Service: December 2011
Table of Contents
Service
As I began to write this introduction to the issue, the following email came from India. “Dear brother, I am very sorry to inform you again, one believer killed last night. ... He accepted Lord Jesus as his personal Saviour and not agree to worship [his family’s] idols. They killed; they burned Him with fire. His house is near our meeting room here. Situation is not good. Villagers are thwarting us.”
Most of the articles in this issue have to do with motive and preparation of heart and guidance for service. This email reminds us that service has a price tag, too. History tells us that all the apostles, except perhaps John, gave their lives in service for the One who gave His life for them. Jim Elliot, who gave his life in service to the Lord, said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Whatever the cost, may the Lord give our hearts the courage and willingness to shout, “It’s worth it; He’s worth it.” “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also” (John 15:20).
Service for Christ
The one who serves without sitting at the feet of Christ does what he thinks right, but it does not follow that this will be what Christ likes best. If I sit at His feet, I know what He likes best, and then my service may be according to His mind.
We may serve anyone, and that devotedly too, in two ways: either by doing what we think will suit such a one or by doing what we have discovered (by patiently and earnestly waiting on Him) is what He would like done. Martha and Mary respectively illustrate these two characters of service. Martha does what she deems necessary, and concerning the usefulness of which there could be no question raised, but she consults only her own judgment as to the fitness of it. She felt, and that truly, that there could be no doubt as to the usefulness of it, and she worked away until she was wearied with it and cumbered by her much serving. She had not the rest in the Lord that Mary had, for she sat at His feet and heard His word. It is important to remember that where there is rest of heart, the heart seeks to be guided in everything by the pleasure of Him whom it serves, and not merely to do that which everyone sees is fit and necessary. If I consult my own mind as to what I ought to do, I make it my guide, taking for granted that He will accept it, but then it necessarily follows that myself must be more before me than He is.
When we are not in fellowship with His mind, many things appear quite right for us to do that we should not attempt to do if we were more in communion. Peter would not have drawn his sword in defense of his Lord if he had been in company with His mind (John 18:10), yet doubtless he felt he was doing a right and worthy act.
A True Servant
A true servant is always ready. “Here am I” — “Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?” express his condition. He does not choose his work, but obeys his Master. Many of our difficulties about service stem from lack of intelligence as to our Master’s will. We wait and wait for some great commission and often leave undone the things present. We shrink from the work the Lord Himself may be putting before us and desire to be used in other service in which He does not require us. There has not been the sitting at the feet of Jesus to learn His mind before the attempt at active service.
For every Christian who truly knows his path of service and is satisfied to walk in it humbly and quietly with the Lord, there are many in a restless, uncertain mood, desiring activity, but ignorant of what they should be doing. All this uncertainty causes the discontent so often evident among saints and murmurings about “lack of fellowship,” “want of care for souls,” and “no evangelistic effort.” Frequently, those who murmur loudest are those who have the lowest sense of individual responsibility and the least power from God for a distinct path.
All Have a Place
Still, we must all confess to sad shortcomings—coldness, deadness and slothfulness. But the remedy is not in “murmurings and disputings,” but in self-judgment and purpose of heart to learn and then do our work for God. All are not preachers, but all have a place in the body of Christ, and membership implies activity and life, responsibility to the Head, and care for the members. All have a God and Saviour whose doctrine they are called to adorn in all things. All of us are living in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom we are to shine, “holding forth the word of life.”
If we are meet for the Master’s use and prepared for every good work, we shall soon find that there is no time for complaint, but that the time rather fails us to do the many, many things the Lord will put before us day by day and hour by hour. We may not have to preach to great congregations nor even to small ones, but there is plenty to do, besides preaching, and many a little work unseen and unknown by any but the Master Himself will get its reward in that day when every man shall have praise of God.
Adapted from an old magazine
True Service
Servants of the Lord are apt to fall into the subtle mistake of calling the work their own instead of His. It is working for one’s own credit rather than for His glory. It is attracting or trying to attract to me, not altogether to Him. And where shall we go for the remedy? It must be to Him. It must be found in the renewal of the views of the fair beauty of the Lord and of the blessedness and pleasantness of our lot and part in Him.
