The Genuine Church Life
Message Three
The Issue of Life—the Church Life
as a House of Feasting for God’s Building
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Then Jesus…came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead….They made Him a supper there; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of the ones reclining at table with Him–John 12:1-2
Then Mary took a pound of ointment, of very valuable pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment–John 12:3
Word of Appetizer
John 12 …reveals the issue of Christ being life to man: the producing of the church.
How many kinds of functions are there in the church life shown in this chapter?
In the church life there are different functions: the functions of serving, testifying, and loving:The serving function is represented by Martha；The testifying function is represented by Lazarus；Lazarus was a living testimony and a witness to the power of the Lord’s resurrection life；The loving function is represented by Mary；she represents the dear ones who love the Lord to the uttermost and who pour out what they hold most precious upon the Lord。
Spiritual Burden
In the real church life the service to the Lord is rendered, the testimony of the Lord is seen, and the love toward the Lord is poured out; this is the real expression of the Body of the Lord, which is a vessel to contain the Lord and to express Him.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Life meets the need of every man’s case to build the house of God；life’s regenerating；life’s satisfying；life’s healing；life’s enlivening；life’s feeding；life’s quenching；life’s setting free；life’s sight and life’s shepherding；life’s resurrecting.
The issue of life is the church life as a house of Feasting: The house of feasting is produced by the resurrection life; The house of feasting is outside of religion; it was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper; In Bethany there was a home where the Lord could stay, rest, feast, and be satisfied; Outwardly, the church may be poor and afflicted; inwardly, however, the church life is a life of feasting in and with the presence of the Lord; In the church life there are different functions: the functions of serving, testifying, and loving.
The Experience of Life
The Lord has raised us from the dead and cleansed us from our sins;now where we are becomes the meeting place of the church. everything in the church is precious, sweet, and dear because we are rich with the enjoyment of the Lord’s presence; we are with the Lord, and the Lord is with us.
Practice and Application
We need to ask the Lord to grant us the light to have a thorough change in our concept of value so that we will continually choose Christ and all that He is as our super-excelling portion.
We all must be a triangular member of the church—a “Martha-Lazarus-Mary”; this is the proper name for all of us to have; In the church life there must be the diligent service for the Lord, the living testimony of the resurrection life of the Lord, and the absolute love poured out upon the Lord.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will a raise it up. Then the Jews said, This temple was built in forty-six years, and You will raise it up in three days? But He spoke of the temple of His body–John 2:19-21
Life meets the need of every man’s case to build the house of God.
•The need of the moral is life’s regenerating;
•The need of the immoral is life’s satisfying;
•The need of the dying is life’s healing;
•The need of the impotent is life’s enlivening;
•The need of the hungry is life’s feeding;
•The need of the thirsty is life’s quenching;
•The need of those under the bondage of sin is life’s setting free;
•The need of the blind in religion is life’s sight and life’s shepherding;
•The need of the dead is life’s resurrecting;
Key Verses (2)
Then Jesus…came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead….They made Him a supper there; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of the ones reclining at table with Him–John12:1-2
- The issue of life is the church life as a house of feasting(1)
• The house of feasting is produced by the resurrection life; the church is the produce of the resurrection life.
•The house of feasting is outside of religion; it was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper.
• In Bethany there was a home where the Lord could stay, rest, feast, and be satisfied.
• The church is composed of cleansed sinners as represented by Simon the leper.
• Outwardly, the church may be poor and afflicted; inwardly, however, everything in the church is precious, sweet, and dear because we are rich with the enjoyment of the Lord’s presence; we are with the Lord, and the Lord is with us.
• Inwardly, the church life is a life of feasting in and with the presence of the Lord.
• In principle, a living church has more sisters than brothers.
Key Verses (3)
Then Mary took a pound of ointment, of very valuable pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. But Judas
Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was about to betray Him, said, Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?–John 12:3-5
The issue of life is the church life as a house of feasting(2)
• In the church life there are different functions: the functions of serving, testifying and loving:
• The serving function is represented by Martha; we all must change our concept of Martha and not look down on her.
• The testifying function is represented by Lazarus; Lazarus was a living testimony and a witness to the power of the Lord’s resurrection life.
• The loving function is represented by Mary; she represents the dear ones who love the Lord to the uttermost and who pour out what they hold most precious upon the Lord.
• The believers in Christ should have a change in their concept of value; Christ Himself is the
preciousness to His believers.
• We all must be a triangular member of the church—a “Martha-Lazarus-Mary”; this is the proper name for all of us to have.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1:
T1 Life meets the need of every man’s case—John 3:6; 16;
(Please illustrate which nine cases in the Gospel of John signify that the Lord comes to us as life in several different aspects.)
T2 The principle of the Gospel of John is Christ as life in resurrection—John11:25
(Please illustrate that the Spirit and the Word will bring us into the principle of life in resurrection.)
D2
T1 The issue of life is the church life as a house of feasting—John12:1-3
(Please illustrate that The house of feasting is outside of religion; it was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper.)
T2 The Lord had a home for Him in His rejection—John12:1; Matt.21:17-18
(why the Lord always left Jerusalem to stay in Bethany?)
D3
T1 The church life is a feast—John12:2; Psa.16:11
(Please illustrate according to the experience that the church life is a life of feasting in and with the presence of the Lord.)
T2 In the church life there are different functions: the functions of serving, testifying, and loving —John12:2-3
(Please give examples to illustrate that Martha’s service was needed.)
D4
T1 The loving function is represented by Mary—John12:2-3
(According to the example of Mary’s love offering to the Lord, illustrate what the sign of the proper church life is.)
T2 The proper concept of value for the believers—Pet.2:7
(Please use your experience to illustrate what changes the believers in Christ should have in their concept of value.)
D5
D1 Their valuation of the enjoyment of sin in comparison to the unseen reward—Heb.11:24-27
(Please illustrate that a change in concept of enjoyment and suffering according to Hebrews 11:24-26.)
T2 Their valuation of Christ as the treasure of justice in comparison to earthly treasure—
Job.22:23-28
(Please illustrate that the value of justice is more than any treasure according to Job.22:23-28. )
D6
T1 The kind of change in valuation that happens to a Christian—Phil.3:7-8
(Please illustrate that Paul also had a change in his concept of value according to Phil.3:7-8 .)
T2 “My name is Martha-Lazarus-Mary”—John12:2-3
