Will you please turn to Exodus, chapter 8? Just one verse, verse 1.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let My people go, that they may serve Me.
—Exodus 8:1
The Gospel according to John, chapter 14, verse 6.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
—John 14:6
And finally, the book of Acts, chapter 27, verse 23.
For there stood by me this night an angel of the God Whose I am, and Whom also I serve.
—Acts 27:23
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, how we praise and thank Thee that we may gather together unto Thy name. Thou hast promised us, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Dear Lord, by faith we know that Thou art here, and we are all standing on holy ground. Lord, we want to remove our shoes, standing in the position of Thy bond-slaves, and we want to hear what Thou hast to say to us.
Speak, Lord, Thy servants hear. We are tired of hearing human voices. We are longing only for Thine own voice.
Pray, O Lord, that Thou wilt reveal Thyself to us and speak directly to our inner being. Take us out of ourselves, that we may be filled with Thy own precious Self. May Thy name be honored and glorified at this hour. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
We want to thank the Lord for gathering us together at this time. Every time when God’s people are gathered, I always feel that it is a precious gift of God.
We are all living at the end of the last days. We know that our Lord is coming soon. As a matter of fact, He can come at any moment. And yet He is so gracious to us, to give us some opportunity that we may be prepared and ready for Himself.
I do feel that it is the special grace of God that we are having such a time together. Our prayer is that this time will not be spent in a wrong way, but that during this period our hearts will be ready to meet our Lord Himself.
May it not be a time wasted. May it be a time in which we all are taken up, as it were, to the third heaven, that we may hear Him, see Him, be filled by Him, and bow down and worship Him.
This is a very precious time. I do hope that all brothers and sisters will lay aside every thought and every sin, and open our hearts to the Lord. We do not want to hear any human voice. We are tired of it. We want to hear what the Lord has to speak to us.
I suppose all brothers and sisters know that this is a conference on service. In other words, this conference has a specific purpose. It is not a general conference. It is not merely a conference for the advancement of Christian life.
Of course, life and service are closely related, but our emphasis is on service.
Now, some brothers and sisters may feel, “If it is a conference on service, who are included? Is it only those who are so-called full-time workers?”
At the very outset, I want to make it clear: such a conference on service is not for any specific people. It is for all who are redeemed by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus.
So far as service is concerned, there is no difference between those who are so-called full-time workers and every redeemed child of God. Every redeemed child of God is supposed to serve God—not only serving God, but serving full time.
Whatever your profession may be, your profession is an avocation. Your real vocation is serving God, because this is the teaching of the Word of God.
You remember that in the Old Testament, when God sent Moses into Egypt to deliver the children of Israel, He sent Moses to Pharaoh and said, “Let My people go.”
The children of Israel were slaves in the land of Egypt, and God was going to redeem them out of Egypt. But God’s challenge to Pharaoh was, “Let My people go.” Why? Why did God want His people to be freed?
There is only one reason: that they may serve Me.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, we know that when God created man, He created man according to His image and after His likeness. Why is it so?
In all creation, man is very special. God created the heavens and the earth. God created all the beings on the earth. God even created angels. But God never created anything else in His own image and after His likeness.
Man is the only creation that is created in this wonderful way. Now the question is: Why did God create man in such a special way? Because God wants man to serve Him.
God wants man to have His life, that he may be able to fulfill God’s purpose in creating him.
So we remember in Genesis, after God created man, He wanted man to have dominion over all things in heaven and on earth, to subdue all things back to God, that God may be glorified.
But unfortunately, our forefathers sinned against God. For this reason, they were not able to fulfill God’s purpose. That is the reason why God redeemed us: to restore us to what His intention is for us. God wants us to serve His purpose.
Dear brothers and sisters, we need to remember this: we are redeemed not just for our enjoyment. We thank God that He has washed all our sins away, that He has given us His own life, and that He has promised us that one day He will come and receive us to Himself.
These are wonderful, but there is something more. God redeemed us not just for our own profit. God redeemed us for Himself, for His glorious purpose. We are related to the eternal purpose of God.
Do not think that we are redeemed merely that we may be free to live for ourselves. That is too low for God. God is a glorious God. He has a glorious purpose for us. He has a glorious errand for us.