Service is all the happier when it is not the source of the man’s happiness. The source and secret of all happiness is Christ, and that secret acts equally, whether marked success attends action or speech or apparently no success at all, whether the servant be put by the Master into the front rank of action in the harvest field or be told to sit down in a corner and sharpen the sickles of others, and whether he be called to speak to a multitude in spiritual power or to lie still on a bed of sickness.
Working for Work’s Sake
I would most earnestly plead then, in the interests of true Christian service, for what in the hurrying times we need so much — a deeper entrance of our souls into the secret of the presence of the Lord. Work is not food for the spirit any more than for the body. Amid a multitude of works the worker’s soul may wither, and the works will feel the difference in due time. We must see to it, because we are bondservants and not contractors, that we are living and serving Him, not only so as to get through a great deal of action, but so as to be vessels meet for the Master’s use, in His way and not our own. And for this we must live, so to speak, behind our service; we must live in a blessed sense independent of it. We must live upon Christ, not upon energy, not upon success, not upon praise, not upon notice. God forbid! And to live upon Him in service, we must in the rule and habit of life watch over times of solemn, sacred fellowship with Him in secret. Thank God, the picture is not a visionary one. It is the secret of many a life of steadfast, humble, Christ-reflecting service in the church of God.
Christian Truth, 14:29
Service and Communion
To those who seek to serve their gracious Master in the ministry of the Word in Sunday school work, in street preaching, in tract distribution, or in any other form of labor for the Lord, I would say in deep affection, See to it that your service is the outcome of communion with Christ. Rivers of living water can only flow from those who go to Him and drink, and they must go continually. Be careful to allow nothing to cloud your enjoyment of divine love, and seek to realize for yourselves the exceeding preciousness of Christ, so that when you speak of Him it may be out of the fullness of a heart made abundantly happy. It is true that the outward form of service may be sustained by the mere energy of nature and apart from communion with Christ, but then the key element will be wanting that makes the service acceptable to Him, and your own souls will be enfeebled and become like withered grass.
The Object of Service
Also, be on your guard against making service your one object. Those who do so seldom serve well. We have known earnest men who have fallen into this snare. They are never satisfied unless always on the move and they think little of others who do not follow in their steps. Now Martha served much and found fault with one who seemed to serve less, yet the latter received the Lord’s commendation, and Martha missed it. There is a zeal that compasses sea and land, but it is not fed from celestial fires. There is a running to and fro with restless feet and a doing of this and that which, after all, may be but the religious activity of the flesh, which fades away.
Communion
Cultivate communion with God, be much in prayer, and spend time over the Word of God, that your own soul may be fed. How else shall you feed others? “It is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith He it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written” (1 Cor. 9:9-10). In thinking of others and laboring for their good, God would have us also feed ourselves. We shall soon be famished if we do not, and spiritual strength will decline. We shall be keepers of the vineyards of others while our own vineyards have not been kept.
You will find it a deadening habit to read the Word only to search out something for other people. It is Gibeonitish service (Josh. 9:21). Moreover, what you gather up and set before others will be mere religious information in which there will be no heavenly unction. It differs greatly from the living ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Faithful in Little Things
Be faithful also in little things; it may be that God will trust you with greater matters. We are a little afraid of those who neglect the commonplace duties of everyday life for what they are pleased to think and call the work of the Lord. At all events, do faithfully and well whatever comes to your hand. In a humble school, far removed from public observation, God trains His servants for their higher mission. Moses was forty years in the back side of the desert, keeping the flocks of his father-in-law, before he was called to lead out the tribes of Israel from the house of bondage, and David in the wilderness, watching over the few sheep of Jesse, was there prepared for his conflict with Goliath in the valley of Elah. The years thus spent were not wasted years; the fruit of them was seen ever afterward.
