HAVING ENTERED THROUGH THE NARROW GATE AND WALKING ON THE CONSTRICTED WAY (1)
In this chapter we want to fellowship about the narrow gate and the constricted way. In Matthew 7:13-14 the Lord said, “Enter in through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it. Because narrow is the gate and constricted is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” The human thought is that we first walk on the way and then enter through the gate. But the divine way, God’s way, is to enter in through the gate and then walk on the way.
After a long period of time in the Old Testament through thirty-nine books, the New Testament came to present us the first item on the heart of God. This first item is the kingdom, not just the kingdom of God but the kingdom of the heavens.
Matthew presents to us the first aspect of Christ. Chapters 1 through 4 of Matthew are an introduction. After this introduction the King came. He went to the mountain and in chapters 5 through 7 gave the decree of the constitution of the kingdom that He was going to establish. Matthew 7:13-14 is a little part of this constitution decreed by our King in His kingdom.
Some of us may wonder why I am sharing this in our vital-group training. We need to see that the decree of the kingdom’s constitution is altogether a matter of regulating God’s people’s life and work. When I use the word life, I mean living, and when I use the word work, I mean working. I am not referring to just our life within but to our living without, our daily living. God’s people’s living and working should be something organic according to the divine regulations fulfilling the spiritual requests. This is fully revealed in the decree of our King in His kingdom’s constitution.
Our vital groups are not wild or reckless. We should be well regulated. If we are not well regulated, we can never be living and vital. If you ask a healthy person why he is healthy, he will tell you that it is because he takes care of the principles of life. A healthy person, for example, will not work at night but during the day. George Müller said that he would not even travel at night. He said that if you travel in the day, that is healthy; but if you travel in the night, that is unhealthy. To sleep at night from 10 P.M. to 6 A.M. is very healthy. But to sleep during the day is unhealthy. This is a life principle. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1993, vol. 2, “The Training and Practice of the Vital Groups”, ch. 13, pp. 366-371)
The church in Zamboanga 