We Believers are Slaves Serving the Lord with the Spiritual Gifts He has Given us

We believers in Christ are slaves serving the Lord with the spiritual gifts He has given to us.

As believers in Christ, we have a dual status before God: from the aspect of life, we are virgins growing in life, loving the Lord, and being filled with the Spirit, and from the aspect of service, we are the Lord’s slaves, and we need to serve Him faithfully, doing business until He comes.

This is seen in Matt. 25:1-23. At the end of this age, as we prepare ourselves for the Lord’s return and seek to be ready for Him to rapture us, we need to see that we are both virgins and slaves.

As virgins, we need to be prudent; we need to not only have oil in our lamp but even more, have oil in our vessel.

What does it mean for us to have oil in our vessel? Our lamp is our spirit, for the spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah.

However, our vessel is our soul, our personality. It is not enough for us to have oil in our lamp, that is, to have the Spirit in our spirit. It is good, but it is not enough.

We need to have oil in our vessel, that is, we need to exercise throughout the day to gain an extra portion of the Spirit in our soul.

The Lord Jesus is the Spirit in the spirit of each and every believer in Christ; however, how much of the Spirit is in the souls of the believers?

How much of the Spirit did we gain in our mind, emotion, and will today? Did we allow the Lord to spread into our mind and influence the way we think?

Did we permit the Lord to spread in our emotion and balance them, causing us to love what He loves and dislike what He dislikes?

Did we give the Lord the permission to subdue our will so that our choices reflect His choices?

We all have to admit that we are in the process of learning to gain the Spirit in our soul, that is, we’re learning to pay the price to gain the extra portion of the Spirit in our vessel.

Day by day we come to the Lord to enjoy Him in His word and we set times to pray for us to absorb Him and enjoy all that He is.

We are learning to redeem the time, for the days are evil, by being filled in spirit and with the Spirit.

This is a learning process. We are learning to abide in the fellowship with the Lord not only daily but even hourly.

This is a continual exercise. We are learning to redeem our time and spend our energy to be saturated and soaked with God’s holy word.

May we remain in this learning process so that we may pay the price to gain more of the Spirit in our vessel for us to have something of the Spirit to minister to others for the building up of the church and the intensifying of the shining of the lampstand.

In Life we’re Virgins Living for the Lord, in Service we’re Slaves Serving the Lord

Matthew 25 tells us that we believers in Christ have a dual status before God: in life we are virgins living for the Lord, and in service we are slaves serving the Lord.

In Matt. 25:14-30 we see the parable of the talents, where a man was about to go abroad, so he called his servants and gave them talents according to their own ability, and then he left.

The Lord Jesus is that man, who went abroad by going to the heavens, and He gave us His possessions; we believers in Christ are not only virgins living for the Lord but also slaves serving the Lord.

The Bible shows us that, from the aspect of service, we believers are slaves serving the Lord (1 Cor. 7:22-23; 2 Pet. 1:1; James 1:1; Rom. 1:1).

Our status before the Lord in our relationship with Him is of two aspects: in life, we’re virgins who live for the Lord, seek to gain the Spirit in their soul, and love the Lord, and in service, we are His purchased slaves serving Him.

May we see that we have this dual status and may we daily exercise in both aspects.

As virgins, we need to be filled with the Spirit inwardly and love the Lord. As servants of God, we have spiritual gifts which we need to exercise to serve the Lord (Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:4; 1 Pet. 4:10; 2 Tim. 1:6).

May we not neglect these two aspects but rather may we pay proper attention to both, being proper both in life and in service.

Hallelujah, in life we are virgins loving the Lord, being filled in spirit, and preparing ourselves for our Bridegroom’s return!

Praise the Lord, in service we are slaves of Christ serving Him faithfully until He comes with the reward in His kingdom!

Related to what we are, we are virgins; related to our faithfulness in service, we are slaves.

We may like being virgins, for all we have to do is personally enjoy the Lord, be filled with Him, and be in His word to gain Him more and more each day.

But we may not like hearing that we are slaves; no one wants to be a slave.

However, the Lord has purchased us to be His slaves; first, He came as the Slave-Savior to serve us, and now He has gained us and came into us to make us the same as He is, a slave of God in the church.

As virgins, the Lord is our Bridegroom, the most wonderful and pleasant person; we love Him, we run after Him, and we love to spend time with Him.

As slaves of the Lord, the Lord is our Master; He is a strict master, giving us spiritual gifts and expecting us to do business and gain an increase of the gifts He has given to us.