Now, what is the eternal purpose of God? Before the foundation of the world, before God created anything, the Bible tells us—recorded in Ephesians chapter 1—that even before there was time, God purposed a purpose in His own heart.
And what is that purpose? God’s purpose is to sum up all things in Christ.
God so loved His only begotten Son. He wants all creation to express His beloved Son, that everything will manifest the glory of His beloved Son. And at the same time, He wants to have a church, the Body of Christ, to be the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all.
This is the eternal purpose of God, and we are redeemed for that purpose.
I always feel that we are all need-oriented. Now, if we are need-oriented, we are self-centered. We want to be the center of the universe. Everything just surrounds us. Even God surrounds us.
We need this; we need that; and we want our God to supply all our needs. If He is a little bit slow in supplying us, we murmur. We even rebel, because we are all need-oriented.
Whenever you are need-oriented, you are self-centered. But God wants us to be purpose-oriented. If we are purpose-oriented, God is the center. His will is the center, and we are redeemed for that purpose.
So, dear brothers and sisters, let us remember one thing: we are redeemed that we may serve God. Our redeemed life is directly related to God’s eternal purpose.
This is not a small thing. This is a glorious, marvelous thing. Let us remember that everyone who is redeemed of the Lord is to serve God. This is God’s purpose, and this should be our purpose.
In this conference on service, do not expect that only a few so-called full-time workers should hear what we are going to talk about. I hope that every redeemed child of God here knows that this conference is for you. You are redeemed that you may serve God.
You know, when I was first saved, that was in 1930. I was a youngster of fifteen years old, and thank God, He saved me.
I was under the burden of sin for a whole year, and finally His grace came upon me. After I was saved, during those days, when there was a conference or a revival conference, the last day was always a consecration.
By consecration at that time, it meant that you offered yourself to God to be a full-time worker. At that time, consecration was not for all believers. You consecrated yourself to God to be a Bible woman or a preacher.
I remember one night they had a huge map of China hanging on the wall. The preacher said to us, “God has saved you by His Son Jesus Christ. Now, if you love Him, you must serve Him. You can choose where you want to go to serve God.”
I was just saved, and I was a young man. I was thinking, “Thank God for saving me. Of course I want to serve Him. Where should I go? I want to go to the furthest place, the most difficult place, in order to show my love for God.”
So I marched up to the platform. I put my finger on Mongolia, because at that time Mongolia was considered the furthest place in the Chinese mind.
From that day on, I prepared myself to go to Mongolia. For a whole year, I gathered all the information about Mongolia. I prepared myself that one day I would be a missionary in Mongolia.
I even refused to go to college. I said it was a waste of four years. I must go to a Bible school to prepare myself for serving God.
My brothers and sisters, I hope you know better. Consecration is not just for those so-called full-time workers. Consecration is the duty of every redeemed child of God.
Romans 12:1 tells us that the Apostle Paul said:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
—Romans 12:1
Who are these brethren? These brethren are those who have received Jesus, those who have known the Lord Jesus. He said, “I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice.”
So, dear brothers and sisters, first of all I would like to clarify this matter. Every redeemed child of God is included. What is the purpose of your life? What is the purpose of your salvation?
God’s purpose is not that you may be free to do whatever you like. God’s purpose is to restore you to His purpose in creating you.
You are included. You are called to serve God. This is your life vocation. All the other vocations are avocations. You must serve Him whether you have another profession or not.
If you are a student, you serve God as a student. You study for God. You study for the glory of God. If you are a housewife, you serve in your house for the glory of God. If you are a professor, you teach for the glory of God.
In whatever profession you may be, full time or not, I always say that “full-time workers” is a misnomer. It is a wrong term.
I often ask people a question: If you are not serving God full time, whom do you serve with the rest of your time? On Sunday you serve God; on the weekdays you serve yourself. Or, even worse, you serve Mammon. You serve the world. Do you think that we as Christians should live like that?
I believe that all believers ought to be serving God all the time: that we eat for God, we drink for God, we live for God. That is what Christians ought to be.
So, brothers and sisters, be ready. You are included. What we are going to share with you is for you. Do not listen for other people. Listen for yourself.
