The second principle in the case of the birth of Jesus is that there is no human effort, human strength, human doings, or human working. The Lord did not ask Mary to do anything. In the New Testament service, there is no need of our effort or strength, our doing or our working. What the Lord needs is our cooperation. We need to learn to say, “I am a bondmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.” Mary was not asked to work. She was only told that something would be wrought into her. There is no need for us to do something for the Lord, but there is the need that the Lord work something into us. Are we willing to cooperate with the Lord?
On the day of Pentecost, nothing, strictly speaking, was initiated by the apostles. That was a work done by the Lord Himself as the One who was wrought into the apostles. In Antioch, Paul’s work among so many churches was not initiated by him. It was begun by the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament service, all human effort, strength, work, and doing need to be terminated and abolished. We should realize that we are simply bondmaids of the Lord. We cannot do anything, and we should have no intention of doing anything. Let the Lord initiate the work and finish the work. We are bondmaids to render Him our cooperation.
Humanity can do nothing but be a means for God to bring forth Christ. This is a basic principle, and we should apply this principle to all the things we do. We should not think that God needs our effort—this concept should be condemned. We should condemn what the Lord condemns, and simply open ourselves to be available to Him. Praise the Lord, that is good enough! In the New Testament service there is no doing, only enjoying. If we take the way of doing, we lose the enjoyment. The proper way is for Him to do the work, and we enjoy His doing.
The third principle is that the New Testament service must be something conceived of the Holy Spirit. This is a very important matter, and this is why I say again and again that teaching does not help. The New Testament service is not something conceived of teaching, tradition, or religion, but something conceived of the Holy Spirit. It is not of letters, but of the Spirit. When the Spirit comes in to do something in us, then we see that it is altogether different from what we have learned. Teaching does not work; the service is something of the Spirit. What we need to do is to keep an open contact with the Holy Spirit.
We should not go to the Lord only to ask Him by what way we should do a certain thing. To do something only according to what the Lord has said may be merely a matter of religion. Our need today is not a matter of merely keeping the Lord’s word, but a matter of keeping His presence. Many years ago I tried to learn to know the Lord’s way. Eventually, however, I have learned that the main thing is to have the presence of the Lord Himself, not merely to know His way.
The New Testament service is a matter of staying in the presence of the Lord, not a matter of learning a certain way. The brothers who are migrating to other cities should not think that because they have experienced the Lord so much in Los Angeles, they should do things in other places according to Los Angeles. If so, Los Angeles should be condemned. Los Angeles has learned only one way: to always be in the presence of the Lord. It is not a matter of a way; it is a matter of His presence. There is no way but to have His presence. It is not of letters, but of the Spirit. Only to have the Word in the letter is a dead way, but to have the Person is a living way. Only to have the way is something of the letters, but to have the Lord’s presence is something of the Spirit. What we need today is not merely to learn a way, but to always be in the Lord’s presence. Everything in the New Testament service should be conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Mary asked the question, “How will this be?” The answer was, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.” That is good enough. To have the Holy Spirit with us is all we need. In the Acts and Epistles, all the activities of the apostles and early saints were of the Spirit. There was nothing of letters or mere teachings. What was there was something of the Spirit. Praise the Lord, we all need to learn this one principle: the New Testament service is not a matter of the mere teachings that we have, but a matter of the presence of the Lord in the Holy Spirit.
The fourth principle seen in the birth of the Lord is the bringing forth of Christ. To conceive something of the Holy Spirit requires the repudiation of all our efforts and doings. However, to bring forth Christ requires us to give up our aims, our goals, our intentions, and our enterprises. Some dear saints are simply occupied with their mission work. Their aim is to carry out the work of the mission, instead of to bring forth Christ. They may argue that they are preaching Christ to others, yet Christ Himself is not their goal. We all need to learn that the bringing forth of Christ should be our only aim and intention. “That which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus...and they shall call His name Emmanuel” (Matt. 1:20-21, 23). To do this, we need to give up all our work, our aims, our goals, and our desires.
The New Testament service is eventually to bring forth Christ—this should be the final goal. It is to bring forth Christ as Jesus, the saving One, and as Emmanuel, God-with-us. We have seen that the book of Matthew begins with a virgin and ends with ten virgins; this book also begins with the individual Emmanuel and ends with the corporate Emmanuel. In chapter one, we see Emmanuel, God-with-us, and in chapter twenty-eight, the last verse, the Lord says, “Behold, I am with you all the days.” The proper church life in a locality is the saving power of Christ, and God-with-us manifested in a corporate way. This can only be brought forth by the New Testament service. When others come into such a church life, they will immediately sense the saving power of Jesus and the presence of God. This is the proper church life, and this is the bringing forth of Christ through our service.