Will you please turn to Matthew Chapter 4, Verse 10, the last sentence.
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.
The Gospel according to John, Chapter 6, Verses 28 and 29.
They said therefore unto Him, What must we do, that we may work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.
Ephesians Chapter 2, Verse 10.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.
And finally, Ezekiel Chapter 44, Verses 15 and 16.
But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near to Me to minister unto Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer unto Me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord.
They shall enter into My sanctuary, and they shall come near to My table, to minister unto Me, and they shall keep My charge.
May we look to the Lord.
Our Father, we do praise and thank Thee for Thy great love towards us in giving us Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We do recognize that Thou art the God who is worthy to be worshipped and adored, and we do worship Thee and adore Thee.
Thou art the God who is worthy to be served, and we do desire to serve Thee in spirit. So we commit this time into Thy hands and ask Thy blessing upon Thy Word, that it will do something in us through Thy Holy Spirit that will result in worship and in service. In the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
We have been considering for some time this matter of worship. What is worship? And what is the relationship of worship, say, with the breaking of bread, with prayer?
This morning, we would like to enter into this area of worship and work: worship and work.
Now, first of all, I think we need to define what is work—that is, work according to the Scripture. What is God’s work? The reason is, many may work for God, but they may not be working God’s work.
You remember that great Pharisee Saul, how he persecuted the followers of the Lord Jesus. He thought he was working for God. He thought he was doing God’s work, and he certainly was very diligent in doing it.
He did not know that he was doing the very opposite—that he was against the work of God instead of doing God’s work. Later on, you remember, the Lord met him on the road to Damascus. He was converted, and then he really served the Lord in spirit and with a conscience void of offence. Yet the Jews considered him as working against God.
So you see, this whole matter of work is really a problem. What is work? What is God’s work? What is doing God’s work? How do we know that we are doing God’s work, or that we are just working for God, as we think?
You know, one day we shall all appear at the judgment seat of Christ. When we appear before His seat, we will get the surprise of our lives. Why? Because many people will come to Him and say, “Lord, did we not perform miracles and wonders in Thy name? Did we not cast out demons in Thy name? Did we not even preach in Thy name?”
And the Lord will say, “I do not know you. Depart from Me, workers of lawlessness.”
Well, they did work, and they even worked in the name of the Lord. Yet the Lord said, “You are workers of lawlessness. You are not doing My work. You may be working for Me, as you think, but I do not know you.”
What is work? What is God’s work? How do we know that we are doing God’s work, or that we are just working for God in our own way?
To do God’s work is to do His will. To do God’s will is to do it in the power of the Holy Spirit.
In order to do God’s work, there is a prerequisite: we must first believe in Him.
You remember that story in John Chapter 6. After our Lord Jesus had fed five thousand with two loaves and five fishes, He dispersed them, but they followed after Him. The Lord said, “Work not for the food that perishes, but work for the food that does not perish.”
So the Jews said, “What should we do, that we may do the works of God?” And the Lord answered, “This is the work of God: believe in Him whom He has sent.”
Now, brothers and sisters, just think for a little while. As the Lord mentioned this whole matter of work, these Jews said, “Now, what should we do? What do we do that we may do the works of God?”
In other words, their whole concept about work was, “Now, let us do something. Let us do something for God. And if we do something for God, then we are doing the works of God.”
But the answer of our Lord Jesus surprised them. Why? Because the Lord said, “Now, this is the work of God: believe—believing Him whom He has sent.”
They wanted to do something. The Lord said, “No. Believe. Believe what God has already done for you.”
Now, what is God’s work? What is work? Basically, you find it is not something that you do. Basically, it is something that you believe.
He has done it, and you just believe in what He has done. Therefore, the work of God is based on faith. Without faith, you cannot do God’s work.
Do you remember that verse in Hebrews Chapter 9?
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Now, we think that if we work for God, if we do something, if we accumulate merit, then we are worshipping God. But the Lord said we need the blood to purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God.
There is a connection between worship and work.
