Serving the Lord Jesus (Part 3)
By Ralph I. Tilley

In part one of this series on the subject of the spiritual discipline of Christian service we addressed four specific areas: the biblical basis for Christian service, consecrated service, the wide range of Christian service, and what constitutes faithful and true service to the Lord Jesus. In part two, we highlighted examples of service from the Book of Acts and church history.

Now, to continue . . .

John Wesley. John Wesley (1703-1791) came to a saving faith in Christ while serving as an Anglican clergyman. Having been raised in a Church of England manse, surrounded with many spiritual benefits, Wesley struggled in his early days, even saying following his brief missionary expedition to America, "I who went to America to convert others, was never myself converted to God." It was through the providential influence of German Moravian Christians that Wesley came to realize that he was without a saving knowledge of God.

While residing in London in 1938, Wesley was invited one evening to listen to a reading of Luther's comments on the Book of Romans. Later Wesley said that it was while the reader was reading from Luther's preface on Romans that he felt his heart "strangely warmed." He would later date his conversion to that occasion.

Now confident of his own salvation, Wesley began to preach and write with an intense evangelical fervency. One of his biographers, Skevington Wood, wrote of Wesley's conversion experience: "Until the experience at Aldersgate Street on the 24th May, 1738, he was too preoccupied with the problem of saving his own soul to be effective in winning others. After that determinative encounter he resolved in his brother's words [Charles Wesley], 'To spend, and to be spent, for them / Who have not yet my Saviour known.' "54 All changed following Aldersgate. Wesley became a flaming evangelist, prolific writer, founder of churches, and an administrator over a fledgling revival movement.

Wood says of Wesley, "He took the message to the people where they were. He refused to be shackled by ecclesiastical proprieties. He cheerfully abandoned his own reputation for respectability in a way which would have been inconceivable before his evangelical conversion. He addressed himself wholeheartedly to the central task of the true Church—namely, the preaching of the gospel to those who most need to hear it."55

John Wesley is believed to have traveled more than 250,000 miles in the course of his ministry—all on horseback, and to have preached more than 40,000 sermons. He either wrote, translated, or edited more than 200 volumes. These included sermons, commentaries, hymns, a Christian library of fifty volumes, grammars, dictionaries, and other textbooks, as well as political tracts.

David Brainerd. David Brainerd (1718-1747) was a missionary to the American Indians in the Northeastern parts of the United States, especially in New York, New Jersey, and Eastern Pennsylvania. He was a man who served God night and day with tears for the conversion of native Americans, and preach-ed faithfully for their salvation. Although he fought chronic battles with illness and inclement weather, Brainerd never tired of testifying to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As an example of his labors, Brainerd records in his journal in October 1745 about his ministry in Crossweeksung, New Jersey: "When I first came into these parts in June, I found not one man at the place I visited, but only four women and a few children. But before I had been there many days, they gathered from all quarters, some from more than twenty miles distant. When I made them a second visit in August, some came more than forty miles to hear me." He records of these congregants: "And these were almost as soon affected with a sense of their sin and misery, and with an earnest concern for deliverance, as they made their appearance in our assembly. After this work of grace began with power among them, it was common for strangers of the Indians, before they had been with us one day, to be much awakened, deeply convinced of their sin and misery, and to inquire with great solitude, 'What shall we do to be saved?' "56

Although he lived for such a brief while, he cast a long shadow through the preservation and publication of his journal. Jonathan Edwards' The Life and Diary of David Brainerd, has impacted the lives of countless men and women who have wanted to serve God faithfully and zealously. As John Piper wrote, "And through this Life the impact of Brainerd on the church has been incalculable. Beyond all the famous missionaries who tell us that they have been sustained and inspired by Brainerd's life, how many countless other unknown and faithful servants must there be who have found from Brainerd's testimony the encouragement and strength to press on!"57 This is a testimony not only to Brainerd, but to Jonathan Edwards who edited Brainerd's journal and wrote a sketch of his life story.

Now for one more vignette from the 20th century Church.

Kenneth N. Taylor. Kenneth N. Taylor (1917-2005) is best known for his writing ministry, and more particularly as the author of a paraphrase of the Bible—The Living Bible.

Having been blessed with nine children, Kenneth and his wife Margaret were very careful that these gifts from God would receive a godly upbringing. As a father who led the family in worship, Kenneth did his best to make the stories and teachings of God's Word meaningful to the children. It was with this thought in mind that he began to paraphrase the Bible. Taylor says, "We had read over and over again to our youngest children . . . all the available books of Bible stories geared to three-and-four-year-olds. . . . But I could not find a book that covered the entire Bible for very young children." Then Taylor says, "Finally the thought occurred to me to try writing such a book myself."58 Thus were the small beginnings of what eventually became a Bible that has encircled the globe and been used by millions of Christians. Here was another one of God's servants that used his dedicated gifts to serve Christ and His Church by means of the written word.

