Suppose a person already has the concept of serving God before he is saved. Then after he believes in the Lord and is saved, he begins to serve. Is such a service according to religion or according to revelation?
To determine whether someone’s service is according to revelation or religion, we need to determine whether or not his service comes from the teaching and revelation of the holy Scriptures. Sometimes a person’s service originates from both his religious concept and the revelation in the Bible. We all were born in religion. We were born with religious concepts, and these concepts have been deeply rooted in us. However, the revelation of the Scriptures is working in us to get rid of our religious concepts. Nothing hinders the true revelation more than religious concepts.
Day after day the life of Christ is growing in us. When that life is lived out of us, love is expressed. This love is much higher than man’s love. Man’s love in its best condition is like copper; it cannot be like gold. However, the love that issues from our living in Christ is a “golden” love-the unchangeable, eternal, divine love. The love that issues from our living in religion is not the real love, the “golden” love. Instead, it is like copper or, even worse, dirt. However, the love that issues from our living in Christ is the real love, the love that is of gold.
To love people according to religious concepts is pretense. It is the love of a politician. Sometimes people polish copper until it is shiny and looks like gold. Then they offer it to us, saying that it looks like gold and is just as good. However, we should ask ourselves whether we want copper or gold. If we want gold, then we must not be fooled into accepting copper. How can we avoid being fooled? Remember that whatever is according to religion and not according to revelation is false and deceptive. Even our meeting together is not exempt from the possibility of being according to religion. We should not gather together because of human factors. If we meet together because of a few responsible ones or because of a preacher, we are accursed. We are taking this way today because we have seen that this is the Lord’s way and the Lord’s intention. Even if all the leading ones were to leave to pursue the world, even if they all fell in this way, we would still stand on this ground. Whether we stand on this ground or not does not depend on anyone else. Rather, it depends directly on God.
When the Lord’s recovery was first raised up, we were exercised to be absolute. We did not give favors to people in order to gain their acceptance. We did not show people humility in order to gain them. Instead, those who saw that this was the Lord’s way came this way, and those who did not see that this was the Lord’s way did not come. We did not use favors or humility to lead, draw, and gather people. Because of this some people said that we were proud. However, we would rather be proud than have people take this way because of our outward humility. We would rather be indifferent toward people than have people take this way merely because we love them.
Any light we received through natural methods and not by reading the Scriptures is of religion. It does not matter whether we received it early in life or later. It is of religion, and the Bible refers to it as wood, grass, and stubble (1 Cor. 3:12b). Do not think that wood, grass, and stubble denote sins. Actually, they denote our work for the Lord, which may appear to be a service to Him but may not actually be out of Him. First Corinthians 3 tells us, “For another foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (v. 11). The foundation is Christ, and what is being built upon it is also Christ-gold, silver, and precious stones (v. 12a). Everything that is out of Christ is gold, silver, and precious stones. Everything that is out of man is wood, grass, and stubble.
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