II. THE SERVICE BEING THE MINISTERING OF CHRIST
The service we are talking about is certainly not the so-called "Sunday morning service" to which many Christians are accustomed. Neither is it just to perform some work such as cleaning the church meeting hall, although that can be part of serving. The real service is our functioning in the church life in a way that ministers Christ. In preaching the gospel, offering a prayer, or giving a testimony in the meeting, you should have the view that you are serving Christ to others. A stewardess on an airplane serves people with refreshments. Similarly, in the church we should be ones who serve people with Christ.
[To minister Christ as life to others should be the purpose of all the things we do, whether we are cleaning, arranging, cooking, visiting, ministering the Word, singing, or praying. All the practical things in the church life are nothing but the channels, the means through which, by which, and in which we would minister Christ to others.
If others cannot sense Christ in the kitchen while you are cooking, it is doubtful that they will sense Him in the meetings in a real way. To have Christ ministered in the meetings we need to exercise ourselves in such a way in doing all the practical things that Christ will be ministered in the practical things. Every part of the service of the church must minister Christ as life.
We need to learn to serve in the spirit, and we need to learn to do all the things in the service of the church in a way that ministers Christ to others. This is our aim and purpose.]
III. THE BASIS OF OUR SERVICE
A. By the Growth in Life
[First we have the aspect of life, then the aspect of service. We have the life matter settled first, then, based on that fact, we have the matter of service. Without life and the adequate growth in life, we cannot have the service. The little children can do many things, but they cannot serve, because they simply do not have the adequate growth in life.]
In the foregoing lessons we have covered many aspects and practices of life that can help you to grow in life. We must all rise up to serve according to our capacity in life. We should not excuse ourselves as being too young. Every believer should have a proper life of service.
B. In the Body
[The Christian service is a matter of life and in the Body. It is a matter in the Body and a matter of the Body. You cannot serve the Lord as an individual Christian. To serve the Lord, you need to realize that the Lord’s service is something in the Body.
Every believer is a member of the Body, a part of the Body. An individual is not the Body. A member of the Body cannot function without the Body. The hand is good, quite useful, but if it is cut off from the body, it becomes not only dead, but also ugly, terrible, and even terrifying. You may love to shake my hand, but if this hand were detached from the body, it would be terrible.
Today many Christians are detached, separated from the reality of the Body. It is as if they are disembodied members. The members of the body are beautiful as long as they are attached where they belong in the body, but in any other place they are terrible. How sad it is that many Christians today are like ears that have been detached and put on the shoulders. How could they serve the Lord? How could we serve the Lord without being built up together as members of the Body? It is impossible.]
(Lesson Book, Level 3: Two Spirits—Two Spirits - the Divine Spirit and the Human Spirit, Chapter 21, by Witness Lee)
