It is one thing to know about the veil; we should minister to the Lord in the sanctuary. But beyond the veil, there is another matter which is just as important: "Let us therefore go forth unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach" (Heb. 13:13). The central thought of the book of Hebrews comprises these two things: the veil and the camp. Not only do we need to minister to God in the sanctuary, but we also need to go outside the camp. It is only when we have left the camp to minister to the Lord that He will speak and lead; at other times, He will not speak.

Let us now take a look at what Luke says. Let us clarify this once again: we do not want to expound on Luke. Rather, we want to find out from this portion of the Word what the Lord really wants. Luke 17:7-10 tells us very clearly that the Lord is satisfied with nothing other than Himself. He does not want you and me; He wants Himself. It is amazing that although the words here are quite severe, everyone feels that this portion is precious. There are two kinds of work here: one is plowing, or we may say, sowing. The other is the shepherding, or we may say, feeding. The work of sowing deals with those not yet regenerated. The work of shepherding deals with those who possess the life of God. Consequently, one kind of work concerns sinners, and the other kind of work concerns believers. These works cause those who have not received the Lord to receive the Lord and those who have received the Lord to be fed. Such is the work of the Lord's servants. This is also what we should do in the presence of God. This work is vital, and we must do our best. But the Lord is very amazing here. He said, "But which of you, having a slave who is plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, Come immediately and recline at table?" (Luke 17:7). This means that He would not do it this way. In other words, the servants, the Christians, should not be given food to eat after their work is done. Fleshly ones will say, "What a harsh Employer! We are extremely tired from plowing and feeding the cattle outside. Now that we are home, You should serve us food." But the Lord is not like a worldly master. (A different relationship between the earthly master and the servant is mentioned in Colossians and Ephesians. What is spoken of here is the treatment the Lord expects toward Himself. This is about the relationship between the spiritual master and the servant.) The Lord does not invite us to eat. What does He want then? Verse 8 says, "Will he not rather say to him"—that is, surely he will say to him—"Prepare something that I may dine, and gird yourself and serve me." This is what the Lord is doing. We always think to ourselves, "Today I have plowed so many acres of land and sown so many pounds of seeds. After so many days, so many months, there will be at least a thirty or sixty-fold harvest. Today I led so many sheep to the green pastures, to a certain spot in a certain place, and they drank beside the still waters. After so much time, these sheep will surely grow big and fat. This is indeed the greatest work. The produce from the land may serve as food; the products from the flock of sheep may serve as clothing." We are glad and enjoy the happiness from our labor. The meaning of eating and drinking is the enjoyment that comes out of our recollection of the work we have done. How often, after we have made some proud achievements, do we think about them even while we are sleeping and relish them in our memory. We may even think about them while we are eating and feel very proud and satisfied. Often we call to mind something and are thrilled by such thoughts. But the Lord said His goal for all the work, whether it be feeding the cattle or plowing the field, is not to make us happy, give us enjoyment, or let us have some gain. The Lord will surely say to us, "Prepare something that I may dine, and gird yourself and serve Me." Do we see this? What the Lord demands is that we minister to Him. Please remember that the work in the fields cannot be compared to the work at home. Please remember that the land and the cattle cannot be compared to the Lord. The Lord does not say here, "Since you labored so hard, plowed so much land, and fed so many cattle, you need not serve Me anymore; you may go to eat, drink and be merry." The Lord's words inform us how He weighs the importance of our labor and our need to minister to Him. He will not let us go just because we have plowed the land, fed the cattle, and done so much work on the outside; He will not tell us that there is no need to minister to Him. The Lord will not do this. He will by no means do this. He will not allow us to omit the ministering to Him just because we are too occupied with our work. He will not allow the hardship of the labor to rob Him of our ministry to Him. The first priority is to minister to the Lord because ministering to the Lord is more vital than all the plowing, feeding, and working.

Brothers and sisters, what are we really doing? What is our goal? Do we only care for plowing and sowing? Do we only care for preaching the gospel to save sinners? Do we only care for shepherding and feeding cattle? Do we only care to dispense food for the edification of the believers? Or are we satisfying the Lord with food and drink? The Lord is showing us here that after we come home we should not rest and be slothful. Although we are tired, we still need to endeavor to serve Him. Although we have worked much and suffered much, this cannot take the place of the ministering that He should receive. We need to forget all our experience and serve Him once again. But this is not to say that we do not need to eat. It merely means that our eating and drinking should come after the Lord's. We should also be filled and satisfied. Yet this should be after the Lord is filled and satisfied. We should also be happy. Yet this should be after the Lord's happiness. Therefore, let us ask ourselves to whom the glory of the work goes. Is everything that we are doing really for the satisfaction of the Lord's heart? Or is it for the satisfaction of our heart? Is the fruit of the labor for the Lord's satisfaction? Or is it for our own satisfaction? I deeply fear that many times the Lord has not gained anything, and yet we are satisfied. I deeply fear that many times before the Lord is happy, we are already very happy. We need to ask God to show us where we should stand in His presence and how we should really minister to Him in His presence.

Brothers and sisters, even if we do everything, we are nothing but useless servants. We are indeed very small.

Our goal and our striving are not the land and cattle, the world and the church. Our goal is the Lord. We are also striving for the Lord. He is our everything. Therefore, let us ask ourselves: Is the work we do truly for Christ, or is it only for sinners and brothers? Whoever can discern the difference between the ministry to sinners and the ministry to the Lord, and whoever can discern the difference between the ministry to the brothers and the ministry to the Lord, is blessed. In theory it seems easy to make such a distinction; yet to be able to inwardly distinguish the difference in our experience is a blessing. This kind of knowledge does not come easily. It requires the shedding of blood before the lesson can be learned. This kind of discernment is not easily apprehended. It requires many dealings before we can know it. Many times it requires the putting down of our life and the killing of our opinions before we can truly comprehend it. Ministering to the Lord is not as easy as ministering to the brothers and the sisters. Therefore, there is a vast difference between ministering to the Lord and ministering to the house.

Nevertheless, if the Holy Spirit works in us, it will not be that difficult for us to know. We need to ask the Lord to grant us grace, revelation, and light, so that we may see what ministering to Him means. A ministry to the sinners and a ministry to the Lord are two entirely different things; ministering to sinners is altogether different from ministering to the Lord. Brothers and sisters, sinners are not more important than the Lord. We need to ask the Lord to work on us, so that we will minister to Him. I cannot say anything more. I can only say that this is what the Lord wants to speak to us in these few days.