Subject 15 : The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the GALATIANS
[Chapter 1-5] Those Whose Hearts Are Set As God’s Servants (Galatians 1:10-12)
(Galatians 1:10-12)
“For
do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I
still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
But
I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me
is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I
taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Today, through the Apostle Paul’s faith, I would like to explain to you what kind of a heart a servant of God should have.
Paul
is universally recognized as a servant of God by everyone. That he is
undoubtedly God’s servant is because he neither sought to please men nor
himself, but preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit according
to the will of God the Father and of Jesus Christ, and kept his faith in
this gospel under all circumstances.
It
is written in Galatians 1:10, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do
I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a
bondservant of Christ.” The Apostle Paul said here that if he had been
more devoted to please men than following the will of God, then he would
not be a servant of God.
The
Apostle Paul lived his life by faith as a servant of God, preaching the
gospel of the water and the Spirit according to God’s will. It’s
because Paul had lived as a servant of God that the true and uncorrupted
gospel could have been delivered to us. Just as the Apostle Paul
considered it indispensable for him to preach and defend the gospel of
the water and the Spirit as a servant of God, so it is only too proper
for us, who have been born again by believing in this true gospel, to
live as God’s servants.
Therefore,
we need to examine ourselves here to see whether or not we really are
God’s servants. Like Paul, we, too, have received the remission of our
sins from God by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
But are we really living as God’s servants? Or are we living as the
servants of our own flesh? As whose servants are you living your lives?
The Gospel Believed by the Apostle Paul and His Faith
By
faith, the Apostle Paul preached to us the gospel of the water and the
Spirit that contains the righteousness of God, and to fulfill the will
of God, he also offered himself to God as His servant by faith. A
servant is someone who has no will of his own, nor seeks his own
interests, but lives only for his master.
The
Apostle Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I
who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul admitted to
God that he was a great sinner, and that he was bound to die before God
for his sins. And he believed that Jesus Christ took upon all the sins
of mankind once for all by being baptized by John, and that He brought
him back to life by dying on the Cross and rising from the dead again.
The Apostle Paul was someone who had actually died for his sins; as he
accepted into his heart and believed in the work of the Lord who saved
the entire human race from sin, he buried his old self, and he offered
his remaining life as God’s servant and faithfully served Him, so that
God’s will would be fulfilled.
“I Have Been Crucified with Christ”
The
Apostle Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I
who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul truly
acknowledged what God had done for him. Since the Law of God said, “The
wages of sin is death,” Paul believed himself to have already died with
Christ for his sins, and he also believed that he had risen with Christ.
Paul
recognized all the Law of God. Because Paul believed in the Word, that
“the law brings about wrath” (Romans 4:15), he recognized, “Ah! I am an
inevitable sinner before God for I was born sinful. I am sinful when
reflected upon the Law of God. That’s why I’m a sinner!” He admitted,
“Since I’m a sinner before God’s Law, it is only too proper for me to
die for my sins according to this Law of God.”
Paul
also believed in the Truth that through His baptism, Jesus accepted his
old self that had to die like this, and died on the Cross with him. In
other words, Paul believed in the work of the water and blood of Jesus
Christ. And as he believed that he himself had died in Christ, Paul also
believed that he had risen with Christ. Such a faith could be attained
when Paul united himself with Jesus by believing in His baptism. This
faith of the Apostle Paul was one that followed the real Truth.
All
of us also desire to live as God’s servants. Although there are many
aspects to our flesh that may make us seem too insufficient to live as
God’s servants, this cannot be a problem within the faith of believing
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. What’s important is whether
or not our hearts sincerely desire to live as God’s servants. This is a
crucial matter for all of us. Such desires and such faith are not just
brought to you by someone else, but they are attained only when you
yourselves make up your minds before God trusting in the Truth. We all
need to examine ourselves carefully and verify whether or not we are
indeed Gods’ servants in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Are
you living as God’s servant? Or are you living as slaves to your flesh?
Are you not your own master and king, and thus unable to serve Jesus
Christ as your King? Are you still refusing to offer yourselves to God
as His servants?
