I consider myself to just a recruit, new
in the law and sometimes it's a little
embarrassing to stand in front of you as
some of the seasoned workers of the law.
But anyway, his greatest vision.
Now the song we sang this morning was
really an encouragement.
You know that song that Richard Haynes and
his family were singing this morning.
And it says that, when I say, cannot,
then he say, oh yes, you what, you
can.
So that was really an encouragement.
And you know, after listening to, I've got
a call Monday and Tuesday for the hire
and yesterday for the lands and I came
to the conclusion, I think the best thing
for me is just to disqualify myself.
But brothers and sisters, we are caught.
That's the whole thing.
I'm caught and you're caught.
And there's no way we can say no
to the Lord.
We are His.
We are caught to serve and there's no
way out.
So the sooner we learn to serve Him,
the better.
So should we just look at a few
parts in the scriptures, please.
Can we turn to 1 Corinthians 4.
1 Corinthians 4.
We'll read verse 1 and 2.
Let a man regard us in this manner
as servants of Christ and stewards of the
mysteries above.
In this case, moreover, it is required of
stewards that one be found trustworthy.
Now the NIV has a different way of
saying it and it reads this way.
So then men ought to regard us as
servants of Christ and as those entrusted with
the secret things of God.
Now it is required that those who have
been given a trust must be found faithful.
Then can we turn to John, Gospel of
John 3.
And we'll read verse 26 and verse 27.
Gospel of John 3, 26 and 27.
And they came to John and said to
him, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond
the Jordan, to whom you have bore witness,
behold, he is baptizing and all are coming
to him.
John answered and said, A man can receive
nothing unless it has been given him from
above.
And let's turn to John 13.
John 13, we'll read from verses 3, 4,
and 5.
John 13, 3, 4, 5.
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all
things into his hands and that he had
come forth from God and was going back
to God, rose from supper and laid aside
his garments.
And taking a towel, he girded himself about.
Then he poured water into the basin and
began to wash the disciples' feet and wiped
them with the towel with which he was
girded.
And let's go to verse 12, 12 to
17.
And so when he had washed their feet
and taken his garments, he reclined at the
table again and said to them, Do you
know what I have done to you?
You call me Lord and Teacher, and you
are right, for so I am.
If I am then the Lord and Teacher,
wash your feet.
You also ought to wash one another's feet,
for I give you an example.
But you also should do as I did
to you.
Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave
is not greater than his master, neither is
one who is sent greater than the one
who sent him.
If you know these things, you are blessed
if you do them.
And then finally we'll turn to the book
of Hebrews, chapter 3.
Two phrases from Hebrews, chapter 3.
A phrase from verse 5 and verse 6.
Now Moses was faithful in all his house,
God's house, as a servant.
And then the next phrase.
Christ was faithful as a son over his
house, whose house we are.
Brothers and sisters, the topic this afternoon is
about this administering the church.
And this word administering or administer to me
is sort of a high sounding word.
You know, administer, administrate.
It's really quite official in its title.
But I think we can put it more
in a more scriptural way.
It's how to be servants of Christ and
stewards of the mystery of God.
How to be servants and stewards of the
mystery of God.
Now this church, this word church, the way
I understand it, is not a good translation
from the original Greek.
Even though it's not a good translation, but
throughout the century, this word church has been
abused and misused.
You often hear people say, my church, or
that church, or we go to church.
If you go this way and that way
and you'll find a church there.
We often use that.
If you graduated from a seminary or a
cemetery, then you will have the privilege or
right to take a church.
My church, your church, that church.
And there are those who have the qualification
to take a church.
I was taught on what is going on
in the Philippines.
They had a question and answer period with
him.
And one of the brothers asked him pointedly
this question.
Brother Scott, how do you consider a church
as a church?
What is a church?
And he paused for a few seconds and
he responded this way.
A church is an assembly of God's people
where the headship and authority of Christ is
established and operated.
Let me repeat it again.
A church is an assembly of God's people
where the headship and authority of Christ is
established and operated.
That is the church according to the scripture.
Christ is the head and we are the
body.
We can put it another way.
Wherever the church, wherever the headship of Christ
and authority of Christ is established, there is
the church.
There is the church.
Because the head cannot be operated without the
body.
And the body cannot function without the head.
So, it is a matter of life.
It is not an organization.
It's life.
Now, if the headship of Christ is established
and his authority is established and operated, then
we know for sure that that church is
responding to the head.
It's coordinating with the head.
It's agreeing with the head.
It's in harmony with, in short, one with
the head.
You cannot separate the head from the body
or the body from the head.
The two are one.
So, therefore, it's a living organism.
So, I think that is very important.
When we consider this church, we know it's
not a place where you have four walls
and with steps and a steeple and pews
and pockets.
It's not that.
It's where Christ is head.
Where his headship and authority is established and
operated.
