FLEEING YOUTHFUL LUSTS AND PURSUING CHRIST WITH SOME COMPANIONS
In this book we shall see a number of crucial matters related to the young people in the Lord’s recovery. In this chapter we shall see their need to flee youthful lusts and pursue Christ together. In the next chapter we shall consider the vision of the Lord’s recovery. Finally, in the last chapter we shall fellowship concerning four strategic points: the life experiences, the divine Spirit and our human spirit, reading the Word and the messages, and the matter of giving in God’s economy.
GOD CALLING THE YOUNG PEOPLE TO CARRY OUT HIS MOVE
It is so good to be young persons in the Lord’s recovery. In every age and generation God has come to the young people for the carrying out of His move. Both the Bible and church history show us that God wants to use the young people. We may say that Adam was very young when God was with him because he had just been created. Abel, the second generation of man in the line of life, was probably also young when he offered sacrifices to the Lord (Gen. 4:2, 4). Enoch was young when he began to walk in God’s presence. He was sixty-five years old when he began to walk with God, but at his time a man who was sixty-five years old was still young. He walked with God for three hundred years, and God took him at the age of three hundred sixty-five (5:21-22).
Abraham also was called when he was a young man. You may point out that Abraham was seventy-five years old when he was called by God (12:1-4). But if you read the Scriptures carefully, you will see that Abraham was seventy-five years old when his father Terah died in Haran (11:32). Acts 7:2 tells us that “the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran.” The first time God called Abraham was while his father was still alive, and the second call came after his father had died. Therefore, the first time God came to Abraham was much earlier than when he was seventy-five years of age. Furthermore, we have to realize that at Abraham’s time, a man who was seventy-five years old was still quite young. Moses was called by God and began to serve Him when he was eighty years old, but his preparation for service began when he was a small boy being nursed by his mother. At the age of eighty Moses “graduated” from a period of training by God, but he was called into this training when he was very young. Samuel was a very young boy when he was caught by God (1 Sam. 2:18). David also was a young man when he was anointed to be king (16:11-13). Likewise, Daniel was young when he was an overcomer in the palace of the king of Babylon (Dan. 1:4, 17).
In the New Testament none of the apostles whom Jesus called were old men. They all were young people. When the Lord walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, He called the young people. Zebedee was with his two sons, John and James, but the Lord called only the sons and not Zebedee (Matt. 4:21-22). It was God’s divine way and economy to call the sons and not the father. The elders in the first church on the earth, the church in Jerusalem, were young people.
The Bible also tells us that Timothy became an apostle (1 Thes. 1:1 cf. 2:6) as a young man to carry on the Lord’s testimony. In 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul wrote, “Flee youthful lusts.” This indicates that the receiver of that Epistle was still a young man. I am happy that I was called by God when I was a teenager. All those who were in the initial stage of the Lord’s recovery of the proper church life over fifty years ago were young people in their twenties. Very few were over twenty-five. Most were either in high school or in college.
BEING CAUGHT AND OCCUPIED BY GOD
The goal of Satan, God’s enemy, is to spoil and occupy mankind. The Lord comes to the young people for His move because the older people are, the more they are likely to be spoiled and preoccupied. The younger one is, the less he is likely to be spoiled and preoccupied. In 2 Timothy 3:1-4 Paul says, “Know this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money…not lovers of good…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” The difficult times spoken of in these verses are the times when mankind is thoroughly spoiled and fully occupied by Satan.
Second Timothy 3:1-4 speaks of lovers of self, lovers of money, and lovers of pleasure. At the time Paul wrote his second Epistle to Timothy, the Roman Empire was fully corrupted. Certain scholars have compared the situation in the United States since the 1950s to the situation of the Roman Empire in the first century. In principle, whatever evil thing is here with us today was also there in the first century. Today throughout the whole earth, young people are lovers of pleasure. Sports, amusements, and entertainment are simply pleasures. Likewise, at the end of the first century, the time of the fall of the Roman Empire, people were hunting for pleasures. They had invented new pleasures. In a sense, the pleasures in America today are not new. We simply have a repetition of history. History tells us that the fall of the Roman Empire was mostly due to the seeking for pleasure. Much immorality came out of the hunt for pleasure. That ruined the Roman Empire.
Paul told Timothy to be aware that difficult times would come when men would be lovers of self. History tells us that at the time of the fall of the Roman Empire, the Romans were self-lovers. They did not care for anyone but themselves. Of course, they were also lovers of money. Self, money, and pleasure always go together. Where self is, money is loved and pleasures are sought. Men in this condition are fully spoiled and occupied with something other than God. They are lovers of themselves, of money, and of pleasures, but not lovers of God or of anything good.
