Spiritual Offspring

Bearing spiritual fruits is a necessity for the Lord to continue His move on the earth. When the Lord was on the earth He gained twelve disciples, of course, one of them betrayed him, but nonetheless, a replacement was brought in after His resurrection and ascension. The Lord also gained seventy besides the twelve whom He sent out two by two for the preaching of the gospel. After His ascension, there were a hundred and twenty who believed in His word and waited for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and experienced it on the day of Pentecost. Thenceforth, the gospel was preached to the whole inhabited earth. 

Though Paul was not even among the twelve, seventy, nor the one twenty, he was greatly used by the Lord in the New Testament ministry for the propagation of the Lord's work and also for the building up of the Body of Christ. Paul further gained some young brothers like Timothy, Titus, Epaphroditus, and a few others, who became very instrumental in the Lord's move in His heavenly ministry.

And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ, Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13

For God to accomplish His heart's desire there is a definite need for many perfected saints to build up the Body of Christ and bring the saints to arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. For this, there is an urgent need for gaining spiritual offspring.

Yes, there must be the preaching of the gospel for the gaining of sinners unto salvation. We need quantity in our spiritual work. Yet, we must go a step ahead to gain quality out of the quantity. By the way, quality comes only from quantity. Therefore, out of the many new ones gained, there must be some specifically perfected ones to do what we have been doing. Perfecting, in general, is needed for the church life. But much more, perfecting in a definite way to produce functioning members to carry on what we have been doing is the urgent need.

For this, the ministry offers great help in perfecting the saint. Feeding the saints with the healthy word of God that they may grow in life and become useful members in the Body of Christ. For this, we must be aggressive in shepherding the saints; we should not passively wait for the saints to come to us to shepherd them. We need to make sure to help the saints with the ministry of the word with all purity and sincerity. The ministry of Brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee offers a great help today for our perfecting works in leading ourselves and the saints to the ministry.

The saints will have a lot of problems in their lives. Our responsibility is not merely to help solve their problems. Much more, we have to lead them to the word of God that they themselves experience the Lord in such a way that they can shepherd others. The more we engage in problem-solving of the saints, we will end up trying to solve problems for problems among the saints will never be solved completely until they know how to be shepherding with the word of God in a deeper way. The fact that they have been having problems proves that they are in need of proper shepherding with the proper healthy spiritual food. They need to be helped with the divine life supply and the subjective experience of the knowledge of Jehovah.

Well to come to this level of usefulness, we also need to be dealt with by the Lord. The Lord dealt with Job to the extent that he abhored himself to the uttermost.

Then Job answered Jehovah and said, I know that You can do all things and that no purpose of Yours can be restrained. Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Hear now, and I will speak; I will ask of You, and You shall inform me. I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen You; Therefore I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes. Job 42:1-6

Therefore, the result of God's dealing upon Job was God's abundant blessings. 

Thus Jehovah blessed Job’s latter end more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep and six thousand camels and a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand female donkeys. And he had seven sons and three daughters. And he named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. And in all the land no women were found as beautiful as the daughters of Job. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. And after this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; and he saw his children and his grandchildren, even four generations. And Job died, old and full of days. Job 42:12-17

May I be shepherded by the Lord through the members of His Body and through His word and be dealt with thoroughly to the extent that it is no longer I but Christ who lives in me and be blessed by the God of blessing abundantly.