We
ourselves must abdicate from our own thrones in our hearts. And we must
crown God and serve Him as our King. We ourselves must then bow our
knees before the throne of the King, set our minds to serve the Lord
even though we are insufficient, and live by our faith in the Lord
following the righteousness of God. Depending on how we set our minds
and faith before God, we can either become God’s precious servants or
remain incapable of serving the Lord.
First of All, We Must Set Our Minds to Live as God’s Servants
All
of us must now choose whether we would live as God’s servants or men’s
servants. We should realize here that if we do not live as God’s
servants, then we may very well live as His enemies.
It
took me ten long years since believing in Jesus for the first time
before I could finally realize the gospel Truth of the water and the
Spirit revealed in Matthew 3:13-17, and receive the remission of my
sins. At the same time, as I realized that there was no one in this
world who was preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit, I came
to renounce all my past life that I had lived for myself, and I set my
heart to live for Jesus Christ. To spread the gospel of the water and
the Spirit all over the world, I decided to put away my private life
behind me, to live as a servant of God.
Knowing
that there was no one anywhere in this world who was preaching the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, I couldn’t just keep my mouth shut. I
remembered what the Lord said: “But he who did not know, yet committed
things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to
whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has
been committed, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:48).
So
I set my mind to preach this true gospel, but the problem was that I
had no strength or means to do so. I therefore prayed to God: “God the
Father, even though the history of Christianity spans more than 2,000
years, few in this whole world are actually preaching the gospel of the
water and the Spirit. Lord, though I am ignorant, I know for sure that
the lineage of the gospel preachers of the water and the Spirit is
nowhere to be found in the world. Father, I must preach this true
gospel, and so please give me the strength and coworkers to achieve
this. My Lord, please give me the strength to preach the gospel of the
water and the Spirit all over the world. I ask You would strengthen me,
Lord, so that I may spread this faith in You and this gospel of Truth.”
God
answered all my prayers, for He is indeed faithful. He gave me my
coworkers and His Church, and provided me with everything so that I
could spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole
world. The Lord enabled me to live a new life as a servant of the
righteousness of God.
Now,
the gospel that my colleagues and I should believe in and preach
together is this: When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John
the Baptist, He fulfilled all the righteousness of God by taking all the
sins of the world upon Himself. Because all our sins were thus passed
onto Jesus’ shoulder through this baptism He received from John, He
could now carry the sins of the world to the Cross all at once and be
crucified to death, and by rising from the dead again, He could become
our Savior once for all. The Lord has thus fulfilled all the
righteousness of God. Now, even though our acts may be insufficient, if
only we believe in God’s righteousness fulfilled by Jesus in this way,
then we can be washed from all our sins and reach our salvation.
Once
I believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Lord gave me
the heart to live as a servant of God who follows His righteousness.
Even since then, I have always wanted to obey whatever is the will of
the Lord. I learned that this was the life that every servant of God
should live, and I sought to forsake myself and live only for the
expansion of the Kingdom of God. What I did not know was not an obstacle
to this endeavor, for it’s okay just if I tried to learn them from now
on; and I began to labor for God’s righteous work believing and deciding
from the depth of my heart that I would always walk according to the
Lord’s pleasures. That is why I am now serving the Lord, the gospel, and
the people of God with my heart set as a servant of God.
The
Lord wanted us to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit
throughout the whole world by placing our faith in Him. I did not
consider world evangelism to be difficult. God’s servants only had to
assign fitting tasks to the gifted workers and saints, and if those who
were entrusted with God’s work found themselves more and more
insufficient, all that they had to do was just trust in the Lord even
more, rely on Him and pray to Him, and live by faith. That is how we
were able to spread the gospel all over the world through our Christian
literature ministries to this very day.
Now,
whatever might please God, we only have to serve Him by faith. When it
comes to believing in and serving the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, and to living as God’s servants, all that we have to do is just
live according to whether or not the Lord would be pleased by our work.
If the Lord is pleased by our work, then I only have to do this work
with my colleagues.