I came to this country in 1958 and have lived here for most of the time since then. According to my observation, this country was not as morally poor in 1958 as it is today. I saw the start of the ruin. To a large degree, this ruin started around 1963. At that time the hippie movement started with its lawlessness, drugs, and immorality. This is a repetition of human history. Many evil things have happened in this country with the young people since 1963 because the intention of Satan, the subtle serpent, is to ruin the young people and frustrate God’s purpose.
Praise the Lord that in the midst of such a situation of ruin, He has visited many of us. Many of the young people among us have not only been caught by God but also occupied by Him. They have been “wrecked” by Him. Satan spoils people, but God “wrecks” people. Satan spoils people to make them useless for God’s purpose, but God wrecks people to make them useless for Satan’s purpose, the purpose of loving money and pleasure. Why would so many young people attend the meetings of the church? Why would they not seek sports or entertainment? It is because they are wrecked. Over sixty years ago, I was wrecked by God. I was a very active, ambitious, and somewhat smart young man. However, one day I was wrecked by God. Several times I tried to go back to my old way, but because I was wrecked, I could not make it. We have been caught and occupied by Him.
SETTING OUR HEART NOT TO BE DEFILED
According to Genesis, by the time Babel and its tower were built, mankind was fully ruined, captured, and preoccupied by the devil. The old mankind under the headship of Adam was fully ruined by Satan and had become useless. Therefore, God gave it up. Out of that situation, God called one man, Abraham, to raise up a holy race, a new mankind. Eventually, that holy race was built up as the kingdom of God on the earth. At the center of that kingdom was the temple. The temple was God’s habitation as the very testimony of God on the earth. The vessels of God’s house, signifying the riches of God’s testimony, were in the temple.
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, conquered Jerusalem, captured the vessels of God’s temple, and carried them into his idol temple (2 Chron. 36:17-20; Ezra 1:7). The captivity of Israel signified that God’s testimony was spoiled. In order to glorify himself and shame the captured Israelites, Nebuchadnezzar also selected the best, smartest, and most excellent young people, especially from the royal family, and brought them into his palace to eat his food and drink his wine (Dan. 1:3-5). No doubt, he offered his food and wine to the idols before he ate and drank because he considered that it was they who gave him his great empire.
Daniel was taken into captivity as a young man. He and his three friends, who were of the children of Judah, were selected to come into the king’s palace to be taught. There they had to decide whether or not they would eat the food sacrificed to idols. That meat was no longer merely food; it had become related to the demons. To eat it was not a small thing. Daniel and his three friends set their heart not to be defiled, not to have any share in that defiling element (v. 8).
For Daniel and his three friends not to eat the king’s food was to protest, to be God’s testimony, against the tide of idolatry. This was a great matter in the eyes of God and also in the eyes of the devil. This was the fighting of a spiritual warfare. In such a situation Daniel was one who was caught by God. From his very youth he was called, captured, and fully occupied by God. Eventually, it was he who brought in the return from captivity. Daniel was still living during the reigns of Darius and Cyrus after the Babylonian Empire had become the Persian Empire (9:1-2; 1:21). When he read the prophecy given through Jeremiah that the captivity would be completed for seventy years, he began to pray for God’s people (9:1-19). His prayer brought in the fulfillment of the children of Israel’s return from captivity, which began from the decree of Cyrus in the first year of his reign (Ezra 1:1-3).
Young people today are also in a situation of captivity. God’s testimony has been spoiled, and the riches, the vessels, of God’s testimony have been taken captive. Everything in this age is defiling, including religion and society with its pleasures. Today all religions are in a form of idolatry. Religion takes God’s name but worships something other than God. This is idolatry. God needs some young people to keep themselves from being defiled by the idolatrous worship. Once some young people see the situation of today’s religion, they will set their heart. They will say, “Lord, from today I would never become polluted with this religion. I would stay away from this defilement.” To flee youthful lusts is to keep from being defiled.
The young people must set such a purpose in their heart. To simply receive salvation is good, but by itself it cannot satisfy completely. After being saved, many still have a hunger within and are still seeking something further and higher. What they are seeking is God’s purpose. They should realize that the background of their situation is one of captivity and should desire to come out of captivity and not remain in its defilement. The young people must pray, “Lord, help me to set my heart not to defile myself.” If the young people would set such a purpose deep in their heart, God will use them. Each one will be much used by the Lord. Fifty years ago, I was one of many young people who set such a purpose in their heart. All of us were used by God. In the past half century Christianity in the Far East has been much influenced by these young people. In a sense, we revolutionized Christianity in the Far East. Today also in this great Christian country, the United States, God needs so many young people.
