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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 3:6, 8; Col. 1:27-29; Eph. 3:8-10; 4:11-13; 2 Cor. 4:1-2, 5
The ministry of the New Testament serving ones (ministers) is to announce Christ and to dispense and minister Christ with His riches to people to produce the local churches for the building up of the universal Body of Christ as the expression of the Triune God.
Recently, after several trainings the Lord has truly graced us in every way, and He truly has spoken to us, clearly revealing to us the new way that He wants us to take. I treasure this opportunity to have fellowship with you before I depart. I offer you the above verses as a farewell gift. I hope you will digest these verses in accordance with the spirit of the training, allowing this word to mingle with you in a marvelous way.
These verses mainly show us the ministers and the ministry of the New Testament. Ministers refers to persons, whereas ministry refers to the work. These two aspects are revealed in the New Testament, especially in the Epistles of the apostle Paul, for our attention. The first aspect is that God in His grace, through His redemption, and by His Spirit has raised up a group of people who love Him, who are willing to forsake everything for Him, and who set apart their time to serve Him. In the New Testament they are called ministers. A minister is one who serves. We who are called by the Lord are those who serve the Lord. Apparently, we serve men; actually, we serve the Lord. With what do we serve men? We serve today’s thirsty ones with Christ, with the gospel, with truth, with grace, and with the life supply. Therefore, we are the Lord’s serving ones. Such ones are ministers.
The other aspect is the ministry. The ministry is the one work we all are doing and the one commission we all bear together. In other words, ministers refers to us, the persons, while ministry refers to the commission we bear, the work we do.
What is the work of the ministry? This work is to announce to people the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8) and to enlighten all that they may see the mystery that has been hidden in God, who created all things (v. 9), in order that they may understand, accept, and together receive grace, resulting in the producing of the church. On the positive side, God uses the church for our perfecting. On the negative side, through the church God will make known His multifarious wisdom to the heavens, Satan, and all the fallen angels under Satan’s command (v. 10).
Ephesians 3:8 through 10 clearly shows us that we who are called by God, who bear God’s commission, and who do the work of Christ, on the one hand, have to supply people with the unsearchable riches of Christ, and on the other hand, we have to enlighten all that they may see the mystery, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things. The end, the final goal, is that through the preaching of the truth, people will be raised up to produce the church so that the church may be expressed in every place, that many may receive grace and be perfected, making known the multifarious wisdom of God to Satan and the fallen angels.
To do the work of the ministry requires the grace of God. We cannot do this work by ourselves. This work is different from any common work because it is dealing not with any kind of philosophy or doctrine but with the mystery hidden in God. The work of the ministry is to announce to people the unsearchable riches of Christ and to enlighten them that they may see the hidden mystery of God, and to produce the church for perfecting people to make known the multifarious wisdom of God. We cannot do this work by our natural ability or by acquired learning. Rather, we need the grace of God.
Regarding this grace, we may suppose that only the apostle Paul was able to receive it and that since we are smaller than Paul, we are not qualified. However, in Ephesians 3:8 Paul tells us that he was less than the least of all saints. This indicates that since Paul was able to receive such grace, every one of us who is saved can also receive the same grace. When we have this grace, we can go forth with Christ and be full of light to make known the mystery of God. Our going to every nation is to announce the riches of Christ to people and to reveal to them the mystery of God that the churches may be produced in every nation and in every place. This is what the grace of God enables us to do. I believe that in the coming days the grace of God will be with us more abundantly, causing us to do the same work that Paul did.
We do not go out to preach a religion, nor do we go to preach any philosophy or doctrine. We preach Jesus Christ, the living God and Savior. He is the embodiment of the Triune God. He became flesh, passed through human living, and went to the cross to die for our sins, resurrected, and became the life-giving Spirit. He is present everywhere; He goes everywhere; He penetrates everywhere. Wherever a person is, if he is willing to open himself and call on the Lord’s name, the Lord as the Spirit will enter into him like fresh air, causing him to receive Christ Himself.
This is the Christ we preach. We do not preach religion, nor even the so-called biblical truths alone. Rather, we open up the revelations in the Bible to people. Revelation means the raising of the curtain, the opening of the veil, the uncovering of a previously hidden object. For example, if I button up my jacket, you will have no idea what is hidden under it. Then I may unfold the lapels of my jacket; this is to uncover, to unveil, for you to see the tie I have under my jacket. This is to “enlighten all,” as mentioned in verse 9. This is the work that we do when we go out to visit people — ministering Christ to them and releasing the truth that they may be enlightened and able to see the mystery that has been hidden in God throughout the ages.
