In yesterday's post, three
organizations known to many were mentioned – The Red Cross, The Salvation Army,
and The Pony Express. Amazingly, the Pony Express is still known despite only
operating for 19 months. But it was an organization committed to service, as
the church should be. Today, we look at two marks of Christians related to the
Discipline of Service.
First,
Christians are expected to serve. The word “expected” is becoming common in our
disciplines. Prayer, evangelism, and now serving are all expected of
Christians. The week after next we will see that Fasting is expected as well.
The reality of serving is that, just like worship, we will serve something or
someone. It might be ourselves, it might be others, it might be stuff, or it
might be God. But the act of service – or works – will not last; they are dead,
unless it is for the living God. See Hebrews 9.14.
Now, I know
a lot of people may think serving God sounds boring. They equate it with
preaching, or being a missionary. Yet, a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned
Brother Lawrence – a monk from a few centuries ago who made his service a time
of worship. His reflections are recorded in a book entitled, Practicing the
Presence of God. Just like worship, we can go through various actions and do
them for God or not. We can prepare a meal for someone as an act of service to
the living God, or just because we think someone might need it. This includes
work in the church. For instance, when the church is cleaned or the trash is
removed, it can be because someone is being paid or an act of serving the
living God. When I preach, or make a hospital visit, or pick up the mail at the
post office, I can do it because it is my duty, or because I am serving the
living God. One can be paid for their service and still serve God, but as Jesus
said, we cannot serve both God and money – we will serve one or the other.
So, service
is expected. But how are we to serve? With gladness! Sometimes service can be
challenging so let me give you five motives for faithful service.
1) Obedience
(Read Deuteronomy 13.4, a verse about obedience to God). John Newton, the
writer of Amazing Grace, said it this way, “If two angels were to receive at the
same moment a commission from God, one to go down and rule earth's grandest
empire, the other to go and sweep the streets of its meanest village, it would
be a matter of entire indifference to each which service fell to his lot, the
post of the ruler or the post of scavenger; for the joy of angels lies only in
obedience to God's will.”
I am rather
convicted by that statement! Certainly there are some things I prefer to do
over others, but am I (or will I be) obedient regardless of the task? I have
much room for growth. Perhaps you do as well.
2)
Gratitude/Gladness (Read 1 Samuel 12.24, what has God done for you
through salvation is plenty). We should serve with gladness (Psalm 100:2).
In Nehemiah 2.2, Nehemiah comes before the king with a sad face, which was not
a wise thing. If you are a Christian, you are redeemed of (and by) God. Should
we come before our King with a somber face. Absolutely not. Psalm 84.10 says
that one day in His courts are better than a thousand elsewhere. So be grateful
as you serve.
3)
Forgiveness, not Guilt (Read Isaiah 6.6-8). We serve not to be forgiven,
but because of forgiven (See Philippians 2.12-13). Charles Spurgeon said, “The
heir of heaven serves his Lord simply out of gratitude; he has no salvation to
gain, no heaven to lose; he desires to lay out himself entirely to His Master's
service....O you who are seeking salvation by the works of the law, what a miserable
life your must be...for, ‘by the works of the law there shall no flesh living
be justified.’...The child of God works not for life, but from life; he does
not work to be saved, he works because he is saved.”
4) Humility
(John 13.12-16). If we serve because of what we can (or might) get, it is not
humility, it is hypocrisy. Jesus said that we shouldn't let the left hand and
right hand know what the other is doing (Matthew 6). Philippians 2:3 says we
should consider others before we consider ourselves. These are hard teaching,
but serving can be difficult!
5) Love (Galatians 5.13) Love is the fuel that motivates us. If we don't love
others, we will not serve them. If we love others, we want to serve them. (Read
2 Corinthians 5:15; Mark 12:28-31). And a part of our serving others expresses
our service to God (Matthew 25:40). In the late 1980s or early 1990s, Quik Trip
had a problem (at least a perception problem) regarding their gasoline.
Ultimately, the solution was to guarantee the quality of their gasoline.
If we don't serve out of love, our service is like putting bad gasoline in our
cars, eventually damage may be caused. Like QT, we need to provide a guarantee
for our service – and that guarantee is love.
The second
truth about service is that Christians are gifted for serve. If you are a
Christian, then the Holy Spirit lives within you. That truth is the entire
premise of a series on Spiritual Disciplines – disciplines empowered by the
Spirit for God. If you are a Christian then you have at least one Spiritual
Gift. This happens from the moment of salvation, when the Spirit begins to
dwell in you. Several passages talk about these gifts (See Romans 12.4-8; 1
Corinthians 12.5-11, 27-31; 1 Corinthians 14; Ephesians 4.7-13; 1 Peter
4.10-11). We will have another class on this beginning in April.
Serving with
your gift may be in or out of the spotlight, but it shouldn't matter because we
are ultimately serving God, who sees all. But it can be, and often is, hard. In
Ephesians 4.12, Paul calls service the “work” of service. The word work here is
the Greek word “ergon”, which also means labor. In Colossians 1.29, Paul says
he “toils.” That sounds easy! It means to be worn out or be
weary. The next word is struggling. The Greek word used here is agonizomai –
from which we get the term agony. But notice despite Paul's weary condition, to
the point of exhaustion and agony – he can still serve because he does so with
all God's energy. That's amazing, despite having God's power working within
Him, it is still a struggle.
It shows the
truth of the maxim – “Service that costs nothing accomplishes nothing.”
For Paul,
the labor was agonizing and exhausting, yet it was certainly fulfilling and
rewarding. Most importantly, if done for God, it is also enduring. God's work
always has value, yet we often see few if any results. But God knows (See
Hebrews 6.10).
You are
expected to serve, and gifted to serve, but are you willing to serve? If you
are, remember we must count the cost. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ
calls a man, he bids him come and die.” For some this might be on a grand
scale. For others one foot at a time.
If you are
willing to serve, or even just interested in seeing where this post will lead,
I will put the third, and final post regarding the Discipline of Service online
tomorrow (Friday).
*This series
of posts is adapted from Donald Whitney's book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.
