Would you please turn to the book of Acts, Chapter 22. We begin with verses 1 through 10.
Brethren and fathers, hear ye the defence which I now make unto you.
And when they heard that he spake unto them in the Hebrew language, they were the more quiet: and he saith,
I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as ye all are this day:
and I persecuted this Way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and journeyed to Damascus to bring them also that were there unto Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.
And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and drew nigh unto Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
And I answered, Who art Thou, Lord? And He said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
And they that were with me beheld indeed the light, but they heard not the voice of Him that spake to me.
And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
Please turn also to Acts, Chapter 26, verses 16 through 19.
But arise, and stand upon thy feet: for to this end have I appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a minister and a witness both of the things wherein thou hast seen Me, and of the things wherein I will appear unto thee;
delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send thee,
to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Me.
Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.
We have been considering together before the Lord Paul, a vessel of choice to God. We emphasized that, even though Paul seems to be very special and unique, there is no way that we can imitate him and be Paul of the United States. Yet, in general things, we know that we who believe in the Lord Jesus are all, by the grace and mercy of God, vessels of choice to God.
We are all chosen by God with a very special reason and purpose, in order that we may fulfill God’s purpose, His calling, and election upon us. We have a tremendous responsibility that we may respond to Him in the proper way.
We believe that there are three different areas to which we need to pay very special attention. We have covered two of them: the life aspect and the knowledge aspect. We have seen what is not life, and what is life. We have also seen what is not the right knowledge—the knowledge that comes from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—and what is the true knowledge that comes from the tree of life.
This morning we would like to go into the third area: the service aspect.
Now, no doubt Paul is, if not the greatest, at least one of the greatest servants of God that we find in the New Testament. God used him in a very mighty way. But I think the first thing we really need to consider together is: what is service?
Paul served God’s purpose in his generation, and we are supposed to serve God’s purpose in our generation. But before we can begin on this matter of service, we need to know what service really is.
In Paul’s life, you can see very clearly, on this matter of service, that there are two different kinds of service. Outwardly, they seem to be serving God; yet, in actuality, you find that these two kinds of service are completely different.
As Saul of Tarsus, as the great Pharisee, he said that he was zealous for God. He was not lukewarm in any way. He was really zealous for God. He really wanted to serve God. He worked for God.
The work he did was this: he went to cities, he went to houses, to bind people of the Way of Jesus and sentence them. That was the way he served God. In another place, he said, “I thought—I thought I was serving God.”
He did not know that he was working for God, no doubt, and he was very sincerely working for God; but he was not working with God. As a matter of fact, he was working contrary to God’s work.
He thought he was serving God, but actually he was serving himself. He was promoting himself in Judaism. He served God with the best knowledge he had, the traditions of the fathers; but he served God according to the teaching of men.
And the result was that he did God a great disservice. God had to stop him from serving God.
Now, that was service. And I wonder how much of what we call Christian service today is of this nature. We may do it with all honesty and sincerity, and we may even do it with zeal, but we do our Christian service according to the teaching of men, the tradition of the fathers.
We try to serve God according to what we think He should be served. And I think one day it will become a shock to us to realize that not only are we serving ourselves, but worse, we are really doing Satan a good service.
Saul of Tarsus, while he was serving God zealously, even to the Gentile city, was met by the Lord on the road to Damascus. When the Lord met him, you find that at that very moment a great change came to him—not only to his life, but to his service.
The first question, of course, he asked was, “Who art Thou, Lord?” He had to know the Lord. And after he knew the Lord, we find that the Lord took him in a completely different direction in the way of service.
He became an apostle, one sent by God. He was no longer working for God; he now worked with God.
So, dear brothers and sisters, one thing we have to decide in this matter of service is this: What is the nature of our service? Are we working for God, or are we working with God?
It is a tremendous difference. If we work for God, we take the initiative. We do everything according to what we think. We follow the tradition and the teaching of men, and that kind of service God will not accept.
But if we are working with God, then God takes the initiative. He appoints us to do the work that He wants us to do, and we do it in His will, by His power, for His glory.
Working for God and working with God are two different worlds in the area of service.
You know, God is a working God. When you open the Bible, the first thing you notice is that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God is a working God. He works all the time. He created everything.
But we need to ask one question: What is the nature of God’s work? God did all kinds of works, and God is still working. But behind all His workings, we need to find out what is the nature of His work.
As a matter of fact, all His works can be summed up in the work of God. You remember our Lord Jesus said, in John 6, “This is the work of God”—singular number. All the works of God can be summed up in the work of God.
Now, what is the work of God? What is the work that God is engaged in from eternity, through time, to eternity? Why did He create all things? And when all things fell and man fell, why did He redeem fallen man? Why did He reconcile all things back to His fullness?
