First Timothy 3:2 says that overseers must be “without reproach” and “apt to teach,” and verse 9 says that deacons must hold “the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.” Then 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 says, “Therefore having this ministry as we have been shown mercy, we do not lose heart;...not walking in craftiness nor adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every conscience of men before God.” These verses show that if a person desires to minister to others spiritually as an overseer, a deacon, or an apostle, he needs to have some spiritual learning.
This learning has two aspects. The first is the aspect of spiritual experience-being apt to teach; the second is the aspect of the mystery of the truth-holding the mystery of the faith. One aspect is the experience, and the other aspect is the truth. If someone who serves the Lord desires to minister to others in a practical way in the service, he must have some spiritual experience. Our capacity, ability, and intelligence cannot enable us to serve properly. They cannot bring forth the living and service needed in the church. Although society depends on human capacity, ability, and intelligence, the church needs those who can supply life to others in spirit, and the amount and weight of the life one can supply altogether depends upon the measure of one’s spiritual life.
A newly saved one can also supply life to others. The life he supplies, however, is relatively immature. If the apostle Paul were to come into our midst and minister life to us, the life he would minister would surely be rich and weighty because he was a person with experience. The reason we cannot minister life richly to others is because what we have as our inner content is too immature. We should not only supply life to others, but we should also pay attention to the content of our supply. The content of our supply depends upon our spiritual experience. If we merely minister to others the spiritual knowledge that is in our mind, then what we minister will be merely doctrine and not life. Since doctrine is merely doctrine, it cannot supply life in reality.
For instance, perhaps you have recently prayed much and have also been in thorough fellowship with the saints. As a result, when people come in contact with you, they will be able to sense your freshness and receive your supply. It is quite possible that because your spirit is joyful, fresh, and lively, you will be able to stir people up whenever you contact them. However, if you could go further and minister the life in you to others through your contact with them, then they would also receive something real into them. Instead of merely being stirred up in their feelings, they would receive spiritual reality. Causing people to feel fresh and excited in their spirit is just a procedure and not the goal. Our goal is to give people the spiritual supply in reality.
The reason we fan a person’s spirit into flame is so that his closed, old, and deadened spirit may be lifted up and opened so that he can receive the spiritual supply in reality. What is the spiritual supply in reality? Let us consider the matter of consecration. Suppose that we have learned the lesson of consecration before the Lord in our daily living, and we not only know the meaning of consecration, but we also live in the reality of consecration. Consecration has become our living, our experience, our element, and our constitution. It is as if consecration is in our blood to the extent that it could be detected in us through analytical tests. Then one day we contact someone while we are in spirit and in fellowship with the Lord, and due to the freshness in our spirit, that person becomes stirred up and opens his stale, old spirit to receive the Lord. At this juncture, the Lord may give us the feeling that this person needs to know consecration. Therefore, we supply him with the reality of consecration in a good way. Thus, at that time consecration is not mere knowledge but is like a seed of life sown into him. A fresh, open spirit is like air, sunlight, and the soil that is ready for a seed to be planted in it.
Everyone knows that before a seed can be sown, the soil needs to be prepared. However, if there is sunlight, water, soil, and air but no seed, nothing will grow. Therefore, when we minister to others, we cannot just repeatedly cause them to feel refreshed within without planting something real into them. For this reason, in our daily life we must learn something of life and have spiritual experiences step by step. Only by doing this can we actively minister life in spirit to others. For example, consider the matter of consecration mentioned earlier. In our daily life we must have specific experiences of consecration by learning to put the world aside, to put away sins, to crucify the flesh with Christ, to submit to the breaking of the self, and to be restricted and disciplined in the Holy Spirit. Only in this way will we be those who truly live a life of consecration and who are able to minister the reality of consecration to others.
Home | First | Prev | Next