The Exercise of the Kingdom
for the Building Up of the Church
[h1]WEEK 5— DAY6[/h1]
Matt. 16:25-26 For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it. For what shall a man be profited if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul-life? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul-life?
To save the soul is to allow the soul to have its enjoyment. Thus, the self is the expression of the soul, and the soul itself is the enjoyment. To lose the soul means to lose the enjoyment of the soul.
With respect to the losing of the soul, the Lord did not speak about suffering....If you have had some experience with this matter, you will know that apparently the losing of the soul is a suffering, but actually it is a real joy. If a sister loses her soul by forgiving her husband, that will be a joy to her and to her family. It will issue in the building up of the proper family life. The same is true in principle with the building of the church. To lose our soulish enjoyment is a joy because as a result we see the building up of the church. If you are willing to lose your soul in a practical way, others will be nourished by you and built up through you. This is not a suffering; it is a joy. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 1, “The Exercise of the Kingdom for the Building of the Church,” pp. 90, 94)
Today’s Reading
Hebrews 12:2 says that the Lord endured the cross because of the joy that was set before Him....He went joyfully. His going to the cross was His losing of His soul....He knew that through His death many grains would be brought forth (John 12:24).
All the amusements that people seek outside of God are for the satisfaction of the soul. When they listen to music or enjoy certain sports, they are happy. Many in Hong Kong like to play mah-jongg. To them, that is the best entertainment and enjoyment....Anyone who has been regenerated in his spirit but still plays mah-jongg will eventually lose his soul at the Lord’s coming....Such a Christian needs to lose his soul in the matter of playing mah-jongg. If he does not lose it now, he will lose it when the Lord comes back. The Lord will say to him, “Because you saved your soul so much, now you must lose it.”...To save the soul is to preserve the soul in its enjoyment.
When [God] came in the flesh, He was rejected. This present age, the age of the church, is the age of the world’s rejection of Christ. Because Christ has been rejected, at present He has no joy on this earth. As His followers, we share His destiny. Our destiny as followers of the Lord Jesus is not to be welcomed by this world; instead, it is to be rejected. Therefore, this age is not the time for us to have enjoyment for our soul; it is the time for us to lose this enjoyment. When the Lord Jesus comes back, that will be the time for Him to enjoy the earth. Satan will be bound, Christ will recover the earth, and the entire earth will be under His reign. At that time Christ will enjoy the earth, and all His followers will participate in this enjoyment. This is the meaning of Matthew 25:21 and 23, both of which say, “Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.” This will take place during the millennium when the Lord Jesus will reclaim the earth and enjoy it. By repossessing the earth, the Lord will have enjoyment. Then He will ask His followers, His partners, to enter into His joy. This will be the saving of our soul. In order to have the enjoyment in the coming age, we need to pay the price in this age by losing our soul. We need to say, “Lord, for Your sake I don’t want to have so much pleasure or amusement.”
The Lord burdened one brother to give a certain amount of money to another. But the enemy tempted him to lower the amount. When the brother was enlightened to see the tactics of the enemy, he said, “Satan, if you speak to me about this again, I’ll give everything away. I am happy to have nothing in my savings account.” To lose our pleasure at having a large savings account is to lose our soul. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 1, “The Exercise of the Kingdom for the Building of the Church,” pp. 94, 104-105, 107)
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