Everything
we have done so far has been done by God Himself. It is God who will
also hold us steadfast and work through us. We are now working to spread
the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but this work is not something
that came out of men’s own thoughts or greed. If this work we are doing
did in fact come from the greed of mankind, then we would have stopped
it long ago. If we had done our work entranced by our own righteousness,
then we would have quit midway. If we had indeed been mesmerized by our
own work, then our hearts would have turned so arrogant as to boast,
“If there is anyone anywhere in this world who has done as much God’s
work as we have done, let him step up.” Nor, for that matter, could we
have lived to this day by our faith in the Lord.
All
of us had so many shortcomings, and we could not even claim to have
accomplished anything in our lives. That is precisely why we all relied
on the Lord so much more and asked for His help that much more
earnestly. If we were conceited and arrogant, and if we could easily do
anything on our own strength, then would we have relied on the Lord even
to the slightest extent?
Those
who are convinced of their own merit and entranced by their own ego can
hardly live nearby the Lord and trust in Him. Since everyone is
imperfect, human beings can live righteously only if they are helped and
assisted by the Lord. We should never overestimate ourselves, for there
still remains even more work to be done. It is all thanks to the
God-given power and blessings that we have been able to serve the gospel
of the water and the Spirit until now. We must realize fully that our
everything was achieved because of the Lord’s help.
All of Us Must Keep Our Faith as the Servants of God
It
is only too proper for those who have received the remission of sin to
set their hearts as the servants of God. The difference of faith is
determined by whether or not our minds are set as God’s servants. Far
more important than knowing biblical passages and having skills to
preach the Word of God is whether or not we have set our minds to live
as God’s servants. We must set the disposition of our hearts to live as
servants before the Lord, and we must live accordingly. Before God, we
must learn to set our hearts as His servants by faith.
When
people get married, the wedding presider would ask, “Do you take your
bride for your lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward,
for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish
until death do you apart?” The groom would then say, “I do.” Likewise,
as God’s servants following His will, it is only too fitting for us to
live for this will of God alone, whether in times of success or
trouble.
We
should learn from the Apostle Paul how to set our hearts as God’s
servants. We shouldn’t just try to learn about how the servants who
preceded us interpreted the Bible, gave sermons, and carried out their
ministries. As a matter of fact, such aspects are not that important
when it comes to the issue of living properly as a servant of God. To
those of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, God
has made our hearts into His vessels to do His work. Therefore, all that
we have to do is serve the Lord according to how God has made us into
His vessels.
When
I look at my coworkers and brothers and sisters, I look for whether
their hearts are set as God’s servants first. If we want to live before
God as His servants, then the merits and demerits of our flesh are
completely irrelevant. Before God, our own righteousness is nothing.
Human righteousness is knocked out at a single punch before God. God
approves or disapproves our faith based on how much we believe in His
righteousness.
As
such, these are the things that we must look for when we examine
ourselves to be His proper servants: “Do all of us really have faith in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Have we united our hearts with
Jesus Christ? Are we God’s servants or men’s servants? Although we are
inadequate, are we living by our faith in the Word of God, having set
our hearts as His servants?”
Recently
the West Deagu Church was struck by a tragic incident. A maidservant of
God passed away by an accident while she was serving the Lord. It was
the most heart-wrenching tragedy that I’ve ever faced in all my years of
ministry before God. Such an incident must never happen to us again.
When we should serve the Lord until the day He returns to this earth, we
must not lose the body that God has given us to serve the gospel. If
such a tragic event happened because we were too careless before God or
men, when we should rightfully have been more careful, then it’s our
entire fault. Discussing this incident, we shouldn’t just say that God
took away His maidservant. While God surely did accept this
maidservant’s soul, God did not take her away willingly. It’s because we
had failed to completely set our hearts as God’s servants and were
negligent in serving the Lord.
My
fellow believers, what kind of people are Gods’ servants? If we are
indeed God’s servants, then it is only fitting for us to follow His
will. If some of us were to quit following the Lord just because they
find themselves in some difficult circumstances, then they would not be
upright before God. Are such people God’s servants? No, of course not!
If
we really are God’s servants, then while we may be insufficient and may
not be perfect in our every endeavor, we would still try to follow the
will of the Lord until the end. That is someone who has set his heart as
a servant of God to always follow the will of the Lord. Although anyone
can be saved from sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, not just anyone can have the disposition of the heart as a
servant of God.
