Date: April 24, 1948Place: Hardoon Road, Shanghai
Presently, among God's children there seems to be a common phenomenon that only a certain group of people are serving. However, God's Word says that everyone who belongs to God is a servant of God. When the Israelites were in Egypt serving as slaves, they did not have any freedom. God delivered them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea for the purpose of serving Him in the wilderness (Exo. 3:18). The number of people under the blood was the number of people who left Egypt. The number of saved ones was the number of serving ones. When the Israelites left Egypt, they brought all the gold and silver with them (Exo. 12:35-36). Therefore, all of the ones who were redeemed served God in material offerings and followed the tabernacle. There was not just a minority who served. In both the Old Testament and New Testament, there is not a distinction between ones who serve and ones who do not serve. Only degraded Christianity makes such a distinction.
God said explicitly that He would make the Israelites a kingdom of priests (Exo. 19:6). Priests are those who wait on God and follow God. No one is able to come closer to God than the priests. Their job is to serve God. The Israelites were to be a kingdom of priests; the whole nation was to be priests.
The priests' eating, living, and slaughtering of bulls and goats were all for the purpose of serving God. The proper profession of the priests was to serve God; everything else was a sideline. They did not work as teachers, doctors, or in any other profession. Exodus 19 tells us that God intended that all the Israelites, old or young, great or small, male or female, were to be priests.
The goal of God's salvation is to gain priests (Rev. 1:5-6a). The blood of the Passover lamb delivered the Israelites with the goal of obtaining and ushering in a kingdom of priests. The greatest calling and also the greatest grace is that men can serve God as priests. The number of those who left Egypt was the number of those who should have served God. The number of those who reached Sinai was the number of those who should have served the Lord.
At the bottom of Mount Sinai, the Israelites worshipped the golden calf and sinned against God. As a result, Moses told the people to kill their own brothers. However, only the Levites obeyed Moses' words; they killed three thousand men (Exo. 32:1-29). The loss of three thousand men was not the greatest loss. The greatest loss was that all the people could no longer be priests. Originally, the twelve tribes were to be priests. Now only one tribe was left (Num. 8:5-19). Originally, there was to be a kingdom of priests. Now there became a tribe of priests. The Levites did not care for human feelings or sentiments; they stood on God's side. As a result, they gained the priesthood. Here we see that some had forsaken their priesthood. They forsook it through the worship of the idol; they established another worship.
Because of rebellion, the earth opened up its mouth and swallowed up the rebellious ones (Num. 16:30-33). Only one tribe was selected to serve God. Only Aaron's rod budded; all the other rods remained dead (Num. 17:6-10). After the people lost their standing before God, they could come to God only through the priests. Even those who had a heart to come to God were kept outside. The eleven tribes became those who were far from God, and only the Levites were the ones who drew near to God. The eleven tribes became those who could only come to God indirectly, whereas the Levites were the ones who could come to God directly. The eleven tribes became the ones who were served, while the Levites became the serving ones.
The book of Judges shows that the Levites became excessively honored because the Israelites could not serve, even if they had money. The Israelites had to ask the Levites to serve for them (Judg. 17), and it took a great effort for men to invite a Levite to serve in their house.
This arrangement lasted for over fifteen hundred years. During this time eleven tribes were kept outside the tabernacle. Only the tribe of Levi was admitted into the tabernacle. This lasted until the New Testament age, as Peter said in his first Epistle, "But you are...a royal priesthood'' (2:9). Now every believer has become a servant of God. At the end of the New Testament, when John was about to die in A.D. 95, he said that we have been made "a kingdom, priests to His God and Father'' (Rev. 1:6). God's intention toward the church today is for every believer to be a priest. We are a kingdom of priests. What the Israelites lost, God is recovering through the church. Through their unfaithfulness, the Israelites lost the priestly kingdom. God's intention today is for every Christian to be recovered to be a priest.
Any service that is not in the nature of a priestly kingdom is wrong. The church has been selected out of the world. There cannot be a further selection within the church. As long as there is no sin, no fall, and no golden calf, God forbids any further separation. However many there are who are redeemed by the blood, that many should serve. The number of sons should be the number of servants as well. The number of servants should equal the number of sons. Service should include the same number that salvation includes. Today among God's people, there are only backsliding ones; there are no non-slaves or non-maids. There are only rebellious ones; there are no non-serving ones. Any service should be a service by the whole church. This is the Body service that we are talking about in these days. God is not satisfied even when ninety-nine percent of the people are serving. God wants everyone to be serving. We do not believe that a majority of the people should serve while a minority of the people do not serve. Neither do we believe that a minority of the people should serve while a majority of the people do not serve. Service is not the work of the ministers or the work of a few evangelists. We speak so much about the Body service because it is a matter that belongs to all the brothers and sisters.
