This hymn was written by Watchman Nee before he was imprisoned, and it brings back so many memories to me.
The Lord is coming soon. Generation after generation, those who love the Lord wait for His coming. It is not because He does not want to come. He is anxious, like a bridegroom anxious to take his bride. But unfortunately, His bride has not been ready.
But we do thank God: today is nearer than yesterday. He is coming soon. We know His Spirit is with us. He has never left us nor forsaken us, but we long to see His face.
Please turn to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 12. We begin with verse 42.
And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and prudent steward, whom his lord shall set over his household, to give the measure of corn in season?
Blessed is that bondman whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.
Of a truth I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he hath.
But if that servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the unbelievers.
And that servant, who knew his lord’s will, and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes;
but he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.
And to whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required; and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more.
First Corinthians, chapter 3. We begin with verse 11.
Now if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble;
each man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man’s work of what sort it is.
If any man’s work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we do sense that we are on the verge of Thy coming for us. Do prepare us. Make us ready for Thyself, Thou Who hast loved us and gavest even Thyself to us.
Much has been given, Lord. Make us faithful. We commit this time into Thy hands and trust Thy Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts.
Lord, have mercy upon us, that when we shall see Thee face to face, we shall not be put to shame, but Thou wilt be glorified. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Yesterday morning, we considered together the first question on this matter of responsibility: Why? Why should God put any responsibility upon us? If He loves us so much, He should take care of everything. He should do everything for us. He should not put any burden upon us. Why?
I think this is a question we need to solve. Otherwise, we will never understand God. Our God is a God of responsibility, and because of what He is, and because He loves us so much, He wants us to be like Him. Therefore, He gives responsibility to us.
So far as God is concerned, it is very risky. It would be much safer if He made machines—robots—everything programmed, and everything we do according to what He wants. But that is not love.
So, brothers and sisters, I hope that our whole concept of responsibility should be changed. Instead of seeing it as a burden, as a hardship, as an expression of the hardness of God our Master—you know, the evil servant thinks that way—I hope that none of us will think in this manner. Because if we do, we misunderstand God.
It is through love that He puts responsibility upon us.
Now this morning, we would like to consider together the second question: What? What responsibility has God given to us as men, as believers?
Again, I want to remind you, brothers and sisters, that we are here meditating on the Word of God together. I want your spirit to be alert, your mind to be open, and together we draw near to our Lord and meditate upon His Word. Allow His Word to become real and living in our lives. That is what it should be.
When you think of responsibility, the very word responsibility tells us that it is a response. In other words, you are not taking the initiative. There is Somebody Who takes the initiative and takes an action; and after He has taken that action, you respond to it.
So again, brothers and sisters, we have to go back to God, because He is the Initiator. He is the One Who is the beginning. He begins everything. And when He has taken that first step, we respond.
Yesterday, we mentioned that God created man in His own image. Unfortunately, today men think that they are self-existing. They think that they are their own god, their own master, their own maker. That is the reason for humanity’s confusion.
But we need to remember that we have a Maker. We are not self-existing. Somebody, out of love, has made us. He has given us a body. Even though this body is made of dust, and one day will go back to dust, brothers and sisters, the psalmist said, “How wonderful, how terrible, is the body that God has made.” A masterpiece.
But more than just a body, He breathed His breath into the nostrils of that body. And that breath of God which entered into that body became the human spirit.
God created us according to His image. He is Spirit, so He created us with a spirit. And with that human spirit, we can commune with God. What a glorious thought. What a loving consideration—that God wants to commune with you. He wants to be friends. He wants to cultivate a friendship with you, so He makes it possible for you to do that.
And when the breath of God touched that earthen body, a living soul was produced. That is you. You become conscious of yourself. You have your will—a free will. You have a mind that can think. You have emotions that can express how you feel. Brothers and sisters, these are the gifts of God.
Even though outwardly we are born through our parents, brothers and sisters, it is God Who gives life to each and every one of us. This animated life, this life of the soul, enables us to live, to be conscious, to be an individual, to be special. There is no one in the universe just the same as you are. Everyone is special. Brothers and sisters, that is the gift of God.
He gave us a will. He gave us a mind to think. He gave us expression and emotion. Not only that, when He made us, He also endowed us with talents. Everyone who has come into this world has natural talents. By natural, it simply means God has given them.
