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We need to worship the Lord for the leading and training He has given us recently. In our worship we should also have a proper consecration. In the Old Testament whenever God’s people began a move, they first had a corporate consecration. When the move ended, they had another corporate consecration. It is through consecration that we respond to the leading God has given us.
The brothers and sisters who attended the recent training, whether they attended the classes formally or audited them, must all have a desperate heart before the Lord to be willing to take the way of serving the Lord and to take this way their entire life. This does not mean that from now on they should become speakers who minister the word full time. What this actually means is that they should serve the Lord in the church. This differs from becoming a preacher like those in Christianity. These are two entirely different matters.
In Christianity being a preacher has become a kind of profession. However, serving the Lord is the living of a Christian; it is not a profession. If the Lord arranges our circumstances so that we have sufficient means to live without the need to acquire more material things for our enjoyment, we should use all our strength, effort, time, and energy on matters pertaining to the spreading of the Lord’s gospel and the building up of the church. This kind of living is a living of serving the Lord. However, even if the Lord does not make provision for our food, clothing, shelter, and transportation and we therefore need to use our time, energy, and strength to earn money to make a living, our living should still be for and focus on the Lord’s gospel and the church. Hence, regardless of what our job is, our conduct and existence must all be for our service to the Lord. This is the proper living of a Christian.
Regarding whether we should hold a job, how much we should work, or what kind of job we should have, we should follow the Lord’s leading in our environment. There is no need for us to struggle and strive. Whatever our job may be, it should not affect our serving the Lord. I hope that all the brothers and sisters who joined the recent training can have this kind of view and this kind of living.
Furthermore, all the brothers and sisters who have attended the recent training should realize that spiritual matters are not shallow and simple. After these sixteen weeks of classes I believe that many of you feel that reading the Bible is not simple, speaking for the Lord is not simple, knowing life is not simple, and being a minister of the word for the Lord’s use is not simple. You should not, however, be content simply because you know that these things are not simple. According to our present situation, we are still quite short. The riches of Christ are inexhaustible, and the spiritual things of God are inexhaustible. You should never think that it is sufficient to hear what you have heard and see what you have seen. No, this is never the case. Even though everything you heard in these sixteen weeks of classes is God’s truth, and almost everything you saw is spiritual, you need to realize that what you heard, what you saw, and what you touched in the past sixteen weeks are but a small portion of the spiritual riches of God. The training should not cause you to be proud; rather, it should cause you to be humble before the Lord. We should never be content with or boast in what we have learned. We should not be proud because of what we have learned; rather, what we have heard and learned should cause us to be humble.
When the brothers and sisters return to their respective localities to serve, they must be lowly in all things but not low in their moral character. This means that as we serve in the churches, we should not lower our moral character in any matter or in any aspect. In addition to this, we should be lowly before those whom we serve, accommodating ourselves to them in every matter and in every aspect. We should not be a person with low character, a base person, but we must be a lowly person. Being humble is acceptable, but being base is not. Being lowly is good, but being low is not. We should absolutely be lowly and accommodating toward others, and we should humble ourselves and not become proud because of what we know. However, we should never lose the proper Christian character in order to cater to others. As far as moral character is concerned, we should never be low. Once we lower our character, it is very easy to become base and pitiful. This is not permissible.
Some may ask what it means to not have a base character. It means that when we meet someone who has money, power, and position, we do not regard him too highly, and when we meet someone who is in a lower position than we, we do not look down on him. To be base is to treat people in a way that is too high or low. We should be humble and accommodating toward others, but we should not have a base character. Most of today’s social organizations solicit contributions and invite people to donate money. In such situations it is common for them to regard some donors with special respect. This is base and mean. We would rather starve and have the work delayed than lower ourselves in these matters. In serving the church we should lower ourselves and not be proud in anything, but we should never lower our moral character. This kind of lowering is not being lowly; it is being base. Please remember well that someone who serves the Lord must not be base or play politics. We do not have a throne; we have only our moral character. We should be lowly and accommodating in everything, but we should never be loose in our moral character.
Furthermore, when we serve in different places, we should not serve in a disorderly and impractical way. In our service we first must see the Lord’s sovereignty. Wherever the Lord has arranged for us to serve, we should serve singleheartedly, serving the saints and the sinners. Second, we must come to know our position in the coordination with the saints; we must come to know the order among the saints. Among all the brothers and sisters we need to know who is under us and who is above us, who is our authority. Third, after coming to know the order and learning who is above us, we must immediately pray and place ourselves under that person’s hand. We can pray in a definite way to place ourselves under his hand. In particular, the young brothers and sisters must find someone who is above them to supervise them. This should not be arranged, because outward arrangements may not be fitting. This requires us to properly seek before the Lord. When we are clear, we must learn to be restricted under authority. Any brother or sister who has been asked to be an authority should first go before the Lord to pray and find out if the Lord wants him or her to bear the responsibility of overseeing a number of others, and then properly lead them, be responsible for them, and restrict them. Those who serve as authorities should take the matter seriously, and those who are under authority should submit to it from their heart.
Each of us needs to seek before the Lord as to which area the Lord has commissioned us to serve in. It may be the area of the gospel, visiting people, ministering the word, or handling general affairs. This requires us to have much prayer individually and to seek together with the brothers and sisters with whom we are coordinating. After becoming clear in our seeking, when we serve, we should serve in a proper way. For example, if we are ministers of the word, we should pick up the burden properly. We should not speak randomly about one thing today and another thing tomorrow. We must not do this. We should pray properly and through our observing of the saints bring the needs of the brothers and sisters before the Lord, asking Him to give us a clear word. If we do this, we will have a way to minister the word and serve the church.
