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Do All to the Glory of God - Biblesnet.com

Basic Lesson Series Volume 5 Do All to the Glory of God WATCHMAN NEE - Online Christian Library - Online Christian Library Basic Lesson Series Volume 5 CONTENTS 29. MARRIAGE 5 30. MATING 25 31. HUSBAND AND WIFE 45 32. PARENTHOOD 65 33. FRIENDSHIP 93 34. RECREATION 109 35. SPEECH 123 36. CLOTHING AND EATING 137 37. ASCETICISM 157 38. MANAGING YOUR FINANCES 175 - Online Christian Library BASIC LESSONS ON PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN LIVING Burdened with the need of a firm foundation for the Christian life, brother Watchman Nee gave a series of basic lessons on practical Christian living during the training session for workers held in Kuling, Foochow, China in 1948. He expressed the hope that these essential lessons might be faithfully learned by God s people, thereby laying a good foundation for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Basic Lesson Series—Volume 5 . Do All to the Glory of God . W. ATCHMAN . N. EE . www.biblesnet.com - Online Christian Library

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Transcription of Do All to the Glory of God - Biblesnet.com

1 Basic Lesson Series Volume 5 Do All to the Glory of God WATCHMAN NEE - Online Christian Library - Online Christian Library Basic Lesson Series Volume 5 CONTENTS 29. MARRIAGE 5 30. MATING 25 31. HUSBAND AND WIFE 45 32. PARENTHOOD 65 33. FRIENDSHIP 93 34. RECREATION 109 35. SPEECH 123 36. CLOTHING AND EATING 137 37. ASCETICISM 157 38. MANAGING YOUR FINANCES 175 - Online Christian Library BASIC LESSONS ON PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN LIVING Burdened with the need of a firm foundation for the Christian life, brother Watchman Nee gave a series of basic lessons on practical Christian living during the training session for workers held in Kuling, Foochow, China in 1948. He expressed the hope that these essential lessons might be faithfully learned by God s people, thereby laying a good foundation for the building up of the Body of Christ.

2 These messages on pr actical Chri stian l iving ha ve now be en t ranslated f rom t he Chi nese language and will be published in a series of six books, bearing the various titles of: (1) A Living Sacrifice; (2) The Good Confession; (3) Assembling Together; (4) Not I, But Christ; (5) Do All to the Glory of God; and (6) Love One Another. Exercise thyself unto godliness (1 Tim. 4:7), is the exhortation of the apostle Paul. May our hearts be so exercised by God s Word as to give the Holy Spirit opportunity to perfect the new creation. All quotations of the Scriptures, unless otherwise indicated, are from the American Standard Version of the Bible (1901). 29 - Online Christian Library MARRIAGE o be a good Christian, one needs to faithfully with all one s basic lems.

3 If there is a moral issue in any of e basic areas, whether it be family or ession or w hatever, other problems will t difficulty is strong enough to hinder growth and deter one from walking uprightly. In this lesson we will consider the problem of marriage. New believers especially need to know what the Word of the Lord says about this problem. Let us, then, look at the problem from vari ous directions. Sex Consciousness Not Sinful People are conscious of s ex j ust a s they a re c onscious of hung er. If hunge r i s a n atural, physical demand, then sex is also a natural requirement of the body. For a person to feel hungry is natural a nd it is not a sin. But if he steals food, then it is sinful. It is something unnatural.

4 Likewise, the consciousness of sex is natural and is not reckoned as sin. Only if one uses an improper way to satisfy his desire does he fall into sin. Sex consciousness is God-given. Marriage was ordained and created by God. It was instituted before, not a fter, t he f all of man. I t ha ppened before G enesis 3. A s a matter of f act, G od introduced it in Genesis 2. Hence, sex consciousness existed before, not after, sin entered into the world. It is important to know that there is no s in in being sex conscious. Sin is not primarily involved, for the very presence of this consciousness was created by God. Tdeaprothesprolater on crop up. One undea lb f l 6 Do All to the Glory of God - Online Christian Library In my thirty years of trusting and serving the Lord, I ha ve been in contact with not a small number of young brothers and sisters.

