Search
Scripture Reading: Exo. 17:1-13
The Bible shows that the service God’s people render to Him on the earth is not an individual matter. In other words, we do not serve individually. The service of God’s people as spoken of in the Bible is altogether a matter of coordination. It is a corporate service, a service that requires the coordination of many people. Such a corporate service has its problems and involves many details. Although we must be coordinated in the service, each one of us has our own distinct personality. As a result, we will have problems. In facing these problems, we need to see that according to the Bible, God’s people must pay attention to the principles related to three matters in their service. These matters provide us with some principles, but they do not cover every detail in the service.
Exodus 17 does not speak directly concerning serving God; however, in this chapter the goal of the children of Israel was to arrive at the foot of Mount Sinai so that they might begin to serve God. Hence, the basic matters that they encountered and the things that happened to them are very similar to what we face in serving the Lord today. Although they were surely heading toward the goal of serving God, and God had even said that they would serve Him (4:23), they were not inwardly clear concerning the goal. The children of Israel did not arrive at their destination immediately after leaving Egypt; rather, to leave Egypt was only the beginning. They still needed to advance further in order to serve God.
The first problem that the children of Israel encountered in their journey was that they became thirsty. A thirsty person cannot carry out any work, much less take a journey. Spiritually speaking, a thirsty person cannot serve God or walk in the way of God. If we would serve God, we need to quench our thirst. To quench our thirst we need living water. In our service today, thirst is a common condition. Such thirst is an indication of the lack of the Holy Spirit inwardly. The most basic need in our service is the Holy Spirit.
As we are practicing to have meetings in the districts, the number of districts will increase, there will be more service for the brothers, and the brothers will come to know one another more deeply and have more fellowship with one another. To carry out the practice of meeting in the districts, the basic requirement is the presence of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:46 we can see the basis for the practice of meeting from house to house. There were many meetings in the homes of the church in Jerusalem. Although there is a basis for meeting in this way, we should not have merely an outward practice without having the Holy Spirit within. Because the church in Jerusalem had the Holy Spirit inwardly, they could practice meeting from house to house outwardly. It would be dangerous and worrisome to have only an outward practice of meeting from house to house and not have the Holy Spirit inwardly.
If our inward being is thirsty, we will not be able to go on. If we are thirsty within when we begin meeting in the districts, our inner condition will affect the condition of the district meetings, and the district meetings will not last long. In order to have a proper condition in the meetings and to continue meeting steadfastly, we must pay attention to the matter of our thirst, that is, to the inward filling of the Holy Spirit. We must see that without the Holy Spirit, there is no service. We may have methods for carrying out the work, principles for conducting ourselves in life, and a system for handling the workers, but we may not be serving God. Even if we have the best system or method according to the Bible, without the Spirit it is religion. The best way to serve God is by the Spirit. All the principles and examples given to us in the Bible must be coordinated with the inward leading of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness” (John 4:24). Worshipping in spirit and truthfulness is related to every service in the church life, because the highest and fullest meaning of service is worship. We cannot serve merely by relying on a method of dividing into districts, the arrangement of the meetings in the districts, and the assignment of responsibilities in the districts. We must realize that worship is a matter in spirit.
In order to practice meeting in the districts, we truly need the Lord’s grace. The brothers and sisters love the Lord, are willing to receive the Lord’s commission, and have a heart to serve the Lord. Moreover, the saints are in fear and trembling, endeavoring to go on so that they may not hinder the Lord’s business. The saints’ heart and sense of responsibility are adequate, but the strength of the supply of grace is short. With regard to this, we need to see clearly that the sufficient power or supply does not come from us; rather, we need the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the grace that we have received in the past is not sufficient for us to continue to lead the saints in the service. The sufficiency we are speaking of is what the Bible calls “growth.” Our ability to grow depends on the Holy Spirit, not on what we are. The Holy Spirit is our Head, and the Holy Spirit is our growth.
At this juncture all the saints responsible for the districts must have specific prayers asking the Lord to quench their thirst. As those serving the Lord, our thirst must be quenched so that we can continue to serve. We must have the Holy Spirit. Then we can render help to others. It is best that two or three responsible ones come together to pray in order to freshly consecrate themselves, wait before the Lord, look to the Lord, and make a vow. We cannot rely upon methods, arrangements, and systems. If a person has a spirit and a soul, his body can be useful; however, without a spirit and a soul, his body would become a terrible thing. Similarly, when we serve in the coordination of the Body, we must have the Spirit and be strengthened in our spirit. Then our service will be living. If there is no Spirit but only arrangements for the elders and responsible ones, these arrangements will be similar to a corpse. Any arrangement without the Spirit is worthless. No one likes a corpse. If, however, there is the Spirit and there is also an outward arrangement, our service will be valuable. Our service must be carried out in the Body and with the Spirit.