Consider the work of creation. Consider the work of redemption and new creation. God did all kinds of works, but you can sum them up and say it is just one work. What is it? What is the meaning, the purpose, and the nature of God’s work?
If we read the letters of Paul, Paul received that revelation. He saw behind all God’s work that God actually has only one work to do. God does not have a second job—only one job.
Paul got a revelation and saw what it was. He said that the purpose of God in all the works that He did and is doing is just one: that His Son may receive all things.
He wants His Son to be the Heir of all things, that His Son may have the first place in all things. He created all things for Him—for His Son. He redeemed us for Him—for His Son. He reconciled the world back to Himself for Him—for His Son.
In other words, you find God’s work is His Son. His Son is the meaning of all God’s works. God wants to honor His Son, to satisfy His Son, to please His Son, and to glorify His Son.
That is why He created. That is why He called the patriarchs. That is why He called the nation of Israel. And that is why, today, He is building His church.
The Lord Jesus said, “My Father worketh even until now, and I work.” The Father has been working, and the Son said, “I work.”
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, He was not working His own work, doing His own thing, and trying to serve God in His own way. No. When the Son was on earth, He was just doing the work of the Father. Or, to put it in a different way, the Father was doing His work in the Son.
He and the Father were doing one work. He said, “My Father worketh even until now, and I work.” We are working together. We are working one work.
Now, brothers and sisters, we are to serve God. We are called to God’s work. We are not here to do our own works. We may be engaged in different capacities, and yet we need to realize that whatever God has appointed us to do as our service to Him is actually working together with God in His work.
You do not have a work of your own. I do not have a work of my own. We are not working some works in order to serve God—not at all. If it is really service, it has to be working together with God in His work.
And what is His work? His work, of course, is the exaltation of His Son. His work today is the building of the church.
The Lord says, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Why? Because when the body is fully mature, then the Head, Christ, can come and take that body to be His bride.
That is the work of God today. That is what God is doing today. And I do believe that if we are really serving God in real service, it has to be related to, or it has to be in, the work that God does.
Only God can do His work; nobody else can. That is the reason why, if we are really serving God in His work, it has to be His Spirit, His life, and His power working in and through us. That is the nature of service.
If we can see this, then we realize that it is really not something left for us to decide what to do or how to do it. It is for us to find out what is the will of God concerning us in this, His work.
Now let us go back to Paul and see how he entered into the work of God, how he worked together with God. On the road to Damascus, the first question, no doubt, was, “Lord, who art Thou?”
You have to ask that question, because if you do not know who He is, how can you serve Him? But thank God, we have asked this question, we have received that answer, and we have received Him as our Savior. We know Him.
Then you find the second question that Paul—Saul—asked on the road to Damascus. After the first question, the second was, “Lord, what shall I do?”
You see, this is the beginning of entering into God’s service. God does not want the service of people who do not know Him. Well, there are exceptions. It is true that Cyrus was one, but that is an exception. An exception proves the rule.
God does not want people who do not believe Him, who do not know Him, to be in His work. Why? Because if these people should come into His work, they will spoil His work. God will not entrust His work to unbelievers.
But even with believers, God cannot entrust His work to you unless you ask this question: “What shall I do, Lord?”
You know, our problem is that immediately after we are saved, we start. We try to do God’s work. We try to do something. Before we believed in the Lord, we were busily occupied with sinning; and now, after we are saved, we are busily occupied working for God.
No. The first thing, when you come to this matter of service, is that you ask a question: “Lord, what shall I do?” We have to come to a point where we have to stop.
Paul was arrested on the road to Damascus in his service. He was arrested. And probably, dear brothers and sisters, some of us have to be arrested in our way of service. God has to stop us and say, “Stop. Ask a question.”
“You have been serving Me, never asking Me what you should do, because you know what to do. Now it is time that you stop your service and ask this question: ‘Lord, what shall I do?’ You are Lord. You have to tell me what to do.”
“I cannot take the initiative. I cannot serve You in the way that I think. You have to tell me what to do.” That is the attitude of a servant. Just wait upon the Lord and let Him tell you what to do.
Then the second thing is, the Lord said, “You go to Damascus, and I will let you know what I want you to do, what you are appointed to do.” So he went to Damascus, and there he was for three days and three nights, blind.
You know, I often think that when you really receive a revelation, you will get blind for some time. Some people are just too clear.
But after three days and three nights waiting upon the Lord, God sent Ananias to him. Through Ananias, he was told what he was appointed to do. In other words, divine appointment.
In our service to God, there is no volunteer service. It is all by divine appointment. He was appointed to be a servant and a witness. And are we not all divinely appointed to be servants and witnesses of the Lord?
Again and again, you find in Paul’s writings, he said, “Paul, a called apostle, not from men, nor through man, but through God and Jesus Christ.” In other words, it is by divine appointment. It is not appointed by human beings, set up by oneself, or set up by other people. No. In the service of God, it has to be divinely appointed.
