Message 13 is titled, “The Reward of Fostering” and covers 1 Thes. 2:13-20.
The sections of this message are:
I. The Work of Fostering
II. Growing By Imitating
III. Presenting a Pattern
IV. The Operating Word of God
V. Imitators of the Churches
VI. Inoculation
VII. Bereaved of the Saints
VIII. Hindered By Satan
IX. Hope, Joy and Crown
X. The Goal of the Christian Life
XI. Receiving a Reward
Let’s keep reading and posting our enjoyment!
“The proper way to foster [new believers and young ones]is to show them a pattern” Lord make us good patterns for the work of fostering. In caring for the new believers “we must learn to have ninety percent feeding and ten percent teaching. Feeding involves the presenting of patterns either from the Bible of from church history…. If you are able to touch the heart of others you will be successfully in fostering their growth. The best way to foster others is to touch their heart deeply.”`
Too much knowledge can damage the young ones & new ones. As children they need the growth in life and the knowledge that goes along with their growth in life. They should receive 90% feeding and 10% teaching. The best way to foster these ones is to touch their heart deeply. In my expierence, sharing a personal testimony of my growth in life has been the most effective. Also, looking at the patterns in the bible and in the churches is a nourishment to all.
Yes, I was also touched and helped by the same thing…sometimes we if we are with a younger one and teach too much it can really frustrate and hinder them from growing normally…we really need more and more of the Lord’s humanity!
Amen, and by feeding them in my experience it includes not talking to much with a new one, but simply listening. Exercising your spirit as you listen, being sensitive; otherwise we may frustrate the new one with our “babbling.” O Lord, Your humanity. Restrict our tongue.
Praise the Lord! Thank you so much, Lord for giving me a chance to read the words of Ministry of Life-study, TODAY!
At this time I got several important words; fostering, pattern, inoculation, the growth of believers and joy, crown as the reward from the Lord at his coming back.
As the apostle Paul behaved to the belivers in Thessalonians, we should foster young believers not just by teaching but by patterns in front of them. In my church life, I’ve much impressed with some brothers according to their ways of living, patterns. Particularly, I couldn’t forget the last scene that br. Witness Lee’s apprearance in the hospital at his late year in 1990s. He couldn’t attend at the conference, but showed himself to brothers on Screen in order to encourage coworkers at that time. He tried to encourage them with speaking despite of his hard condition to speak. As soon as I saw the way of living at his bed, I was moved so much, which affected me up to now. Spontaneously I determined to pursue the truth, the words of God, and to supply saints with the experience that I enjoyed and experienced in God’s life to the uttormost of my life like br Witness Lee. Praise the Lord!
I’ve felt I have owed so much to the Ministry of the age greatly. I love br. Witness Lee and Watchman Nee as well as the present coworkers. I love them. So ‘I’ll not neglet the gift which is in me, and practice these things; be in them, that my progress may be manifested to all. In addition, I’ll take heed to myself and to my teaching; continue in these things.(1 TIMOTHY 4:14-16) Praise the Lord for showing us good patterns in the church life which leads to the reward in the future!
Praise the Lord for the ministry! I was encouraged to see the apostles tender care for the saints as a nursing mother with a child, how different this is from an organization!
Yes! Thank You, Lord, for the ministry!
It’d be so touching if my parents said this to me:
“Children, we are here only for you. Without you, life is meaningless. If it were not for you, we would not want even to live.” Wow. I believe that anyone who hears this would be deeply touched.
That’s why I enjoyed 1Thes2:
v19, For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at His coming? Are not even you?
v20, For you are our glory and joy.
The fostering children are the meaning of the Apostles’ living! “This kind of speaking fosters children and helps them to grow.”
A few years ago, a sister who served me said to me on the phone with tears, “Lily, I’m struggling. I really need you.” That shepherded me so much. A sister like her was willing to open up to me and be weak in front of me. It actually fostered my growth.
Now as I reflect on my shepherding of new ones and high schoolers. Am I merely presenting myself to them as one who knows some doctrine and can perform as a good pattern? Or am I pouring my hearts on them, yearning over them, and allowing them to touch my being?
Lord, make these young ones mean so much to us! That their growth can be fostered by us in the way our growth was fostered by the patterns ahead of us.
I was touched by so many things in this message! All the things the saints our sharing and “Paul’s expression of deep emotion caused the believers to love the apostles and to shut out the Judaizers.”
Praise the Lord for such healthy words and words of inoculation! What touches me the most is verse 12. Here Paul says, “That you should walk worthily of God, Who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” This verse indicates that our Christian life is a life with the kingdom as its goal. We need to walk worthily of God, the One who calls us into His kingdom and glory. This verse tells us clearly that the Christian life has a goal and that this goal is the kingdom of God. We are moving toward this goal, this destination. Our destination, and also our destiny, is to enter God’s kingdom. The kingdom, a major subject in the New Testament, is the unique goal of our Christian walk.
