Servant #3 - Consumation — Stephen Kaung

The Eternal Service of God’s Servants

Please look into several portions of scriptures. Revelation chapter 22 verses 3 and 4. Revelation 22, verses 3 and 4. And there shall no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bound servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.

Let us look at 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 7 -10. But have nothing to do with worldly fables, fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. For bodily discipline is only for a little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life, and also for the life to come.

It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

Let us look at Matthew chapter 25, verses 21. Matthew chapter 25, verses 21. The Master said to him, well done, good and faithful slave. You are faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things.

Enter into the joy of your Lord. 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.

2 Chronicles 11, verses 1 -3. Verses 1 -3. I wish that you would bear with me a little foolishness, but indeed you are bearing with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as the pure virgin.

But I am afraid, lest, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Luke chapter 17, verses 7 -10. The Gospel according to Luke, chapter 17.

Which of you having a slave ploughing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, Come immediately and sit down to eat. But will he not say to him, Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself, and serve me until I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you may eat and drink?

He does not thank the slave because he did the things which he was commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all things which are commanded you, say, We are unworthy slaves. We have done only that which we ought to have done.

1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 13 -15. Each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.

If any man's work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire. Lastly, Romans chapter 11, verses 36.

For from him, through him, and unto him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Lord, we truly thank you and praise you. It is your great grace that has brought us before you tonight. We thank you and praise you because you truly cared for us.

You truly are in our midst. Lord, as we gather for the last time, we look to you to continue speaking to us. Tonight, may you continue to finish the work that you have not accomplished through the Holy Spirit.

How we long that you would capture all of us. How we long that your will would be accomplished in each one of us, so that you may gain all the glory and praise. We commit this time into your hands. We look to you to do the work.

In the name of Jesus. Amen. We thank the Lord for having guided us to the last hour of this meeting. We have been fellowshipping together the matter of master, disciples, and service. This truly is our heartfelt prayer.

Seeing Christ as Savior and Master

May every brother and sister be able to see our Lord. Not only do we need to see the Lamb which is upon the cross, we also need to see the Lamb which is upon the throne. We indeed need to see the Lord Jesus being our Savior.

We also must see our Lord is indeed our Master. Our brothers have spoken to us. We have to see our Lord's sovereignty. His authority is upon each one of us. I don't know about brothers and sisters, but do we have such a vision toward the Lord?

This glorious vision toward the Lord is such an important vision. If all we see is the Lord who is crucified on the cross, to us, indeed, we have received much grace. However, if we haven't seen the Lord who is upon the throne, we can say that we have gained nothing.

The Lord's will has not been accomplished upon us. Therefore, may God's grace be upon us. In the depths of each one of our hearts, we can truly see the glory of the Lord on the throne. We can see the Christ who is upon the throne.

We would see that He would exercise His complete authority upon us. He is such an example to us. As He lives as a man, He reveals to us what kind of man God is looking for. But thanks to our Lord, He is not only an example to us, but He has placed His life within us.

Therefore, we can live according to His example. Because He is our Lord, He is also our life. That is how we can walk with the Lord today, together with Him. Brothers and sisters, every believer is one who is called to be a disciple.

Do not ever consider that we can be a believer and not a disciple. Every redeemed one, God has called him to become His disciple. God has called him to follow our Master. This call is a very common call.

Every brother and sister, the Lord has called you to become His disciple. He calls us to follow Him. He calls us to dwell with Him. He calls us to behold how He lives His life. He calls us to behold how He does His work.

He is training us with such long suffering so that we can be conformed to His own image. So that we will possess His character. So that we can also do the work He would have us do. So brothers and sisters, firstly, we must see our Master.

Afterwards, we must stand upon the ground of being disciples. This way, the service can be produced. We also mentioned our real service before the Lord commences with consecration. A redeemed one, though he has been called to become His disciple, also he has been called to serve the Lord.