Now will you please turn to John 14:6?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
—John 14:6
Sometimes we emphasize the first part of this verse, and it is true. The Lord said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He not only has the way; He is the way. He not only has the truth; He is the truth. Not only does He have life; He is life.
This is most important. But we forget the latter part of the verse. The Lord said, “No one cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”
Why is He the way, the truth, and the life? He is the way, the truth, and the life because it is by Him that we go to the Father.
If you are not going to the Father, you do not need Christ as your way, as your truth, and as your life. But if you want to have anything to do with your heavenly Father, if you want to know your Father, if you want to do your Father’s will, if you want to live for your Father, there is only one way, one truth, and one life—and that is Christ Himself.
So, dear brothers and sisters, do you see that the way, the truth, and the life are for one purpose: that you may go to the Father?
What does it mean to go to the Father? You remember our Lord Jesus. He came out from the Father and into this world. He lived thirty-three years, and He accomplished many things. He said many things. He did many works.
But after He had finished all these according to His Father’s will, He returned to the Father. The only way we can go to the Father, the only way we can fulfill all our Father’s will, is through Jesus Christ. There is no other way, no other truth, and no other life.
Now we want to apply this to service. It is very clear that so-called Christian service has to be Christ-centered. It has to be Christ the way, Christ the truth, and Christ the life.
Look at the Christian world today. There is so much work, so much so-called Christian service going on. But how much of the service or work that is called by the name of Christian has Christ as the way, the truth, and the life?
There are so many so-called Christian works, but many are more need-oriented than purpose-oriented. They are to meet human needs instead of meeting the need of God.
I remember very clearly when I was in Kuli. Nearby was a gospel hospital, and there was a famous doctor, a missionary from the States. He was a very famous surgeon, and people came from all over to ask him for surgery.
Before he died, he called his children and said, “I served very faithfully as a surgeon. I took care of many people’s bodies, but I felt that I failed as a missionary. I failed to preach Christ. I was healing people’s bodies, but I should have paid special attention to their soul situation.”
“I was so busy doing these things that I neglected my real mission, my real duty.” So he told his children to return to the States and come back as missionaries to China, and really preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Yes, brothers and sisters, when we look at so-called Christian works today, many have degenerated into social work. When they were first started, the purpose was to bring people to Christ. It was a marvelous work in the old days.
But what is their mission today? They may be doing good work, but it is not done by Christ, and it is not done for Christ. It has become social work.
Brothers and sisters, not only so, but even Christian meetings can fail to really minister Christ. Many so-called Christian meetings are ministering to the needs of the people, but they are not doing all these things by the life of Christ.
They use human methods. They try to use human ways to attract people. They are using human power and energy. But spiritual work can only be done by the Spirit of God.
There are so many so-called Christian works and services that have lost their real purpose. So we need to return to the Word of God.
Now, will you please turn again to Acts chapter 27? I believe you all know the story. Paul, as a prisoner of Rome, was sent to Rome to be judged by Nero.
On the way, they met a storm. The storm was so heavy that people threw away everything on the boat. For many days they did not eat or drink.
Finally Paul, the prisoner, stood up. In Acts 27:21, Paul said:
Ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have set sail from Crete, and have gotten this injury and loss.
And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
—Acts 27:21-22
Then in verse 23:
For there stood by me this night an angel of the God Whose I am, and Whom also I serve.
—Acts 27:23
We will emphasize those two phrases: “Whose I am” and “Whom I serve.”
Before we can talk about service, there is one thing that is important: we need to know whose we are.
There is a difference between so-called work and service. When you think of work, you have the work itself in view. “How can I do a good work? How can I make that work?”
But when you are thinking of service, you are thinking of the one whom you serve. You have the person in view. It is personal. It is not mechanical. It is living, because you are serving a person.
What is Christian service? Christian service is more than a work. Christian service is different from other services because our emphasis is not on the work itself. Our emphasis is on the Person Whom we serve.
Before we can serve God, there is one prerequisite, and the prerequisite is: “Whose I am.”
People who are not redeemed cannot serve. When the children of Israel were in Egypt, they were slaves. They were under heavy work. They were under pressure. They cried unto God, and God sent Moses to save them.
They were created to serve God, but because they had fallen, they were slaves in Egypt. They could not even live for themselves, much less live for God. They lived for Pharaoh.
