The Purpose of Service

Introduction

Today we steer a new direction. Today we take up a fresh, practical theme. We are going to address a topic of some importance in our next four messages or so. We are going to look in a practical way at what it means to do service in the church. And we may apply this specifically to our own church, the Mentone SDA church. Others, reading this on the internet will understand that application would be made in a concrete way in their own local church. We are going to address this week, "The purpose of service," and in the following presentations, "The privilege of service," "The persuasion of service," and "The pleasure of service."

The phrase "service in the church" as used in this series refers to what the members of our church congregation do in harmony with God and each other to fulfill the goals of heaven for this local church. Some tasks or offices may on the surface seem mundane, but every part of the work has its place in causing "church" to be what heaven would have it be.

Purpose for Individuals

Two grand purposes meet in our topic: God's purpose for the Christian individual, and God's purpose for His church.

For the Christian individual God's goal is healing, transformation. Our life here is not without purpose. God's plan is that whosoever will shall receive the redemption purchased for them through their Savior Jesus Christ.

Remember one of our givens: man is a worshipping being. It is innate in our nature to seek that which is great and worship it; it is innate in our nature to bow before our Creator in awe and appreciation. Even in our fallen estate still we cleave to some purpose, some fealty. When the sinful nature rules we give this fealty to the evil and the selfish, but when the Spirit of God rules (even in the sinful nature) we look to the higher.

Converging with what God has planned for the Christian individual is also His purpose for His church.

An Example

Scripture announces to us not only that there are a variety of gifts and offices (apostle, prophet, pastor-teacher, etc.), but that to serve in such capacities makes for rich spiritual returns in us. As an example of this, consider this in one place where the Bible speaks of the office of the deacon. We find our text in 1 Timothy 3:13:

"For they that have used the office of deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus."

Here we have a result of serving as a church officer, in this case, as deacon. Here we find that those who have "used the office well," that is, who have sought to serve at their post faithfully, "purchase to themselves a good degree." The Greek here is bathmos, which Thayer's Lexicon gives as "threshold," or "step. He gives for this text the meaning, "of a grade of dignity and wholesome influence in the church." (p. 92b).

If one has the privilege of serving in some capacity as a church officer, they have a special opportunity. By fulfilling the needs of their office, they have special opportunity to grow. That is, your service is to the benefit of not only the church but to yourself as well.

But they also get something else of special interest: "and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." Is there anyone here who cannot become more bold for God? When we serve Him through His church we will gain more boldness for our Lord. And that only makes sense. Not only do I believe there is something special, something supernatural about this, but there is also the obvious. When we have invested ourselves in doing something, we'll be more ready to defend that something. When our value system is tested, we'll be more ready to stand up and hold the moral lines where God has drawn them.

Here is a point of danger as well. The devil doesn't want anyone to have a positive view of the church in general or their own local church in specific. He will try to get us to withdraw our support from our church over real or imagined wrongs. We begin to slack off in returning tithes, in giving offerings. We become less faithful in attending meetings. Our prayer meeting attendance declines. Then we begin to miss church here and there again. We hear of some supposed injustice and without the facts we start withdraw our affections from the church.

Some become church-hoppers, always gadding-about where the latest guest speaker is coming or the latest seminar is being held. Some will go to a larger church where there is a larger kids program, or more specialized seminars or something. We begin to become religious consumers rather than faithful workers. Smaller churches are left to lag behind while we go to the larger church, or what we might call our local religious malls. It is a disease. Fortunately, many communities don't have this disease because there is only one SDA church in their town. But some do.

So some of us develop a habit of being floaters, while others take up duties, lift the loads, and work to sustain their local church. And I find that the most critical are those who have the smallest affection for their local church. The most ready to believe evil of church leadership are often those who have the least invested there.

My recommendation? Be active in your local church. If you are privileged to be asked to serve, then serve. Purchase to yourself a good degree. Serve faithfully, and see if god does not grant you an increased measure of boldness in the faith. Keep in mind this text, 1 Timothy 3:13. I believe that the same types of things can be said of service in other capacities in the church.