That
is why God’s servants are called as the bright light that leads many
people to Jesus Christ. When the saints or the follower-servants deal
with their leader-servants, if they think, “Well, they and I are the
same,” then they need to realize that they really have no eye to discern
God’s leader-servants. The very fact that the leader-servants have
abided in God’s Church for this long and served the Lord faithfully in
times of trial and peace alike, means in and of itself that they are
precious. It would be an utterly mistaken belief for us to ignore those
who have walked by faith prior to us. Your predecessors of faith have
denied the lust of their flesh and served and followed the Lord
faithfully, even though they all had gone through all kinds of trials
and tribulations. What we need to see from the servants of God is their
hearts’ disposition as servants. That is the most precious element.
After
I met the Lord, while following Him, there were times when I went
through some tough times because of material conditions. Yet I never
blamed God for such circumstances. On the contrary, I thanked God for
His blessings, saying to myself, “The Lord lived on this earth without
even a place to rest His head, but I at least have food to eat and a
place to sleep. So what a tremendous blessing this is!” While following
the Lord, I’ve gone through trials and tribulations, and I’ve also shed
my fair share of tears. However, I was able to overcome all these
difficulties and sorrows, rejoiced by the very fact that the gospel was
served. Whatever might happen to the servants of God, they are fully
satisfied if only the will of the Lord is fulfilled.
If
people just thought about how to survive, then they can all get by,
rich and poor alike. The only difference is the quality of life, but
other than this, everyone can make the ends meet in one way or another.
Put differently, the circumstance of the flesh is not a big problem.
If
there is one thing that upsets God’s servants, it is when people reject
the gospel and refuse to believe in it. Even though God has told us
that those who hunger and thirst for His righteousness are blessed,
these people are still not hungry nor thirsty for God’s righteousness
like this, and that is why God’s servants are aroused to righteous
anger. And it is not because people can’t feed on the things of the
flesh that they are going through such a tough time, but it’s because
they cannot bring themselves to walk by faith in the righteousness of
God, when, in fact, all that they have to do is just live by believing
in this righteousness of God.
I
admonish you all, ministers and their wives alike, to have the faith of
the servants of God and to live with the disposition of their hearts.
All of us are already living like this, but I am admonishing you once
again to continue to live your lives worthy of God’s servant. What we
must remember is that it is absolutely indispensable for us to set our
faith and our hearts as God’s servants in our lives. Regardless of
whether the result of our ministries would be good or bad, all that we
have to do is just live according to the righteousness of God. That is
the truly correct faith.
We are now spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world. From where did this gospel come?
The
Apostle Paul said in Galatians 1:11-12, “I make known to you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I
neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through
the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Paul made it clear here that this
gospel of the water and the Spirit he received was not learnt from man.
Rather, it was because Jesus Christ had shown him the gospel of the
water and the Spirit and made it known to him that Paul believed in this
gospel and preached it to others.
As
we preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit all over the world,
some people ask us, “Is this gospel a doctrine unique to your
denomination alone? What is the biblical basis for this gospel?” These
people think that the gospel of the water and the Spirit might have come
from man, but that is absolutely not the case. The gospel of the water
and the Spirit is not a man-made gospel. The gospel of the water and the
Spirit is a biblical gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), and it is the very
gospel that accomplished God’s plan of salvation designed in Jesus
Christ even before the foundation of the world.
When
Jesus Christ Himself came to this earth, took upon all the sins of
mankind by being baptized by John at the age of 30, died on the Cross,
rose from the dead again, and has thereby saved us, how could this
gospel ever be compared to the man-made doctrine of prayers of
repentance? By opening His Word, God enabled us to know the gospel Truth
of the water and the Spirit, and now, having been saved from all our
sins by believing in this gospel, we are preaching it to everyone else.
The gospel of the water and the Spirit that we believe in came through
God Himself. Is this how you believe?
We
are preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit testified by both
the Old and New Testaments. Just as the Apostle Paul believed in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, defended it, and preached it, so do
we believe in this gospel, defending and spreading it by faith. The
gospel of the water and the Spirit that we have received by faith is
absolutely not something that came from man. It came from God Himself.
