New Yorker

Ministry Excerpt - Psalms 87

PSALM 87—GOD’S HEART IS SET ON ZION

Now we come to the end of Book III, Psalms 85 to 89. In Psalm 85 the saints ask God for restoration, and in Psalm 86 for salvation; but in Psalm 87 we see that God’s heart is set on Zion, His city, with Christ within it. Zion here refers not only to the house, but to the house with the city. God does not care for restoration as we do; God does not desire salvation as we do. His desire, His heart, is set upon Zion with Christ within it. It is indeed significant that preceding Psalm 87 are Psalms 85 and 86. In Psalm 85 the Psalmist says, “Turn us, O God” (v. 4). According to the original language, this verse should read, “Restore us, O God.” Psalm 85 is a prayer for restoration. In Psalm 86 the Psalmist says, “O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee” (v. 2). Psalm 86 is a prayer for salvation. These are the desires of the saints, but God’s desire is not for these things. His desire is for Zion with His Christ.

"These are the desires of the saints, but God’s desire is not for these things. 

His desire is for Zion with His Christ"

Today we are the same as the Psalmists: we are continually desiring restoration and salvation. God would say to us: “Do not be like that. I am for Zion; I am for the church. If you allow me to have my church, no problem will exist regarding your restoration. If you allow me to have my church, nothing can withhold any kind of deliverance, any kind of salvation.” The church is the real restoration, the real salvation, the real deliverance.

"The gates are the places of coming in and going out:

 this is the communication, the fellowship, among God’s people"

In Psalm 87 we see how Zion is central in God’s heart. Let us look at this Psalm more closely. The first three verses are easy to understand, but the following three verses are more difficult. There are seven verses in this Psalm with two Selahs, one at the end of the first three verses, and the other at the end of the next three verses. “His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah” (vv. 1-3). Christ is the unique foundation laid by God. No other foundation can any man lay. This Christ, this foundation of God, is in the holy mountains, the local churches. It is there that we have no other foundation but Christ. This is clear. “The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.” In the eyes of God the church is more lovable than anything else. The gates are the places of coming in and going out: this is the communication, the fellowship, among God’s people. 

"He loves the gates of Zion more than all other places."

The most lovely aspect of the local church is the fellowship. It is so good, so pleasant, for the brothers to be always coming and going in fellowship. How blessed to have brothers from one church visiting another, coming and going in sweet harmony and fellowship! This is lovable in the eyes of God. He loves the gates of Zion more than all other places. “Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.” How glorious is the local church!

- Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms, by Witness Lee

Spaghetti Sauce

Malcolm Gladwell writes those books you pick up and don't put down until you've read the whole thing. He's a fantastic writer and storyteller. He understands and communicates the paradigms of sociology in a way that really holds your attention (see, The Tipping Point, Blink, etc). I actually met Gladwell a couple of years ago. By that I mean, he signed my copy of The Tipping Point after speaking at a leadership conference. Anyway, here is Gladwell explaining spaghetti sauce.

map your moves

http://moritz.stefaner.eu/projects/map%20your%20moves/

Easy Listening (pt.2)

Easy Listening

Snippets

Selected excerpts from The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol.60, msg. 26. 


When we sin against God, His feeling is hurt. Yet our feeling is not that strong. When others sin against us, our feelings are hurt, and it is hard for us to let it go. Yet God is love, and love does not seek for its own gain. Although God is hurt, His forgiving grace is unlimited. Peter's question shows that he was seeking for his own gain. He suffered because he was hurt. The price he had to pay for forgiving others was himself, that is, the suffering of being hurt. This is the reason he asked the Lord, "How often shall others sin against me and I forgive them? Up to seven times?" Peter said this to show that he was quite magnanimous. Two or three times would have been enough to him, but he made it seven times. There was, however, something wrong with his basic premise. He thought God's grace is limited. The fact is that God's grace has no bounds; it is unlimited. It follows that the forgiveness which God's children practice should also be unlimited.


It was not a question of seven times, but of seventy times seven. God's love, grace, and forgiveness are unlimited. Humanly speaking, thirty-five times of forgiveness would stretch a person to his limit. Seventy times seven is something beyond the reach of human power. It is too heavy a burden. This shows us that the power to forgive is something beyond man. 



Actually, even if the debtor had sold all that he had, he still would not have been able to repay his debt. A sinner is judged in this world as well as in the eternal age to come. This is what it means to have all of one's possessions sold. In verse 26 the slave pleaded with the master on his knees, saying, "Be patient with me and I will repay you all." It is hard for man to know what grace is and what the gospel is. Man thinks that he may not be able to make it today, but that he will make it some day. He may not be able to fulfill the requirements today, but he will fulfill them some day. He thinks that his motive is good and that he does not have any intention of procrastinating on his repayment. Yet he does not know anything about grace. He pleads with the Lord, not for mercy but for time. He pleads for the Lord's patience but has no thought of His forgiveness.


His shortcoming is that he did not know enough of his sin and indebtedness. He said that he would repay, but the very thought of a repayment is wrong. He forgot that he owed ten thousand talents. He did not see the seriousness of his own sin. This is the reason he was not able to forgive those who owed him. He did not realize his pitiful situation. Therefore, he spoke of repayment. He would not be able to repay within his lifetime. In fact, he would not be able to repay in ten lifetimes. When a man is saved, his feeling for sin is not too acute. He is not clear why he is sinful, and he does not know the depths of his depravity.


