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One who serves the Lord must do everything by being joined to the Lord, by being in union with the Lord. In other words, he must serve by relying on the Lord. We are often unable to rise up to answer the Lord’s demand and meet the Lord’s need, but when we are able to rise up to meet the Lord’s need, there is a risk of not relying on the Lord. It is possible not to rely on the Lord or look to Him because we are able to work according to our own capability, diligence, and earnestness. Everyone who serves the Lord must avoid acting independently. Acting independently is to put the Lord aside, not depending on Him, not praying to Him, not being joined to Him, but doing the work out of ourselves.
As a proper serving one, we should stop our thoughts, views, and concepts because none of our service should be out of ourselves. All our service must be of the Lord; hence, we must stop ourselves. We can receive the Lord’s command and revelation only when we stop ourselves.
When a person has the Lord’s command and receives the Lord’s revelation, he should immediately rise up to cooperate with the Lord. Some cannot rise up because they have not been prepared adequately. For example, some have a poor character of complacency, and others are not familiar with the Bible. Both reasons prevent them from being able to rise up. Others cannot rise up because of wives, children, and parents. When the Lord came to call people, some could not answer His call because they needed to care for wives, children, parents, and even their living and safety (Deut. 13:6; 24:5; Luke 14:17-20, 26). In the same way, many have the Lord’s calling today, but they are unable to rise up because of their personal concerns.
Those who are able to answer the Lord’s call are simple. When James and John were mending their nets by the Sea of Galilee, they left the boat and their father and followed the Lord as soon as they heard His call (Matt. 4:21-22). Their answer to the Lord’s call is the standard. There are no indications that they made arrangements for their father, their boat, and their nets. Their answer was quick, simple, and without concern for the consequences. This is truly a pattern. It is difficult to find someone who rises up to answer the Lord’s call without considering his own needs first. Many brothers and sisters answer the Lord’s call, yet they do it in a dragging way; they need to make arrangements for their “boats” and their “nets,” and they also need to have a proper plan to take care of their “fathers” so that their relatives and friends would not misunderstand and the Lord’s testimony would not be damaged. Amazingly, however, this group of Galileans did not have any of these considerations. They left their boat and nets and even were not concerned about their father; they simply rose up to meet the Lord’s need.
In the Gospel of Matthew a disciple said to the Lord, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father,” and He said, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead” (8:21-22). Whenever the Lord called someone, He did not allow him to make arrangements. If the Lord does not call, there is nothing we can do. However, once He calls, we must answer His call immediately and unconditionally. This is what is needed in order for one to rise up. Although many brothers and sisters have the Lord’s calling, they cannot rise up. The first time He calls, they consider; the second time He calls, they still cannot rise up; the third and fourth times He calls, it is even more difficult for them to rise up. Throughout their lives some Christians are called continually, but they are unable to rise up. On their deathbed they have only regret. We need to solemnly see that when the Lord’s calling comes, we must rise up immediately to answer His call and meet His present need.
In God’s redemption nothing can be done apart from man. God needs man to co-work and co-labor with Him. Only degraded Christianity teaches that some, but not others, can serve God. Little do they know that in God’s salvation, everyone must serve God. God saves everyone and calls everyone. As long as someone is willing to receive His salvation, He saves him; as long as someone is willing to answer His call, He calls him. The problem is not that He does not save or call but that we are unwilling to receive His salvation and to answer His call.
The Lord’s salvation is His calling; all those who know God understand this. The Lord saves us to call us to serve Him. The Gospels show that when the Lord was on the earth, everyone who was saved was also called. In the Bible there is no example of the Lord’s calling being separate from His salvation. The Bible does not show that Peter believed but was not called. Peter was called at the same time that he was saved. His being saved was his being called, and his being called was his being saved. Likewise, Nathanael was called at the same time and in the same place that he was saved (John 1:47-49). Paul was not saved in Damascus and called in the wilderness; rather, he was called when he was saved.
In the New Testament there is not one person whose calling is separate from his salvation. We cannot find an example in the New Testament that shows that someone was saved but called only later. If we have truly been saved, God’s calling came the day we were saved. Salvation and calling are one. A genuinely saved person has a deep desire to serve God once he is saved. If a genuinely saved person does not want to serve God, his salvation is questionable. Did we not have a desire to serve God on the first day we were saved? We had this desire because God’s calling is included in His salvation. God saves us so that we may serve Him. God saves everyone and calls everyone.
