THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CHURCH
AND THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
CHAPTER SIX:
BUILDING IN LOVE
AND
KNOWING THE PEOPLE
WEEK 5 - SUNDAY
Bible Reading: 1 John 4:7-21
Read and pray: "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:8)
LEARNING TO CARE FOR OTHERS
Although our situation may be better than that of those in the world, there is a lack of love and concern among those who serve. There may be someone who likes a certain brother and manages to maintain good coordination with him, but this is not love. The Lord desires that we love one another as He loves us. His love for us is not based on emotions. He does not love us because we are worthy of love. We are not lovable, nor do we treat the Lord in a way that makes us deserving of His love.
If we had to deserve His love and treat Him well, we might be worthy of love, but such love could be based on emotions. However, there is nothing in us that deserves to be loved; for this reason, the Lord's love for us is not based on any emotion. He loves us because we need His love.
This kind of love must exist among those who serve and among the saints. We should not love the brothers because they are lovable. We should not love a brother because he treats us well. We should love the saints because they are our brothers and because we have been worked on by the Lord; because we have been built up together by God.
We do not need to exhort the saints to love one another. However, the more building there is among us, the more the characteristic of mutual love and care will be expressed. Then our administration of the church and our ministry of the word will bear fruit. The brothers will also begin to love one another.
Whether the brothers can love each other depends on the administration of the church and the person of those who minister the word. Preaching a message about loving one another may not be effective, but our administration of the church can lead the brothers to love one another. Sometimes, the more we talk about loving one another, the less the saints love each other.
In some churches, those who minister the word never speak about mutual love, but the saints love one another. The presbyters may not guide the brothers to love, but under their administration, the brothers love one another spontaneously. This happens when those who administer the church have already been built up by the Lord. There is something in them that shows they care for others, love others, and take care of them.
Let me give you an illustration. A brother from the workers' house had been sick for two days, yet none of the brothers visited him. The four brothers who normally had breakfast with him seemed not to notice that he was missing. They may have thought, "I'm not the one missing. I’ll have my breakfast and then attend to my own matters." Can such a person serve the Lord?
Those who have been built up by the Lord need to learn to care for others. If there is genuine love, the four brothers will soon want to find out about the condition of the brother who is missing. That is the proper thing to do. If we find out that our brother's socks are torn, we should check if he has another pair. If he does not, we should get him a new pair without him knowing who did it. That is what it means to love one another.
We degrade ourselves if we lack this kind of love for one another. It is useless merely preaching emotional messages. If we notice that a brother always wears the same shirt, we should find out if he has others. We must care for people in this way.
If we do not care this way, it will be hard to serve the Lord. We may be able to administer the church orderly, but there will be no building in our administration. We may also preach messages, but the saints will not be built up. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (1 Cor 8:1). This does not mean, however, that we should preach messages about loving one another; rather, we need to be worked on and built up by the Lord. Only then will we care for others and love them.
When we buy a pair of shoes, we should consider whether the brother who serves with us has another pair. We need to have this consideration when buying new clothes too. Unfortunately, this is not the situation among us. We should not just care for our own life; we should also care for the brother next to us. This is very serious.
Once, someone accused me of using money to control others. This is an insult to me and to the other brothers. The Lord knows that I have no intention of manipulating the brothers. My desire is that their needs are met. None of those in service should lack anything.
Simply giving things to others is not an indication of love. It may just be a matter of emotion. We must have a love that cares for others and looks after them. If a brother is sick or a sister has a problem, we should feel as if we were the ones involved. We need to always think about the needs of others. When we buy a pair of shoes, we should think about our brother's shoes; when we order a piece of clothing, we should think about our brother's clothing. We need to have this kind of consideration.
We should not think that we lose by caring for those who serve with us. Even if we suffer some loss, it will be glorious. Those who only care for themselves are very poor; and the poorest person is the one who cares for themselves above all. However, those who learn to care for others are rich. If we care for others and carry their burdens, we will be rich. We should not only carry our own burden; we need to learn to carry others' burdens as well.