God's Word tells us that we are those who have received God's mercy. But what should we do now? Christianity thinks that a man is saved through the Lord's blood and by His grace and then goes on further to forsake the world. As he advances further, he drops everything to serve God. This is degraded Christianity. According to God's Word, as soon as a man is saved, and as soon as he steps through the entrance, the Lord tells him to take up his cross (Matt. 16:24). A man either does not become a disciple, or he has to be one in an absolute way. The Lord sets the price clearly from the beginning for every saved one. The first day they come, they see the tomb. The first day they come, they are asked to forsake the world. We cannot lower the gospel and make the gospel no longer the gospel. The Lord never lowers the price to attract customers. The gospel is the least expensive thing there is. Yet at the same time, it is the most costly thing there is. If we are to be saved, we have to be saved in a clear way. Only those who have paid a high price can feel joy. When the young ruler returned home, his money remained with him, but so did his sorrow (Matt. 19:22). Where money is, there sorrow remains. When money goes, joy comes along. Salvation requires that a man give up everything totally. Today many brothers and sisters are sorrowful just like the young ruler. They have things in their hands that they cannot drop. The only difference between them and the young ruler is that they have not returned home yet; they are still meeting here. If we want joy, we have to consecrate ourselves fully and offer up everything.
Last year I asked a student at Chiao-Tung University how he would feel if someone were to slap him on his right cheek. If someone slapped your right cheek, you would be angry when you went home. However, those who are joyful before the Lord are the ones who turn their left cheek to the enemy after being slapped on the right cheek. After a person has been slapped twice, he will be joyful, and he will be able to utter praise. The Lord's way is the way of absoluteness. Those who are not absolute cannot sing. I am not begging people to come to serve. I am showing you that you are a servant of God. God wants you to serve.
This conference is a co-workers' conference, but this does not mean that the responsibility is only on the co-workers. Today the responsibility is on the whole Body. When we read 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, we see that service belongs to the whole Body; it is not a service of three or five special people. Therefore, we asked all the brothers and sisters to hand themselves over. The Lord wants absolute service. We hope that every brother and sister can get through in this matter. The Lord wants such an absolute service. It is not just the co-workers who need coordination in their work; rather, every brother and sister needs to be coordinated.
I want to ask the brothers a few questions. What kind of service is considered real service? The only service that counts is the service in which the whole Body serves. Only the Body service can be counted as real service. Either you are not a Christian, or you are a serving Christian.
In order to have the Body service, there is the need for coordination. What is coordination? It is not a loose arrangement. If my hands are connected to my body, they will be useful. But if they are locked up upstairs, they will not be useful.
Since you became a Christian, have you ever inquired of the Lord concerning your job, your house, and your business? Is your job suitable for the gospel? When a man moves to a new place, he considers whether the place is beneficial to him spiritually. But he never considers whether his job will enable him to give himself to the gospel. Today our co-workers cannot seek their own convenience in the work; they cannot freely choose their own field. The brothers and sisters who hold jobs should do the same thing in principle. We have to hand over our job, and we should learn to coordinate together. In other words, all the brothers and sisters are co-workers. Everyone should hand himself over for the gospel. If there is to be coordination, it has to be a coordination of all the brothers and sisters. Some of us have to change our dwelling or occupations, and all of us have to offer up our possessions. This is a great price. It may cause some to have heartaches. From the very beginning we have to realize that the Lord requires that we serve this way. Any service that involves a dragging of the feet is not joyful and definite service.
We have to tell the young brothers and sisters that whatever they do in the future, whether it involves being a teacher or a doctor, can only be done as a secondary occupation. Every one of us lives for the purpose of serving God. We tell people to offer up their possessions because we can never serve God without offering up our possessions. The Lord says that a man cannot serve two masters; he cannot serve God and mammon at the same time (Matt. 6:24). The colt must be loosed (21:2), and everything has to be offered up and released before a person can serve. Those who are not loosed cannot serve.
If anyone asks me how much he should offer, I would answer, "Everything.'' Brother Lee said that the church will lay aside the consecrated things for us. But what would we do if the church does not lay them aside? If we want to serve God, we have to serve Him in a desperate way.