Everything related to God’s redemption depends upon man; hence, without man God cannot do anything. All the work in His redemption is carried out through man, by means of man, and in the mingling with man, and He saves us so that we may serve Him. Our problem, however, is that we cannot rise up. We want to take care of our wives, children, parents, families, careers, futures, fame, and wealth. We have so much to take care of that we cannot rise up. We are unable to be quick and decisive. We do not have the courage and are not ready to take risks. We merely want to be a secure Christian. A Christian who is up to the standard, however, takes risks. Answering the Lord’s call requires us to take risks. Some Christians seem to rise up, but because they have not been sufficiently broken and dealt with, they cannot endure and collapse after a short time. Hence, we must see that among so many Christians, it is not easy for the Lord to find some who can meet His need. Such people are rare.
A person who rises up for God needs to have the boldness to take risks and have a strong and indomitable will. A person who is timid and cowardly cannot rise up. Very often, of a hundred people whom the Lord saves, fewer than five are willing to rise up for Him. Most Christians are timid, weak in will, cowardly, and indifferent. Such ones have difficulty in rising up and are not of much use even if they do rise up. Those who rise up must have a certain amount of courage and talent. Everyone who is useful for the Lord must have a strong will, boldness, and some capability at the very least.
However, when a person rises up to meet God’s need, there is another risk. Because those who rise up have some resolve and boldness, there is the risk that they will not rely on God or look to God but would rather do things in themselves. Even though they disregard many dangers and difficulties and rise up for the Lord in the face of repeated frustrations, there is a danger that they will charge ahead to do a work regardless of what the Lord is doing. They can work independently by themselves and apart from the Lord. They can put Him aside, not fellowship with Him, not abide in Him, and not be in union with Him.
In today’s Christianity there are many activities and works that have fallen into this category. As long as someone has the resolve, capability, responsibility, and boldness to take risks, he can do some work. This is the reason so many works in Christianity have lost the Lord’s presence. This is truly frightening. Many things can be done without abiding in the Lord.
No matter how strong we are and how much we can rise up for the Lord, we should all be weak in every step of our work. We must say to Him, “O Lord, although I have risen up, I am still a weak person. Like the children of Israel, I need to be borne on Your wings to serve You. In people’s eyes I may be bold, I may have ideas, and I may have a strong will, but Lord, You know that I am as weak as water. If You do not uphold me and bear me on Your shoulders, I cannot walk an inch. O Lord, apart from You I can do nothing. Inwardly, I am weak in prayer. I am weak in fellowship. I am weak even in my feeling for the work.” No matter how people evaluate us outwardly, thinking that we are strong, capable, and steadfast in our will, we must be weak and trembling in our inward being. We must tell the Lord, “Apart from You I can do nothing. Though You need me, I need You; I need You not only inwardly but also outwardly. Lord, in my spirit I need Your Spirit; in my environment I need Your hand. I need You.”
A person who works and serves the Lord in administrating the church should never be political like unbelievers in the community and in society. In serving the Lord and administrating the church, we should never use tricks or play politics. At one time of fellowship a brother suggested that we do things a certain way. I immediately said, “Brother, this is playing politics; this is using tricks.” At another time I heard that a brother intended to come and give me a difficult time. Someone suggested that we ask a sister to visit this brother’s wife to ask her to exert some influence on him and change his mind. This is a good way for unbelievers; it can be compared to using a back door when the front door is locked. But this is altogether unacceptable in the service of the Lord and in the administration of the church.
Using tricks is a proof that we are apart from the Lord and that we have not relied on Him. Unbelievers use tricks because they do not have the Lord, but one who serves the Lord should never do this. One who serves the Lord is in the Lord. When such a one encounters difficulties, he should never turn to politics but to the Lord and tell Him, “I have no work of my own; all the work is Yours. If You permit this problem, I will accept it, but if this will cause Your work to suffer, please hinder it.”
When we administrate the church, we should never use our great thoughts and excellent skills. A problem that arises in the church will become worse the more we try to avoid it. The church does not need to ask for trouble, nor does the church need to shun trouble. Whenever the children of Israel rose up to create trouble, oppose, or rebel, neither Moses nor Aaron did anything for themselves; they simply withdrew and prostrated themselves before God (Exo. 15:24-25; Num. 14:1-5; 16:1-4, 19-24, 41-45). When Moses heard the murmurings of the people, he said to Jehovah, “Why have You treated Your servant badly...that You have put the burden of all this people upon me?...From where should I get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, Give us meat, so that we may eat! I am not able to bear all this people alone, for it is too heavy for me” (11:11-14). This is a prayer of one who knew God. Moses was a great politician, a great military leader, and a great educator; he was a man of great capability who knew how to play politics. However, if we carefully read the four books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, we will see that he never used tricks in leading the children of Israel.