Purpose for the Church

The purpose of service in the church is to co-operate with God in the work he has given for this time. The gifts are given the church for a purpose. Let's look at Ephesians 4:11-16:

And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

We'll return to this passage in other sermons in this series, but here let's direct our attention to the latter portion of it. The gifts are to be used within the church in order to bring her to spiritual maturity. We read that God's intent is that "we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." Children is how Paul refers to adults in the church who are not grounded, who are as variable as the wind in terms of the teachings of the Bible. Here we find warning that without the proper exercise of the gifts in her, we will be prey to "the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby men lie in wait to deceive."

Where are these persons lying in wait to deceive? In the church! In the place where He has given His gifts to build up His people. In contrast from this deception, God intends that (verse 15) His own "speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." Let's notice that this passage focuses strongly upon what is taught within the church. Just as the sleight of hand, the cunning craftiness of men who lie in wait to deceive is exercised in words, so the building up of the church is as His own "speak the truth in love." Then His own will hear the truth in love, and receive it and apply it so that they grow up into Jesus "in all things." Every aspect of our lives will be touched through the life and the teaching of the church.

The 16th verse brings this together: "From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." The joining together is possible only through Jesus, who maketh increase of the body so that it may edify itself through His Spirit.

Idleness

You or I might say don't worry about this issue of idleness, none of us has time to be idle. But we can sometimes become spiritually idle, and go off into wrong directions. We recall King David who stayed home from the wars one season and began to ogle the beautiful women who came to bath within sight of the palace windows. And what a load of trouble that became for him. And then there is the heathen king Nebuchadnezzzar, who, after a vision and a warning from Daniel made it through perhaps a whole year, but one day found himself looking out upon the city of Babylon, and saying, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" (Daniel 4:28-30). For the next seven years he was insane as a judgment of God. But he was idle in his palace and he began to think he was something.

Among the purposes of service is that it will keep our hands busy with God's things. David began thinking about what looked like what he wanted, and Nebuchadnezzar began thinking about his own greatness. If we continue to serve God in the shadow of His throne, we will not loose sight of the fact that He is high and lifted up, and we are speechless when it comes to glory.

Jesus' Example

In John 9:4-5 Jesus tells His disciples:

"I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

And the same is true of us. As long as we are in the world, we are the light of the world. Jesus lives in us (Galatians 2:20), and His light is not to be kept hidden under cover, but to give light to all that are in the house. What God would do through us as we serve Him would be a work that would bless the world and bring honor to His kingdom. We should be like Christ, between the mountain and the multitude, growing spiritually personally, strengthening our grip on God and at the same time serving Him, whether in the church or our neighborhood, and ideally both.

The commitment of the people has a lot to do with how strong a church's witness to the world is. Think of all these radio and television broadcasts which do NOT teach the truth about God. And yet they have these rather incredible "ministries" to which these church members give extraordinary time and energy and financial resources. And none of the major ones are teaching the world present truth. We are glad for our own less well known Adventist ministries like Amazing Facts and others. 3ABN exists because someone had vision and several like-minded folks came together and did hard work to make that into reality.

Conclusion

The purpose of service is to build up the Christian, to build up the church. Our local church here in Mentone gives us an opportunity to grow, personally, and to see God's message go forward. You, as church members, have opportunity. You can make a difference in the lives of others around you. You can work while still it is day, you can be a light of the world. You can use the gifts heaven has given you to build up your local church. You can serve God in many ways, quiet and indirect. We have all converged here in time and place to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. God grant us that we will do so faithfully.

Pastor Larry Kirkpatrick is an ordained minister of the gospel. Since 1994 he has served in the American Southwest as pastor to several churches. He received his BA in Religion from Southern Adventist University in 1994 and a Master of Divinity from Andrews University in 1999 with a specialization in Adventist Studies. While in Michigan he was employed by the General Conference at the White Estate Berrien Springs branch office. More important than his scholastic preparation has been his immersion in the biblical and Spirit of Prophecy materials. He is author of the 2003 book Real Grace for Real People. Presently he serves as Pastor of the Mentone Church of Seventh-day Adventists, located near Loma Linda, California. Larry is married to Pamela. The couple presently live in Highland, California along with their two children, Etienne and Melinda.