Int’l Training for Elders and Responsible Ones (Spring 2016)

SERVICE FOR THE BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH

Message Four

The Service That Is from God

Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 8:6; Rom. 11:36; 1:9; 7:6; Acts 13:2; 2 Cor. 3:5-6;Col. 1:29

(Hymns 841)

Outline

Day 1

I. Like Abraham, we should believe in God as the unique source, as the One who “calls the things not being as being”—Rom. 4:17; 11:36; 1 Cor. 8:6:

A. As the creating God, He needs no material to work with; He can create something out of nothing simply by speaking—Psa. 33:9.

B. To know God as the Father is to know that He is the source, the unique Initiator, and that everything originates from Him and proceeds out from Him—Eph. 4:6; Matt. 15:13; Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 8:6:

1. God the Father is the only legitimate Originator in the universe, and His Holy Spirit is the only legitimate Initiator in our hearts—Gen. 1:1; Acts 13:2, 4.

Day 2

2. God must be the Originator of all spiritual work, and His will must govern the beginnings of all our service—Matt. 7:21-23.

II. All our work and service in the church must be initiated by God and must be according to His desire—v. 21; Phil.2:13; Eph. 1:9, 11; 3:2, 7-11:

A. Genuine service comes only from God, not from us; only that which is initiated by God is service according to revelation—1:17; 3:3-5.

B. Anything that is initiated or started by man, regardless of how much it is for God, is a religious activity—Gal. 1:13-16:

1. In God’s eyes this kind of activity is not His service or His work.

2. God considers only what He has initiated and started as a service and work for Him—Acts 13:2, 4.

C. In all our service we should have a regard for God and fear God; we should be fearful that what we are doing for God is not initiated by God but by ourselves.

Day 3

D. We must learn deep within that God wants only our cooperation; He does not need us to do anything for Him—1 Cor. 3:9; 16:10; 2 Cor. 6:1:

1. God wants us to cooperate with Him, but He does not want us to initiate anything.

2. We must stop all our opinions, decisions, and ideas and let God speak,come in, and command.

3. All those who serve God must see a principle: God’s work needs man’s cooperation, but it does not need man’s initiation.

4. We need to stop everything of ourselves in order to know God’s will—Eph. 1:9; Rom. 12:1-2.

5. The unique prerequisite for receiving God’s revelation is, by dying, to stop our speaking, our opinion, our view, and our self—Gal. 2:20.

6. In the matter of serving God, we must stop ourselves in order to give God the absolute opportunity to speak—Ezek. 1:25.

Day 4

E. Those who serve the Lord need to see that their service must originate from God—Isa. 6:1-10; Acts 9:3-6, 15-16; 26:18:

1. If we see this and are enlightened inwardly, we will not dare to initiate anything related to the service of God—2 Cor. 1:9; 3:5.

2. In our service to the Lord we must have a definite experience and come to a clear point of being enlightened by the Lord to see that our service must be of God, not of ourselves—Rom. 11:36.

Day 5

III. In 2 Corinthians 3:5 and 6 there are two different sources of service:

A. These two sources are ourselves and God—v. 5:

1. “Ourselves” in verse 5 is joined with “letter” in verse 6, and “God” in verse 5 is one with “Spirit” in verse 6.

2. Serving God by the letter is actually serving God by ourselves, and serving God by the Spirit is serving God by God Himself.

3. Just as the service by the letter is the service in ourselves and from ourselves, so also the service of the Spirit is the service in God and from God.

B. There are only two kinds of services with two kinds of sources:one kind of service is by the letter and from ourselves, and the other kind is by the Spirit and from God—vv. 5-6:

1. The service that is from ourselves takes ourselves as its source, and it is performed by us according to the ordinances and rituals of the letter;it can be carried out by us outside of God and independently of God,without any need to rely on God, seek God, or have  fellowship with God.

2. The service that is from God requires us to rely on God, seek God,fellowship with God, be in God, and absolutely take God as our source—John 15:5; Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 8:6:

a. This kind of service is from God’s revelation, relies on the Holy Spirit of  God, and is for God’s purpose—Eph. 1:17; 3:3-5; Col. 1:9.

b. This kind of service requires us to live in the spirit and by the sense of the spirit, walking according to the leading of the Spirit—Rom. 8:4.

C. The service that is from God requires us to have fellowship with God and not be detached from God—1 John 1:3; John 15:5; 1 Cor. 1:9; 6:17:

1. Serving God requires a moment-by-moment, fresh contact with God.

2. Every service that is from God and pleasing to Him is carried out by contacting and touching Him; we serve Him while contacting Him—Rom. 1:9; 7:6.

3. If we serve outside of God, regardless of whether it is by our zeal or anything else, our service is not from God and therefore has no spiritual value.

4. A service that is from God and has spiritual value must be one in which we are joined to God and in fellowship with Him by abiding in Him—1 Cor. 6:17; 1 John 2:27-28:

a. On the one hand, He operates within us, and on the other hand, we serve Him outwardly—Rom. 1:9; 7:6.

b. This kind of service is an activity issuing out of God’s operation within us; outwardly we are serving Him, yet inwardly He is operating.

Day 6

c. Paul was serving God, but his serving was a matter of God operating in him—Col. 1:29:

(1) Paul served God because he gave and yielded himself to the indwelling God, putting his mind, emotion, and will under God’s control to be occupied and filled with God—Eph. 3:16-17.

(2) Because Paul was moved by God inwardly, there was a strength that compelled him to serve God outwardly; it was God in him, mingling with him and motivating him to serve—Col. 1:29.

D. The source of our service should be God, it should be the spirit, it should be God’s operation in us, and it should be the operation, direction, and leading of the Spirit of God in our spirit; only the service that comes out of these things is the service that is from God—Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 8:6; Acts 13:2; 2 Cor. 3:5-6.