Moses was an elderly man (Exo. 7:7); he was not inexperienced. He had lived in the Egyptian palace (2:10), and he had led the children of Israel to come out of Egypt and cross the Red Sea, and they obeyed him (14:31). But whenever he dealt with a problem, he never assumed a high position before men. Instead, he always fell immediately on his face before God (Num. 14:5; 16:4, 22, 45; 20:6). When the Israelites worshipped the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai, God told Moses, “Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves...My anger may burn against them” (Exo. 32:7, 10). Moses immediately spoke to God of His people, saying, “Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand...to whom You swore by Yourself and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed” (vv. 11, 13). Moses was saying, “O God, You must forgive them; even if You do not want to forgive them, You still must forgive them.” Moses negotiated with God, and eventually, “Jehovah repented of the evil which He said He would do to His people” (v. 14), and Moses was given rest (33:14).
This means that he was a man who stood up for God, but he did not serve the Lord in himself. He stood up by trusting in the Lord for his service. The Lord was his support, his surrounding wall, his shield, his banner, and his fortress. He served the Lord by being in the Lord. In the Old Testament there is Moses, and in the New Testament there is Paul, who says, “I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God which was given to me according to the operation of His power” (Eph. 3:7). Paul did not rely on his own knowledge or outward tricks but on God’s inward power and outward hand.
It is difficult for a capable person to rely on God and receive leading. Nine out of ten who rise up for the Lord are bold and strong in their will. In the service of the Lord, such people need to be softened within once they rise up. One who is weak is useless, but one who is too strong is also useless. One who is weak cannot rise up, but one who is too strong does not trust in the Lord. We must always remember that serving the Lord is a matter of the Lord’s work and of meeting His need in coordination with Him. Most people are weak when they should be strong and strong when they should be weak. Hence, among so many people it is difficult for the Lord to find some who are truly useful. Some people, no matter how many times the Lord calls, cannot rise up; they are either concerned for their wives or concerned for their children. Others who rise up, however, cannot be softened inwardly. They are like a wild donkey, acting apart from the Lord.
In the matter of serving the Lord, we must be clear concerning three points, or we will be altogether useless. First, we must see that the Lord’s work is carried out by His mingling with man. The Lord does not work alone, and neither can man work by himself; rather, the Lord works in union with man, and man needs to let the Lord work because He is Lord. Second, we must see that we need to rise up strongly to cooperate with Him in order to meet His need. Third, we need to see that once we rise up, we must immediately prostrate ourselves before the Lord. Otherwise, our zeal, our pursuit, and our desire will not match the Lord.
The Lord often wants us to stop, but we cannot stop. Furthermore, when we rise up in response to the Lord, He will say, “You should fall down in Me.” Many of us cannot do this without tricks and methods. In my service with the brothers from 1946 until now, I have learned to not use tricks or human methods when we encounter problems. I fear tricks more than sins. This does not mean that we should be foolish or even that we are not tricky but that the One whom we serve does not need our tricks. Everyone who serves the Lord must learn these three crucial lessons.
It is difficult for those who cannot rise up to rise up, but it is also difficult for those who have risen up to fall down. Only those who have risen up and then fall down are useful before God. Only those who can stop in God’s work, rise up in His call, and fall down in His service can serve God and administrate the church. When we sense that the Lord is not in a certain work, we should not do it. Even if it will have a great impact, we should not do it. Although we may receive people’s praise, we should not do anything that the Lord is not in. Without fellowshipping with the Lord and without His presence, we should not go on by ourselves. Moses’ leading of the children of Israel depended upon the Lord’s presence (Exo. 33:15). When we serve the Lord, we also need the Lord’s presence.
These three points — stopping in God’s work, rising up in His call, and falling down in His service — seem to be contradictory, and some people cannot tolerate the changes. When we want them to stop, they cannot stop, but once they stop, they go to an extreme and even stop meditating and praying. Stopping when the Lord wants us to stop is not an easy lesson. A brother who had great enthusiasm was unable to stop no matter how much we implored him. When he finally stopped, he stopped to the point of not even acknowledging that he was a Christian. This is a problem. When we wanted him to stop, he could not stop, but when he stopped, he stopped in an extreme way. As a consequence, he lost his usefulness to the Lord. Hence, we must learn to stop ourselves in the Lord’s work, to rise up in the Lord’s command, and to continually fall down in His service. No matter how much the children of Israel tormented Moses, he was willing to rise up, but he also always fell down before God and let Him work.
