Search
Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rom. 12:1-2, 4-6
In the Christian life there are always two aspects, the matter of life and the matter of service. As the Lord’s children, we need a proper spiritual life, and we need the proper spiritual service. The proper Christian service is a matter of life, and it is in the Body. Such a spiritual service is presented as the priesthood in 1 Peter 2:5: “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The holy priesthood in this verse is the spiritual house. The spiritual house built up together with the saints is the holy priesthood. The house is the priesthood, and the priesthood is the house. These are two aspects of one thing, two aspects of the building up together of the saints. This building up is the house of God, and it is the priesthood of God—not merely priests but a priesthood.
Verse 9 continues with the royal priesthood: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession, so that you may tell out the virtues of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” This royal priesthood is the spiritual house. These three matters are crucial: the spiritual house, the holy priesthood, and the royal priesthood. On one hand, the priesthood is holy; on the other hand, the priesthood is royal.
Paul deals with the matter of the Christian life and the matter of the Christian service in the book of Romans. The service is in Romans 12: “I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect” (vv. 1-2). Many bodies are offered as one unique sacrifice, not many sacrifices but one sacrifice with many bodies.
This good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God continues in the following verses: “For just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another. And having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or service, let us be faithful in that service; or he who teaches, in that teaching” (vv. 4-7). All the Christian services are in the Body. If you have the Body with the Body practice, the Body expression, and the Body life, then you have the Christian service.
In this chapter we are dealing with the practical aspect of the Christian life, that is, the service. With us as Christians there are always two aspects. The first aspect is a matter of the Christian life, a life matter, and the second aspect is a matter of the Christian service, a service matter. As the Lord’s children, on the one hand, we need a proper life, a spiritual life, and on the other hand, we need a proper service, a spiritual service.
In Matthew 25 the Lord Jesus gave two parables, the parable of the ten virgins, which deals with the Christian life, and the parable of the talents, which is related to our service. As far as our life is concerned, we should be as the virgins with the testimony of light in our hand as we go out of this world to meet our Bridegroom. This is our life, the life aspect. We need the oil, and we need the testimony of light. We need to go out of this world, to wait for the Lord’s coming back, and to go on to meet His coming. This is the Christian life.
Immediately following this parable, the Lord gave us the parable of the talents, which is something related to our service. We need to use the talent, the gift, which the Lord has given us, to do some business and to make some profit for the Lord. With the Lord’s children there are always these two aspects, the life and the service. We need to grow in life with the oil, with the light, and with the going out of this world to meet the Lord in His coming back. We also need to exercise in a proper way what the Lord has given us as a gift, as a talent.
In the Epistle to the Romans the apostle Paul covers these two aspects. In the greater part of this book, the apostle deals with the aspect of life. Romans gives the sequence of the Christian walk, the Christian life. At the very beginning, in the first two and a half chapters, there is a sinner before God. Then in chapters 3, 4, and the first part of 5, this sinner is justified, forgiven, redeemed, and saved through the redemption of Christ. In the second part of chapter 5 through chapter 8, this redeemed, justified, and forgiven person is walking in the new life, in the Spirit. He realizes the fact that the old man has been put to death and the fact that with the old man there is nothing good. The old man, the old nature, has been put on the cross. Now the Holy Spirit of Christ, as the embodiment of Christ as life to us, is living within us. We must walk according to Him and walk in Him. So this very one who was originally a sinner is now a saint, walking according to the Spirit. Then in chapter 12 so many redeemed ones who are walking in the Spirit are composed together in the Spirit as one Body. They are members of this one Body.
First, we have the aspect of life, then the aspect of service. We have the life matter settled first; then, based on that fact, we have the matter of service. Without life and the adequate growth in life, we cannot have the service. The little children can do many things, but they cannot serve, because they simply do not have the adequate growth in life.