Whether we have served in the church for one, two, three, or many years, we still must learn not to serve in a random way. For instance, if we feel to do more visiting, we should not do it aimlessly. On one hand, we should be willing to contact every brother and sister. On the other hand, we should be led by the Lord to see which brothers and sisters particularly need care and contact at the present time. Once the Lord burdens us for these brothers and sisters, we must pay special attention to them. When they come to the meetings, we should fellowship especially with them. While fellowshipping with them, we need to take note of their spiritual condition. Have they consecrated themselves? Have they dealt with their sins? If not, at the proper time we should lead them to consecrate themselves and deal with their sins. After they have dealt with their sins, we should lead them to deal with the world. After two weeks we need to lead them to learn another lesson, and then after half a year, yet another lesson. In addition, we should pay attention to the development of the spiritual gifts that God has given them. We need to determine whether they are suitable for the preaching of the gospel, for serving as deacons, or for the ministering of the word. In whichever area of service they are most suitable, we should instruct them, on one hand, to be led in life and to go on little by little, and on the other hand, to be perfected in their function. In this way the church will not only be strong but also produce many useful people.
We should all learn to do this. Regardless of whether our service is in ministering the word or visiting people, we should all serve in a well-planned way, not aimlessly. If it is arranged for some to spread the gospel, they should first survey the areas to which they are going. For example, if some areas have factories and some have schools, they should first consider the situation systematically and then begin the gospel move. They should not do it aimlessly. This is a very serious and important point. Serving in this way will cause us all to learn a very good lesson. We must learn to work step by step in a systematic way. We should not have a good, strong start but then fail to see it through. We should all pray before the Lord properly that each one of us can find our part in the work and faithfully do our part. In this way we will have good results, whether we serve in edifying the saints, in visitation, or in the gospel. We need to pray this word into us and treat it very seriously.
Some have asked whether we should hold a job as we serve. This question can be approached from three angles. First, we must determine if we have learned enough to serve full time. If our spiritual learning, our spiritual experience, and what we have spiritually is not sufficient for us to serve with all our time, we should hold a job as we serve. If, however, we have much learning and experience and we need all our time to minister to others, then undoubtedly we should serve full time. Hence, the first thing we need to determine in deciding if we should hold a job is whether we have sufficient spiritual capital to serve with all our time.
Second, if we have much to minister spiritually, but God has not arranged for us to have some kind of business in our hands to support ourselves, and the church also is unable to take care of us, then we should still learn to hold a job. This was Paul’s principle in holding a job. He had no savings or business and therefore needed to do some temporary work to provide for his living.
Third, this is an age in which all the saints serve together. In deciding whether or not you should hold a job, you should not act individualistically but should be in fellowship. If all the brothers and sisters feel that you should serve full time, and you also feel the same way, then you should serve full time.
Thus, the three principles to determine whether you should serve full time are, first, if you have many spiritual riches and need to minister them with all your time; second, if the Lord has made some arrangements for your living; and third, if all the brothers and sisters serving together say Amen. If you meet these three requirements, you then can serve full time. However, if even one of these three requirements is not met, you should hold a job, but this should not change your burden or your service.
Regardless of whether or not we are currently holding a job, we should all aspire to reach a stage at which we truly live for the Lord and let Him live out from us. If we are able to reach this stage, we will be joyful to see the Lord when we come before His judgment seat. However, if we are clear that the Lord does not want us to hold a job, we should drop our job and go on boldly in faith to serve the church properly.
Likewise, if we are clear inwardly that the Lord wants us to hold a job in order to earn some material riches to support the Lord’s work, we should go on faithfully and diligently, doing much business and earning money to care for the Lord’s work. This also is a kind of service in coordination. In other words, it is not bad if some among us remain in a career and do business. If no one does business for the Lord’s work, how can the needs of the Lord’s work be met?
As for all you brothers and sisters who have participated in this training, if you are led to serve full time, you should go on boldly; if you are clear about staying in your career, you should do business faithfully. Besides these two groups who serve full time or run a business, there are many other saints whom the Lord may not necessarily lead to serve full time or run a business. Such people need to hold a job, supporting their own living to serve the Lord. This is very good, since it allows them to serve the Lord well while not burdening the Lord’s work. In other words, they do not need to be supported by others, nor do they need to support others. They can coordinate together in the service self-sufficiently.
There should be these few kinds of situations among those who serve and coordinate in the church life. One situation is that some serve the Lord full time, and another is that some do business properly for the Lord’s work. Yet another situation, in between the first two, is that some do not need the supply of others, but they do not have much capacity to supply others. According to the Lord’s arrangement, they should serve while holding a job to support their family’s living. This also is good. Determining which kind of serving one we should be requires us to receive the leading from the Lord. In this matter we do not want to have any definite arrangements, and even less do we want to have any kind of organization. We are here simply giving this fellowship to you and allowing you to be led by the Lord personally.
Presently, besides the forty or fifty full-time serving ones, we have approximately twelve brothers and sisters who have come in recently and are willing to serve full time. There are also some brothers and sisters who need to hold a job while serving. If we all go on in the Lord’s grace, after some time more people will come forth to serve full time. In our present situation we do not want to work too quickly, and we do not want to have any human arrangement. We do not want to have any kind of organization to recruit people to serve. Rather, we are hoping that the brothers and sisters can go on properly before the Lord. First, we must be clear concerning the Lord’s leading; second, our personal gift must be manifested; and third, we must receive a confirmation from all the saints. In this way, when the time comes, we will spontaneously be the proper kind of person. However, regardless of whether we serve full time or serve with a job, we must go on faithfully. One day the Lord will manifest to us more people who should serve full time.
