Search
Scripture Reading: Exo. 2:11-15; Acts 7:22-30, 34-36; Heb. 11:28; Luke 22:31-34; John 13:36-38; 18:15-18, 25-27; Matt. 26:69-75; 1 Pet. 5:5-6
I. The natural strength and ability having no divine element.
II. The natural strength and ability acting on their own, not according to God’s will.
III. The natural strength and ability seeking their own glory and satisfying their own desire.
IV. The natural strength and ability needing to be dealt with by the cross.
V. The natural strength and ability becoming useful in resurrection for our service to the Lord.
VI. The case of Moses:
А. Educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and being powerful in words and in works — Acts 7:22.
B. Doing something for God’s people according to his own will — vv. 23-26.
C. Being put aside by God for forty years — Exo. 2:14-15; Acts 7:27-30.
D. Learning to serve God according to His leading and to trust in Him — vv. 34-36; Heb. 11:28.
VII. The case of Peter:
А. Being self-confident in his natural strength and ability — Luke 22:33.
B. Being put into a test — John 18:15-18, 25-27.
C. Becoming a complete failure — Matt. 26:69-75.
D. Learning to serve the brothers by faith in the Lord and with humility — Luke 22:32; 1 Pet. 5:5-6.
The most difficult and crucial thing concerning the Lord’s service is to take care of the negative points that we have pointed out in these lessons. Anyone in the Lord’s recovery who is not clear concerning all these negative points cannot render a proper service to the Lord. We may even be taking the lead, but if we are not clear about all these negative factors, we cannot help the saints to do the church service in the profitable way of life. We may do a lot of things, and we may help the local saints to do a lot of things, but nothing may be profitable in life.
The service must be out of life and also unto life. In all the church service, every saint must be made clear about this. In the church service, we are not endeavoring to merely do things successfully. We are flowing life out to others. The service must be a ministry of life to others, a service unto life. It must be life flowing out of us as a life ministry to others. In order for this to happen, we surely have to take care of all these negative things, which are the obstacles, hindrances, and barriers to the flowing out of life in our service.
In this lesson we want to see that in the church service we must reject our natural strength and ability, which are acquired by us either through birth or through learning. Any of our natural strength and ability is unprofitable to the church service in life.
Anything natural does not have the divine element in it, especially the natural strength and natural ability. To use our natural strength and ability is altogether against the basic principle of the church as the Body of Christ, because the church as the Body of Christ is altogether a composition of humanity mingled with divinity. The church as the new man must be full of the divine element. The Lord condemns Christianity because it has become a religion carried out by man’s natural strength and man’s natural ability. There is no development of the divine element there. But the genuine church is a composition of the divine element mingled with humanity. We must learn this as a basic lesson, and we also must impress every saint who partakes of the church service with this point.
In our service we must do everything in the principle of incarnation. The principle of incarnation is that the divine nature is wrought into humanity. When the Lord Jesus was on this earth, He did everything in His humanity full of the divine element. He did not do anything by the natural strength or the natural ability. He said that He could not do anything apart from the Father (John 5:19). The Father was within Him and one with Him in all His deeds, in all His words, and in all His works (14:10; 10:30). Whatever He did, whatever He said, and whatever He worked was altogether with the Father as the divine element. We need to consider whether the strength and ability we use for the Lord’s service are natural or divine. We have to learn the lesson of rejecting our natural strength and ability, and we have to help all the saints to learn this lesson.
When both Moses and Peter were younger, they acted on their own, not according to God’s will. Today it is possible that we may act and do some service for the Lord on our own according to our natural strength and ability but not according to God’s will. Because we have the strength and the ability, we feel that we do not need to pray, to wait on the Lord, to seek the Lord’s will, or to look for the Lord’s leading. This was exactly what happened to Moses. When he slew an Egyptian to protect his fellow Hebrew, he did this on his own and not according to the Lord’s will (Exo. 2:11-12). The sad situation in today’s Christianity is that people work for the Lord mostly on their own by their natural strength and ability. They do not pray for the Lord’s leading. They may pray only for the Lord to bestow His blessing upon what they do. They do not pray that much for the Lord’s will, because they trust in their natural strength and ability.
When we work in our natural strength and ability, the goal is to seek our own glory, and the motive is to satisfy our own desire. If we see this vision, it will kill our self-seeking and impure motive. Actually, in the Lord’s work we should not have our own desire, and we should not have our own goal for our glory, for our boast. We should do things simply because the Lord leads us to do them. We should not do them because we have something to achieve for our goal. That is wrong. The goal must be the Lord’s.
