Please turn to several portions of Scripture.
And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him;
and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;
for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance.
For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, Who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.
His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.”
Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.
I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me.
For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
But which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, “Come immediately and sit down to eat”?
But will he not say to him, “Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk; and afterward you may eat and drink”?
He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he?
So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, “We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.”
Each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward.
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Lord, we truly thank You and praise You. It is Your great grace that has brought us before You tonight. We thank You and praise You because You truly care for us. You truly are in our midst.
As we gather for the last time, we look to You to continue speaking to us. May You continue to finish the work that You have begun through the Holy Spirit. We long that You would capture all of us. We long that Your will would be accomplished in each one of us, so that You may gain all the glory and praise.
We commit this time into Your hands. We look to You to do the work. In the name of Jesus, amen.
We thank the Lord for having guided us to the last hour of this meeting. We have been fellowshipping together concerning the matter of master, disciples, and servants.
This truly is our heartfelt prayer: that every brother and sister will be able to see our Lord. Not only do we need to see the Lamb who is upon the cross; we also need to see the Lamb who is upon the throne.
We indeed need to see the Lord Jesus as our Savior. We also must see that our Lord is indeed our Master. Our brother has spoken to us concerning the Lord’s sovereignty and His authority over each one of us.
I do not know, brothers and sisters: do we have such a vision toward the Lord? This glorious vision of the Lord is such an important vision.
If we only see the Lord who was crucified on the cross, then indeed we have received much grace. However, if we have not seen the Lord who is upon the throne, the Lord has not gained anything in us at all, neither has God’s purpose been accomplished in us.
May the Lord grant that, in the depth of each one of our hearts, we would really see the Christ who is upon the throne. We would see that He exercises His complete authority upon us.
He is such an example. As He lived as a man, He revealed to us what kind of man God is looking for. Praise our God! He is not only our example; He has put His life within our hearts.
Therefore, we can live according to the example of His life. Because He is our Master, He is also our life. That is how today we can walk with the Lord, together with Him.
Every believer is one who is called to be a disciple. Do not ever consider that we can be a believer and not a disciple. No, every redeemed one—God has called him to become His disciple. God has called him to follow our Master.
This call is a very common call. Every brother and sister, the Lord has called to become His disciples. He called us to follow Him. He called us to dwell with Him. He called us to behold how He lived His life.
He called us to behold how He does His work. He is training us with such longsuffering, so that we can be conformed to His own image, so that we will possess His character, and so that we can also do the work He would have us do.
Firstly, we must see our Master. Afterwards, we must stand upon the ground of being discipled. In this way, service can be produced.
We also mentioned that our real service before the Lord commences with consecration. Every redeemed one, though he has been called to become His disciple, has also been called to serve the Lord.
Unless he has been constrained by the Lord to offer up his body as a living sacrifice, his service has not even begun.
Romans 12:1 clearly shows us:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
For a believer who has not fully consecrated himself to the Lord, the meaning of consecration is simply to offer himself as a sacrifice upon the altar.
In other words, it is for us to lay down our bodies fully to the Lord, so that He may gain full sovereignty over us. To offer ourselves is not first to do something for Him.
The first thing about consecration is to offer ourselves up so that He can do something in us. Because we have become a sacrifice, we must go through the consuming fire. We have to go through death. Then can we enter into the realm of resurrection, and then can we commence to serve our Lord.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, consecration is our first spiritual experience. After we have been saved, the first spiritual experience is consecration. Because of consecration, then we begin our service.
That is not to say that we are immediately profitable vessels. We see that the Lord employs all different means to train us.
On the one hand, we will have a deeper knowing of our Lord, so that we can fully surrender to Him. On the other hand, we can stand upon the ground of being discipled, so that we can learn well.
In this way, you will discover that the more we live, the more we will come up to His desire.
We have oftentimes had a misconception, thinking that service is to do something for the Lord. If I have some service in the church, we say that this is service. If I care for my children at home, that would not be considered service.