Christian Truth, 12:197
Thoughts on Service
In the Epistle to the Philippians, the one great object of the Holy Spirit is to make known Christ to us as the servant. He does this in order to produce in us true-hearted service. God has His own way of doing this, and it can only be through His Son. He wants to endear His Son to us, and so He associates us with Him in service down here, as He has associated us with Him in the glory above. It is fellowship with Christ that makes us true servants and gives us power.
We must be sons before we can be servants, and the only thing that can enable us to discharge any service acceptably is the power we get through looking at Jesus—in knowing what we are and what we have in Him. All other energies may seem to lift us up, but they do not fit us for service. God would always have us remember what we are in His grace. I belong to the risen Jesus, and with Him and in Him I share all given glory. And nothing fits me for serving or gives me power to walk in obedience like the apprehending of my association with a glorified Christ. Nothing gives me power to abstain from evil other than realizing my union with Him who once was dead but is now exalted in heaven.
The more sensibly the Holy Spirit keeps us in the love of Christ, the stronger we shall become. That which strengthens us is what we see in Jesus and get from looking at Him. Here in Philippians, the Holy Spirit is exhibiting Jesus as the servant, that those who are dear to Him may follow the same activities of love and service.
Bible Treasury, 3:377, adapted
Worship and Service
Most of those who read this article have probably been taught that, while worship and service are both very real privileges for every believer, worship must have the first place and comes before service. However, we might be hard pressed to find a specific scripture that proves this beyond a doubt. Some spiritual truths are succinctly expressed in one or two verses, and a simple reading of these verses settles the issue. On the other hand, some truths are woven throughout the Word of God, by both precept and illustration. I would suggest that the relationship between worship and service is one of these latter truths.
Old Testament Worship
The first mention of worship in the Old Testament in our KJV is in Genesis 22:5 — “I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.” However, it is the same Hebrew word in Genesis 18:2 and chapter 19:1, where it is translated “bowed himself.” There are many subsequent references to worship, but in the Old Testament the word is used mostly in a ceremonial sense. Surely it was acceptable to God, if carried out with a true heart, but true worship was not known. Although some individuals (like Abraham, Moses and David) doubtless had a much deeper appreciation of the Lord than many others, it remains that Old Testament worship was largely according to an outward form. It was not until the coming of Christ that worship “in spirit and in truth” could be introduced.
However, even in the Old Testament we find worship taking the first place. In the law itself, the first commandments concerned what was due to God; then what was due to man followed. During His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus summarized this same fact, showing that the first commandment concerned what was due to God, while the second brought in what was due to man.
Also, the law provided for both priests and Levites. The priests were clearly involved in worship, for they had the privilege of approaching God on behalf of the people. Their duties are mentioned first, as those who could offer the sacrifices. The Levites, on the other hand, were involved in service and were under the administration of the priests. They might even assist in offering sacrifices, but their duties were in service, not as worshippers. But all were to be directed by Aaron, a type of Christ.
When the Lord had blessed them with a good harvest in the land of Canaan, they were to bring their firstfruits unto the Lord, and this is connected with worship (Deut. 26:1-11). It was only after this that tithing was mentioned, and the importance of giving to the fatherless, the stranger and the widow. In all of this we see that what was due to the Lord always came before what was due to man.
New Testament Worship
In the New Testament, we find true worship introduced, in all its blessedness. It was not to be characterized by arousing people with emotion, music or ritual, but rather must be “in spirit and in truth.” Once again, we are shown the prior importance of worship, with service following as a natural thing. When Martha “was cumbered about much serving” (Luke 10:40) while Mary “sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard His Word” (vs. 39), the Lord gently rebuked Martha, saying that “Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (vs. 42). Later, when the same Mary anointed the Lord in Bethany, before He went to the cross, the Lord answered those who objected by reminding them that while the poor were always with them and that they could do them good whenever the opportunity presented itself, they would not always have the chance to honor Him in this world.
