The most important matter for a person who serves the Lord is that he must have a vision. Everyone who serves the Lord must be a person with a vision. Not all the brothers and sisters will have a vision directly from the Lord; some of them will see a vision indirectly through the help of others. At any rate, in principle, everyone must have a vision. If a person has a vision, his service is a service with a vision. The apostle Paul said that he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision (Acts 26:19). He served for his whole life according to the vision he had received.
Therefore, if we have a desire to serve, we must have a vision. We must ask the Lord to grant us a vision. Furthermore, I hope that we do not just receive trivial visions that are peripheral. Rather, we need to see the most central vision, the most fundamental vision, in God’s purpose so that we may have a real understanding and seeing of the most basic and central matters concerning God’s intention.
Now we would like to speak about God’s central vision. This vision concerns the good pleasure of God’s desire, the central purpose of God’s plan in the universe.
If we carefully read through the Scriptures, we will see that God’s focus in the universe, especially in the New Testament age of grace, is on Christ and the church. Recall that day in the district of Caesarea Philippi when the Lord asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:15). At that time the Lord had already been with the disciples for a considerable length of time. The disciples had been under the Lord’s leadership and had gained a considerable amount of knowledge concerning Him. Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Immediately the Lord answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in the heavens” (vv. 16-17).
God revealed Christ to Peter, and this revelation was a vision. Then the Lord said to Peter that he is a stone (the Greek word for Peter means a “stone”) and that upon this rock He would build His church (v. 18). Because Peter knew who Christ was, the Lord revealed the church to him.
Then in Ephesians 5, when referring to the fact that a husband shall be joined to his wife and the two shall be one flesh, the apostle said, “This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church” (vv. 31-32). In these two portions of the Word, which concern the Father’s revelation and the mystery in the universe, Christ and the church are linked together. Therefore, Christ and the church are God’s central intention, God’s greatest delight in the universe. As those who serve the Lord, the central vision we should see is Christ and the church.
Christ to us is a matter of life. The Bible says that Christ is our life (Col. 3:4). Christ came to die for us on the cross; then in His resurrection He entered into the Holy Spirit. Christ redeemed us so that He could come into us to be our life. Christ was God incarnated to be mingled with man. The principle of Christ is the mingling of God and man, and this God who was mingled with man is in us to be our life. Hence, whenever Christ is mentioned, there is the thought of His being life to us. If we have a desire to serve God today, we must have a considerable amount of knowledge concerning this matter of Christ’s being life to us. Instead of just listening to some messages about life, we must see the vision of Christ as life and live practically by Him as life.
If we desire to live practically by Christ as life, we must first consecrate ourselves. What is consecration? Consecration means that we hand ourselves over to Christ and let Him be our life. A consecrated person is a person who continually hands himself over to the Lord. Although we have our own will, we give it up and take Christ’s will as our will. Although we have our own love, we give it up and take Christ’s love as our love. In the same way, although we have our own thoughts and inclinations, we give them all up and take Christ’s thoughts as our thoughts and Christ’s inclinations as our inclinations. We must turn ourselves over to Christ completely and take Him into us to be our life. Although we have life and are living, we have given up our life and take Christ as our life instead.
Whether or not we can take Christ as our life depends on whether or not we are seriously willing to give everything of ourselves to Him. Only a person who gives himself completely to the Lord can be a person who truly knows Christ as life. Such a person is usually a very strong person. Those who are weak are not willing to consecrate, to hand over, themselves to the Lord in a serious way. Reading from the Old Testament through the New Testament, you can see that those who loved the Lord intensely were strong. People such as Samuel, Daniel, Peter, Paul, and the martyrs throughout the generations were all very strong. They handed themselves over completely and took Christ to be their life. To them this was not a doctrine; rather, they practically received Christ into their daily walk and life. Hence, they could say, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me,” and “For to me, to live is Christ” (Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21). Because they gave themselves up completely, they could practically experience Christ as their life.
This kind of consecration needs to be maintained by a fresh love to the Lord. We need consecration, and we also need love. Furthermore, this love needs to be renewed daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. We have to renew this love every morning. We have to renew this love on the first day of every week, that is, on the Lord’s Day, we have to renew this love on the first day of the month, and we have to renew this love at the beginning of every year. Furthermore, we even have to renew this love in everything and in every situation. We should tell the Lord, “Lord, I love You. I want to be Your lover.” By always renewing our love to the Lord in this way, we will be able to maintain our consecration to Him.
To experience Christ as life, in addition to consecrating ourselves and maintaining our consecration in love, we also need to have constant fellowship with the Lord, always waiting in His presence. We need to look to Him, inquire of Him, and take counsel with Him in our daily life concerning all matters, whether great or small. We have to always ask the Lord, “Lord, are You with me in all these things—in the way I speak, in the way I treat others, in the way I spend my money, and in the way I dress myself?” This is not to be religious or to keep certain regulations; rather, this is to allow Christ to be our life. When we fellowship with Christ and inquire of Him in this way, He will be our life practically in our daily walk. Therefore, we can see that Christ to us is a matter of life.