Please turn to Zechariah 4:6.
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Also, Romans 8:2:
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
Finally, John 12:24-26:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit.
He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will the Father honor.
Please notice in verse 25 that “life” here is the soul-life. He that loveth his soul-life shall lose it, and he that hateth his soul-life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
May we have a word of prayer?
Dear Lord, as we gather here in Thy presence, we bow our hearts before Thee, acknowledging Thee as the Lord of all. We acknowledge Thee as our Lord, too.
We do come to put ourselves under Thy lordship, and pray that, Lord, Thou wilt exercise Thy lordship over each and every one of us. Remove anything that may be against Thee. Oh, that Thou wouldst incline our hearts totally toward Thyself.
We pray that Thou wilt grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may truly know Thee. And to know Thee is life eternal.
We commit this time into Thy loving hand, acknowledging that with men nothing can be done. But Thou art the God of the impossible. We acknowledge that we are impossible, but Thou art able to do according to Thy will.
We trust ourselves totally unto Thee. All praise and worship be unto Thee, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Thank God for gathering us together this morning. He is faithful, and He Who calls us will certainly complete His work. So our trust is totally in Him.
Yesterday morning, by the grace of God, we made a general comment. We come here together for one purpose. This is a conference on service, and by service, it means serving God.
Every child of God is called to serve God. The challenge of God to Satan was, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.”
So, brothers and sisters, we know why we are saved. God saves us not just for ourselves. God saves us with a purpose, and His purpose is that we may serve Him.
Every child of God is a full-time servant of God. There is no such thing as a redeemed child of God serving otherwise. We cannot serve ourselves; we cannot serve the world. The One Whom we serve is the One Who redeemed us.
This is not a part-time service. We find that many Christians serve God only part time, and this part time is really a very small part of time. Only on Sunday, perhaps for one hour, they serve God. The rest of their time is spent serving otherwise.
Either they serve themselves, or serve their family, or serve mammon. Dear brothers and sisters, we must remember that we are called to serve God.
This is our life vocation. Whatever your education may be, you may be a nurse, a doctor, a teacher, a housewife, or a student. Dear brothers and sisters, remember this: you are called to serve God.
You may serve God as a doctor. You may serve God as a teacher. You may serve God as a housewife. You may serve God as a student. This is your life service, from the beginning when you are saved to the end of your life on earth—every moment, every day.
Just remember this: you are called to serve God.
Now, how can we serve God? There is a basic principle. This is the declaration of the Apostle Paul: “God, Whose I am, and Whom I serve.”
First of all, we have to belong to Him—not only because He has redeemed us, but because His love must constrain us to give ourselves totally to Him.
Consecration is not just for a few. Consecration is the first Christian experience. Anyone who is redeemed and not consecrated does not totally belong to God, because he holds himself back for himself.
So the first duty of a redeemed child of God is to present his body a living sacrifice. When you present your body a living sacrifice, then you can declare, “Whose I am.”
You are totally in the hand of God, and God will use you to serve Him. This is the basic principle of service. After you have consecrated yourself to the Lord, spiritual service will begin.
Now we have talked about that yesterday morning. This morning, we will come to the portion appointed to me.
We know that the theme of this conference is Christ-centered service. My responsibility before the Lord is to speak on the power of Christ as life.
Now, brothers and sisters, if you want to do any service, you need power. If you are to do manual work, then you have to have physical power. If you are going to do intellectual work, you need mental power.
In whatever service you are engaged, it depends on the manner and type of service. By the type of service, you know what kind of power is needed.
If you are engaged in manual service and do not have a healthy body, then no matter how wise you are, or even how spiritual you are, you are not able to do that kind of service. The same thing is true with intellectual service.
You may have a very strong body, but a very weak mind. How can you be able to fulfill your responsibility?
In the same manner, what is the kind of service that we are called to do? I believe everybody knows: we are called to serve God.
Now God is Spirit. Therefore, those who serve Him must serve Him in spirit.
You remember in John 4, in the conversation of our Lord Jesus with the Samaritan woman, they were talking about the matter of worship. The Samaritan woman said, “We Samaritans worship on Mount Gerizim, and you Jews worship in Jerusalem.”