Worship, Then Service
This same order of worship and then service is found throughout the New Testament. In Hebrews 13:15, we are reminded to “offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” Then, in the next verse, we are told “to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Heb. 13:16).
Peter tells us that we are now “a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5), while later in the same chapter, he tells us that we are “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Again, the order is first worship and then service. Other scriptures could be quoted, but these are sufficient to show the order that Scripture presents to us, in connection with worship and service.
Worship-Service
Another significant connection between worship and service occurs in Romans 12:1, where the believer is exhorted to present his body “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” The word used here for “service” is used a number of times in the New Testament. Most of the time it is translated “serve” or “service,” but it has also the connotation of worship and is translated this way several times. For example, when Paul tells the Philippians that “we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit” (Phil 3:3), the word translated “worship” is the same root word as that translated “service” in Romans 12:1. There is a service involved in worship, but then a service involved in ministering to man, and our bodies are to be used for both, but again, in the right order.
There are some important lessons to be learned from all this. First of all, we must recognize the intimate connection between worship and service. As another has remarked, “All service must be carried out in the spirit of worship.” A brother now with the Lord used to say, “The remembrance of the Lord has a similarity to the preaching of the gospel: In the one, we present Christ and all His glories to God the Father. In the other, we present Christ as a Saviour to the sinner.” While God gives gifts to be used in service, it is important to see that no gift is involved in worship. Likewise, worship and service are not now connected with different groups of people, as they were in the Old Testament; every believer is both a priest and a Levite in this present dispensation.
Communion With the Lord
One may set out to serve without being a worshipper, but if we are truly worshippers, we cannot help but be servants. It is the one who is in true communion with the Lord who will have not only the desire and energy for service, but also the spiritual intelligence to know the mind of the Lord.
Second, and connected with this first lesson, we see that without being a true worshipper, one cannot be an acceptable servant. Our hearts and minds may become enamored by service, especially if others are actively engaged in it, and we may suppose that we can raise our spiritual state by getting involved. Seldom does this happen; all too often it will result either in our seeking to salve our conscience with one frantic activity after another, or else in a spirit of complaint, as happened to Martha, when she felt overworked in serving. Before we can serve effectively, we must be in communion with the Lord.
The Response of Love
Third, we are reminded that the spring of both worship and service is the same — the response of love, as a result of the love of God enjoyed in the soul. Concerning Mary’s act of anointing Him, the Lord said that her action would be spoken of throughout the whole world, wherever the gospel was preached. He did not mean that Mary should be exalted, but rather that her action showed how that the love of God and the appreciation of Christ — His person and His work, enjoyed in the soul — could make a sinner love Him so much in return. “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19), and true worship and service springs from the enjoyment of His love and our response to it. It is true that “the love of Christ constraineth us” (2 Cor. 5:14), whether in worship or service. If our hearts are truly enjoying His love, there will be a ready response, first of all in the “sacrifice of praise” rendered in connection with the remembrance of the Lord, and then a desire to serve Him, in whatever way that He may direct us.
W. J. Prost
Priesthood and Service
God gives a description of the relative service of the priests and the Levites in Numbers 18:1-7. Here we have a divine answer to the question raised by the children of Israel in the previous chapter, “Shall we be consumed with dying?” (Num. 17:13). “No,” says the God of all grace and mercy, because Aaron and his sons with him “shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar; that there be no wrath anymore upon the children of Israel’’ (Num. 18:5). Thus the people are taught that in that very priesthood, which had been so despised and spoken against, they were to find their security.
But we have to notice that Aaron’s sons and his father’s house are associated with him in his holy privileges and responsibilities; the Levites were given as a gift to Aaron, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation and to serve under him. This teaches us a lesson much needed by Christians at the present moment. All service, to be intelligent and acceptable, must be rendered in subjection to priestly authority and guidance. “Thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee” (Num. 18:2). The whole tribe of workers was associated with and subject to the great high priest; all was under his immediate control and guidance. So it must be now, in reference to all God’s workers. All Christian service must be done in fellowship with our great High Priest and in holy subjection to His authority. It is of no value otherwise. There may be a great deal of work done and there may be great activity, but if Christ is not the immediate object before the heart — if His guidance and authority is not fully owned — the work must go for nothing.