In the beginning, you may not know your specific sphere or field of work. You may not know in the beginning. But at least, you need to see the principle, and the principle is this: in God’s work, it is all by divine appointment.
As members of the body of Christ, He has set us in the body as different members. The way He set you as a member involves a divine appointment.
Did He set you as an eye? The divine appointment of your service is to see. If He set you as an ear, your divine appointment is to hear. It is all by divine appointment, and this will be manifested as we grow in life.
Saul was told by Ananias, “God has appointed you to be a servant and a witness.” But Paul did not enter into the fullness of his service immediately. He was gradually brought into the full meaning of God’s appointment.
One thing we need to remember is that Paul had enough sense to know that he could not fulfill that divine appointment without preparation.
Dear brothers and sisters, when we have a consciousness that God has divinely appointed us to be His servant and witness, then we think that we can fulfill that divine appointment right away, without any preparation. That is the reason why you find such high mortality among missionaries.
But Paul had enough sense. It is true that immediately after he was saved, he went in and out with the disciples in Damascus, and he testified right away that Jesus is the Son of God. Straight away, he testified that Jesus is the Son of God.
Of course, immediately after we are saved, we need to witness for the Lord. I always thank God for that brother who led me to Christ, because after he led me to Christ, the first thing he said was, “Go out. Tell somebody what the Lord has done to you.” He set me on the right track.
But Paul had enough sense to know that if he was to fulfill the divine appointment that God had in mind, there must be preparation. The preparation he had as a Pharisee was not sufficient.
That is the reason why he went to the desert, to Arabia, for three years—there to study the sacred letters in the new light of Christ, to be taught by the Spirit of God, not by man, but by the Spirit of God.
He was taught the divine revelation by the Spirit of God. And, as I mentioned last night, he came back and could witness and testify that Jesus is the Christ, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.
Then he went to Jerusalem to be confirmed in fellowship. Then he was sent back to Tarsus. We do not know for how long, until Barnabas went, found him, and brought him to Antioch.
But you remember that Paul, at that time, was still Saul. He was with Barnabas, serving the Lord together in the church in Antioch for a whole year. That year he served as an apprentice under Barnabas.
He had a divine appointment, a commission, and yet he was humble enough to know that he had to be prepared—not only prepared directly before God, but even receiving some kind of training and preparation under Barnabas.
Not until Acts 13 do you find five prophets and teachers, and Saul was the last of the five. Sometimes in Scripture, if you notice, the Lord never puts orders in that order without a meaning.
If we had written the Book of Acts, no doubt we would have put Saul first. But here the Spirit of God put him last. He was the least of the five prophets and teachers—the great apostle.
Then the Spirit of God said, “Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them”—the apostolic work. When they went out, it was Barnabas and Paul.
Not until later do you find the Holy Spirit writing, “Paul and Barnabas.” I think this was one reason why John Mark left, because John Mark was Barnabas’s relative. When he saw that, he could not stand it, and he left.
But Barnabas was gracious enough to know that it is up to the Lord. It is not a matter of position; it is a matter of spirituality. This is something for which we need to thank God for Barnabas. Oftentimes we think very poorly of him, but Barnabas was a great man of God.
A young man could not stand it, and he left. But here you find that, gradually, gradually, the Lord was developing that vessel. God gave him a divine appointment, but to fulfill that divine appointment, he had to enter into it step by step.
Oftentimes we find that with us, we are in such a hurry. When we feel a sense of divine appointment, we want to fulfill it right away. Now, Jesus says there is an urgency; that is true, because the time is short. But on the other hand, God is never in a hurry.
We need to be open to let God prepare us—prepare us as we go on. We may not be able to go to Arabia for three years, but certainly we can be with Barnabas for a year.
You find that we need certain preparation, gradually developed. Do not have the idea that because God has called you, therefore, here you are. We have to see that it is true God has called you, but there is much preparation needed if you want to fulfill God’s commission.
Gradually, step by step, Paul was led into the work that God had called him to do, until you begin to see how God used him in Asia, then from Asia to Europe, and finally, at the end of the Book of Acts, you find him in Rome. During that time, Rome was the end of the world.
From Judea to Samaria, and to the end of the world—that is the way we find how things were done.
We would like to see that when Paul was engaged in God’s work, our focus is not on what Paul did. That would be very interesting. But our focus is on how he did it. How did he serve God?
He was drawn into the very work of God: to establish the churches of God and to prepare the body. But how did he do it, as a servant, as a vessel of choice?
I would just read a few Scriptures. There are many more, but we will read just a few.
For instance, Romans 1:9:
For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you.
He said, “I serve in my spirit.” He did not serve just with his lips. He did not serve just with his activities. He did not serve in his flesh. He said, “I serve in my spirit.”
