LESSON THREE – SPIRITUAL COMPANIONS

2 Tim. 2:22 — Flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

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).

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.

SETTING OUR HEART NOT TO BE DEFILED

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 (Dan. 1:8).

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 after seventy years, he began to pray for God’s people (Dan. 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).

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 f lee 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.”

SEEKING OUT REAL COMPANIONS IN PURSUING THE LORD

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.

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.

FLEEING YOUTHFUL LUSTS AND PURSUING THE LORD WITH COMPANIONS

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 f lee youthful lusts and pursue the Lord with some companions. (CWWL, 1975-1976, vol. 1, “Fellowship with the Young People,” pp. 3-4, 6-10)

Reference: CWWL, 1975-1976, vol. 1, “Fellowship with the Young People,” ch. 1

BLEST BE THE TIE THAT BINDS

The Church—Her Fellowship 860

• Blest be the tie that binds
  Our hearts in Christian love;
  The fellowship our spirit finds
  Is like to that above.

• Before our Father’s throne,
  We pour our ardent prayers;
  Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one-
  Our comforts and our cares.

• We share our mutual woes;
  Our mutual burdens bear;
  And often for each other flows
  The sympathizing tear.

• When we asunder part,
  It gives us inward pain;
  But we shall still be joining in heart,
  And hope to meet again.

• From sorrow, toil, and pain,
  And sin we shall be free;
  And perfect love and oneness reign
  Through all eternity.