Serving Under Christ
On the other hand, the smallest act of service done under the eye of Christ, with direct reference to Him, has its value in God’s estimation and shall receive its due reward. This is truly encouraging and consolatory to the heart of every earnest worker. The Levites had to work under Aaron; Christians have to work under Christ. We are responsible to Him. It is good to walk in fellowship with our fellow-workmen and to be subject one to another, in the fear of the Lord. Nothing is further from our thoughts than to foster a spirit of independence or that temper of soul which would hinder our hearty cooperation with our brethren in every good work. All the Levites were joined to Aaron in their work, and therefore they were joined one to another. Hence, they had to work together. If a Levite had turned his back upon his brethren, he would have turned his back upon Aaron. All were called to work together, however varied their work might be.
Still, it must be borne in mind that their work did vary, though each was called to work under Aaron. There was individual responsibility with the most harmonious corporate action. We certainly desire, in every possible way, to promote unity in action, but this must never be suffered to encroach upon the domain of personal service or to interfere with the direct reference of the individual workman to his Lord. The church of God affords a very extensive platform to the Lord’s workers, and there is ample space there for all sorts of laborers. We must not attempt to reduce all to a legal level or cramp the varied energies of Christ’s servants by confining them to certain old ruts of our own formation. We must all diligently seek to combine the most cordial unanimity with the greatest possible variety in action. Both will be healthfully promoted, if we all remember that we are called to serve together under Christ.
Serving Together
Here lies the grand secret—together, under Christ! If we bear this in mind, it will help us to recognize and appreciate another’s line of work, though it may differ from our own. On the other hand, it will preserve us from too high a sense of our own department of service, for we shall see that we are, one and all, simply coworkers in the one wide field. The great object before the Master’s heart can only be attained by each worker pursuing his own special line and pursuing it in happy fellowship with all.
There is a harmful tendency in some to depreciate every line of work except their own. This must be carefully guarded against. If all were to pursue the same line, where would be that lovely variety which characterizes the Lord’s work and His workmen in the world? Nor is it merely a question of the line of work, but actually of the peculiar style of each workman. You may find two evangelists, each marked by an intense desire for the salvation of souls, each preaching substantially the same truth, and yet there may be the greatest possible variety in the mode in which each one seeks to gain the same object. The same holds true in reference to every other branch of Christian service. We should strongly suspect the ground occupied by a Christian assembly if there were not ample space allowed for every branch and style of Christian service—for every line of work capable of being taken up in individual responsibility to the great Head of the priestly house. We ought to do nothing which we cannot do under Christ and in fellowship with Him. And all that can be done in fellowship with Christ can surely be done in fellowship with those who are walking with Him.
C. H. Mackintosh, adapted
The Spirit of Service
The service of God in this world has always been attended with difficulty and opposition. In Old Testament times the servants sent to the Lord’s vineyard all came back disappointed, beaten or stoned; some never got back at all, but were put to death by those from whom they sought fruit for Jehovah. In the New Testament service, the one who was chiefly used in carrying the gospel of God’s glory to the Jew first and then to the Gentile had to feel not only the cruel opposition of the world at large—the scourge, stones and bonds—but had to lament, at the end of his course, the desertion and neglect of the greater part of those who had received the truth from him.
There would be enough to deter even an active and zealous man in such a course. I well remember the words of an old servant of the Lord to one who was discouraged by the ingratitude of those he had endeavored to serve: “Christianity is not shown forth in seeking anything upon earth, not even the gratitude of Christians, but in bringing into the earth power from another sphere.”
By Love Serve
The spirit of service in Christianity is love, and love that is willing to spend and be spent for others, with no reward, but even ready to love the Corinthians all the more, the less they loved him (2 Cor. 12:15).
