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Love To… Serve With
a choice between serving and being served; to be served is the common choice. Is
this your choice? Is life about being served? There are some who even expect the
Lord to be their servant as they believe that they can set their own way to
Heaven and God will move Heaven and Earth to accept them. The
role of a Christian, is it a situation where we are served or that we serve? The
scriptures declare that we are servants of God (Luke 4:8). There
are three examples drawn on by the Apostle Paul when he discusses our service to
the Lord. He compares our service to that of a soldier, an athlete, and a
farmer. Let’s use our time together to consider our service to God and how
these three analogies provide examples to learn, and improve from.
A soldier teaches us to serve with
diligence (vs. 3-4) A
soldier is an apt characterization of a Christian. We must make a stronghold at
the lines of truth. We are to be soldiers in spiritual warfare (Ephesians
6:10-18). In 2 Timothy 2:1-7, Paul speaks of us as needed to be strong and here
again the words “be strong” are present. In
the Lord’s “army” we are servants strengthened in our commitment to serve
by the hope of victory and the promise of help in our times of need. A soldier
demonstrates the required diligence of our service. Can you imagine a soldier
that falls asleep at the post or that is so preoccupied with other things that
he is day-dreaming in the middle of a battle? We
also require diligent effort to succeed as servants of Christ. We are not to be
entangled (preoccupied) with this world (Romans 12:1-2). We need to prove
ourselves as diligent servants (Romans 12:11; 2 Peter 3:14). An athlete teaches us to serve according to
the rules (vs. 5) The
famous Boston Marathon is a world-renown athletic event. There are very
important rules; even as there are in every athletic competition. In 1980 a
woman named Rosie Ruiz joined the race somewhere in mile twenty-five and ran the
last mile of the race coming in first place—setting a new women’s world
record of 2 hours and 31 minutes for the marathon. After eight days it was
finally discover that this “great runner” was a cheat and a fraud that she
was striped of her rewards. Since that time a need to monitor the runners and
the rules has become more and more of a concern, because there are no rewards
for those who do not compete according to the rules. Rules
are important; we have rules to follow as servants of God. Jesus says, “Why
do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things that I say?” (Luke
6:46). We have rules to run by and
the prize is Heaven. We have to run according the rules. All the rules! John
8:31 says, “Abide in My word” means all of His words. 2 John 2:9 says, “Abide
in the doctrine of Christ” means all of His doctrine. Matthew 28:19
teaches us to “observe all things that [Christ has] commanded” this
means all “things”. To
serve by the rules; we must know the rules! Ephesians 5:8-10 directs us to “Find
out what is pleasing to the Lord” and 1 Timothy 4:13 &16 point to the
need to “read” and “take heed”. We need to win; we need to follow
the rules (Hebrews 12:1 “run with endurance”). A farmer teaches us to serve through hard
work (vs. 6) The
farmer as a servant demonstrates hard work. We are told, only the one that has
done the work will taste the benefits. The qualification of this servant’s
work is “hard work”. The necessity of hard work is easily understood from
the first two examples. As
Christians, we are involved in a service that cannot be accomplished without
hard work (Matthew 7:13-14). Regardless the times of difficulty or the times of
ease we all must continue and no one can take our share of the work for us. In
Ephesians 4:16 we are told that every part is expected to do “ITS share”. We
must know that our reward far outweighs our work. The words of Jesus “Well done
My good and faithful servant, enter into the joys of your Lord” (Matthew
25:23) and the word of promised rest in Revelation 14:12-13 are a cause of great
hope. Conclusion: Not
all soldiers receive honor, not all athletes win the prize, not all farmer’s
taste of a bountiful yield. We must be diligent to find the victory. We must
serve according to the rules to gain the prize. We must be patient and careful
workers to taste the blessing of eternal life. Diligent,
directed, and defined effort equals “A love to serve”. Do you love to serve? God is desirous of those who are willing to
seek Him and serve Him (Acts 17:27). It
is different than the world to love to be the servant. There are rules leading
to the rewards. There are also rules involved in becoming a Christian—the plan
salvation is to hear and believe the Gospel, to repent of our sins, confess
Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and be baptized in water for the remission of
your sins. From the point of baptism we must continue to serve diligently
according to the rules through thick and thin. Do you love to serve? ~Sean
Sullivan |