Not only that, He gave you time. Even though time is not too long in comparison with eternity, Moses said the years of man are seventy, and if he is strong, he may be eighty. But Moses lived to be one hundred and twenty. God gives us time.
Brothers and sisters, why does God give us time? Because you work in time. Because He wants you to accomplish, to fulfill, something in time. He gives you time to train you, to complete you, to mature you. Time is very precious.
Not only that, He gave you many relationships. You are not alone. It is not good for man to be alone. You find that you have your family, you have your friends, and you have all kinds of relationships. They are given by God.
He created the heavens and the earth for you to enjoy, for His glory.
Brothers and sisters, God has taken action in creating every one of us. He has given us so much when He brings us into this world. Do you think that there is a response that we should give to Him?
How do you respond to the gift of life? How do you respond to the talents He gave you? How do you respond to the time He allocated to you? How do you respond to the world around you that He has surrounded you with by His love?
Is not the first fundamental, basic, primary response from man this: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength”?
Is it not our responsibility toward God to love Him above everything? Is it not our responsibility that we should honor Him, serve Him, and worship Him? That is the first universal law of responsibility. No one is exempted.
Brothers and sisters, do we honor our Maker? Do we give Him His rightful place in our lives? Do we use our life to serve Him? How do we use our time? Do we live for ourselves, or do we live for the One Who gives life to us?
It is the duty, the responsibility, of every man in this world to honor God, to worship Him, to thank Him, to be grateful for what He has given to us.
The greatest thing in the world is ungratefulness. Look at men today. We are not only ungrateful; we turn against our Maker. We live for ourselves. We waste all the gifts that God has given us with a glorious purpose. That is what we have done.
So thank God, He has not forsaken us. I remember when C. H. Spurgeon was in his teens, his conscience bothered him. This is what he said: “If there is a God, then He should condemn me to eternal death, to hell, because that is what I deserve.”
Thank God, He gave us another chance. Thank God for sending His beloved Son into this world. Thank God for our Lord Jesus, Who was willing to die for us, for such as we are, to redeem us—to pay such a cost, such a price, that no one could pay but He alone.
He Who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, He has not only forgiven our sins; all our past is under the blood. He will not remember it anymore.
Satan sometimes tries to bring your past back to trouble you, but remember: God never does. He forgives, and He forgets.
Thank God, He gave us a new beginning, a new life. It is an uncreated life—His own life. It is eternal life. It is a life of power, a life of love.
It is life that has been proven on this earth. When our Lord Jesus was on earth for thirty-three and a half years, He proved to the world how victorious, how glorious, how surpassing, how transcendent that life is—a life that can fulfill every responsibility that God has ever put upon man. And that life is in you and me. Thank God.
Brothers and sisters, we who have received this life, how should we respond? Is it not that we should be doubly grateful?
I remember when I was a boy, I had never left home. From childhood until my college years, I was always with my parents. When we were sick, we were always taken care of at home, not in the hospital.
I remember the first year I went to college. I left home and stayed in a dormitory. After a few months, my father came and saw that I was so thin. He said, “Come home.” But I was not grateful.
Not until I had left home, graduated, and begun to work with Watchman Nee did I begin to understand. I stayed in that upper room alone. One day, it dawned upon me how much my parents loved me. I wrote a letter to them. I told them, “I am grateful.”
Brothers and sisters, how do you respond to your heavenly Father, Who takes care of you and me much more—one hundred times, one million times more—than our earthly parents? Are we grateful? Do we honor His name?
For believers, for one who is saved, we have no right to live for ourselves. The only way open to us before such love, before such grace, before so much gift, at a cost that can never be counted, brothers and sisters—is this not the only response we can give to Him? To present our bodies as a living sacrifice.
We cannot hold back anything from Him. Have we done that? Are we doing it today?
The Apostle Paul says:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, your spiritual worship.
Brothers and sisters, how do you deal with the life that He has given you? How do you treat the new life, the divine life—the life that has been laid down, gone through death, entered into resurrection, and entered into you? How do you treat that life? How do you use that life?
This is our responsibility, brothers and sisters. Do not think of other responsibilities now. Think of your own personal responsibility—your life toward God. Are you faithful in that responsibility? Or do you neglect that life and continue to live in your old Adamic, selfish life?
The prodigal son was a son, but he only thought of his father’s things. He forgot his father. He went to a far country and wasted everything.
