The Most Crucial Field to Develop: Our Young People

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with young people the most important factor is our heart.  Without a proper heart, a person will not want to do what it takes to gain the young people, and even if they do certain things, they will not have the charismatic enthusiasm which attracts and gains the young people's hearts.  To work with young people we must like them, care for them and be concerned about their affairs.  This is the minimum "capital" to do business with the young people.</div> <bR> <div> This may sound easy, but it is far from easy.  Sometimes our heart may be full of preference.  When we like something or someone, we are for it and we naturally have a heart to take care of that matter of person.  Other times our heart is motivated by knowledge.  When we see the importance and value of a certain matter, we will spontaneously have a heart for it.  But if we truly want to serve the young people and have impact we must let God open our eyes to see the preciousness of the young people and their importance in God's hands.  The proper heart comes from seeing and taking God's perspective and God's way.</div> <bR> <div> <B>The Future of the Lord's Work Depending Altogether on the Young People</B></div> <bR> <div> If we read the Bible carefully, we will discover a striking fact:  It is not easy to find a case showing that God called an old person to do a new thing or a thing of great consequence.  Seemingly God called Moses when he was eighty years old, but if we carefully read the Bible, we will see that actually the first time he recieved God's call was not when he was eighty years old.  Rather, when he was still young, God's calling had already begun in him.  As we read the Bible, we see that none of the saints like Joshua, Caleb, Samuel, David and all of the twelve disciples were called by the Lord Jesus and gained by Him at an old age.  Not only is this true in the Bible, but even in all of church history it is hard to find a strong illustration to show that God called an old man when He had a new and important thing to do.  We can say that virtually everyone used by God to begin a new thing or chosen by God to turn the age was a young man.</div> <bR> <div> <B>     Based on the Old Testament</B></div> <bR> <div> Furthermore, nearly every work that the young people were called by God to do was a work that turned the age.  God called Moses to turn one age leading the children of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness on the way to the good land of Canaan.  He called Joshua to turn another age by leading the new generation of the children of Israel into the good land of Canaan in order to defeat all of God's enemies there and to labor on the good land to produce offerings for worshipping the Lord.  God's calling of Samuel turned another age from the age of judges to the age of kings.  David turned the age of men after their own heart to men after God's heart.  He defeated all the enemies surrounding the children of Israel in the good land so that his son could build God's house for God's habitation on the earth in a permanent way.  Daniel and his three companions were young ones among the people in captivity.  Through them God turned the age of captivity to recovery.  Through Daniel's prayer based on his revelation in the book of Jeremiah, the people of Israel were able to leave Babylon and go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of God.</div> <bR> <div> <B>     Based on the New Testament</B></div> <bR> <div> In the New Testament, John the Baptist was the first to emerge.  He was a young man called by God to turn the age at his time.  He was born to a priestly family in Israel yet he did not serve in the holy temple or in the holy city, but went out into the wilderness.  He did not serve with priestly garments or eat the dietary requirements of the Jewish priests.  Rather he wore camel's hide and ate honey and locusts.  His message was to repent for the kingdom of God was drawing near.  Then, we see another young person raised up by the Lord to change the age:  Paul.  The Bible says that he was a young man when he was visited by the Lord (Acts 7:58).  We all admit that Paul was a man who turned the age from the outward ways of Judaism and its influence to the Spirit.  Paul clearly saw the matter of Christ and the church throughout the entire divine revelation in the Old Testament.  His writings comprise half of the New Testament!</div> <bR> <div> <B>     Based on Human Society</B></div> <bR> <div> For the carrying out of all the great works of God throughout the ages, God always called young men.  We are not trying to say that older saints have no value to the Lord, but that a person has to be gained by the Lord at an early age if he will have some usefulness in God's hands or a future in God's work.  Not only is this shown in the Bible and confirmed in church history, but it is even seen in all of human society.  No one has ever seen an old person being trained to start any new project or any new move.  