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Date: Friday evening, February 10, 1950Place: Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong KongScripture Reading: Rom. 12:1-5
In Paul's Epistle to the Romans, the first fifteen verses of chapter one are an introduction. The first section of his letter begins from verse 16 and goes through the end of chapter eleven. Chapter twelve begins the second section. In chapters one to eight of the first section, Paul shows us the riches we have obtained in Christ. In chapters nine through eleven, a contrast is made between the riches we have received and the riches the Israelites once received. From chapter twelve onward, Paul begins to exhort us to do something. In the first eight chapters, he repeatedly tells us what Christ has done for us and what the Spirit has done for us. He does not emphasize what we as Christians should do. In the first eleven chapters, Paul speaks of what the Triune God has accomplished for us. Since God has done so much, we should do something also. If we do not do anything in return, we are being unreasonable and ungrateful. At the very beginning of chapter twelve, Paul uses the word therefore. This indicates that he is continuing his previous discussion and relating it to what a believer should do. He says that we should present our bodies a living sacrifice to God. We may not be able to do much, but the least we can do is present our bodies a living sacrifice.
At the minimum, a Christian must see what Christ has done for him and what the Holy Spirit has done for him. Chapters one through seven tell us what Christ has done for us. Chapter eight tells us what the Holy Spirit has done for us. Chapters nine through eleven tell us what God's sovereignty and authority have done for us. In chapter twelve Paul tells us that all these works are based on God's compassion. The words compassion and mercy are the same word in the original language. God's compassion is the same as His love and mercy.
Paul says that since God loves us so much and is so merciful and gracious to us, we should consecrate ourselves. Anyone who wants to serve God must first touch His mercy and grace. If a man has not seen God's love and mercy, he will feel that it is a hard task to present his body to do something for God; he will feel that this is harder than making bricks for Pharaoh. Once a man sees God's mercy, however, it is a reasonable thing for him to present his body.
The first reaction of a man who has obtained mercy from God is consecration. Once a man touches God's love and mercy, he no longer can live for himself. Before he receives mercy and light, his possessions, his life, and his self are most precious to him. Once he touches God's love and mercy, however, he no longer treasures these things. Once we experience God's mercy, we will look back at ourselves under God's great shining and ask Him, "What should I do? What do You want from me?"
Before Paul believed in the Lord, he was a persecutor of the Lord's disciples. He obtained letters from the high priest to put into bondage those who called on the name of the Lord (Acts 9:1-2, 14). How proud and arrogant he was when he was riding on his horse to Damascus! Just as he was about to enter Damascus, a light from heaven shone on him, and he was struck down. Such a proud and arrogant person never would have consecrated himself if he had not touched God's great love and mercy. But as soon as the light shone, he no longer could sit comfortably; he had to come down from his throne. Paul immediately asked, "What shall I do, Lord?" (22:10). If we have not touched God's mercy, consecration is the hardest thing on earth. Everyone in the world loves himself; there is no one who does not treasure his own life and possessions. However, consecration is easy once we are brought before God's great love and compassion.
During the past two thousand years, countless numbers of people have consecrated themselves to God. In one sense we may say that they were paying back in gratitude what they owed, but it is hard to say that there was any paying back at all, because they all felt that they were unworthy of the Lord. What they had consecrated were worthless items when compared with what they had received. Brother Lan once said that we are like beggars; it is actually a joke to say that we are offering anything to God. Psalm 116:12 also says, "What shall I return to Jehovah for all His benefits toward me?" Many people have the thought of paying back, but they dare not say this with their mouth. They can only say, "God, under Your great and unmatched grace, I should at least offer up myself to You." Romans 12 is a most special chapter in all the Epistles. It tells us that the beginning of the Christian work is consecration. Chapters one through eleven tell us the great things God that has done for us. In chapter twelve, we bow down and say to Him, "I offer myself to You."