But thank God, he came to himself—not completely. He said, “I will go back. I am no longer worthy to be called a son. Let me be a servant.” Oh, the father’s love forgave him, took him in, and held a feast.
Brothers and sisters, where are you? Where am I today? Am I in a far country, wasting away what my heavenly Father has given us at such a cost? Are we home?
The reason why God gives us His own life is because He wants that life to grow. He wants that life to mature. He wants you to be like Him. He wants you to take upon you His own character, that He may be manifested in and through you. That is what life is for. That is why God still gives you time to live on this earth.
Brothers and sisters, do we live for Him, or do we live for ourselves? That is responsibility.
The Apostle Paul said, “No longer live I; it is Christ living in me. Now I live—I live by His life.” Is that not true with every one of us?
How do you deal with this life of God given to you? How do you treat it? Do you shut it in the closet and continue to live by your old life? Or do you allow Him to be the Head of your life and glorify Him in your body? Brothers and sisters, that is our first responsibility.
You remember the parable that our Lord Jesus spoke in Matthew 25—the ten virgins. You know, the Lord used that parable in relation to His coming.
Now, who are these virgins? Even though I know there are different interpretations, allow me to share with you how I feel. The Bible never calls an unbeliever a virgin. On the contrary, the Bible calls the people of this world adulterous.
So I believe these ten virgins represent believers such as we are. The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11, “I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God, because I have presented you as chaste virgins to one husband, that is, to Christ Jesus. And I am afraid the enemy may entice you away from the simplicity of Christ.”
Dear brothers and sisters, we are virgins. The moment we are saved, our sins are forgiven. We become a new creature in Christ Jesus. We become pure virgins, chaste virgins, engaged to One Who loves us and gave Himself for us.
How do we live our lives on earth? Should we not live for Him to Whom we are engaged? Should we not prepare ourselves to do the things that the One Whom we love would like? Should we not try to purify ourselves and take away all the bad habits that our Beloved may not like?
A chaste virgin, engaged, is one who already lives for the one whom she loves. That is what we should be. That is our responsibility.
Unfortunately, we find among the ten virgins five who are foolish. In what way? In the way of preparation.
You know, all the virgins have a torch; they have a lamp. And there is oil in that lamp. The Bible tells us they all went out to meet the Bridegroom.
Is this our attitude, brothers and sisters? Are you going out to meet your Bridegroom? Generation after generation, those who love the Lord all went out to meet the Bridegroom. But because the Bridegroom delayed, they fell asleep.
Were they mistaken? No. That is what they should be. And especially today, the time is at hand—nearer today than yesterday. Brothers and sisters, are we like virgins on the way to meet the Bridegroom? Is that our attitude? Or have we totally forgotten Him? Where are we?
The wise virgins are prepared. They are preparing in case the Bridegroom should delay, because they do not know when He will come—at any time. But they already have extra oil in their vessels.
But the foolish ones—do they have vessels? Certainly they do. But they fill their vessels with things other than oil. They think there are other things more precious than oil. But in this case, you cannot put gold and silver in the lamp and let it burn.
Is this what we are doing? Is this the reason why our Lord Jesus said, “Do not say, What shall I eat? What shall I drink? What shall I be clothed with?” Do not be anxious with the things of this life. Do not lay treasures upon earth.
He will take care of us. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
But, brothers and sisters, how do we fill our vessel? We eat and drink and care for this life as if these are the most important things in life. They are not prepared.
When the Lord shall come, they all get up and trim their lamps. But the wise have extra oil for their lamps. You cannot meet the Bridegroom with a dark lamp.
The foolish virgins are not prepared. They will be shut out of the marriage feast of the Lamb. Brothers and sisters, think about it. Meditate on it.
The oil represents the Holy Spirit. Every believer has the Holy Spirit in him or her, Who keeps us burning because we are sons of light. But, brothers and sisters, to have the Holy Spirit and to be filled with the Holy Spirit are not the same.
Empty your vessel and let Him fill it. A life filled with the Holy Spirit, ruled by the Holy Spirit—the Holy Spirit will transform you and conform you to the image of Christ. So you will fulfill your responsibility concerning the life that He has given to you.
We are not only responsible for the life He has given to us, to see that this life will accomplish the purpose that God has set for that life. Brothers and sisters, the Bible tells us He has also given us gifts—spiritual gifts.
