The Mending Ministry of John

The title of this message is, “In the Beginning was the Word,” and it shows the beginning of the apostle John’s ministry after he was perfected by the Lord through time. He had learned the most important lesson that a son of God could have in the New Testament, which is to live in spirit. You cannot learn this lesson in school or in college; this lesson is learned in practice. Live in spirit!

John could receive four great visions because he was in spirit. Paul had spoken of the divine mysteries, but the churches were unable to put them into practice. Thank the Lord that John received these visions and recorded them. Because he was in spirit, he also remembered the words of the Lord and could bring the organic ministry to us. We need to recognize the importance of this organic ministry. The organic ministry of John is based on the person of John. He was a person with experience and who had been tested. But most of all, he was a person who had learned to exercise his spirit. He learned how to live and walk in spirit. He learned how to fly. Once he received the four great visions, his flight had a definite direction. He could leave the island of Patmos, not by boat and not by walking; he left flying!

John went to help the church in Ephesus with the first commission the Lord gave him, which was to mend the nets. The ministry of John has two main burdens. The first one is to mend the nets. The condition of the church at the end of the first century, represented by the church in Ephesus, was one of having lost the first love (Rev. 2:1-7). The Lord had ministered on earth for three and a half years. Then He appeared in resurrection to His disciples for forty days. Later He appeared in a special way to Paul and gave him the heavenly vision recorded in his writings. But even so, at the end of the first century the condition of the church was one of having lost the first love.

If someone loses his first love today, tomorrow the Lord will take away his lampstand. The lampstand represents our function. If our heart does not love, we are still able to function, but not for long. If we lose our first love, the next step will be to lose our function. This was the condition of the church in Ephesus, which represented the condition of the church at the end of the first century.

Matthew 4:21 says, “And going on from there he saw another two brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. And He called them.” John was mending his nets when the Lord called him. The Lord called John again at the end of the first century. He was on the island of Patmos, but he was in spirit. The Lord gave him four great visions. The first great vision was concerning Christ, the churches, and the calling of the overcomers (Rev. 1 - 3).

If we have been enjoying the Daily Food, we should already have a strong feeling about the importance of the writings of the apostle John. Their first function is to keep our heart so that our heart may be a healthy heart, a heart that loves the Lord above all things. A heart that loves the Lord, loves the church, loves the Lord’s work, and loves the Lord’s coming back, is a normal, desirable heart. This is the desirable condition of our heart, but not the final condition. It is desirable because the Lord can work in us so we can become useful to Him and cooperate with Him. Actually, this is the condition at the beginning. We must receive the word of God, the heavenly vision, but we need a daily exercise to turn our hearts to the Lord constantly, without ceasing, in order to keep our first love.

In the letter to Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2, the Lord Himself gave the diagnosis of the general condition of the churches at the end of the first century. This condition was the result of the apostle Paul’s ministry. Verses 2 to 4 say, “I know your works and your labor and your endurance and that you cannot bear evil men, and you have tried those who call themselves apostles and are not and have found them to be false. And you have endurance and have borne all things because of My name and have not grown weary. But I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love.” But I have one thing against you that will disqualify you—that you have left your first love.

Here we have the burden of mending the nets. The writings of John are to restore our first love. In his gospel, John wrote that these things were recorded so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and have life in His name (20:31). His first burden was to help us to recover our first love and to keep it. We need our love to the Lord to be refreshed, not only every six months at a big conference, but every day. John’s help is not based on special events or miracles, but on his experience of living in the spirit.

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