Paul was very wise. He charged us to present our bodies, not our hearts. In order to be specific, practical, and thorough in our consecration, we have to present our bodies. The consecration of the heart is very abstract. The heart is a strange thing. It can be very honest, but when it is not honest, it can deceive itself. Proverbs 28:26 says that only the foolish man will trust in his own heart. No one knows when the heart will run away or change. It is more practical, solid, and reliable for a man to offer his little finger to the Lord than to consecrate his heart to Him. The little finger is tangible, but the heart is not. When we talk about the consecration of the body, we are no longer speaking abstractly. This is the wisdom of Paul. Many people talk about consecration, but their consecration is not as practical and specific as Paul's consecration. Consecration means offering up our bodies and everything related to our bodies, including our possessions, our members, and our time. When our body is consecrated, everything related to it will spontaneously be consecrated as well.
Three things are involved in the presenting of the body. The first is time, the second is money, and the third is physical energy. The presenting of our body is the presenting of our time. Our time must be available. We cannot squander our time; we have to devote our time to the service of the Lord. We cannot say that we have consecrated ourselves, yet still have our time in our own hand. Once our time is offered up, our body is offered up, because the body is bound up in time. We also have to present our money. Many poor people and poor brothers and sisters are around us. They all have needs. There is also the need of money in the work of the gospel. Saying that our heart is consecrated without offering up our money is like shutting up our affection (1 John 3:17). Affection may be there, but it is shut up and useless. We have to remove the things that shut up our affection before we can love God and serve Him.
Third, we have to offer up our physical energy; we have to work with our own hands and serve the Lord in this way. Every chore in the meeting hall, including scrubbing the floor, dusting the chairs and tables, and cleaning the windows, should not be done by any hired workers. Perhaps many of the brothers and sisters here have never dusted the chairs in the meeting hall or scrubbed the floor. The people in Hong Kong are very peculiar. Some of them love Mr. Chiang (Chiang Kai-Shek), and some love Mr. Mao (Mao Ze-Tung). If either of these two persons were here today and requested a cup of tea from us, we would feel very honored to do it for him; we would not want to hire a servant to do it for us. We may have servants at home, and we may be managers in our office, but when we come to the meeting hall we have to learn to do everything by ourselves. This will perfect us and give us the opportunity to serve in a genuine way. Hiring a servant is easy, and he actually may do a better job than us, but let me ask, "Do we hire people to distribute tracts?" We can hire people to market our goods at the street corner, but spiritual service is a matter of our body; no money can replace this. The Lord wants us to do many things by ourselves. In Shanghai we have a sister who is the wife of a bank director. Many times she was driven by her chauffeur to the meeting hall. Once she reached the hall, she got down on her knees to scrub the floor. This is the Lord's grace. In other places you could never hire the wife of a bank director to scrub floors. There are a couple of sisters who have at least four servants in their homes, but when the church gathers for a meal, they come and serve at the tables. This is beautiful. Consecration is not just a heart matter. We are the Lord's servants. Every item of service in the church needs to be taken up by ourselves. I would love to see a few brothers with high positions in the world cleaning chairs in the church. This would be sweet and beautiful.
The second year after I was saved, I read the books of Chronicles, and found that David had many mighty men. When David was ready to build the temple, these mighty men were assigned to guard the gates (1 Chron. 26). I was very touched when I read this. Even David, who was being served, and who was a mighty man himself, longed to serve at the door of the temple of God (Psa. 84:10). Our service to the Lord is a personal thing. Today the co-workers are serving the Lord with their mouths, but just presenting our mouth is not enough; we have to present our hands as well. Here we should not have any worldly concepts or private habits. The sisters in Shanghai organized a sewing group to wash, mend, and iron the items that the saints offered up, and then they gave them away. This is not a simple thing. It is easy for the sisters to offer money to buy new clothes to give to the poor, but they collected worn items and washed, mended, ironed, and folded them, and then gave them away. Of course, we should not think that this is all that consecration involves. Nevertheless, there is a principle here: We have to make our consecration practical and specific.