Consecration as the Beginning of Service

Unless he has been constrained by the love, to offer up our bodies as a living sacrifice, our service has not even begun. Because Romans 12 -1 clearly shows us therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, I beseech you to offer up our bodies as a living sacrifice.

It is holy. It is well-pleasing. This is your reasonable service. It is your reasonable service. So for a believer, and yet he hasn't fully consecrated himself to the Master. The meaning of consecration is just to offer us as a sacrifice upon the altar.

In other words, it is for us to lay down our authority fully to the Lord. So that He may gain the full sovereignty upon us. For us to offer up ourselves is not to do something for Him. The first thing about consecration is to offer ourselves up so that He can do something in us.

Because we have become a sacrifice. But we must go through the consuming fire. We have to go through death. Then can we ever enter into the realm of resurrection. There can we commence to serve our Lord.

Therefore, brethren and sisters, consecration is our first spiritual experience. After we have been saved, the first experience is spiritual consecration. Because of consecration, then we begin our service.

That is not to say we are a profitable vessel. We see that the Lord will employ all different means. He will spend much time to train us. So that on the one hand, we will have a deeper knowing of our Lord.

So that we can fully surrender to the Head, Christ. On the other hand, we can stand upon the ground of being disciples. So that we can learn well. In this way, you will discover the more we live, the more we will come up to His desire.

Serving God in Every Sphere of Life

We have also mentioned that we often have a misconception. We think that service is to do something for the Lord. Service is the so-called sacred work. If I have some service in the church, this is so-called service.

If I care for my children at home, that would not be considered as service. This is a great misconception. We have to see firstly, our being has to become a serving person. So regardless of what we do, we are serving our Lord.

Every one of us is serving Him. Twenty-four hours a day we are serving. Whatever we touch, we serve. If we have to see this, I believe brothers and sisters, not only within the church the Lord can gain His service, even in society the Lord can receive His service.

In our homes He can get His service. So this is something very basic that we need to see. For us to live is to serve our Lord. This evening we would like to share a further word in service. Since we are a serving person, and also we serve twenty-four hours a day every day, then we who serve have no retirement.

Serving Without Retirement or Vacation

Sometimes I hear brothers talk about this. Those of you who preach have no retirement. You can't say you are a preacher and then you retire. You no longer preach. So you preachers have no retirement. But we on the other hand when we reach a certain age we can have retirement.

Because we are there doing secular things. We are serving secular matters. So as we reach a certain point in time we can retire from it. You no longer have to do that thing. So now you can do whatever you please.

Brothers and sisters, if indeed what we perform today are merely secular things you can't retire. But today if you serve your Lord you have no retirement. From the moment you are saved you begin serving.

And you will serve all the way until you go to see the Lord. Young brothers and sisters must serve the Lord. Middle-aged brothers and sisters must serve the Lord. Older brothers and sisters as well must serve the Lord.

So you see in the matter of serving the Lord there is no retirement. Maybe there is some adjustment in the way how you serve. As far as the principle of serving the Lord it never changes. There is no holiday in service either.

If we perform worldly matters we come to a certain time we take a vacation. And when we take a vacation we enjoy what we like to do. But brothers and sisters for us to serve our Master there is no holiday either.

Some are preachers. They preach for a few years and they would like to take a vacation. So they go to the beach. They don't even read the scripture anymore. Neither do they pray. So they watch some TV.

And they read some novels because it's their vacation. Brothers and sisters if this is the case and you have seen it wouldn't you criticize them? You are a preacher. How can you have this kind of vacation?

How can you not serve the Lord in your vacation? Brothers and sisters every one of us is a serving one. Therefore in serving the Master there is no vacation. Even when you do take a vacation you are still serving the Lord.

You cannot quit serving when you have a vacation. And live like a worldly person. You do the things worldly people do. You look at things worldly people look at. Then brothers and sisters if this being the case you have lost your position.