What God does in man far exceeds man's requests and prayer. The slave only asked for patience, but the Lord was moved with compassion and forgave him all his debts. The Lord acts according to what He has. He answers our prayer according to what He has. The gospel is God granting salvation to man according to His own pleasure; it is God bestowing His abundant mercy and forgiveness upon the sinner. God acts according to His abounding measure, not according to the sinner's need. 


Peter's word exposed one problem—he did not realize that he had been forgiven. He did not have the feeling of being forgiven. This is the reason he could not forgive. If we are filled with the feeling of being forgiven, we will not say such things as "seven times." Peter's mind was on the number seven. This is the reason the Lord purposely spoke of ten thousand talents and one hundred denarii in verses 24 and 28. The difference between these two is a million times. The Lord seemed to be saying, "God's forgiveness cannot be measured by numbers. If you want numbers, you owe the Lord a million times more than what others owe you." A man who is good at accounting is one who is poor at reckoning grace. A man will not forgive because he does not have a sense of being forgiven; he does not have a feeling that he has been graced.

• "And every priest stands daily, ministering and offering often the same sacrifices, which can never remove sins." - Heb 10:22
• "Having made purification of sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." - Heb. 1:3
• "He has been manifested for the putting away of sin..." - Heb. 9:26
• "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" - Heb. 9:22
• "Precious blood" - 1 Pet. 1:19

Our Forerunner

Hebrews 6:18-20 says that the believers “have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us, which we have as an anchor of the soul, both secure and firm, and entering into that which is within the veil, where the Forerunner, Jesus, is entered for us, become forever a High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec.” The Lord Jesus has entered the heavens as the Holy of Holies within the veil, and with Him is the heavenly haven for our refuge, which we can now enter in our spirit (Heb. 10:19). The anchor signifies that we are on a stormy sea and that without the anchor of hope we may shipwreck (1 Tim. 1:19). The entering is the entering into the heavens, the Holy of Holies within the veil today, where the Lord Jesus entered. Our hope, as a secure and firm anchor, has entered there, and we also may now enter in spirit.

The Lord as the Forerunner took the lead to pass through the stormy sea and enter the heavenly haven to be the High Priest for us according to the order of Melchisedec, the order of the priesthood that is in both humanity and divinity. As the Forerunner He has cut the way into glory.

In order to enter into the Holy of Holies within the veil as our Forerunner, the Lord Jesus fled everything. He fled His mother and His brothers (Matt. 12:46-50), and He fled Judaism, so that He entered “into that which is within the veil,” that is, into the presence of God, where He is now the Forerunner and High Priest to minister to us that we may be brought into glory. He is the Forerunner in glory; He is also the Captain leading us into the very place where He is as the Forerunner.

(Witness Lee, Conclusion of the New Testament, The (Msgs. 021-033), Chapter 9)

The Need of Being Built

Have we been built?

This is the question that was posed by Witness Lee to a gathering of Christians several years ago. Do we realize the significance of building? Such a matter deserves  our attention even more today. This excerpt from The Testimony and Ground of the Church touches a fundamental but often overlooked aspect of our Christian life: the need for our being built together. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have. I can't post the entire chapter, but you can find the book here. More after the jump...

The Best Way to Study

Even a young student has to learn how to experience Christ in the study of his lesson books. He may pray, “Lord, here is the lesson book, and tomorrow will be the final. Lord, prove that You are one spirit with me. Lord, read this book with me.” If he does this, I assure you he will experience Christ as his understanding and as his wisdom to take in all the secrets of his lesson book. He will even experience Christ as his good memory. 


Then the next day when he takes the exam he does not need to be so pressed and so trembling. He just needs to pray, “Lord, I am one with You, and even one spirit with You. Not only in speaking, Lord, but even today in the classroom, taking the exam, I am one with You. Lord, make it so real. Make it so real to the angels. Make it so real to the entire universe that I am one with You.” I assure you that he will experience Christ as his wisdom and quite often as his answer. This is the way. 

According to my observation, not many Christians experience Christ and enjoy Him today in this way. Even among us I am very concerned. Message after message has been given, but when we come to the practical things in our daily life, we are persons without Christ. In dealing with our wives, we are persons without Christ. In handling things, we are persons without Christ. In studying lesson books we are persons without Christ. We only practice being one spirit with the Lord at our ordained time for prayer. Even in most of the meetings, we do not practice this enough. I could not come to a meeting to speak to the saints without praying, “Lord, You have to vindicate that I am one spirit with You. I do not like to go there, Lord, to speak by myself. You have to go with me. You have to be my thought there. You have to be my feeling there in my speaking. You have to be the words, even the terms and the expressions of my speaking. Lord, even You have to be the speaking.” Without such a prayer, I just would have no boldness to come to speak. Even though I have obtained a lot of knowledge of the Bible, I do not trust in that. Of course, we need Bible knowledge. But we have to speak not just with the words or verses from the Bible. In our speaking we must be one spirit with the Lord. 

Witness Lee, The Home Meetings: The Unique Way for the Increase and Building Up of the Church. p.40.