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In this chapter we will consider the service of the church. We have been greatly blessed, and we have made progress in our service. However, the responsible saints do not have a fundamental and thorough knowledge concerning the way and the content of the service of the church. Furthermore, they do not have much feeling concerning the service of the church.
The way for the church to serve is for all members to serve. The Bible speaks of the church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; 1 Cor. 12:27), and regarding the service of the church, the Bible reveals that the church is also a Body, the mystical Body of Christ (Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-27; Eph. 4:11-12). The Body denotes not only matters related to life but also matters related to function. The function of the church is the function of the Body. The verses in Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Ephesians concerning the church as the Body of Christ emphasize the function of the church in relation to Christ. Function denotes service. Hence, the service of the church is the service of the Body, and the service of the Body is the service of all the members. Therefore, the way for the church to serve is for all the members to serve. Every saint is a member of the Body of Christ with a function; therefore, every saint should fulfill his function.
However, many saints do not serve or do not seem capable of serving. Some saints are not clear concerning their salvation, or they have not had a thorough experience of salvation. Others might be cold or backslidden. Still others may not have the heart to serve the Lord even though they have been saved for many years. Although such saints seem incapable of serving or do not want to serve, all saints have the capability of serving and should serve, because they are members of the Body of Christ.
The responsible brothers need to be clear that the way to serve is for all to serve. In leading the saints to serve in the church, the brothers should apportion the service to all the saints so that all may participate and serve. If the service is not being apportioned to all the saints, the responsible brothers should have a sense that something is wrong. We must see and know the need for all members to serve, and we must even feel compelled to bring all the saints into serving. This will please the Lord. Without a thorough and clear understanding of service, our leading in the service of the church will not be strong.
Since the service of the church involves all the members, the service of the church should encompass every aspect of the church. The content of the church is Christ as life, that is, Christ Himself, and the service of the church encompasses all the functions of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is more than one member. It has many members, and each member has a function. The service of the church involves the corporate functioning of all the members of the Body.
In our physical body we do not have one member functioning while the other members remain inactive. In a healthy body all the members move when the eyes move; the members do not remain still. It is not possible for only one member to function at a time, nor is it normal for a few members to function while other members remain still, unless some members of our physical body are paralyzed. If only one or a few saints function in service, a church is “paralyzed” and “sick.”
Not all the members of our human body look the same, nor do they have the same function. If all the members were the same, it would not be normal, because this is not how a body functions. Likewise, it is not normal if the saints only read the Bible, memorize the Bible, or speak about the Bible to the point that they do not know how to do anything else, because this is not how the Body functions. This does not mean that it is wrong for the saints to read the Bible, memorize the Bible, or speak about the Bible; it means that the service of the church is not normal if the saints only know how to do one thing. All the saints should read the Bible and have a proper understanding of the Bible, but not every saint can expound and teach the Bible. Only a few members are such gifts with this function (Eph. 4:11).
The situation in a church also is not normal if the saints do not care about anything other than praying from morning to evening. This is not how the Body moves. All the saints should pray and inquire of the Lord in all things, but not all the saints can bear the burden of prayer as a service. Such a service can be borne only through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible does not speak explicitly of prayer being a gift, but church history and our experience show that some of God’s children are needed to serve through prayer. For such ones, prayer is a service. There is a great need in every local church for saints who would rise up and serve through prayer.
In the churches very few saints are given to the service of prayer. Every church should have between ten to twenty saints who are devoted uniquely to the service of prayer, praying not for themselves but for the church, for the brothers and sisters, for sinners, for God’s kingdom, for God’s work, and for God’s gospel. There should be specific prayer even for the literature work. In The Ministry of the Word we mentioned this matter, saying that we hope some would set aside time to pray particularly for this publication. There is a need for saints to pray for the work in the church, the move of the church, and every detail related to the church. The condition of God’s house and of the brothers and sisters is borne upon the shoulders of praying saints. They uphold the Lord’s work and His spread, and they bring in His kingdom with prayer. Their prayers should be strong to touch God’s throne, shake the authority of darkness, bind what God has bound, and loose what God has loosed (Matt. 16:18-19). There are many aspects of service, but the service of prayer is urgently needed in all the churches.