Do not go along with the present situation. At the time of Daniel, some young people might have said, “What is wrong for us to eat the king’s meat? Everything created by God is clean. We do not care whether or not this food has been offered to idols. We will just take advantage of it.” This is a word of failure and defeat. They should rather have said, “I will never go along with this current. I will keep away from it. I protest against the present situation. Let others eat, but I will not.” If the young people today would set a purpose such as this deep in their heart, God will use them.
The young people must learn to flee. They need to flee youthful lusts (2 Tim. 2:22a). Young people have a lust for eating. Most young people like to eat good things. The meat and the wine provided by King Nebuchadnezzar were surely a strong temptation to Daniel and his three friends. This food was the best food, the royal food. There was an eating lust within Daniel, but he stayed away from this lust. He and his friends were fleeing youthful lusts.
The young people need to flee youthful lusts, and they should also pursue, that is, seek after, righteousness, faith, love, and peace (v. 22b). Righteousness, faith, love, and peace are all Christ. To pursue these things is to pursue Christ in different aspects. Flee youthful lusts, and pursue Christ as your righteousness in your relationship with others, as your faith in your relationship with God, as your love in your relationship with one another, and as your very peace. Such fleeing and pursuing is a living for God’s testimony. It is a daily gospel life. A daily walk that expresses righteousness, faith, love, and peace is the best gospel preaching. It is the life that opens the way for the gospel to reach people.
THE NEED FOR COMPANIONS
You must have such a life of fleeing and pursuing. However, when you endeavor to flee and pursue, you will find that you are not able to do so by yourself. The way to flee youthful lusts and pursue Christ is in the last part of 2 Timothy 2:22. This verse says, “Flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” You need “those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” By yourself you are inadequate. The key is to be “with those.” As a young person you may be very strong, but your strength means nothing. The enemy, Satan, is stronger than you are, but under God’s sovereign provision you have “those.” You must pursue “with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
The young people must make the decision to pick up some others as companions. Daniel had his three friends. Under the Lord Jesus, in the New Testament none of the disciples were individuals. They were sent two by two; they all had companions. Peter and Andrew and James and John are referred to in the Gospels in pairs (Matt. 4:18, 21).
Young people need at least one companion. You must consider before the Lord whether you have a real companion in pursuing the Lord. Joshua could have said that Caleb was his companion, and Caleb could have said that Joshua was his companion. However, it is better to have three or four companions. Because of these perilous times, we need more companions. If we have four companions to support us from each direction, we will not fall, regardless of what storm may come. If one stands by himself, he will possibly be captured by the enemy. It is best for four or five young ones from junior high school to come together as companions. Let the young brothers be companions to one another, and let the young sisters be companions to one another.
We need companions not only because we are too weak to stand by ourselves but also because we are all so natural. According to our natural disposition, it is very hard for us to have companions. Our individualism is a pleasure to us. We enjoy our individualism so much. We may not care for a brother or a sister because they are not like us. We demand that others be like us. Wanting people to be like us is devilish. If we love the Lord, we should be able to go to any young brother or sister, not caring for what they are like. They may be slow or quick, dull or smart, like you or one hundred percent different from you. We should forget all the differences. We must have companions. If the young people would be grouped in this way, Satan will be put to shame. This is a great matter.
If five junior-high students would be grouped together as one, their school will be “overthrown.” If they start with five, after not long a time, perhaps two months, there will be fifteen. The preaching of the gospel in their school will be like wildfire. Even the college-age and working-age saints need companions. They need to work together, live together, and have their daily walk together. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says, “A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” If one person has four companions, the five of them will even be a fivefold cord. Nothing can break this cord. The gospel preaching of these five will be prevailing. They will subdue people. Their grouping together will convince people, and Satan will be put to shame.
Do not have companions in a loose way. Do not take a brother as a companion because you like him and tomorrow reject him because you do not like him. If he is a brother, you must take him. This will subdue and break you. You need to be broken. Who will break you? Wives are good “breakers,” but I do not trust the wives to completely break the husbands. The good “breakers” are the brothers and sisters with whom you group yourself.
The young people must look to the Lord to get four or five companions. Even the people in the world say that union is power. By myself I would not dare to do many things, but when I have four companions, I would dare to do anything. The five companions should always call on the name of the Lord together (2 Tim. 2:22). They should always come together to fellowship, pray-read, pray, and take care of new ones. One brother’s new ones should be another brother’s new ones also. In this way one group of five saints will have fifteen new ones under their care. All these new ones will be saved. The principle for the saints in both the Old and New Testaments was that they were grouped together. The young people need to flee youthful lusts and pursue the Lord with some companions.