All or most of you who will read this know that I am a born again, Bible-believing Christian. As such, I believe that there are 3 main goals for me in this life, and for all other Believers, which are:
1. Follow Christ, getting to know Him and become more like Him. Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. (Luke 9:23)
2. Evangelize, witnessing and preaching the gospel. And He [Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15)
3. Edify the body of Christ through things such as teaching, and/or exhortation, preaching, rebuking, and encouraging. And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, (Ephesians 4:11-12)
All of these have something in common: they involve doing, and more than that, they involve serving.
Ephesians 2:10 says, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We were created for good works, and we aremeant to serve. (Of course, works do not save us. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. [Ephesians 2:8-9]). And to clinch all of it, Romans 12:1 says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
There is a proverbial elephant in the room about all of this, however, and it is Why? Why is it so important to serve, why were we created for these good works, why is it a 'reasonable service'? All of these questions could be answered with, 'Because God said so,' but that obviously does not thoroughly answer the question.
The real answer is Jesus.
Let us begin with Why it is a reasonable service. First, we must know what reasonable service means, exactly. The definition of reasonable is as follows:
rea·son·a·ble Adjective/ˈrēz(ə)nəbəl/
1. (of a person) Having sound judgment; fair and sensible.
2. Based on good sense: "a reasonable request".
And service:
serv·ice/ˈsərvis/
Noun: The action of helping or doing work for someone.
In short, a reasonable service is unselfish work that is simply the right thing for one to do. Back to the original question: why is it what it is?
If you were drowning with no way of escape, and someone came along and gave up everything including his dignity and very life to save you, would you not want to honor this person? The fact of the matter is that is exactly what Jesus did for every person on earth. We were all drowning in our sin, and many still are, with no hope of freeing ourselves by our own abilities. But Christ came and took the punishment for all of our transgressions and iniquities. He suffered an agonizing death on the cross in my place, and in your place. After three days in the grave, the Father resurrected Him, and He lives today in victory over sin and death. In view of the cross, anything He asks of us is quite reasonable. Any service we give to honor Christ is our reasonable service.
Why were we created for these good works?
God is holy, the purest of purity, the only perfection, and the ultimate good. Therefore any work God does is good. The reason we were made for good works is because we were created to glorify God. because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16) If we deny this, we not only deny God who created us and Christ who died for us, but our own purpose and meaning in life.
In answering the previous two questions, we have almost entirely answered why it is important to serve, but not quite. It is important because God asks us to, as demonstrated by the aforementioned Scriptures. It is important because in serving, we follow Christ's example, and through Christ is life. It is important because it is what we are created for. Finally, it is important because if no one was serving, nothing would ever be accomplished.
Now that we've nearly exhausted the why's of serving, I'd like to tell you a bit of my own personal experience in my walk with Christ lately.
In the knowledge that serving has a lot to do with Christ-like life, I've had a strong desire to get out and do
Recently, my church has taken a bigger initiative on serving, stressing it's importance. I heard my pastor, and I heard God calling, and I said, "Yes. I'll go. I want to serve. Show me where." I looked for a place in my church, but with my current church and school schedule (I actually go to two churches, and am a high school student), it just wasn't going to work.
There was a great restlessness in my heart, and it followed me constantly. It was there as I took an initiative to speak to a classmate I didn't know, and it was there as I briefly shared the gospel with her. It was there as I invited friends to my church, it was there as I did my homework, it was there while I posted Scripture online, and while I sent out messages to encourage friends. It gnawed at me while I fellowshipped, discussed the Word and shared godly wisdom. It bothered me all the time when I discipled my brother, lifted people in prayer, helped a teacher, and shared my writings. What can I do, I begged God to know, to bring You glory through serving?
One night I vented my frustrations to my mom. She advised me to be still, and to wait. "But God hasn't called us to waiting," I argued. Even so, I knew she had a point, and resolved to at least try to be content with that. As I prayed that night, I said in my heart to God, "Please show me where and how to serve. Guide me, Lord. I know I ask You many things, but rarely do I spend time listening." And so I quieted my soul and listened for His voice. A picture formed in my mind, and I remembered the story of Jesus, a woman, and her oil.
And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply.
But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” (Mark 14:3-9)
I began to turn this story over in my mind. I thought about how I, had I been in this woman's position, would have poured the oil over Jesus' head, and asked Him if there was anything He'd like to eat or drink, and cleaned up some of the oil, and asked Jesus if there was anything at all I could do for Him. But all she gave was this anointing, and Jesus gave her the honor of being told of in the gospel story. He honored her, for she had given a simple thing for Him, albeit it was expensive. She served Him with what she had, and He asked no more or less.
I was blown away, and thanked God for revealing this to me. Each one's reasonable service isreasonable. He doesn't ask us to give more than we have. He helped me to see that I had already been serving Him in my life. I was missing something, but it wasn't something to do, it was something to see.
Most schooldays, I check in with my English teacher from last year to see if she'd like any help organizing papers. Being an English teacher, she has arguably more papers to grade and organize than many other teachers. I appreciate her dedication and passion for the job, and I greatly enjoy helping her out whenever possible. Usually, I just alphabetize, but it makes a difference. She knows that I don't help her so she'll give me better grades, since she's not my teacher anymore. I just do it to serve, and in doing so, I can, in the smallest way, show Christ to her.
I don't tell you this to brag, but to give you an example of some of my own personal spikenard oil. It's costly, because I don't have all the time in the world, but it's something I have to give.
To those of you longing to serve, keep looking for opportunities and praying. God has placed them all over the place. Do not bite off more than you can chew, as I almost did, but don't settle for less than your reasonable service. Let Him lead you, and remember the cross.
To those of you feeling satisfied where you are serving, I would ask you to examine yourself and see if you are perhaps a bit too comfortable with your position. It happens very easily. Keep looking for little opportunities to serve. Thank God for placing you in a place where you can be a vessel for Him, to do His work, and glorify Him, for there's no better place to be this side of Heaven!
For those of you who feel unwilling to serve...I've been there too. A lot of things don't happen overnight, including a change of spirit. But I would beg you to beg God to give you a servant's heart. If you never experience serving as He has meant you to, you are forfeiting one of the greatest joys of life.
To anyone feeling completely overwhelmed, I can understand where you're coming from as well. See if there's anything you really don't need to be doing right now. You don't need to be leading Bible studies and carpooling the soccer team and working and attending a Zumbathon all on the same day. If there's really nothing you can cut out of your life, make sure you NEVER skimp on time with God. The joy of the Lord is our strength, and not being close to Him will drain you just as much as all the activities in your life. Ask Him for the strength to make it through.
Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. (Matthew 20:26) Greatness comes through serving. I think everyone in the world wants to be great on some level, and Christ tells us the way to do it is to humble ourselves and serve. I believe in Him and His words.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
If we call ourselves followers of Christ, we are then by definition servants, for that is what He was. I pray that you will take this message to heart, and use the gifts God has given you in service to Him, to honor and glorify Him. If the Son of God came to be a servant, how much more should I be one?
Thank you so much for reading, and God bless you.
All Scripture taken from the New King James Version.
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