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The Persuasion of Service
Larry Kirkpatrick 11 May 2002
The persuasion of service in the church is that it demonstrates to others in a concrete way how we value God's work. You don't invest time and energy in something in which you don't believe. When we serve we make visible that we are ready to invest in God's program, that it matters to us what heaven wants.
Jesus provides the pattern for us. Join me at Matthew 5:16. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." The context includes the previous verse, which says that people don't light candles and then hide them. Candles are lit to give light to those who need illumination.
What we do is part of what heaven is doing. When you vacuum a room at the church, that's part of the kingdom.
Serving may not always be flashy. Many things have to be done that we may not prefer to be doing. I don't think many become pastors or church officers for the pleasure of sitting in board meetings and other meetings on a frequent basis. But things have to be done or worship in God's house becomes cold. The music would cease, the lights would be turned out, and the roof would eventually cave in. Keeping a local church running means an investment of energy by a group. In a TV program or a movie you can run a ship with a handful of people, but in the real world things are never that way. It takes an army.
The Spirit of prophecy helps us here too. Consider this:
"The real character of the church is measured, not by the high profession she makes, not by the names enrolled upon the church book, but by what she is actually doing for the Master, by the number of her persevering, faithful workers. Personal interest, and vigilant, individual effort will accomplish more for the cause of Christ than can be wrought by sermons or creeds" (RH 6 September 1881).
Did you notice in that quotation that activity wasn't limited to evangelistic things? Surely it includes personal evangelistic effort, but the bottom line is it takes persevering, faithful workers who are working. There is a variety of work to be done. The grass doesnŐt cut itself. A church sign doesn't letter itself or a church bulletin print itself.
How many hours went into this church service today? Just adding the division teachers, the Sabbath school teachers, the deacons, the treasurer and assistants, ladies in the fellowship hall preparing things; before we ever begin to add in the work of the pastor, travel time or preparation time for our group, we are already talking about a lot of hours.
For example, six adult sabbath school classes, with an hour spent in class and three hours spent by each person preparing for the class is 24 hours. Then there are the children's divisions and you can't forget the deaf and the Spanish congregations, and the assistants. Then there's the Sabbath school superintendent, the musicians, their practice, others of us leading out in sharing this and that features of the church service. There's the work of the church secretary, the cleaning that is done, hours spent by our treasurer and his assistants. Then there is travel time of all these workers to and from church. And all of that before you even get to the pastor's work. I dare say that for a Sabbath church service like what we are doing here at Mentone, we are substantially over 100 hours per week.
Why? We love Jesus. We care about what we believe. We are willing to serve.
No, its not built into us. We are fallen. We are by nature selfishly-centered. But God transforms us. Our lack of interest in serving others is changed by Him to an interest in serving God and others.
Romans 5:5 promises us that the love of God is to be poured out in the hearts of His servants by the Holy Spirit. This makes a difference. We can't make our own. Isn't it Vitamin C that our body cannot make any appreciable amount of on its own? So we have to get it from plants or supplements. We do not have it in ourselves to generate any love. Our hearts are cold and unimpressible without the grace of God. We are frozen. God has to initiate something, or there is nothing. But when He does, there is.
It is a sobering thought that when we sinned, we lost our right to love. We lost our right to do anything. You can only love because God intervenes. You can only serve Him because He has sent life surging into you.
Sometimes we serve because of recognition we are in a structure to serve. Consider the soldiers and the centurion who had faith. He said, "For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it." If we will stop and think about it for a moment, those soldiers may have been more faithful in serving in the army of Rome than we often are serving in the army of God. When God says "go," do we go? When He says, "come," do we come? Do we realize that we are under God's authority?
Some Christians today almost seem to have some disease where they think they are under their own authority. We each get to choose. Indeed, we each have a conscience with which to choose. But that is like our capacity to love; only available to us because God intervenes to return it to us again after we have forsaken all right to hear Him.
The bottom line is simply that we have no light to shine before men. Not without God's supplying it. But He is willing to supply it. We are the conduits through which He would work. The channel of communion between Him and us will increase by use. The more we cooperate with Him, the more of Him we will see; and that much more of His goodness will manifest itself through us to others. Whether it is some large thing or some small thing; whether at home or at church or at work or at school, others will know Him more because we consented to serve.