In 1 Thes. 2 Paul gives himself as a pattern to the believers in Thessalonica – he is a fostering father, cherishing and nourishing the young believers by presenting himself to them as a healthy pattern. He fed them with his own living of Christ, and they were encouraged to go on and advance, even to allow the Word of God to operate in them, by seeing Paul’s pattern and imitating it! Just as the children grow by imitation – not by “much teaching” but by feeding and showing a proper example – so the believers in Thessalonica were growing by seeing Paul’s pattern and allowing the Word of God to operate in them!
Part of fostering the new ones is innoculating them! Exposing the evil one and his tactics while at the same time encouraging the new ones by showing them our love for them… – wow, what a pattern we have in the apostle Paul! When the saints grow in life, they become our joy, glory, and crown at the Lord’s coming. How sweet, how dear, and how precious were the Thessalonian believers to Paul! He lived for them to go on and be matured! O, Lord, make us such ones!
I am touched that chapter two of 1 Thessalonians is a healthy word for us all. From this chapter we learn how to work with the young ones and the new ones so that they may be fostered to grow into maturity and that there may be a positive result of our work before the Lord at His coming. This result will then be our crown and glory as the reward of our work today.
For such goal we can learn a lot from apostle Poul whom concern was with the growth of his children.
He was presenting a pattern of a proper living to the young saints.
As a good father, Paul knew how to touch the heart of his children…
May the Lord make us such a patterns.
WE ARE PATTERNS TO THE YOUNG ONES! What a healthy word is found in 1 Thessalonians.
“…raising them by cherishing, nourishing, and fostering them so that they may grow.”
“The church is a family. The church may also be compared to a farm or a garden. A family is a place where children grow up, and an orchard is a place where trees grow and produce fruit.”
“children grow by imitating their parents.Therefore, in a family to imitate actually means to grow…Parents are patterns, models, for their children. Whatever the parents are, the children will be also.”
“…it seems as if Paul was saying, “Children, we are here only for you. Without you, life is meaningless. If it were not for you, we would not want even to live.” Such a word from parents is deeply touching; it touches the heart of the children.
Would you not be touched deeply if your parents wrote such a word to you? Would you not be touched if they said that without you life is meaningless, that they are living on earth only for you? No doubt, when you heard or read such a word, your tears would flow. This kind of speaking fosters children and helps them to grow.”
“The kingdom, a major subject in the New Testament, is the unique goal of our Christian walk.” Wow, the unique goal of our life!
“Many of us are working with young saints. The result of our work should be the maturing of these believers. If they mature properly, they will be in the kingdom participating in God’s glory. This maturity will then become our crown, joy, and boast before the Lord Jesus at His coming. Suppose, however, that we work continually with new believers, but to no avail. If this is the situation, at the Lord’s coming back there will be no result of our work. What a shame that would be! When the Lord Jesus comes, the result of our work will be manifested. That result will also be our reward, our crown, our joy.”
Wow! Paul’s hope, joy and crown were the believers! I feel so encouraged by Paul. He really was a pattern to the believers and even now is a pattern to us. We need to love the saints and see the members of the Body like Paul saw them. May we take Paul as a pattern to foster the new and younger believers around us that they would become our hope, joy and crown!
hey,
it is not a school or factory, or a chapel in the air. but a garden where our Lord can plant and sow. our work shoud not be “work” based, but “foster” oriented. wow.
I enjoyed that taking care of new ones is a matter of fostering. Therefore, we need to take care of the growth of new believers not mainly by teaching, but by pouring out our love on them, touching their heart, and being a pattern to them. It is this attitude that Paul has toward the believers in Thessalonica.
THE WORK OF FOSTERING.
“Concerning this matter, we in the Lord’s recovery must have a change in our concept. Do not think that in the recovery we regard work higher than life. No, we need to concentrate on life. The church is a family. The church may also be compared to a farm or a garden. A family is a place where children grow up, and an orchard is a place where trees grow and produce fruit. Paul’s concern in chapter two is with the growth of his children. He is fostering the young believers so that they may grow. We may also say that he is watering, nourishing, and cherishing the tender young plants so that they may grow in life. This is the reason that instead of giving the believers a great deal of teaching, he presents them a pattern of life. This pattern of a proper living is actually Paul himself.”