When I was in England I heard of a brother by the name of C. A. Coates. Someone once gave one of his books to the Queen of England. The Queen read the book and was helped by it. However, Coates had written eight books. When I was in England, I asked the British brothers, "Since Coates has eight books, why would he not give the other seven books to the Queen?'' The brothers did not say anything. They acted as if I had said something wrong. Later, I asked some other people and learned that a common English person could not give a book to the Queen. Even if you tried to give her a book, she might not necessarily accept it.
Consecration is God honoring us. It is not a favor we grant to God. Rather, it is God's acceptance of us and of our possessions. Hence, it is God's honor to us. We are not granting Him a favor; He is granting us a favor. For God to accept persons such as we is the greatest privilege He can grant to us. If I kneel before God and He sends a fire to consume the sacrifice, it is His favor to me in accepting my service. Man thinks that he is sacrificing himself by consecrating to God. Little does he realize that God's accepting him is His mercy. Why do we have to calculate so much? We have to learn to push our way through to serve Him, to crawl before Him, and to kneel before Him. A man should learn to humble himself before God. We are not begging you to go to God. Rather, you should beg to go to Him yourself.
The China Textile Corporation no longer dares to issue any more shares because they will be sold within half an hour. Today the blind ones are not the ones who cannot see; the blind ones are the ones who do not see. Our only fear should be that we give too little to God, that God will not accept what we give to Him. Is our consecration a profit for God, or is it a profit for us? Is it a favor we render to God, or a favor God renders to us? When we come to God, the only thing we should fear is that God will reject and deny us. We should only fear that we give to God too little, that He will not accept us. Those who know God will say, "Lord, here is some more. Here is some more.'' Those who have once seen the Lord can give half of what they have to the poor without any complaint. The Lord said to Zaccheus, "Today salvation has come to this house'' (Luke 19:9). Today many people do not realize the greatness of the Lord's salvation. This is why they encounter difficulties. Salvation not only saves our soul; it means that we are delivered from everything. Let us remember the story of our burial. Why were we baptized? Baptism is a declaration that we have been separated from the world. Merely inviting three or five people to come and serve will not solve the problem. What we need today is for the whole Body to rise up for the gospel. The demand for the co-workers in the days ahead is quite severe. The need is also very great. For the sake of China's gospel, for the sake of the co-workers going on, we need a fresh consecration.
If I had a hundred billion dollars today, I could distribute it all for proper use within a few days. Our work needs money. From now on we have to work with a goal and with proper arrangements. All the co-workers are living for the Lord. We ask all the brothers and sisters with a job to offer up themselves also. We have to work in coordination and in the Body. None of us is for ourselves. We must live for the Lord and for the gospel. We cannot have part of the people offering up themselves, while part of the people are not offering up themselves. We need all the brothers and sisters to offer up themselves and to live for the gospel. Those who are teaching or who are in business have to offer up everything for the gospel. The Lord has to do what He did in the first century. We are not afraid of believing in the first-century gospel. We are not afraid of preaching the first-century gospel. We are not afraid of acting according to the first-century gospel. If we would rise up as a whole Body, the whole of China will be taken; no one will be able to withstand us. If we do not believe in a thorough gospel and if we do not have a thorough consecration, it will be difficult for the Lord to use us.
The gospel has been preached in China for over a century, but it has been restricted to the coastal regions. Not much has been done in the inland regions. We have wasted twenty years. If we are not faithful again, we will be set aside.
In the first century men were not able to preach the gospel freely. They did not go to the church buildings. At that time men believed because they saw the gospel and saw the Christians. The Christians at that time were hiding in their homes. When they were put on the fiery stakes, they were seen and heard for the first time. The effect of seeing the gospel is much stronger than that of hearing the gospel. This kind of gospel shows men that salvation is not cheap. The prayer of the martyrs during those hours became their gospel messages. Historians tell us that the believers in Rome were killed first, and the ones who were not killed were exiled.
Today Christianity is weak in others because it is weak in us. During the first century, men were afraid, yet they kept coming. Today lukewarm Christians are useless ones. On the one hand, the testimonies of the early believers frightened many people away. But on the other hand, this kind of gospel also made many frightened of running away. Where there is the apostles' service, there is the apostles' blessing. Today the whole responsibility rests on our work. If the Lord cannot get through among us, He cannot get through anywhere. The past twenty years, while we were praying and seeking, the Lord was preparing us. However, if the young ruler came today, he might not stay any longer. Today we have to offer up all our money, time, and heart. Only then will the Lord have a way, and only then can we reach our destiny. We should not allow money to choke our heart, and we should not allow it to block man's way to God. All the brothers and sisters have to participate in the spiritual work, and all possessions have to be offered up. If we do this, the Lord will have a free way among us.
