We are moving on, on the road to kingship. From now on, it is going to get worse and worse. Maybe you already thought it was so far.
But as we try to attain to our high position, we realize that the way up is always the way down. Unless we learn how to humble ourselves and go downward, we will never be able to end on the throne.
When it comes to this reigning and ruling in Israel, I had a teaching seminar with some young people. We were speaking about reigning and ruling, and a Swedish sister, in the time of questions and answers, asked me, “What is it to reign? Because if I had to judge from the world’s way of ruling, I simply do not want to have a part in it.”
And I think we can understand that. If reigning and ruling is what we can see in the world today, then we do not want to have a part in it.
So, when I tried to look to the Lord to come up with an answer, I felt that I had to say to this sister, “To rule in the divine sense is first of all to serve. If we have not learned to serve people, we do not qualify for kingship.”
And then I added, “How would you like, my dear Swedish sister, to be able to love people in a way you have never loved them, and to care for them and serve them in a way you have never been able to do?”
This is what is ahead of us. This is what is included in reigning and ruling. It will be quite a different system when the Lord returns and introduces His world government—quite another system than this world has ever known.
It will be our delight, our privilege, to serve mankind with resources that are endless and limitless, and to love mankind in a way we have never been able to do and cannot imagine.
So, on the road to kingship, the third aspect of the heart of the king is a heart to serve all.
These things can be found even in young David’s life. If you turn to 1 Samuel 16:18-21:
Then one of the young men answered and said, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is a skilful player, and a mighty man of valor, and a man of war, and prudent in speech, and a comely person; and the Lord is with him.”
Therefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, “Send me David thy son, who is with the sheep.”
And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul.
And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer.
Now, you must bear in mind that this happened after David had been anointed to become king. David knew that he was king. He knew that he had been anointed to become king, and yet, for many, many years—I believe twenty years—he was not able actually to rule.
He had to learn so many lessons, and one of them was to serve. Here he served as a musician while he was the anointed king. He served as an armourbearer to King Saul, and it says that he attended him, which means that he did all kinds of things to please the king—small things, insignificant things, things that could cheer up King Saul.
Also, if we turn to 1 Samuel 17, when David came to the battlefield, he was sent by his father. In 1 Samuel 17:15, it says:
Now David went to and fro from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
Is that not incredible? He had to go back and forth all the time. He still had to tend his father’s flock while he was also serving at the royal court. So, he was still a shepherd.
Then it goes on in 1 Samuel 17:16-18:
And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.
And Jesse said unto David his son, “Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to thy brethren;
and bring these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.”
Now, how is that for a king? To bring roasted grain, loaves, and cheese to his brothers, and then act as a newspaper boy—report back what has happened. How is that for a king?
He was anointed as king, and yet he had to serve in the smallest, lowest place. He had to bring roasted grain, loaves, and cheese. He probably had to tend to his brothers’ needs.
Now, if we want to qualify for kingship, we must learn to tend to our brothers’ needs, bring roasted grain and loaves and cheese—whatever we have—look after their welfare, and report back to our Father in prayer. Do you read me?
This is a very practical message, I am afraid. If you were looking for some splendour, exquisite glory, becoming a king—now you are asked just to serve your brothers and sisters, and to tend to their needs.
Now, it is interesting to me that when the Lord called the apostle Peter to his ministry—being the servant of God standing, so to speak, in the front of God’s people, the church in the first generation—it is interesting what was really upon the Lord’s heart, what He was seeking for in Peter’s life.
You find that in John 21:15-17, when the Lord is speaking to His servant, the apostle Peter:
So when they had broken their fast, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me more than these?”
He saith unto Him, “Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee.”
He saith unto him, “Feed My lambs.”
He saith unto him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?”
He saith unto Him, “Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee.”
He saith unto him, “Tend My sheep.”
He saith unto him the third time, “Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?”
Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, “Lovest thou Me?”
And he said unto Him, “Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee.”
Jesus saith unto him, “Feed My sheep.”
In other words, the Lord Jesus was looking for a serving heart—a heart that would serve all—for this apostle, this servant of God.
