Being Sober in Serving God and Doing Everything in Oneness with Him

In working for God and with God we should not initiate anything – we should seek God’s will and simply do His will.

We are not here to be God’s counselor  giving Him advice and lending Him a hand to help Him in what He’s doing today. No, we are here to be one with God and accomplish His will on the earth that He may gain His glory.

If we initiate things in working for God, if we do things in our own strength and not depending on Him, and if we seek some glory from man as we work for God, we will commit the iniquity of the sanctuary, the sin against God’s holiness.

Among the consequences or results of this sin we may feel stale, not fresh with the Lord and in His work, we may sense some sickness or spiritual death, and we will also suffer at the judgement seat of Christ in that day.

Everything we do for the Lord and with the Lord in His work needs to be in the light of God’s judgement seat. We shouldn’t handle the holy things in God’s work in a common way, but be sanctified and really be one with God in all we do.

Lord, sanctify us and keep us one with You. Save us from initiating things in Your work. We want to seek Your will and do only Your will. Be the initiator, the performer, and the One who gets all the glory in Your work!

Being Sober in Handling the Holy Things in God’s Work

In the Old Testament it was only the priests that were allowed to handle the holy things of the tabernacle, especially the altar and the furnishings in the Holy Place (Num. 18:3). If anyone else would have even touched them, he would be put to death.

In working for God we are handling holy things, taking care of the means for the carrying of God’s interest, and we cannot be common or unsanctified when we do this.

Even though the priests had to daily change the show-bread on the table, trim the lamps, and burn incense on the altar, they could not do this in a common way.

We may be asked to baptize someone, and the first time we do it we are solemn and sanctified, depending on the Lord and being very sober about this holy matter. But the second and third time “we think we can do this”, we have done this before, and it can become something common.

In everything related to working for God, whether speaking for God, visiting the new ones, baptizing others, going somewhere to preach the gospel, etc we need to seek to be one spirit with the Lord, serving Him in the freshness of spirit, and not in oldness or out of habit.

If we are only a bit careless, though we may have done that particular thing before, we may commit the iniquity of the sanctuary.

Even in the matters of arranging the chairs in the meeting, cleaning the meeting hall, breaking the bread at the Table Meeting, doing an opening word before the prophesying meeting, leading a home group study, etc we need to do things not out of habit, as usual, but in newness of life, in a sober way, one with the Lord, and depending on Him.

Consequences of Committing the Iniquity of the Sanctuary

We don’t have to be a Korah, a big leader in the church, for us to commit the iniquity of the sanctuary.

If we initiate things in God’s work without fellowship with God and with the saints, if we don’t rely on the Lord as we work for Him, and if we seek to get some glory as we work for God, we are liable to commit the iniquity of the sanctuary.

The consequences may not be seen outwardly and physically, but they are there and you will feel them. Brother Watchman Nee discovered at least three such consequences, results, or punishments for committing the iniquity of the sanctuary,

1. Loss of the Power of Life – you become stale, not fresh anymore. O Lord Jesus, am I serving You in a fresh way, or because I have been doing this particular service for the past few years?

We may discover that we serve the young people, the students, the church, or in a particular area of service in a stale and routine way, with no fresh anointing.

Even in writing this blog, in considering the words and the topics, I am so much before the Lord not to repeat, be stale, or be doctrinal. I want to learn from brother Lee who would regularly pray, before he would go to share something,

Lord, keep me one spirit with You. Hide me under Your precious blood.

We may be able to speak, do things, and serve in a certain capacity – but we need to continually exercise ourselves to be one with the Lord.

Lord, I don’t want to speak my words and do the things I already know I can do – without You. Lord, if You don’t speak, I can’t speak and I have nothing to say!

If we find that in our experience of serving the Lord we are no longer fresh, we need to return to Him in this way!

2. Spiritual Death, and even sickness or physical death (see Num. 18:1-7; 1 Cor. 11:29-30). God will not allow those who sin in this way to continue – in His work He desires man to be sanctified, properly representing Him by being freshly one with Him.

Spiritual and even physical sickness may come in if one persists in committing the iniquity of the sanctuary, and, as 1 Cor. 11:29-30 says, if we continue to not discern the Body of Christ when we take the bread and the wine, even death can come in.

May the Lord shine on us and show us our real condition, our real situation, and our way of serving Him, that we may come back to Him and do nothing apart from being one with Him!

3. The Judgement at the Judgement Seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). There is no greater sin than the iniquity of the sanctuary, since this kind of sin offends God’s holiness, glory, and righteousness directly.

As we learn to serve the Lord, we need to remember that there will be a judgement seat, and we will have to give an account.

We need to do everything in the light of the judgement seat of Christ – each day carefully gaze at the light before God’s judgement seat so that our living and work would stand the test of fire in that day!

Being conscious of God’s judgement seat will preserve us and protect us, causing us to be serious, sober, and one with the Lord in all we do for Him.

God’s Will is the Initiation of God’s Work

We have no right to initiate anything in God’s work – the initiation of God’s work must be His will and His will alone.

Today God is being mocked, made fun of, and despised by many of the people in the world simply because so many zealous Christians did their best to start a work for God.

They initiated the work, they labored for years in their power, and many times they misrepresented God and did a work for God that was not initiated by God’s will but by their own taste or their consideration.

The initiation of God’s work should not be our zeal, our spiritual knowledge, our determination, our financial strength, our business skills, but only God’s will.

When we go somewhere to visit some saints, we should do so not only because there is a need or we want to do something for the Lord, but because God sends us there.

We shouldn’t be “God’s politicians” but God’s co-workers, those one with Him doing things according to His will. We have no agenda, no business plan, no goal of our own, but we just stay in the divine stream.

We may not even know what to do when God sends us, and the things waiting for us are many times beyond us – but since the Lord leads us there, that is good enough!

When we enter into the work that is initiated by God, He will be responsible for us! Don’t be presumptuous thinking that your work for God is better than God’s will – God doesn’t need advisers or counselors.

The only thing that counts is God’s will – God’s will is the initiation of God’s work!

Lord, purify our heart, renew our mind, and subdue our will that we may submit ourselves to Your will. May we simply take Your will and do it in oneness with You. Save us from presuming that our thought is better than Your will. May we be serious and sober when working for You so that we may not commit the iniquity of the sanctuary. Lord, save us from any staleness, sickness, or spiritual death! We want to be fresh with You and serve one spirit with You!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from brother James Lee’s sharing in the message and portions in, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee (vol. 42, ch. 45), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Unique Work in the Lord’s Recovery, week 5 (entitled, The Iniquity of the Sanctuary versus Building with Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # For the Church should be our service, / Not our aims to satisfy; / This, the perfect will of God is, / And with it we must comply.
  # Lean we all our weight on Jesus, / Who alone can save; / He by might of love hath triumphed / O’er His willing slave.
  # “All in His hands“—what confidence it brings / To tested hearts, to know that all the things / That make up life and circumstance, He holds / In His strong hands, and patiently unfolds / Th’ eternal purpose of His sovereign Will— / That all things shall His grace and glory fill.