Romans 12 tells us that we should present our bodies a living sacrifice for the purpose of serving God. This service bears three characteristics: First, it is holy, which means it is separated. I have a friend who worked as a public officer during the war. Once I invited him to a meal, but he declined, saying, "Sorry, my body has been offered to the country; I cannot use it at will." This is the meaning of separation. Others cannot touch us or use us. I am reserved for God's use only. This is being separated unto God, and this is being holy. Second, this service is well-pleasing to God. Third, this service is also reasonable. God holds back nothing when He gives Himself to us. We should hold back nothing when we give ourselves to Him. God does not settle accounts with us; He does not calculate how much He has given us. He only cares for the principle. God has not put up any resistance; He has not held back anything. In giving ourselves to Him, we should not put up any resistance; we should not hold back anything from Him. Our consecration cannot match His giving in quantity, but at least it should match His giving in quality.
The consecration in Romans 12 is the first reaction to God's work in the life of a Christian. This reaction is the presenting of ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. In the Old Testament a sacrifice was an animal that was set apart to be killed and slain. Everything that is placed on the altar is destined to die. Once it dies, its life is over; it no longer has another use. A sacrifice can be offered only once. It cannot be used twice, because it died the first time. Today we are the sacrifices; therefore, we should die. Thank the Lord that we are also living. We are a living sacrifice. This means that we can constantly present ourselves to the hand of the Lord. We can offer up ourselves as sacrifices to the Lord continually, and the Lord can use us continually. The first thing a Christian should be to the Lord is a living sacrifice.
Once we present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, something follows in verse 2: We gain spiritual understanding. It is important for a Christian to have a proper, spiritual understanding. Many brothers and sisters are serving the Lord and the saints in the church, but they do not have any spiritual understanding. They are very clear and savvy about worldly things, and they are very clever about secular business. Whenever they open their mouth in the church, however, only "outsiders' talk" comes out; they always say things that others cannot respond to with an "amen." This is because they have not been transformed by the renewing of the mind. This is the reason they are void of spiritual understanding. A man cannot understand God's will when there is a problem with his consecration. When I was in Shanghai, I often said to Miss Ruth Lee that many people think that the problem with their Christian service is with their mind, but I do not believe that any Christian has a problem with his mind. Many people think they have a problem with their mind when they actually have a problem with their heart. Their heart is muddled, and this affects their mind. Problems with the heart are caused by halfway consecrations that are fraught with reservation. A man makes wrong judgments because his heart is pursuing treasure; his heart is influenced by money. This is the reason his eyes cannot see clearly. Once his consecration is absolute, his eyes are opened. If our eyes are only for God's glory and will, we will discern the inner makeup of everything. If we have other interests beside God, such as our treasure, our eyes will not be single, and we will not understand God's will. In the Bible treasure always relates to our eyes.
Romans 12:2 begins with the conjunction and. The second practical result of consecration is that we are not fashioned according to this age. The word fashioned means to be molded into a shape. God's intention is that we not be molded by the world. We should not have a worldly appearance, and we should not give others the impression that we are a "walking abacus." As long as we are in the world, we have the shape of the world. It is possible to take the way of worldly property brokers when we negotiate for meeting halls; it is possible that we give others an impression of the world. Once we are consecrated, we should be free from any worldly appearance on the negative side, and we should be transformed by the renewing of the mind on the positive side. This means that we have spiritual understanding. Presenting the body comes first, renewing of the mind follows, and finally one has the spiritual understanding. Originally we were very dull, but now we are sensitive, and it is easy to understand God's will.