When He asked the question, “Do you love Me?” Peter was able to say, as best he could, that he loved the Lord. But still the Lord pointed out the way in which He desired Peter to express that love: through tending the lambs and shepherding the sheep.
If you want to know how you can love the Lord with all your heart, then you must learn to serve His people—your brothers and sisters, His sheep and His lambs—with all your heart. Because if you do not serve them with all your heart, you do not really love the Lord with all your heart.
The Lord did not say, when He was looking into this man’s heart for qualification to be foremost, so to speak, among the disciples, “Now remember to study three hours a day, Peter, and pray and fast regularly, and attend Bible school for four years and get a good diploma, or whatever it is called.”
He was more interested in whether this man had the capacity to serve—to look after his brothers and sisters, His sheep, and His lambs.
Unless we are willing to keep His sheep, tend His sheep, and maybe also donkeys—Saul was not even able to look after his father’s donkeys; he could not find them—then we do not qualify.
If we are not willing to look after the needs of our brethren, there is no way in which we can enter into kingship and rulership. In the coming age of the kingdom, we as kings will be serving as we have never served, and we will be serving all mankind.
It thrills me that the King of kings will also serve us. Think of that.
There is one wonderful Scripture in Ephesians 2:7, where we get a glimpse into what will happen in the ages to come:
That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
I love this expression. I love the thought that the Lord is going to be kind to me throughout all eternity. He is going to serve me.
It is the heart of a king to serve—not like the rulers of this world. God’s rulers, God’s kings, all have a heart to serve all.
If you go to Matthew 20, there are some deep lessons to learn. Matthew 20:20-28 says:
Then came to Him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, worshipping Him, and asking a certain thing of Him.
And He said unto her, “What wouldest thou?”
She saith unto Him, “Command that these my two sons may sit, one on Thy right hand, and one on Thy left hand, in Thy kingdom.”
But Jesus answered and said, “Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?”
They say unto Him, “We are able.”
He saith unto them, “My cup indeed ye shall drink: but to sit on My right hand, and on My left hand, is not Mine to give; but it is for them for whom it hath been prepared of My Father.”
And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation concerning the two brethren.
But Jesus called them unto Him, and said, “Ye know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister;
and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant:
even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
It seems to me that some mothers do have ambitions on behalf of their sons. Maybe that is a natural thing: “I want them to come far in life and have a happy ending.” I do not know whether it was the mother’s ambition, or whether it really was the ambition of the sons and they asked their mother to ask the question. That has been seen before.
But when the Lord answered, He said, “You do not know what you are asking for. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.”
They did not know what they were saying. We are all aware of that, because the Lord was pointing out that if there should be any possibility for these two sons to attain to those favoured places on the left and the right hand of the Lord Jesus, it would require that they were prepared to go deep down.
To drink the cup means to follow the Lord into His sufferings and go deeper down than any other has ever gone.
When the ten heard it, they became indignant at the two brothers. They were such a bunch of hypocrites, because they had the same ambition.
But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you. Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.”
Now, it is interesting to me that the Lord would not cut off all these wishes or ambitions to become great, or even to become first. In a way, you may have ambitions to attain to a high position, as long as you understand the nature of that position and the way that will lead you there.
Now, in Matthew 19, Peter is there. I love Peter; he is such a practical fellow, and he is so straightforward. When he had been following the Lord and had left everything, he wanted to know whether this would pay off or not.
You know, the Lord was not upset with it. Matthew 19:27-29 says:
Then Peter answered and said unto Him, “Lo, we have left all, and followed Thee; what then shall we have?”
And Jesus said unto them, “Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And every one that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life.”
Does it pay to follow the Lord? Will there be any kind of profit? I do not know whether Peter was a capitalist, but he certainly had a heart that wanted to know whether his investment would pay off.
The Lord was not angry with him. Oh, it is really a good deal to follow the Lord. Do you not think so?
So, in a way, it is all right if you desire to be great in the kingdom of God, or to be first. It is all right, as long as you know the way and are willing to pay the price.
The issue here is authority, rulership, and kingship—to reign and rule with Christ, to have a part in that glorious government of God that will soon be introduced on this earth. This is the issue we are dealing with.
