Righteous Service

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on the second Sunday in Lent, the 13th of March, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

We’re probably all familiar with God’s commandment to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”  God gave us the Sabbath as a day of rest, a day to spend with Him, a time of worship and reflection.  It commemorates the day that God Himself rested after creating the world and all that is in it - the seventh day of creation.

The Jewish people had strict rules to follow in keeping the Sabbath holy, mostly forbidding them from any type of labor.  After all, how can you rest and spend time with God if you’re working on something?  This even extended to not cooking a meal during the Sabbath, so they had to prepare enough to eat for the day before the Sabbath began.

Their religious leaders were adamant that the people properly observe the Sabbath, even though they didn’t fully obey the commandment themselves.  Their intolerance in this regard often led them into direct confrontation with Jesus.  Please listen and follow along to one such incident as reported by the Apostle Luke in chapter 13 of his Gospel account, verses 10 through 17, and I’ll be reading this from the Modern English Version of our Holy Bible…

10 He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years and was bent over and could not straighten herself up. 12 When Jesus saw her, He called her and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” 13 Then He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God.

14 But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and said to the people, “There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come and be healed on those days, but not on the Sabbath day.”

15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it? 16 Then should not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has bound these eighteen years, be loosed from this bondage on the Sabbath?”

17 When He said this, all His adversaries were put to shame. And all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.

--Luke 13:10-17 (MEV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for giving us a day to rest from our labors.  You know that we need to rest, that we can only function at our best when we are well-rested.  Forgive us, please, when we don’t take advantage of this time, and when we don’t spend more of it with You.  This is one way we serve, by obeying Your commands and spending time with You and with Your word.  Please help us better understand and more closely follow the example Your Son set for us in how to live this life on earth.  Help us be better servants and to serve righteously.  And Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who do his bidding.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Help us not be hypocritical in our obedience or our service.  May we serve You and only You, and may we serve with true heart-felt gladness.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

James Packer, in his book Your Father Loves You, writes:

"Servant" in our English New Testament usually represents the Greek doulos, which translates as "bond slave". Sometimes it means diakonos, translated as "deacon" or "minister".  This is strictly accurate, for doulos and diakonos are synonyms.  Both words denote a man who is not at his own disposal, but is his master's purchased property.  Bought to serve his master's needs, to be at his beck and call every moment, the slave's sole business is to do as he is told.  Christian service therefore means, first and foremost, living out a slave relationship to one's Savior.

What work does Christ set His servants to do?  The way that they serve Him is by becoming the slaves of their fellow-servants and being willing to do literally anything, however costly, irksome, or undignified, in order to help them.  This is what love means, as He himself showed at the Last supper when He played the slave's part and washed the disciples' feet.

I believe Mr. Packer lays out the foundation for righteous service right there.  "Righteous" means right with God, right in God's sight.  So "righteous service" is service that is right in God's eyes, service done the way He wants it done.

How does God want this service done?  Well…  Like Jesus did: out of love, unconditionally, without any consideration of gain or reward.  No matter how personally costly or distasteful, regardless of how irksome or undignified we may think it, we are to obey our Master and do what it takes to help our fellow man.  Never forget that our Lord humbled Himself before those who called Him Master, and washed their dirt-stained feet.  Jesus humbled Himself before us all, allowing Himself to be nailed to a cross, to be sacrificed on our behalf, so that we might be washed clean of our sin.

This is love.  And this is righteous service.

Today is the second Sunday in Lent, that time of reflection and introspection, when we carefully consider all that Jesus did for us.  It’s also a time for us to deliberate on what we can do for Him.  That last should be quite simple.  Jesus asks very little of us, only that we love others as we love ourselves and that we tell them all about Him and all the things He did and said.

As Mr. Packer noted, we serve our Lord Jesus when we serve our fellow man, for in this we show the love He commands us to show.  Jesus clearly showed us how to serve righteously while He walked this earth.  He healed thousands of people, removing evil spirits, erasing the handprint of Satan on their lives.  He taught them the truth so that they might believe.  And He died for them so that they might be saved.