All day-to-day people think that if they do something good, if they accumulate some merits, if they do some good things for God, then certainly they are worshipping God. Remember, this is just bribing your conscience.
A work without faith is a dead work. It is just like the offering of Cain. Cain took the produce of the land, and he might have offered the best of the produce, but there was no blood. There was no faith. It was just self-confidence.
He brought the best of his produce and offered it to God as worship—his own work as worship, his own merit as worship. But he was rejected. He was rejected because his offering was rejected. He offered dead works to God. You cannot worship the living God with dead works.
First of all, your conscience needs to be purified by the blood from dead works. In other words, we have to recognize that everything we do, every good work that we do, every merit that we accumulate, every righteousness that we think we have—without Christ, without faith—all of these are dead works.
God cannot accept them. God cannot be worshipped by these dead works. We are deceived. Our conscience is being deceived into thinking that by bringing these merits to God, by bringing these good works to God, or by bringing these works for God to God, certainly God is worshipped. Not at all.
Not only will your worship be rejected, but, as we find in the case of Cain, something terrible may happen.
Work begins with faith. First, you believe in what God has done for you. First, you believe in Christ, the One whom God has sent. First, you believe in His finished work. It is done. Everything is done for you.
And as you believe, you begin in doing God’s work. As you believe, God’s work will begin to work itself out through you. This is the work of God: believe in Him whom God has sent.
Ephesians Chapter 2, Verse 10. I think we are very familiar with Ephesians Chapter 2, Verse 8: “You are saved by grace through faith.” That is the foundation of our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith.
But oftentimes we forget Verse 10. It says, “For ye are God’s workmanship.”
Brothers and sisters, before we can think of doing God’s work, we must first see that we are God’s workmanship. We are His work.
We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works—those good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in. That is to say, we are God’s work. God works in us that we may do His work, that we may do His will.
This is the same thing you find in Philippians Chapter 2: “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, because it is God who works in you both the willing and the working according to His good pleasure.”
Dear brothers and sisters, when you come to this matter of work, first of all, let us see that it has to begin with faith. We believe in His work, and as we believe in His work and let Him work in us, then you will find it will be worked out. As it is worked out, we are doing God’s work.
Doing God’s work is not just that we are doing something for Him. Doing God’s work is that He Himself is working in and through us. Now, that is doing God’s work.
Are we doing God’s work, or are we working for God?
Look at our Lord Jesus. Certainly, He is the Servant of the Lord. Certainly, He is the Worker. Now look at how He works.
He said, “I can do nothing by Myself. Whatever I do is because I see My Father doing it.”
You know, that is in John Chapter 5. Our Lord Jesus healed a man who had been infirm for thirty-eight years. But it happened that He healed that man on the Sabbath. So, of course, He was accused of violating the Sabbath.
Yet our Lord Jesus answered, “My Father worketh even until now, and I work. I can do nothing by Myself. I do it because I have seen My Father do it. I am just doing what My Father has done, or is doing, and it is My Father who does it in Me.”
Then later on, in Chapter 8, you find that as our Lord Jesus had delivered that woman taken in adultery, again He said, “I do nothing by Myself. What I have heard, I speak. It is My Father who is doing it.”
So here you find our Lord Jesus said, “I can do nothing,” and then He said, “I do nothing.” In other words, with Him, it is the Father; it is not the work.
As you read the Gospel according to John, you find a phrase repeated and repeated: the Lord said, “My hour.” Oftentimes He said, “My hour has not yet come.”
You remember in John Chapter 2, at the marriage in Cana, when the mother of Jesus came to Him and said, “They have no wine,” she was suggesting that her illustrious Son should do something to rescue the situation.
And what did the Lord say? The Lord said, “Woman”—now, it is not a hard word. In Greek, it means “little woman.” It is an affectionate word. “Little woman, what have I to do with thee? My hour is not yet come.”
Then again, you find one day the brothers according to the flesh of our Lord said to Him, “If a person wants to get famous, you do not hide in the hills. Go to Jerusalem at the time of the feast. Why do You not go and show Yourself to them?”