That is the church we are talking about
this afternoon.
Now, the next thing is this matter of
ministering or administering.
What do we mean by administering the church?
Now, to be an administrator, you have to
be given something or entrusted with something to
administer.
Ordinarily, in most places, in most churches, people
are kept busy with programs, projects, things to
do, things to do.
For instance, for those who are in responsibility,
the Lord entrusted with something that's very precious
and very dear to his heart.
His redeemed people.
For us to care, to feed, to nurture,
to protect, to lead to God.
In other words, it is not an easy
task.
If the Lord is not the head and
to give direction, there's nothing we can do.
There's nothing we can do.
Now, to me, to feed, to guide, to
care, to protect the Lord's people, the sheep
of God, is very, very vital and very,
very important.
But I think there's something more than that.
I think to be an administrator of the
church is to administer the church in such
a way so that the headship and authority
of Christ can be brought into view.
In other words, to administer the church is
not to administer people.
It's simply to bring in the Lordship of
Christ.
To bring in his headship among his people
properly.
So, in other words, for the headship of
the Lord Jesus to be operated and his
authority established, the church has one lesson to
learn.
And that is a lesson of total submission
to the head.
And that's the hardest lesson for all of
us.
Because you have your ideas.
I have my ideas, how a church ought
to run.
We have programs and projects, things that we
think we ought to do.
But for instance, the lesson as the church,
the body of Christ, I think that one
lesson we learn, individual as well as together,
corporately, is how to submit and how to
obey.
It's through the church obedience and submission that
the headship and authority can be managed.
Because there's no one to challenge him.
We simply allow him to be the head.
As our brother Paul says, his government, his
authority is established.
He's in full control.
Now when we touch this administering the church,
we touch this matter of authority.
To be the head is to be an
authority.
There is a brother in our fellowship.
His daughter, Dickie, about four years old, is
very, very bright.
Very bright.
One day while they were eating and she
stood up and she said to the family,
she said, I'm not afraid of anyone.
And then the father said to her, he
said, aren't you afraid of God?
She said, no.
He said, aren't we his children?
As children we don't afraid of God, but
parents, because there's a love relationship.
Then he said, he said, aren't you afraid
of me, your daddy?
Because when you were bad, I took you
into the bathroom, I spanked you.
And she said, right, that's right.
He said, when you took me into the
bathroom, you spanked me because it was when
I was bad.
It's okay.
Now, brother and sister, there is love, but
there's also what?
Discipline.
When it comes to discipline, you see, authority
is behind it.
Love is behind it.
Now, when the two sons of Zebedee, when
they came to the Lord and they asked
for those two places of authority, one on
the right of the Lord, one on the
left of the Lord, and both of them,
I'm sure we know that they were very
much aware of this matter of authority.
Some of them, they follow Jesus, they know
this matter of authority is a very important
thing.
And so they came to the Lord, and
they came to the right person, and they
asked the Lord to grant them one to
sit on the right one to sit on
the left.
And the Lord did not say they were
asking for the wrong thing.
The Lord did not say they were asking
for the wrong thing.
The Lord simply said, can you drink the
cup that I drink?
Can you be baptized with the baptism with
which I'm baptized?
That's all the Lord answered.
And their reply was, yes, we are able.
And the Lord answered again, He said, yes,
you shall drink the cup that I drink,
and you will be baptized with the baptism
with which I'm baptized.
But, it's not for me to give you
this place or that place.
It's reserved for those who have been prepared.
So, apparently, brother and sister, there is such
a thing as authority.
And the only thing that we know is
that those who are really in authority, they
don't know they are in authority.
Because right after this matter of John and
James came to the Lord, the Lord immediately
followed and said, the Gentiles, they have a
different way of ruling.
Earthly way.
And He said, we, you, as God's people,
you, my own, you shall be different from
them.
The way we are recognizing authority and the
way the world recognizes authority are two totally
different, two different spheres, two different systems, two
different kingdoms, contrary one to another.
And we heard again and again this week,
those two systems, those two kingdoms can never
meet.
There is no compromise.
And the Lord said, to be great is
to be what?
To be a servant.
And to be a first is to be
a slave of all.
And the Lord gave Himself as an example.
He said, the Son of Man came not
to be served, but to what?
To serve others.
And to get His life as a ransom
for many.
So, brothers and sisters, that's what we learn
from the Scripture.
To serve is to be nothing, to be
a slave.
Now, the next question is, who can serve?
Who is qualified to serve?
Now, we think, no one is qualified.
No one is qualified.
You know, I think, for those who are
serving the Lord, we always have this paradox.
In one sense, we know we are called
to serve.
And we know we should serve.
And yet, deep down in our spirit, there
is that same thing that we are not
able to do.
I cannot, I cannot.
And I think this too, you know, the
paradoxes will go through for the rest of
our life.
