Learning How to Serve the Lord

Learning How to Serve

But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter. (Rom. 7.6)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. (Rom. 12.1)

And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up. . . And he set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water therein, wherewith to wash. And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat; when they went into the tent of meeting, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed; as Jehovah commanded Moses. (Read Ex. 40.17-33)

One

As we learn to serve God in the church, it is important that we be faithful in all our works; but we should also pay special attention to the increase of spiritual value. The purpose for doing all things well is to impart spiritual reality. If we merely have the business side without having sufficient measure on the spiritual side, we have departed from the original aim of serving God. For He has laid upon us a spiritual responsibility, and it will be a great loss if we only attend to the business side and neglect the life side. If we have lack on the life side, our services will only be activities—we will not be able to meet the needs of God’s children, for what can truly meet the needs of His children is life. Therefore, we should strive for real progress in spiritual life before we are in a position to supply life through work and service to the brothers and sisters.

Nothing needs to be said here if we have no intention to serve God; but if we want to learn to serve Him, then we must learn lessons on the spiritual side. In serving God, we cannot simply do the work without learning something of the how. we should continually remind ourselves not to concentrate on having a job done but to learn the spiritual lesson during the process. God wants us to learn and to make progress week after week and time after time. And often He will rather let us fail in the doing in order that we might learn a particular lesson; for if we feel we are successful, God may feel impelled—out of a concern for our spiritual well-being—to strike at such success. Let us therefore not lay stress on our success, let us instead attend to our learning. We should work on the one hand and learn on the other. The more thorough we learn our lessons the better; the deeper we learn them the better.

Two

In the Old Testament period, before a priest could enter the holy place to serve he had first to pass by the altar where he would offer sacrifice for his sins. Then he would come to the laver to wash away his uncleanness with water. Only afterwards might he enter the holy place. Now all the things in the holy place were made of gold: they were so shiny that a mere touch by the priest’s hand would instantly reveal his finger prints. Now nothing would seem to matter if one had no intention to come to the holy place to serve; but once anyone entered the holy place to serve, his real image would immediately be revealed. He could not help but see his sins and his uncleanness. He had to confess what he really was, because all that was there was holy. As soon as he stepped into the holy place, his very self was fully exposed. Moreover, no one could undertake to do anything in the holy place according to his own idea. Every action of his was governed by the commandment of God; no deviation was allowed. Such was the way of priestly service in Old Testament days.

Yet even in our own day under the New Covenant (unless, of course, we do not desire to serve God), we can readily see how in like manner we who desire to serve as priests to our God also need the blood to cleanse us from our sins and the laver to wash away our uncleanness. We further need to be rid of our old self life by having it dealt with in the holy place of service. Whenever we serve God, our true image will be exposed. To really know our self we need to know it in our service to God. The more awareness we have of our self life in the performance of divine service the more assurance we will have that we are those who serve God and that the work we do is truly service to Him. Whoever has such consciousness as this is one who truly serves God. But whoever does not have this consciousness, either his person is not right or the thing he does is not what God wants him to do. If he has no consciousness of the weaknesses and failings of his self, it is proven beyond doubt that he is not a person who serves God and that the work he does is not service to Him. The person who really serves the Lord is full of such feelings whenever he touches service. Like the priest in the tabernacle of old who served God he will have his sins exposed at the altar, his uncleanness disclosed at the laver, and his own self revealed in the holy place. When you serve God and see your sins, you require the cleansing of the blood. When you perceive how you are defiled with uncleanness, you will need the washing of the water. And when you enter even further into the holy place of service you will clearly recognize how you as a person cannot touch that which is holy, and hence must have your self radically dealt with. These are the kinds of deep feelings you must have if you would truly serve the Lord.

We may not have very much feeling when we eat with people, but when we serve God among people we will have feelings. When, for example, we copy ordinary lecture notes we perhaps feel nothing; but when as a matter of service we copy notes on spiritual subjects, we will feel something like this: "O Lord, man such as I am is unworthy to do Your work. O Lord, do cleanse me with the precious blood." If you are a person who is frivolous, senseless and without inward feeling while touching service, you are definitely not one who is serving God. Suppose, for example, that you visit someone and are told by him that he does not come to the meetings because he is so quick-tempered. If upon hearing this you hastily reprimand him with very strong words, failing to be conscious of your own quick temperament, your service to God has little spiritual value. But if what you are engaged in today is true spiritual service, you will doubtless have some such inward sense as this: "Oh, today I still have things needing to be laid aside, I still have my own flesh in me too, I too have not obeyed God as I ought, and I still have discord with brothers and sisters."

Let us never imagine that spiritual worth lies in the realm of excitement and enthusiasm. No, spiritual value lies in the manifestation of holiness while serving because there is the presence of God. Many brothers and sisters can testify that when they serve in the church they are like the priests of old entering the holy place. By the blood of the Lamb sins are cleansed; by the renewal of the Holy Spirit uncleanness is washed away; and by the "Holiness" of the holy place the self life is eliminated. Each time we serve God we should have such a consciousness and such an expression. But if there be no inward awareness of sin, uncleanness and self about us, I am afraid there is little of the presence of the Lord.

If in a locality there is the holy assembly of God, the brothers and sisters should at least see their sins, their uncleanness and their self life. And if this be the case, then such consciousness proves that God is present. Because this is holy ground, people who come will be made conscious of their own sins, uncleanness, and self. This kind of feeling will drive them to the Lord and to cry out to Him for deliverance and cleansing. Then, they will make progress spiritually. Time and again by such encounter, we all will be shown our actual condition, and thus once more our life will be able to grow.

In the area of serving God, then, we must encounter again and again this thing called "holiness". In such repeated encounters we learn and grow before God. We become useful, and God has an outlet in us. Let us therefore reiterate what was said at the beginning, that our service must not be merely in doing a job—even quite successfully—without there also having been some spiritual value, some lesson in spiritual growth, learned in the process. Indeed, may this latter aspect continually take preeminence over the former in our service to the Lord. May God have mercy on us in this particular matter.