Question: Although we should not play tricks when we serve the Lord, we also need to be prudent. What is the difference between playing tricks and being prudent?
Answer: Matthew 10:16 says, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be therefore prudent as serpents and guileless as doves.” To be prudent is to escape the difficulty and harm that come from others; to be guileless is not to hurt others. Prudence is related to avoiding being hurt by others; hence, it is not applicable among the saints. Being prudent is different from employing tricks. Tricks are used to reach one’s goals, and prudence is necessary to avoid being hurt by others.
Question: Peter followed the Lord unconditionally because he met the Lord. However, we have not met the Lord. What should we do?
Answer: If a person wants to answer the Lord’s call, he first must experience the Lord’s call. If we have experienced the Lord’s call, we have met the Lord. Peter answered the Lord’s call so quickly because he met the Lord. If we have not met the Lord, we do not need to answer the Lord. However, I do not think that there is anyone among us who can truly say that he has never met the Lord. If a brother says that he has never met the Lord, he must not be saved. Every saved one has met the Lord in his spirit.
What does it mean to be saved? A brother once said that the strictness of our interview with people before their baptism should be re-examined. However, the strictness of the interview is not the point; rather, we must be able to sense that a person has met the Lord when we interview him. If he has met the Lord once, he is saved. However, if he has merely heard, believed, and received a doctrine, he is a pious person at the most. If someone has met the Lord, he may outwardly say that he does not believe, but he cannot help but believe inwardly.
Every saved one has met the Lord, but the difference is that some have met the Lord in a strong way, and others in only a more moderate way. Likewise, whenever a person meets the Lord, there is some demand within him; this demand is the Lord’s calling. Our concern is not whether someone has met the Lord, but whether, after meeting the Lord, he is serious, quick to respond, and absolute. Before he meets the Lord, he does not need to answer the Lord’s call, but after he is saved and has met the Lord, he should immediately answer the Lord’s call.
It also is unlikely that we have not met the Lord after being saved because the Lord comes to us repeatedly, even as we are walking on the street. Sometimes when we are in the car, He comes to us; sometimes when we are shopping, He comes to meet us. He comes to meet us at different times. The real question is how we respond when He comes to meet us. Our problem is not related to being unable to touch and meet Him but in being too slow and dull in answering His call.
Question: Was Moses called after he turned eighty?
Answer: A person’s calling has a beginning, course, and completion. If we investigate the time when Moses was called, it was before the foundation of the world. The calling of Moses was not an accidental act or idle whim of God. The name Moses means “drawn out.” Long before the foundation of the world, he was drawn out. God also set apart Paul in his mother’s womb (Gal. 1:15). Not only did the matter of our calling take place before the foundation of the world; even our salvation occurred before the foundation of the world.
This shows that God took several steps in the preparation of Moses. First, God prepared godly parents who infused him with godly thoughts after his birth (Exo. 2:7-9). Second, God prepared the environment of the palace in Egypt for him so that he could receive the best education of his time to lead the children of Israel (3:10; Acts 7:22). Moses’ commission could not have been undertaken by someone who did not have any training. Hence, God allowed him to enter into the palace to be properly regulated and cultivated. Third, through the infusing of his parents, Moses had the godly thought and concept that he needed to rescue the children of Israel (Heb. 11:24-25). To him, this was the beginning of God’s calling. Fourth, God prepared the wilderness for him in order to train his character. Although he had godly thoughts and had received a high education, his character was not fully trained, nor had he gone through any human sufferings (Acts 7:23-28). He was very strong. He had no special environment, so God caused him to shepherd a flock in the wilderness for forty years so that he could be refined in a furnace like hard steel (v. 29). When all these environments had been arranged successfully, God came in and called him in a definite way. At this time God’s calling was complete (v. 30).
Hence, it is difficult to determine when God called Moses. If we consider the source, we must say that it was before the foundation of the world, but also it was in the palace, the wilderness, and the training process. Then God came in. The principle is the same with us. If we look back, we can testify that our calling was predestinated by God in eternity past. Then at a certain time He arranged for us to be in the proper environment and did not let us go; it was at that time that we answered His call.