Conversely, if there is only the Spirit without the Body, our service will be dreadful. We need to take care of both aspects. We do not agree with those who are super spiritual, neither do we agree with those who emphasize only outward methods. The Holy Spirit within needs to be matched with an outward method, principle, or arrangement. The Holy Spirit and an outward method, principle, or arrangement need to go hand in hand in the service. The light we see concerning these two matters is accurate according to God’s word. Hence, we must be careful and responsible before God. We have spent countless hours in His presence observing, waiting, and praying. We rely on the Spirit. We must pray and cry out to the Lord, asking Him to give us the Holy Spirit. Our service must have the Spirit. Only when the problem of our inward thirst is resolved will we have genuine service.
In Exodus 17:1-3 the children of Israel did not have water to drink; thus, their thirst needed to be quenched. In order to have their thirst quenched, Moses had to strike a rock (v. 6). As they were heading toward their goal of serving God, they encountered a number of problems. In this incident Moses needed to use a staff to strike the rock. This is the principle of the cross. Moses had to strike the rock in order for the rock to be cleft and for the living water to flow out to quench the people’s thirst. This demonstrates a principle: Whenever we want to experience the living water, we must pass through the breaking of the cross. We should not expect to serve after an effortless outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Genuine service is a service of the Spirit, a service that comes out of the cleft rock. Christ needed to be broken and cleft, and we also need to be broken and cleft. When Christ was cleft, the living water flowed out. Likewise, we also need to be cleft in order to allow the Spirit to pass through us and flow out of us.
After receiving God’s commission, the saints responsible for serving the Lord must prostrate themselves before Him, asking Him for the Holy Spirit. When we ask the Lord for the Holy Spirit, we must prostrate ourselves before Him to receive His breaking. We need a heart that seeks Him, waits on Him, and looks to Him. We should not expect that a power will come upon us instantaneously. Rather, we should ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, show us the problems we have, the source of any rebellion, the dealings that we need, and the areas in us that need to be broken. When we accept this breaking from God, we will have a genuine infilling of the Holy Spirit. When our person is broken, the Holy Spirit will flow in and flow out of us. If we desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we must receive the breaking of the cross. We must all take this way. Without a new revival and a new breaking, we cannot have a new service. We should not think that the Holy Spirit will come after we pray for two hours. Rather, we should pray that the Lord would enable us to see the part of our being that is the rock and the part that is the living water. When we receive such a breaking, the Holy Spirit will follow.
To quench thirst we need the Holy Spirit in our service; that is, we need to receive the living water. Thirst is an indication that the rock has not been cleft. As soon as the rock is cleft, living water will flow out. A rock that is not cleft means that there has been no breaking; hence, there also is no living water. We all must receive the breaking. God told Moses to strike the rock so that water would come out of the rock for the people to drink (v. 6). In our prayer we must see one way and one goal; the one way is the way of striking the rock, and the one goal is to be broken. Prayer causes us to see that we need to be struck and that we need to be broken. As soon as we receive the breaking, the Holy Spirit will flow.
It is wonderful that immediately after the children of Israel drank the living water, they fought against Amalek. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for service can also be rendered “warfare” (Num. 4:3, 23, 30, 35, 39, 43). Every spiritual work, every spiritual service, is a warfare. We must always remember that in the universe there is both God and Satan. God wants us to serve, but Satan wants to destroy the service. The goal of the children of Israel was to serve God, but they encountered problems on the way. These problems included Egypt and Amalek. Egypt signifies the world, and Amalek signifies the flesh. When we desire to serve the Lord, many of the problems we encounter come from “Amalek.” Often the Amalek we encounter is the brothers and sisters with whom we serve. This kind of flesh cannot be rejected by human effort or human methods.
As we are practicing district meetings and as we are serving the Lord in the districts, we will likely encounter men’s flesh; that is, we will encounter Amalek. The responsible brothers and sisters should never use fleshly methods to reject the flesh. Instead, they must learn one thing: We can never deal with men’s flesh by our flesh. This will only bring in problems. Rather, we deal with Amalek by fighting in prayer. Exodus 17 does not use the verb pray; rather, it uses the expression lifted his hand up. Moses told Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out; fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand” (v. 9). Moses asked Joshua to choose men for the battle, but he himself went to the hill to lift up his hands. This means that we should reject fleshly methods. Instead of laying our hands on other people, we should lay our hands on God. There is no other way to deal with the flesh. We cannot depend on our natural life or act in accordance with man’s views. There is no alternative. The only way is to put our strength, our hand, on God through prayer. “When Moses lifted his hand up, Israel prevailed; and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed” (v. 11). Victory or defeat depends entirely upon lifting up our hands or letting down our hands.
