Two things give character to all true service in the present day. One is, the world has rejected Christ; the other, God has rejected the world. (See John 12:31.)
These two facts, if practically acted upon, would materially alter the character of that which professes to be the service of God, as well as the labors of many who render true service of God in some respects, but whose chief efforts are now misdirected. "In every good work doing the will of God." A work may be good in itself, but if it is not according to the will of God for the present moment, then it loses its savor to Him, and is deprived of its true value.
In Rom. 12 we have a complete summary of different characters of service. It embraces every member of the assembly of God, assigning to each his proper sphere of service. All are first exhorted to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is their intelligent service (chap. 5:1). This gives the positive side, placing ourselves absolutely in the hands of another, which is the first requisite of a true servant-intelligent but absolute obedience. In verse 2 we have the negative side, "not conformed to this world"; and, as the certain result of devotion to good on the one side and separation from evil on the other, a practical acquaintance with the Master's will is obtained, proving "what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." To admire a truth is not enough; it is only in practice that one proves its reality. "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." John 7:17.
In 2 Sam. 15; 17, and 19 we find three classes of servants, each rendering to David in the day of his rejection intelligent and acceptable service, and illustrating the New Testament truths that "all members have not the same office," and there are "gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us"—truths practically ignored in this day of one-man ministry, when all the gifts are assumed to be possessed by one individual, who is not supposed to receive them from their true source—an ascended Christ—but by humanly ordained and appointed means, frequently "of man," as well as "by man."
1) Ittai, the Gittite, a stranger and an exile (chap. 15:20), has his heart attracted to the person of David, who tests the professed devotion of his servant by putting before him his own portion as that of his followers, warning him that an outcast and a wanderer in this scene is the only prospect before him. In spirit he says, The world hates me, and it will also hate you. How beautifully this test brings out the depth of Ittai's devotion, as he replies, "As the LORD liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be." Practically, he put his life in his hands, and this self-abnegation is the first grand requisite of a true servant. It is this the Apostle speaks of when he says, "We which live are alway delivered unto death" (2 Cor. 4:11). "And are the off-scouring of all things" (1 Cor. 4:13). He is willing to leave Jerusalem with all its attractions to De a servant and a homeless wanderer.
God in His sovereignty called out, in a distinct manner, certain men to be in the wilderness with Christ and for Christ. Home, friends, wealth, position, ambition, all that man as man values most, must be relinquished when there is a distinct call from God. We have a striking example of this in Saul of Tarsus. Peter too must leave his nets, boats, and fishes at the call of Christ. Obedience to such a call will never be accompanied by ease and comfort after a worldly sort. Alas! the spurious servant of the present day seeks to find a lodgment in the wide-spreading branches of the mustard tree of profession. The "minister" must wait on "his ministry," "the teacher" on his teaching, "the exhorter" on exhortation: that is to say, the Lord's service is to be the distinct business of his life- all other things being subservient to this one end. He may make tents, though tent-making is not his object. This is important to notice, for some imagine that a true servant ought not at any time to be engaged in a worldly calling. The example of him who was "not a whit behind the chiefest of the apostles" teaches otherwise. "These hands," he could honorably say, "have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me."
In closing the first list of gifts and class of servants (Rom. 12:6-8), he adds (v. 9), "Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good"; in other words telling us that a loving heart, a separated path, and a devoted walk are grand moral requisites for a true servant.
2) But not only has God called out some distinctly to be His servants here, by leaving everything that would in the least interfere with his service; but we read of others, who in the exercise of "brotherly love" are "Not slothful in business [or diligence]; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality." Zeal, fervency, patience, joy, and dependence are to be exhibited in service toward those who belong to God, the circle of Christ's affections, the members of His body, the Church, which He loved, and for which He died and now lives. This will call forth service of a very varied character.
The action of Shobi, Machir, and Barzillai, in 2 Sam. 17:27-29, furnishes a beautiful illustration of the second class of servants. Their service is as grateful in its way and season as that of Ittai, though differing in its nature and character. They do not go out, leaving everything, to follow a rejected king; but they place their wealth, their beds, their basins, and their food, at the disposal of David and those who shared his rejection. "The people," they say, "is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness."
This carries our thoughts to the faithful Gaius of New Testament days, and to the devoted women who ministered to the Lord of their substance. A cup of cold water given in the name of Christ is treasured up by Him in sweet remembrance until that day when "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me" will recall many a long-forgotten act of "brotherly love."
This, beloved, has a very practical application. It may be I cannot evangelize, teach, or exhort; but this I can and ought to do—hold all that I have in this world absolutely at the command, control, and disposal of my Master, reckoning neither wealth, home, nor comfort as my own, but as a "good steward of the manifold grace of God," using all for Christ. Experience proves that nothing conduces more to the well-being of saints in any locality than the practical activities of that love that looks not upon its own things, but the things of others.
3) But some may say, "I have no special gifts wherewith to serve the Lord, nor house nor means to place at the disposal of those that are His." I reply that the Lord Himself in Luke 12 distinguishes between a "waiting" servant (v. 37) and a "working" servant (v. 43). He serves the former, and rewards the latter; but both are equally termed servants. Paul in writing to Timothy says of the crown of righteousness, that it is for those who love the appearing of their Lord. The heart that is freed from itself can "weep with those that weep," and if done in communion with the Master's mind, it is a service of very grateful and acceptable kind to His heart. What He desires is that our bodies should be the lamps through which the light of companionship with a rejected Lord is seen.
Such service is beautifully exemplified in the demeanor and conduct of Mephibosheth (2 Sam. 19:24) during the absence of his beloved though rejected king. He had neither dressed his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day when he came again in peace. During the whole term of David's exile, this devoted servant, unable to follow him in his place of rejection and reproach, or to minister to him of his substance, was the standing witness to the fact that, though actually present at Jerusalem, his heart was "in the wilderness" with his beloved master. His body was the practical expression of this truth.
Let me ask, beloved, Is it so with us? Do our bodies express the fact that we are dead and risen with Christ, and that our only desire is to be with Him where He is? Mephibosheth might have cultivated the favor of the usurper on the throne, but he cared for neither position, appearance, nor ridicule. Wealth too was disregarded by him; for in verse 30 he can afford to say, "Let him take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house." Let us test our ways, beloved. Are we "like unto men that wait for their Lord"? May we each earnestly desire and ask this.
Lord, awaken in our hearts the desire to be Thine, only Thine, wholly Thine—to use all that we have and are in Thy service, and to wait for Thy coming again.