Serving the Lord Jesus (Part 1)

Every age since the beginning of time, man has been marked by a narcissistic spirit. Our age is no different. Our Lord said the very attitudes and activities that characterized the ages of Noah and Lot would prevail in the end time. In Noah's time, people were so preoccupied with themselves that they had no thought of God:  "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, . . ."¹ It was the same in Lot's day:  "They were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. . . ."² Not that there is anything inherently evil with these activities. The problem was—that was all these people were doing; they were preoccupied with such things; they lived without reference to God; they were godless. Jesus warned his followers that the world would resemble these two ages at the time of His return:  "It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed."³

Man without God  is incapable of serving his fellow man. Or if he does, it is for selfish and ill-conceived reasons. Man without God cannot serve humankind to the glory of God; he cannot engage in any truly good work. His works may appear to be good to the average onlooker; however, as far as God is concerned, they are "dead works"⁴—works without the life-giving, resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ behind them. They are self-serving and self-glorifying.

Christians are to be different. Through Christ Jesus, God has created a new people to serve their fellow human beings for the right reasons. Having been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of his beloved Son, God empowers His people to serve Him and humankind to the praise and glory of the Lord Jesus. While believers are not saved because of their good works of service, they are called by God to live their lives in loving Christian service.⁵

While looking to the Lord Jesus as their divine Exemplar, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill their respective callings, the blood-washed servants of Jesus seek to live their lives as "broken bread and poured out wine" to the glory of God. With the cross before them and a towel in their hand, the followers of Him who stooped to serve, go forth in His name to serve Him—and all others.

In effect, every other spiritual discipline is none other than a discipline of service; for whether we are praying, fasting, giving, meditating, and so forth, we do each of these as a service to God, and for the benefit of others. To pray is to serve, to fast is to serve, to give is to serve.

What is the biblical basis for such service? What should be the motivating factor for Christian service? What about the history and practice of service in the Church? How might the cultivation and practice of service benefit believers today? These, and other issues will be addressed in the course of this three-part series. 

Service:  A Biblical Basis

The renowned New Testament Greek scholar, William Barclay, tells a nice little story about a missionary who arrived in the Congo years ago to share the gospel of the Lord Jesus. Two missionaries had preceded this particular one and had failed miserably. The two former missionaries had been members of the proud Baganda tribe for which menial work was reserved for women and slaves. When the native people refused to provide food for these missionaries, they left because they were too proud to work.

Knowing about the failures of his predecessors, Apolo entered the area prepared to grow his own food. On his way to the village of his calling, he stopped to cut some hoe handles so he would be able to work a patch of ground. When the ruler of the tribe saw Apolo entering their village carrying the hoe handles, he exclaimed, "Here is a man who is going to conquer." Apolo won the hearts of these villagers because he went prepared to serve.⁶ Apolo had learned well the advice given once by Bernard of Clairvaux:  "Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you need is not a scepter but a hoe."⁷

God has called His people to serve—to serve Him and to serve others. As someone has said, "We never stand so tall as when we stoop to serve." The Bible is a handbook on service. The word "servant," or its derivatives ("servants," "serve"), appears a little over one thousand times in the Scriptures. While many of the Old Testament occurrences of these words have reference to those who were in physical captivity to a conquering power, there are also noteworthy references to those who walked before Yahweh as his unworthy servants. For example, when God called Moses to go before Pharaoh, Moses, in responding to God's call, referred to himself as a "servant":  "But Moses said to the LORD, 'O my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, . . ."⁸ This was a typical term used by many Old Testament patriarchs and prophets. In the book of Joshua alone, Moses is called either "Moses my servant," or "Moses the servant of the Lord, or "Moses His servant," some 19 times. Many other Old Testament references could be cited where God's choice people were either referred to as servants or called themselves by the same name: Solomon, David, Daniel, Nehemiah, Job, Isaiah, to name a few.