The gospel of the water and the Spirit given to us indeed came through
Jesus. That is precisely why we are spreading this gospel all over the
world placing our faith in it. And no matter how anyone might denounce
us, we don’t even blink our eyes.
The
Apostle Paul preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit until the
day he died precisely because he was a servant of God. Since there could
be no higher teaching than this gospel, he did not even look for such
things. Whatever he did, whether he ate or drank, he did all to the
glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). To live for the glory of God is to
proclaim the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole
world. If we were to live for the purpose of spreading the gospel of the
water and the Spirit, then none other than this itself means that we
would be living for the glory of God. There is no life of faith that is
nobler than this for us.
Are You Now God’s Servants?
The
Apostle Paul is a servant of God. You and I are also God’s servants. If
you and I have indeed become God’s servants by believing in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit, then we would be faithful to the work
assigned to us. I recently heard that a certain worker was quite
dissatisfied in his heart, saying, “I’d be so faithful if I were
assigned as a senior pastor at a church, but alas, they won’t even give
me the post,” and that he was neglecting his current ministry as a
junior pastor.
If
his post is not a senior pastor, does this mean then that what he has
been entrusted to do now is somehow insignificant and lowly? No, I do
not think so. Whatever God has entrusted us to do through His Church is
all precious. I do not discriminate anyone based on his post as a senior
or junior pastor. Our brothers and sisters serving the Lord are all
precious people as well. No one is any lowlier than anyone else, nor is
anyone nobler than anyone else in God’s Church.
That
is why it saddens me so much to see some people having so little regard
for what they have been assigned to do. It’s hard enough to fulfill
everything entrusted to us even when we place our faith in the Lord, and
so how could we exalt our own hearts like this? All such desires stem
from one’s desire for his own glory.
How
precious is it for us to believe in and serve the gospel of the water
and the Spirit? When we do God’s work, to devote all our hearts to it in
whatever field assigned to us is to be treasured. For us to preach the
Word of God itself is a precious work. Indeed, everything we do to
spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit is all cherished. If God
had entrusted me with some other work instead of preaching His Word,
then I would have laid down my life for this work as well.
A
servant of God is someone who, when entrusted with a certain task by
the Lord, is faithful to that work. Whatever God’s servants do, whether
they eat or drink, they do it all for the glory of God, and so given
this fact, how could there be any preferential treatment based on what
they do? Is it only when we do something noble that we are God’s
servants, but not so when we do what people consider to be lowly? Then,
who has established such a standard to distinguish the noble work from
the lowly work? In God’s dominion, when we are faithful to what God has
entrusted to us, then this itself is precious; and if we are otherwise
faithful to our own carnal affairs, then this is to do what is ignoble.
You have to grasp this properly and believe in it.
Indeed,
it is my sincerest hope and prayer that you would all become God’s
servants by placing your faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit
and live the rest of your lives preciously. For those of us who have
been born again of water and the Spirit, there can be no other valuable
life than this. What you have been entrusted with and are doing right
now is what is most precious, and when the day of the Lord comes, God,
too, will commend you for having faithfully carried out His work, saying
to you, “Well done, My good and faithful servants!”
Right
now you need to examine your hearts carefully to see whether or not you
are working and serving properly as God’s servants. If we are living
our lives of faith setting our minds as God’s servants, then we are at
least doing some of what we are supposed to do. We have nothing to boast
about before the Lord. We constantly have nothing to offer but our
insufficiencies. Because we are fundamentally inadequate by nature, we
are incapable of serving the Lord to perfection, and that is why we have
so many shortcomings and so many excuses. Yet despite this, God is
telling us to be faithful to death, and by this, God is telling us to
labor before Him setting our hearts as His servants.
A
servant of God is someone who obeys the will of his Master risking his
life. If we cannot lay down our lives for the work of God, then we
should at least cherish it with our hearts, for this is the will of our
Master. God’s servants must have the kind of faith that cherishes what
their Master God has entrusted to them, no matter how others might see
them. Although I am not that knowledgeable in writing composition or
editing, I can only do my best on what has been entrusted to me.
