What Does It Mean to Serve God?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Welcome back to the podcast.
00:00:05.680 | Today we have a trio of interesting emails
00:00:07.760 | to work through the next three weeks, Pastor John,
00:00:10.020 | as I look ahead on the calendar of questions
00:00:12.180 | on what's on the table to come.
00:00:14.240 | What does it mean to serve God?
00:00:16.400 | That's today, what does it mean to serve God?
00:00:18.640 | Next week, as we serve God, what do we give him?
00:00:23.440 | Are we giving him anything that he doesn't already have?
00:00:27.100 | Does he need us?
00:00:30.160 | That's APJ 1956.
00:00:32.060 | And then a week after that,
00:00:33.100 | what does it mean to be spiritual?
00:00:35.300 | Spirituality, of course, is a squishy concept
00:00:37.580 | in the world today.
00:00:39.040 | And we're gonna work towards a definition in APJ 1960.
00:00:42.780 | Interesting trio of topics, all at the foundations
00:00:45.260 | of what it means to be a successful Christian,
00:00:48.380 | living out the Christian life over the next three weeks.
00:00:50.940 | Some important questions ahead.
00:00:52.080 | So today, what does it mean to serve God?
00:00:55.020 | The question is from a listener named Amy.
00:00:57.780 | Pastor John, hello, I was discussing the phrase
00:01:00.080 | serve the Lord with a fellow believer the other day.
00:01:03.260 | And I was wondering if you could clarify something for us.
00:01:05.720 | All over scripture, we are told to serve the Lord.
00:01:09.540 | In Psalm 100 verse two,
00:01:10.980 | it says to serve the Lord with gladness.
00:01:13.780 | Deuteronomy 10, 12 says,
00:01:15.420 | serve the Lord with all your heart and all your soul.
00:01:19.200 | Joshua says, as for me and my house,
00:01:21.020 | we will serve the Lord.
00:01:23.160 | That's Joshua 24, 15.
00:01:25.300 | And Paul in Romans 12, 11 also tells us to serve the Lord.
00:01:29.380 | But then in Mark 10, 45, Jesus says,
00:01:32.380 | the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.
00:01:37.380 | Christians throw around the phrase serve the Lord so often,
00:01:41.300 | but I'm not sure I know what that phrase means.
00:01:44.260 | Can you clarify this for me?
00:01:46.660 | - I think this is one of the most important questions
00:01:50.320 | a Christian can ask about living the Christian life
00:01:55.060 | in a way that glorifies God and does good to other people.
00:02:00.060 | It gets at the utterly crucial issue
00:02:04.020 | of a right way of serving God
00:02:07.220 | that honors Him and blesses people,
00:02:10.220 | and a wrong way of serving God
00:02:13.140 | that dishonors Him and doesn't help people.
00:02:17.900 | This is not a marginal issue.
00:02:20.380 | We're talking about what it means
00:02:23.420 | to be a Christian moment by moment in real life.
00:02:27.580 | So let's make it crystal clear that Amy is right
00:02:32.580 | that the Bible teaches almost everywhere
00:02:38.140 | that human beings are to serve God.
00:02:41.100 | And when the Son of God comes into the world,
00:02:45.740 | we are to serve Him.
00:02:47.800 | Old Testament, as for me and my house,
00:02:52.660 | we will serve the Lord, Joshua 24, 15.
00:02:57.660 | And then Paul celebrates the Thessalonian converts
00:03:02.140 | because, quote, you turn from idols
00:03:07.140 | to serve the living and true God.
00:03:11.720 | So over and over again, Paul calls himself,
00:03:14.380 | he calls Christians servants or literally slaves
00:03:18.660 | of Christ and of God, Romans 1, 1.
00:03:22.580 | Ephesians 6, 6.
00:03:24.460 | Peter does the same, 1 Peter 2, 16, 2 Peter 1, 1.
00:03:29.340 | It is unmistakable one biblical way of speaking rightly
00:03:34.340 | about the relationship to God that we have
00:03:38.500 | is to call ourselves servants or slaves of God and of Christ.
00:03:43.500 | That's right, she's drawing attention to that,
00:03:48.100 | and she should.
00:03:50.020 | Now, as soon as we say that,
00:03:51.820 | we must ask really pointedly,
00:03:56.360 | what's involved in serving God
00:03:59.420 | and what's not involved in serving God?
00:04:03.660 | If we start serving God
00:04:05.580 | as though we could earn wages from Him
00:04:09.380 | or as though we could meet His needs
00:04:13.260 | or as though we could put Him in our debt
00:04:17.440 | and make Him our beneficiary,
00:04:20.380 | red biblical lights start flashing very brightly.
00:04:25.380 | For example, in John 15, 15, Jesus says to His disciples,
00:04:30.520 | "No longer do I call you servants or slaves,
00:04:35.520 | "for the servant does not know what his master's doing,
00:04:38.760 | "but I have called you friends
00:04:42.060 | "for all that I have heard from my Father.
00:04:46.220 | "I have made known to you."