In one sense, the Lord said, you are
to serve me.
I redeem you for to be my own.
I deliver you out of Egypt.
I brought you out here that you might
serve me.
And yet, on the other hand, there is
that consciousness that we are not able.
That we are not able.
And therefore, if there is any ministry, any
service, it is not of ourselves.
Now, let's just move on to a couple
of things that might help us in this
matter of learning how to serve in the
church and brothers and sisters.
The first thing I believe, brothers and sisters,
is this matter of making ourselves available to
the Lord, availability.
Or let's put it another way, a heart
of a true servant, a heart of a
true servant.
Now, Moses was a faithful servant.
When the Lord told him to go to
Pharaoh, he went to Pharaoh.
When the Lord told him to do this,
he did it.
In the wilderness, the Lord said, you come
up to the mountain, he went up to
the mountain.
The Lord said, you go down, he went
down.
The Lord said, you tell this to Aaron
and to his sons and to Israel, and
he did.
And because of his faithfulness, he was given
that heavenly pattern of the tabernacle.
And it was Moses' time was at God's
disposal.
Whenever God wants him, he's there.
Now, in this country, time is a rare
commodity, a rare commodity.
And I think I mentioned this once before.
Someone told me that when you're in England,
you walk.
And when you come to Canada, you run.
And when you come to USA, you're breathless.
You have no time for anything.
So, brothers and sisters, for those who want
to take a place of responsibility and serve
the Lord, we must be willing to give
our time totally to the Lord.
If we don't give our time to the
Lord, to seek his mind, to seek his
will, how can we lead others?
You know, in Timothy and Titus, we are
told, those who are in the responsibility should
be able to teach.
If we are not taught by the Lord,
how can we teach others?
If we don't go to the Lord for
direction, how can we direct others?
It's impossible.
We are blind leading the blind.
And so, brothers and sisters, we must be
willing to give our time to the Lord.
Then we can give our time to the
brothers and sisters.
Now, of course, brothers and sisters in the
fellowship, they give their time to the Lord.
I'm sure they pray, they read their Bible,
they come to the fellowship.
But for those in the responsibility, we have
to give more.
I like what Father Neal says.
Those in the responsibility, they are not perfect.
They are not perfect.
They are very ordinary brothers and sisters, but
they were just those who were willing to
give a little more than the rest in
the fellowship to the Lord.
That's what the Lord requires.
The Lord knows our frailty.
He knows what we can, what we cannot.
But for those who are in the responsibility,
we have to give a little more than
the average brothers and sisters in the fellowship.
We have to be a little bit ahead
of them.
Now, this matter of time is really something
very vital.
It's really a testing ground of our sincerity,
our commitment.
You know, the qualification for those in responsibility,
they have to be disciplined people, be above
reproach, sincere.
Now, if you always come to a meeting
late, after the prayer time or the fellowship
already has begun, you come in and you
are a responsible brother.
For instance, does that show that you are
not sincere?
There is a lack of commitment in you.
Now, I have seen this in many places.
The brothers and sisters, they were there, and
after the first song, and then the responsible
brother, and finally they walk in.
It shows there is something lacking.
There is lack of commitment.
There is lack of sincerity.
And because of that, we cannot be a
good example for the brothers and sisters, and
therefore the fellowship is weak.
It's weak.
So, this matter of time is very, very
important, brothers and sisters.
We must be willing to give our time
to the Lord, to wait upon Him, to
pray, to meditate upon His Word, to be
instructed by Him, and make ourselves available to
the brothers and sisters.
So, time is a very important thing.
Now, I heard once before, you are not
going to have time, because there are limited
legitimate requirements of this life.
Especially, as for, if you have a house,
there are many things you have to do
around the house.
You look, something needs to be done.
You look there, something needs to be done.
You just have no time.
Not only that, your wife will require your
time.
Your children also will require your time.
And your profession also will require your time.
And you yourself also will require some time
for yourself.
And you have no time for anything.
So, we have to learn to what?
We have to learn to buy time.
Redeem the time for the Lord.
So, the first thing I believe is this
matter of time.
Now, the second thing is that we give
ourselves to the Lord as individuals.
I give myself to the Lord.
But my wife, well, she can live her
own life.
My kids can do their own things.
For instance, I believe there is a tremendous
weakness in the church is because the family
cannot come together to serve the Lord as
a family unit.
So, for the brother who is in responsibility,
I think it is the only right thing.
Your wife may not be totally in agreement
with you in the way that you serve
the Lord and the way you're giving your
time to the Lord.
But nevertheless, you must offer her up to
the Lord.
You must offer your children up to the
Lord for the ministry that you can render
to the church as a family unit.
If the responsible truly loves his wife, I'm
sure in his prayer he will offer his
wife, he will offer his children to the
Lord to serve as a unit.
Because there is nothing more honorable than serving
the king of kings and the Lord of
lords.