The Lord said, “Your time is always ready, but Mine is not yet come.” He always waited for that hour.
Then in Chapter 12, some Greeks came to Andrew and Philip and said, “We would like to see Jesus.” So they reported it to our Lord, and the Lord said, “The hour has now come. Father, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee. Father, deliver Me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour.”
In Chapter 13, you find again that the Lord knew that His hour of departing had come, and He loved His own and loved them to the utmost. In Chapter 17, He said, “Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee.”
You find throughout His life, in His work, He was always waiting for the hour. He would never do anything before the hour came. What does it mean? It simply means He waited for the Father’s will and the Father’s time.
He could do nothing by Himself. To Him, the work was secondary; to Him, the Father was primary.
Or, to put it another way, work to Him was worship. It was not just doing something and finishing it. It was worship. It was a form of worship. It was His way of expressing His worship to the Father—how He honored the Father, how He waited upon the Father, how He did the Father’s work and the Father’s will, how He glorified the Father.
To Him, that was work. It was not just to do something.
Even before He went to the cross, it was not the cross that He desired; it was the Father’s will. “Not My will, but Thy will be done.” If it was the will of the Father that He should go to the cross, that He should drink the cup, He would do it, in spite of the tremendous cost that He had to pay.
Why? Because work to Him was a form of worship. He worshipped the Father with His work.
He sought the Father’s will. He waited for the Father’s time before He did anything. No wonder all the works that He did redounded to the glory of the Father.
But, on the other hand, our Lord was not slothful in any way about doing God’s work.
You see a perfect balance in the life of our Lord Jesus. On the one hand, you find He would do nothing before the time. He was never in a hurry. People tried to hasten Him, but they could not. He would not be pushed. He was waiting before the Father, ministering to the Father, if we may say this, before He would minister to the people.
Yet, on the other hand, He was not in any way slothful.
Even when He was twelve years old, when He was made a son of the law, He tarried in Jerusalem when His parents went back. On the third day, His parents found Him in the temple. There He was, asking and answering questions.
When they said, “Son, why hast Thou done this to us?” our Lord Jesus said, “Why did ye seek Me? Must I not be occupied with My Father’s business?” Even when He was twelve, He was engaged in the Father’s business. He was doing God’s work.
But notice: the Bible says He went down with His parents and obeyed them. Suppose it happened to you. What would you do? You would say, “Must I not be occupied with My Father’s business? Go home. I will stay here and work.”
Now, is that the right thing to do? We worship our work; we are not worshipping God.
We may be so occupied with working for God that we have no time to worship God. In other words, worship and work become two separate things.
Is it not true that many servants of the Lord are so busy working for God that they have no time to pray? They have no time to wait upon the Lord. The more they work, the less they worship, and the result is that they worship their work.
If the work is really of God, you will find the more you work, the more you worship. The more you worship, the more you work, because worship and work cannot be separated.
Work comes out of worship. Work must be done in a worshipping spirit, and work will lead to worship. If not, what is that work? Is it worthwhile? Will God receive anything?
Even when our Lord Jesus was twelve years old, He was so occupied with the Father’s business, and yet He went down with His parents and obeyed them. Why? Because work was not the most important thing in His life. The Father’s will was the most important thing.
It was God’s will that He should submit to His earthly parents until the time when God would manifest Him to the nation.
Our Lord was most earnest in God’s work. In John Chapter 4, you find the Lord told His disciples, “Look at the field. You will say that it will be four months before the harvest. But look: the field is white unto harvest.” Now, that is work.
Again, our Lord Jesus said, “Are there not twelve hours in the day?” When it is night, no man can work. We have to work.
On the one hand, you find our Lord Jesus was very earnest, very diligent, in doing God’s work. He was never lazy. He never drew back. But on the other hand, you find that to Him work was not just meeting a need. Work was doing the Father’s will.