We have a dual status and the Lord also has a dual status.

On the one hand, we love HIm as our lovely, pleasant, and sweet Bridegroom, and on the other hand, we worship and obey Him as our strict Master who deals with us in a strict way in the matter of service.

As virgins, we need the filling of the oil in our vessel; our vessel needs to be filled and contain the Spirit, even to gain an extra portion of the Spirit.

As slaves, we have a talent, a spiritual talent, which the Lord has given us for our service to Him.

As vessels, we need the Spirit as the oil inwardly, and as slaves we need the talents outwardly.

As virgins, we need to let the Lord fill us to the brim, even sink deep into our being to reach the most hidden parts so that He may transform us into His image.

As slaves of God, we need to exercise our spiritual gifts to serve the Lord.

We cannot focus too much on either of the two aspects, for both are vitally necessary and they relate to one another.

We cannot serve the Lord as a slave without being inwardly filled with the Spirit, and we cannot just be filled with the Spirit and not serve the Lord, for the infilling issues in the outward serving.

Sometimes, however, we may be so full of activities outwardly, being involved in many aspects of the service in the church life, but we forget or neglect the aspect of being filled in spirit.

This will cause our service to the Lord to be damaged and improper.

At other times, however, we may only spend time with the Lord and deal with many things before Him, but we may not be involved in any aspect of the service; in this case, there is no outflow of the life that is within us.

May we realize that we’re both virgins loving the Lord and living for Him and slaves serving the Lord faithfully by using our spiritual gifts.

Lord Jesus, thank You for unveiling us to see that we are both virgins living for the Lord and slaves serving the Lord. Hallelujah, from the aspect of life, we are chaste virgins loving the Lord, seeking to be filled with Him, and growing in life unto maturity to be prepared for our Bridegroom’s return! Praise the Lord, from the aspect of service, we are slaves serving the Lord, being purchased by Christ to serve Him with the spiritual gifts that He has given to us. Amen, Lord, may we daily exercise to live the life of a prudent virgin waiting for the return of her Bridegroom and a life of serving You as a slave until You return with Your reward. We open to You, dear Lord; renew us inwardly and saturate us with the Spirit. We come to You, filled in spirit, to serve You in the church and for the church, exercising our spiritual gift for the building up of the church. We love You, our dear Bridegroom, and we eagerly await Your return! We obey You, our strict Master, and we use the gifts You gave us to serve You as a slave until You come back!

We Believers are Slaves Serving the Lord with the Spiritual Gifts He has given to us

For service, for work, we need the talent, the spiritual gift, so that we may be equipped as a good slave to accomplish what the Lord intends to accomplish (Matt. 25:20-23; 24:45-51).

On one hand, we need to be watchful as prudent virgins, and on the other hand, we need to be faithful slaves who give food to God’s household at the right time.

We believers in Christ are slaves serving the Lord with the spiritual gifts He has given to us (Matt. 25:14-15).

Slaves signify believers viewed from the aspect of service.

We are saved to serve. The Lord is our pattern as the Slave of God, and as soon as we are saved, we have a function: we are slaves serving the Lord.

The elders, for example, are not persons in authority outwardly doing things to manage the church only in an outward way; they are the slaves of the saints.

The serving saints, the deacons, and the deaconesses, everyone is a slave of the Lord.

The Lord has delivered to us His possessions; these possessions signify the church (Eph. 1:18) with all the believers, who constitute God’s household (Matt. 24:45).

What are these talents given to us? What are the spiritual gifts that the Lord has delivered to each one of us before He left?

Talents signify spiritual gifts (25:15-23; Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:4; 1 Pet. 4:10; 2 Tim. 1:6-7); the filling of the Spirit in life enables us to use the spiritual gift in service (work), and the spiritual gift in service matches the filling of the Spirit in life, that we may be a perfect member of Christ. Amen!

As we live at the consummation of this age and are preparing ourselves for the Lord’s return, cooperating with Him to bring in His kingdom, we need to be prudent virgins living for the Lord and faithful slaves serving the Lord.

We need to be the faithful slaves who serve the Lord with the gifts He has given to us.

This doesn’t just mean that we are busy and occupied with many things; rather, we have been given certain gifts by the Lord, and we need to use these gifts in serving Him as slaves.

On one hand, these are the things that the Master wants us to take care of – His possessions.

On the other hand, He gave us some spiritual gifts. These gifts, as seen in Rom. 12:6, differ according to the grace given to us.

