Question: How do we go from a living of grace to a living of reality? How can gifts become ministries?
Answer: The principle in both these questions is the same. This principle concerns how we can go from an unstable, superficial living into the depths of stability. In other words, it concerns how we can go from the surface into the hidden place.
Grace is reality. This reality is mentioned in John 1:17, where the Greek word is translated in the Chinese Union Version as “truth.” This version says that grace and truth both came through Jesus Christ. According to the Greek, however, the word should be translated “reality.” Most Chinese have the understanding that truth denotes a true doctrine, a doctrine without anything false. However, in Greek this word means “reality, the opposite of that which is unreal.” John 1:17 says that when the Lord Jesus came, He brought to us grace and reality. According to the truth, the Lord Jesus did not bring us two things, for grace and reality are actually one. In fact, Christ, life, grace, and reality are one.
What is grace? Grace is reality. There is a Chinese idiom that is translated “trying to satisfy hunger by drawing cakes.” You may draw cakes all over a sheet of paper, but they are all unreal. If I give you a real cake, the moment you see it, you will realize that the cakes on your paper are cakes in doctrine, but the cake that I have given you is the reality. Here you must see two things: first, that this real cake is given to you and is grace, and second, that this cake is reality and is different from the cakes on paper. Grace and reality are one.
Before the Lord Jesus came to the earth, man’s knowledge concerning God could be compared to drawings of cakes on paper. There were many theories, teachings, and revelations concerning God, but they were all “cakes on paper.” One day God was incarnated and became a man named Jesus. When Jesus came, God came (vv. 14-17). Formerly all that man had could be compared to a cake on paper, but one day this cake came in reality. This cake came and delivered itself into you. This is grace. At the same time, this cake was the reality of the cake that was drawn on paper. The God portrayed in the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament was only the cake in picture. The Lord Jesus who has now come is the cake in reality.
Grace is God Himself. Hence, we must see that grace and reality are one and that there is no difference between a living of grace and a living of reality. This is to say that if there is a living that is the living of grace, that living is also the living of reality. This is the first point.
The second point is that the so-called living of reality is the second level of living that believers have. The first level of living is one in which you somewhat exert your own strength. In other words, it is a living of self-struggle. For example, if you get up in the morning, spend some time having morning watch, and in your daily living pray several times throughout the day, you will think that this is quite proper. However, in such a living you spend your energy to live a life of struggle. This is the first level of living. The second level is the living of grace, that is, the living of reality. In living a life of struggle, you use your own strength to enjoy God’s grace. When a saved person has this kind of living, he will be revived. This is how one always feels in the initial stage of revival. In this stage, if you meet someone who speaks a few unpleasant words to you, you will patiently bow your head. If you were not living a life of struggle, you probably would lose your temper then and there. This kind of living is a man-made living of piety.
However, after frequently having this kind of struggle and exertion, you will gradually come out of this stage and enter into the stage of spontaneity. To illustrate, one who has learned to ride a bicycle knows that in the beginning he quickly learned to ride in a straight line, but he simply did not know how to make turns easily. Every turn required much effort. But after he rode the bicycle for a certain period, one day making turns became very spontaneous. Apparently, he exerted his effort, but in reality, he rode by a spontaneous strength. Learning to apply the brakes is in the same principle. One who has learned this knows that in the beginning applying the brakes was not his spontaneous power at all, but it required that he use his own strength to struggle to learn. Gradually, as a person practices to ride a bicycle, he spontaneously rides faster and faster and more and more steadily.
This spontaneous strength is like the laws spoken of in Romans 7 and 8. A law is a principle that operates spontaneously or automatically. For example, when we eat something, we do not need to continually chant, “I must digest.” The food we eat is digested automatically, because there is a law within us. The activities throughout our body are the functioning of laws. When our hand moves, we do not need to command our little finger to move backward or forward; the little finger automatically cooperates and moves. Biologically, the movement is controlled organically. However, the movement itself occurs automatically as a result of the operation of a law.
When you come out of the struggling stage and enter into the stage of living by a spontaneous law, you will be living in grace and in reality. Then when others want to argue with you, there will be no need for you to bow your head and restrain yourself with much effort; rather, you will naturally not have any improper reaction.
The question you should ask is: How can one come out of a life of struggle and self-effort and enter into a living of spiritual spontaneity? The answer to this question is that you need to have all your spiritual struggles interwoven with life and joined to life. Then at a certain stage you will spontaneously be joined to the automatic law of life. In Romans 8 this law is called “the law of the Spirit of life.”
The second question concerns how gifts can become ministries. I am afraid that some of you do not really understand what gifts are. Gifts are abilities given to us through the moving of the Holy Spirit in coordination with the Word of God. For example, a brother may speak for eight days regarding dealing with the flesh by the cross. The Spirit, together with the Word, touches and enlightens him, enabling him to speak for eight days consecutively. But please realize that this is only a gift, for he himself may not have the experience of what he is sharing; he may have merely received an inspiration from the Spirit and enlightenment from the Word.
What then is a ministry? A ministry comes into being when, after you have been enlightened, you live under that shining every day until you eventually become that kind of person. For example, the light concerning dealing with the flesh by the cross may be constituted into your being through your daily experience to the extent that one day you become a person whose flesh has been dealt with by the cross, that is, whose entire being has been dealt with sufficiently by the cross. At this point, when you stand up to speak, your speaking is not the manifestation of a gift. Rather, your speaking is a ministry. A ministry comes into being when we are what we preach.
For instance, older professors who have taught at a university from the time they were young have reached the point of “ministry.” Suppose I am asked to teach English. I could force myself to give a lesson that would be considered to be quite good by the students. This would demonstrate a gift. What then is a ministry? Suppose I not only taught English at a university but also had been teaching it for thirty years so that I had English even in my blood cells. It would be as if, at the age of fifty, I did not need to do anything, because my being would be an “English being.” This illustrates what a ministry is. Here we can see the distinction between gift and ministry.
A person with a genuine ministry does not need preparation. Whenever he stands up to speak, he speaks what is in him because it is his very being. For example, I am Chinese, and I speak Chinese; it is my mother tongue and even my constitution. Although I can also speak English, my speaking of English is only a gift, but my speaking of Chinese is a “ministry.” Hence, when I write something in English, my writing is a gift, and it may take me twenty minutes; however, if I write it in Chinese, my writing is a “ministry,” and it may take me only two minutes. The Chinese language has been constituted into me, but the English language has been given to me as a gift. If you asked me to say a few words in English, I would first need to take some time to think about what I would say. If, however, you asked me to say something in Chinese, I could do it without a second thought, because Chinese has been constituted into my being. Therefore, that which requires effort is a gift; however, that which does not require a second thought but rather comes out spontaneously is a ministry.
According to this principle, you may give a message and make a considerable effort to do it, but no matter what you say, you are merely exercising your gift. You are exercising a gift if what you speak is merely a doctrine and has not become your constituent. However, once your speaking becomes your constituent in your living, it becomes your ministry. Thus, entering into a ministry is not a matter of one or two days; it takes time.