We need to worship the Lord for the leading and training He has given us recently. In our worship we should also have a proper consecration. In the Old Testament whenever God’s people began a move, they first had a corporate consecration. When the move ended, they had another corporate consecration. It is through consecration that we respond to the leading God has given us.
The brothers and sisters who attended the recent training, whether they attended the classes formally or audited them, must all have a desperate heart before the Lord to be willing to take the way of serving the Lord and to take this way their entire life. This does not mean that from now on they should become speakers who minister the word full time. What this actually means is that they should serve the Lord in the church. This differs from becoming a preacher like those in Christianity. These are two entirely different matters.
In Christianity being a preacher has become a kind of profession. However, serving the Lord is the living of a Christian; it is not a profession. If the Lord arranges our circumstances so that we have sufficient means to live without the need to acquire more material things for our enjoyment, we should use all our strength, effort, time, and energy on matters pertaining to the spreading of the Lord’s gospel and the building up of the church. This kind of living is a living of serving the Lord. However, even if the Lord does not make provision for our food, clothing, shelter, and transportation and we therefore need to use our time, energy, and strength to earn money to make a living, our living should still be for and focus on the Lord’s gospel and the church. Hence, regardless of what our job is, our conduct and existence must all be for our service to the Lord. This is the proper living of a Christian.
Regarding whether we should hold a job, how much we should work, or what kind of job we should have, we should follow the Lord’s leading in our environment. There is no need for us to struggle and strive. Whatever our job may be, it should not affect our serving the Lord. I hope that all the brothers and sisters who joined the recent training can have this kind of view and this kind of living.
Furthermore, all the brothers and sisters who have attended the recent training should realize that spiritual matters are not shallow and simple. After these sixteen weeks of classes I believe that many of you feel that reading the Bible is not simple, speaking for the Lord is not simple, knowing life is not simple, and being a minister of the word for the Lord’s use is not simple. You should not, however, be content simply because you know that these things are not simple. According to our present situation, we are still quite short. The riches of Christ are inexhaustible, and the spiritual things of God are inexhaustible. You should never think that it is sufficient to hear what you have heard and see what you have seen. No, this is never the case. Even though everything you heard in these sixteen weeks of classes is God’s truth, and almost everything you saw is spiritual, you need to realize that what you heard, what you saw, and what you touched in the past sixteen weeks are but a small portion of the spiritual riches of God. The training should not cause you to be proud; rather, it should cause you to be humble before the Lord. We should never be content with or boast in what we have learned. We should not be proud because of what we have learned; rather, what we have heard and learned should cause us to be humble.
When the brothers and sisters return to their respective localities to serve, they must be lowly in all things but not low in their moral character. This means that as we serve in the churches, we should not lower our moral character in any matter or in any aspect. In addition to this, we should be lowly before those whom we serve, accommodating ourselves to them in every matter and in every aspect. We should not be a person with low character, a base person, but we must be a lowly person. Being humble is acceptable, but being base is not. Being lowly is good, but being low is not. We should absolutely be lowly and accommodating toward others, and we should humble ourselves and not become proud because of what we know. However, we should never lose the proper Christian character in order to cater to others. As far as moral character is concerned, we should never be low. Once we lower our character, it is very easy to become base and pitiful. This is not permissible.
Some may ask what it means to not have a base character. It means that when we meet someone who has money, power, and position, we do not regard him too highly, and when we meet someone who is in a lower position than we, we do not look down on him. To be base is to treat people in a way that is too high or low. We should be humble and accommodating toward others, but we should not have a base character. Most of today’s social organizations solicit contributions and invite people to donate money. In such situations it is common for them to regard some donors with special respect. This is base and mean. We would rather starve and have the work delayed than lower ourselves in these matters. In serving the church we should lower ourselves and not be proud in anything, but we should never lower our moral character. This kind of lowering is not being lowly; it is being base. Please remember well that someone who serves the Lord must not be base or play politics. We do not have a throne; we have only our moral character. We should be lowly and accommodating in everything, but we should never be loose in our moral character.