And the Lord wants us to serve him
as a family unit.
Now, we see that in the book of
Genesis.
You see, one of the...
Satan is always trying to divide.
God always unites, brings things together, he holds
things together, you know, holding it.
But Satan is always trying to disintegrate, to
divide.
So, when God brought Adam and Eve together,
the first thing Satan took is trying to
put a wedge between the husband and the
wife.
Adam blamed Eve for the fruit.
A division between husband and wife.
We should not allow that to happen.
The Lord brought us together as one.
We have to claim that for the Lord.
Then the second thing is between the brothers.
Immediately we see what happened in the book
of Genesis.
Cain and Abel, two brothers.
And Satan is again trying to destroy that
relationship.
So, Satan is right here.
Among us to destroy that relationship between husband
and wife as well as between the brothers.
And we have to be on God.
So, I believe for those in response, we
must learn to offer our wives and our
children to the Lord so that we can
serve him as a unit.
Because family is the smallest unit of the
testimony of the Lord Jesus.
Then, the next thing, the third thing is
that we have to learn, brothers and sisters,
to use God's blessing upon us as a
blessing for the church.
You know, we are all offsprings of Abraham.
And the Lord told Abraham that your offsprings
will be a blessing, what?
To the nations.
So, when God gives Abraham a blessing, it's
not just for Abraham to enjoy, so that
he will bless others.
So, for instance, for those who are in
response, we must learn to bless others.
You know, people go to church to be
blessed.
Isn't that true?
And they often do.
You know, oh, I was in such a
place and I was blessed.
Now, do you know why you are blessed
when you go to church?
Because there are those others who brought blessing
to the church.
We are to bring blessing to the church
so that the church will become a place
of blessing.
So, we are all vessels of blessing.
If there are more brothers and sisters who
bring blessings to the church, those who come
will be richly blessed.
So, brothers and sisters, we have to learn
to bring blessing to the church.
We have to learn to bring blessing to
our brothers and sisters.
Now, elders in response to brothers, they are
to be hospitable.
You open your homes.
Entertain brothers and sisters.
If the church has no place to meet,
you open your home for them to meet
in your presence.
If the church has no place to have
prayer meeting, you open your home to have
prayer meeting in your church.
And that's how you read in the Book
of Acts.
Many churches began in homes.
Began in homes.
And when we meet in homes, there is
really a home, really a family, homey atmosphere.
You can sit close together.
You can tell each other more intimately.
When Boris Kong and I were in Florida
in January, and we all aligned.
And this brother, he was telling us his
recent experience.
They had a group of mostly Chinese brothers
and sisters, and they met in home.
And the fellowship was sweet and intimate.
It was growing.
And so, they decided, since we are growing,
expanding, we need to have a place to
meet.
We need to have a place.
And so, they bought an old church with
pulpits and pews.
And he told us, the first time that
they moved into this so-called church with
pews and platforms, he said, 70% of
the life of the church flew out the
window.
Because the moment you sit into a pew,
we became very, very passive.
We became very passive.
We sat there and waiting for someone to
get up there and minister to us.
There is no participation anymore.
There is no active participation.
Everybody just go there and sat.
So, I think we had to maintain that
close atmosphere, and home is always a good
place to begin.
Home is always a good place to begin.
And I remember one thing about being in
homes.
We would suffer much inconvenience, you know, for
the host.
You have to set up the chairs.
You have to give out the song books.
You have to batten the floor.
You may even have to remove some of
your precious ornaments, store them somewhere, just in
case some of these little ones, they will
come around and you know what happens.
And I remember when we first opened our
home for the Bolling Sisters, I was, you
know, in one sense it was a joy,
but, you know, there were inconveniences.
And you were fearful, you know.
That piece of thing I brought from Taiwan,
just in case one of those walls ran
into it, what would happen to it?
Those things happen.
But, for instance, the Lord helped us overcome.
The Lord helped us overcome.
And I remember that one brother told me,
he said, now you see that carpet, you
just moved it in the store, and now
you open your house for Bolling Sisters to
meet.
And they troop in and troop out.
He said, I remember.
Because you open your house for the Lord's
people to use, and they use your carpet
in and out, troop in every Sunday, in
and out, especially winter sun or shiny sleep
or, you know.
He said, remember, remember, remember.
He said, if you don't open your house
for the Lord, you will have to stock
with that carpet for the rest of your
life.
Now that carpet may not match your furniture,
and you stock with it for the rest
of your life.
You look at it every day.
But he said, if you use your house
for the Lord, and you troop and troop,
the Lord will give you grace.
Maybe you will change your carpet once in
every five years.
Now that is something very, very encouraging.
That is something very encouraging.
Bolling Sisters, it is true.
He always gives us more than what we
offer to Him.
Much, much more.
So we need to make ourselves available.
Not just individually, our family, and all that
is in our family.