And the Lord said, “If you want to be great, you must be a servant.” The Greek word is deacon. A deacon is just an ordinary servant with ordinary rights.
Ordinary servants have their working hours, their holidays, and they get paid—maybe not so much, but they still get paid. If you come outside their working hours, they may not be available.
The other night, I went to get an ice cream. We drove down here somewhere to a place called Ice Cream Works, but it did not work, because we came five minutes after closing time. There was no servant there to take care of us.
Now, if you want to serve but still reserve certain rights, it is all right with the Lord. You want to do a certain work, but you still want to have something for yourself. You want to get a little pay, have some working hours, and have a holiday now and then. That is all right, and you may just be promoted in the kingdom of God if you serve your brothers and sisters.
But you see, if you want to be first, it is quite another matter. The Lord says that you have to become a slave. The Greek word is doulos.
A slave is somebody who has no rights whatsoever. He must be at the disposal of his master twenty-four hours around the clock. There is no salary; there is no nothing. He must always be there to serve his master whenever there is any need to tend to.
And he will never be recognised while doing so. Nobody notices what a slave is doing. Nobody cares about a slave. Nobody would say to a slave, “I love you.” Nobody would appreciate what a slave does.
This is the way. If you want to attain to kingship, you must have a heart to serve all without being appreciated, without being recognised. Prepare to be totally overlooked.
The Lord knows who is really qualifying for kingship. I dare say that in a conference like this, the Lord notices those people who are behind the scenes, struggling and working to serve us all.
Those are the real kings, if I may use that word—not those standing out here in all this light and glory. Those who are really serving the brothers and sisters, getting overlooked and not even appreciated for what they do, are the people who are really on the royal training programme.
I think the rest of us have a chance also. But I just want to point it out: if you want to become a king, you must be willing to serve all. You must come into that position of being a slave.
Now, I have seen in recent years, where there has been much teaching on discipleship, authority, and submission, people drawing what they call pyramids of relationships. Of course, at the top of the pyramid, you have the apostle; then the prophet; then the evangelist; then the teacher; then the shepherd; and on the bottom line are the people.
That is the normally recognised pyramid of authority. The only thing wrong with it is that it has to be turned upside down.
Because in God’s kingdom, the people are on the top, and at the bottom you have the apostle. We have Scriptures for this. It is not just something I bring to you because I think that some of the servants of the Lord ought to be humble.
Ephesians 2:19-20 speaks about the house of God:
So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone.
So, they are down on the bottom line, because usually this is where you begin to build—at least in my country. Those who are in the foundation are those who are underneath, and the saints are those who are in the whole building.
If you go to Ephesians 4:11-12, speaking about the ministries in the body of Christ:
And He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ.
Now, the body of Christ is the top. This is the primary thing in God’s heart. God wants to see the body; He desires that the body may be built up.
All these different ministries and servants are secondary. They are given to work for the primary goal: the building up of the saints. They are there to help and serve the brothers and sisters so that they may be built up into the body of Christ.
So, we have got it all wrong when we think that the apostles are those on the top and the people are those on the bottom line. It is the other way around. No kidding. It is true. It ought to be like that. This is the truth.
How we have destroyed God’s Word because we did not understand this. We made things out of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and whatever the ministry may have been. We made them to be kings. They are not kings; they are servants.
All these one-man ministries and one-man organisations should serve God’s purpose: to equip the saints so that they may be built up to become the body of Christ. Everybody who wants to be a king must learn to serve at the bottom line.
I met a dear Chinese brother many years ago. Maybe Hong knows about him. His name was Johnson Hung, from Taiwan. He was a rich man; he owned a textile factory.
After he was wonderfully converted, he came to the elders in the church in Taipei, I believe. He was so excited that he had gotten saved, and he really wanted to serve the Lord.
He told me the story himself. He suggested to the elders that he might be allowed to give a large amount of money so that the church in Taipei could—I believe it was—build a clinic or do something for people in the town.
As he came in with all his enthusiasm and looked upon the elders, eager to serve, they said, “Well, we understand that you want to serve.”
“Yes, I do. I want to give money.”
