An elder brother from the church in Singapore came to visit us, the church in Gurgaon, with whom we had a time of fellowship together. The Lord used our brother to address the lack in our service, I believe particularly me. His speaking was so apt and so timely. Though he knew nothing about the real situation of the church we have been going through, he addressed the need of the church, especially in the matter of gaining increase in number.
We have been shepherding many new ones who have not yet been recovered to the Lord's table meeting, but rather are enjoying fellowshipping with them in their homes. In all my shepherding visit to the new ones, I have been addressing their specific need and they were very nourished and cherished. So they liked me visiting them as much as possible. Yes, its good to meet their need, that's what a normal and proper shepherd should do. But much more, I should also minister to them God's need. God has a need too which far superseded our human need. God's need for Christ and the church must be wrought into the believers' being. In fact, they should be properly educated on the truth concerning the gathering together of the saint as God's flock, the significance of the Lord's table meeting, the importance of blending and building up with one another.
There are also some other needs like language. A group of new ones are all Hindi speaking ones and they obviously could not fully enjoy the meetings in English. This is another practical issue that need to be addressed. Other issue is the timing of the meeting, and practical human care. All these needs properly addressed should deliver all the new ones into the flock of God.
As much as God care for our need, we must also care for God's need. In fact, God meeting our need is to meet His need as well. If our needs were not met, we could not meet God,s need either. And vice versa; if God's need were not taken care, our needs will not be taken care either. Working together with the Lord must be in mutuality. There are human responsibilities in meeting human needs, and there are also human responsibilities and meeting God's need.
My view, burden, and goal of shepherding has been renewed by the Lord's speaking through a member of the Body. Praise the Lord!
Henceforth, may the Lord grace me to shepherd the new ones with God's need apart from their specific needs.
The Lord does speak and he has been speaking through the members of His Body. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.