Saturday

Related Verses
1 Cor. 3:6-15 (9-14)
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.
7 So then neither is he who plants anything nor he who waters, but God who causes the growth.
8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s cultivated land, God’s building.
10 According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon it. But let each man take heed how he builds upon it.
11 For another foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 But if anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble,
13 The work of each will become manifest; for the day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will prove each one’s work, of what sort it is.
14 If anyone’s work which he has built upon the foundation remains, he will receive a reward;
15 If anyone’s work is consumed, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Related Reading
Our work in the recovery today is to minister God to people. Yes, we need to save sinners and to feed the saints and perfect them. The crucial matter, however, is that we minister God to others. The God whom we minister is not just the building God—He is also the builded God. If we fail to minister God in this way, our work will be wood, grass, and stubble (1 Cor. 3:12). 

I would ask you to reconsider the work you are doing for the Lord. Perhaps you have opened up a region or have brought many people to God. But I ask you this question: How much of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God has been wrought into those whom you have brought to God? If we are sincere and genuine, we will humble ourselves and confess that not very much of the Triune God has been wrought into the ones we have brought to God. Therefore, we need to practice one thing—to minister the processed Triune God into others so that He may build Himself into their inner man. In every aspect of our work—preaching the gospel, feeding the believers, perfecting the saints—the intrinsic element must be that we minister the building and builded God to others. I would urge you to pray that the Lord would teach you to work in this way. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, pp. 202-203) 

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After Noah received the revelation, he believed it and practiced it (Gen. 6:22). He practiced it in a way of not caring about being different from his forefathers and from his generation. Perhaps people said to him, “Noah, what are you doing?…What are you talking about, telling us that a flood will come? What do you mean by building an ark?

The principle is the same today. We are following God’s revelation that is according to the Bible in order to practice the church life; however, most Christians lack this revelation. God’s revelation will always make you different. Daniel and his three companions were different, for they refused to eat the royal food. Paul was different, and so was Martin Luther. Everyone who has seen God’s revelation is different. The revelation makes him different…It is good to be different. 

Now we must consider Noah’s work. First, Noah worked in preaching righteousness (2 Pet. 2:5)…In Noah’s day preaching righteousness was to protest against the evil generation. His generation was evil and filled with violence, but Noah was a man who preached righteousness and protested against all the unrighteousness, evil, and violence. He testified of the righteous way of God. 

While Noah was preaching righteousness, he was building the ark. In principle, we are doing the same thing…Noah built the ark by faith according to God’s revelation (Heb. 11:7). He did not construct it according to tradition or his own concept and invention but absolutely according to God’s revelation. This is the reason that in everything we must return to God’s revelation in His holy Word. We must come back to the pure Word of God. 

The building of the ark was absolutely against the tide of Noah’s generation. He was against the trend of that age, and “he condemned the world” (Heb. 11:7)…The work of Noah and his family was unique, peculiar, and strange. In human eyes it was impractical. It was according to God’s revelation, and thus, it was against the trend and tide of that generation. Do you not think that the principle is the same today? What we are preaching and doing is altogether against the tide of this generation. But we praise the Lord that we are in His flow. We are not in the tide of this generation; we are in the flow from the throne according to His revelation. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 395-397) 

Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, msg. 30 

Further Reading:
Further reading: Life-study of Genesis, msg. 28

Hymn: #1268
1 When Noah worked upon the ark as God to him decreed.
So many others watched, yet to his words they gave no heed.
But Noah heard the voice of God and did His word obey;
His business was to build the ark; he couldn’t waste a day.
 
Now Jesus’ testimony, we in the churches see
The ark of testimony built in each locality.

2 The generation at that time was evil and perverse;
The wickedness upon the earth was waxing worse and worse.
But Noah stood against the age and ne’er the vision lost.
The ark of testimony must be built at any cost.

3 There were at that time many men who said they worshipped God;
They served Him and they sacrificed and yet ’twas very odd,
The very thing that God desired they mocked and ridiculed.
Their heart was set upon this age and by the devil ruled.

4 One day the ark was finished and eight souls were led aboard.
God shut the door and then the heavens opened and outpoured.
It rained, but Noah took no thought for he was safe inside.
When all the earth was flooded, he above it all did ride.

5 The ark was just God’s testimony on the earth that time.
For God had found a corporate man through whom His light could shine.
He needed something built through which He’d fully be expressed,
And now it is the local church where God is manifest.

6 Be careful lest this age would lead you from God’s heart’s desire.
For Jesus’ testimony must set all our hearts afire.
The local churches are the ark, God’s testimony true.
For this we leave the age behind and give our hearts anew.