When we come to the pages of the New Testament, we discover that the concept of service and servanthood for Christians is found on practically every page. This is picturesquely revealed, for example, by the use of the word "servant" (Greek: doulos). In commenting on the meaning of this word, Marvin Vincent says the "word involves the ideas of belonging to a master, and of service as a slave." He says the former use is employed by Paul, "since Christian service, in his view, has no element of servility, but is the expression of love and of free choice."⁹

The apostle Paul referred to himself as being in a "servant" (Gk: doulos)?? relationship to God and the Lord Jesus Christ: (e. g., Rom. 1:2; Titus 1:1). And he constantly appealed to his fellow believers to assume the role of a loving servant in ministering to one another: "Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."¹⁰ He also exhorted believers to regard him and his fellow apostles as merely servants of the Lord Jesus. He rebuked the Corinthian Church for exalting one apostle above another—they had unwittingly formed personality cults around Apollos, Peter and Paul. Paul asks these contentious hero worshipers: "What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed . . ." Then he tells them how they should view true ministers of the gospel:  "This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God."¹¹

But not only was Paul and his fellow apostles called to be servants of the Lord Jesus, the Bible says all Christians are called to serve God and one another. The fact is, the very purpose of God-chosen leadership in the Church is to serve this end—that all believers might fulfill their respective roles in Christian service:  "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, . . ."¹²

Furthermore, Paul says the reason God has sovereignly distributed Spirit-gifts throughout His Church is so that every believer might serve his fellow believers effectively in Jesus' name to the glory of God:  "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."¹³ The apostle Peter in commenting on the same subject wrote, "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace."¹⁴ Even in Heaven, as revealed by the Lord Jesus to the apostle John, God's people will be engaged in service:  "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; . . ."¹⁵ 

Consecrated Service

Paul reminds us that we cannot serve God or one another as we are meant to, without experiencing the renewing and transforming work of grace wrought in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And this grace cannot be received except we first consecrate ourselves totally to God:  "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service."¹⁶ The word I've translated as "service"

(Gk: latreian?), has been variously rendered as: "worship" (ESV, NRSV); "act of worship" (NIV); "service of worship" (NASB). Fritz Rienecker says that latreian can be translated as either "service" or "worship."¹⁷ Either way the word is translated, the fact remains:  true Christian service is worship and true Christian worship is service. But the point to be made here is that God says we are not equipped to serve Him or our fellows without first of all dedicating our bodies and lives to Him without reservation—then we will be positioned to experience His renewing and transforming grace. And with this grace we will be enabled to effectively and beautifully minister in Christian love to one another.¹⁸ 

Range of Service

The range to which Christians are called to serve is as wide and unique to the individual believer's giftedness and field of ministry as there are gifts and needs. As to the range of service, a variety of ministries and areas of service are noted in the New Testament's treatment on the subject of Spirit-gifts. For example, in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, Paul identifies eleven gifts which are to be used in the service of God and for the edification of believers. There are also references in which the good works and service of a particular believer or a group of believers are noted. Acts 9 records the account of a believer by the name of Dorcas who "was full of good works and acts of charity."¹⁹ Following her death, and in hope that the apostle Peter could somehow miraculously intervene, the mourners showed to Peter some of the results of this lady's service to others: "All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them."²⁰

The Thessalonian believers are an example of those who were commended by an apostle for their works of service. Paul says of these Christians, "We give thanks to God always for all of you, . . . remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love . . . in our Lord Jesus Christ."²¹ Furthermore, Paul said of these vibrant first-century Christians, "you became an example to all believers in Macedoniia and Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything."²² The fact is, these believers were so advanced in their love for God and in caring for one another, that the apostle said to them:  "Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia."²³ 

Faithful and True Service

According to the Word of God, Christians are to be people who are to always faithfully engage in works of service. Writing to the Galatian churches, Paul reminds these believers before he concludes the epistle, "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."²⁴

But not only are Christians to be faithfully occupied in acts of Christian service; we need to remember the kind of service we are to render. Our service is not to be self-righteous, but true. In contrasting self-righteous service from true service, Richard Foster makes several noteworthy observations.

1. Self-righteous service "comes through human effort. It expends immense amounts of energy calculating and scheming how to render the service. True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside. We serve out of whispered promptings, divine urgings." 

2. Self-righteous service is "impressed with the 'big deal'. . . . It enjoys serving, especially when the service is titanic." True service "finds it almost impossible to distinguish the small from the large service." 