Because all that we have, they are His.
So we should not hold anything back for
the Lord and for His purpose.
Now let's move on to the next thing.
First, we talk about this availability and heart
of a servant.
And the second thing is this acceptability.
We do things not for doing things' sake.
We are doing things so that it will
be acceptable in His sight.
In other words, we do things to please
Him.
Now that is the heart of a true
son.
It is always to please the Father.
That should be the thing that we need
to cultivate.
We serve as a servant, or we serve
as a what?
As a son.
So Christ, as a son, He was faithful
in His house.
Now, brothers and sisters, you know the Lord
Jesus when He was on earth, He did
everything to please the Father.
His aim was His delight.
The Father's delight.
And so when He was 12 years old,
He declared, when He went to the temple
at the age of 12, and on their
way home, the parents could not find Him.
They looked around, they went back to the
temple, and they found Him there.
And they said, Now, Son, what are you
doing to us?
Now you know the answer.
They said, Do you not know I should
be a godwife?
My father's business.
A wife in my father's name.
And brothers and sisters, since we are sons,
our main business is to be about His
business, is to be in His house.
Not our personal business, not my house, but
His house.
Now, there is always a temptation, for those
in leadership, is to run things as though
the church is something yours, personal thing.
There is always that danger.
I am very much aware of that.
And I try to take precaution so that
there will be no misunderstanding, even though I
don't have that intention in my heart.
But I do what I can so that
the others, brothers and sisters, and the people
in our surroundings, they will not have the
notion that that is so-and-so's church,
so-and-so's meeting.
But you cannot help it.
Because in our fellowship, people say, Oh, that
is the Wu's church.
They do that.
But I keep telling brothers and sisters, It's
not my church, it's not my meeting, it's
the Lord's.
It's just the Lord's.
And so, by the Lord's grace, he took
me away from the fellowship, almost once a
year away, so the local brethren can assume
responsibility and can exercise their gift and can
function.
So I think, for those who are in
leadership, we have to give room for the
others to come into the place of leadership
or that we can serve the Lord together
as a whole.
Not just with you, but everybody.
Now, the next thing is that serving the
Lord, doing things pleasing to him, to the
Lord, we have to tune our ears to
the Lord.
Because when you begin to do things in
a fellowship, you will receive many suggestions from
the brothers and sisters.
They will come and say, I think this
will be a better way.
And another person will say, I think this
will be a better way.
And there will be many, many suggestions.
And you yourself sometimes think, oh, maybe this
will be a better way.
But brothers and sisters, we need to tune
our ears to the Lord.
We need to learn to receive our direction
from the Lord himself.
And therefore, we have to learn the lesson,
the hard lesson, to say no to ourselves
and always say no to the leading of
the Holy Spirit.
There's one thing I learned in Hong Kong
when we were there in 1983.
And our brothers and sisters would say, no
one can give us direction.
No one.
Only the Holy Spirit, through God's Word, we
can find direction.
Brothers and sisters, they can only give us
confirmation, but never direction.
And I think that is one of the
most important for those in leadership.
We must always get our direction from the
Lord, from the Holy Spirit, by waiting before,
and not listen to suggestions or own personal
will.
No one can give us direction.
But brothers and sisters, they can give us
confirmation, but not direction.
Now, another temptation is that we often want
to do things, you know, to please people.
With their approval.
You know, after you do something, you say,
now, is it all right?
Is it okay?
You want to consult them.
And it's all right.
But we must not seek their approval.
We must do all things to seek God's
approval.
Because God's way is often contrary to man's
way.
And for those who are in leadership, if
we are hard determined to please the Lord,
we will suffer oftentimes misunderstanding and even rejection.
That is the price we have to consider.
If you are not willing to be rejected
and oftentimes misunderstood by your brothers and sisters,
you are not qualified to become a leader.
It's hard.
Because we all want people to say, you
know, you're doing okay.
You're doing fine.
But we cannot please man.
We can only please God.
So, brothers and sisters, we must learn to
say no to ourselves.
We must say no to many suggestions.
We must only learn to get direction from
the head.
If the head psychology is to be established
and operated, we must get an opportunity.
To show us His ways and His directions.
And that will take time.
That will take time.
Now, throughout this week, we heard again and
again, the Lord is not looking for successes.
He's just looking for what's in our hearts.
He sees the heart.
So, brothers and sisters, faithfulness is what He's
looking for.
Faithfulness, which is true to the Lord, is
what He's looking for.
And so, don't be too ambitious.
You know, sometimes we are very ambitious.
But don't over, don't be ambitious.
Just be faithful.
Whatever the measure of grace has given to
you, be faithful.
And I like what Lance said, just be
yourself.
The Lord knows your capacity.
Don't over demand yourself.
Don't do what you cannot do.
Be faithful with a little and the Lord
will increase His trust in you.
