We need to Offer up Ourselves with what we are and have to the Lord and for the Gospel

When we offer what we are and what we have to the Lord, there’s a sweet-smelling fragrance, a fragrant odour, that rises to God; He blesses us and richly cares for us, and He wants to gain us, the person, as we give ourselves with all we are and have to Him.

This week in our Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Material Offerings and the Lord’s Move today, we come to a new topic, which is, Material offerings and Full-Time Service.

Our God is both very wise and very rich, and He doesn’t need our help; however, He wants to gain us, the persons.

In eternity past, God didn’t need anyone and anything, and He could create the heavens, the earth, and all things in them without our help or cooperation.

He can do everything, He owns everything, and He can bring into being what has not been into being. Amazing!

However, in His economy, in His relationship with man for the fulfilment of His purpose, God needs man’s cooperation.

He wants to do great works among and through His people, and He wants to do the greatest work in man – to work Himself with all He is and all He has into them; for this, however, He needs man’s cooperation.

When a man hears the preaching of the gospel and believers, in His mercy God forgives man of his sins, washes him, and reconciles man to God; furthermore, God as life comes into man to regenerate man.

Praise the Lord, the believers in Christ are not only men but God-men – men who have the divine life and nature of God added to their being.

This new life and new nature operate and work in us, causing us to live a different kind of life – no longer a life by the natural man, the old man, but a life in spirit and according to God.

Our whole Christian life is a life of learning to live in the mingled spirit, a life of being mingled with God, and a life of learning to serve God and serve man, seeking to be built up with the saints for the building up of the dwelling place of God and man, the church.

As we live such a life, there is one particular matter that needs to be dealt with thoroughly: money, that is, the love of money and wealth and riches.

The people in the world want to gain more money, accumulate more wealth, and obtain more riches, and they are boasting of what they have.

We as believers in Christ, however, need to learn to give, for the divine life is a giving life, and when we offer what we are and have to the Lord, there’s a sweet-smelling fragrance rising to God.

In particular, this week we want to see the need to give for the full-time service, that is, to give to the Lord for the supporting of those who serve Him full time.

Actually, we all are full-time serving ones, whether we are job-keeping or job-dropping full-timers.

Offering up Ourselves with what we Are and Have to the Lord and for the Gospel

In the New Testament, we see that the Lord asked those who wanted to follow Him to go sell, give it to the poor, and then come follow Him.

At other times, the believers gave what they had in excess, and they gave willingly, freely, and with joy. It is not about how much we give but the matter of giving what we have in excess.

God wants to have our heart – He wants to gain us, the person, so our heart needs to be released from the entanglement of money and pursuit of riches and wealth.

In Acts 5:3-4 the apostle rebuked Ananias for keeping back what he had in excess; if we have something in excess, we need to give it away.

Even as the Lord gave up all He had and came to serve us and minister to us, so we need to offer up ourselves with what we are and have to the Lord and for the gospel.

We do have to take care of our livelihood, and we do need to take care of our family; however, if we were to simply lower the standard of our living a little, we will be able to give away our excess.

The Lord wants us to hand ourselves over; this doesn’t mean merely that we sell all we have and give to the Lord, but that we offer up ourselves with what we are and have to Him for the gospel.

What God wants is not merely to teach us how to handle money; He wants to gain our very person, our heart, and for this, He requires our all – He wants all that we have and are.

We may be engaged in a job, yet we still minister to the Lord; the Lord needs our ministry in our job.

There is a great need in the church life for those who serve the Lord with their full time, but who gives to the Lord for the support of the full-time serving ones?

Instead of us uplifting the standard of our living and aiming to get nicer clothes, a better car, more expensive food, and more travelling, we should simply learn to come to the Lord about all these things and give ourselves to Him.

If the Lord doesn’t call us to drop our job and serve Him full-time, we can still offer up ourselves with what we are and have to the Lord and for the gospel – we can serve Him with our money.

We need to be before the Lord concerning this and consider how we can give more; this is not something that we do in and of ourselves, and this is not to neglect our duties and responsibilities but rather, this is our handing ourselves over to the Lord.

There is a great need for those who are before the Lord concerning their finances, their way of living, their standard of living, and open to Him concerning their giving.

If we are just a spectator, we don’t gain anything, and the Lord cannot operate in us.

But if we bring this matter to the Lord in prayer, seeking to gain Him and be infused with His thought, His desire, and His burden, we cannot but offer up ourselves to the Lord with all that we are and have.

We may be happy to offer ten per cent of our income to the Lord every month, but if we are before Him concerning supporting those who serve Him full-time, this will demand our life.

This is not a call to donate or to raise funds for those serving full-time; this is for our prayerful consideration, for the Lord has a certain ordination.

Paul, for example, had to go back to work and make tents for a while because the saints did not support him; his ministry was temporarily halted because of this.

The Corinthians did not give to support the apostle, but the Philippian believers gave and gave again, and the apostle was richly cared for by this fellowship.