It must have been very trying to carry on this service to the Corinthians. There is indeed a pleasure in working for others who show a little gratitude and interest in return for the service, but what must it have been to the heart of the devoted Apostle to receive nothing but unkindness and ingratitude from those for whom he had suffered and labored so much? If in natural things it is more painful to have a thankless child than to feel the serpent’s bite, what is it in spiritual things where the active care and service, the fruit of true Christian affection, is slighted? The motive and reason for continuing thus to serve the ungrateful is found in the love itself, and not in its objects. This is exactly the character of love, the divine nature; there is nothing self-seeking in it, and if the eye be single, the most gifted servant will be quite content to be misunderstood and ill-requited in carrying out service towards the church of God.
We should notice the self-denying way in which the Apostle met the needs of the weakest; being free from all, he made himself the servant of all, that he might gain the more. “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Cor. 9:22). The spirit of service in Paul was evidently the spirit of love; there was that true seeking the good of others, though at his own expense, and the perseverance in it that is peculiar to love. In 1 Corinthians 13, love is insisted upon by the Apostle. The gifts are found in chapter 12, the use of them in chapter 14, and the thirteenth chapter comes between as being the preparation for their use.
The Service of Jesus
But we have a far more glorious and touching impression of love than that which was seen in Paul; we have the perfect love of God shown forth in the service of Jesus Himself. His service was characterized by self-denying perseverance in a path of condescension that could come down to the feeblest objects and where nothing but ingratitude from man was found. This is divine love. We shall never fully understand what that love was, that could descend from supreme glory to the place of the dependent man, who learned obedience by the things which He suffered, so as to be able to help and serve the weary. But it is a happy thing for us that we have the Lord Himself as the pattern and model of service.
“I am among you as He that serveth,” He said, at a time when all the sufferings of the cross were before Him and when there was but little response from those who were the objects of His care. If we really wish to fulfill our mission, we must be near Him whose blessed life here on earth was spent in perfect service to God and man, who never sought anything for Himself, but always the good of others.
If our resources are in the Lord Himself, no matter what our gift or service may be, we will accomplish it with a heart happy in Him and sustained by Him to the very end. In that day, “His servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads” (Rev. 22:3-4).
E. L. Bevir, adapted
The Lord’s Servant
Those who fight the Lord’s battles must be content to be in no respect accounted of; they must not expect to be encouraged by the prospect of human praise. And if you make an exception, counting that the children of God will praise you, beware of this, for your expectation of their approval may turn you from the right objective causing you to sow to the flesh for their approval. You will neither be benefited by them nor they by you, so long as respect for them is your motive. All such motives are a poison and debilitate the strength to give glory to God. The misunderstanding of the world is not the only misunderstanding the Christian must be content to endure in labor. He must expect even his brethren to misjudge; he must not expect their sympathy and their cheers of approbation. The man of God must walk alone with God and be content that the Lord knows. It is such a relief to the natural man to fall back upon human support, thoughts and sympathy; we often deceive ourselves and think it “brotherly love,” when we are just resting on the sympathy of some fellow-creature. You are to be followers of Him who was left alone, and you are to rejoice like Him, because you are not alone, because the Father is with you, that you may give glory to God.
It is such a glory to God to see a soul that has been exposed to the praise of men, content, pleased and happy to serve with reference only to God, knowing those being served may possibly all misunderstand. Here was the victory of Jesus; there was not a single heart that beat in sympathy with his heart or entered into his bitter sorrow or bore His grief in His hour of trial. His way was with the Lord; His judgment was with God His Father, who said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). This was the perfect glory given to the Father by the Son who in flesh and blood displayed such a trust in God. That is what you are called to; you are not called to it as He was, but you are called to see God in Him. God has come near to you in Christ; here you have a human heart, a perfect sympathy, and God always brings us to this. If there is any other sympathy with you in the wide universe, it is only that which flows from Christ to His members that may be of any account to you. Feed upon it, and remember you are to walk in the world in this way, not hanging one upon another.