Now, as we grow in the Lord, servants
and sons, and then, of course, there is
that friendship, there is that close relationship.
We are not only servants.
We are not just sons, but we are
friends.
John 15, the Lord said, I don't call
you slaves anymore, I call you friends.
Because what I heard, what I learned from
the Father, now I make it known to
you.
So, as we grow into maturity, there is
that intimate fellowship as a friend.
And the Lord takes us into His company.
He shares the deep thing of His heart
with those who walk intimately with Him.
So, what I said, we need to learn
to walk intimately with the Lord so that
He can share whatever is in His heart
with us.
Now, the next thing is this matter of
adjustability.
Whether we are sons or servants, we need
to learn to adjust.
You know, we are people of habits.
After we have done this thing for so
many years and we get so used to
it, and it's hard for us to shift
gears.
But our head is 11 years.
He is bigger, much bigger than what we
know He is.
He is much bigger.
And He always has something more.
You know, the problem with those in leadership
is that once we think we are doing
okay, we are so easily satisfied.
And the Lord always brings us to a
certain level in order to prepare to bring
us to a higher level.
So, there is no such thing as we
have arrived.
You know, we know what to do now.
There is no such thing.
So, we must always give room for the
Lord to do more, to show us more
of Himself.
So, this matter of adjustability is absolutely important.
I discovered one thing.
As we grow older, we get more fit
in our ways.
You know, we think we have the experience.
We think we have a long history with
the Lord.
We know more than some of the younger
brothers and sisters.
And they should just listen to us.
Do what we tell them to do.
Brothers and sisters, it's not they and us
as we heard the other day.
We are together in this thing.
So, there should be adjustment between the older
saints as well as the younger saints.
Learn one from the other as we follow
the Lord together.
And so, as God has taught us, the
sign of adjustability is always a sign of
maturity.
You know, when you are mature, you are
always set in your way.
A youngster, when he wants a candy, he
wants a candy.
You cannot substitute candy with a food.
You say, that's what I want.
As we grow in the Lord, we learn
to make adjustments to the Lord himself and
to one another.
And above all to the Lord.
Because he is so much bigger.
He is so full, so vast.
We are so small.
And he wants to bring us to perfection
and to fullness.
Therefore, we have to do all the adjustments.
We have to do all the adjustments.
So, according to this, we have to be
adjusted.
Not to be set in our ways.
That is a danger.
Once we are set in our way, we
get into a rut.
And it's very difficult for us, for the
Holy Spirit to shake us out of that
fixed position.
You know, there are those who are so
sure.
And I think there is a danger in
that.
We know and yet we don't know.
We are sure and yet we are not
always sure.
That's the way how we are being adjusted.
So, we need to learn to do that.
It's very difficult, you know.
I mean, in this world, you are sure,
you are sure, you know.
But in our walk with the Lord, yes,
we are sure and yes, at the same
time, we are not.
We know and yet we don't know.
And even sometimes I think we consider that
we know and for sure and it turns
out to be not quite right.
And that's how the Lord is teaching us,
adjusting us.
So, we need to be for sure.
Now, finally, brothers and sisters, the Lord, in
John 13, at the Last Supper, He arose
from the supper and He laid aside His
garments.
Now, brothers and sisters, food and clothing are
the two most essential things of this life.
Whether you are a medical doctor with big
income, a school teacher with medium income, or
with a secretary with little income.
Now, people say, now, what do you do?
You say, oh, I'm just making a living.
Everybody is making a living.
Food on the table, clothing where?
On your back.
Now, that is legitimate.
That is the right thing to do as
human beings.
That is what a responsible human being ought
to do.
Work so that you have food on the
table, clothing for yourself and also food for
your family, clothing for your family.
Now, the question is for the church.
Who is to live in the church?
You know, the Lord didn't finish His supper,
apparently, because He arose from the supper, and
He didn't finish His food on the table.
He didn't finish it.
The food was still there, because later on
He again put on the other garment and
He reclined on the table again.
So, brothers and sisters, many times when we
serve the Lord, we have to leave the
thing that is legitimate, even to our own
very life.
Can we really trust the Lord?
Now, eating food is really the test.
Take care of our own livelihood.
Now, sometimes we are more concerned about our
own livelihood than the test.
You know, there are some people, they have
to work on Sunday to make the extra
money for their family.
And I remember there was one story about
a barber in England, and he always opened
his barber shop on Sunday, because on Sunday
is the best day, because everybody is off,
and so you can get your hair cut.
So, Sunday is his Tuesday.
But after his conversion, the Holy Spirit seems
to be doing something with him.
Sunday, I should be with God's people.
Worshipping in the house of God.
And so he said, Now, if I don't
work, and he was calculating, I'll be short
of this much money.
And he was very, very, very, he was
struggling.
Should I close my shop on Sunday or
should I continue opening on Sunday?
