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Scripture Reading: Rom. 12:6a, 1-2, 11; Eph. 4:7-16
Apparently, Romans 12 is easy to understand, but in actuality it is not easy to get into this portion of the Word. Again we may compare it to the title of God referred to by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 22:32: “The God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” It seems that it is easy to understand that God is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. However, there is something in this title that requires a certain amount of spiritual insight. In Romans 12 it is the same in principle.
Verse 6a says, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.” Here the gifts are according to grace. I am afraid that not many Christians know what gifts...according to the grace means. What is the grace mentioned here? What is the difference between gifts and grace? And what does it mean that gifts differ according to the grace? Grace may be compared to the blood supply in the members of our body. If a member has a bigger capacity for the blood supply, then it has a bigger gift. If it has a smaller capacity for the blood supply, the size of the gift in that member is smaller. In our little finger, the capacity for the blood supply is very small, so its gift, that is, its function, is also small in size.
In Romans 12 the gift is the function. Ephesians 4 tells us that the members are given to the Body as gifts, but Romans 12 tells us that the functions are given to the members as gifts respectively. In Ephesians 4 the gifts are to the Body, while in Romans 12 the gifts are to the members. The latter gifts are the functions given to the separate members as gifts. The arm is given to the physical body as a gift. In addition, a gift is given to the arm as a function so that it can do something. This function is given to this member as a gift according to the measure of the capacity of how much blood supply the member has. If there is a bigger capacity for the blood supply to come in, then the gift is bigger. If there is a smaller capacity for the blood supply to come in, then the gift is smaller. Therefore, we can say that the gift, or the function, comes out of the capacity for the blood supply. This is the proper meaning of gifts differing according to the grace.
Grace is Christ as life to us, Christ within as the “blood supply,” the life supply. As members, the kind of gift, or function, that we have depends on the quantity of Christ as life that we have. If we have more grace, that is, more Christ, then the function given to us will be bigger. If we have only a small amount of Christ, if our capacity to take Christ in is small and limited, we can have only a small function; the function that is given to us will be very limited. This is why Romans 12:6 tells us that the gifts differ according to the grace. The Lord gave the apostle Paul a very big function as a gift. If we had such a great capacity to contain Christ, we also would have a function like Paul’s. The gift is given according to the capacity of grace, that is, of Christ as life.
How can we have the capacity to contain grace, Christ as life, within us? In Romans 12 there are three matters related to the three parts of our being. First, we have to offer our body (v. 1). This is to free our body. We should not let our body be occupied by things other than the Lord. Too often our body is occupied, not released. I agree that the young people have to study in college and the universities. I always encourage people to get a proper education. However, I am not happy to see the young brothers fully occupied by their studies. Sometimes they do not even come to the meetings because they say they are too busy. Their body is fully occupied by studies. I do not agree with this. To study is right, but it is not right to be fully occupied by studies.
It is the same with taking care of our home. To clean and keep our home in a proper way is right, but we should not be occupied in our body by housework. If our body is occupied by home affairs, then how can we function? I would suggest that if you do not have much time, then you should sacrifice a little of your studies and home affairs in order to set your body free from any kind of occupation, so that you may function and serve the Lord. In this country as well as in the Far East, some sisters and brothers keep their homes brilliant, but they do not have any time to contact the Lord. On the Lord’s Day a sister may have time to come to the church meeting only to bring some money and drop it into the offering box. To her this means that she has done her duty. However, she may spend much time to keep her home with its decorations and bright floors.
To spend too much time keeping our home is a kind of luxury. We have to keep our home in a proper way but only to that extent. Compare our situation with the lives of the Lord and the apostles. They did not spend time to prepare a brilliant home. We cannot bring our home into the New Jerusalem, so no doubt that is a waste. Eventually, it will go into the “trash can,” not into the New Jerusalem. If we spend too much time on something that will go into the trash can, it is better to spend it on something else. I do not agree that we should keep our home in a mess. We have to have a proper home, but only that much. Our body is too limited. We need to free our body for the Lord’s service, for our function.
Why can we not function? It is because we are too occupied by our studies, our home, or our business. Some brothers are too occupied by their business. Last year they made five million dollars, this year they want to make eight million, and next year they want ten million. If they do this, they will not be able to serve. Learn to set your body free. Do not occupy it with so many things other than the Lord. This is the meaning of Romans 12:1, which tells us to present our bodies a living sacrifice. We should not offer ourselves in an abstract way. We must have a concrete offering. The concrete offering is the offering of ourselves in our body. Everything must be done in our body. This is to set our body free from occupations and preoccupations.
Second, we must be transformed in the soul by the renewing of our mind, the leading part of the soul (v. 2). Our body has to be offered, released, and set free from so many occupations, and our soul, our being, has to be transformed. We should not bring in old, natural concepts. The more we bring in natural concepts, the more we will be killed in function. In order to function in a proper, adequate way, we have to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We need to have our mind renewed to have a new concept and new understanding.
Third, we have to be burning in our spirit (v. 11). Our body has to be offered, our soul has to be transformed, and our spirit has to be burning by contacting the Lord. We need to contact the Lord in the spirit continually. Then we will be on fire; we will be burning in spirit.
