THE SERIOUSNESS OF NOT BEARING FRUIT
Are you happy to remain in a barren situation for years? Second Peter indicates that it is possible for us to be idle and unfruitful, barren (1:8). Suppose tomorrow morning the Lord comes back. Then according to His word in Matthew 25, you will have to give Him an account of what you have been doing. What will you tell Him? Will you tell Him that you have had a good church life in your locality, that whatever He has given you is still here? Will you tell Him that He is a hard man, reaping where He did not sow and gathering where He did not scatter? What would the Lord say? Would the Lord say, "Well done, good and faithful slave..enter into the joy of your lord" (25:23)? Or would He call you an evil and slothful slave (25:26)? According to Matthew 25, where will He put you? Do not forget that the one who is put into outer darkness is the one who has received the real gift, one talent. This one is not only saved but also gifted. The Lord is real, He will really come back, and His word spoken in Matthew 25 will be fulfilled. This is a serious and solemn matter.
I am greatly burdened for those of you who have received my ministry for many years. I owe you this word. It is dangerous and risky not to bear fruit. I care about where you shall be—in the joy of your Lord or in outer darkness. After this fellowship, your blood shall be upon your own head and will not be required at my hand (Ezek. 33:4-9). One day you will stand before Him to give Him an account, especially concerning how much interest you have made for Him, that is, how many persons you have brought to Him. You received a talent from Him. He made a good investment in you. You must produce some interest. What have you been doing? I especially owe those of you who have been under my ministry for so many years and are not yet "on the track." Matthew 25 will be fulfilled.
In Matthew 28 the same Lord in His resurrection told us that He had received all authority in heaven and on earth, and this is now ours; so we must go to make some interest. He not only gave us the capital, the talent, but He also gave us all authority in heaven and on earth. We have no excuse. We have to go to produce interest, to bring forth fruit. He has given us His Spirit, His life, Himself as our talent, and His authority in heaven and on earth as our portion. We are more than capable, more than able, to get the interest because the entire universe will listen to us. In the United States there are still millions who are not Christians. We have to disciple them for the Lord. He told us to baptize them into the Triune God and teach them what He taught us. Then He promised us that He would be with us to the consummation of this age. Eventually, at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10), we will have to give Him an account according to Matthew 25.
We must disciple the nations according to the Lord’s new way. The first thing is to forget about the entire old way, to "cut off the tail." In October of 1984 I went to Taiwan for us to "cut off the tail" and to pick up the new way in a corporate way. The Lord’s ordained way, revealed and recorded in the New Testament, is first to have the home meetings. Thus, we must go out to visit people in their homes. We are not just knocking on doors, but we are going out to reach people, to visit people. Actually, in Luke 10 the Lord sent the seventy to knock on doors to visit people and to go into their home and stay with them. Through my study in Taipei, I found out that this way works, but you must do it properly, not in a natural, old way, but in a trained, spiritual way, in the new way. The formula of the new way has been fully proven to work in the full-time training in Taipei over the last four months.
(Being Desperate and Living Uniquely for the Gospel, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