The Moravian revival that occurred over two hundred years ago is an example. The Moravian Brethren set up a prayer watch around the clock every day. When one group of people finished praying, another group continued. Every day from morning to evening, groups were praying unceasingly. It is no wonder that the Moravian Brethren sent more missionaries abroad in three decades than all the missions combined in the prior two centuries. I believe that this was the issue of long-term, watchful prayer. According to their statistics, one person was sent abroad to preach for every fifty-eight believers who remained at home, and for every person who believed in the Lord at home, two people believed into the Lord abroad. Based on this ratio, the church in Taipei should have more than sixty saints preaching the gospel abroad, and we should gain close to seven thousand believers abroad. However, this is not our situation. If a group of saints would devotedly pray for the preaching and the spread of the gospel, God would manifest His power and glory among us. It would be very good if a group of saints in every district meeting would be involved in the particular service of prayer.
Our service in the church is not normal. The saints pray when we speak of prayer, clean the meeting hall when we speak of cleaning, and preach the gospel when we speak of preaching the gospel. It is not normal for the saints to pay attention only to what is spoken of by the brothers in the meetings to the exclusion of other things. Normal service involves the need to focus on many things at the same time. Some saints need to be led to study the Bible, others need to be led to pray, and still others need to be led to preach the gospel. Some need to be led to clean or to take care of other services. Some saints should go out to preach the gospel, others should gather for prayer, and still others should take care of different services. The saints should not preach the gospel only when we speak of the need to preach the gospel. Nor should the saints focus exclusively on cleaning the meeting hall when this matter is brought to our attention. It is not normal to have a “gospel month,” during which everyone preaches the gospel, or a “visiting month,” during which everyone visits the saints. Nevertheless, this seems to be our practice. When we speak of having a love feast for the sake of fellowship, everyone busies himself with the details of a love feast, while at the same time praying less and neglecting the gospel. When we speak of exercising the spirit, all the saints pay attention to this matter, but they drop other practical service. Some saints even begin to view practical service as being in the principle of Martha (Luke 10:38-42). Such a situation is abnormal.
The service of the church involves all the members. The service of all the members is needed for the members to carry out their various functions. Some members should lead the believers to pursue deeper spiritual growth, and others should teach new believers to read the Bible, pray, deal with the Lord, and follow the leading of the Spirit. Some members should lead people to salvation, and others should lead people to serve. Some members should speak the word, and others should offer particular prayers as a supply. If the service of the church is normal, there will be saints praying to support a brother when he is speaking. It is said that several believers were always praying for Spurgeon when he spoke. This is a proper situation.
In the service of the church, every service should have certain ones who bear responsibility to study the service and to lead others in the service. The brothers who rise up in the work of the gospel should study how to contact people, how to speak the gospel, and how to lead the saints to zealously preach the gospel. These brothers should also consider the use of the gospel van, the preparation of gospel tracts, and the posting of gospel banners to advertise the gospel. Some brothers should teach the saints to pray and lead the saints to pray for the various services of the church. Every service of the church needs some saints who are devoted to it and will carry it out with others.
If we see that the service of the church is the service of all the members, there will be a desire in us to see the saints functioning in service in many different ways. This is the way for service to encompass every aspect of the church. If we realize that the service of the church is the service of all the members, we also will encourage the various functions of the saints.
According to 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, every member of the Body of Christ has a function. The hand has a function, and the foot has a function. The ear cannot replace the eye, nor can the eye replace the ear. For example, a brother may have a burden from the Lord to visit and help the saints who are sick, but he does not necessarily have the function of expounding the Bible. Another brother may be very good at reading the Bible publicly. When he reads the Bible aloud, his cadence and tone help the listeners understand the meaning of the text. However, it may not be easy for this brother to visit people. Some saints know how to visit people. Such saints are concerned when they hear that a saint is in the midst of difficulties or problems, but they do not have the capacity to clean the meeting hall or to move chairs. It is easier for them to travel three miles to visit a brother than to climb a ladder to clean a window. Other saints may feel that it is easier to clean all the windows in the meeting hall than it is to visit people. These differences indicate that not all members have the same function. If we see that the service of the church depends on the function of all the members, our service will be to bring out their different functions.
We must understand that in the service of the church certain saints can do things that we cannot do, and we can do things that they cannot do. Certain brothers must take care of certain matters. Those who see the revelation of the service of all the members know that others cannot replace their function, nor can they replace the function of others, because every saint is different. The brothers and sisters must be clear concerning this. Those who have not seen this revelation have not seen the service of all the members. The clearer we are concerning the service of all the members, the stronger our feeling will be concerning the service of all the members. This will enhance our function and cause us to encourage the function of the saints.
In practice it is best for the responsible brothers and sisters to come together and pray. Then they should fellowship and consider the spiritual and practical matters in every district. Preaching the gospel and the edification of the saints should also be thoroughly considered. We may also ask the responsible ones in the group meetings to consider these matters and make a detailed list of necessary services.