This is a great misconception. We have to see, firstly, that our being has to become a serving person. So, regardless of what we do, we are serving our Lord.
Every one of us is serving twenty-four hours per day. Whatever we touch, we serve. If we have seen this, I believe, brothers and sisters, that not only within the church will the Lord gain His service; even in society, the Lord can receive His service. In our homes, He can gain His service.
This is something very basic that we need to see: for us to live is to serve our Lord.
This evening, we would like to share a further word concerning service. Since we are serving persons, and since we serve twenty-four hours a day, every day, then we who serve have no retirement.
Sometimes I hear brothers talk about this. Those of you who preach have no retirement. You cannot say, “You are a preacher, and then you retire. You no longer preach.” So, you preachers have no retirement.
We, on the other hand, when we reach a certain age, can retire. That is because we are doing secular things. We are serving secular matters. So, as we reach a certain point in time, we can retire from them. We no longer have to do that.
Yes, indeed, what we perform today may be merely secular things, and from those things we can retire. But today, if you serve your Lord, you have no retirement.
From the moment you are saved, you begin service, and you will serve all the way until you go to see the Lord. In the matter of serving the Lord, there is no retirement.
Maybe there are some adjustments in the way you serve, but as far as the principle of serving the Lord is concerned, it never changes.
There is no holiday in service either. If we work, we come to a certain time when we take a vacation. When we take a vacation, we enjoy what we like to do.
But for us to serve our Master, there is no holiday either. I know some preachers who preach for a few years and would like to take a vacation. So they go to the beach. They do not even read the Scriptures anymore; neither do they pray. They watch television and read novels, because it is a vacation.
If this is the case, would you criticize them? You would say, “You are a preacher. How can you have this kind of vacation? How can you not serve the Lord during your vacation?”
Every one of us is a serving one. Therefore, in the matter of service, there is no vacation. Even when you do take a vacation, you are still serving. You cannot quit serving when you have a vacation and live like a worldly person. You do the same things worldly people do, and you look at the things worldly people look at.
If this is the case, you have lost your position. So, in the matter of service, there is no holiday. Even when you take a vacation, you are still serving your Master.
Thank and praise God. Not only from the day we are saved and consecrated do we begin serving our Lord and serving His purpose; even throughout the rest of our lives, until the day we go to see Him, we serve.
That is not to say that when we see the Lord face to face, we stop serving either. In reality, our service today is still an apprenticeship. It is an exercise. We are still practicing.
Our real service begins after we see Him face to face. Then do we begin our real service. Not only will we serve Him in the coming age; we will also serve Him in eternity.
That is why you see in Revelation 22 that, when we enter eternity in the city of New Jerusalem, you will see the throne of God and of the Lamb there. His servants serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be inscribed upon their foreheads.
Let us remember, brothers and sisters: our service today on the earth is but practice. Our real service really commences after we see Him face to face.
First Timothy 4 tells us that bodily exercise profits for a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, holding promise not only for this age but also for the age to come. This word is trustworthy.
Our labor is for this. Bodily exercise is needful, but its profit is limited. It only helps you to have a healthy body. It is profitable only for this age.
In the next age, you will have a spiritual body that does not need to be exercised in the gym. Because we possess a corruptible body, a body of death, and a body of weakness, therefore we need to exercise, so that we may be healthy and receive strength.
But this is profitable only for this age. I do hope, brothers and sisters, that you will exercise your bodies. We did not know this when we were young. Many times we loved the Lord to such an extent that we did not care for our bodies. The result was that before we even reached old age, our bodies were weakened.
So we need to exercise our bodies. Please remember, even in our exercise of the body, we are serving the Lord. But bodily exercise profits for a little.
We also need to exercise unto godliness. What is godliness? Godliness is to be God-like. Today we possess the life of God within us. We need to cause this life to be lived out according to His character.