What school solely accepts elderly students or hold trainings exclusively for old people?  Again, we are not devaluing our heritage.  The older saints are invaluable to the Lord according to His arrangement, but we must face the fact that it is the younger people whom God predominately uses.  Let me give one illustration.  There are many elderly saints who love the Lord and long to serve Him with their whole heart.  They have lived long and realize somewhat fully that all of life is vain apart from Christ.  From the side of the heart, no one can surpass them.  However, to labor with them, to train them is almost impossible because of the physical strain on their bodies and minds.  The facts prove that we lose energy, we lose memory for certain things, we lose abilities over time.</div> <bR> <div> For the recieving of grace and for the enjoyment of the Lord's salvation the older ones are most blessed and absolutely precious.  However, for usefulness in the Lord's hand, for the spread of the Lord's kingdom, and for the propagation of the Lord's work, the responsibility undoubtedly falls on the shoulders of the young people.  </div> <bR> <div> <B>     Based on the Lord Delaying His Coming Back</B></div> <bR> <div> If the Lord continues to delay His coming back, His future depends on the young people.  Of course, we should believe that the Lord may come back tomorrow.  Nearly two thousand years ago He already said, "Behold, I come quickly!"  In His estimation a thousand years are like one day (2 Peter 3:8); with Him there is not time element.  On our side, however, if the Lord delays, I cannot believe that a number of us who are now over fifty will still be alive thirty years later.  Who then will continue to do the Lord's work?  You may be very "spiritual," even too spiritual, and say, "The Lord will be responsible for all these matters."  Of course, this is true; the Lord will be responsible.  There is no denying this.  But one thing is also clear:  whether He takes direct responsibility or He wants your and I to do something for Him, the way is with the young people.  Twenty years from now those who will be useful to the Lord are those who are in their twenties or younger today.</div> <bR> <div> <B>     Based on the Normal Cycle of Life</B></div> <bR> <div> It is a universally accepted fact that a person receives education for twenty-five years, gains experience for another twenty-five years, and then becomes truly useful in the final twenty-five years.  Three twenty-five year periods make a total of seventy-five years.  I hope all of our young people live for seventy-five years - twenty-five years to receive spiritual education, another twenty-five years to gain spiritual experience, and the final twenty-five years to be used by God.  I also hope that those who are in their fifties now will take good care of their health for the Lord's sake.  However, brothers and sisters, please consider:  Unless there is a group of young people who are saved to receive proper spiritual help today, how can they gain the experience and be used by the Lord in the future?</div> <bR> <div> <B>     Based on the Family</B></div> <bR> <div> From the view of saving souls, we should treat older ones and younger ones equally.  From the view of the future of the Lord's work, however, we should put our emphasis on the younger ones.  If the church or the Lord's work fails to gain young people, it will be like a family that has only some childless old people:  an old grandfather who is eighty-five years old, a father who is sixty years old, and a son who is nearly forty years old.  There are no younger ones under them; there are no crying ones or shouting one.  Rather, everyone is well-behaved.   This is abnormal.  When you visit a family, if you see some are crying, some are shouting, some are fighting, some are doing somersaults, and some are rolling on the floor, that is a good sign; it indicates that the family is flourishing.</div> <bR> <div> If a family has an eighty-five year old grandfather, a sixty year old father, and a forty year old son, certainly no one will be rolling on the floor.  Even if any of them desires to roll on the floor, he would not have the strength to do it.  Therefore, all year round they live in quietness, orderliness, and loneliness.  Brothers and sisters, we can be sure that such a family does not have to sell its house; the house will become someone else's house before long.  In the same manner, when you visit a church, if you see throngs of young people there, then you should praise the Lord that the church has a future.  You do not need to ask whether those young people are good or bad.  Just as in a family, it does not matter how naughty the children are; they are still better than none.  If there are no children, the family is doomed to hopelessness.  Some children who are undesirable today may become desirable tomorrow.  There is always hope.</div> <bR> <div> [<I>Much of the fellowship in this section was taken from a booklet:  </I><I><U>How to Lead the Young People</U></I><I>, Witness Lee, 1963</I>]</div> </td> </tr></table></body>