The cry came unto God, so God sent Moses there to redeem them. I believe we all know the story. On the Passover night, when God was going to destroy all the firstborn in Egypt, the children of Israel had to have a lamb.
They slew the lamb and put the blood upon the lintel and the doorposts. The whole family ate the Passover lamb within the house, because at midnight the angel of destruction would pass through the whole land of Egypt.
When he saw the blood on the doorposts, he would pass over. Where there was no blood, he would go in and destroy the firstborn of man or beast. It was through the blood of the Passover lamb that the children of Israel were saved.
But when they were saved, they were not saved merely to remain in Egypt. If they stayed on, they would still be enslaved. They had to cross the Red Sea and come out of Egypt. This is recorded in Exodus 12.
When you come to Exodus 13, after they were saved by the Passover lamb, what happened? The first thing was that the firstborn had to be presented to God.
During the Passover night, all the firstborn were supposed to be killed, and the firstborn represented the whole family. Since they were redeemed, every firstborn had to be presented to God.
Now, brothers and sisters, do we understand this? Do we apply it to ourselves? How are we delivered from that terrible death? It is through the blood of our Lord Jesus.
He is the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sin of the world. But after we are delivered, God has a right to our life. He has the right to say that we belong to Him.
By the right of God, dear brothers and sisters, none of us who are redeemed belong to ourselves anymore. We all belong to Him because He has bought us with a price. He even used His own blood to buy us.
So by right, you belong to God. Then you remember how God took them to Mount Sinai, and God said, “I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto Myself.”
Why did God bring them to Himself? He said, “If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own possession.” God gave them the Ten Commandments to make them His people. This is in Exodus 20.
Then you read Exodus 21. After the law was given, what was the ordinance or judgment of God for His people? The first thing you find is that if a Hebrew was sold to another Hebrew, he would serve his master for six years. In the seventh year, he could go free.
Now, if the master gave him a wife and they had children, after the six years he could still go free. But the Bible says that if the servant said, “I love my master, I love my family, I do not want to go free. I am willing to be your slave for life,” that is called a love-slave.
Then he would be taken to the judges to show that this was something real, not forced. Then he would be taken to the door of the master, and the Hebrew bond-slave’s ear would be pierced at the door.
That pierced ear is the symbol of a bond-slave. This is called a love-slave.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, when you apply it to us today, by the right of redemption we belong to God. He can demand our life. We do not belong to ourselves. We do not live for ourselves. We do not serve ourselves anymore.
But our God is the God of mercy and grace. He does not want to deal with us according to law. He does not want to force us in any way. He leaves it to us to decide whether we want to serve Him for life or not.
That reminds me of a story I heard when I was young. In America in the old days, because of the large plantations, they had slaves. Slaves came from Africa, and there would be auction places.
The story was of a little girl who was put on the auction block. People began to gather and bid. Of course, that little girl was weeping, but secretly she would raise her eyes to see who were those people bidding for her.
After she was auctioned, she would belong to that master. Whether she would have a difficult life or a better life depended on who bought her.
Finally another man came in. He put in the highest bid, and he got her. But after he got her, he asked a blacksmith to come and break the chains.
Then he told the little girl, “I bought you in order to free you. You can go free.” Then he turned around and began to walk away.
This little girl was so amazed. But after a little while, she woke up, ran after that man, and said, “I am willing to be your slave forever.”
This is the way that God deals with us. Brothers and sisters, you have been redeemed by the Lord. You still can live for yourself. You are still free to do whatever you want to do.
But when the love of Christ constrains you, then what will you do? You will be like that slave girl. You will run after your Master and say, “I love You. I want to serve You.”
We remember our Lord Jesus. When He came into this world, Philippians 2 tells us that He was equal with God. He had the form of God, and this was not something that He grasped after.
But He emptied Himself and took the form of a bond-servant, being found in fashion as a man. He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
You remember Psalm 40. In verse 6, there is a prophecy concerning our Lord Jesus:
Sacrifice and offering Thou hast no delight in;
Mine ears hast Thou opened:
Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast Thou not required.
Then said I, Lo, I am come;
In the roll of the book it is written of Me:
I delight to do Thy will, O My God;
Yea, Thy law is within My heart.