Deep down in his spirit, he received the revelation of God. He knew the will of God, and with his whole heart he served God. He neglected nothing. That is the way he served.
I do believe that if we are serving Him in His work, we have to serve Him in our spirit—not just doing it outwardly, not just trying to do it according to our thinking or with our own strength.
We must be able to say before God, “God is my witness that we serve Him in our spirit.” It is real. It is out of God.
Second Timothy 1:3:
I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure conscience, how unceasingly I have remembrance of thee in my supplications night and day.
Serve with a pure conscience. What does it mean? Not only a clean conscience. We cannot serve God with an evil conscience.
I think Christians today do not pay enough attention to their conscience. Our conscience, being purified by the blood of the Lord Jesus from dead works, is a renewed conscience, a sensitive conscience.
If we have an evil conscience, if it is a conscience with offense, we cannot serve God, because our faith will just leak out. We have to serve God with a clean conscience, knowing that there is nothing between us and God, nothing against Him.
Paul said, “I know nothing against myself,” not in the sense of boasting, but in the sense that he really had a clean conscience. You cannot serve God without a clean conscience.
But here you find it is not merely a clean conscience; it is a pure conscience. It means that he served God without impure motive. He had only one motive: God Himself.
His conscience would not bother him and say, “Now, Paul, you have some other motive there. You want to make a name for yourself, or you want to get gain, or you want popularity, or whatever it may be. You want to build up your own kingdom.”
You find that he served God with a pure conscience. That is the way we have to serve.
Romans 7:25:
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I of myself with the mind serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
With the mind, serve God’s law. In other words, you serve God with a renewed mind. By that, you know what the mind of Christ is. We have to serve with our minds, understanding and knowing what is the will of God.
Romans 7:6:
But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were holden; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.
When we are serving, we cannot serve Him in oldness of letter. It has to be in newness of spirit.
A great problem is that when people talk about a New Testament church, immediately people will go out and try to form a New Testament church. By forming a New Testament church, according to the New Testament, they get some people to be elders and some people to be deacons, and so they think they have a New Testament church.
Now, that is serving God in oldness of letter. You have to serve God in newness of spirit. It is true that you find in the Word the order of elders and deacons, but how do these come to be? They have to come from life, from the Spirit of God, in the newness of spirit.
Acts 20:19:
Serving the Lord with all lowliness of mind, and with tears, and with trials which befell me by the plots of the Jews.
He served the Lord with lowliness, tears, and trials. If we really serve the Lord, we always remember that we are but servants. Not because God may use us do we begin to lord it over other people.
Paul always served the Lord with humility, with meekness, with tears, and with trials.
Acts 20:24:
But I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
“I make no account of my life.” Paul served God without thinking of his own life. In other words, he was ever ready to lay down his life for the gospel’s sake. That is the way he served.
First Corinthians 9:19:
For though I was free from all men, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
He was set free by the Lord, and yet he willingly made himself a bondservant to every brother and sister. That is the spirit of servitude.
Philippians 2:17:
Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
He was like a drink offering, willing to be poured out upon the sacrifice of the Philippian believers. In other words, the Philippian believers were willing to offer themselves to God, and Paul was willing simply to be poured upon that sacrifice and rejoice with them all.
Colossians 1:29:
Whereunto I labor also, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily.
He toiled; he labored according to the power that worked in him.
Second Corinthians 12:15:
And I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?
Spent and be spent. Now, that is the way to serve.
Galatians 4:19:
My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.
Travail in birth.
Colossians 1:24:
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part in my flesh that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake, which is the church.
Now, this is the spirit in which Paul served in the service of God. Oh, how we pray that we too may serve God in the same spirit. This is the spirit that we need to have if we are engaged in God’s work.
Finally, of course, we find how greatly God used this vessel of choice. Not only do you find churches planted all over Asia and Europe—though, at the end, all Asia left him; that is true—but still we find how much God did through this vessel to further the kingdom of God, to build up the body of Christ, and to prepare for the return of Christ.
More than that, we have half of the New Testament written through Paul. How much God was able to use that vessel.
You find that all his services were channels directed to the work of God—the work that God is doing, that Christ is doing. Throughout the ages, all the servants of God are doing that one work.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are privileged to be called into the same work. May the work of God be done and completed.
Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee because Thou art working. And we know that the day is coming when Thy work shall be done, and Thy Son shall receive all that Thou hast ordained for Him. He shall be glorified and satisfied.
Our Father, how we praise and thank Thee, unworthy as we are, that Thou hast not only saved us, but Thou hast called us into Thy work, that we should serve Thee in Thy work.
O Lord, do impress upon us how serious, and yet how glorious, that service is. Oh, we just cast ourselves upon Thee and pray that we may serve Thee well, that one day Thou wilt be able to say to us:
Well done, good and faithful servant;
enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.