Dear brothers and sisters, how often our work is determined by need. Yes, there are needs everywhere—lots of needs. Because of these needs, we think we have to meet them; we have to work.
Now, it does not mean that you should neglect the needs, or act as if you have not seen them. Of course not. But what governs your work? Is it need, or is it the Father’s will?
With our Lord Jesus, it was not need; it was the Father’s will. Why? Because to Him work was worship. He worshipped the Father by doing these works. They were never separated.
Dear brothers and sisters, how about us?
In one sense, we are all workers.
You know, sometimes it disturbs people both ways. Sometimes it disturbs people when we say that only a few should work, and the rest do not work; they are not workers. Who are the workers? Those who are especially called to preach—they are workers; they do God’s work. Then what do we do? We do our work.
Now, this disturbs people. But on the other hand, when we say that we are all workers, that disturbs people too, as if they do not want to work for God.
In one sense, dear brothers and sisters, whether you are called to preach or whether you are called to cook, whether you are called to serve tables or whether you are called to minister the Word, we are all workers in God’s vineyard.
You remember that parable our Lord Jesus spoke in Matthew Chapter 20. A man had a vineyard. He went out to engage workers. Early in the morning, he went out and saw people standing idle. They had nothing to do. So he said, “Come to my vineyard and work.” They agreed upon a certain wage, a day’s wage.
Afterwards, he went out and saw a few people standing idle, and he engaged them too. Even at the last hour, just an hour before the work was finished, there were still people standing there idle. The man said, “Why do you stand here idle?” They said, “Nobody has engaged us.” So the man said, “Come into my vineyard and work.”
What does it mean? It means, dear brothers and sisters, that even at this late hour, we are all called into His vineyard—every one of us, every brother and sister.
Do not think that you are not a worker. You are a worker. You are God’s worker. Everyone is called into God’s vineyard. We are all called into God’s vineyard to work in the field, to produce fruit for His glory.
Or we may use another figure of speech. We are all laborers. We are all building on the foundation that has already been laid, which is Christ Jesus.
In 1 Corinthians Chapter 3, Paul said he was like a wise master builder, and he had laid a foundation. You cannot have any other foundation than Christ Jesus, and everyone is to build upon it.
Dear brothers and sisters, remember: every one of us is a builder. Every one of us is a worker. We are all working in God’s vineyard.
God has only one vineyard. There is only one work. God’s work is one, and we are all engaged in doing that one work.
God has only one building. He does not have a summer house and a winter house. He has only one building, and we are all building that building: the house of God.
Every one of us is engaged, is employed. There is no unemployment in the kingdom of God. It is one hundred percent employment.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, we cannot stand there idle. We have to work.
But the thing is: are we just working for God, or are we doing God’s work?
Think of Martha and Mary. Here our Lord Jesus came to the village, and Martha certainly wanted to entertain our Lord in the best way that she could. So she was very busy trying to cook the best dishes, trying to do everything just right for the Lord.
She did that with good intentions. She was serving the Lord. She was working for the Lord.
But while she was doing that, she lost her worshipping spirit. She was disturbed by the many things that she had to do. How about the table? How about setting the table? How about the chairs? How about the food and all these things?
She was rushing in and out, in and out, from the kitchen to the dining table, and she was so disturbed. Finally, she could not contain herself. Seeing her sister sitting at the feet of the Lord and quietly listening to the Lord, she just could not stand it anymore.
Yet she was too polite just to call, “Mary, come and help me,” while the Lord was there. So she did it in a nice way. She said, “Lord, do You not care? I am so busy, and my sister is sitting there. Will You not tell her to come and help me?”
And the Lord said, “Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful; for Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
What do you see here? Martha was working for the Lord. Oh, she was so busy—that is why she was working for the Lord. But she lost her worship.
Mary, on the other hand, was sitting at the feet of the Lord, listening. That is a position of worship. Because she listened to the Lord, does that mean she would just sit there forever? No.
One day, when the Lord was again being entertained, you find Mary came in with an alabaster flask of ointment. She broke it and anointed the Lord.