When I first joined the recovery, part of my motive was to touch what religion taught in doctrine, but not in reality. And that was life-human life, infused with the divine life. As I went over this life-study I was particularly reminded that what we have in the recovery is truly and uniquely precious-the truth and reality that the very life of God was poured out upon us-firstly through His first born Son, Jesus Christ, then through the apostles, such as Paul, and then through countless saints before us such as bro. Lee and many, many others-as fostering parents. What was their preaching, or teaching? Their way of handling the word of God, and their manner of living towards those who believe. They cared for us by fostering us as nursing mothers and exhorting fathers, presenting a pattern in the word of God for us to follow and imitate, inoculating us from the Judaizers germs, and in the process was hindered by Satan for carrying out the will of God, yet still held us, in boasting, as their hope, joy, and crown. Wow, saints, this is the goal of our christian living-to be as they are, to not care for anything except to cherish and nourish our “young”, as exhorting father who seems to be saying ““children, we are here only for you. Without you, life is meaningless. If it were not for you, we would not want even to live.” This is how we enter into the glory and kingdom which God has called us into, to have new and young ones to whom we would say “for what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at His coming? Are not even you? For you are our glory and joy.” (2:19-20) Amen.
What a glory it would be to any Christian worker for the ones he has fostered to be matured at the Lord’s coming back!
How do we cherish and foster young believers? How do we cause them to grow? It’s not so much by teaching but by presenting a pattern to them, a pattern of living Christ in a normal way.
As a good father, Paul knew how to touch the heart of his children. If you are able to touch the heart of others, you will be successful in fostering their growth. The best way to foster others is to touch their heart deeply.
Many of us are working with young saints. The result of our work should be the maturing of these believers. If they mature properly, they will be in the kingdom participating in God’s glory. This maturity will then become our crown, joy, and boast before the Lord Jesus at His coming. Suppose, however, that we work continually with new believers, but to no avail. If this is the situation, at the Lord’s coming back there will be no result of our work. What a shame that would be! When the Lord Jesus comes, the result of our work will be manifested. That result will also be our reward, our crown, our joy.
Lord may we all be such ones as Paul, Lord we need you for this, Amen
Wow I’m really enjoying all the sharing!!
“However, in a family the focus is not on teaching the children, but is on raising them by cherishing, nourishing, and fostering them so that they may grow. Their growth is not mainly in knowledge: it is primarily a growth in life. As children grow in life, they spontaneously receive more education. The knowledge they acquire always goes along with their growth in life. They should not be given knowledge prematurely. This means that their knowledge should not exceed their growth of life. This is the proper concept of Christian work.”
This is such a marvelous way! We must bring life to the new ones! Too much teaching can actually “kill” a new one. Our need is to be Jesusly human in our care for them just listening and not talking too much. oh Lord Jesus!
The work of fostering is a work of life.It is not mainly a work of teaching but of helping the believers grow in the divine life. Lord, made us all ministers “not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Cor. 3:6)
Our testimony can be of some usefulness in fostering others. As I read this portion, I was touched to consider a specific experience and how it may help someone now. I try not to be so free to share my past experiences because that may be my self “boasting” but there are times when the Lord quickens things within us, experiences that are for the Body, not just for us.
In 1 Thes. 2 Paul mainly speaks about his manner of life.
When we are with the young ones, we should not emphasize teaching to much but focus on life! As mothers, our primary concern is the the growth of life of the children! Not teachings! 90% nourishing! Nothing can foster a saint or a church more than hearing the true story of another saint. I always enjoyed true stories more than just teachings. They really help us to grow. We need to present patterns to the young saints. The matured ones through our fostering are our crown, glory and joy in the Lord’s coming back!
“This indicates that Paul’s concept of Christian work is that it is a work of life. It is not work in a school: on the contrary, it is work on a farm, in an orchard, in a garden. Hence, it is not mainly a work of teaching others or educating them. But today the work of most Christians is mainly for education and somewhat for edification. This edification, however, is not directly related to life. Instead, it is related to ethics, morality, or the improvement of character. But with Paul the concept of Christian work was altogether different.”
“By showing them a pattern you water them, supply them, nourish them, and cherish them. This is fostering. If you find that your experience is somewhat lacking, point the new believers to different people in the Bible, for example, to ones such as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and David in the Old Testament and Peter, John, Paul, and Timothy in the New Testament. We can present the lives of Bible characters in such a way as to foster the growth of the young ones.”
Fostering is accomplished by: 1) presenting patterns; 2) reports of saints or churches; 3) inoculation; 4) touching of hearts/emotions.
Sometimes we may be too “timid” or “reserved” about presenting our own testimonies in fear of boasting. But this message shows us that the proper presentation of our testimonies, even with much emotions, is actually NORMAL and useful for fostering! May the Lord balance and adjust our natural (and cultural) concepts!
“Every mother knows that one of the most important matters in the raising of children is proper feeding. Caring for children is ninety percent a matter of feeding and ten percent a matter of teaching. This also should be our practice in caring for new believers in the church.”
How much do the brothers need to learn from the sisters! Often times we are very rough, but we are learning to be as gentle nursing mothers. To care for the saints is just to present them a living testimony and not mere doctrine. We all need this. This kind of care is mutual and is a blessing to the church. Lord, grant us many opportunities to care for the saints in this way!
Proper and present patterns feed people and cause the growth.
http://www.lsmradio.com/audio/mp3-files/Thessalonians/Thes_10.mp3