Being Dealt with by the Cross to Become Useful in Resurrection for our Service to God

The resurrection of Christ is not only a great event that revolutionised mankind and changed the course of human history but also a realm and a reality in which we can and must live today for the Lord to gain the reality of the Body of Christ. We need to not only see a vision of Christ’s resurrection and the many amazing accomplishments of Christ in His resurrection but also live in resurrection for the reality of the Body of Christ.

In order for us to live in resurrection, we need to know, experience, and gain the God of resurrection; our God needs to be not only just “the living God” to us but even more, the God of resurrection, the God who raises the dead (2 Cor. 1:8-9). The living God can perform many acts for us, but it may be that His life and nature are not wrought into us – even though we see so many acts of care from His side.

We need to know God as the God of resurrection, and this happens in our daily experience as we turn to the Lord and allow Him to renew us day by day by nourishing us with the fresh supply of the resurrection life.

Furthermore, our natural strength and ability need to be dealt with by the cross so that we may become useful in resurrection for our service to the Lord. God cannot use our flesh, our self, or our natural man; we need to go through death and resurrection to be useful to the Lord in resurrection for the reality of the Body of Christ.

God could not use Moses when he was so capable and full of himself at 40 years old; He had to take him through a long process of tearing down his confidence in himself, so that God could use Moses in resurrection for His purpose.

God could not use Peter for His purpose even though Peter loved the Lord and was willing to even die for Him; after Peter had a big failure and repented deeply before the Lord, God could use him to shepherd the saints and to open the door for both the Jews and the Gentiles to enter into God’s kingdom.

No matter how able and willing we are, God cannot use us unless our natural strength and ability are dealt with by the cross so that we may become useful to the Lord in resurrection for our service to Him.

Being Dealt with by the Cross to Become Useful in Resurrection for our Service to God

How can we experience and live in Christ’s resurrection? We first need to experience and know Christ’s death being applied to our natural strength and ability, and then we can enter into and live in resurrection to be useful to the Lord.

As believers in Christ, we love the Lord and want to serve Him, but He cannot use us for His purpose unless our strength and ability go through the cross to be useful in resurrection. Our natural strength and our natural ability need to be dealt with by the cross to become useful in resurrection for our service to the Lord (see Phil. 3:3).

What does it mean to serve the Lord in resurrection? Those who are in resurrection know what it means, and they can sense who has passed through death to enter into resurrection. If we open to the Lord and allow Him to deal with our natural strength, zeal, and ability, the cross will work the divine element into our being, bringing God into us, and our strength and ability will become useful to God in resurrection.

We need to gain ability, develop our capacity, study, and be trained, but once we have a certain ability, it cannot be useful to the Lord unless it passes through death and resurrection. Here are three examples in the Bible showing us a clear picture of this principle.

Moses Learned to Serve God in Resurrection by Trusting in Him

Moses is the best example of one who had his natural strength and ability dealt with by God and was useful to God in resurrection. He was raised in the house of Pharaoh, being educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in words and in works (Acts 7:22).

When he was 40 years old he wanted to work for God and deliver His people from Pharaoh’s tyranny, but he ended up killing an Egyptian and having to run from Egypt into the wilderness; he did something for God according to his own will, and this was rejected by God (Acts 7:23-26).

God purposely and sovereignly put Moses aside for forty years (Exo. 2:14-15; Acts 7:27-30); during this time, Moses lost all his confidence in himself, and he learned to serve God according to God’s leading, trusting in God (Acts 7:34-36; Heb. 11:28). While in the wilderness for 40 years, tending his father in law’s sheep, Moses’ natural strength and ability were crucified and entered into resurrection to be useful to the Lord.

Moses became very useful to the Lord after he fully learned the lesson of trusting in God and serving God according to His leading; in all his service to God, Moses didn’t trust in himself but was one with God to do His work.

God could use Moses’ strength, ability, capacity, and education in resurrection to reveal the pattern of the tabernacle on the mountain and the law of God with all the ordinances for God’s people to serve God and know God.