3. Self-righteous service is concerned with "external rewards"; true service "rests contented in hiddenness." 

4. Self-righteous service is preoccupied with "results"; true service is "free of the need to calculate results." 

5. Self-righteous service "picks and chooses who to serve." Not so with true service. True service is "indiscriminate in its ministry." 

6. Self-righteous service is "affected by moods and whims"; true service "ministers simply and faithfully because there is a need." 

7. Self-righteous service is "temporary"; true service is "a lifestyle." 

8. Self-righteous service is "insensi-tive"; true service "can withhold the service as freely as perform it." 

9. Self-righteous service, says Foster, "fractures community;" true service "builds community."²⁵ 

What should be the motivating force in the exercise of this spiritual discipline of service? The Scriptures are very clear on this point. Our motive for Christian service should be only love, divine love, agape love—love for Christ and agape love to all others. Without the very love of the Lord Jesus filling our hearts and prompting every act of service, all our works are nothing but wood, hay and straw. Only service performed for the right reasons and in Jesus' name, will be approved on the day of Judgment and counted as gold, silver and precious stones.²⁶

The apostle Paul said that it was this agape love that motivated him in ministry:  "For the love of Christ controls us."²⁷ As gifted and as knowledgeable in the ways of God as he was, Paul knew that without divine love all his works counted for nothing. Thus he writes in his Hymn of Love:  ^"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."²⁸

One of the primary concerns of Jesus for His followers was that they would be men and women who were passionately in love with Him, and that they would serve both Him and others with a heart of love. The one question which the risen Lord asked Simon Peter three times following Peter's denials was, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" It was only when Peter answered affirmatively that Jesus knew he could trust Peter to serve Him and others. "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Then it was that the Lord Jesus could say to Peter, "Feed my sheep."²⁹

Love, divine love, the apostle said with his pen dipped in the inkwell of inspiration, is the greatest of all Christian virtues and graces;³⁰ without it our service is self-motivated, man-pleasing, self-serving, and prideful. It is this quality of love, which creates a lowly, self-effacing attitude in the hearts of Christ's followers and that makes for authentic Christian service. "Service to others," notes Dallas Willard, "in the spirit of Jesus allows us the freedom of humility that carries no burdens of 'appearance.' It lets us be what we are—simply a particularly lively piece of clay who, as a servant of God, happens to be here and now with the ability to do this good and needful thing for that other bit of clay there." Then Willard adds, "The experience of active love freed up and flowing by faith through us on such occasions will safeguard us from innumerable pitfalls of the spiritual life."³¹

Love, divine love, is the only acceptable motivating cause for Christian service. Knowing this, Methodism's prolific hymn writer, Charles Wesley, prayed that Christ's Church would be filled with such love:

Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heav'n, to earth come down!
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling;
All Thy faithful mercies crown.³² 

— Soli Deo Gloria —

1. Matthew 24:38, English Standard Version (ESV). All Bible references in this article are taken from this version unless otherwise noted.
2. Luke 17:28.
3. Luke 17:30, NIV.
4. See Hebrews 6:1.
5. See Ephesians 2:8-10.
6. William Barclay, In the Hands of God.
7. Quoted by Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline.
8. Exodus 4:10 (italics mine).
9. Marvin Vincent. Word Studies in the New Testament, Vol. III.
10. Galatians 5:13.
11. 1 Corinthians 3:5; 4:1 (italics mine).
12. Ephesians 4:11-12a.
13. 1 Corinthians 12:7.
14. 1 Peter 4:10 (italics mine).
15. Revelation 7:15 (italics mine).
16. Romans 12:1 (my translation).
17. Fritz Rienecker, A Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament.
18. See Romans 12:3-21.
19. Acts 8:36.
20. Acts 8:39.
21. 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3.
22. 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8.
23. 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10.
24.  Galatians 4:9-10.
25. Foster. 128-130.
26. See 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.
27. 2 Corinthians 5:14.
28. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.
29. See John 21:15-19.
30. 1 Corinthians 13:13.
31. Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines.
32. Charles Wesley, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.