If we live according to the character of this new life, and if we exercise in this way, it becomes our character, so that the character of Christ becomes our character. This is necessary.
If we do not exercise in this way, even if we possess the life of Christ, we cannot live out the character of Christ as our character. That is why we need to exercise to be God-like.
This exercise takes place in our spirit. It takes place in our conscience. A Christian’s conscience is very important.
The Scripture tells us that some have rejected a good conscience, and concerning faith have suffered shipwreck. It is just like a ship having run aground: the faith has leaked out.
We know that the Holy Spirit oftentimes pricks our conscience. When the Holy Spirit pricks our conscience, we need to hearken to the voice of conscience.
Oftentimes the voice of conscience is different from, and opposite to, our own voice. The conscience can condemn you as well as excuse you. We often see that the accusing of the conscience is more than the excusing.
Therefore, we need to exercise our conscience. Paul says that before God and before men, he maintained a conscience without offense. In this way, we can live the Lord’s life out of us.
We also need to exercise our intuition, because we know the life of Christ in us has such an intuitive knowledge. No one needs to teach you. From the youngest among you to the oldest, everyone knows the Lord.
In Old Testament times, they needed to be taught, “Know the Lord.” But in the New Testament, we see that the Holy Spirit is within us. We have an anointing teaching us. He will directly teach us, so that we would know what is the Lord’s will.
We should learn to avail ourselves of the teaching of the Holy Spirit. We need to learn to walk in the light. In this way, we can have fellowship with our Lord.
We need to exercise our spirit to commune with Him through prayer, the reading of His Word, meditation, and worship. We need to exercise unto godliness. That is how we see Christ’s life lived out. This is service. This is service.
We see that today is a time of practice. We need to exercise so that we can mature and grow up. God is not looking for children; He is looking for sons.
God’s only begotten Son would be the Firstborn among many brethren. He will lead many sons into glory. So we see that our lives need to be exercised. This is the time of our training.
When we grow up and attain to the full measure of the stature, then can we reign with Him in the kingdom. Then do we really enter into true service.
God has commissioned us with gifts, but the gifts He has given us do not belong to us. The gift belongs to the Lord. He distributes His gifts to His disciples, but the gifts belong to the Master.
If today we have received gifts from the Lord, we are stewards. We need to use what the Lord has given us to serve our Lord, not to use the gift to serve ourselves.
These gifts are committed to us; they are not our property. If we are unfaithful in the things other people have committed to us, who will give us our own things?
But there will come a time in the kingdom when these things will become your possession. Today, you are merely there to administer for the Lord. If you administer in a faithful way, you will discover that those things the Lord has given you become yours.
There was a story of a man who commissioned his friend to build a house. His friend was not faithful, so he cut corners. Unbeknownst to him, once the building was completed, the man gave the house to him.
Then he said to himself, “Had I known this before, I would have built this house very well.”
The gifts that God has given you—whether you received five talents, three talents, or one talent—must be used. In the Gospel account, ten servants each received one mina. This points out that the grace the Lord gives us is the same. We all need to use this grace properly in order to serve the Lord.
There will come a time when you will discover that these things have become your eternal possession. Today, as we have seen, Scripture tells us that these are small things.
You were faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.
If you are unfaithful in small things, the Lord has no way to commit to you the real things. Let us remember the service we have on the earth: we are merely exercising and being trained.
If we can serve our Lord while on the earth, live for the Lord, and use the gifts the Lord has given us, there will come a time when we will really have the true service.
At the same time, we must know the attitudes we should possess in service. What kind of attitudes should we have according to our life?
In Philippians 3, we see Paul. According to our point of view, he had become very mature. Yet how did he speak? In Philippians 3:12-14, he says:
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
As we serve the Lord on the earth, our attitude should be according to our knowing of the Lord. We should always say that we have never attained it. We should never be self-satisfied, as though we had reached a certain stage and fully known Him, with nothing else to gain.
