Dear Christian, Why do You Serve?
Now there are many blessed brothers and sisters out there who have committed themselves to serve Christ in whichever capacity, whether in church or their workplace or their homes. I applaud them for that, and I earnestly encourage them to continue doing so, and God, who is faithful, will reward them bountifully. Some mistakenly think that anything to do with church is to be done by pastors. Some even believe that they are paying their pastors to do such kinds ofworksthroughtherofferngsandtthes. I thank God that there are Christians that have realized; their responsibility in Christianity and that all cannot be done by the pastors. However, there is a trend I find worrying me within serving Christians. This trend has to do with their intentions in serving. I have now heard several cases whereby believers serve as their ticket to get whatever they want from God. They serve so that God can protect them. They serve so that God can bless them materially. They serve so that God can heal them and every other reason, conceivable. The downside of this mentality is; what if God doesn’t deliver your desires as you expected, now what? I have heard some cases where whenever a serving Christian is suffering, they begin charging God with unfaithfulness. Many times they start saying; I have served as an usher since I got born again, I have read my Bible every day, I have prayed every day, I have preached to many, I have given to the poor why does then God allow all this suffering to happen to me. Why doesn’t He bless me nor protect me yet I have served? Some endure in their pain and questions while others completely reject the faith and live in their sins. Now, I don’t want to seem apathetic about the sufferings of other believers. My heart is with them, and I pray that God will encourage, deliver, and prosper them. However, are those the kinds of reasons why you serve, dear Christian? If so, I pray that by the time you finish this article you will be convinced otherwise. If you have served for a long time, but you still suffer, I pray that the reason for your service that I will express in the article will encourage you to persevere in faith and serve in Joy. May God help us all!
Romans 12:1 – I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
Paul here exhorts believers to offer their bodies as living sacrifices. Believers obey this by serving Christ. But why does Paul call believers to present their bodies as a living sacrifice? It is because of the mercies of God. The fuel for your service in Christ is his mercies. Throughout the whole letter, from chapter 1 to chapter 11, Paul has been talking about God’s mercies. In the first three chapters, he talks about how the whole world has sinned before him. God being just, is obligated to punish all humanity, but Christ on the cross took the punishment for all who put their faith in Him. Those who believe in Christ will be counted as righteous no matter what they have done. It will be as though they never sinned and will never sin before God because the Blood of Christ pleads their case. That already blows my mind because I, a hell-deserving sinner, has been saved through the suffering of God’s own beloved Son! I mean, Christ took my Hell on His Body. He was forsaken for a moment by God so that I may not be forsaken forever. In chapter 4, Paul shows how Abraham was counted righteous before God because He had faith in Him and not because he tried to prove himself by doing some good works. Before going to God, some people are not convinced that faith alone is needed, but they believe they need some time alone so that they can make themselves right with God by doing different kinds of stuff. Some, after committing a particular sin such as fornication, may not come to church for some time because they are not convinced repentance and faith in the Son is enough. Still, they would take some time away from fellowship because they want to ‘sanctify themselves.’ They don’t realize that Christ paid for that sin too. O, how good news this is! When you perceive just a small image of God’s perfection, you will realize that you are hopeless in ever attaining that kind of perfection, yet that is the kind of righteousness God demands, nothing less. Just observe the ten commandments alone (Exodus 20:1-17). I dare ask someone to tell me that they have gone through the whole day without breaking any of them. The two greatest commandments are; love your God with all your heart, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as you love yourself (Matthew 22:36-39). Who can say they have kept these commandments every second in their lives. No time ever has their love for God dropped to 99% but has always been 100%. The Good Samaritan is the best definition of loving your neighbor as yourself. Have you ever treated anyone suffering in such empathy? It isn’t even about being the Good Samaritan once in your life, but every day in your life, you lavish your love to someone you don’t even know (If you aren’t familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan, please check Luke 10:25-36). That is the only kind of perfection that can be allowed in heaven. Who can say they have achieved this perfection? God, in mercy, sent his Son to live a perfect life not for Himself but for us that whoever believes in Him is counted as righteous just as He is righteous. That is what chapter 4 is about that in faith alone are we saved. In Chapter 5, Paul now gives believers assurance of this news if there is any doubt because, to be honest, when you carefully think about it, it is too good to be true, yet it is. If Christ achieved such salvation through his death, how much more now that He is alive!? How much more confident should we be of our forgiveness of sins and reconciliation to God now because Christ is alive? If through a Adam every human became a sinner, how much greater effect will the God-man, Christ on all who believe towards righteousness? When you meditate on such mysteries and understand the grace, mercy and love that God has lavished upon you it will lead you to serve as your thanksgiving and worship towards him (your reasonable service). I encourage you to read and meditate the epistle to the Romans, it can be complex but it will result to your joy when understood.