So in the matter of service there is no holiday. Even when you do take a vacation you are still serving your Master. Brothers and sisters we thank and praise God. Not only from the day we are saved from the day we are consecrated we begin serving our Lord.

We serve His purpose. Even throughout the rest of our lives to the day we go to see Him we serve. That is not to say when we see the Lord face to face we stop serving either. In reality our service today is still in an apprenticeship.

We are still exercising. This is not the real service. We are only there practicing. Our real service begins after we see Him face to face. Then we begin our real service. Not only will we serve Him in the coming age we will also serve Him in eternity.

That is why you see in Revelation 22 when we enter into eternity in the city of New Jerusalem you will see the throne of God and of the Lamb. There their servants will serve Him. They will see His face and His name will be inscribed upon their foreheads.

Spiritual Exercise and Growth

That is what we must remember. Our service today on the earth is but for practice. Our real service really commences after we see Him face to face. That is why in the 4th chapter of the book of Timothy he tells us that there is a lack of physical exercise.

There is only one physical exercise before entering into eternity. There is not only spiritual exercise but also spiritual exercise. These words are trustworthy and very commendable. We have worked hard to maintain this.

So brothers and sisters our physical exercise is necessary. But its benefits are limited. It is limited in terms of physical exercise which only helps you to be healthy. It is only possible for this age.

In the next age you will have a spiritual body which does not need to be exercised in the gym. It is a dead body. It is a weak body. That is why we need to exercise it. So that we will be healthier. So that we will be more powerful.

But this is only possible in this age. I hope that brothers and sisters should exercise your body. We did not know this when we were young. Many times we loved the Lord to such an extent we did not care for our body.

The result became before we even reached old age our bodies were weakened. So we need to exercise our body. Not only our physical exercise but also our spiritual exercise. But the benefits are limited.

We also need to exercise our money. What is money? Money is Godly exercise. Today we have the Lord's life inside of us. We need to let this life live according to His character. We need to cause this life to be lived out according to His character.

If we live according to the character of this new life and after we exercise in this way it becomes our character. So that the character of Christ becomes our character. This is necessary. If we do not exercise this way even if we do possess the Lord's light in us we cannot live out Christ.

We cannot turn the character of Christ into our character. That's why we need to exercise to be God-like. This exercise takes place in our spirit. It takes place in our conscience. A Christian's conscience is very important.

The scripture tells us that some have their conscience pierced. Some have their conscience pierced. It's just like a ship having run aground. The faith has leaked out. We know the Holy Spirit often times is tricking our conscience.

When the Holy Spirit pricks our conscience we need to exercise. We need to hearken unto the voice of the conscience. Often times the voice of the conscience is opposite of our own voice. The conscience can condemn you as well as praise you.

In the beginning we often see the accusing of the conscience is more than the excusing. Therefore we need to exercise our conscience. Paul says before God and before man he maintains a conscience without defiance.

This way we can lift the Lord's light out of us. We also need to exercise our intuition because we know the life of Christ in us has such an intuitive knowledge. No one needs to teach you. From the youngest among you to the oldest everyone knows the Lord.

The Old Testament time they needed our teaching. They say know the Lord. But in the New Testament time we see that the Holy Spirit indwells us. We have an anointing teaching us today. He will directly teach us so that we would know what is the Lord's will.

We need to learn to obey the teaching of the Holy Spirit within. We need to learn to walk in the light. This way we can have fellowship with our Lord. We need to exercise our spirit to commune with the Lord.

Through prayer and reading of his words through meditation through worship through praising we need to exercise our Godliness. This way you will see Christ's light can be lifted out of us. This is the service.

To lift Christ out this is the service. So we see that today is the time of our practice. We haven't matured unto the full stature of Christ. We need to go through exercise so that we can mature and grow now.

Because God is not looking for children he is looking for sons. God's only begotten son will be the first born son among his many sons. He will lead many sons into glory. So we see that our life needs to be exercised.