Peter Learned to Serve the Brothers by Faith and with Humility

In Luke 22:32-33 Peter told the Lord that he’s ready to go both to prison and to death for the Lord, not like the other disciples…he loved the Lord very much and was zealous for Him, but his love and zeal was natural, and God rejected this.

Peter was therefore tested and he denied the Lord three times, even before a little maid servant; before the rooster crowed, he denied the Lord even with cursing and swearing (Matt. 26:69-75). Peter was a complete failure, no matter how strong and loving he thought he was toward the Lord; but the Lord prayed for his faith, and Peter wept bitterly and repented (John 18:15-18; 25-27).

Peter’s failure paired with the Lord praying for him and Peter’s repentance made Peter useful to the Lord through his experience of Christ’s death and resurrection. If Peter didn’t have that failure, he could not have shepherded anyone; he was so proud, full of himself, and strong in his natural man for the Lord and in his natural love for the Lord.

But then, after he realized he’s a complete failure, Peter learned to serve the brothers by faith and with humility; he realize that we all need to gird ourselves with humility because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Pet. 5:5-6).

Peter realize that he can’t love the Lord apart from the Lord, and he can’t follow the Lord apart from being on with the Lord.

The Budding Rod: our Experience of Christ in His resurrection for Authority and Ministry

In Num. 17, after the big rebellion with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and the leaders of the people of Israel, God asked that a rod would be taken for each of the tribe of Israel and put before the ark of the testimony over night; the next day, Aaron’s rod budded, blossomed, and brought forth almonds (Num. 17:8). In this way God vindicated His authority in the divine priesthood.

In the spiritual application of this sign to our Christian experience today this means that our experience of Christ in His resurrection is our acceptance by God for authority in the God-given ministry.

When we experience Christ in His resurrection, passing through death and entering into resurrection, we are accepted by God and have His authority in His ministry. Real authority is not for putting others down or disciplining them but for feeding them and giving them life.

In conclusion, we need to realize that God honors only things in resurrection; whatever we do for Him out of our natural strength, zeal, love, and ability, no matter how “good” and “noble” they may seem outwardly, God does not appreciate it unless we do it in resurrection.

Much Christian work today is done “in the Lord’s name” yet not in resurrection; much of our work for God is done “out of our love for the Lord” yet not in resurrection. The sevenfold intensified life-giving Spirit only honors things in resurrection; if we do any work that is not in resurrection, the life-giving Spirit will never honor it (1 Cor. 15:58; 3:12).

We need to cooperate with the Lord to have our natural strength and ability dealt with and put on the cross, and in resurrection we will be filled with the divine element to be useful to God for His work. If we allow God to deal with our natural strength and ability through the cross and bring us in resurrection, whatever we do in the church service will be a ministry of the divine element into others.

Lord Jesus, we open to You to cooperate with You for our natural strength and ability to go through death so that we may be useful to You in resurrection. Lord, save us from repeating the pitiful history of Christianity by working for God without being one with God in resurrection. We want to be useful to You and have our work for You accepted and appreciated by You. Oh Lord, give us the experiences we need so that we may be useful in resurrection for our service to the Lord in the church! Lord, may whatever we do in the church service be a ministry of the divine element into others!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Basic Lessons on Service, lsn. 20 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Resurrection and Ascension, week 3 / msg 3, The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Resurrection (3) – Living in Resurrection for the Reality of the Body of Christ.
• All verses are taken from, Recovery Version Bible.
• Hymns to strengthen the burden in this article:
  # May the Cross put me to death / That on Christ I may rely; / May His Holy Spirit fill, / That Himself I may apply. / May His death so work in me / Daily deeper than before, / That my self may be destroyed / And His life thru me may pour. (Hymns #412)
  # The Christian life is a life, / A life of living Christ / For the constitution and building up / Of the Body of Christ; / The Christian life is a life of living Christ. / We need to work out our own salvation / By obeying the inner operating God. / We need to be conformed to the mold of Christ’s death / By the power of His resurrection that we may attain / To the out resurrection from the dead. (Song on Experiencing Resurrection)
  # Oh, may I know this resurrection life, / In every kind of death its pow’r outpoured, / In my experience ever realize / This life is nought but Christ my living Lord. (Hymns #639)