Let us look at a few portions of Scripture.
1 Timothy 4:15-16:
Be diligent in these matters;
give yourself wholly to them,
so that your progress may be evident to all.
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the teaching;
continue in these things:
for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee.
2 Timothy 2:21:
If a man therefore purge himself from these,
he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified,
meet for the Master’s use,
prepared unto every good work.
Philippians 3:10-12:
That I may know Him,
and the power of His resurrection,
and the fellowship of His sufferings,
becoming conformed unto His death;
if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.Not that I have already obtained,
or am already made perfect:
but I press on,
if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5:
And I, brethren, when I came unto you,
came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom,
but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God.
2 Corinthians 4:7:
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God,
and not from ourselves.
Ephesians 4:15-16:
Speaking truth in love,
may grow up in all things into Him, who is the head, even Christ;
from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together
through that which every joint supplieth,
according to the working in due measure of each several part,
maketh the increase of the body
unto the building up of itself in love.
Let us pray. Father, we truly thank You and praise You. As we gather in Your name, You are in the midst of us.
We thank You and praise You, for You are a speaking God. We have read Your Word. Now we ask You, through the Holy Spirit, to utter Your Word into the depths of our hearts.
Your Word is spirit and life. Lead us into the true service, that You may gain the glory and that Your will may be accomplished. We look to You in oneness, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Concerning the matter of service, as we mentioned, service is altogether according to our knowledge of God. It is also according to our being His disciples.
If we do not know the matter of discipleship, it is altogether impossible to serve God. Unless we stand on the ground of being disciples, our service will never reach God.
We must clearly see this matter. If we truly see it, service becomes the natural result. You cannot have service without being a disciple. Otherwise, it becomes merely an activity of religion.
If we are truly the Lord’s disciples, service spontaneously issues out of our being. There is no need for us to ask, “How do we serve?” Neither do we need to ask whether there is an opportunity. If we know the Lord and stand on the ground of being disciples, service will issue forth.
I truly feel that if we do not know the matter of consecration, if we are not absolute in consecration, then we may feel that we know the Lord and have offered something to Him. But the consecration we speak of is not merely doing a little thing for God.
We must truly see the meaning of consecration. If we have not become truly consecrated persons, we are not ready to enter into service. This is a difficulty in the church today.
Because of His mercies, we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice—every brother and every sister. A living sacrifice is nothing more than putting ourselves into the hands of God and acknowledging that He is our Lord.
We have come to know Him as our Savior for our benefit. But if we truly know Him as our Master, then it is for Him to use us. We must fully consecrate ourselves to the Lord.
The Scripture says that we are to offer our bodies, because our bodies are a living sacrifice. It is not merely that we offer our lips, our hands, or our heads. We consecrate our whole being to the Lord.
That is to say, we come out of ourselves and lay ourselves wholly upon the altar, that the Master may have His way in us, may fill us, and may be manifested through us. This is how we begin our course.
Today we will continue by considering the purpose and continuation of service. When we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, this is only the commencement. It does not mean that once we have offered ourselves, we immediately become useful vessels. Our consecration to the Lord is only the beginning.
Then the Lord begins to work in us. He begins to rid us of all that is not of Him. As we continue in this offering and service, we continue to grow.
Service is not merely a matter of doing certain things. Service is to serve our Master. Service has no regard merely to activities or outward things. Our entire life is service.
When we think that service is only doing something in a certain meeting, in a certain environment, or when there are certain things for us to say, then we have misunderstood service. We must see that the One whom we serve is the Lord Himself.
Then we see that service is for life. Your entire life is for service to God. Your living is service, whether you are at home or in any kind of relationship.
People may ask, “Where are you serving in the church?” These matters may be included in service, but they are outward expressions. They are only functions and methods of service. The One whom we serve is the Master Himself.
If you are at home, you are there to serve the Lord. When you are engaged in daily activities, you are there to serve the Lord. When you are nourishing your children, you are serving the Lord. When you are caring for your parents, you are serving the Lord.
As a husband, you are there to serve the Lord. As a wife, you are there to serve the Lord. As a son, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, or in any relationship, you are there to serve the Master.
Even when we work in society, we are serving the Lord. God’s children often have a misconception. They think that only those who preach are serving God, while those who work in society are not serving.
I remember a brother who said, “I have wasted much time in these years. I work at a hospital, and I have not served the Lord.” I told him, “Brother, you are wrong. As you work at the hospital, you may be serving the Lord even better than those who preach on a platform.”