Dear Christian, let what God has done for you that you may be saved be your primary motivation to serve him. Let it be your worship and thanksgiving to Him. Let it not be a ticket you are using to ensure your life’s own safety. That would be idolatry because you will have yourself as the focus. I submit to you that you may be suffering because of this. God wants you to realise that you are serving him with a hidden intention and desires that you repent from this mentality and serve him just because HE IS WORTHY OF IT ALL! Also, don’t change your attitude so that you can stop suffering, I believe it will just be jumping from one sin to another but in your repentance trust Him no matter what. Trust that His ways are better than your ways and that He has your greater good in mind. Paul is a person who amazes me, he was an apostle but unlike, our modern day apostles who wear 3-piece suits and live in fancy homes and only interact with ‘big’ people and consider poverty a sin and a demon, he (Paul) stayed some days without food, his clothes were tattered, he was whipped five times in his life by the time he wrote the second letter to Corinthians, the boats he travelled crashed a number of times, a number of times he would be the one dealt with in a mob justice (1 Corinthians 4:11-13 & 2 Corinthians 11:23-28). I mean, Paul had every reason to leave the faith and say that God was unfaithful but instead He says desires even more to be with this same Christ that has allowed him to suffer (Philippians 1:23 & Philippians 3:10). He desires to know him even more. Why? Because He saved him the worst of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). Dear Christian, He has also saved you a hell deserving sinner. Was Paul rewarded? I mean he was beheaded in the end! It seems as though Paul’s whole life after salvation was hopeless but through his suffering He was able to reach high places to preach the gospel. Governors and kings were able to hear the Gospel (Acts 23-26). Though not recorded in the Bible, I am convinced that He was able to reach the emperor with the gospel. He reached so many with the gospel, I believe, more than any apostle then yet he was the one who seemed to suffer most. Through His suffering he was able to encourage other Christians not to fear to share their faith and to endure in their faith. I consider this great reward because Paul’s ultimate desire was to reach as many gentiles with the gospel and grow as many Christians into maturity (Romans 15: 15-20). Through his suffering he fulfilled this more than through a comfortable life, I believe. Dear Christian, your suffering is never meaningless. There is a purpose to it and it will ultimately come to be for your joy and God’s glory. Paul is now dead but half of the books of the Bible we read today are His. Thinking about his life, just imagine how much reward he has in heaven! Dear Christian, every sacrifice and pain you have gone through in this life as part of your service to God will be rewarded in ways we can’t imagine, even if not here, in heaven it will be so bountiful that even angels will honour you maybe even tempted to worship you(In a light note). Therefore, I call on you to serve Him as your thanksgiving to Him trusting Him even in your suffering.
As I end, let me give a caution to preachers. This narrative that “If you serve in church, God will bless you” which is propagated by preachers mainly to encourage congregations to serve in church, is a major contributor, I believe, to this dangerous mentality that I spent time dismantling in this article. You may ask; but isn’t true that God will bless you? I answer yes He will, However, our definition of blessing often is confined materially, physically or socially yet I am convinced God’s definition is different as I have shown through Paul who was blessed to reach many yet he did have much materially, did not have a wife nor children and his health was not always 100%. You may then say, but I can testify that God has blessed me materially, physically and socially because I have served! However, you forget that we are all different and that God is working in us differently according to His pleasure. Therefore, a testimony should an encouragement for believers but not to be made as a norm since some may think that there is something wrong with them or God if they don’t attain the norm. Therefore, if you are to encourage service among congregation, I urge you to primarily point them to the cross before you get to the blessings. Any true believer, I believe, will be prompted to praise God in service when they understand the wonderful mysteries of what Christ did.
Be blessed!