FELLOWSHIP

• Law and Grace
• Bring Them Here to Me!
• Give Ourselves to Him
• Greater than John the Baptist

  In Matthew 14, the story of feeding five thousand people, the disciples of Jesus came to Him when evening fell, saying, This place is deserted and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away that they may go into villages and buy food for themselves. But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." (Matt. 14:16)
  After I read brother Lee’s life study of this part, I realize the profound difference between the principle of law and the principle of grace in this simple sentence the Lord said:

	Concept	Principle	Source
LAW	The disciples' concept	Ask people to do something	Came through Moses
GRACE	The Lord's concept	To give people something to enjoy	Came with Jesus Christ

  Here the Lord shows us that in caring for people, His way is not to ask people to do something but to give them something to enjoy. Also the Lord asks us to learn to know grace, to exercise grace and care for others according to the principle of grace.

  When I am about to exercise grace, I will find that I don’t have many things that I can give to others. Just like when Jesus told the disciples to give the crowds something to eat, and they said to Him, We do not have anything here except five loaves and two fish. (Matt. 14:17)
  Yes, five loaves and two fish are too little to feed the crowds. But Jesus said, "Bring them here to Me." (v. 18). Brothers and sisters, whatever we have, even so little, our Lord told us: "Bring them here to Me!" Don’t look down on what we have. No matter how little we offer, we need to "bring them here" to Him. If we put what we have into His hands, it will become a great blessing. What we offer to the Lord may be very little; but the blessing will be great, even overflowing! It’s like in Matthew 14, the five loaves and two fishes satisfied about five thousand men, apart from women and children, and they even have twelve baskets full of fragments left (v. 20).
  Brothers and sisters, let’s be encouraged. When we come to the meeting or go to visit people, don’t just think what we have, but remember what our Lord told us: "Bring them here to Me!"

  In the Life-study of Matthew, Brother Lee talk about offering all we have to the Lord, He says:

  "Although you may say that you do not have anything to offer to the Lord, you at least have yourself. Praise the Lord that we all can give ourselves to Him! We may have nothing but a poor, ugly self, but we can give ourselves to Him. Even a sick person can give himself to the Lord. Let us give whatever we are to Him." (Witness Lee, Life-study of Matthew, pp. 516-517. LSM.)

  In the first two years when I became a Christian, In the Lord’s day meeting, I always saw an old sister sitting in the meeting - her health was not very well - and I had seldom heard from her, nor talked to her. But every time when I saw her in the meeting, I was quite encouraged. Brothers and sisters, do you realize that even just your sitting in the meeting will encourage others? You function and dispense something to other members when you sit in the meeting. You are presenting yourself to the Lord and the Lord will have a way to bless many people, and you will be also included in that blessing.
  Praise the Lord, when I think I have nothing to give to exercise grace, I still at least have myself and I can give myself to Him!

  I think we all know the stories of John the Baptist very well. He came as a forerunner of the Lord Jesus and prepared the way for the Lord. Chapter 1 of Luke mentions the birth of John the Baptist and all 4 Gospels mention that he baptized Jesus in the water.
  But do you know that we are greater than John the Baptist? In Matthew 11:11, the Lord Jesus said, " ... ... he who is least in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he (John)." Once we become the believers and receive the life of God, we are one of the kingdom people and are greater than John the Baptist.
  I don’t understand why Jesus told us that we are greater than John the Baptist until I read the message from brother Lee regarding this matter. Now I realize that indeed we are greater than him because:

1. Whether anyone is greater or lesser depends upon his relationship to Christ. The closer anyone is to Christ, the greater he is;
2. Although John saw Jesus and introduced Him to people, he did not have the resurrected Christ indwelling him as the life-giving Spirit. But we do;
3. John could only say, "Here is Christ," but we can say, "Christ lives in me!";
4. This closer relationship to Christ makes us greater than John the Baptist.