Sometimes those who preach may serve themselves, because their hearts are not pure before the Lord. Even when you work outside, you need to see that your heart is for service to God. You need to allow the Lord to issue out of your being.
Every redeemed one begins a life of service from the moment he is saved. Consecration means that you become a consecrated person. From that point onward, there is no other purpose: we live for Christ.
Whatever we do, we do it through Him and unto Him. We must be thoroughly clear about this matter. There is no separate category of life which is unrelated to service. Everything is service unto Him.
When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai, His desire was that they would become a kingdom of priests. God’s original intention was that all His redeemed people should serve Him.
The Levites were born to serve. As they grew up, they received training in how to serve in the temple. Their whole being was for service.
Yet God’s intention was not merely that one tribe would serve Him. His intention was that the whole nation would be a kingdom of priests. But because of the sin of Israel, especially in the matter of the golden calf, they disqualified themselves from this service.
Therefore, God chose the tribe of Levi to serve in place of the people. This was a temporary measure; it was not God’s original intention. Many things in the Old Testament were temporary arrangements and did not represent God’s eternal purpose.
Through the salvation accomplished by the Lord Jesus on the cross, God brings us back to His original intention. We have become a kingdom of priests, offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.
From the moment we are saved, we have the position of priests. There is no other purpose for us. The priests in those times served in the temple, and all their service was related to the temple.
Whenever a priest was separated from the temple, the result was devastating. In Judges 17, there was a Levite dwelling in Bethlehem-judah. He left his proper place and wandered about looking for a place to live.
He should have served the Lord in the temple in Jerusalem, but instead he was looking for a job, looking for service elsewhere. Imagine a Levite looking for a job when he already had a calling from God.
He came to the house of Micah, where there was an idol. Because he was a Levite, Micah invited him to become a priest in his house. Thus, the Levite became the priest of an idol.
This is the danger of being separated from the house of God. We are the house of the living God, and we are of the household of God. Our service must be within the house of God and in relation to the Body of Christ.
There is a difference between Levitical service and priestly service. The Levites served the temple and assisted the people in their offerings. But the priests served God directly.
Today, we who belong to the Lord are both Levites and priests. On the one hand, we serve the saints and care for practical matters. On the other hand, we enter into the presence of God, pray, worship, and offer Christ to God.
Christ becomes our sacrifice, and we offer Him up to God. This is our priestly service.
In Revelation 4, in the midst of the throne and around the throne, there are four living creatures. They continually say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”
They worship day and night without ceasing. Our service should be the same. It is not merely one person serving occasionally. Every one of us is there to serve.
When you begin to serve, you continue to serve. After scores of years, you still serve. Our entire life is for the purpose of serving our Lord.
The Lord called His disciples. He called Peter and Andrew, saying, “Follow Me.” Their training did not begin only on the day they were called; they were continually trained as they followed the Lord.
Peter was a fisherman, but the Lord had to train him to become a fisher of men. In the matter of service, we need to be continually trained.
The Lord was severe with Peter because Peter was a strong and natural person. Peter had to learn that the Lord’s way is not according to natural zeal, natural strength, or human understanding.
When the Lord told His disciples that He would go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and rise again on the third day, Peter protested. But Peter had to learn the way of the cross.
We need to learn much. We do not begin service because we are naturally able, eloquent, or gifted. We need to learn the Lord and learn His way.
The first lesson is that we must learn to know our Lord. If we do not know the Lord, there is no way that we can truly serve the Master. We can only serve ourselves.
Service to the Lord is not merely doing something well. You may do a thing very well, yet the Lord may gain very little from it. Service depends upon the measure in which Christ has become real in us.
If your knowledge of the Lord is very limited inwardly, you can only bring people to a limited knowledge of Him. You may bring someone to know the Lord as Savior, but if you do not know Him as Lord, Master, Life, and All, how can you help others to know Him?
We must seek to know Him well. The one who does not serve properly is often self-satisfied and self-conceited. He feels that he already knows enough. But the more we know the Lord, the more we realize that we do not know Him sufficiently.
The Lord is unfathomable. There is no limit to knowing Him. We should never think that we have already fully known Him and that there is nothing more to seek.
Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ.” How much of Christ has been wrought into you? How much of Christ is expressed through you? When people come into contact with one who truly knows the Lord, they may be touched by Christ even without many words being spoken.
It is not merely a matter of reasoning. Christ has become the content of that person. Then, when such a one helps brothers and sisters, he ministers Christ to them. This is service.