What was the answer of our Lord Jesus? The Lord said that the hour had come when those who worship God must worship Him in spirit and truth, because God is Spirit.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
God is Spirit. You can only contact Him with your spirit.
I often remember one incident in modern history. The Russians were able to send a rocket into outer space. When the cosmonaut came back, he told people, “There is no God, because I was in outer space, and I looked around, but I did not see God there.”
He thought that was a very strong argument. But we know it is foolishness. God is Spirit. How can you see Him with your naked eye, or even with your clever mind? By searching, no man can find God.
The same thing is true with service. We cannot serve God merely with our physical body, nor can we serve God merely with our mental power. If we want to serve God, Who is Spirit, we must serve Him with our spirit.
Of course, our whole being is involved, but the primary power must come from our spirit.
Unfortunately, when man was dead in sins and transgressions, his spirit was dead to God. The spirit of an unbeliever is dead unto God. He became flesh, a combination of soul and body, living by his soul-life and body-life.
Only when we are saved does the Holy Spirit quicken our dead spirit. He that is born of the Spirit is spirit. The Holy Spirit gives birth to us, and our spirit becomes a new spirit. Then we can communicate with God.
That is the reason why, when you are first saved, there is such a difference in prayer. Before you were saved, perhaps you came from a Christian family and learned to pray when you were young. But when you prayed then, you could not touch God.
But when you are saved, when you pray out of your heart, you pray to God as your Father.
I always remember a story. I had a coworker from Fukien. After he was married, the first time he went with his wife to his father-in-law’s home, he had to call his father-in-law “Father,” according to Chinese custom.
He tried to call his father-in-law “Father,” but he had a strange feeling. Even though you call your father-in-law “Father,” he is your father-in-law. He is not your father. It is not natural.
Dear brothers and sisters, is that not true when we were not saved? When we prayed, we called God our Father, but it was not natural. But when we are really saved, when we pray, we pray to our Father. It is so sweet because our spirit is reborn.
Why does our spirit need to be reborn? It is because our spirit has a specific purpose. We are going to worship God, and we are going to serve God. With a new spirit, we are able to do that.
So when we come to serving God, the only power we use is the spirit. We cannot just use our physical body, nor can we use only our mental power. It has to come from our spirit.
We are a whole person, composed of spirit, soul, and body. When we are engaged in serving God, our whole being will be engaged, but the primary, main power must come from our spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, it is a very sad situation in Christianity today. Whether it is worshiping God or serving God, we have lost the art of real worship and service. More and more, we are drawn from within to without.
Is it not true that in so-called worship of God, people feel they must have a specially decorated place, soft and pleasing music, and a certain kind of atmosphere? When people enter the place, they are made to feel that it is different.
Then people try to use all kinds of bodily features to express worship.
Once I was in the Philippines. My friend took me to Tagaytay. While I was visiting that place, I saw a cathedral, so I went in to visit.
When I entered that cathedral, I noticed that at the front, at the altar, there were a few white statues kneeling before the altar. When I went closer, I saw that they were not statues. They were nuns, clothed in white, kneeling before the altar, neither saying anything nor moving.
My first reaction was, “How pious they are.” Then the Lord showed me that He cannot be worshiped merely by outward gestures. Worship comes from within.
If there is nothing within, then it is only outward form. God is not worshiped.
Dear brothers and sisters, we find that in Christianity today people try to attract young people. What do they do? They have soul music and all kinds of things to attract young people.
Do you think this is worshiping or serving God? Unless it comes from the spirit, all these outward things—whether physical or mental—are insufficient.
A Pharisee could go into the temple and pray, yet his prayer was praying to himself, or perhaps he was praying so that other people might hear him. It never reached heaven.
But a sinner beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful.” Dear brothers and sisters, first of all, let us remember: in serving God, it has to be in the spirit. It has to come from within, and then it will be expressed without.
You remember in Zechariah 4 that the prophet Zechariah had a vision. He saw a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, seven lamps upon it, and seven pipes to the lamps. There were also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on the left.
