Tuesday, February 23, 2016

When You Serve God Which Leads To Serving Others, God is Glorified

My Utmost For His Highest

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve… —Matthew 20:28

“Jesus also said, “Yet I am among you as the One who serves” (Luke 22:27). Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s— “…ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5). We somehow have the idea that a person called to the ministry is called to be different and above other people. But according to Jesus Christ, he is called to be a “doormat” for others— called to be their spiritual leader, but never their superior. Paul said, “I know how to be abased…” (Philippians 4:12). Paul’s idea of service was to pour his life out to the last drop for others. And whether he received praise or blame made no difference. As long as there was one human being who did not know Jesus, Paul felt a debt of service to that person until he did come to know Him. But the chief motivation behind Paul’s service was not love for others but love for his Lord. If our devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another.”  CHAMBERS

There are a couple of points to be made here.  First … God has chosen to use us for His purpose.  Our focus must be on service not self.  As I typed that I thought about the core values of the Air Force.  Those things that are to be primary to the character of ever airman and civilian who serves.  There are three – Integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do.  I must say, I don’t always see those being played out in the lives of the people around me .. just as I don’t see those same Biblical values being played out in the lives of many Christians around me … I don’t pretend to understand fully why God has chosen to use us to show His glory to others, except when Jesus ascended there needed to be a replacement for Jesus .. that is us .. but we needed to be spiritually empowered, so God sent the Spirit.  The things we do for the Lord cannot not done by the power of our flesh or there is no glory for God.  There is no spiritual power behind our actions or our words.

The second point is that why we do what we do should not be motivated primarily for our love for others, but our love for God.  Through my own experience, I can promise you that you will serve many ungrateful people.  Ingratitude on the part of others is a fiery arrow from Satan.  Without the shield of faith, ingratitude can steal your joy and motivation, causing you to consider “what you have done” and lose sight of why you have done it. (Ephesians 6) Jesus brought salvation to a nation and they crucified Him.  Why should they treat you any different.  (John 15:20-21)  "Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.” The pastor of the largest church in South Korea (830,000 members), Pastor Cho, told the missionaries sent from that church, “When people ask you why you are serving the way you are, tell them that Jesus came serving the Father to show the love of the Father to the world, and you are doing the same.”  In other words, point them to the Lord and don’t take credit for your service.  Interestingly, this same pastor was convicted of embezzlement from the church.  My point of adding that factoid, success in the kingdom does not ensure safety from sin.  (Genesis 4:7) “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”  ELGIN

Charley Elgin

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