THE LABOR OF LOVE (5)
We should not think that a vital group will do wonders. To think this way is Pentecostal. The vital group is like a fruit tree that bears fruit. It is not a miraculous thing. Year round, from spring to winter, the same tree stands there apparently the same, but every year that tree bears fruit.
The Lord trusts in His members, not in spiritual “giants.” As small members in the Lord’s Body, we all are very useful to Him. Every member must work; every member must function; every member must visit others. Then we will all become vital… If we all would realize that we do not need a great “revival” but simply need to go out to visit people, this would be much more effective than a hundred spiritual giants.
We should not trust in specially gifted persons. We should not consider them more capable than we are. In reality, we may be much greater than they are. We need to receive mercy from the Lord to labor…Every day we need to be beside ourselves, doing things that other people would consider foolish. Every day we need to contact people and speak to people about Christ.
If you are such a person, surely you will have companions. The Lord will give you companions. Furthermore, your endeavoring will be very contagious. Some people will be attracted by what you are. Then they will come to you. Spontaneously, you will have a group, and that group will be your vital group.
We need to take the apostle’s word in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 concerning the labor of love, and his word in Colossians 1:28—2:1 concerning his laboring by struggling to gain every man, to admonish every man, to teach every man, and to present every man full-grown in Christ. If Paul could do this, we also can do it. We should not say that we cannot do it. We can do it.
In addition to our labor of love, we also need the endurance of hope. We need to be willing to suffer opposition. We need to be a person who endures in hope of the Lord’s coming. According to Luke 16:9, in the kingdom age many will welcome us into the eternal tabernacles because of our labor.
Our hope is in the coming Christ with His glory, and it is also in the reward of the coming kingdom. The endurance of hope is the long life of our work of faith. Through such an endurance we can subdue all kinds of disappointments, discouragements, and impossibilities, and we can also overcome all kinds of oppositions, obstacles, and frustrations. Such an endurance consummates in gaining sinners, feeding the believers, perfecting the saints, and building up the church, the Body of Christ, for the kingdom of God and of Christ. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1993, vol. 2, “The Training and Practice of the Vital Groups”, ch. 12, pp. 365-366)
The church in Zamboanga 