In this chapter we will again consider the character of one who serves the Lord. In 2 Timothy 2:20-21 the apostle indicated that to be a servant of the Lord one must be “useful to the master.” Literally, this means making one’s service to the Lord both bountiful and practical. It is not a matter merely of being used or not used, but of how practical and how ample is the service. In other words, we should be those who serve practically and bountifully. This is what it means to be useful to the Master.
I would like to repeat: the Lord never uses what we have. This is the significance of the fire burning upon the bush without consuming the bush. The fire burned upon the bush but did not use the elements of the bush as fuel. Do not assume that your cleverness, wisdom, talent, and virtues can be the material for God to use. There is no such thing. Nothing of ours can contribute to our usefulness to the Lord. The Lord wants us to serve Him but not to minister what we have. Rather, He wants us to minister what He has. Ministering to others what we have in ourselves is most offensive to the Lord. As Paul indicated in 2 Corinthians 4, this is to preach ourselves, to minister ourselves, not the Lord, and it is condemned by Him.
In 2 Corinthians 3 Paul said that we are made sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, not of ourselves but of God. Then in chapter four he showed us not only that he was not made sufficient of himself but also that he did not preach himself; he preached Christ Jesus as Lord. Paul did not preach himself to others, nor did he minister himself to others. Paul preached and ministered Christ.
It was the same with Moses. Moses did not rely on his own ways to deal with Pharaoh; rather, it was God’s authority manifested through Moses that dealt with Pharaoh. Pharaoh did not confront Moses’ ability, talent, or wisdom, but he encountered in Moses something other than Moses, that is, the fire burning upon the bush.
The same principle applies to all those who served the Lord in both the Old and New Testaments. None of the prophets in the Old Testament, whether Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, or any other, could bring his own cleverness, wisdom, or ability into the Lord’s work. In other words, what those prophets preached was not their own ability, wisdom, or cleverness, but Jehovah, who came upon them, and the words of Jehovah. It is more so in the New Testament. Peter, James, John, and Paul could not add anything of themselves to the Lord’s service. What they ministered to the saints and the churches was altogether Christ Himself. This point must be made very clear.
The cross works on us to deal exactly with this matter; it breaks us and kills us in order to deal with this very issue. It deals with our own wisdom and overthrows our capable person. Why? Because if our cleverness, wisdom, and ability are not subdued by the Lord, what we do will definitely be of ourselves, not of the Lord. For example, if God had used Moses at age forty to save Israel, his service would have been full of his own ability, cleverness, wisdom, and knowledge. Therefore, God allowed him to run up against a wall. That was the cross breaking his talent, ability, wisdom, and cleverness. He was a prince in the palace and a captain in the army. Yet he was dealt with and became a wanderer and a shepherd in the wilderness. God used all these experiences to break him.
We must see that when we serve in the church and participate in the Lord’s work, we absolutely cannot minister what we have in ourselves. Whenever we mix what we have into the Lord’s service, the cross will come to us. This is very difficult, because God wants us for His work, but He does not want what we have.
Let us look at the other side of this matter. Although the Lord does not want what we have, He wants us to be useful to Him. After much consideration before the Lord, I believe that the matter of being “useful to the master” has much to do with a man’s character. Our talent and ability must not be mixed into the service of the Lord. However, our character can determine whether we are suitable for the Lord’s use. The character of some people is useful to the Lord, but that of others is not. Even though those who serve the Lord must not bring in what they have, their character must be suitable for the Lord’s use. For this reason, I have been repeating that to be useful to the Master, we must build up a character that is useful to Him. Brothers and sisters, we bear a tremendous responsibility in this matter.