The more we enjoy Christ, the more gifts will be given to us.

As we serve the Lord as a slave in the church life, we need to continue to enjoy the Lord; the more we enjoy Him as grace, the more spiritual gifts we have.

These gifts are the gift of the Spirit, for the Spirit becomes our ability to serve the saints.

Eph. 4:7 says that to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

It all depends on our ability, the measure of our spiritual ability.

Many Christians misapply and misunderstand this, thinking that the gifts the Lord gave us are our abilities and capacity; some are able to manage things well, others can speak eloquently, while others have a good voice, so they think these are the spiritual gifts the Lord gave them.

These are natural abilities, our natural talents, not the spiritual gifts the Lord gave us.

A spiritual gift is something the Lord gives us and we exercise for the building up of the church.

The more we enjoy the Lord, the more our spiritual gift increases so that we may be able to serve the Lord and build up the church.

The filling of the Spirit enables us to use the spiritual gifts in service.

The more we are filled in spirit, the more we can serve the Lord.

We serve the Lord not just by doing things outwardly in the church or by singing in the church, etc; we serve the Lord as a result of our enjoyment of Christ, and the spiritual gift is manifested as we are filled in spirit.

If we do things for the Lord but are not filled in spirit, our service is merely some kind of natural work with no spiritual value.

The spiritual gift in service has to match the filling of the Spirit in life.

If we realize we’re slaves serving the Lord according to the spiritual gift He has given to us and we faithfully serve the Lord, we will enter into the joy of our Master at His return.

The joy of our Master signifies the enjoyment of the Lord in the coming kingdom as a reward for our faithful service to Him (Matt. 25:21, 23).

This refers to inward satisfaction, not to outward position; to participate in the Lord’s joy is the greatest reward, better than the glory and position in the coming kingdom.

May we be those who use the Lord’s gift in this age to save people and to minister His riches to them.

Lord Jesus, thank You for delivering to us Your possessions and giving us some spiritual gifts so that we can serve You as slaves until You return. Hallelujah, the Lord has given to us the church with all the believers, who constitute God’s household! Praise the Lord, He has given to us spiritual gifts, and we can be filled in spirit to develop and exercise our gifts in our service to God! Amen, Lord, fill us today. We want to be filled in spirit and enjoy You as grace until the Spirit fills our vessel. Hallelujah, the filling of the Spirit in life enables us to use our spiritual gift in service for the building up of the church! Amen, Lord, may our spiritual gift in service match the filling of the Spirit in life so that we may be a perfect member of Christ. We love You, Lord, and we give ourselves to You to serve You in the Body and for the Body. May we be the faithful and prudent slaves who diligently and faithfully serve the Lord so that we may enter into the joy of our Master at His return!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Matthew, msgs. 65-66, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God (2024 October ITERO), week 6, Being Watchful in Life and Faithful in Service.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Not assuming a status but serving as slaves, a portion from, How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – 12 Andrew Murray’s quotes on humility, via, Lamb Follower.
  – How to serve the Lord, a portion from, Life Lessons, Vol. 2 (#13-24), Chapter 11, by Witness Lee.
  – Know your history – history of those who served God, via, CSOC.
  – Distinguishing the service of the ministry from the service of the church, a portion from, Basic Principles for the Service in the Church Life, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – The personal and intimate experience of Christ, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Publication work in the Lord’s recovery, via, One Publication.
  – The heart of our spiritual fathers toward us and how they have served us, via, Living to Him.
  – Serve God in Fellowship While Seeing His Face, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Why You Need to Know the Fifth Gospel, Paul’s Gospel, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – For His servants Christ will come / And reward each faithful one; / Slothful ones will be undone— / Serve in time! / Make your single talent count, / All self’s problems now surmount, / Serve with Christ, the living fount— / Serve in time! (Hymns #1304 stanza 3)
  – Consecrated is Thy temple, / Purged from every stain and sin; / May Thy flame of glory now be / Manifested from within. / Let the earth in solemn wonder / See my body willingly / Offered as Thy slave obedient, / Energized alone by Thee. (Hymns #403 stanza 2)
  – To the work! to the work! we are servants of God, / Let us follow the path that our Master has trod; / With the might of His power our strength to renew, / Let us do by His grace what He calls us to do. / Work for Him by His grace; / Work thru Him for His praise; / Work with Him all the days; / And work in Him in many ways. (Hymns #895 stanza 1 and chorus)