If we consider the portrayal in Exodus of a person praying by lifting up his hands, we will realize that it is altogether a picture of coordination. Joshua fought the battle with a group of chosen men, who were under his command; this was one part of the coordination. Meanwhile, Moses prayed by lifting up his hands; this was the other part of the coordination. When we put these two parts together, we see total coordination. In addition, when Moses lifted up his hands in prayer, he was not able to hold them up for long. He needed people to support him; that is, he needed others to coordinate with him. Thus, Aaron and Hur supported his hands with one on one side and one on the other side. Thus, Moses’ hands were steady (v. 12). This is proof that Moses lifted up not only one hand but both hands. When Moses lifted up his hands, he needed Aaron and Hur to support him. In the same way, when we serve together, we need both support and coordination.
Without the support of the brothers and sisters, the responsible ones in a district will not be able to do a good job. Often they may pray for the church to the extent that their hands become heavy, and they become exhausted and are unable to stand in prayer. At this point they need the support of the brothers and sisters. If the brothers and sisters support them, they will be able to stand and continue to pray with fighting prayers; however, if the brothers and sisters do not support them, they will fall down, and their prayer will not continue. Hence, these praying ones need everyone’s support. The brothers and sisters must not look at the responsible ones’ weaknesses, shortcomings, and inadequacies. If these ones have any shortage, they need some to make up the lack and support them. Even God’s servant Moses needed others to support him in the warfare against Amalek. Joshua needed Moses’ prayer, and Moses’ prayer needed Aaron and Hur’s support. This is a complete picture of coordination. I hope that the brothers and sisters will see these three points: We need to receive the impartation of the Holy Spirit to quench our thirst, we need to receive the breaking of the cross in order to receive the impartation of the Holy Spirit, and we need to learn to depend on the Lord and support one another.
We should not think that we are a Moses and have no need of others. In fact, Moses needed Aaron and Hur. Moses, Aaron, and Hur needed to coordinate together. On the one hand, those responsible in the districts need the support of those responsible in the smaller groups. If those responsible in the groups merely look on as disinterested bystanders, it will be as if they are Amalek. Those who do not support others become the flesh. On the other hand, the responsible ones in the districts also need to learn to coordinate with others. They should not think that since they are the responsible ones, they can do everything by themselves. We should not forget that they need others’ support and that without others they will definitely fall down. There is nothing to be proud of in regard to being a responsible one, and there is nothing to feel lowly about in regard to being a supporting one. This is the key to coordination. Coordination depends on our submitting ourselves in the Lord’s presence to pursue Him, allowing Him, as well as others, to point out our deficiencies.
We must see that serving in the Lord’s presence is altogether a matter of coordination; it is not a worldly movement. In our serving, it is not proper for us to do absolutely nothing until the responsible ones make a decision or give instructions. At the same time, neither can we freely make decisions without consulting the responsible ones. The former is to serve according to dead letters, whereas the latter is to serve in the flesh. Neither is right. What is right is that we receive the Holy Spirit, the breaking, and the coordination. When we are in a proper condition, we will realize deep within that we need to be coordinated with others. If we are an Aaron or a Hur, we will see that our position is to support others.
In my experience of learning to serve during the past twenty to thirty years, there have never been any problems among the co-workers. This is because we have each seen our place in God’s arrangement, and each of us knows where we should be and what part we should fulfill. In Taiwan God has blessed us and His presence has been with us. We are learning to coordinate and to know our place. We are tired of the prejudices of different backgrounds, we absolutely avoid speaking corrupt words, and we are disgusted even more with walking according to the flesh. We rejoice to see every brother and sister inwardly receive the breaking and coordination. We know who we are and where we stand. We know whether we are a Moses, an Aaron, or a Hur. Spiritual coordination is by no means an arrangement in letter or a set of regulations in an organization. It is altogether a matter of the Spirit, a matter of spiritual order. We should never turn the spiritual order into letters or regulations in the manner of a worldly group or organization, which is very much of man. We are not an organized group, and we should not be under the control of an organization. Instead, we must have the coordination of the Holy Spirit inwardly. I hope that we will see this spiritual fact and continue to learn this lesson.