00:04:48.540 | And yet, in verse 14, so the preceding verse,
00:04:53.540 | He says, "You are my friends
00:04:58.220 | "if you do what I command you."
00:05:02.340 | Whoa, what kind of a friend is that?
00:05:05.660 | So the meaning of slave or servant is qualified
00:05:10.660 | and the meaning of friend is qualified.
00:05:15.760 | We can't just assume that what we mean by servant or friend
00:05:20.760 | is what Jesus means by servant or friend.
00:05:25.480 | We have to listen.
00:05:26.740 | Or here's another bright, flashing red light.
00:05:31.620 | Acts 17, verse 15,
00:05:33.660 | "God is not served by human hands
00:05:38.260 | "as though He needed anything,
00:05:40.080 | "for He Himself gives to all men life and breath
00:05:42.820 | "and everything.
00:05:43.660 | "So yes, serve Him, but not that way."
00:05:48.660 | Not that way.
00:05:49.720 | "Not as though He needed your service."
00:05:53.720 | Or here's another red, flashing light.
00:05:56.800 | Psalm 50, verse 12.
00:05:59.440 | God says, "If I were hungry,
00:06:02.760 | "I would not tell you,
00:06:04.680 | "for the world and its fullness are mine.
00:06:08.740 | "You call upon me in the day of trouble.
00:06:12.060 | "I'll deliver you and you will glorify me."
00:06:17.060 | That was one of Smirjn's favorite verses.
00:06:20.800 | He called it Robinson Crusoe's text
00:06:22.680 | because that's what he quotes in the book.
00:06:25.980 | "Yes, serve God, yes,
00:06:28.320 | "but not by presuming to meet His need."
00:06:32.960 | He owns everything.
00:06:34.600 | He doesn't need your supply.
00:06:37.380 | We call on Him in need, not the other way around.
00:06:42.080 | Here's another red, flashing light.
00:06:44.040 | She quoted, Amy quoted it.
00:06:45.920 | Mark 10, 45.
00:06:47.540 | "The Son of Man came not to be served."
00:06:51.560 | That's pretty clear warning.
00:06:53.280 | Not to be served, but to serve
00:06:55.920 | and to give His life a ransom for many.
00:06:58.520 | So He saves us.
00:06:59.460 | We don't save Him.
00:07:00.880 | He meets our need.
00:07:01.860 | We don't meet His need.
00:07:04.160 | Here's one more flashing red light of warning
00:07:08.680 | about serving God in any old way
00:07:11.100 | that we think might be right.
00:07:13.460 | Romans 4, 4.
00:07:15.300 | Can't get much more basic than this.
00:07:17.300 | Paul describes how the Christian life begins.
00:07:20.820 | "Are we justified and put right with God
00:07:24.100 | "by working for God, earning a wage,
00:07:29.100 | "or by trusting Him to work for us
00:07:31.900 | "in our utter helplessness?"
00:07:33.140 | So here's the quote.
00:07:35.020 | "To the one who works,
00:07:38.000 | "his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due.
00:07:43.000 | "And to the one who does not work,
00:07:47.060 | "but trusts Him who justifies the ungodly,
00:07:52.060 | "his faith is counted as righteousness."
00:07:56.520 | So we did not get right with God
00:08:00.280 | in the beginning of our Christian life
00:08:03.160 | by serving Him for a wage of salvation.
00:08:07.000 | He worked for us.
00:08:08.760 | He served us, not us, Him.
00:08:12.980 | He did the humanly impossible on the cross.
00:08:18.240 | So with all those red warning lights flashing in our face,
00:08:23.240 | we better not serve God that way,
00:08:28.840 | as though we could earn wages,
00:08:31.880 | as though we could meet His needs,
00:08:34.840 | as though we could put Him in our debt,
00:08:37.820 | make Him our beneficiary.
00:08:39.320 | So here's what we need to ask.
00:08:43.680 | Well, how should we serve Him?
00:08:47.200 | You keep telling us what's all the bad ways.
00:08:49.400 | What is right service?
00:08:53.920 | And maybe the deepest and clearest answer
00:08:56.720 | is 1 Peter 4:11.
00:08:59.920 | This gets prayed over me every time I preach it
00:09:02.600 | at Bethlehem for years and years.
00:09:04.440 | This was our go-to verse
00:09:05.800 | just before walking upstairs to preach.
00:09:08.420 | "Let him who serves serve in the strength that God supplies,
00:09:13.420 | "so that in everything God may get the glory
00:09:20.080 | "through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the dominion forever."
00:09:25.120 | So every effort expended in the service of God
00:09:30.120 | is a God-given effort.
00:09:32.560 | That may be the most important sentence,
00:09:34.760 | so let me say it again.
00:09:36.580 | Every effort expended in the service of God,
00:09:41.420 | the right service of God, is a God-given effort.
00:09:46.420 | That's what must absolutely sink into our souls.
00:09:52.760 | Otherwise, we will always think of ourselves
00:09:55.800 | as bringing to God things that He doesn't have,
00:09:58.520 | as though we could meet His needs,
00:10:00.840 | which He doesn't have any.