When he saw that vision, he asked the angel, “What is it?” The angel said to him, in verse 6:
This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
We know that Zerubbabel was the leader of the remnant of the Jews who returned to Jerusalem. They went back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, that God’s name might be on earth as well as in heaven.
Of course, while they were building the temple, they met with many problems. It was a very difficult task. That is why God gave Zerubbabel this vision.
The golden lampstand represents the temple. Today, the lampstand represents the church. There is a spiritual work, a spiritual service, going on; and while this spiritual service is going on, there is much difficulty.
Zerubbabel was engaged in this work, and God showed him the meaning: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.”
Do not think that you can do this work merely by might or power. So far as the remnant was concerned, they had little might. They were very limited, not only in persons, but also in resources. They had no influence. How could they succeed in building the temple?
God told them the secret: not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit. Even though you do not have much power in yourself and do not have much usefulness among men, God’s work is not done by these things. God’s work is done by the Holy Spirit.
Because God promised that He would be with them, in spite of their limited resources and weaknesses, this work could be done.
Then you find two olive trees standing by the golden lampstand. How can the testimony of God be in the world? The golden lampstand shines forth light, and it represents the testimony of God.
How could it be done? The oil was supplied by the two olive trees. These olive trees poured gold into the lamps, and this became oil for the light.
In other words, how could the work of God be done? How could His testimony be shown in the world? Where was the power? The power was in the two olive trees.
These olive trees represent two persons. At that time, it was Zerubbabel and Joshua. Today, it is the church, because the church is always represented by the number two or three.
These two people were olive trees. They produced oil, and this oil, in turn, was gold. Gold represents the nature of God.
To put it in New Testament terms, the life of Christ is constituted and formed in us. This life gives the gold and the oil. This life is the power of service.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us be very clear on this: the Holy Spirit brings that life so that we may grow.
Now, I would like to share another matter. When we want to serve God, where is the power, and how can we receive that power?
In Acts 1, you find one hundred and twenty believers gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem. They prayed with one accord, waiting for the power from on high, the promise of the Father.
On the day of Pentecost, in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came down. It was like a mighty rushing breath. In the original language, it is like someone breathing.
Is that not familiar to you? In Genesis, when man was created, God breathed into the nostrils of the body, and man became a living soul with a spirit.
Here they heard a mighty breathing filling the whole room. Tongues of fire fell upon the one hundred and twenty, and they began to speak in tongues. Not only so, they were able to proclaim the greatness of God to all kinds of people.
In Christianity, we call it the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But actually, in the Bible, the expression should be understood as baptism with the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Baptizer, and He baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
When they received this, they were given utterance, power, and boldness to proclaim the good news of God.
Today, when people speak about service, they immediately link it with so-called Pentecostal power. We need power so that we can preach the gospel, have boldness, and have ability. Therefore, people begin to seek for that power.
May I bring you back to the Scriptures? Strictly speaking, the Pentecostal experience—the baptism with the Holy Spirit—is a historical act. In other words, it is never repeated.
Do not be surprised, because that is according to Scripture. People today are looking for a repeat of Pentecost, but Pentecost is a historical act of God. The Holy Spirit has come.
What we can experience is the filling of the Holy Spirit. It is not another baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Why are we baptized with the Holy Spirit? What is the meaning of Pentecost? The explanation is found in 1 Corinthians 12:13:
For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Here you find the meaning of baptism with the Holy Spirit. Why did our Lord Jesus baptize us with the Holy Spirit? Because we were baptized into one body.
Formerly, we were individual believers. But by that baptism, we were baptized into one body.
Whenever we believe in the Lord Jesus, at that very moment the Holy Spirit gives birth to us, gives life to us—the life of Christ—and dwells in our new spirit. That is what we receive when we believe in the Lord Jesus.
But at the same time, we receive that baptism, because we are baptized into the one body.
Can I prove it? When you believe in the Lord Jesus, there is a change in you. You pray to God, and He is your Father, not your father-in-law.