Our seeking of the Lord must not be superficial. Much of the time, we speak merely from scriptural knowledge without ministering the Lord Himself. We need to know the Master.
The second lesson is that we need to know ourselves. Our hearts are exceedingly wicked, even to the point of deceiving ourselves. Only the Lord can search our hearts.
We may think that we are capable and that we can do everything by ourselves. We may think that no one can compare with us, or we may withdraw and say that we are not qualified. But both attitudes can be expressions of the self.
Some give their opinion about everything. Others do nothing and preserve themselves. Neither attitude is true service, because both are centered in the self.
We bring our natural being into the church and think that if we have some activity, then we are serving. But if we are not busy, we think that we are unemployed. This reveals that we do not know ourselves.
The Holy Spirit gradually shows us how much we depend upon ourselves. Formerly, we may have used our intelligence, ability, natural power, and natural will to serve. But the self remains the same.
A person may make many resolutions and use his natural strength to resist temptation or improve himself. Yet the more he struggles in himself, the more tired and defeated he becomes.
A Christian may sincerely desire to be good, but if he seeks to live the Christian life by his own strength, he will become exhausted. These intentions may be good, but they use the wrong power.
Only Christ, who is within us, can live out the Christian life. We must come to know ourselves and realize that there is no good thing in the flesh.
Paul said:
I have been crucified with Christ;
and it is no longer I that live,
but Christ liveth in me:
and that life which I now live in the flesh
I live in faith,
the faith which is in the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
Have we seen that the old man has been crucified? Have we seen that our natural goodness, natural meekness, natural tenderness, and natural wisdom have also been crucified?
Whatever issues out of our natural being cannot please God. If we still try to live by ourselves, what we live out is Adam, not Christ.
Only when we know ourselves and accept the fact that we have died with Christ can we say, “It is no longer I, but Christ liveth in me.” In this way, Christ can be lived out through us.
The same principle is found in 2 Corinthians 4. The death of Christ operates in us so that the life of Christ may be manifested in others. We need to know ourselves because the greatest enemy we encounter is the old Adam within.
A work may appear great and successful. It may influence many people. But if it issues from the self, the fire will test it. What is of the self will be burned up.
The work of gold, silver, and precious stones is the work that manifests the glory of the Lord and endures the trial of fire. Therefore, in the way of service, we need to embrace the work of the cross.
Much of what we know concerning the cross may be objective. We know what Christ accomplished two thousand years ago. But we need to know the subjective work of the cross in us.
The Holy Spirit takes the accomplished work of Christ and makes it real in us, one by one. He applies the cross of Christ to you and to me. He terminates the self-life and increases the life of Christ within us.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels. We are nothing but earthen vessels—cheap and fragile. Yet, thank and praise God, this treasure is within us. It is a glorious treasure.
No one would put a treasure in an earthen vessel, but God has put the most valuable treasure in the universe into earthen vessels. This treasure is the Lord Himself.
The Holy Spirit uses the cross to break the earthen vessel. He uses the environment, relationships, and circumstances to deal with us. The Lord said that if anyone would come after Him, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him.
Do not try to create a cross for yourself. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. He arranges circumstances that are contrary to our opinions, our temperament, and our preferences.
The Holy Spirit may place you in an environment that exposes your natural emotion, natural will, and natural disposition. Then you begin to see how much self is in you, and you become willing to lay it down.
Through the Holy Spirit, we accept the cross. In this way, the life of Christ can be manifested in our relationships. It is no longer merely our natural temperament; it is the life of Christ expressed through us.
If we protect ourselves and say, “This is me. I am not willing to be broken,” the treasure cannot be manifested. The surpassing greatness of the power must be of God and not of ourselves.
If we remain whole and unbroken in ourselves, the life of Christ cannot be manifested. Therefore, we must accept the cross.
Taking up the cross is a matter of the will. We need a willing heart. The cross is a very practical matter. It enables us to become truly serving ones, because Christ is lived out through us.
Service is in the Body. We cannot do the work of a lone ranger. We must be coordinated with one another, holding fast the Head.
The joints are connected to one another so that the Body may be built up. Every member has a place, and every member has a function. The growth of the Body comes through the proper working of each part.
May the Lord train us in the matter of service through His Spirit. May He gain in us a willing heart, a consecrated life, the knowledge of Himself, the knowledge of ourselves, and the practical acceptance of the cross.
May He enable us to serve Him in the Body, that Christ may be expressed and that the Body may be built up in love.