Do
you know since when we have been in this literature ministry? We began
this ministry since the very beginning of our Mission. Do you know where
our foresight was set when we began this ministry? We began with our
sight set on spreading the gospel throughout the whole world. It was
from then on that I preserved all my sermons and prepared them for
publication, anticipating that we would be spreading the gospel and
nurturing the born-again all over the world through literature, and my
expectations were met.
In
fact, whatever God has entrusted to us is all precious, that that is
why we are indeed doing all these works by faith. Of course, it is you
and I who serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit that are doing
the most precious work in this world. For instance, some of our brothers
take care of the heating system so that the saints would worship God in
warmth. All these tasks are good works precisely because they are all
God’s works. As a matter of fact, there is nothing that we are too
ashamed of doing now, for we have been saved from all our sins. Because
we have been saved from all our sins and are doing God’s work, no matter
where we might work, we have every confidence, and no matter what kind
of work considered lowly by the people of this world we might do, we
have absolutely no shame at all. On the contrary, it is the people of
the world whom we pity. They are pitiful because they have not been able
to meet the Lord.
All
our ministers, brothers, sisters, and workers are precious. Among them,
those whose hearts’ disposition is set as God’s servants are even more
precious. When we serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our
hearts will be set as God’s servants in due course, and when we follow
the Lord, in time our faith will grow into that of the servants of God
and we will therefore come to live by faith. That is why we are serving
the Lord; if we were to follow the Lord against our will without such a
heart and such faith, then it would be impossible to follow the Lord
until the end.
Without
faith, it is not easy to serve the Lord in obedience to His Church.
When the Church assigns you with a certain task, its policies may change
frequently, and more often than not, your task itself might be
cancelled even as you were working hard at it. So, under these
conditions, if you were not working by faith, I can fully see why you
would be upset and not be able to obey until the end. However, it’s
because you are God’s servants that you throw away such rebellious
thoughts and submit to the will of the Lord. Just as the Apostle Paul
had lived all his life with his heart and faith set as a servant of God,
it is my sincerest hope that God would also give us the same heart of
His servant.
When
I look at our ministers and brothers and sisters, it is their hearts
that I especially want to look. I can then know the condition of their
hearts without having to talk with them extensively. If they are God’s
servants, then they are more precious than anyone else, and even if they
have only barely received the remission of their sins and still have
not set their hearts as God’s servants, I still cherish them all. To
some people, I commend them for just attending God’s Church faithfully.
Only when I know the state of one’s faith in his heart can I lead him
properly according to appropriate times.
We
all have to appreciate what was the heartfelt desire of the Apostle
Paul. If we were seeking to please men, then this can only mean that we
are not God’s servants. And we must know what God’s heart desires. Whom
should a servant of God really please? He should please no one else but
God Himself. He who pleases God is a true servant of God.
In
God’s Church, there is a certain order of faith. When each of us
submits to the order of faith inside God’s Church, this has nothing to
do with how old we might be in our flesh. Paul said to Timothy, “Let no
one despise your youth” (1 Timothy 4:12). Regardless of how old or young
your predecessors of faith might be, if you believe that the Lord is
working through them, and if you therefore obey them, then this is
indeed a noble faith. It is by our hearts’ faith that we should approach
God, it is by faith that we should work, it is in faith that we should
treat our brothers and sisters, and it is also in faith that we should
address our servants of God, men and women alike. Otherwise we are all
hypocrites. Indeed, when we treat each other in faith, we can never be
alone, but we are one family with God.
God’s
servants are rejoiced to see the gospel being spread, and they seek the
interests of the Kingdom of God. If we really believe in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit and desire to spread this gospel, then we would
indeed live with our hearts set as God’s servants. And if we really
have set our hearts as God’s servants, then we should kindly overlook
some of the small, unfortunate incidents in God’s Church. If this is
what is beneficial to God’s work, then we should do so by faith. People
usually think a servant of God must live a life of immaculate integrity
beyond any reproach, of honest poverty and of holiness; in God’s Church,
however, a servant is not anyone else but someone who seeks the
interests of his Master. The disposition of God’s servants is to do
whatever must be done to fulfill the will of the Lord, even if this does
not necessarily fit into their own thoughts.