To serve the Lord, the growth in life is required. The service is not mentioned in Romans 6 or 7. It is not mentioned until chapter 12, where sinners have been redeemed, justified, and delivered from the old nature, and they are walking in the Spirit. They have the real growth in life. Now they are the practical and functioning members of the Body. The Christian service is an issue of the growth in life.
If you do not have life, you cannot serve. Even if you have life, but are short of the growth in life, still young, childish, even like a babe, you cannot serve. The service requires life and the growth in life, the maturity in life. It is a life matter, and it is a matter of the growth in life. We cannot serve the Lord without growing in the life of the Lord. This is something very basic. This is why we have been stressing the matter of life in view of our expectation of having a church life with the service. Without the growth in life, there is no possibility for the church to be built up, and without the building up of the church, there is no possibility of having the church service, the Christian service.
The Christian service is a matter of life and in the Body. It is a matter in the Body and a matter of the Body. You cannot serve the Lord as an individual Christian. To serve the Lord, you need to realize that the Lord’s service is something in the Body.
Every believer is a member of the Body, a part of the Body. An individual is not the Body. A member of the Body cannot function without the Body. The hand is good, quite useful, but if it is cut off from the body, it becomes not only dead but also ugly, terrible, and even terrifying. You may love to shake my hand, but if this hand were detached from the body, it would be terrible.
Today many Christians are detached, separated from the reality of the Body. It is as if they are disembodied members. The members of the body are beautiful as long as they are attached where they belong in the body, but in any other place they are terrible. How sad it is that many Christians today are like ears that have been detached and put on the shoulders. How could they serve the Lord? How could we serve the Lord without being built up together as members of the Body? It is impossible.
I am not speaking on this point according to knowledge or doctrine. By the mercy of the Lord, I can testify to you from my experience that for many years I have simply been unable to serve the Lord without the Body. It is impossible to serve the Lord without the Body, without the church life, without the church practice.
The Body life is in Romans 12, and the church service is in this Body life with the members of the Body, of the church, functioning, serving. This matter is very clear in the Word. We need to check ourselves to see whether or not we have the reality of the Body life. If not, we are wandering saints. If you say that you are in the reality of the Body, you need to consider seriously where the Body is, practically speaking. If we could give up the service of the Lord, there would be no need for us to talk about the Body, the church life. But if we have the sincere heart to serve the Lord, we need to realize that the service is in the Body.
The Christian service is the service of the priests. We know that all the believers are priests and that the function, the duty, the responsibility, of the priests is to serve the Lord. The service of the priests in the Old Testament was not that of individual priests serving the Lord. All the priests serving the Lord need to be built up together as a body. The priestly service is not a service of individuals but a service of a corporate body. To serve the Lord, we need to be built up together with others as a corporate body. Peter told us that we will be the priesthood after we have been built up together as the spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:5).
The Greek word rendered “priesthood” is rather hard to translate. But according to the spiritual reality, the priesthood is the building up of the priests, the coordination, the cooperation, of all the priests. Not one of the priests serves individually, but all serve in coordination.
While I am ministering, my whole body is serving in a coordination. My mouth does not speak without any expression in my eyes or without any gestures with my hands. The mouth even needs the feet with the legs and the whole body to support it. The mouth needs the hands and feet, and the hands and feet need the mouth and the eyes. This is the whole body in coordination, and this is the basic principle of the Christian service.
Many of us are concerned about the gospel preaching. If we are going to preach the gospel, we need to be built up together. We need the coordination first. When we are built up together as a spiritual house and have the coordination of the priests, then we can preach the gospel.
The first gospel preaching was on the day of Pentecost, when one hundred twenty people were built up together, coordinated. Those one hundred twenty people were one hundred twenty priests, just as one body acting in coordination. I believe that on that day, when Peter stood up, it was not only Peter himself, or even Peter with the other eleven, but actually Peter with the one hundred twenty. When Peter told the Jewish people, “You people put this Jesus on the cross,” I believe all the one hundred twenty said Amen. When he said, “You put Him to death, but the God of our fathers raised Him up,” again they said Amen. It was not merely a single member of the Body, not merely the mouth of Peter speaking, with all the others sleeping or talking, leaving poor Peter to speak in a poor way by himself. This is not the way the gospel was preached on that day. Rather, they preached the gospel in a prevailing way, in a coordination of all the saints, all coordinated as one. Therefore, their preaching was powerful and prevailing.