“Well, that is good. But if you really want to serve the Lord—are you quite sure you want to serve?”
“Yes, I am.”
“All right, just forget about the money. Would you please come next Saturday and join the cleaning-up team who clean the church hall and rub the floor?”
You know, he was quite a big man in the city. Then he said, “Yes, I will.” For months, this man had to meet every Saturday and clean the church hall.
I cannot remember how long it went on, but it was quite a while, until a day came when the elders said, “Well, Brother Hung, you have been serving well. Now is the day when you may be allowed to give us your money.”
Well, is that not really a kingly spirit? I wonder whether you can find many churches or many elders like that today, who have that kingly spirit—more interested in people really learning a lesson than simply getting their money.
But it is true: if we want to attain to kingship, we must learn to serve from the bottom line.
In my time as—I do not know whether I can call myself a pastor—at least, I have been in the leadership of a local church since 1974. This church has been moving all the time. We have moved five times since 1974.
It seems to me that the Lord will never let us settle down. It is a lot of trouble whenever you have to go out and find another place, another hall, to have the meetings; move all your stuff; redecorate the room; and deal with all the problems. But we have been doing that five times since 1974.
Every time, I tried to get away from that job because I thought I was the pastor. I mean, I was so busy with spiritual matters that I might be excused. I am sure many of the members of the body would wholeheartedly agree, but the Lord would not.
Every time, when you do things like that, it is always just a small nucleus who are really doing the job. It is always sad to see the same ten people, out of two hundred, struggling and working themselves almost to death to get things fixed when you move from one place to another.
Every time, the Lord has pointed me out to be leader of that small labouring team. The last time, the Lord went even further. When I announced, “Who would like to do the cleaning of the church hall every week?” before I could listen to somebody else’s answer, the Lord said, “You do it.”
Today, it is a great joy for my wife and myself. She does the most, I must be honest. It is not because I do not want to; I am such a fool with such matters. But I am there every time, and it is a great joy. It is a great job.
I do not pretend to be religious or humble. I do not say that because I think I am somebody. But this is a reality for me: I will not miss it—not because of anything in it for myself, but because I feel that the Lord is there in a very special way, and He is teaching me many lessons.
“Tend My sheep. Look after My lambs.” A heart to serve.
You know, it is that faithfulness in serving in the little things that is the basis for kingship. God has never called us to be successful, but He has called us to be faithful.
I shall never forget the day when this came home to me in a new way. In the beginning of my ministry, I tried the best I could to become successful. But every time—and even today, when somebody took me to a meal, I was reminded, because there was a little proverb lying on the table—the word I got was, “You have a sincere desire to improve.”
I have always had that, but no matter how much I tried to improve, it did not get better. Because I realised once that I was not called to be successful; I was called to be faithful.
From that day on, I knew a completely new rest in the Lord. I was not trying to become anybody else or attain to some position of my own. I was simply called to be faithful in the things that the Lord had asked me to do.
It brings a wonderful rest, but it is also the best training school for kingship.
In Matthew 25, when it speaks about the talents, different talents are given to different people, and so it is. We cannot change that. Some people are more gifted than other people, and it was God’s choice that it should be like that.
But we should not lose heart because of that. Those of us who are less gifted should not lose heart because somebody else is more gifted, because that has nothing to do with kingship. This is all of grace.
In Matthew 25:21, it says:
His lord said unto him, “Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
This is a good word in the New American Standard Bible: “You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.”
When God is going to put us into that heavenly and glorious position of kingship, reigning and ruling with Him, it will not be done according to the gifts we have. It will be according to the faithfulness in our lives—doing the things and exercising the gifts we have, whether they are great or small.
Nobody will have a higher position simply because he had greater gifts than others. Never. Those pointed out in Matthew 25—the one with two talents, the one with five talents, and the one with ten talents—all had the same possibility. By being faithful in their calling and in the things entrusted to them, they all had equal possibility of attaining to the glorious position.
God has not called us to be successful. He has called us to be faithful.
