CARING FOR PEOPLE AS NURSING MOTHERS
AND EXHORTING FATHERS (2)
As we pointed out in the previous chapter, the church service is not mainly for doing things but for taking care of persons… Whatever we do in the church life is for the care of persons. It is easy to do practical things, but to take care of persons is much more difficult. If a sister asks us to clean her house, we may do it in half a day, but if she asks us to take care of her children, we would certainly refuse, because to do that is not “in our blood.”
First Thessalonians 2:7 says, “We were gentle in your midst, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children.” To cherish is not merely to do a job or to carry out a business; it is to care for a living person. Verse 11 says, “Just as you know how we were to each one of you, as a father to his own children, exhorting you and consoling you and testifying.” Paul nourished the Thessalonians as a mother and exhorted them as a father. The apostle was not a businessman or a schoolmaster. He was a nourishing mother and an exhorting father. He had an interest in people. If we do not have an interest in people, we are finished with the church service; we are not qualified to serve. We should not say that only the apostle Paul could be like this. What the apostle did is an example for all the believers. We are not apostles, but we should still be nursing mothers. Even the brothers must nourish others as a mother, and the sisters should exhort others as a father. This does not depend on our being male or a female; it depends on the kind of heart we have. A sister can have the heart of a father, and a brother can have the heart of a mother.
The heart of a mother is altogether for the care of her children, and the heart of a father is for their upbringing. Even if a mother keeps her house clean and in order, she will condemn herself if she neglects her children. To care for her children is of the first importance; to clean the house is the last. In the church service we should all have such a heart. Strictly speaking, we do not care for keeping the chairs. We care for keeping the persons. The keeping of chairs will not enter into the New Jerusalem, but the keeping of persons will go on forever.
I am afraid that too many of us in the church service care only for the practical service, not for the persons. We need the Lord’s mercy to properly exercise our heart. This is a great test to us. Some of us were born in such a way that we do not care for anyone. This is according to our natural disposition. Hallelujah, we have been reborn in another way! We have been reborn, not into a natural family but into the church. This is another birth with another disposition that is absolutely different. The disposition of our new birth is one that sacrifices our self, our soul, and even our lives for the care of others. (The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church”, ch. 2, pp. 535-537)
The church in Zamboanga 