By the Lord's mercy, we should be able to testify that the more we carry others' burdens, the more the Lord carries ours and strengthens us. We should not be like those who serve the Lord without caring for their fellow workers. If we care for those who serve with us, our ministry of the word and administration of the church will be able to build up the saints together. If a presbyter desires his administration of the church to bring about building, he needs to learn to love and care for people.
At a conference, there was a flu spreading, and many people got sick. One of the brothers in charge of cleaning was sick. I had not seen him for several days. When I discovered he was sick, I went to visit him. When I saw him, I learned that no one had taken care of him, not even the ones who shared the same room with him. He was in bed with a fever and did not even have a glass of water.
I was very saddened to see that situation. If we are all like that, it does not matter what message we speak or hear, because it will be useless. That brother was lying in bed with a fever, yet everyone was indifferent to him. If a person who is indifferent becomes a presbyter or a minister of the word, they may instruct the saints but will not build them up.
Instruction is for the benefit of an individual; building up leads the saints to be built up as one. God does not want to win individuals; rather, He wants to win a building. He cannot use a work that only produces individual results. Our work must produce corporate results for God's will to be fulfilled.
It may be that a certain brother is not able to preach dynamic messages, but when he administers the church, the saints blend together and are built up. This is the church. The church is a corporate, built-up entity. The gathering of thousands of people is not the church if they live independently of one another and are not built together. God has no building among them.
God needs the building, a corporate building. When the brothers serve and gather in love, their preaching of the gospel will be victorious, and many people will be brought to salvation. However, in some meetings, the brothers lack power when they preach the gospel. There is no sense of building among them; there is only a feeling of desolation and dispersion. A church in which the brothers care for one another has a future.
When our mutual care comes from the Lord's building work in us and not from external exhortation, we have the building. If those who serve do not care for one another, we should not expect our work to result in building.
Our love for one another is not an emotional reaction nor should it be a consequence of treating each other well. When you are not sick and have no problem, I might not visit you for two months, because you have no need. However, when you are sick and in need, I will definitely be by your side.
If we love each other genuinely, we care for one another despite the problems. There is genuine mutual love when we care for each other. This is the result of being worked on by the Lord. The more someone is worked on by the Lord and built up by Him, the more they care for others, take care of them, and love them.
Dead and lifeless things do not require love. In a house, there is no need for wood to love the bricks or for the bricks to love the tiles because they are inert materials. However, living things need to love one another in order to stay united. In some cities, despite being together, the brothers are in discord, and they lack mutual love. There is no edification among them. Roommates who do not argue with each other may still be in discord because they have not been built up together. This situation is very sad.
It is very sad when we only notice a brother's new socks, but not when they are torn. The normal condition should be not to notice when a brother gets new socks, but rather when his socks are torn. If we act this way, we will be able to carry out solid work. We need to love the brothers and care for them, but this love should be based on their needs, not on our emotions. When they have a need, we have a need. We must learn to bear their burdens (Gal 6:2). Then, the church administration and the ministry of the word will bring much edification to the church.
The edification of the church is not easy. Leading people to be saved and instructing them is easy; however, building up the church is not that easy. Leading people to salvation and personal improvement does not require us to learn lessons. However, to build up the church, to build a group of people together, united as one, we need to assimilate some lessons. For the elders' administration and the ministry of the word to contribute to the edification of the church, we need to pay attention to the points mentioned above. Without learning these points, we cannot expect our administration of the church and ministry of the word to edify the church.
Some think that the elders should be humble and careful, and those who minister the word should be careful with their words. This may be correct, but being humble, careful, and prudent is not the most important thing. These qualities will not lead the brothers to hold us in high regard, much less be edified. Rather, their edification depends on the practical points we have been considering. We must learn these points and be equipped with them.
¹ Among Eastern Christians, especially in more traditional contexts or in home churches with Orthodox or ancient Eastern church influence, it is common for the faithful to wear socks or even be barefoot during services as a sign of reverence.
Enjoy more: Hymn C-63
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