When Paul speaks about his own ministry and that of Apollos in 1 Corinthians 3:7-8, he says:
So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
It is very good to know: we are nothing, but God causes the growth. Each will receive his own reward according to his own labour—not according to his gift, not according to the number of talents, but according to his labour.
Not even according to the kind of ministry he had. It does not matter to the Lord what kind of ministry we have, as long as we labour and are faithful.
That is why, when the Lord taught His disciples, He took up this matter in Luke 16. He said:
He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much: and he that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much.
If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?
There is no way you can get away from this principle. If you are not faithful in a little thing, God will never trust you with any kind of responsibility in His kingdom.
He will never dare to trust you to govern a city, a nation, or have responsibility in any area upon the earth when the kingdom comes. If you are not faithful in the little thing, you do not qualify for any position in the kingdom.
Now, the Lord Jesus—I do not think we could say that He was successful in the human sense of that word. But He was faithful, and the kind of success He had was completely different from what we think of when we use that word.
Hebrews 3:1-6 says of the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus:
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus;
who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also was Moses in all His house.
For He hath been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as He that built the house hath more honor than the house.
For every house is builded by some one; but He that built all things is God.
And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken;
but Christ as a Son, over His house; whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end.
Christ was faithful as our Apostle and as our High Priest. Oh, just think if He had not been faithful.
When you read about His ministry in Isaiah 52, it is a strange way in which the word prosperity is used in connection with the Lord Jesus. Isaiah 52:13-15 says:
Behold, My servant shall deal wisely, He shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.
Like as many were astonished at Thee—His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men—
so shall He sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths at Him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand.
Then Isaiah 53:1-4 continues:
Who hath believed our message? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He grew up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He was despised, and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face He was despised; and we esteemed Him not.
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Now, this is the Lord speaking about His Servant, the Lord Jesus, and the kind of success He had.
God’s success is quite different from man’s success. God’s success is the cross. Whoever has any ambition to be successful in God’s sense must have an encounter with that cross.
The way up is the way down. Unless we are willing to go down, we can never attain upward into our kingly position. This is true prosperity. I wonder what prosperity people would say of such a kind of prosperity.
Behold, My servant shall prosper.
The Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
He actually also acted as a slave. Our brother Ernie mentioned it the other morning, and what he said really hit my heart. Whenever somebody touches on this—even when the Lord washed the feet of the disciples—I feel so hit and guilty.
Just think that the Lord could go so far down. There they were sitting in that house, and every disciple was watching the other. They knew that somebody had to do it, because apparently the slave in the house was not there for some reason.
They knew it had to be done, and they were sitting there watching one another to see who would do the dirty job.
Oh, it thrills my heart. Right in the midst of this, while they were sitting there and esteeming one another just a little more than the other to keep themselves away from doing what had to be done, the Lord Jesus rose in their midst—the King of kings, the glorious King of kings.
He went out and He did it. He knelt down in front of His disciples, and He washed their feet. Not just to make a performance: He had come to serve. He had come to take the last place. He had come to humble Himself.
We all know that He humbled Himself unto death, even death on the cross. But what thrills me also is that He humbled Himself in His life.
In Philippians 2, we have these glorious Scriptures that really show us the road to kingship. Philippians 2:6-11 says:
Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;
and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name;
that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
He went that way. He humbled Himself not only to become a sacrifice at the cross; He humbled Himself as a man. He took the lowest position among men. He served from underneath. He served from the bottom line.
He did those small, insignificant things. He did the things of a slave. Therefore, therefore, the Lord has exalted Him.
A heart to serve, like King David. Although already anointed, he had to serve his brothers, bring them food, and look after their welfare. He had to serve at the court of King Saul. He had to play the music and attend to Saul’s needs. He had to do all these things. He had to serve because he was appointed to become a king.
May the Lord really give us mercy to follow not only David, but more so the Lord Jesus Himself, and serve our brothers and sisters, tend the sheep of God, and shepherd the lambs of God.
In that position, we are on the royal training programme. Out of this, God is preparing us to reign and rule, because there will be a day soon when we will reign and rule with Him.
That means, among other things, that we must have learned to serve. We are going to serve all mankind. May the Lord enable us and bless us to practise this service while we are still here.
Amen.