Romans 11:36 says, “Because out from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” Some versions translate out from Him as “of Him,” and others translate it “from Him.” The meaning in the original language is “out from Him.” Through Him may be translated as “passing through Him.” This is similar to someone needing to pass through a bridge in order to cross from one side of a river to the other side. All things may be translated as “all,” including persons, things, and affairs. All persons, events, and things are out from Him, pass through Him, and eventually are unto Him.
We need to know the Lord’s way in order to know how to serve Him. This requires that we know life and the church and have a proper exercise in order to learn how to work and how to do things. These are two crucial exercises. In order to do anything, we must first prepare material. For example, if a farmer wants to grow a plant, he must first have seeds. If he does not have any seeds, he cannot do anything. Even if he has seeds, however, he still may not know how to plant them. Therefore, once we have the material, we need to study the way. Our knowledge of life and the church is the material, and our learning how to work and do things is the way. Our knowledge concerning life and the church is the capital and material for us to serve the Lord. If a businessman wants to do business, he must first obtain capital and then study the way to do business. If he has both the capital and a way, he will probably succeed in business.
By the Lord’s mercy, we have a desire to serve the Lord; therefore, we must pay attention to our material and our way. We cannot work for the Lord merely because of our zeal and love for Him. We need to consider the kind of work to do, the kind of material to use, and the kind of capital we possess. These are critical issues. If we do not have any material and capital, we might as well forget about serving the Lord. However, if we have capital and material, we still may not have the way and, thus, may not know how to serve. Therefore, when we speak of knowing life and the church, our purpose is to help the brothers and sisters obtain the necessary capital and material. This can be compared to the need for the builders of the temple to go up the mountain to gather wood (Hag. 1:8). Our perfecting of the saints can be compared to gathering wood from the mountain. If we want to do the Lord’s work, we must know life and the church in order to obtain the material for the service of the Lord.
Following this, we need to know the way. After we have material, we still need to consider how to do the work in different places and how to make arrangements for various matters in the work. The brothers who administrate the church in the different localities and who serve the Lord full time know from their experience that there is a great difference between one who knows how to work and one who does not. One brother may go to work in a certain place, but there is no result. When another brother goes to work in the same place, however, there is an immediate result. Even though God is the same, the Lord is the same, and the environment for the work is the same, the work of one person produces no fruit, but the work of another person can be very fruitful. The difference lies in both the person and the way. Furthermore, all our work is affected by persons, events, and things. Therefore, if we want to know how to work, we must know how to do things. In our exercise for the service, we must pay constant attention to these two matters.
The knowledge of life and the church is a matter of truth and light. In regard to the Lord’s work, many churches are weak and poor because the brothers and sisters do not know how to do things. This is a serious matter. The condition of some brothers and sisters is very good before the Lord—they love the Lord, they are godly, and they pray frequently. However, once a work is placed in their hand, it is finished; once a local church is entrusted to their care, its condition becomes poor. Considering the degree of their love for the Lord and the condition of their spirituality and prayer, they should be useful to the Lord in many things. Nevertheless, the outcomes are exactly the opposite. Although they love the Lord and often pray with tears, their service is ineffective. They pray; however, the environment remains the same, and the condition of the church remains the same. This is because they do not know how to work and do things, even though they are spiritual and pray regularly. If a believer is neither spiritual nor able to work, he will be worthless. However, if a believer is merely spiritual but does not know how to work and do things, there will be no result.
A microphone needs electricity in order to produce sound. However, a microphone cannot produce sound with electricity only. In order to produce sound, there is a need for support from many other things, such as an electrical plug and wires. Perhaps there is no problem with our spirituality and prayer, but if there are problems with the way and method of our work and doing things, our work will not be profitable. We should never think that we can work as long as we are spiritual and know how to pray. More than twenty years ago I thought that as long as we read the Bible diligently, prayed frequently, and were spiritual, the Lord would work and do things through us. However, this is not the case. In the past twenty years the experiences of many churches and saints have proven that merely being spiritual and praying regularly are not enough. We also need to know how to work and do things.
This can be compared to a chemistry formula which requires four ingredients. If we have only two ingredients, we will not produce the expected chemical reaction. Similarly, if we are not spiritual and do not pray, and we rely simply on a method of doing things, we will also not have the results. Without electricity, a microphone will not work, regardless of its quality; furthermore, even when there is electricity, other electrical parts are needed. We need to be spiritual and pray, but we must also consider the matter of how we work and do things.
We need to pay attention to our spirituality and our way of working, just as we need to pay attention to electricity and the electrical components of a microphone. Both aspects are needed. I hope that we will all spend some time to put these points into practice. If we make the effort to exercise in these matters, we will gain some understanding. Anyone who feels that he does not know life and does not know how to serve, work, and do things should not feel embarrassed to ask. We should not focus on trivial matters; rather, we should focus our study specifically on how to serve, work, and do things, the totality of which is our service to the Lord.