Ephesians 4:11 and 12 continue, “He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” Today in the church there are many such gifts. Some are apostles, some are prophets, some are evangelists, and some are shepherds and teachers. The work they do is to perfect the saints. For instance, a full-time serving one goes out door-knocking to preach the gospel, and after some have been saved, he meets with them in their homes for their perfecting. In this way they can do the work that we all do, which is to build up the Body of Christ by announcing Christ, making known the mystery of God, and establishing the local churches.
Furthermore, in 2 Corinthians 4:1 and 2 Paul says, “Therefore, having this ministry as we have been shown mercy, we do not lose heart; but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of the truth.” This means that as we have received God’s commission and bear God’s entrustment to preach Christ to people and release the truth concerning the mystery of God to them, we need to have a good expression, a proper living, before men. This will cause us to not lose heart but to renounce the shameful, unmentionable, and hidden things and not walk in craftiness. All of us who serve the Lord full time should be absolutely honest, without the slightest bit of falsehood or deceit. In this way we will be able to manifest the truth of God. This is concerning the proper character that we need.
The point we have been emphasizing is that we all should know that we do not go out merely to be so-called preachers or evangelists. Rather, we are people who have Christ — and even are filled with Him — in our spirit. We allow our lives to be saturated and filled with this living Lord, this pneumatic Christ. It is with such a Lord that we go out to preach the gospel, preaching not only the truth of the gospel but all the more the living Christ as the center of the gospel.
Furthermore, we need to see that when we believe in Christ, we do not have a change of religion, such as from Buddhism to Christianity. Converting from one religion to another is not faith in Christ. Rather, we must open ourselves in our heart and spirit, which is where our real person is, and receive the Creator of heaven and earth, the true and living Savior who bled and died for us, the One who has become the life-giving Spirit. It is such a One that we have to receive into us. How do we receive Him? The way to receive Him is very simple. It does not require us to do certain works, nor does it require excessive consideration. Wherever we may be, if we open our whole being and pray to Jesus Christ, He will come into us. Romans 10:13 says, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” He is a living Savior. Like fresh air, He is waiting to enter into those who open to Him.
We all know that when a person opens his mouth and takes a deep breath, he can receive an abundance of fresh air. Today we need only to say, “O Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. Thank You, You are not only my Creator, but You also died for me on the cross to become my Redeemer. Lord, I receive You. Please come into me.” Every one of us can try touching the Lord like this. If we faithfully open ourselves in this way, calling on the Lord from the depths of our spirit, we will see that from then on our lives will have a gradual change from our inner heart to our outward behavior. This is not a change as a result of man’s teaching, but it is the Lord in us as the true and living life that causes us to have a change in life through a metabolic process of life. This is a mystery, yet it is clearly revealed in the Bible.
Today all parts of the world lack this truth. Since we are in the Lord’s recovery, we ought to bear this commission and go to every part of the world to speak and explain to people the mysterious truth concerning this living Jesus. By the Christ who lives in us, we release Him that He may enter into people as fresh air. Thus, people will not only be saved but also love God, and the more they love God, the more they will love one another. This loving of one another will stir up in them a desire to gather together in the Lord’s name. This gathering together is the church. In the beginning they may be few in number, but as long as they continue to come together, like coals of fire burning together, they will become more and more burning. We all know that if we put some pieces of coal or wood together and kindle them, they will burn one another. This piece burns that piece, and that piece burns this piece; eventually all will be burning. However, a single piece of wood or coal does not burn readily but instead dies out easily. We need to come together as the church called out by God so that we may receive grace to be perfected by God and be used by Him to manifest His multifarious wisdom.
This is my parting word to the full-time trainees. May the Lord be with you all, that regardless of which country or place you return to, you will have Christ accompanying you, and you will also have the truth of God filling you within so that, wherever you are, what is expressed in your living and your conduct is not any sinful or corrupted thing, nor yourself, but the living and shining Christ. May the Lord be with your spirit. Amen.
(A message given in the graduation meeting of the full-time training in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 1, 1987)