If I open on Sunday, I couldn't meet
with the Lord's people.
And there's something inside prompting him that he
should go ahead and shut the door.
And he did.
And the Lord said, When he closed his
shop on Sunday, he said he couldn't handle
the rest of the sick days.
People would just keep coming in.
So therefore, you see, we all are thinking
about what we should eat, what we should
cook, and that's what the Gentiles do.
And the Lord said, If you seek my
kingdom, and my righteousness, all these things will
be added to you.
You see, the Lord's house must come first,
before God's own dwelling.
When we honour him, he will honour us.
Serve our brothers and sisters, so we must
learn to lay aside, rise up from the
supper, if necessary, to serve our brothers and
sisters.
Now, in this country of fluent, we rarely
go hungry.
But I know in other countries, those who
serve the Lord, they go hungry.
They go without a meal just to be
with those people.
So I think there's something more to it.
Now, the next thing is lay aside his
garment.
Of course, that's people.
He lay aside his glory, he put on
the flesh, became so.
And God says, That is what we ought
to do too.
Now, we are living in a so-called
classless society.
We are all equal.
All men are created equal.
But most people don't think so.
If you are a certain class of executive,
you think you are different from the average
worker.
I mean, we are conscious of that.
And that is a temptation.
That's a temptation.
Because of my station in life, you know,
and for me, to go and visit this
one soul, is below my right, my dignity,
below my social standing.
The Lord must get rid of all those
things.
Must redo us to a servant, to a
true slave, then we can serve others.
So we should never consider our social station,
my educational background, my income, my associates.
We must get rid of those things.
Lay them aside.
As long as we hold to those things,
our social standing, we can never serve the
Lord freely.
We can never serve the Lord freely.
We must lay all those down.
Now there is also the problem of ethnic
problems too.
That we also have, before we had some
Chinese brothers and sisters here.
There is a tendency for the Chinese brothers
and sisters just to be by themselves.
I can see this recently, because of the
language problem.
The brothers and sisters, we are God's people.
We are to serve all God's people.
Not any particular ethnic group or racial group.
Because they are our brothers and sisters.
And we are His people.
Now I know it is difficult for some
of the Chinese brothers and sisters to overcome.
Because they want to maintain that racial identity.
And when they preach the Gospel, they want
to preach to the Chinese.
And I think we ought to overcome that.
We are His people.
The Bible says, there is no division, there
is no distinction.
We are His people.
So probably we must learn to lay aside
our government, whether our social standing, our racial,
whatever.
Let them decide.
Then we can begin to serve.
Otherwise, how can we serve all?
It is slightly to serve all.
Now that all is very inclusive.
You cannot be selective about it.
So we have to learn to serve all.
Not a selective group of people that we
like to serve.
You know, who we choose to serve.
No.
Our Master is the one who decides who
we serve.
And He wants us to serve all.
And then the next thing is to take
up this power.
Lay aside and put something else.
And this power is to wash the other's
feet and to wipe them.
Now, brothers and sisters, in our everyday experience,
if you wash without wiping your feet or
hands dry, you just feel uncomfortable.
In fact, you feel awful.
Washing is half of the ministry.
We need the wiping to complete it.
So many brothers and sisters, they want to
wash.
The brothers and sisters, we don't need to
wipe dry.
So there's no residue there.
Everything is quite clean.
So you finally feel like you are truly
being washed.
That's how we should be, fresh brothers and
sisters.
Not just love, but we do.
Now, many brothers and sisters, they have a
desire to serve the Lord and love the
Lord.
They always say, if the spirit is willing
and the flesh is willing, it's always good.
Now I simplify.
And I think God and me put it
in a very beautiful way.
You can never love the Lord without your
willingness to deny yourself.
Many of us, we want to love the
Lord but we don't want to what?
Deny ourselves.
We don't want to get up from the
supper.
We don't want to lay aside our garments.
We don't want to what?
We want to wash people's feet, but we
don't want to hurt ourselves.
So God answers, for those who are in
responsibility, we need to learn.
We need to learn to lay down, to
wipe, to wash, to wipe, and to love
the Lord in the event that we must
be prepared to deny ourselves.
We cannot love without denying.
So, it's voluntary, it's sacrificial, and it's all
on love.
And then, it will be a sweet aroma
to the Lord.
Now, brothers and sisters, the fellowship we have
in Glasgow is very, very young.
Very few.
But I'm very thankful there are hearts that
are eager to serve the Lord.
Now, I'm not saying we know how, but
we all learn.
But we all learn.
And I think as long as we live,
we are learning.
As long as we live, we have that
desire to serve the Lord.
And yet, somehow, we keep crying and saying,
I'm not able.
And you know, it is so good.
It's when I say, I cannot, then the
Lord says, You cannot.
Now, brothers and sisters, let me just share
this with you.