Christian Friend, adapted
The Responsibility for Gospel Work and Ministry
I classify all the following together as personal exercise and responsibility:
Young people’s meetings in the homes or on certain occasions when the young are called together.
Sunday schools.
Summer camps, including recreational activities.
Special meetings for young married couples.
Cottage meetings.
Lectures on special subjects.
Publication work.
Gospel work, including tract distribution, street preaching and itinerant gospel preaching.
Hobby classes.
“Abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).
“Ready to every good work” (Titus 3:1).
Criticism
An older brother used to say, “If there is an opportunity, use it.” I believe the question is not only that we should use the opportunities, but that they be used according to scriptural principles.
Perhaps if those who criticize were active in some little sphere of service, seizing opportunities, they would have little or no time for criticism. I may not, however, feel free to do some of the things that others do. God has fitted every servant: Some are “left-handed,” some have the gift of visiting, some go to the heathen and some are teachers. Should I then judge them by my lack of ability?
Gospel work is an individual responsibility. “To his own master he standeth or falleth” (Rom. 14:4).
I am very slow to criticize any work, because in some cases there is ignorance but a willing heart. Each has to learn before the Lord, and the Gospels are a great help in this.
For us to question another’s work is a serious thing. I am responsible to rebuke anything in that work that is not according to Scripture, as well as the person responsible. But we should be sure that we have Scripture for it and that we do it in humility so as not to interrupt the work. We never need to lower the standard, whether it is in a public place or a private gathering. Christ was the same in the temple, the Pharisee’s house, or at Bethany.
Ministry should always be in keeping with the holiness and glory of Christ, and each special gathering should be under the complete control of the one who holds the meeting or gathering.
C. E. Lunden, March 1988
Guidance in Service
The question presents itself: In what manner and to what extent can we expect the direction of God in our work? The answer is analogous to the same intervention of God in order to liberate us from dangers. We cannot expect visible and sensible interventions, but we can expect with certainty the care and direction of God by His Spirit in the heart if we walk with Him — to be “filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” — to be led by the Spirit if we walk in humility (Rom. 8:14; Col. 1:9; see also Psa. 32:8-9). I do not doubt that if we walk with God and look to Him, the Spirit will put in our hearts the special things that He wishes us to do. Only it is important that we keep in memory the Word of God, in order that it may be a guard against all our own imaginations; otherwise the Christian who lacks humility will do his own will, often taking it for the Holy Spirit. This is but the deceitful folly of his heart—first, that it knows them; second, taking it for the Holy Spirit. But I repeat, he who looks with humility to the Lord will be conducted by the Lord in the way, and the Holy Spirit who dwells in him will suggest to him the things which He wishes him to do.
J. N. Darby
Endurance in Service
If our ministry is to have power and our gospel testimony efficacy, it will only be as our souls rise above their failings and the failure of all around and as, with the hand of faith, we grasp the hand of the unfailing God and lay hold of the promises of His Word. It was thus Abraham triumphed over the sorrow of laying his Isaac on the altar, and it is thus we triumph over all sorrow from within or from without — over all difficulty that meets us in the path of obedience and over all weakness that results from our own failures and shortcomings. It is the consideration of the faithfulness of God that will raise us up out of our feebleness or our unbelief.
H. G.
I Will Not - I Will
I will not work my soul to save,
For that the Lord has done;
But I will work like any slave
From love to God’s dear Son.
True Service
The really devoted servant will keep his eye not on his service, be it ever so great, but on the Master, and this will produce a spirit of worship. If I love my master according to the flesh, I shall not mind whether I am cleaning his shoes or driving his carriage, but if I am thinking more of myself than of him, I shall rather be a coachman than a shoe-shiner. So it is precisely in the service of the heavenly Master; if I am thinking only of Him, planting churches and making tents will be both alike to me.