—Psalm 40:6-8
It is not the burnt offering or the sacrifices. God wants our ear. In order to serve God, the most important thing is the ear.
Why is it so? Because you have to hear what the Master says. It is not that you serve Him in your own way. You do not serve Him according to what you think is best.
In order to serve God, you have to have a pierced ear. Why is it pierced to the doorpost? Because on the doorpost there was blood. We are redeemed by right, and now we offer ourselves willingly to be pierced.
The Bible tells us, “Today if ye shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” In Revelation, to every church He says, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.”
So, dear brothers and sisters, first of all, we need to know whose we are. If we know whose we are, then the next thing is to have our ear pierced.
This is the life of our Lord Jesus while He was on earth, and this should be the life of all the redeemed as long as we live on this earth.
So, brothers and sisters, do we know who we are? Unfortunately, we forget. We become our own master.
But do not forget: we are His. He has redeemed us. Even though He has set us free, and we have the opportunity to live for ourselves, is that the right way?
We should serve the One Who redeemed us. We need to have our ears all pierced. The ladies may not know why they pierce their ears. Do you think it is for beauty? But remember: your ear is pierced because you belong to Christ.
Finally, I have a motto that I would like to share with you. I have it at home in my house, and it reminds me again and again. The motto runs this way:
God pays more attention to what we are than to what we do.
In other words, humanly speaking, when you are doing something, what you are may not matter; what you do is important. When you employ an employee, you want him to do well. What his lifestyle is may not matter.
But God is very different. God’s emphasis is not on the work itself. God’s emphasis is on Himself.
So you find that in service, the emphasis is not on what you do, but on what you are. Unfortunately, even in so-called Christian service, the emphasis is often inverted.
How often in so-called Christian service the emphasis is on what you can do. Your character does not matter. But, dear brothers and sisters, let us remember this: it is not what you can do.
You may be very capable. You may have charisma. You may be very eloquent. You may have managing power. The world is looking for such people, but God does not.
God wants to see who you are. What kind of character do you have? Are you being characterized by the character of Christ? He wants you to be conformed to His own image. Only with that are you able to serve Him.
And this motto follows:
True service is the overflow of life.
True service is not just a work. It is the outflowing of your life within. Of course, that life refers to Christ’s life.
According to the measure of that Christ-life is the measure of your service toward God. That which is considered as service is the living out of Christ.
You cannot separate service and life, because service is life-giving. You give life, and people receive life. It is not your life; it is Christ’s life in you. That life is serving.
Consecrating ourselves to God is not to work for God, but to allow God to work in us. That was my mistake when I was first saved. I thought that I consecrated myself to God so that I might do something for Him.
Thank God, even today I have never been to Mongolia. God did not allow that. It is not that you are doing something for God; rather, it is that you allow God to work in you.
That is the reason why consecration is to present your bodies a living sacrifice. A sacrifice is something that is put on the altar.
An ox, a sheep, even a young animal, can work. But when they are put on the altar, they cannot work anymore. They are there, allowing the priest to use the knife to dissect them, to show forth everything that is within that animal, to cleanse everything, and then to be burned as an incense to God.
That is what consecration is. How often we mistake it. We tell people, “If you are very musical, if you have other talents, if you have governing talent, then offer yourself to God.”
“If you have musical talent, be a musician in the church. Lead worship. If you have management ability, come and become an elder in the church. Offer what you can do to God.”
Do you think this is consecration? No. Consecration is that you lie on the altar and let Christ do anything He wants with you.
You will be amazed to see how much in you will be burned off. You will be reduced to ashes. But while you are burned into ashes, Christ is formed, and that is the power of service.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I hope that, having laid that foundation, you will understand what service really is.
May we begin before the Lord. If these words are from Him, if these words are according to the Word of God, let us take them to heart and allow His Word to search us, to see whether our so-called service is real service to God.
If not, may we repent. If it is, thank God for that. May the Lord have mercy on us. Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we do offer these scattered words into Thy hand. If it pleases Thee, Lord, use them for Thy glory. If not, we ask Thy blood to cleanse.
Lord, we want to be real before Thee. We want to open ourselves totally to Thee. Search us, O Lord, and know our mind. See if there is any evil way in us. Lead us in the way everlasting.
Glorify Thyself in each and every one of us. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.