May we bring this to the Lord and open our situation and being to Him, being honest with Him and saying,

Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You for Your purpose. We just offer up what we have and are to You for the gospel. We are not here on earth for ourselves; we are not here to make a living or to accumulate riches and wealth. Dear Lord Jesus, we want to learn what we have and earn in excess so that Your need would be met, those who serve You would be supplied, and the needy saints would be cared for. Amen, Lord, we want to be those who give away all our excess for the meeting of Your need and for the care of those who serve You with their full time. Hallelujah, we can serve God by giving. Praise the Lord, even we who are money-making job-keeping saints can serve God by offering up ourselves with all we are and have to Him and for the gospel!

What we offer to God from what we Have becomes our Fellowship with the Saints and a Sweet-smelling Savor to Him!

In Phil. 4:18 Paul said that he received in full all things and he abounds, for he was filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things from the Philippians, a sweet-smelling savour, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.

He was fully supplied with the material things given by the Philippian saints to the apostle, and this giving, this offering, was a sweet-smelling odour as of sacrifices offered to God (Gen. 8:21).

They gave a gift to cover Paul’s need and supply him, and this was considered by him as a sacrifice to God, acceptable and well-pleasing (Heb. 13:16).

They did this toward the apostle, but he said that they did this toward God; he had the assurance that he was one with God and that his work was by God and for God.

The same is true for us today: what we give to God and to His servants is not only a sacrifice to God but also a fragrant odour, a sweet-smelling savour to Him, something that is well-pleasing to God.

When we offer up ourselves with what we are and have to God and for the gospel, the Lord is pleased and satisfied, and He considers this like a burnt offering that satisfies Him and makes Him happy.

What we offer is a “mammon of unrighteousness” (Luke 16:9), something that is the deceitful riches (Matt. 13:22) and uncertain riches (1 Tim. 6:17) which will fail (Luke 16:9), mixed with our faith and sacrifice.

These things, however, become our fellowship with the saints, our righteousness toward men before God, an acceptable sacrifice to God, and a well-pleasing sweet-smelling savour to Him. Hallelujah!

A very practical way for us to be saved from the deceitful riches, the mammon of unrighteousness, is by giving to the Lord and for the need of those who serve Him!

The riches that deceive and corrupt men, the mammon that usurps man and destroys him, can become a transcendent blessing that we have before God!

This all depends on our offering of material riches. What we offer to God from what we have becomes our fellowship with the saints and a sweet-smelling savour to God.

This doesn’t mean that we should just give what we have, just because the Bible says so and we are just now reminded to do so.

Rather, we should come to the Lord concerning this, having the consciousness that mammon is usurping man, riches are deceitful, and there’s unrighteousness related to riches and mammon; therefore, we should not keep mammon but give it to the Lord in oneness with Him.

What the Lord is after is what we are; we first need to come to Him and be offered up to Him before we can give anything to Him.

If we don’t come, God will not accept what we have; He is not merely after our tithing – He wants our whole being, our entire heart.

We need to realize that everything we are and have is for the Lord, and everything we have needs to be centred on Him.

We may have a job and have to work at a secular job, but this doesn’t mean that we don’t serve God; rather, our center is Christ and the church, and all we are, have, earn, and possess is for Christ and the church.

And what we offer to the Lord is a sacrifice to God, a sweet-smelling savour to Him, well-pleasing in His sight.

May we be those who satisfy God not only by our enjoyment of God but also by our giving!

Lord Jesus, we love You and we offer ourselves up with all we are and have to You for Your purpose! Amen, Lord, may the mammon of unrighteousness which we have become a sacrifice to God that is well-pleasing to Him! Yes, Lord, we want that all we are and have to be offered up to You to become an acceptable sacrifice to God! We do not want to hold on to what we have or earn – we want to be saved from the deceitful riches and have fellowship with the saints and become a sweet-smelling savor to God! Dear Lord Jesus, may we be saved from mammon of unrighteousness and convert it into transcendent blessings before God by our giving to the Lord for His service!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, and portions from, The Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry, vol. 1, pp. 309-312, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Material offerings and the Lord’s Move Today, week 3, entitled, Material Offerings and Full-time Service.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – I belong to Jesus; / I am not my own; / All I have and all I am / Shall be His alone. / I belong to Jesus; / He is Lord and King, / Reigning in my inmost heart / Over everything. / I belong to Jesus; / What can hurt or harm, / When He folds around my soul / His almighty Arm? (Hymns #306)
  – Weary soul, give up the struggle, / Cease at length thyself to own; / Give yourself away to Jesus, / And belong to Him alone. / Once He gave His all to win thee, / Now He asks as much of thee; / All He has He fully gives thee; / Let thy love His portion be. (Hymns #452)
  – Arise! the holy bargain strike— / The fragment for the whole— / All men and all events alike / Must serve the ransomed soul. / All things are yours when you are His, / And He and you are one; / A boundless life in Him there is, / And kingdom yet to come. (Hymns #473)