Let me emphasize this: If we want spiritual understanding and if we want to know God's will, we cannot have any contention over our consecration. Once we have a problem with our consecration, we will be blind to God's will. We will cover our own eyes and not see many things. Other brothers and sisters will see, but we will not. Many people will feel sorry for us, but we will feel no sorrow. What we consider precious will be refuse in the eyes of the church. What is shameful to many Christians will be a glory to us. Many times we will be more than wrong, but we will feel very proud. We have to learn to not trust in ourselves too much. We have to constantly ask, "I have been insisting that this and that are right, but is it possible that when I receive more grace and experience deeper consecration, I will find these things to be wrong?" Our consecration will greatly affect our understanding of God's will.
In Shanghai a sister came to me and argued with me about baptism for a long time. She gave one, five, even twenty reasons for not being baptized. After she finished, I remained silent. We sat facing each other speechless. After a while, she became anxious and asked, "Mr. Nee, why are you not saying anything?" I laughed and said, "You have said everything already. I have nothing more to say." Then I said, "I am not concerned about your reasons. I am concerned that your consecration is not thorough enough. Can you say to God, `Whatever You want me to do, I will do it. Whatever You want from me, I will give You'? What would you do if your consecration was more absolute than today?" She quickly answered, "Of course, I would go and be baptized." This shows that no Christian has a problem with his mind. All the problems are related to consecration. Once there is a problem with consecration, even the best mind will not get us through. A halfhearted consecration will affect our judgment, our mind, and even our conduct. Everyone who is absolute with his consecration will not be fuzzy about God's will. Whether or not we understand God's will depends on the degree of our consecration. This is something very subjective; no one can be arbitrary about it.
Romans 12:1 is on consecration. Verse 2 is on understanding God's will. Based on an absolute consecration, we understand God's will. The result of this is the coordination of the Body in verses 3 through 5. A consecrated person is a coordinated person. Verse 3 says that we should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Many children of God cannot be one with others; they cannot coordinate with others. They think this is because they have different views, but this is not the real reason. God only has one will. How can different people take different ways? According to God's principle, He only has one will. There are many different views among Christians because there are differences in the degrees of consecration. Once consecration is not absolute, there are differences in views. When consecration is absolute, there are no different understandings concerning God's will.
We have to be absolute with our consecration before we can be thorough in understanding God's will. Once we are absolute in our consecration, we will not be irresponsible in our coordination in the Body life. If I say something is mine, and you say it is yours, there will be no manifestation of God as we argue for our own cause. In the world the most precious things to man are possessions and the self. This is the reason God ordains the altar for all these things. Not consecrating means keeping things in our own hands; it means that we can freely direct them. Many people do not want to live corporately because they are afraid that they cannot move about freely. When we live corporately, no one can say that anything is his own. We can readily see that "things" are what separate the brothers and sisters from becoming one. Acts 2 and 4 say that no believer claimed anything as his own. No one dared to boast to his brother that he was different. At the closing of this age, the deep ones and the experienced ones before the Lord will ultimately express the life and glory of the Body life. Unless we hand over ourselves completely, we cannot coordinate together for the Body life. Once we consecrate everything, our mind, our ways, and our plans will not give the appearance of the world. Spontaneously, we will be the same as other brothers and sisters in outlook and motive. We will spontaneously understand God's will and spontaneously experience the practical Body life in coordination.
I hope that God will speak to us. Our only wish today is that no one would keep back anything for himself. If we do this, God will have a way among us. May the church in this end time live like the first church. May none of us live our own life any longer. We only have one occupation — preaching the gospel. No one will try to start a private business within this gospel enterprise. We pray for God's will to be done on this earth. May He grant us the grace to learn to serve Him. He does not want a wavering mind in His service. May we all give ourselves for this.
I hope that you will not be discouraged from handing yourself over just because we have not been doing a good job. I hope that this will not cause you to have a problem with God. God's will is absolute. This is the only way to serve Him. I hope that no one will be left behind just because he has not done his best. May the world be cast out from today onward, and may the Lord be fully exalted through His children.