Every believer has a gift, or gifts. This is different from our natural talents. Now, it is true that our natural talent is also given by God, but unfortunately, that natural talent has been under wrong control.
So, aside from our natural talent, God, when He brings us into His family, gives to each one of us a gift—a spiritual gift, or gifts—that with this gift or gifts we may serve Him and work in His field.
We have a responsibility not only to live for Him. We are also given responsibility to serve Him and His purpose.
So our Lord Jesus told another parable, also in Matthew 25. He said that a man called his servants to him, and he gave gifts according to their ability.
Now, brothers and sisters, again we find in this parable the servants. On the one hand, so far as the life He has given to us is concerned, we are virgins. But so far as service is concerned, we are servants. We are both.
Virgin speaks of life; servant speaks of service. So everyone is in the service of our Lord.
I do not like the term, “This man or that woman is full-time serving the Lord,” because according to the Word of God, every believer is full-time serving the Lord in different ways. That is full-time.
And in order that we may serve Him, He gives us gifts. He always provides before He requires. So do not be afraid.
He measures a gift to you according to your ability. Now, to me, I feel that ability is not natural talent. Why? Because the ability here is capacity.
God made us with different capacities. Some have the capacity to handle five talents. Others have the capacity to handle two talents. If you give them more, they will fail. Others can only handle one talent. That is their capacity.
And according to the capacity God has built into us, He gives us gifts accordingly, so that everyone may reach his full capacity. He will not demand anything more than He has already enabled you to do. Now, thank God for that.
You know D. L. Moody, that great evangelist? He had a conference at Northfield every year, and he invited all the great speakers, talented speakers, from all over the world to speak there. He used to introduce them by saying, “These are people with five talents, because I am a person of two talents.” But those two talents had reached capacity.
Brothers and sisters, do not quarrel over that. God knows better. Be content with what He has given, but be faithful to all that He has given to you.
Spiritual gifts are gifts that enable you to serve in the house of God, gifts that enable you to function as a member of the body of Christ. Every believer is useful to God.
Do nothing because you have only one talent? Then you are like the wicked servant: “Oh, they have five talents, two talents. I have only one talent. It does not matter. Bury it.”
Every servant of God—the young and the old—the moment you are saved, you are given a spiritual gift. You may not know it. You do not need to worry about it.
People come to me and say, “Brother, what is my gift?” Now, how do I know? God knows, and you will know. Just wait. If you are faithful, you will know. If you are unfaithful, you will never know, because it is buried.
We are responsible for the gifts that God has given us. Brothers and sisters, the Lord said, “Trade with it.”
The one with five talents diligently traded with the five talents according to his capacity and earned another five—doubled it. The two doubled to four. But the one with one talent took it out of the earth and said to the master, “Here You are. You are a hard master. I am afraid of You, so I buried it. I give it back to You.” And the Lord said, “You are wicked.”
Brothers and sisters, the day is coming when we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ as a family.
Thank God, we who believe in the Lord Jesus, we who have received His life, have been delivered out of eternal death into life. We will not be judged in the last judgment, the judgment of the great white throne—a judgment of eternal life and death. Thank God, Christ was judged for us on Calvary’s cross.
But that does not mean, brothers and sisters, that as members of the family of God we will not be judged. The Bible tells us in Romans 14:10 that one day we shall all appear before the judgment seat of God. Second Corinthians 5:10 tells us that one day we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
And we will be judged, every one of us, according to the responsibility that He has given to us. Our life will be judged. Our service will be judged.
If it is gold, silver, and precious stones—if it is of God, of the redemption of Christ, of the work of the Holy Spirit—then by the fire it will glow. There will be reward.
And if one builds with wood, hay, and stubble—with the natural man, the glory of man, the work of man—it will be burned. You will be saved, thank God, but barely saved.
Brothers and sisters, it is not too late to repent. It is not too late to give yourself to the Lord. Allow Him to work out His purpose in your life.
It is not too late to rise up and serve according to the gift given to you. As long as there is still time, there is opportunity. Do not miss it.
Dear Lord, Thou hast given much, and much is required. We praise and thank Thee that Thou hast already provided all that is needed for life and for service, that we may be able, by Thy grace, to fulfill according to Thy will.
O Lord, make it so in every one of us. We ask Thee in Thy precious name. Amen.