Yes, Jesus does not ask anything of us that He was not willing to do Himself.  And showing love through service is no exception.  Please listen and follow along to a conversation between Jesus and His original 12 disciples that the Apostle Mark saved for us in chapter 10 of his Gospel account, verses 35 through 45…

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”

36 And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

37 They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.”

38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

39 They said to Him, “We are able.”

So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; 40 but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.”

41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. 42 But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. 44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

--Mark 10:35-45 (NKJV)

James and John wanted a special privilege from Jesus.  They wanted to be seated beside Him in glory, to occupy the places of highest honor.  I find it rather interesting that Jesus first asked if they thought they were ready to go through what He was about to endure, letting them maybe think that they could earn that honor.  But He quickly sets them straight that God has already determined who will receive what rewards in heaven.

Now when the others learned that James and John had been so bold and presumptuous, they got more than a little ticked off.  So Jesus had to call them all together for a little talk.  He started out by reminding them of how the Gentile rulers, like Caesar, lord it over the people.  Their great ones hold themselves in higher esteem and impose their authority over those beneath them in status and station.

Quite frankly, I believe Jesus could have included the Jewish religious leaders in this context, for they clearly lorded it over the common Jewish people and exercised their authority at every opportunity.  But he didn’t mention them.  Instead, He spoke words of caution that must have confused His followers: “Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.”

Now I don’t think Jesus chose those words on a whim, or because they might be more familiar to His listeners.  I think He chose them specifically for their meaning, and that goes back to what Mr. Packer said in my little story at the start.  Jesus is directing us to Christian service, and that service requires of us to live out a slave relationship to our Christ.  To serve Jesus is to serve our fellow man, being willing to do anything – anything – to help them.  Putting them first in this life so that we might go first in the next.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”  Jesus – God in the flesh – came to this earth not to be served, as He most assuredly deserves, but to serve, to be a servant to us, giving His life that we might live.  Jesus came as a Servant, and His service was righteous.

Family, if it was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for us.  If He could come as a servant, to serve rather than be served, then we should willingly act as servants, too.  Otherwise we need to strip off that name “Christian” because we are not showing the love that Jesus commands us to give.  For righteous service is the embodiment of love.

Our service must indeed be right in God’s eyes.  We can’t do it in hopes of any earthly rewards, or even based on what we think will be our heavenly reward.  No feeding the homeless so that they or anyone else will think more highly of us.  No helping the Workshop just so we can get our name and picture in the paper.  No picking and choosing what we might do so as to avoid anything too dirty or distasteful.  Remember that Jesus washed the dirty feet of His followers.  Nothing was beneath Him when it came to serving us, and nothing should be beneath us when it comes to serving Him.

Let us go forth and serve, and may our service be righteous.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, the psalmist tells us to serve You with gladness.  We should be happy to serve You because this shows our love and respect for You.  Thank You, Father, for loving us so much that You sent Your Son to serve us, and by His righteous service, to save us.  And thank You for preparing our place in glory and our reward in heaven.  Father, sometimes we fail to act when we could make a difference in the life of another.  We’re afraid or we’re worried, we don’t want to get our hands dirty or we just don’t want to be seen doing something undignified.   Forgive us, Father, when we don’t try to follow the example that Jesus set.  Forgive us when we fail to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  Please help us be more loving, more forgiving, in all we do, treating others in the same way we would want to be treated in a similar situation.  And Father, please help us remain strong, faithful, and true through all that we face in this age.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You set the example of what it means to provide a righteous service to others.  And You did it out of love for all mankind.  You lived a life of service while here on earth, showing us what it means to humbly serve others while gladly serving God.  Thank You, Lord, for being such a great role model.  Too often, though, Lord, we don’t follow Your example.  We fail to live up to our name of Christian when we don’t help others in their time of need.  Please, Lord, help us be better servants.  Help us more closely follow Your command to love others and to show our love by humbly serving them, giving no consideration to any personal gain or reward.  Remind us of all that You did, and all You’ve done for us.  Show us how to love as You love – unconditionally, sacrificially, with a heart to serve rather than be served.  And Jesus, please strengthen us through these very difficult times.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.