When
we serve the Lord, unfortunate incidents do happen sometimes, but God
is working with people who are insufficient like us. That’s why we are
so much more grateful. None of us can do God’s work flawlessly from the
very beginning. Our Lord Himself is not unaware of this either. He just
looks at whether or nor our hearts have been set as God’s servants, and
if only we have such a heart and such faith, then the Lord fills all our
needs so that we may carry out God’s work. Since this is how the Lord’s
will is fulfilled, His servants are only too rejoiced by this.
Everyday,
I get updates from the mission division relaying testimonies of
salvation and news from our coworkers coming from all over the world.
Each and every time I hear such news, I am so much more thankful for the
privilege of serving the Lord. I realize, “Even while we are asleep,
the Lord still works. So many people have read our books and received
the remission of their sins, and they are now sending us their
testimonies of salvation. As the Lord said that He does not sleep, He is
indeed working tirelessly.” Whenever I think about this, I thank the
Lord even more, and I bow down before Him and ask Him to be used even
more valuably for this precious work of the Lord. Sometimes, we thank
God for making us bear more fruits than what we have labored for.
Although from time to time we find ourselves struggling, we have
received far more blessings than we have served, and that is why we are
so grateful beyond any words.
A
servant is someone who seeks his master’s interests, not his own. You
and I must set our hearts as God’s servants and live our lives to seek
the Lord’s interests. Indeed, there are brothers and sisters who have
actually offered themselves to God to live as His servants. Such
servants and workers, men and women alike, are all precious. Of course,
every soul is precious. There is no one among those born again of water
and the Spirit who is not cherished. They are all precious because they
are our brothers and sisters, workers of the Kingdom of God, and members
of Jesus Christ. Anyone who only boasts of himself, as if he were a big
fish in a small pond, is someone who has no clue where the heart of a
servant of God should be placed.
Our
ministers sometime get together and seek advice from the senior church
leaders, asking, “This is what happened at my church. What should I do?”
We also consult over world evangelism, and share the decided tasks
amongst us as well. The very fact that I am entrusted with any task at
all, whatever it might be, is itself something to be grateful. All these
things are done to find the most appropriate and best way to serve the
gospel. It doesn’t matter what happens to us; all that matters is that
we spread the gospel faithfully. God’s Church always looks ahead,
provides a vision, and establishes appropriate policies to work.
However, when all these works are about to be launched, the Church first
discerns whether they are according to God’s will. Once they are to be
executed, we always rely on God, and carry them out with constant
prayers.
If
God’s servants are too attached to material belongings, then they
cannot live as His servants. Whether rich or poor, a servant is still a
servant. We are stewards. Stewards are supposed to manage everything
well and then leave it all behind. A servant’s heart is interested only
in the spreading of the gospel.
Let
us, then, live the rest of our remaining lives as God’s servants,
placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and then go
and stand before the presence of God. I have every confidence that just
as you have lived by faith so far, you will continue to live by faith
into the future. In the days to come, we should never lose our
disposition as God’s servants, nor should we seek only our own welfare
and our own glory, but we should dedicate ourselves to God’s work and
live our lives by faith entirely for His righteousness. Only then can we
walk with Christ and live our lives united with Him.
There
are so many things that I do not know. It’s not because I’m somehow any
better than you that I am admonishing you like this. Rather, it’s
because God has called you as His servants and entrusted you with His
work that I can say these things. I believe that you will faithfully
carry out the task that’s been assigned to you. It’s because you and I
have the Holy Spirit in our hearts that I believe like this.
I
am happy to live as a servant of God. I am so rejoiced that whatever I
do, whether I drink or eat, I am living only for my Master. Now, after
this worship service is over, we will all break bread together. Everyone
will eat and rejoice in fellowship. God told us that whatever we do,
whether we eat or drink, we should do all to His glory (1 Corinthians
10:31). That’s why I am happy. Are you also happy?
Although
we are truly insufficient, we are still happy, for we are able to live
for the Lord, with our hearts always upbeat and set as God’s servants.
Now then, let us all live in joy by our faith in the Lord. I believe
that it is for this very purpose, to enable us to live like this, that
God has given us the faith that has saved us from sin, and the power and
blessing to do His work.
I give all my thanks to God. Halleluiah!
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