Not that I have already gained, because what I want to gain is to lay hold of Christ as He has laid hold of me. The Lord has a purpose in each one of us. This is the purpose that we need to lay hold of.
That is why we need to forget what is behind and press on—press on toward the goal—in order to gain the upward call. This refers to our living, because in our daily living we need to persevere in pressing on to know the Lord.
As far as our work is concerned, we see in the Gospel according to Luke a servant who goes out to plow or tend sheep. When he returns home, the master does not tell him to sit down and eat. Rather, the master tells him to prepare food and continue serving.
So, even after you have finished all the things, you will still say, “I am an unworthy servant. All these things are the things which I ought to have done.” This is the attitude we should have in service. We should never claim that our work is done.
Even after we have done all the work, we still need to return to the Lord and serve Him. We also need always to possess this attitude: “We are unprofitable servants. All these things are the things which we ought to have done.”
Because if it were not for the grace upon us, we could never have done anything. The Lord says, “Without Me, you can do nothing.” Yet we can do all things through Him Who empowers us. This is a proper attitude we should have in service.
“I have such a jealousy of God toward you. I betrothed you as a virgin to one husband.” Unless you have forsaken that true heart, you may be beguiled.
Every believer is a chaste virgin. That is why the Bible shows us the parable of the ten virgins. Some say that the five wise virgins are believers, but in the Scriptures none of the unbelievers can be called virgins.
The unbelievers are the harlot, because they are united with the world and united with sin. Only the redeemed ones can be called virgins.
We are not only virgins; we have been betrothed to one husband. Toward the husband to whom we have been betrothed, we should have an undefiled heart.
In other words, even though we have not yet been married, we have already been betrothed. In the Bible, once you have been betrothed, it is the same as in the Old Testament: you are considered as having been married.
Even though today people regard betrothal as nothing, in the Bible, as long as you are betrothed, you are considered as having been married.
So, in the heart of a virgin who has been betrothed, she has only one husband. She prepares herself for this future husband. Aside from her future husband, she has no other man in her heart. This is an undefiled heart.
Today we are all virgins. We have all been betrothed to Christ. But toward our Lord, do we have such an undefiled heart?
Much of the time our heart returns to the world. Even we stray away into sin. We have been beguiled. We stray away from Christ.
As we still live on the earth, we need to maintain an undefiled heart. A heart for the Lord needs to be perfect. We cannot have a divided heart toward other things.
If we prepare ourselves in this way, a day will come when we will be united with the Lord as one.
So this is a demand in service: we need to pray for an undivided heart. This is what the Bible calls the first love. If we lose our first love, even if we labor and toil, we can never satisfy the Lord’s heart.
What He is looking for is our love, not our travail and toil. As far as the work that the Lord has commissioned us to do, what He requires is faithfulness and discernment.
Discernment speaks about our understanding of His heart. You know what His desires are, and you do what He desires.
You see in Matthew 7 those who say, “Did we not cast out demons in Your name?” What is the Lord’s reply? The Lord says, “I never knew you.” In the original language, it means, “I never approved you,” because you never acted according to My desire.
Even if what you did was right in the eyes of men, if I never permitted you, then I did not approve it. So in service, whatever we do, we need to look for the Lord’s desire.
Only those who obey His will are His mother, His brothers, and His sisters. We not only need discernment; we also need faithfulness. We know what is God’s heart, and then we do it faithfully.
We cannot do things in a wishy-washy way, because we are not doing them for men. We are here to serve the Lord. This is a requirement of service.
As we serve in this way, the Scripture tells us that there is a reward awaiting us. Brothers and sisters, it is by the grace of God that we have been saved. The Lord has poured out His grace upon us. We have not merited it.
The reward is a different matter. Grace is the same for every child. In your house, you do not give your children food because they have acted well, nor do you refuse them food if they have not acted well. The way you treat them is a matter of grace. You love them if they do well, and you love them if they are not good.