At the same time, after you are saved, when you meet another believer, what happens? You feel there is a bond between you and that person, and that bond is stronger than even blood.
He is your brother. She is your sister. We belong to one another. Where does it come from? From the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
So, dear brothers and sisters, remember this, because I believe it will be a great help to our spiritual experience. The so-called baptism of the Holy Spirit is a historical act, but when we believe in the Lord Jesus, that baptism is already accomplished upon us because we have become members of the body of Christ.
When you become a member of the body of Christ, what happens? When you are born physically and come out of your mother’s womb, you have all the members of your body complete.
More than that, every member of your body is given a gift. You have eyes, and the eyes have the power of seeing. Of course, when a child is first born, he has eyes, but he may not yet be able to see clearly. He needs to live a little longer, and then the eyes begin to exercise.
The same thing is true with the spiritual body of Christ. Baptism is related to spiritual gifts.
Whenever we are born again, do you think God would make you a member of the body of Christ and not give you a special gift? God never creates a useless member.
Every member of the body of Christ has received a specific gift. The gifts may be different, but they are God’s gifts. The Bible calls them the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. This is found in 1 Corinthians 12.
Why is it that you are born again and baptized into the body of Christ, yet it seems as if you have no gift? No, you have already been given a gift. It needs to be activated.
That is the reason why we need the experience of the filling of the Holy Spirit. One baptism, but many fillings.
If you empty yourself, He will fill you. That is the time when your gifts are activated.
It is very true: in service, we need power. We need gifts. You remember in Acts 4, when the believers gathered together and prayed because of the oppression from the Jewish council, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they had boldness to speak the word.
We need that boldness. We need gifts—spiritual gifts and natural gifts. But these are manifestations of the Holy Spirit.
Remember this: the manifestations of the Holy Spirit are His manifestations, not His Person. The Holy Spirit as a Person dwells within us. He is God, and we need to obey Him.
In Acts 5, we are told that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey Him. We need to obey the Holy Spirit because He is God. He represents Christ, so we need to obey Him.
But so far as the manifestations are concerned, the gift has to obey the person who has the gift. In 1 Corinthians 14:32, we are told:
And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
If you receive the gift of prophecy, then the spirit of the prophet has to be subject to the prophet. Do you see the difference here? I hope I do not confuse you.
The manifestations, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, are not the Person Himself. They are His manifestations. They are impersonal. Therefore, when you are exercising the gift, it has to depend upon you.
I remember when we first experienced the so-called Pentecostal experience. We were so innocent. We were told that when you were speaking in tongues, the tongue controlled you; you did not control the tongue.
We were told that if, at midnight, the gift came upon you, you had to speak in tongues. That is wrong, because the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet.
In spiritual service, we need both. We need the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, and we need the filling of the Holy Spirit so that we may have boldness and utterance.
These gifts are like channels. How are you going to give out that which is within? If you are full of Christ, how can the Christ within you flow out? You need a channel, and through that channel, the life within you will flow out.
So we need the channel. But, dear brothers and sisters, to put it more accurately, what really serves God’s purpose is not the manifestation. It is the life that comes through the channel.
I hope you understand. That is the reason why we find so much abuse in Christianity in this area of so-called baptism of the Holy Spirit.
We find people with great gifts. They are very eloquent. They have utterance. They have boldness. It seems as if they are used by the Lord to help many people.
But very soon, something happens to these people. You find that their lives cannot support their power. Then they become a stumbling block to many believers.
It is because what flows out from these channels is not Christ. It is a mental power; it is charisma; it is the self pouring out through the channels.
It may affect people for a time, but eventually you find that it does not bring people to God. It becomes a stumbling block to many. That is what we find in the Christian world today.
Dear brothers and sisters, do not neglect spiritual gifts. But more important than that is what the Holy Spirit does within us—how He makes the life of Christ within us grow, that it may flow out through the channel.
That kind of service lasts. I remember our dear brother Watchman Nee said that when we are young, we usually serve by gifts. But when we are getting older, then we serve by the life of Christ within.
Christ as life is the real power of service.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life. Why does the Holy Spirit need to help us? What is His mission?