This is the time of our training. When we grow up and attain the full measure of the stature of Christ then we can reign with him in the kingdom. Then do we ever really enter into true service. So the Bible tells us what God has commissioned us the gifts that he has given us they do not belong to us.

Faithful Stewardship of Spiritual Gifts

The gifts belong to the Lord. He distributes his gifts but the gifts belong to the master. If today we have received gifts from the Lord we are stewards. They do not belong to us. We need to use what the Lord has given us to serve our Lord not to use the gifts to serve ourselves.

These gifts are given to us and these gifts are committed to us they are not our property. If we are unfaithful in the things that other people have committed to us the Bible says who will give his things to you?

A day will come in the time of the kingdom you will see that these will become your possession. But today your meal is there to administrate for the Lord. If you administrate in a faithful way you will discover those things are the ones that the Lord has given you.

There was a story a man had commissioned his friend to build a house and his friend is not a faithful friend so he cut corners and he felt this way he can maybe take some advantage unbeknownst to him once the building is built this is what I want to give to you and he said to himself had I known this before I would build this house very well.

So brothers and sisters it is the same today the gifts that God has given you some receive five talents some three talents some one talent or we can say grace that he has given you because in the gospel of Luke ten servants each one received one talent so that points to our grace.

The grace the Lord gave us is all the same but gifts are different so we all need to use these grace properly. We need to use the gifts properly in order to serve the Lord. A day will come when you will discover that these things have become your eternal possession the day as we serve scripture tells us these are small things the Lord says if you are faithful in a few little things I will put you in charge of many things.

If you are unfaithful in small things the Lord has no way to commit to you the real thing. So brothers and sisters let's remember the service that we have on the earth. We are merely exercising and being trained if we can serve our Lord while on the earth to live for the Lord to live Christ's life and to use the gifts that the Lord has given us brothers and sisters a day will come when we will have the true service same time we must know the services that we have on earth.

Persevering Toward the Upward Call

How do we serve. What kind of attitude should we possess while we serve. What kind of attitude should we have according to our lives. Our attitude should be. We shouldn't say that we have attained Philippians chapter 3.

We see Apostle Paul according to our point of view he had been much much mature. But while he wrote Philippians how did he say. Chapter 3 verse 12. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

Verse 13. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of. I only have one thing that is to forget behind the slavery. But one thing I do forgetting what it lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.

I press on toward the goal for the price of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So as we serve the Lord on the earth according to our lives according to our knowing of the Lord we should always say we have never attained it.

We should never be self-satisfied when we reach a certain state as we fully known him there is nothing else to gain. But Paul said now that I have already gained because what I want to gain is to be laid hold of Christ as he laid hold of me.

The Lord has a purpose in each one of us. This is the purpose that we need to lay hold of. That is why we need to forget that which is behind and press on toward the goal and press on toward the goal in order to gain the upward call of God.

This refers to our living because in our daily living we need to persevere to press on to know the Lord as far as our work is concerned. You see in the gospel according to Luke there is a servant that goes out to tend his sheep.

And when he returns home the master tells him sit down and eat with me. No when he returns home the master tells him go and prepare food for me. You still need to serve me. So even you have finished all the things you will still say I am an untrustworthy servant.

All these things are the ones that I ought to have done. So brothers and sisters this is the attitude we should have in service. We should never claim that our work is done. Even after we have done all the work we still need to return to the Lord and serve him still.

We also need to possess this attitude always. We are uncrossable servants. All these things are but the things that we ought to have done because it is not for the grace upon us. It is not for the fact that he gave us strength.

We can never have done anything. The Lord says without me you can do nothing. We can do all things through him who empowers us. So brothers and sisters this is the attitude we should have in service. What does the Lord demand of us in service on the side of our life.

A Chaste Virgin Devoted to Christ

What the Lord demands of us is to be a chaste virgin. Paul told the Corinthian believers I have such a jealousy of God toward you. It is just like the jealousy of God I have betrothed you as a virgin to one husband lest you have forsaken that true heart that you be a beguile.