Question: Does the so-called boundary of work apply only to the workers?
Answer: In the Bible the noun work has a broad and a narrow sense. In a broad sense, whatever God does in this age through the church, the saints, and the worker’s service to Him is the work of God. In a narrow sense, there are a few, such as Paul, who are chosen and called by God and commissioned by the Lord to do His work. Hence, the meaning of the word worker also has two meanings, one broad and one narrow. In a broad sense, all the saints who preach the gospel for God are God’s workers. In a narrow sense, only those, like the apostles, who are sent by God to preach the gospel and establish churches in every place are workers of God. For example, in the broad sense we may tell the saints that everyone needs to do God’s work, meaning that all the brothers and sisters have a part in the work of God. In principle, the narrow sense is included in the broad sense. For example, some answer God’s call particularly and serve God in a specific way.
Question: After hearing this kind of message, we are afraid to move in the meetings. For instance, if we think that God has not moved, we do not want to move; consequently, no one even dares to open his mouth to pray.
Answer: This shows that you have not touched the main point of the message but instead the trivial points. It is not right if you do not move and do not pray because God has not moved during the time of prayer. If we need to wait until God moves in order to breathe and eat, could we survive? Without God moving, man should not move. This is the right principle, but you have applied it in a wrong way. Not moving without God means that our service before Him must be initiated by Him, not by us. This is a great principle.
Of course, this great principle can be applied in small matters. For example, in a prayer meeting, if God does not move, we should not move. In terms of the responsibility of the meeting, this is the right principle. However, we need to see that the responsibility for coming to the meeting is related to the burden we have received. Hence, when we come to a meeting, we should bear the burden to pray, sing, or share. This is not a matter of coming to the meeting and asking whether God is moving or whether God wants us to bear the responsibility of the meeting. Before bearing responsibility, we should first ask whether God has moved and entrusted this responsibility to us. If God is moving in us, guiding us, leading us, and wanting us to bear some responsibility, we will know what is from God as soon as we receive it. After receiving a responsibility, we do not need to wait any longer and continue to seek the Lord. If someone entrusts a child to our care, and we are clear that this is of the Lord, we must care for him by cooking for him and giving him a bath; there is no need to wait for the Lord to move further. In our service we often have the right principle but the wrong application.
In the meeting a brother may say in a very spiritual way, “If God does not move, I will not move; if I move first, it would be only a religious activity.” A brother who says this, sooner or later, will become passive. We do not come to a prayer meeting simply to attend but to pray. We can first ask the Lord inwardly, “Should I go to the prayer meeting?” This can be compared to someone inviting us to eat a meal at his house. Before going, we should consider whether or not to go. But after deciding to go, we should freely eat and drink when we are at his house. If we do not eat or drink anything, people will ask us why. It would be improper for us to say that we need to consider it, because the time for consideration has passed. Therefore, in a meeting we should actively use our spirit to fellowship with God. In this fellowship we will touch God’s feeling, and we will know whether or not we should pray. We should not be passive in the meetings.
A genuinely spiritual person usually has much to minister in the meetings because he is joined to the Lord in fellowship. In a fellowship meeting, if everyone is waiting and no one opens his mouth, at a certain point someone will give a strange testimony, and then someone else will also give a strange testimony. This will damage the meeting. Everyone wants to be spiritual and wait for the moving of the Holy Spirit, but this will cause the entire meeting to fall into a kind of passivity. If we all actively exercise our spirit to fellowship with the Lord in spirit, we will have something to say, and the meeting will be living. Therefore, we should actively fellowship with the Lord in spirit in every meeting and not passively wait for Him to move our deadened spirit. We must all learn this lesson.
What does it mean to be active in spirit? What does it mean to be passive in spirit? What does it mean to act in fellowship? And what does it mean to act independently? We must learn these lessons. Acting independently is religion; acting in union with the Lord is the church. We must exercise our spirit so that our spirit will be strong to touch God. We should not give our opinions, but we can ask God to give us His commands. We must be so strong that we can ask God, force God, and urge God to issue commands. This is to exercise our spirit and to be active in spirit. This means that we must exercise our spirit to touch the Spirit of God and allow the Spirit of God to push our spirit. In this way, when we contact God, we will be able to touch God’s will immediately. If our spirit is living, we will cause the entire meeting to touch the Spirit whether we are praying or reading the Bible.