Now here is the same story we touched a few weeks ago, in John 9:4-7:
Notice all that is happening here. There is a time when the light can shine and make a difference, and there is a time when it cannot. As long as we are in the world, we are to serve, because as long as we are in the world, we are the light of the world.
When Jesus had said all this, He wasn't finished yet. He prepared a treatment for this man. There was bending down, wetting the dust, making the mud, and salving the man's eyes with the mixture.
Now if the evangelical gospel was the right one, then everything would stop right here. The next lines would be, "Hey, I can see. I can see!" But those aren't the next lines. Not in the Bible. The next line says that Jesus spoke to him. Spoke to him? Yes indeed. "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam," was Jesus' instruction. And he did. He cooperated with God's plan for the restoration of His vision. And he came again seeing.
Service is only possible as man and God cooperate. This is one reason why the current emphasis on the do-nothing gospel is so devastating. It leads us away from cooperation with God. We become passives, waiting for the moving of the water.
What picture of God's service is more compelling, do you think, to outsiders and the curious? The passive stance, or the cooperative stance? Why did Jesus compel the man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam? That was an invitation to the fellow to join into the cure. No, he would not get one iota of credit personally for the healing
But don't forget the first part of this passage. "I must work the works of Him that sent Me." Being infilled by God's love means being constrained to serve. Jesus said I must work My Father's works. But this is not unique to Messiah. Paul said "For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" (1 Corinthians 9:16). Jeremiah said "Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay" (Jeremiah 20:9). And our New Testament said, " For the love of Christ constraineth us" (2 Corinthians 5:14). Literally, this love has "surrounded" us. This love provokes us to move in the direction of service.
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).
God has paid a high price to give us the ministry of reconciliation. He has paid a high price to make the plan of redemption one in which we serve. We are ambassadors of Christ now. He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. First Corinthians six goes on to outline an experience of service.
We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. (2 Corinthians 6:1-10).
Are we "workers together with Him"? Have we received His grace in vain? The word "ministry" here is, of course, diakonia, the word we get "deacon" from. The truth is, if people followed out their non-cooperative philosophy of the gospel in their daily life, they would accomplish almost nothing. But there are no short-cuts in the spiritual realm. Ministry means all these things. Yes, there will be tumults and labors and watchings and fastings; there will be honor and dishonor, evil report and good report, suspicion that one is a deceiver. And in all that you and I serve. Sorrowful, sometimes with grief, and yet always rejoicing. Some of us are still getting to that.
There is a persuasion in survival. Some of us here survived a challenging educational process. But you made it through the grueling tests, the hours of study, the time spent in practices. And now you have something to show for it. Now you are ready to serve. Others of us have had just as challenging, defining, experience in other ways. That's fine. It's God's plan to prepare us to serve in whatever way He knows is best in our given situation.
There is a high turn-over rate in the professional ministry. But sometimes there is a high turn-over rate in Christianity. And it has been my observation that those refusing to serve are often those who drift away from the One who served them on the cross. The cross was the ultimate persuasion. Imagine that; Jesus dying for you. And when you volunteer self's death for Him, when you give yourself to Him to serve Him, when you let your light shine before men, in ways large or ways small, your Father will be glorified.
Conclusion
And so, let us find ways actively to serve Him. Some He gave to be this and some He gave to be that. God does not require that everyone be forced into one mold. Like David, we must serve in our own armor. There are uncounted ways to minister, be they in the frontline evangelistic, or those things which are quieter but render support to the church's mission. Everyone can and should witness as they serve. But each personality is unique and each has unique gifts. The key thing then is to serve.
"The real character of the church is measured, not by the high profession she makes, not by the names enrolled upon the church book, but by what she is actually doing for the Master, by the number of her persevering, faithful workers. Personal interest, and vigilant, individual effort will accomplish more for the cause of Christ than can be wrought by sermons or creeds" (RH 6 September 1881).
As we think on these things, may we take them to heart.
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