Our Priestly Service must Originate from God and be According to His Limitation

As believers in Christ who are part of the holy and royal priesthood, we carry out our priestly service to the Lord; this service must originate from Him as the God of measure, and it must be according to His leading and His limitation. Amen!

This week we have been enjoying the matter of life and building in the Epistles of Peter; the central thought of Peter’s Epistles and of the entire Scripture is life and building.

What is life? Life is the Triune God embodied in Christ and realized as the Spirit dispensing Himself into us for our enjoyment.

What is the building? The issue of our enjoyment of Christ as life is the church as the Body of Christ, the spiritual house of God.

In the Epistles of Peter, we see how life and building go together. On one hand, we are regenerated by God unto a living hope, and we are partakers of the divine nature.

On the other hand, we are living stones being built up together as God’s spiritual house and His holy and royal priesthood.

Peter had a particular experience of Christ when it comes to life and building, for the Lord Jesus changed his name from Simon to Cephas, meaning, Peter, a stone.

Then, the Lord spoke concerning building His church, and He said He will build His church upon this rock, which is Himself and the revelation concerning Christ (Matt. 16:18).

The building of God is a living entity, and this building is growing; the building up of the church is the growth in life of the believers in Christ.

In other words, when we cooperate with the Lord to grow in life day by day, our growth in life contributes to and issues in the building up of the church as the Body of Christ, the spiritual house of God.

On the negative side, we need to deal with many obstacles within us so that the life of Christ may grow in us in an unhindered way.

On the positive side, we need to be nourished with the guileless milk of the Word. Amen!

Having put away all malice and guile and hypocrisies and envyings and evil speakings, we need to long for the guileless milk of the Word so that by it we may grow unto salvation.

As we grow in life by drinking Christ as the guileless milk of the Word, we are inwardly transformed and made into living stones for God’s building.

The result of our growth in life is the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

Hallelujah, we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession!

As such ones, we have a corporate priestly service to God, which is to tell out the virtues of the One who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light! This is our gospel!

Our Priestly Service to the Lord must Originate from Him and be According to His Leading and Limitation

How we thank and praise the Lord that He has shown us that we are a holy priesthood, even kings and priests to God, and we are a people acquired for a possession (1 Pet. 2:5, 9)!

As a holy priesthood, we enjoy the Lord, we are infused with Him as we spend time with Him in His word and fellowship with Him throughout the day, and we offer a priestly service to the Lord.

However, we need to realize that all our priestly service to the Lord must originate from Him as the God of measure, and not from ourselves (2 Cor. 10:13; John 12:24; 21:15-22; 2 Sam. 7:18, 25, 27).

Our priestly service to the Lord is not us seeing a need in the church life or in the world and then going ahead to do it; rather, it is something initiated by the Lord.

Paul and the apostles with him did not boast beyond their measure but according to the measure of the rule which the God of measure has apportioned to them.

They realized that the saints in Corinth were the measure of the rule which the God of measure has apportioned to them, and they were confident in the Lord as they carried out their ministry.

Some other workers, however, went beyond their measure, and much trouble was stirred up because of their function not in their measure.

Our function as priests is like the Lord’s function: we first need to die, falling into the earth to die one with the Lord, so that the death of Christ may operate in us and release the divine life from within us.

Many times we fail in our function, and our priestly service to the Lord is either too much or completely absent. We tend to go beyond our measure.

In Corinth and also in the churches in Galatia we see the Judaizers who came and preached a different gospel, asking the believers to keep some of the regulations in Judaism.

They caused much disturbance, for they brought in different teachings and functioned beyond their measure.

The apostle Paul, however, knew that the God of measure had measured to him the church in Corinth and the churches in Galatia, and he functioned in his measure.

We believers in Christ have our priestly service to the Lord; our service should be initiated by the Lord and should be according to His leading and limitations.

This means that we need to allow the death of Christ to operate in us so that His resurrection life can be imparted through us into others.

