The opening chapters of the New Testament present a clear picture of the New Testament service, a service that is outside of religion and one that is living, fresh, and up-to-date, a service with Christ Himself. As we shall see, the goal of such a service is simply to bring forth Christ.
In these pages we will trace the New Testament service in the Gospel of Matthew from its beginning with the conceiving of Christ of the Holy Spirit, to finding Christ by following the heavenly living star, on to testifying of Christ in a living way, and then to the matter of following Christ. Finally, we will consider the matter of life and the matter of work in the New Testament service according to the parables of the ten virgins and of the talents. In all these aspects, it is a governing principle in our service in the church life that the New Testament service is a service of coordination in every step to fulfill the Lord’s purpose.
The birth of Jesus Christ is the first instance of the New Testament service. The birth of John the Baptist was something transitional; it occurred between the Old Testament dispensation and the New Testament dispensation. The birth of Jesus, however, was absolutely of the New Testament. In fact, it initiated the New Testament dispensation.
In the Bible a principle is established with the first mention of any matter. The birth of Christ is the first matter mentioned in the entire New Testament, and in this first instance we can discover by the Lord’s revelation all the principles and main items of New Testament service. Here is a case of how to serve the Lord in the New Testament, and in this case are all the principles. We will see that the birth of Christ is a unique example of New Testament service.
The first principle in New Testament service is that this service is absolutely different from the old way of religion. New Testament service has nothing to do with the old way; it is absolutely new. If we would spend time to read the Old Testament carefully, we would be deeply impressed with the service in the Old Testament age. There was a temple with a group of priests, and an altar upon which they offered sacrifices. In addition, there were many regulations. However, when we come to the New Testament, everything is quite different. There is no continuation of the Old Testament service. The old is simply terminated, and something new and quite different is brought in.
With the birth of John the Baptist, there was still something related to the temple. This is why the birth of John is not absolutely of the New Testament dispensation. It still had something to do with the Old Testament. The birth of Jesus, however, had nothing to do with the temple. It was absolutely new, different, and other than the Old Testament service. The angel Gabriel did not come to Jerusalem, and he did not even go to Bethlehem. He went to Galilee, a despised province, and to a little town called Nazareth, which was even more despised. He did not go to Jerusalem, to the center of the old religion, but to a small town in a despised region. This is where the Lord began the New Testament service.
Whenever the Lord begins some work of the New Testament dispensation, in principle He begins in a small way. We consider the Apostle Paul to be a great man, but the name Paul means “little.” Paul was a little one; he was not great in the way many religious leaders are great.
We need to consider a practical application of this principle in our church life today. If some of us would migrate to another city to begin the church life there, we should not try to do something in a great way. That is against the principle. If we could build a wall fourteen feet high, we should not build it fourteen feet and three inches. It is better to build it thirteen feet and ten inches. We should not try to be great, but instead we should keep ourselves small. Any kind of advertisement is against the principle of the New Testament service. The New Testament service did not begin from the big religious center, Jerusalem. It began from the small town of Nazareth. It is absolutely different from the way of the old religion.