How did she know that our Lord Jesus was going to die? Even the disciples did not know it. The Lord told them at least three times, and yet they could not understand. Why was it that only Mary understood? She knew that the Lord was going to die; therefore, she anointed Him to prepare for His burial.
Where did she get that knowledge? She had been sitting at the feet of the Lord.
Her work was anointing the Lord, and the fragrance filled the house. Brothers and sisters, who served the Lord more: Martha or Mary?
If work is just work, that is not worship. But if work comes out of worship, it will be worship unto the Lord.
In Acts Chapter 13, in the church in Antioch, there were five prophets and teachers. The Bible says, “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”
Here you find the prophets and teachers. They were the people who ministered to the needs of the church. In the church in Antioch, there were many believers, and these believers needed to be fed and nourished by the Word of God.
These five prophets and teachers were raised up by God to minister to the needs of God’s people there. But you find that these five were ministering unto the Lord.
Before they ministered to the people, they ministered to the Lord first. Out of their ministry to the Lord came forth that apostolic work.
Here, brothers and sisters, when we are working, do we first minister to the Lord? Is our work the outcome of our ministering unto the Lord, or is it because we see some need and we do it?
This reminds us of Ezekiel Chapter 44. There in Ezekiel Chapter 44, you find Ezekiel, in vision, saw the house of God—the temple of God—being restored. Not only was the temple of God restored, but the priestly ministry was restored.
But when the priestly ministry was restored, you find one thing: only the sons of Zadok were allowed to minister unto the Lord.
The rest of the priestly family and the Levites could only minister to the house; they were not allowed to minister to the Lord.
Usually, the work of the Levites was the work of ministry unto the house. Why? Because the Levites were there helping the people. When the people came with their sacrifices, they helped the people bring the sacrifice to the altar. They helped the people kill the sacrifice. They helped bring the water, and they helped in all these things in the tabernacle or in the temple.
The work of the Levites was to minister to the house, or to the people. But the work of the priests was to minister to God, to the Lord. They were to burn the burnt offering. They were to light the golden lampstand. They were to put the bread upon the table of showbread. They were to burn incense upon the golden altar of incense. They ministered unto God.
Only after they ministered unto God did they come forth and bless the people and teach the people.
But here in Ezekiel, only the sons of Zadok, because they were faithful during the general declension and falling away in the nation of Israel, were allowed to minister unto the Lord.
Even the Levites fell away. Even some priests fell away to serve the idols and the idols’ table. Therefore, they were disqualified to minister unto the Lord. Only the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge during the time of falling away, because they were faithful, were allowed to minister unto the Lord.
What a privilege. But others could only minister to the house.
Now, what is ministering unto the Lord? To minister unto the Lord means that they can draw near to the Lord. They can stand before the Lord. They can wait upon the Lord. They can receive the Lord’s Word. They can offer to Him the fat and the blood, and they can minister to Him at His table.
All this simply means how we need, in our work, to minister unto the Lord.
It is not just working. We need to minister to the Lord. That has to be an element—the most essential element—in work: we minister to the Lord.
Now, how do we minister to the Lord? We wait upon Him.
Oftentimes, we find the hardest thing is to wait, is to wait upon the Lord. We are always in a hurry. We must do this. We must do that. The need is there. We have to do it. Who else would do it? The whole world is depending on us.
We cannot wait upon the Lord. We think that waiting upon the Lord is a waste of time.
But, dear brothers and sisters, in order to minister unto the Lord, we have to wait on Him—wait until He makes His mind known to us.
We have to stand before Him. What does that mean? You know, in the old days, servants and slaves stood quietly with their eyes upon their master. They were not standing idly; they were not standing passively. When they stood, it meant that they would not move until they were told, either by the hand of the master or by the eye of the master.
They had to learn to stand.
They had to learn to present the fat and the blood. What is presenting the fat and the blood? You know, in an offering, these are the two things offered to God: the fat and the blood.