An example of such a service is Peter; he failed the Lord miserably, for he denied the Lord three times even though he promised that no matter who else denied Him, he would be willing even to die for the Lord.

So the Lord came in John 21:15-22 to recover and rekindle Peter’s love for the Lord, and as Peter realized that the Lord is his love, he was brought into the function of shepherding others.

If we think we can serve the Lord and we have what it takes to accomplish our priestly service to Him, the Lord will allow certain situations and things to take place, and we will be exposed of how natural we are and how disqualified we are in our natural man to serve Him.

Even when He calls us to serve Him, when we are assigned to serve the Lord in the church life or in the gospel, we should still take the Lord as our source, function in our measure, and seek the measure which the God of measure has apportioned to us.

May all our priestly service be according to God’s leading and His limitation. May we allow His death to operate in us so that His resurrection life can have a free way to flow through us.

Lord Jesus, thank You for making us Your holy priesthood, even Your royal priesthood, so that we can serve You and worship You. Hallelujah, each believer in Christ is a priest and a king to serve God and minister God to man! Amen, Lord, may all our priestly service to the Lord originate from Him as the God of measure and not from ourselves. We come to You as we are. We are not qualified, Lord, but You chose us, You regenerated us, You are transforming us, and You are qualifying us and calling us to serve You. Oh Lord, may You be the One who originates and initiates our priestly service to the Lord. May we know our measure in our service. May we know the measure which the God of measure has apportioned to us and may we not go beyond it. Amen, Lord, may all our priestly service be according to Your leading and Your limitation. We allow your death to operate in us, dear Lord, so that Your resurrection life can be imparted through us into others!

Knowing the God of Measure and Functioning in the Measure He has Apportioned to us

The apostle Paul was called by God to serve Him, and he clearly had a great measure of grace and a big portion in the Lord’s work.

However, we shouldn’t think that Paul was so spiritual and was altogether different from us; even he had to learn to take the Lord’s restriction.

His desire, for example, was to go to Rome, but the Lord’s apportioning was that he would go there in bonds, not as a free man.

He told the believers in Rome that he expected to go to Spain by way of Rome (Rom. 15:24); however, Paul never went to Spain but rather, he arrived in Rome in bonds.

Paul learned to know the God of measure and to function in his measure, the measure which God has apportioned to him.

The bonds in which he arrived in Rome was the Lord’s measure, His limitation.

Paul did not rebel or complain, nor did he seek to get out of this limitation. Rather, he realized that, even though his imprisonment was a great limitation, he could still function in his measure for the building up of the Body of Christ.

As we carry out our priestly service to the Lord, we need to know the God of measure and we need to function in the measure that He has appointed to us.

In Paul’s case, the Lord measured him a long time of imprisonment, and in this time many things happened, he wrote many epistles, and much fellowship took place.

Even though he was under such a great limitation and restriction, Paul never complained, never murmured and never rebelled.

The Lord seems to be interested in restricting us and not allowing us to remain the same as we are.

For example, if a young person doesn’t have a heart to serve the Lord, He will stir them up to serve Him.

Once they are stirred up to serve the Lord, He will limit them.

We don’t like limitation; rather, we want to do things without any limitations, even to go as far as we can go.

We don’t like to be limited in our eating, our sleeping, or our activities. But our God is a God of measure, and He limits us.

If we love the Lord and desire to serve Him, He will limit us and restrict us.

If we take the Lord’s restriction, if we accept His limitation, He will have a way to use us, and we will function in our measure for the building up of the Body.

Paul could testify that, even though death operated in him, life operated in the saints (2 Cor. 4:12).

We may be limited by God and even put aside or restricted in our function for a while, but if we allow the death of Christ to operate in us, life will flow freely in others. God’s way is to first speed us up and stir us up, and then to slow us down and lower us down.

Moses went through this also; he knew God called him, but first, he had to be slowed down in his natural man.