Remember, the Holy Spirit has only one mission: He is to take care of the life of Christ in us. He sees to it that whatever hinders this life, He will deal with it. Whatever helps the growth of this life, He will encourage.
When the life is growing within you, and when it pours out through the channel of manifestation, it gives life to other people.
Dear brothers and sisters, how important it is, when we are engaged in serving God, to see what really comes out of us. What goes through these channels of gifts?
It is Christ. It is real power. He has the power of transforming people. Life gives life.
But if it is self, then temporarily it may appear successful, but it is superficial. Eventually it will be a disaster, because before God it is life rather than gift.
You remember in John 12, there was a time when our Lord Jesus went into Jerusalem for the last time. He was going to be crucified, but outwardly the situation seemed to be very different.
Only once in the lifetime of our Lord Jesus did He ride on a colt to enter Jerusalem. He was most welcomed. The people said, “The prophet from Nazareth.”
Not only that, even the Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for worship wanted to see Jesus. The whole world was after our Lord Jesus.
At that time, our Lord said, “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.” He was not referring to the outward situation. He was referring to His crucifixion, because crucifixion meant salvation to us.
This was His glory. He used a parable: the grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying bears much fruit.
He referred that grain of wheat to Himself. In the original language, it is not merely “a grain of wheat”; it is “the grain of wheat.” In the world, there are tares, but He is the grain of wheat that fell from heaven to the ground.
He lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years. He lived such a wonderful life, a life that really served God’s purpose. So far as His own Person was concerned, He had a pure life.
He lived the life of the man that God had in His mind when He first created man.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared, and they spoke with Him concerning His departure—His exodus—how He was going out of the world and returning to the Father.
This was a very exciting moment, because so far as Christ Jesus Himself was concerned, He could have departed from that mountain. He had every right to appear before His Father.
If He had done that, we would all have been finished. But thank God, He came down from that mountain. He went to Calvary.
That grain of wheat not only fell into the ground; He died. The outer shell of the grain was broken, and the life within came out. Then He bore much fruit. We are the result of His resurrection.
Then our Lord Jesus applied this to us. We are now all grains of wheat. How can we be fruitful? How can we serve God?
The only way to serve God is the way that our Lord Jesus has come through. Within us there is life. There is resurrection life. There is the power of His resurrection.
But round about us there is a shell—our soul-life. It is “I,” “me,” and “mine.” It is like a shell that imprisons Christ within us.
How can we serve people with the life of Christ? The shell needs to be broken.
The Lord said that he who loves his soul-life shall lose it, but he who is willing to give up his soul-life for Him and for His gospel shall gain it unto eternity.
The Lord said, “Whoever wants to serve Me, follow Me.” If we want to serve God, this is the only way. We have to be willing to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow the Lord.
If we love our soul-life—ourselves—what will happen? We are going to lose it. If we want to keep our soul-life, Christ will be imprisoned within us.
Even if we are gifted, even if we have manifestations of the Holy Spirit, even if we have boldness and utterance, what comes out through the channel will be “I,” “me,” and “mine.”
It cannot give life to other people. What can you give to people in yourself? What you can give is only death.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the way of service. The important problem lies here: what comes out through the channel? Is it Christ, or is it you?
Christ has shown us the way. Even though He Himself was pure and perfect, yet He laid it down so that God could be glorified.
What about us? Our self is ugly. It is dirty. It is sinful. Should we not lay it down for the sake of Christ?
As we go to death, Christ Jesus will grow within us, and out of us there will be spiritual service.
So, dear brothers and sisters, when you talk about Christ-centered service, it is more than merely talking about Christ. It is the outflowing of Christ. This is real service.
The Lord said, “Whoever serves Me, him will My Father honor.”
May the Lord have mercy upon us and deliver us from so-called Christian service, that we may really serve Him according to Christ, our life.
Dear Lord, we do acknowledge that these words are difficult. But we praise and thank Thee because, as Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”
We have believed in Thee as the Son of God. Where can we go other than following Thee?
Oh, dear Lord, grant that we may follow Thee, that we may serve, and that God may be glorified.