All the responsible saints should study together in order to find a detailed way to carry out every service. They should consider how to preach the gospel, how to hold a gospel meeting, how to apportion visitations, how to lead the saints to fellowship and to pursue spiritual growth, how to arrange the meeting hall, how to usher and maintain order during the meetings, how to contact and fellowship with the attendees after a meeting, and how to clean the meeting hall. The responsible saints should find a way to carry out every service.
The responsible saints should also supply the necessary tools for each service. We need to consider this matter; we should not be stingy or extravagant. We should not overlook the things that are needed or prepare things that are not needed. There should be adequate preparation of the necessary tools.
The responsible saints should also find saints who will be suitable to carry out each service. This is a difficult and strenuous task that takes considerable time and energy.
The service of all the members can never be carried out solely by a few responsible saints; it can only be carried out by all the saints. We must hold on to this principle. Then according to the needs of the various services, we can bring the saints into their function. We should also consider the desire and condition of the saints before the Lord so that everyone functions. Then the service of all the members of the church will be manifested. The responsible saints must pray much for this matter. We must spend our time and energy to bring in enough suitable persons for every service in each district and thus bring every saint into a service. We must be patient and active to bring the saints in one by one, but we must not be anxious.
We must make a list of the services, find ways to do them, and prepare the necessary tools. Then according to the need of each service, we must identify suitable saints. We should not be the ones taking care of the services; instead, we must bring the saints into the service and let them function. For example, we must identify one or two suitable brothers who can manage the gospel van, give them a few principles, and let them manage it. In the arrangement and management of the church there should be detailed consideration. Then our service will be thorough, and all the saints will be brought into serving together.
Until a saint has served, he may not be interested in a service and cannot be responsible for it. After a saint begins to serve, he will become interested and will eventually feel that the service is his responsibility. He will not feel that it is something the responsible brothers asked him to do. Then he will have a heart for the service of the church, and he will feel that the church’s affairs are his affairs.
Some saints may not yet be interested in the service of the church. The responsible ones should pray for these saints, fellowship with them, and lead them to know the Lord’s constraining love so that they would be willing to participate in the service of the church and to serve the Lord with the other saints. Some saints may not know how to serve even though they have the heart to serve the church. The responsible ones must lead these saints by teaching them to serve. Some saints have a heart to serve and know how to serve, but they still need to be led to serve in coordination with other saints.
If the responsible saints were willing to spend their time and energy to find the way to bring all the saints into serving, we would have the service of all the members. If we do not bring all the saints into serving, we will be short. If we have seen this revelation, we will be compelled to seek the Lord to find a way to bring the saints into service so that they would serve together with us. Whether we bring in one saint per week or a few saints per week, all the saints need to be brought into the service.
We must also pay attention to deeper spiritual growth. The responsible saints must pursue deeper spiritual growth and stir up the saints to pursue deeper spiritual growth. We must lead the saints to pursue knowing Christ and expressing Christ so that the stature of Christ may increase in the church.
The gospel work is spreading, and more saved ones are being added daily. If we do not have more experiences of Christ, we will not have the spiritual life necessary to maintain a strong testimony. Our service must not consist of many outward activities without a rich inner life, nor should we have zealous excitement without spiritual reality. Our experience of life should be more than outward activities, and our spiritual reality should be higher than our zealous excitement.
Hence, we must not only bring the saints into the basic experiences of life, such as dealing with sins, consecration, obeying the inner sense of life, and being led by the Lord; we must also bring them to know Christ as our life. We must know the indwelling Spirit so that we may experience Christ, and we must know how to fellowship with the Lord and be in His presence. We must bring the saints into deeper spiritual knowledge and experiences. We should lead the saints to know the power of Christ’s resurrection and to have deeper experiences of His death. We should lead them to know the breaking of the outer man, dealing with the flesh, being delivered from the self, and being filled with the Spirit. Hence, the responsible saints in the districts and groups should have such a pursuit, such knowledge, and such experiences. The responsible saints in the districts and groups must pay adequate attention to spiritual growth. If a few saints would gather together to fellowship and pray concerning this kind of pursuit, the Lord would produce a hunger in their hearts and cause them to enter into deeper spiritual experiences.
I have a heavy burden concerning bringing the saints into a deeper spiritual pursuit. It is not too difficult to encourage the saints to zealously preach the gospel or to join gospel teams, but it is not easy to lead the saints in spiritual pursuit or into deeper spiritual experiences. Nevertheless, a church that lacks deeper spiritual experiences will not have weight and will not be able to satisfy the Lord. Therefore, we must pursue and enter into deeper spiritual growth. May we all pay attention to this point, and may the Lord prepare our hearts!