Similarly, Joseph was given by God some marvelous dreams concerning what will happen in his life, but he went through some great limitations and outward restrictions before these amazing things could happen.

If we as believers in Christ can take God’s ups and downs, we will eventually become useful in His work.

But if we cannot tolerate God’s stirring us up and then slowing us down, we may get offended with God and we may be disappointed.

Our disposition may be to only be up all the time, ready to serve and do things for the Lord at all time, or only down all the time, relaxing and not doing anything for the Lord.

But God doesn’t want us to be always up or always down. The alternating of day and night testifies to this. God created us not just to have only day and no night; rather, we need to have a day and then a night.

May we prayerfully consider 2 Cor. 10:7-18 before the Lord and learn how to conduct ourselves in the church service and how to move in the Lord’s recovery.

May we know God as the God of measure and may we seek to know the measure He has apportioned to us in our service.

As we accomplish our priestly service to the Lord, may we know our limit, our rule.

The Lord is faithful to set certain restrictions and boundaries in our service, and we should not cross them or try to push them.

Our natural man wants to be without limitation, but our God is a God of measure.

May we stay within the boundaries the Lord set for us and may we function in the measure that He has apportioned to us.

Lord Jesus, we want to know You as the God of measure. Show us, Lord, what is our measure in our service as priests. May we accomplish our priestly service to the Lord according to and in the measure which the God of measure has apportioned to us. Oh Lord, we fully open to You. We want to know You, enjoy You, be filled with You, and function in our measure for the building up of the church. Grant us the grace, Lord, to function not in an unlimited and unrestricted way but according to the measure You have given to us. Grant us the grace and mercy that we would take the restriction and limitation which You place on us as we serve you. We just want to be useful in your hands and function in our measure for the building up of the church. Amen, Lord, have mercy on us. May You have Your way to stir us up to serve You and also to be slowed down when You want to. May we fully cooperate with You so that You may gain a built-up church today!

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 Ray Mulligan in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msg. 51, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living a Christian Life and Church Life under the Government of God for the Economy of God (2024 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 3, Life and Building in Peter’s Epistles.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The high priestly ministry, a portion from, The Mending Ministry of John, Chapter 13, by Witness Lee.
  – A Balanced View of the Elders’ Authority, article via, Shepherding Words.
  – The Body needs to grow until it arrives at the proper measure of its stature, a portion from, One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – What Does It Mean to be Poor in Spirit? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Preaching the gospel as priests of the gospel of God, a portion from, Elders’ Training, Book 09: The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (1), Chapter 11, by Witness Lee.
  – 2 Corinthians (Program #40) – The Minister’s of the New Covenant (13), via, Bible Study Radio.
  – By the Function of Every Member, via, The Practical Building Up of the Local Churches.
  – What biblical principles are there concerning the fellowship of the co-workers? More via, Living to Him.
  – What is the priestly service? More via, Hearing of Faith.
  – Serve God as Priests and Reign with Him, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Life-study of Ephesians, Message 14: A Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation and the Eyes of Our Heart, via, LSM youtube.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Not where we elect to go, / But where Jesus leads the way, / There the living waters flow, / There our darkness turns to day. / Not our self-appointed task / Will the Lord’s approval win, / But the work we did not ask, / Finished humbly, just for Him. (Hymns #907 stanzas 1 and 2)
  – ’Tis by serving in the Body / Riches of the Head we share; / ’Tis by functioning as members / Christ’s full measure we will bear. / To the Head fast holding ever, / That we may together grow, / From the Head supplies incoming / Thru us to the Body flow. (Hymns #913 stanzas 6-7)
  – If I keep this royal calling / Under Thine authority, / Priestly duty thus fulfilling, / Then the church will builded be. / Now the church is but the priesthood; / Thus the priesthood formed we need; / When the priests are knit together, / Then the church is built indeed. (Hymns #848 stanzas 2-3)