The Constituents of the Vital Groups (6)
…God desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth, that they may prophesy, speaking God, speaking for God, and speaking forth God (1 Tim. 2:4). We cannot and do not speak because we do not have the knowledge of the truth. We need to come to the full knowledge of God’s Word, His truth, that we may prophesy.
Hence, we, the believers, as the sons of God to be the prophets of God, should speak God’s word in season and out of season for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy (2 Tim. 4:2).
In this chapter and the previous chapter we have seen six aspects of the constituents of the vital groups. First, we are the believers in Christ, who are transferred out of Adam into Christ, regenerated to be the new creation, united with Christ in the divine life, and joined to Christ as one spirit. Also, we are the disciples of Christ. We all need to be discipled to be God-men.
We should not be Jewish men, Chinese men, or American men, but God-men. To disciple a Jew into a God-man is a marvelous doing. The Lord Jesus knew that this would not be a fast work. He knew that it needed three and a half years. He charged Peter to follow Him so that Peter could observe what He did, how He lived, and how He spoke. Apparently, Jesus was a Jew, but actually, He lived the divine life by denying the Jewish life. This was the way He discipled His followers.
In the four Gospels we see Jesus living the life of a God-man, and in Acts we see the disciples also living such a life. Because they had been discipled by the Lord, He told them that they would be His witnesses. They were also the members of Christ, the parts of Christ, to spread God, multiply Christ, and increase Christ. Three critical words in this chapter are spreading, multiplication, and increase. God’s spreading, Christ’s multiplication, and Christ’s increase are by our speaking the word of God to dispense Christ as life for the producing and building up of the Body of Christ.
The disciples became the oracle of God, the speaking sons of God. The Lord Jesus spoke continually in His earthly ministry. Some of His marvelous speaking is recorded in Matthew 5 through 7, 13, and 24 through 25 and in John 14 through 16 plus His prayer in chapter 17. He was the speaking Son of the speaking God. He was God’s oracle, and all His brothers, the many saints, are the same. Thus, we are the speaking sons of the speaking God. Eventually, we all become God’s prophets, who speak God, speak for God, and speak forth God for the edifying of the saints and the building up of the church, the Body of Christ, to consummate the New Jerusalem for the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy. We need to be discipled by the Lord with all the points of these chapters. (The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups”, ch. 3, pp. 85-86)
The church in Zamboanga 