In the house of the Lord, there is
no spectators sitting in the back seat.
We are all participants.
Everyone in the family should be an active
participant in the service.
Everyone is important.
I remember one brother in the Philippines.
He said, I'm not very gifted.
I cannot sing.
That's what our brother said.
He sang very well.
He said, I cannot sing.
I cannot preach.
I cannot do anything.
But he said, You know, I'm just like
a little toe, small toe in the body.
It is so useless.
You know, a little small toe in the
body.
He said, I'm just like that.
But he said, I cannot do anything.
But without me, you are one.
So just being there is also very important.
You see, often time we think, oh, they
can do without me.
What can I do?
There is nothing I can contribute.
That's a wrong attitude.
For instance, in the body of Christ, you
are very, very important.
Without you, we are incomplete.
And they said, give chance.
All the time, in our prayer meeting Tuesday
evening, if so and so is not there,
we feel there is something missing.
There is just something missing.
And when that person comes back, we say,
oh, what a rejoicing.
And now he is with us.
An added strength, an added encouragement, that we
can pray together.
So, brothers and sisters, you all are very
important.
You may not have a special ministry, but
you have a ministry.
You may not have a very important place,
but you also have a place.
You may not be important to the brothers
and sisters, but very important to the testament
of the Lord Jesus, to the ancient world.
Because that little toe, even though it is
useless, makes the body work.
So, brothers and sisters, I would encourage you,
do not refrain from the assembly of the
saints.
Your presence is vital.
So may the Lord help us.
So, to train to administer the church is
simply make ourselves available to the Lord.
And make ourselves available to the brothers and
sisters.
It is to seek to do things acceptable
in His sight.
Always to please Him.
Not to please man.
And then to be adjustable.
Because none of us are comfortable.
And the transformation process is going on all
the time.
We are being changed from glory to glory.
So, brothers and sisters, I just share those
three things.
Make ourselves available to the Lord.
It is causal.
Seek to do things acceptable in His sight.
And then to be adjustable.
You know, and to be adjustable, we have
to lay aside many of our own things.
We have to.
It's hard.
But it's worth it.
And I always think about the narrow gate.
You know, people use the narrow gate as
our initial salvation.
And I think it could be applied even
in our everyday Christian life.
If we want to walk with the Lord
into the narrow gate, we have to leave
many of our baggages.
We cannot take them in.
Things from the world we have to leave
out.
Things from the religious world we also have
to leave out.
In a sense, what gets through will be
Christ Himself.
Because only Christ can enter the narrow gate.
And only Christ can walk in that straight
path.
We always look for the broad one.
The wide gate.
Christ came.
And that's where the soul is.
So may the Lord help us.
Make us willing.
Just make us willing.
And He is looking for willing hearts.
He is looking for good deeds.
So may the Lord help all of us.
So shall we just bow our heads.
Our Father, we thank You for the privilege
to be called as Your servant.
We thank You for honoring us to be
called the sons of the living God.
We thank You that You call us out
of this world to serve You.
Lord, in the sense we know how to
give You our heart.
We know we cannot.
We know we are not called.
But You have called us to Yourself.
And not only that, You have deposited Your
very life in us.
Lord, so that we can serve You with
Your life.
We pray that You will give us faith.
Lord, to trust You.
Believing in what You want us to do.
You also give us the grace.
And Lord, we just pray that we be
those who are willing to make ourselves available
to You.
To commit ourselves to You.
Not just ourselves individually.
Those who are serving You.
But our wives, our family.
Lord, we may serve You as a unit.
We pray that You use all the blessings
You show upon us to bless others.
Lord, make us those who are truly committed
to Your purpose and to Your testament.
We pray that the Holy Spirit give us
that desire to do things that are pleasing
in Your sight.
Lord, not our own will, but Your will.
Seek to know Your mind, Your way, Your
direction for Your people.
And Lord, above all we do pray as
we follow You that You will help us.
Lord, to learn to adjust to Your perfect
will, to Your direction.
Lord, we know there is so much You
want to teach us.
Your way is above our way.
We just pray that You will keep us
in that humble place.
Lord, willing to be taught.
Willing to be adjusted.
Flexible in Your hand.
For You to mold, to form Christ into
us.
Lord, that we may be a blessing to
others.
Lord, again we cry to You.
Lord, without You we can do nothing.
But we thank You.
When we say we cannot, You assure us
that we can.
Lord, that is our only hope.
So we just commit one another into Your
loving hands.
Lord, do Your work in each assembly.
Lord, raise up those who are in responsibility.
Lord, give them wisdom.
Give them direction.
How to lead Your people.
Lord, we know You are doing the work
in these last days.
In many places, throughout this land.
We just pray that wherever You want people
to find, we pray that the headship and
authority of the Lord Jesus will be established.
And that Your name will be glorified.
We give You all the praise.
All the thanks.
Amen.