twofold testimony in the universe. First, all the work in the universe should come from God, not from man. Second, all that matters is what God does for man, not what man does for God. David wanted to build a temple for God, but God said that He would build a house for David from which a kingdom would come forth. Even after God spoke this word to David, he fell twice. First, he murdered Uriah and usurped his wife Bath-sheba (2 Sam. 11:2-17, 26-27). Second, he numbered the children of Israel (24:1-10). It is amazing that after the murder of Uriah, Bath-sheba bore David a son, Solomon, and after David was chastised by God for numbering the people, he offered sacrifices on a piece of land, as instructed by God, which later became the site for the building of the temple (vv. 18-25; 1 Chron. 21:1; 2 Chron. 3:1).
The son and the site for the building of the temple both came out of David’s being forgiven of his sins. Those who can see this will bow their head and worship God, saying, “It is not we who can do something for You, but You who does something for man.”…God wants only our cooperation; He does not need us to do anything for Him…We must stop all our opinions, decisions, and ideas; we need to let Him speak, let Him come in, and let Him command. All we need to do is cooperate with Him. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” p. 284)
Today’s Reading
The “you” in Matthew 5:13 refers to the overcoming believers in the kingdom life. Furthermore, being the salt of the earth is a corporate matter, not an individual matter…It is as a corporate entity that the kingdom people are the salt of the earth. If we separate ourselves from the church life, we cannot be such salt.For us to be the salt of the earth means that we keep the earth from being fully corrupted…The earth, which was created by God, has become fallen. In a sense, it has become rotten and corrupted. But salt kills germs, eliminates rottenness, and preserves things in their original condition…Hence, the function of salt is to preserve what God has created. The entire earth is becoming more and more rotten…To the corrupted earth the people of the kingdom of the heavens are the element that keeps the earth from being fully corrupted. They have the salting function of killing germs, eliminating rottenness, and keeping things in their original condition or bringing them back to their God-created condition.
When the millennial kingdom comes, the whole earth will be salted. All the germs on earth will be utterly killed, and the whole earth will be not only regained by Christ but also brought back to its God-created condition. This work will be done by the kingdom people. Wherever the kingdom people are, they should exercise a salting influence over those around them. In our neighborhoods we should exercise our function of killing germs…If we are poor in spirit, mourning, meek, righteous, merciful, and pure in seeking God, we shall have a salting function. There will be no need to rebuke others or point out their mistakes and shortcomings. They will be salted simply by our presence. This is what it means to be the salt that kills the germs of this corrupted earth. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1157-1158)
Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt because she took a lingering look backward at Sodom. That look indicated that she loved and treasured the evil world that God was about to judge and utterly destroy. She was rescued from Sodom, but she did not reach the safe place that Lot reached (Gen. 19:15-30). She did not perish; neither was she fully saved. Like the salt that becomes tasteless (Luke 14:34-35), she was left in a place of shame. This is a solemn warning to world-loving believers. (Life-study of Luke, p. 328)
Further Reading: Life-study of Luke, msgs. 33, 39