To kill our desire and our goal means to kill our strength and ability. Our own desire and our own goal for our glory are one with our natural strength and natural ability. The people of the world and even many Christians do things by their strength and ability for their desire and glory, but we have to condemn and reject this.
The natural strength and ability need to be dealt with by the cross. To overcome and deal with sin is not as hard as this. To overcome our natural strength and ability is a great, subjective lesson; it is more subjective than dealing with sin. In a certain sense, our natural strength and ability equal our self, our natural constitution. Our natural strength and natural ability are the embodiment of our self. This is why after the denial of the self we need a lesson on rejecting the natural strength and ability and dealing with them by the cross.
The natural strength and ability are useful if they are dealt with by the cross. After being dealt with by the cross, they are in resurrection. Some brothers speak in their natural eloquence, but other brothers speak with an eloquence dealt with by the cross. This is the eloquence in resurrection. Some who are short of experience may ask what the difference is between the natural eloquence and the eloquence in resurrection. It is hard to explain, but if you have the experience, it is easy to discern. Only those with the experience can discern the difference between the undealt with, natural strength and ability and the strength and ability in resurrection through the dealing of the cross.
In resurrection something divine has been wrought into our strength and ability. Even some divine element has been wrought into our eloquence. When we speak, we need to have our eloquence dealt with by the cross. The cross always works the divine element into the person it deals with, bringing God into him. If you have never been dealt with by the cross in your eloquence, that is the natural eloquence with nothing divine. But if your eloquence has been dealt with, that kind of eloquence is in resurrection and is full of the divine element. In the natural eloquence there is no God. But the “dealt with” eloquence in resurrection is full of God. After being dealt with, our strength and ability become useful in resurrection for our service to the Lord.
We surely need to gain ability, but once we have the ability, we need to be dealt with. This was exactly what happened to Moses. The case of Moses is the best one to illustrate the matter of rejecting the natural strength and ability. No other person in the Bible is as good as Moses in this aspect.
Acts 7:22 tells us that Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and works. He came out to work for God, to rescue God’s people from the tyranny of Pharaoh.
Moses did something for God’s people according to his own will (vv. 23-26). He was full of assurance that he could accomplish something, but he was carrying out his will, not God’s will.
God purposely and sovereignly put Moses aside for forty years (Exo. 2:14-15; Acts 7:27-30).
In those forty years Moses learned to serve God according to His leading and to trust in Him (vv. 34-36; Heb. 11:28). Moses eventually became a person who did nothing according to his will. He always acted according to the Lord’s leading. The Lord led him, and he followed. He had no faith in his ability. Although he was very capable, he did not use his natural ability. His natural ability was dealt with, so it became an ability in resurrection. The ability in resurrection corresponds with God’s move. If our ability is not dealt with, it is separate from God’s move. But after being dealt with by the cross, our ability becomes one with God’s move. Actually, God was wrought into Moses’ ability. His ability eventually was full of God.
Exodus 2 shows us a natural Moses, a Moses with his natural strength and ability. That was purely, solely, wholly, and absolutely Moses without God. Then after chapter 3 we can see another kind of Moses, a Moses who was fully dealt with by God. After chapter 3 God was in Moses, and whatever Moses did in his acts and move was full of God, having the divine element.
Peter was self-confident in his natural strength and ability even to the point of thinking that he would follow the Lord both to prison and to death (Luke 22:33).
Peter was tested, and he denied the Lord three times, even before a little maid (John 18:15-18, 25-27).
Peter was absolutely defeated and became a complete failure (Matt. 26:69-75). He did have a heart to love the Lord, but he was too confident in his own strength, his natural strength. His love for the Lord was precious, but his natural strength had to be denied and dealt with. The Lord allowed Peter to fail utterly in denying the Lord to His face three times, so that his natural strength and self-confidence could be dealt with.
Through his failure Peter learned to serve the brothers by faith in the Lord and with humility (Luke 22:32; 1 Pet. 5:5-6). Peter was really broken and was turned from the natural ability to something in resurrection.
We surely have to impress the brothers and sisters with this lesson. We all must learn to reject the natural strength and ability. Our natural strength and ability must be dealt with and put on the cross. Then we will be in resurrection and full of the divine element, and whatever we do in the church service will be a ministry of the divine element to others. If our natural strength and ability are not dealt with, we will minister something natural to people by our church service.