To have the gospel preached in a prevailing way, spiritual giants or powerful evangelists are not so much needed as the Body, a built-up Body under a coordination. Groups of people will be brought to the Lord through the built-up church. If we would all be joined together in the Body and stand together, even the weakest one among us would be stronger in the coordination than any individual strong one.
Some may be concerned that they do not have a special gift or do not know how to serve the Lord. Those things do not matter. As long as we are in the reality of the Body, that is wonderful. We all need to be built up in the Body. If we become a built-up house, then we will be a serving priesthood, a serving priestly coordination. This is what we need, a coordination by building up.
We are the holy priesthood on the one hand, and the royal priesthood on the other hand. In the Old Testament types there are two different orders of priests—the order of Aaron and the order of Melchizedek. The order of Aaron is the holy order. To be holy is to be separated from the common things, the worldly things, unto the Lord. The holy order is an order separated from the world, from the common things, unto the use of the Lord. To have the church service, all of us need to be built together, and we should be separated people, separated from the world, from the common things, from the ordinary way. To be separated unto God is to be holy unto God. To be holy simply means to be sanctified, and to be sanctified simply means to be separated from the common things unto the divine things. This is the holy order, the holy priesthood.
The order of Melchizedek is the royal order. Melchizedek was a king, and he was a kingly priest. On one hand, we are the sons of Aaron, the holy priests separated from the world unto the Lord. On the other hand, we are Melchizedeks, the kingly priests.
Let me illustrate in this way. Suppose the church here is going to preach the gospel. First of all, we need to be built up together as one body; we must be formed together as an army. Then we all should be separated from the world unto the Lord. We all need to go to the Lord and pray for a period of time, like those one hundred twenty in Acts who prayed for ten days. They separated themselves from the worldly things unto the Lord, and they stayed with the Lord for ten days. As a result, they were all filled with the Lord. At that moment they were the holy priests. After those ten days, when they came out to the people to tell them that Jesus is the Lord, the Savior, they did this in a royal way. When they went to the Lord, they were holy. When they came out from the presence of the Lord with the heavenly authority, they were kings; they were royal.
When we are built up together, separated from the world unto the Lord, and we pray before the Lord, we will be the holy priests. After much prayer we all will be filled with the Lord and filled with the Lord of authority. Then we come out to tell the people something about the Lord as royal priests, kingly priests, with the heavenly authority. When we as a Body go to the Lord and remain in His presence, we are the holy priests, the holy, separated ones before God. After we pray and are burdened by the Lord and equipped with the heavenly authority, we come out of the presence of the Lord to the people, serving them, even ministering the Lord to them. At that time we are the kingly priests, the royal priests, the heavenly ones with the heavenly authority as heavenly kings to minister the Lord to others. What comes out is not merely preaching of the word, of the gospel, but preaching the gospel with the kingly, heavenly authority.
The priests of the order of Aaron always bring the need of the people to God. They are holy. But a priest of the order of Melchizedek brings something from God to supply others, to meet the need of others. This is the kingly priesthood.
When we give up the whole world and go to the Lord to pray for sinners, saying, “Lord, be merciful, remember them, save them, deliver them,” we are the holy priests. But when we come out of the presence of the Lord after much prayer to minister something of the Lord as life in a powerful way, in a way of heavenly authority, we are royal priests.
If we are going to serve the Lord in the way of the church service, we need to pay our full attention to these three matters. First, we need to be built up as a Body. You cannot have any service outside the church life, outside the Body. You need to be built up.
Second, each one of us needs to exercise to put everything worldly aside. We should be separated from the common things unto the Lord and learn how to remain in the presence of the Lord, how to bring the need of the people, the need of the sinful world, to the Lord and pray. Then we will be the holy priests.