In regard to our practice, some of us may be part of a group of responsible ones, who meet in a certain district. One day, someone whom we have previously not met may come to our meeting and fellowship with us. Later, we may find out that he is truly a believer and that he has been saved through another Christian group. Consequently, he may not have much understanding concerning our meetings or our present situation. When he inquires about our meetings, someone may tell him the schedule for all the meetings from Monday through Lord’s Day, and then he may indicate that he would like to come to the Lord’s Day table meeting. In this situation, some saints might tell him that he cannot yet break the bread with us, because it is necessary to first ask for instructions from those who are responsible for the district meetings, and they, in turn, need to ask for instructions from the elders. When everything is made clear after passing through multiple layers of instructions, he can then break bread with us. To reply in such a way is to behave completely according to organization, that is, according to dead letters. This is not our way. We do not need to help him understand all the rules and regulations; instead, we should prepare him spiritually for the table meeting and welcome him, giving him encouragement that is full of life. We need to give him an encouraging confirmation.
Every person who is truly saved will want to fellowship with the brothers and sisters. To break bread is to fellowship; the purpose of breaking bread is for us to fellowship with the Lord and to testify for the Lord before the enemy. We need to have a life of testimony and a life in resurrection; such a testimony will cause us to have sweet fellowship with others. For instance, we may say to a newly saved brother, “Brother, we break bread because we have the Lord’s life, and we live by the Lord’s life.” We should have some brief spiritual fellowship with him. Fellowship is to introduce and to receive. When we have spiritual fellowship with a new one, and when he receives help from us to come to the table meeting on the Lord’s Day, we can tell the responsible brothers in the district that he is truly saved and able to participate in breaking the bread. If a responsible one were to say, “If you bring someone to the Lord’s table without my permission, you are not keeping the regulations of the church” we can then have further fellowship with this responsible one. In our further fellowship with the responsible one, we can testify that in our fellowship with this new one, we touched the Lord’s grace, and we are willing to introduce him to the brothers and sisters. In this way the new brother will spontaneously be received into the fellowship. This is entirely not a matter of procedure but a matter of spiritual reality.
If every saved brother and sister lives in such a spiritual reality, there will be spiritual order. It does not matter whether or not we are called a “responsible one”; we still need to live in the spiritual reality. If we conduct ourselves merely according to our “designation,” we have failed. Likewise, if a brother feels that he has full authority to make decisions without caring for the elders, he is being fleshly. We are the church. As the church, we bring new ones to know the church, and we bring them to meet the elders. If the elders’ attitude is, “How could you receive people and let them take the Lord’s table without our approval?” this is Amalek, that is, the expression of the flesh. Concerning the receiving of new ones, the elders should be full of joy and lay their hands on them to bless them in spirit.
For the sake of having further contact and convenience in service, we should obtain the new ones’ addresses, asking them to fill out an information card. During the Lord’s table every new one should be introduced to the brothers and sisters in a good way. When we introduce new ones, we should not follow the way of business corporations that have a set of outward procedures but no Spirit within. Bringing the new ones to know the elders and asking them to fill out an information card is not a dead method or regulation. When we do this, we should allow the living Spirit a way to move. We must find a suitable time to introduce the new ones to the elders so that the elders can introduce them to all the brothers and sisters. This is not a mere formality. When the new ones are being introduced to the saints, if time permits, we can even ask them to give a little testimony in addition to their name.
We need to learn to live in spiritual reality, progressing forward according to the practices of the church, that is, neither following dead regulations nor doing things without restraint. There is no rank in the church; there is only a spiritual order. We should all learn to live in the spirit, each one functioning in his measure. We should hold to this principle not only in the matter of receiving others but also in all other matters. We should not depend on regulations or organization. We should touch the spiritual reality, living according to the practices of the church. In this way we will give the brothers and sisters a deep impression that we are living and not dead. When the brothers and sisters contact the responsible ones, they will receive a living supply. Moreover, when they contact the elders, they will receive the same living supply. After several such contacts, the brothers and sisters will surely be influenced.
The way we practiced the church life in the past was not wrong; however, because most of us are used to working in offices, we have made many items of our service formal. Even the way we talk about baptism has been formal and not very living. Our original intention was to make everyone living without any formalities. We must always have a view that regulations should be hated but that doing things without restraint should also be condemned. Every one of us needs to learn to be in the spiritual reality, accepting God’s arrangement in coordination and knowing whether we are a Moses or an Aaron. We should know that when Moses lifted up his hands in prayer, it was Aaron’s support that enabled Moses’ hands to be steady. In this way we will experience the Lord’s overwhelming blessing, and every meeting will be full of His presence.
We are not building up the church for ourselves, and we should not feel that this church or that church is ours. If God has had mercy on us in making us channels of blessing that transmit blessing to others, we should not recruit people and make them our following. We should all learn to maintain the one testimony of God on the ground of the local church while carrying out the ministry of the church for the sake of Christ, His Son. We all need to pray, asking God to help us receive the Holy Spirit, receive the breaking of the cross, keep to our measure willingly, and have spiritual coordination. All these are reality in the Spirit.