What kind of person is useful to the Lord? There are at least four aspects. First, he must love and desire the Lord. Do not even talk about being used by the Lord if you do not love and desire Him. We do not need to cover this basic matter here. Second, he must have a vision of the Lord and an encounter with Him. He needs to have a revelation that God’s eternal purpose is to work Christ into us and to express Christ through us. This is a great point. I have met many saints who love the Lord but have not seen this Christ of God. They have seen only Jesus their Savior, not the Christ of God. These may be zealous and full of love, yet in their service they do not minister the Lord to others, because they have not seen this Christ and have not received this revelation. In order to be useful in the Lord’s hand, one must see the revelation concerning Christ. Third, his self, his person, must have been dealt with by the cross. He must realize that whatever he has and whatever comes out of him cannot be brought into the Lord’s service. His natural being must have been terminated on the cross. Only those who have seen their flesh and their natural man realize how precious the cross is. Only when you have seen that you are fleshly and nothing but a thorn-bush, a leper, and a natural man will you treasure the experience of the cross. This can be called the revelation of the natural man or the revelation of the cross. After you have a heart to love the Lord, you must have at least two revelations, one concerning Christ and the other concerning the self, which also concerns the cross. You cannot lack any of these three aspects.
However, these three aspects are not sufficient. With these you can do something valuable, but nothing extensive. You will surely dispense Christ and minister Christ, though perhaps only once a year, or to one person in six months.
Suppose there is a brother who sincerely loves the Lord and is not occupied with the world. He has been enlightened, he has seen the Christ of God, and he sees that the purpose of God in this universe is Christ, and that it is to work Christ into men and then to work Christ out from within men. He truly has the revelation of Christ. He also sees that what hinders Christ the most is his self, his flesh, and his natural life, and seeing this, he has fallen down. He has the knowledge of his natural life, which is the revelation of the cross. When you meet this one, you always sense that the Lord is so sweet, so lovely, and so great. However, you see some peculiarity in this brother. For example, if you ask him if he could find time to assist certain brothers who need help, he will answer, “Fine, fine.” But when he goes home, he will soon forget about it. Such a thing actually happened. This brother really loves the Lord, receives mercy, and sees himself and the way of the cross; however, there is something lacking in him which renders him useless to the Master.
Later, the same one may become an elder. A brother may come to him saying, “A certain sister has a serious problem related to marriage. She was engaged to someone, but now she is engaged to someone else. What do you think we should do?” He may say, “Well, let us look to the Lord.” Then another brother may come, saying, “A certain brother’s family is having a difficult time; he lost his job. What should we do?” To this he may reply, “Well, let us pray. If the Lord does not do anything, what can we do?” Do not think that such brothers do not exist. I am afraid to handle business with such brothers and sisters. When I do, I inevitably become frustrated. What is the problem with them? Are they short of love towards the Lord, or do they lack the knowledge of Christ? Or is it that they do not sufficiently know the cross? It is none of these; the problem is entirely with their character.
In all these years we have been studying the matter of service. Through our continuous probing and research, we have reached the conclusion that all of the above four aspects are indispensable. Surprisingly, however, the fourth aspect, the aspect of character, is often easily rejected or neglected. Many assume that as long as they love the Lord, see Christ, and know the way of the cross, they have reached the peak. However, the fact remains that the first three aspects are inadequate. A cook must take four steps to prepare a meal: first, he must go shopping at the market; second, he has to remove many things, such as leaves of bamboo shoots, fish scales, and vegetable roots; third, he needs to cook the food; and fourth, he must prepare the chairs, plates, chopsticks, and spoons. Why is this fourth step necessary? Is the cook serving chopsticks and the table as food? Certainly not. However, without chopsticks, spoons, plates, and a table, the dinner cannot be properly served. These eating utensils illustrate the character of us who serve the Lord. Without them the food will stay in the cookware. One could still eat it but would not enjoy it. No one would eat the chopsticks and spoons along with the food; that would be terrible. We serve people a meal, so that they may eat the food and not the utensils. Similarly, we do not minister our character to others, but we bear Christ to them by our character.
For example, a certain brother may be absent-minded and forgetful. Can his forgetful character replace the Christ whom he knows inwardly? Not at all. But his character greatly affects his service. He must make up this lack if he wants to be suitable for the Lord’s use. He must learn to remember things. He should carry a pocket notebook to record things that need to be done. This is just a small example.