We may see the same thing in angelic ministry. It matters not to an angel whether he is sent to destroy an army or to protect the person of some heir of salvation; it is the Master who entirely fills his vision. As someone has remarked, “If two angels were sent from heaven, one to rule an empire and the other to sweep the streets, they would not dispute about their respective work.” This is most true, and so it should be with us. The servant should ever be combined with the worshipper, and the works of our hands perfumed with the ardent breathings of our spirits. In other words, we should go forth to our work in the spirit of those memorable words, “I and the lad will go yonder and worship.” This would effectually preserve us from that merely mechanical service into which we are so prone to drop—doing things for doing’s sake and being more occupied with our work than with our Master. All must flow from simple faith in God and obedience to His Word.
C. H. Mackintosh
Proper Service
“Martha was cumbered about much serving” (Luke 10:40). There is a tendency to distraction in all service, blessed though it be in its place. All of us have some service given us to do for Christ — it would be sad indeed if we were in a position that we had nothing to do for Him. The great point is the way it is done. What is needed is the quietness of communion so as to go out from Himself and then return to Himself. There are those who work, thinking thereby to get into communion. They can never know or enjoy it this way. All real service must flow from communion; then we are occupied with Christ and have His thoughts.
W. T. Turpin
How to Perform True Service
True service begins with Christ, who is the Head, and when Christ is forgotten, then the service is defective; it has lost connection with the spring and fountain of all service, because it is from the Head that “all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered ... increaseth.” The body is of Christ, and He loves it as He loves Himself, and everyone who would serve it will best learn to do so by knowing His heart and purposes toward it. In a word, it is Christ who serves, though it may be through us. We are but “joints and bands.” If we are not derivative and communicative from Christ, we are useless. To be useful, my eye and heart must be on Christ and not on the issue of my service, though if true to Him, the end will vindicate me too, however disheartening the interval. He who judges of his service by present appearances will judge by the blossom and not by the fruit, and after all, the service is not for the sake of the church, but for the sake of Christ, and if He be served in the church, though the church recognizes it not, yet, Christ being served, He will own it. Now the constant effort of Satan is to disconnect, in our minds, Christ from our service, and this, much more than any of us, perhaps, have fully discovered. Whether in reading or praying or speaking, how seldom (if we judge ourselves) do we find that we act simply as toward Christ and Him alone! How often may sentimentality and natural feeling affect us in our service, instead of simple love to Him!
Christian Friend
With Single Eye
“Thrice happy he who serveth
The Lord with heart and soul!
Whose purpose never swerveth,
Who loves the Lord’s control.
With single eye — unfearing —
With simple, child-like faith —
The Master’s accents hearing;
He doth whate’er He saith.”
Service
The Lord may let others be honored and put forward and keep you hidden in obscurity, because He wants to produce some choice fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small. He may let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing, and then to make your work still more precious He may let others get credit for the work which you have done and thus make your reward ten times greater when Jesus comes.
When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set at naught and you smile inwardly, glorying in the insult or the oversight, because you are thereby counted worthy to suffer with Christ — that is victory!
When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your taste offended, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you take it all in patient, loving silence — that is victory!
When you are content with any food, any raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God—that is victory!
Adapted from “Others May ...
You Cannot”
Effective Service
When you bless God, you will be able to bless other people, for all service must be carried on in the spirit of worship. No service is effective that is not the overflowing of the heart.
E. Dennett
I’ll Wish I Had Given Him More
By and by when I look on His face —
Beautiful face, thorn-shadowed face —
By and by when I look on His face,
I’ll wish I had given Him more—
More, so much more —
More of my life than I e’er gave before;
By and by when I look on His face,
I’ll wish I had given Him more.
By and by when He holds out His hands —
Welcoming hands, nail-riven hands —
By and by when He holds out His hands,
I’ll wish I had given Him more—
More, so much more —
More of my life than I e’er gave before;
By and by when He holds out His hands,
I’ll wish I had given Him more.
In the light of that heavenly place —
Light from His face, beautiful face —
In the light of that heavenly place,
I’ll wish I had given Him more—
More, so much more —
Treasures unbounded for Him I adore;
By and by when I look on His face,
I’ll wish I had given Him more.
G. R. Adkins