00:10:02.420 | He's not served as though He needed anything.
00:10:06.500 | The conception of service that dishonors God
00:10:11.880 | and will not help people
00:10:13.360 | because it points them away from God's all-supplying grace
00:10:17.360 | toward our own supposed self-produced moral efforts
00:10:21.700 | is serving without relying upon Him
00:10:25.480 | to serve us in our serving.
00:10:28.160 | All God-pleasing service is done in the moment-by-moment
00:10:33.160 | reliance upon God's service-enabling power.
00:10:39.740 | Or to say it another way,
00:10:41.680 | the only service of God that pleases God
00:10:47.520 | is done through the glad acceptance
00:10:52.180 | of His undeserved service toward us and in us.
00:10:57.180 | And we see this in 2 Corinthians 15, 10.
00:11:02.260 | By the grace of God, I am what I am,
00:11:05.360 | and His grace toward me was not in vain.
00:11:08.860 | On the contrary, I worked, or you could say,
00:11:12.440 | I served more zealously than any of them.
00:11:17.100 | And then he adds, "Though it was not I,
00:11:21.500 | but the grace of God that was with me."
00:11:24.960 | So yes, we work.
00:11:26.120 | Yes, we serve.
00:11:28.360 | We have a master.
00:11:29.460 | We obey.
00:11:31.300 | But every baby step we take in obedience to our master
00:11:36.300 | is a gift of grace from Him to us.
00:11:41.920 | Therefore, we should never think of our service to God
00:11:46.500 | as a way to repay Him in gratitude or for His goodness to us,
00:11:51.500 | because every step we take in that so-called payback
00:11:57.520 | is another gift from Him.
00:12:00.720 | And it takes us deeper into debt to grace,
00:12:04.980 | which is a glorious place to be forever and ever and ever.
00:12:08.860 | We will never not be debtors to God's grace.
00:12:15.480 | For all eternity, with every act of obedience,
00:12:19.960 | glad obedience to the end of eternity, and it has no end,
00:12:24.960 | we will go deeper and happier into debt
00:12:29.760 | to the praise of the glory of His grace.
00:12:34.240 | So here's one last picture
00:12:36.520 | of this peculiar kind of service to God.
00:12:39.780 | Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters.
00:12:44.480 | Serve two masters,
00:12:46.160 | for either he will hate the one and love the other,
00:12:48.380 | or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other."
00:12:51.240 | You cannot serve God and money.
00:12:55.640 | So the question is, how do you serve money?
00:12:58.400 | That would be a clue.
00:13:00.640 | Serving money doesn't mean doing things
00:13:04.600 | to meet money's need.
00:13:07.160 | You serve money by calculating all your plans,
00:13:12.560 | your efforts to benefit from what money promises you.
00:13:17.560 | Calculate your whole life
00:13:20.840 | to benefit from what money promises you.
00:13:24.300 | Your life revolves around trying to put yourself
00:13:27.120 | in the position of the greatest benefit from money.
00:13:30.100 | That's also what it means to serve God.
00:13:36.360 | You serve God by calculating all your plans
00:13:39.240 | and all your efforts to benefit
00:13:40.680 | from all that God promises to be for you.
00:13:43.760 | Your life revolves around trying to put yourself
00:13:46.360 | under the waterfall of God's greatest blessing,
00:13:51.080 | positioning yourself for the greatest benefit
00:13:54.240 | God has to give, namely, Himself.
00:13:58.080 | So I conclude, yes, God enlists us into His service,
00:14:03.080 | which means He calls us to have a part
00:14:10.560 | in accomplishing His purposes, not meeting His needs.
00:14:15.560 | And He accomplishes His purposes precisely
00:14:21.480 | by supplying the grace to our work, to do our work,
00:14:26.480 | because the giver gets the glory, the servant gets the joy.
00:14:32.560 | And that's God's purpose for His world,
00:14:37.880 | His glory and the joy of His people in Him.
00:14:42.880 | - Amen.
00:14:44.220 | Yeah, every effort expended in the service of God
00:14:47.720 | is a God-given effort.
00:14:50.840 | We're not meeting His needs.
00:14:52.320 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:14:53.880 | But we do give God things.
00:14:55.760 | We give Him things like praise.
00:14:58.360 | We give Him thanks.
00:15:00.200 | We give Him glory.
00:15:01.960 | We give Him power.
00:15:03.780 | Give power to God.
00:15:05.720 | That's Psalm 68, 34.
00:15:07.920 | Give power to God.
00:15:09.920 | So how do we give God power?
00:15:11.500 | What do we give to God if we meet none of His needs?
00:15:14.740 | It's an interesting question to follow this one,
00:15:17.040 | and it comes up from a listener named Jeff next time.
00:15:21.520 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:15:22.440 | We'll pick it up here on Monday.
00:15:24.280 | See you then.
00:15:25.120 | (upbeat music)
00:15:27.700 | (upbeat music)
00:15:30.280 | [BLANK_AUDIO]