Service: How Its Cultivation and Practice Can Benefit Believers Today

Having considered the biblical basis for service as well as providing a brief overview of its history and practice in the Church, we now want to turn our attention to see how the cultivation and practice of Spirit-filled service can benefit believers today. In doing so, we will make four observations.

1. The cultivation and practice of service can benefit believers today only if they first have a "heart" for service. Only the person who is passionately in love with the Lord Jesus will have a heart for serving others in the name of Jesus. And without having a heart of love for Christ, we will never have a "heart" for serving others. We cannot love our neighbor as we ought until we first love God as we should. And we cannot hope to approximate loving God as we should until our heart is first of all right with God.

The apostle Paul said of all truly justified and regenerate believers, "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit."59 This is the Church's greatest need—and my greatest need—to be filled and overflowing with the love of God. Dallas Willard says that believers must take care to maintain a right heart: "Those with a well-kept heart are persons who are prepared for and capable of responding to situations of life in ways that are good and right."60 Such a heart will be a serving heart.

2. The cultivation and practice of service can benefit believers today if they consecrate themselves fully to the Lord. The apostle exhorted believers to make such a consecration when he wrote, "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 worship."61

In writing as to why he thought the American evangelist, D. L. Moody, was so mightily used of God in his generation, R. A. Torrey said it was because "everything he was and had belonged wholly to God." Torrey said his friend and colleague in ministry had given himself "wholly, unreservedly, unqualifiedly, entirely to God."62

3. The cultivation and practice of sanctified service can benefit believers today because it is an excellent means to one's growth in grace. There is nothing like serving God and others in Jesus' name that will stimulate one's spiritual maturity. In the saving and sparing of ourselves, we shrivel up and die. By giving ourselves we gain. Our Lord reminds us of this principle often: "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it."63

4. The cultivation and practice of consecrated service can benefit believers today as a means of blessing others. The world needs Jesus. The Church needs more of Jesus. When we give ourselves totally to God and allow Him to fill our lives with Himself, he will take us and use us as "broken bread and poured out wine" to His glory. Such Christian service will have a profound impact upon our own families as well as making ever-increasing concentric circles of godly influence.

In reflecting much later upon the years of service her missionary parents gave in China, and why their sacrificial service had such an influence upon her and her siblings, Kari Malcolm says, "In our childhood in China the honor of living and dying for Jesus was held up to us as the highest calling for a pilgrim. To be totally available to the Captain of our salvation, to be sent anywhere on the spiritual battlefront, not holding back any personal aspirations or considerations, was the goal to be sought and admired." Then Malcolm says, "The missionaries of my parents' era had a vision of the kingdom that went well beyond themselves."64

Conclusion
Now we are left with a question that every Christian must answer for himself: Will I live for myself, or will I consecrate myself totally to serve only God, and thereby serve others in Jesus' name to the glory of God? Although we never know at the time of our full consecration to the Lord Jesus Christ what the results of our sanctified service may be, we can be assured that His presence will go with us and He will produce rich fruit through us. The early apostles didn't know when they left the boats, nets and office, what their futures would hold—but they forsook all to follow Jesus and we now know the rest of their stories.

Church history and tradition informs us that Andrew preached the gospel in Macedonia, Scythia and Russia. Bartholomew preached Christ in many countries, but mostly in India and Armenia. James the Son of Zebedee is believed to be the first Christian missionary to Spain. John’s travels took him throughout Asia Minor and the Island of Patmos. Thaddaeus preached in Mesopotamia and Persia. Matthew traveled to Egypt and Ethiopia. Peter evangelized throughout Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia and Asia. Simon Zelotes preached in Egypt, Mauritania, Africa, Libya and Britain. Thomas’ travels took him to India, the Parthians, Medes and Persians. All of these were martyred for their faith with the exception of John, who died a natural death at a ripe old age in Ephesus, where he was constantly reminding God's children to love one another.

On the other hand, there are far more nameless saints who have never engaged in the kind of works of service the apostles did, but who nonetheless have caught God’s eye because they are building with gold, silver and precious stones. They are God-purified and sanctified believers. And wherever they live and serve, they are producing quality works to the glory of Christ and God will never forget them. He remembers His own.

May it be the fervent and constant prayer of every believer to allow God to use him and her in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ—to be a channel of grace and blessing in this world and to His Church.

- Soli Deo Gloria -

All Bible references are taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.

54. A. Skevington Wood. The Burning Heart,p. 281.
55. Wood. p. 283.
56. David Brainerd. David Brainerd: His Life and Diary, p. 245.
57. John Piper. The Hidden Smile of God, p. 155.
58. Kenneth N. Taylor. My Life: A Guided Tour, p. 207.
59. Romans 5:5 (italics mine).
60. Dallas Willard. Renovation of the Heart, p. 29.
61. Romans 12:1.
62. Quoted by George & Donald Sweeting in Lessons From the Life of Moody, p. 137.
63. Luke 9:24.
64. Kari Torjesen Malclm, We Signed Our Lives Away, p.14.