If we are short in any of the above matters related to the body, soul, and spirit, then we cannot function adequately. Someone may say that he has given up his business and is serving the Lord with his full time; thus, his body is released. That may be good, but what about transformation? What about the renewing of the mind? Someone may claim that he has studied in a seminary and graduated from a prestigious school. That is too old. That annuls his function. He has to be renewed in the mind. Someone else may say that he is a medical doctor or professor and that he knows many things. Do not say this; this will just kill you. Forget about those things. Our mind must be renewed. Someone else may say, “I am an experienced business man with a lot of knowledge of how to do things, manage, and organize.” Forget about that too. That has to be put on the cross. A bank or a business corporation needs that, but the Body does not need it. You have to be renewed.
Someone else may say, “Praise the Lord, I have given up philosophy, a doctoral degree, my position as bank manager, and even the seminary.” This is good. It means that his mind is renewed. However, what about his spirit? Is his spirit on fire? This requires a continual contact with the Lord. Day by day and hour by hour we must be on fire in the spirit. If our body is offered, our soul is being transformed, and our spirit is also burning, then we will be able to function.
Our capacity for grace depends on these three things — we offer our body to the Lord, we are willing to be transformed, and we are burning by contacting the Lord day by day. In this way we will have more capacity for grace, and Christ will come in and fill us. Then according to this capacity of grace, the Lord will give us a certain function as a gift, and we ourselves will become a gift given to the Body. We must first be in Romans 12, and then we can be in Ephesians 4. When our body is offered, our being, our soul, is transformed, and our spirit is on fire, we have the capacity for the Lord to come in as our grace. We will be filled with grace, and out of this grace and based upon this grace, a certain function will be given to us as a gift. Spontaneously, we will receive a gift, and then as members we will be gifts to the Body. In this way the Body will be rich, and it will be built up.
Suppose that all the brothers and sisters are occupied. The young brothers and sisters are occupied by their studies and their degree: first their B.A., then their M.A., then one Ph.D., and then another. The mothers are occupied by their children, the housewives are occupied by their homes, and the brothers are occupied by their business. Can we have the Body in this way? In one place a brother told me, apparently with a good spirit, “Today is a day of science, so anything that we do, we have to do it scientifically. In any kind of business or operation, there is a scientific way to carry it out. In the church life we must apply this principle. We should not expect every brother or sister to minister and function. Some have to study, some have to take care of their children, some have to take care of their homes, and some have to take care of their business. They simply do not have the time to function in the church. Therefore, it is right to train someone to be an expert. Then the church can pay him to function.” This thought is something of the natural concept. The church is not a social body. The church is the Body of Christ, and we all are members of this Body. Can a member of the Body say, “I have too many things to take care of, so I am willing to pay the shoulder to take care of my function”? If one member can say this, then all the members can say it also. Then what kind of body would that be? That would not be a body at all.
We all have to realize that we are here on this earth not for study, for our home, or for our business. We are priests on this earth to serve the Lord. We are living here for the service, for the testimony of the Lord, just as the priests did. Of course, we need something for our existence. We need food, clothing, housing, marriage, and children for our existence; there is no doubt about this. However, we should not sacrifice the service for our existence. Our existence is for the service. If we cannot release ourselves, how can we serve?
The proper principle is that we have to be balanced. If you are a student who must study very hard, if possible, you should reduce your studies a little in order to set your body free with respect to your time. You may have to take more time to finish your education in order to save some time for your body to be released. In addition, if you can live not in a luxurious way but in a proper way by making a certain amount of money each month, that is good enough. Do not work more to make more money. That is to sell yourself to the slavery of money. To have a proper, healthy, good life up to a certain standard is good enough. Do not raise your standard of living. If you raise your standard, you will sell yourself to the slavery of a high standard of living. This is the subtlety of the enemy. We should always keep our living simple without damaging our physical life. As long as we live in a healthy way, that is good enough. Then we can save our time and energy for the service, and we will have the capacity for grace. No doubt, we should not neglect our children. We have to raise our children and care for them, but we should not care too much. We should keep a balance. We are not here on this earth for our children. We are here for the service. Our housing, our food, our clothing, our marriage, our family, and our children are all for our existence, and our existence is for the service.
Why can Christians today not function? It is because their bodies are occupied and preoccupied. A millionaire can give ten thousand dollars a year to the church to fund a building, but he may not be able to function. The Lord does not want these things. Ten thousand, one hundred thousand, and millions of dollars mean nothing to Him. The Lord wants us. According to Romans 12:1, He wants us to offer our body as a living sacrifice. What matters to the Lord is not money but the living person, our body. We have to release our body from so many occupations.
We look to the Lord’s mercy. When we speak of the Lord’s recovery, we include this matter. There must be a group of Christians in the United States who truly live for the Lord. We must live in a proper way, not in a poor way as beggars, and we may even live richly, but nothing occupies us (1 Tim. 6:6-10). We are existing here for the divine service. There is no doubt that we should encourage our young people to study and graduate from school with a proper education. We also must encourage our sisters to take care of their homes and to raise children in a proper way. However, we have to keep a balance and keep the principle. We are here not for our studies, not for the family, not for raising children, not to care for homes, and not for doing business. We are here for the service. In order that we may live, that we may exist, we need these things, but only up to a proper standard. Nothing should preoccupy us.