5 Some people are not easily disturbed, whereas others, I find, are greatly troubled by unnecessary accusations of their consciences. Their consciences are troubled by uncalled-for accusations because they do not know God s mind nor a re they clear about God s Word. They think they have sinned in being sex conscious. Some brothers have even gone to the extreme of doubting God s work in them since they are yet aware of sex. To treat sex as sinful is a heathen idea. As it is not sinful to feel hungry, likewise the need for sex is not at all sinful. It is but a natural consciousness. The Lord tells us through His apostle, Let marriage be had in honor among all (Heb. 13:4). It is not onl y something to be honored but is holy as well. God considers sex both holy and natural.

6 Dr. F. B. Meyer wrote many good books in which he stressed building up Christians. He said that only a dirty mind would consider sex as dirty. I think this is well said. Man injects dirty thoughts into sex because he himself is dirty. To the clean everything is clean. To the unclean, nothing is c lean. H is thinking w ill a lways b e d irty. B ut ma rriage i tself is c lean. Th e s ex relationship which God has ordained is holy, clean, and undefiled. Paul s hows us t hat in l ater times t here w ill a rise doc trines of de mons, a mong w hich i s forbidding to marry (1 Tim. 4:3). This particular doctrine of demons seems like a seeking for holiness. In G. H. Pember s writings, he points out clearly how people forbid marriage in the pursuit of holiness.

7 They think that this will make them holy. But in 1 Timothy, it is explicitly stated that forbidding to marry is a doctrine of demons. God has never forbidden marriage. May no believer be accused in his conscience because of heathen teaching. Sex consciousness is natural; it is not sinful. The problem does not lie in the presence of such consciousness but, rather, in - Online Christian Library MARRIAGE changing it into sin. The presence is not sinful but the way of treating such consciousness may make it sinful. Three Basic Reasons for Marriage 1. FOR MUTUAL HELP Marriage is ordained by God. It is not good that the man should be alone (Gen. 2:18), God says. All things created by God are good. On the first day of creation, God saw the light and said it was good.

8 On every day except the second, God proclaimed it was good. (The second day was an exception because then the firmament, Satan s dwelling place, was created.) But on the sixth day, after God created man, He said, It is not good that the man should be alone (Gen. 2:18). This was not to suggest that the man had not been well created; it only meant that it was not good because only half of man was created. So, God made a helpmeet for man. Eve was also made on the sixth day and was brought by God to Adam. She was made for the express purpose of marriage. The word helpmeet means meet to help ; that is, she must first answer or correspond to Adam before she can be of help to him. When God created man, He created them male and female. It seems as if He first created half of man and then made the other half so that there would be one whole man.

9 Only after the two halves were joined together was man completed. Then God pronounced that It was very good (Gen. 1:31). First of all, it needs to be pointed out that marriage was initiated by God, not by man. Further, it did not originate after the fall of man, but before man ever sinned. Man did not sin on the first day of his creation, but he was married that very first day. After God created Eve, on the same day He gave her to Adam. So marriage is indeed instituted by God. 7 8 Do All to the Glory of God - Online Christian Library In Genesis 2 God s creation is recorded; in John 2 the wedding in Cana during which the Lord Jesus turned water into wine is recorded. This latter incident shows us that the Lord Jesus not only allowed marriage but also approved it.

10 He was present at the wedding and helped to make it a success. God initiated marriage and the Lord Jesus approved it. God s purpose is that the husband should have a wife to help. That is why the wife is called helpmeet. God wants the husband and the wife to live together, fellowshipping, and helping each other. 2. FOR PREVENTION OF FORNICATION In the Old Testament, before sin came into the world, God had already instituted marriage. But now , i n t hese N ew T estament da ys, s in ha s a lready c ome i n. S o P aul s hows us i n 1 Corinthians 7 that, because of the entrance of sin, marriage not only is not prohibited but, rather, has become a necessity. In order to prevent fornication, Paul tells us that each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.


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