John 21:17 He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me?... And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep. 1Thes 2:7 But we were gentle in your midst, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children.
[Part 3 of 3] Suppose a person's face is very pale. There is a great difference between applying makeup to change the color of his complexion and having his complexion changed as a result of proper nourishment and metabolism. To apply makeup is to do the work of a mortician. A mortician adds makeup to the face of a dead person because there cannot be any metabolic change in life. In our Christian life, we should not try to color ourselves with spiritual makeup. Instead, we should eat the Lord. Paul's work was not the work of a mortician. He did not apply makeup to the Corinthians. Instead, he fed them. He knew that if they would eat and drink properly, they would be transformed and have a healthy spiritual complexion. Paul's work was very different from that of many Christian workers today. Whereas many carry on the work of "morticians," Paul fed the saints with Christ. Likewise, the church should not be a place where people buy cosmetics; on the contrary, it must be the Lord's restaurant where His people can eat. The more we eat of Christ, the more we shall be transformed. Transformation will make us glorious. It will cause us to bear the Lord's image, His appearance, His glorious expression. The church is not an organization or society; the church is an organic entity--the Body of Christ. Only transformed persons can be constituted into the Body. Because the Body of Christ is organic, the more we grow and are transformed, the more we are built up as the Body. This building of an organic Body is what the Lord is seeking today. (c) Living Stream Ministry.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of 1 Corinthians, pp. 277-278. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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