Brothers and sisters every believer is a chaste virgin. That is why the Bible shows us the terrible of the ten virgins. Some say the five foolish ones are the unbelievers. The five white virgins are the believers.

But in the scriptures none of the believers can be called virgins because the unbelievers are the harlot and they are united with the world. They are united with sin. Only the redeemed ones can be called virgins.

They have been washed clean by the blood of Christ. We are not only virgins also we have been betrothed to one husband. So toward the husband that we have been betrothed to we should have an undefiled heart.

In other words even though we have not been married but we have been betrothed already. You understand in the Bible once you have been betrothed it equals to being the wife. It is the same way in the old testament.

It is also the same in the new testament even though today people regard betrothal as nothing. But in the Bible as long as you are betrothed you are considered as having been married. So in the heart of the virgin who has been betrothed she has only one husband.

She daily prepares herself for this future husband. Aside from the future husband she has no other man in her heart. This is an undefiled heart. Today we are all virgin. We have all been betrothed to Christ.

But toward our Lord do we have such an undefiled heart. Much of the time our heart returns to the world. Even we stray away into sin. We have been beguiled we strayed away from Christ. So you see as we still live on this earth we need to maintain an undefiled heart.

Our heart to the Lord needs to be perfect. We cannot have an undivided heart to other things. If we prepare ourselves in this way a day will come that we will be united with the Lord as one. So this is a demand of a service.

In service we need to pray for an undivided heart. This is what the Bible calls the first love. If we lost our first love even we can hourly travail and toil they can never satisfy the Lord's heart. Because what he's looking for is our love not our travail and toil.

Faithfulness and Discernment in Service

As far as the work that the Lord has commissioned us to do what he requires is faithfulness and discernment. The discernment speaks about our understanding of his heart. You know what his desires are.

You do what he desires. This is the discernment. So you see in Matthew chapter 7 the son says Lord I preach in your name. I heal in your name. I chase out demons in your name. What did the Lord reply?

The Lord says I never knew you. I don't approve you. In the original language it says I never approved you. Because you never did according to my desires even what you did according to the eyes of men.

But if I never permitted you you did it of your own will. I didn't permit you friend sister. So in service we need to have discernment. Whatever we do we need to look for the Lord's desire because whoever obeys his will the Lord says they are my mother my brothers and my sisters.

We not only need to possess discernment we also need to have faithfulness. We know what is God's heart he guides. Then we do it faithfully. We cannot do the wishy washy way because we are not doing for men.

We are there to serve the Lord. So this is the requirement of service. As we serve in this way the scripture tells us there is a reward awaiting you friend sisters it is the grace of God that we have been saved.

Grace, Reward, and the Judgment Seat

The Lord has poured out his grace upon us freely. We have not merited it. It is free grace. But the reward is a different matter. As we talk about reward for instance in your house you want to reward your children.

Grace is the same toward every children. Not that because your children acted good you give them food to eat. If they don't behave you don't allow them to eat. You see the way you treat him is a matter of grace.

You love them. If they are good you love them. If they are not good they are the same. But sometimes you have a promise if your children would do a certain thing for you. Or if you do well if you study on a certain day I will reward you.

This reward is not for every child. It takes a diligent child to study well to gain that reward. So the bible also shows us grace is poured out freely. Reward is according to our deeds. It is also according to how we live.

If we live today so as to allow the life of Christ to be lived. Just like the work of gold silver precious stone. When the lord comes he will bring reward. Just like the servant with five talents he gained five more.

And you see the master rewarding him giving him much more to do so he can enter into the joy of the lord. So you see in the bible there is such a matter as reward. Even though on the surface this reward seems to be according to how we live how we work.

Strictly speaking reward is still according to grace. He firstly lavished his grace upon us so that we can employ this grace. The lord said I will reward you even more. So that you see even though it is a reward the source is out of grace because in us dwells no good thing.