After offering sufficient prayer to the Lord, we will come out from the presence of the Lord to minister the Lord to the world as the Savior, the life, the life supply, and the light in a powerful way. At that very moment we will be the royal priests.
There is the need of coordination, the need of separation, and the need of the heavenly authority. We need the coordination of the Body, the separation of the holy priests from the world unto the Lord, and the heavenly authority of the royal priests. Then we will be qualified, empowered, to minister the Lord to others as the royal priests, the kingly priests, with the heavenly authority. To have the real church service, these three things are basic, even vital.
If you have a burden to minister a word to the church, first you need to check whether you have been built up in the reality of the Body and are in the coordination. If not, it is as if you are a detached member. How then could you function?
Then you need to check whether you are separated unto the Lord, and check whether you have spent sufficient time in the presence of the Lord to pray. Without this you are not qualified to serve, because you are not a holy priest.
Then check the third item: Do you have the authority, the heavenly authority? Do you have something really committed unto you by the Lord? If so, you will minister to the Lord’s people not only by word but by authority. Whenever or whatever you minister, there will be the weight. The message, the word, the ministry, will be weighty because there is the heavenly authority of the royal priest.
The coordination, the separation, and the authority—these three are the qualifications, the equipment, that we need to minister. It is not merely a matter of knowing something or having a burden to do something. You need to check whether you have been built up in the reality of the Body, whether you are in the coordination of the priesthood. This is something vital. You can never stand by yourself against the evil forces of darkness. The evil forces, the evil spirits, know where you are.
In Acts 19:13-16 the seven sons of Sceva attempted to cast out the evil spirits by using the name of the Jesus whom Paul preached. However, the evil spirit told them, “Jesus I know of, and with Paul I am acquainted; but who are you?” The name of Jesus in the mouth of Paul was powerful, but it may not be powerful in your mouth. Paul was coordinated, built up together, with the saints. He was in the coordination of the priesthood, and he had the separation and the authority.
Even to offer a prayer in a prayer meeting or around the Lord’s table, you need these three basic things: the coordination, the separation, and the authority. If you are one in the coordination of the saints, separated from the world unto the Lord, and one with the heavenly authority, when you pray just a short word, others will sense dominion, power, and reality in your prayer. Otherwise, you pray in vain words, without weight, without power, authority, to back up your words.
The real service, the prevailing service, does not depend upon knowledge, ability, eloquence, or so-called gifts. Although these things have a certain place in the service of the Lord, they are not basic. The basic matters are these three: coordination, separation, and authority.
If you would be willing to be built up together with others, simply lose yourself, let yourself be lost, in the building of the church. When you give up yourself to realize the building of the church, you are in the coordination. Then you realize the separation with the saints from the world unto the Lord, and you have the authority of the heavens. This is the way to have the church service that is powerful and prevailing.
Peter was just an unlearned fisherman. Before the day of Pentecost I doubt that Peter had any gift. But on the day of Pentecost Peter was one in the coordination and was one with the separation and one with the heavenly authority. How powerful he was! He spoke a brief word with short sentences, without much knowledge, but his word was full of power. He had the coordination, the separation, and the authority. He was in the coordination, he was one of the holy priests, and he was one of the royal priests.
When those one hundred twenty people stayed in the presence of the Lord for ten days, all of them were the holy priests. When the day of Pentecost came, they all came out to the people to meet their need with the heavenly supply. Because they were royal priests, even the highest power on this earth was afraid of them because of their authority. They had the heavenly power with the heavenly authority.
This is the way to have the church service. Until we take care of these three basic matters—the coordination, the real separation, and the heavenly authority—we simply are not ready to begin any service in our locality. We need the building up, we need the coordination, we need the separation, and we need the heavenly authority. We need the reality of the Body, we need the holy priesthood, and we need the royal priesthood. When a group of saints are built up together as one Body in coordination, with the separation and the heavenly authority, at that time the real church service will begin.