To have the Lord’s recovery is not merely to have the doctrine of the recovery. No, we must be in Romans 12, offering our body, being transformed in our being — our soul with the mind as the leading part — and being burned in our spirit all the time. It is based on these three items that we will have the capacity for grace. Grace will come in to fill us, and from this grace and according to this grace, certain functions will be given to us as gifts. We all will have a gift, that is, a function, and we will be equipped with this gift. Then we ourselves will become living gifts given to the Body. It is by these living gifts given to the Body that the Body will be built up. I do ask you to pray for this. I do not want merely to be a teacher, passing on a teaching to you. Rather, I want to burden you with this matter. Please bring this to the Lord in prayer.
We have to dress ourselves neatly and properly, but we, especially the sisters, should not be preoccupied with our dress. To many women, dressing becomes an occupation. We should care for our dress and use our money and energy only to the extent of being proper and neat, and no more (1 Tim. 2:9-10). Dress is a real temptation to women. It is the same throughout the whole world. Sisters, if you love the Lord and if you mean business with the Lord, simply dress yourselves to a proper and neat extent. Never spend one cent more or one minute more for dressing. In terms of money, time, and energy you have to limit yourselves. Then you will be released. You will see how much grace you will receive and how much your capacity to receive Christ will be enlarged, and you will see a bigger, higher function given to you as a gift. You will be equipped by this gift, and you will become a living gift to the Body. Then the Body will be enriched by you. The whole Body will be built up. This is something different from today’s Christianity. We are speaking here about the Lord’s recovery.
We must keep the practical things among us. We should dress ourselves properly, care for our home properly, raise our children properly, and do our business properly. However, we must always keep a limit, do these things only up to a certain extent, and not be tempted by the enemy to go further. We must keep ourselves within a limit in order to set ourselves free from any kind of occupation or preoccupation. Then the body will be offered completely, and our soul will be transformed. We will have the time to contact the Lord, and we will always be on fire in our spirit. Then we will have the capacity for more grace to come in.
While Brother Watchman Nee was studying in college, he gave at least half of his time for the Lord’s service and still excelled in his studies. We have to be balanced and limited. Then we will have more capacity for the Lord and His grace. Otherwise, we are merely speaking doctrines, listening and learning but without practice. All these things will be proved and tested by the Lord’s coming and at His judgment seat (2 Cor. 5:10). We must not reckon that our business is something only for ourselves. We need to say, “Lord, I am not here for my business. I am here for Your service. I am doing a business not for myself but for Your service.” I do believe that the Lord will recover a group of people who live on the earth in this way. They will come together to exalt Christ. They will experience Christ in a practical way, and all kinds of functions will come out.
Ephesians 4:7 seems to say something contrary to Romans 12. Romans 12 says that the gifts are according to grace, but this verse in Ephesians says, “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Here grace is given according to the gift. The gifts mentioned in Romans are the functions given to the members, but the gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4 are the members given to the Body. Gifts as functions are according to the grace, but grace is given according to the persons as gifts. Because you are a certain member, you need a certain amount of grace. If you are a big member, you need a bigger quantity of the “blood supply.” The blood supply is given according to our gift as a member.
This chapter also tells us that the bigger gifts are for perfecting the smaller ones (vv. 11-12). The bigger members are to perfect the smaller ones, not to replace them. In turn, the smaller members must learn to receive the perfecting of the bigger ones. Do not think that this is easy. It is easy to let others replace us, saying, “I do not want to do this. It is too troublesome. Let us hire a pastor to do it for us.” On the other hand, though, if we do something, we do not want to receive any kind of perfecting from others. If we do it, we feel that we know how to do it, and we want to do it by ourselves. If someone tries to perfect us, we may say, “I quit. You do it. Otherwise, keep away, let me do it, and don’t say anything.” It is the same with the brothers, the sisters, and even the younger ones. In the home the children never like the parents to say something. They want to do things independently. In the church, however, we must do things by being perfected by the bigger members. We need to function, but we must do it by being perfected by others.
In Ephesians 4 we again see the need for growth. Verse 13 speaks of a full-grown man, and verse 15 says that we grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ. In this chapter we also see the coordination of the Body and that all the functions, regardless of what kind they are, must be for the building up of the Body (v. 16). Grace is given according to the gift, the bigger gifts are for the perfecting of the smaller ones, and the smaller gifts have to function under the perfecting of the bigger ones. Moreover, all the members must grow, function in coordination, and be for the building up of the Body. Then we will function properly. This is on the positive side. Then on the negative side, there are the winds of teaching that blow the members away from the Head and the Body (v. 14). This is not the wind of heresy but the wind of correct doctrine used too much in the wrong way to blow and carry away. To no longer be little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, we need to grow up into Christ. This is to have Christ increase in us in all things until we attain to a full-grown man.