Whatever is out of us is corruption. So we see that it is he who has done it in us first. Then out of us there is a work. If he can do it out of us he said I will reward you. You see how great this grace is.

So bible itself shows us they will come when the lord descends. All those who are his are before his judgment seat. Praise the lord. We will not go to the great white throne under that kind of judgment.

That kind of judgment is eternal perdition or eternal life. Praise the lord on the cross he has been judged on our behalf. We no longer are judged. We have come out of death into life. But that is not to say we believers have no judgment at all.

When the lord returns we all need to be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ. This judgment of the judgment seat it is a judgment of the family. It is not a judgment of perdition. It is a judgment of whether you receive a reward or suffer loss.

So if you build with wood hay stubble on that day the fire will reveal it to consume it. Even though you are saved you are barely saved. You have no reward. You have no portion. In the millennial kingdom you cannot reign with the lord for a thousand years.

Dear brothers and sisters the lord uses this to constrain us. Of course today we love the lord not for the matter of reward. We are not serving him because of reward. But if we love the lord and serve him the lord says I will reward him.

The lord uses this to constrain us. Lastly we serve. What is the ultimate purpose. Thank and praise god. The lord showed us those who are saved according to romans 8. Those who have foreknown he has predestinated conformance to the image of his son.

Those whom he foreknew he has predestinated them. He selected them. Those whom he selected he justified them. Those whom he justified he glorified them. So brothers and sisters what is god's heart desire in all of us glory.

Conformity to Christ and Entrance Into Glory

The lord didn't merely save us out of hell. To us we may be satisfied but to god it is not enough. He will save us to such an extent as to be able to enter into glory. Because god is a glorious god so he wants us to also reach his glory.

How do we gain glory. What is glory. When christ is formed in us that moment glory is manifested. So today if we hinder the lord from transforming us to his character and we hinder him from conforming us to his character if we do not allow glory to be brought into us on that day we are not qualified to enter into glory because this glory is too majestic.

Even if you are forced into it you cannot bear it. So there was a story two ships set out. One was a cruise ship. The other was a cruise ship. For the christians one brother went aboard the wrong ship and there was also an unbeliever who took the wrong boat.

So the unbeliever went aboard the christian boat as the christians were praising him praising the lord. He could not tolerate. He said bring me up shore. Same thing happened to the christian on the unbelieving boat.

So brother and sister did not allow glory to be brought into you. Unless glory is not brought into you first even on that day you are forced into glory. You want to escape. So we praise and thank god.

Not only personally properly. The thing is church. God is looking for a glorious church without following or any such thing without any imperfection. Such can become the lord's counterpart. Entering into glory.

Parenthesis. As we enter into glory scripture says if we suffer with him we will be glorified with him. But as we enter into glory it is not for our sake. For us to be able to enter into glory is a matter of glorifying god.

Because this is god's heart's desire. God's heart's desire can be accomplished in us. So brother and sister you have to see that all is out from him. All is through him. All is unto him. To him be the glory forever.

This is the consummated purpose of service. A day will come when we are saved and we enter into glory. What you think about is not yourself. All you can think about is god. All you can feel is not for yourself.

All you can feel is for the lord. God and the lamb on the throne and there you are serving him unto eternity. Lord we truly thank you and praise you. Formerly we have no fortune in service. We are unqualified to serve you.

But thank you and praise you. You even saved us. You have paid such a great price. You have redeemed us so that we can serve your purpose so that we can accomplish your grace. Lord we praise you pray that you will remember us as we conclude this conference.

So may you begin your work here. May you continue to reveal yourself in our midst. Have mercy upon us. Do not forsake us. Lay hold on us so that we can become your disciples to the end. Also that we may live daily to serve you so that your glory can be manifested.

Lord we are willing that you receive all the glory. Keep us until that day in the name of Jesus. Amen.