The blood is to satisfy the righteousness of God. The fat is to satisfy the love of God.
We are a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. What is it? We are offering the fat and the blood. We are offering the fat and the blood of the Lamb. We are offering Christ.
This is our spiritual sacrifice. This is our worship.
When we are worshipping God, brothers and sisters, do you think we are sacrificing or giving ourselves to Him? Yes, I know. In one sense, when we are offering ourselves to Him, it is actually that we are offering Christ in us to Him.
We are offering what Christ is to us to Him. We are not just offering ourselves. If we offer ourselves, we would be rejected. We are not worthy.
But it is the fat and the blood of the Lamb—that which we have received. He is our nourishment. He is our cleansing. He is our food. He is our life. Because we know Him as such, we can offer it back to God.
This is our spiritual sacrifice. This is our worship. Worship is nothing but returning to God what Christ is to us. That is worship.
How much can you worship God? It depends on how much Christ you have received.
Oftentimes, we have lots of words but very little worship. Why? There is little substance there. We do not know Him as we should. Therefore, when we try to worship Him, it comes out in words, but there is not substance there.
But still, brothers and sisters, we have to minister to the Lord, minister at His table. What does it mean? It means, in the first place, that as we commune with Him, as we believe in Him, as we receive Him, in turn we can serve Him.
We cannot serve Him more than what we have believed and received from Him.
Do we minister unto the Lord before we minister unto the house? What is the house today? The people of God.
We certainly need to minister to the people of God. But before we minister to the people of God, we need first to minister unto the Lord Himself. As we minister to the Lord Himself, it will result in ministering to the house—but not just ministering to the house without ministry unto the Lord.
Finally, there is a parable that our Lord spoke which is rather unusual, as recorded in Luke Chapter 17.
The Lord said, “When the servant comes from the field, either plowing or shepherding, after the day’s work is done and he comes into the house, will the master say to the servant, ‘Sit down quickly and eat’?”
No. The master will say, “Now go and prepare my food, and serve me. After you finish serving me, then you can go and help yourself.”
Is that not a strange parable? The Lord said, after you have done all these things, you have to come to Him and say, “Lord, I am but an unprofitable servant.”
What does that mean? It means that even after the work, that is not the end of it. The work is done, but that does not mean that is the end. After the work is done, you have to come to the Lord and minister to Him: worship.
Worship before work, worship in work, and worship after work.
Now, is it not a great temptation, after we have done the work, to say, “Well, that is the end of it. The work is done. Look, the work is done”?
The Lord says, “Wait a minute. You have not served Me yet.”
You have to come back and say, “I am but an unprofitable servant. I have done what I was told, but that is nothing. That is nothing. I want to serve You. I want to satisfy You. I want to worship You.”
Oh, brothers and sisters, that is our attitude.
Remember, every one of you is a worker. Remember, all of us are engaged in the same work: the work of God.
Even though we may have different responsibilities, even though we may work in different areas, as it were, our capacities are all different. Yet remember, our whole life is a work.
We are doing God’s work. We are doing the will of God, and we must do the will of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Whatever we do, we do it in His will and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
We are all engaged, all engaged.
But the point is: does work take away our worship? Oh, that it may increase our worship.
If work is something you do on your own, in the power of your own strength, the more you work, the less you are able to worship. But if the work is done in His will and by His power, the more you work, the more you are able to worship. That is the difference.
So I do hope, dear brothers and sisters, that we really see what is God’s work and how we do it.
In doing God’s work, it is just worshipping God.
Shall we pray?
Oh, Heavenly Father, Thou art the only God whom we worship and whom we serve. We pray that we may worship Thee in spirit and in truth, and that we may serve Thee in Thy work.
Deliver us from just working. But, Lord, may our work be a form of worship, that not only the people will be helped, but Thy heart will be satisfied.
O Lord, do bring upon Thy people this spirit of worship, that throughout our days, in whatever work we are engaging, we may see that we are doing Thy will and that we are doing it for Thy glory.
We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.