As believers in Christ and children of God,
we not only have eternal life
and may experience eternal life,
but we can minister this life
to other members of the Body of Christ (1 John 5:11-16).
To minister life
is to impart life;
when we have a surplus of life,
we can minister from this supply to others (1:1-2; 2:25; 5:11-13, 16).
The service for the building up of the house of God
is a life-ministering service
—a service of supplying others
with the divine life (2 Cor. 4:12):
As serving ones,
we need to be deeply impressed
with the necessity of being able to minister life (1 John 5:11-16):
To minister
is to have the outflow of life (19:34; 7:37-39):
If we would minister life to others,
we need to be aware of
the attack upon the church by death (Matt. 16:18; Rom. 5:17, 21):
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2 replies on “A Life-ministering Service”
Prophecy note, 17 July 2016
The controversy
between life and death
that began in Eden
ended in Gethsemane and at Calvary.
There
death
was abolished,
and life and immortality
brought to light.
Not only is Satan destroyed,
but for us redeemed sinners,
because we
have already died a death
in Christ,
death too
is gone,
and we have become
possessors of His incorruptible life.
John stresses
that this life
which we
need to minister to others
is simply God Himself.
It is the Son of God.
“This is
the true God
and eternal life”
[1 John 5:20].
Our need
is to have
a bigger portion
of the Lord Jesus.
Then we
will have a surplus
to minister to others,
a surplus
not of knowledge or doctrine
but of God.
We must serve
in such a way
that others
may receive
the supply of life;
we need to be deeply impressed
with this point
and look to the Lord
so that our service
becomes an outlet for His life.
The life
that we supply to others
is in the Spirit,
the Spirit
is mingled with our spirit,
and the life of God
is located, abides, and grows
in the mingled spirit.
If we
would supply the saints with life,
we must release our spirit,
for the divine life
is in our mingled spirit.
In order for the Lord’s life
to be released from within us,
we must learn to fellowship with the Lord,
be subdued in our soul,
and let our spirit
dominate and rule over every matter.
Whether we are elders or deacons
or preaching the gospel,
we must learn
to use our spirit
and to subdue our mind, emotion, and will
so that we
touch things with our spirit.
Then
the Lord’s life
will be able to flow out.
Our supplying others with life
does not depend on
our doing things properly
but on our exercising our spirit.
Today
the Lord
does not need people
to be His material,
nor does He
need human talent.
He only needs people
to abide in Him,
to be filled with Him,
and to release
the supply of His life.
This is truly like
the branches of the vine
being filled with
the sap of the vine
and releasing
the supply of the vine’s life.
The branches of the vine
do not know
how to do anything
but abide in the vine
and allow its life
to be ministered
and to flow out through them.
This is
the service of the church,
which is
not a great work or large enterprise
with a huge accomplishment
but the ministering
and flowing out of
the life of Christ.
In order to minister life to others,
we need to
to be joined to Christ,
to abide in Christ,
and to give Him
the ground in us
to fill us,
so that His life, His nature, His likes, and His inclination
can become our life, our nature, our likes, and our inclination.
In our service
His all
becomes our all.
When we
abide in Him,
live in Him,
and fellowship with Him,
we allow Him
to pass through us
and flow out from us.
What flows out from us
is His life, the life of the vine.
This will minister life to others,
and it will give them life.
When people touch this,
they touch
Christ and the life of the vine.
This is
the service of the church.
Day 1
1 John 5:16
If anyone sees
his brother sinning a sin
not unto death,
he shall ask
and he will give life to him…
2 Cor. 4:12
So then
death
operates in us,
but life
in you.
In 1 John 5:14-17
there is
the indication
not only that we
have eternal life
and enjoy it
but also that we
can minister this life to others.
This means
that we
can give eternal life to others.
Regarding this matter,
John’s thought
is deep.
Although the thought here
is deep,
the matter
is very practical
in our Christian life.
If we
enjoy eternal life
and experience it,
surely we q
shall be able to channel this life
to others.
We shall be able to minister eternal life
to other members of the Body.
If your car
is almost out of gasoline,
you can turn into the gas station
and stay there
to have the tank refilled.
After a little while
your gas supply
will be replenished,
and you
can continue on your way.
When you yourself
have the supply,
then you
can supply others.
We need to learn
that when any brother or sister sins,
this is
a strong indication
that he or she
is short of life.
To be of help,
we must first check
whether we have life.
Do we have a surplus of life?
Do we have more than we need?
If not,
we must wait on the Lord
with prayer and fasting
until we get the rich supply.
Then we
can minister
from this supply
to others.
This is
the way to go on
in the church life
during this time of
degraded Christianity.
John stresses
that this life
which we need to minister to others
is simply God Himself.
It is
the Son of God.
“This is
the true God and eternal life”
[1 John 5:20].
Our need
is to have
a bigger portion of the Lord Jesus.
Then
we will have a surplus
to minister to others,
a surplus not of knowledge or doctrine
but of God.
To be one
who can give life to others,
we must abide in the divine life
and walk, live,
and have our being
in the divine life.
We will focus on
a basic matter in service,
which is supplying life.
…Those who serve the Lord
must be clear
that every service
should supply life.
The elders should not think
that their responsibility in the church
is merely to handle business affairs
and manage matters.
The elders should not say
that as long as they
manage matters and handle business affairs properly,
their service is adequate.
The deacons should not say
that their service is complete
after they finish
taking care of the business affairs.
The church service
is to supply life,
for it is
a service of life.
If we merely handle business affairs
or manage matters
but do not supply others
with the life of God,
our service
is a failure and is vain.
We should never think
that only those
who minister the word
are the ones who supply life
but that the service of the elders or deacons
is merely to handle business affairs
and to manage matters.
Such a concept
is wrong
and needs to be corrected.
Every service,
whether preaching the gospel,
giving messages,
managing business affairs,
or visitation,
that is,
whether the service
is spiritual or administrative,
should be a means
for us to supply the life
that we have received.
Preaching the gospel
is for the supply of life.
Ministering the word
is for the supply of life.
Visitation
is for the supply of life,
and serving in the church business office
is for the supply of life.
Even ordinary things,
such as sweeping
and cleaning the windows,
are a means
to supply life.
Apparently,
there are
many items
in the church service,
but spiritually,
these many items
have one purpose,
which is to supply life.
Although the saints
have heard the principles
concerning service,
I am fellowshipping
concerning this again
because we
need to consider our service.
No matter what our service may be,
we should be clear
that our service is a means
to supply life to others.
The elders and the deacons
must uphold this point.
Whether or not we are adequate in our service,
our focus is on supplying life,
not on accomplishing something.