But sometimes you have a promise: if your children do a certain thing, if they do well, or if they study, on a certain day you will reward them. This reward is not for every child. It takes a diligent child who studies well to gain the reward.
The Bible also shows us that grace is poured out freely, but reward is according to our living and according to our work.
If we live today so as to allow the life of Christ to be lived out, like the work of gold and silver, then when the Lord comes, He will bring reward. Just like the servant with five talents who gained five more, you see the master rewarding him and giving him much more to do.
In the Bible, there is such a matter as reward. Even though on the surface this reward seems to be according to how we live and how we work, reward is still according to grace.
Firstly, His grace is great. We can employ this grace, and the Lord says, “I will reward you even more.” Even though it is a reward, the source is out of grace, because in us there is no good thing. Whatever is out of us is corruption.
So we see that it is He Who has done it in us first. Then, if He can do it out of us, He says, “I will reward you.” You see how great His grace is.
There will come a day when the Lord returns, and all those who are His will appear before His judgment seat. Praise the Lord, we will not go to the great white throne judgment. On the cross, He has been judged on our behalf. That judgment is past. We have come out of death into life.
That is not to say that we believers have no judgment at all. When the Lord returns, we all need to be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ.
This judgment is the judgment of the family. It is not a judgment of perdition. It is the judgment of whether you receive a reward or suffer loss.
If you build with wood, hay, and stubble, on that day the fire will reveal it and consume it. Even though you are saved, you are barely saved. You have no reward. You have no portion in the millennial kingdom. You cannot reign with the Lord for a thousand years.
The Lord uses this as a constraint. We do not love the Lord for the matter of reward, and we are not serving Him because of reward. But if we love the Lord and serve Him, the Lord says, “I will reward you.” The Lord uses this as a constraint.
Lastly, why do we serve? What is the ultimate purpose?
According to Romans 8, those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. But to God, this is not enough. He desires that we would be conformed to such an extent that we are able to enter into glory.
God is glorious, so He wants us also to enter into glory. How do we gain glory? When Christ is formed in us, at that moment glory is manifested.
So today, if we hinder the Lord from transforming us, we hinder Him from conforming us to His character. If we do not allow glory to be brought into us, then on that day we are not qualified to enter into glory.
Because this glory is too much. Even if you were forced into it, you could not bear it.
There was a story about two ships setting out. One was a cruise ship for unbelievers, and the other was a cruise for Christians. One brother went aboard the wrong ship, and there was also an unbeliever who took the wrong boat.
The unbeliever went aboard the Christian boat. The Christians were praying, singing hymns, and praising the Lord. He could not tolerate it. He said, “Bring me ashore.”
The same thing happened to the Christian on the unbelieving boat. Even on that day, if you were forced into glory, you would want to escape.
So we praise and thank God. Not only personally, but corporately also, He is looking for a glorious church, without spot or any such thing, without any imperfection. Such can become the Bride, entering into glory.
As we enter into glory, the Scripture says that if we suffer with Him, we will be glorified with Him. But as we enter into glory, it is not for our sake either.
For us to be able to enter into glory is a matter of glorifying God. This is God’s heart desire, that His heart desire may be accomplished in us.
All is out from Him, all is through Him, and all is unto Him. This is the consummated purpose of service.
When we enter into glory, you do not think about yourself. All you can think about is God. All you can feel is not for yourself; all you can feel is for the Lord—God and the Lamb upon the throne. There you are serving Him.
Lord, we truly thank You and praise You. Formerly, we had no portion in service. We were unqualified servants. Yet You have paid such a great price so that we can serve Your purpose and accomplish Your grace.
Lord, we pray that You will remember us. As we conclude this conference, may You begin Your work here. Continue to reveal Yourself in our midst. Have mercy upon us. Do not forsake us.
So that we can become Your disciples to the end, and that we may live Your life, so that Your glory can be manifested, we are willing that You receive all the glory. Until that day, in the name of Jesus.