How To Serve the Church

1 Corinthians 12:18-26

When I talk about serving the church with God-given talents and gifts, people oftentimes think too small. They picture the choir singer or the Sunday school teacher. But if they don't happen to be naturally adept at singing or teaching, they give up.

It's time we stop thinking in terms of a "Sunday only" establishment. The church is not a place or a time; it is a body of believers, each one uniquely gifted by God to guide, help, challenge, and support the rest. In fact, most service to the Lord doesn't take place inside the church building. It happens out in the world, where we do all the things that Scripture commands.

Most believers are not in a position to influence a lot of people. When we act or speak, only those closest to us notice, but a chain reaction ripples outward to affect an entire community. Paul's metaphor of body parts working together harmoniously is a helpful description of how one small action can have a widespread impact. Consider the way tensing your big toe keeps your foot stable and thereby steadies your whole body. In the same way, a gentle rebuke, a listening ear, or a loving deed benefits the church by strengthening one brother or sister, who then supports another...

We are on this earth to serve the kingdom of God and His church. And we do that by ministering to each other in small ways that steady the whole body as we give extra support to one member. In talking about such service, I am challenging you to find a need that God can meet through you.

~Charles Stanley~

The Gospel of God's Grace # 13

An Expression of Paul's Personal Feelings

Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself served God with His spirit. The greatest act of service that He ever performed was where He humbled Himself and became obedient to the death of the Cross. "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14). "Christ ... through the eternal spirit" does not necessarily mean the Holy Spirit, although it does not exclude the Holy Spirit, but rather describes the kind of service. It came of the spirit - from His spirit, and the verse says that the effect of His service on the Cross was to purge our consciences from dead works that we too might serve the living God as an act of worship.

The place of Paul's priestly service was "in the gospel of His Son." Paul was no priest ministering at a man made altar, ministering a sacrifice which could never take away sins. But he had an altar nevertheless: "We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle" (Hebrews 13:10). Paul has an altar in the gospel of the Son of God. That is our place of service, at the altar of the Cross of Christ. We are to stand and persuade sinners to come there and be cleansed. Our priestly service today is not a wafer, not a cup of wine. Our service today involves that for which those things stand: the Cross, His broken body.

Paul's Prayer

"God is my witness ... that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers; making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you" (1:9-10).

This prayer is a most illuminating commentary on true prayer. Let us note its important characteristics:

Content

Paul says he prays "without ceasing ... always." Paul probably reached more souls with his praying than with his preaching, for the apostle could never say, " preach without ceasing, I preach always," because there were times when he was laid on a bed of sickness or was in prison alone. There his preaching must cease, but his praying could go on, a part of his priestly service. He is thinking not only of his preaching, but of his praying, when he says, "I serve God." Prayer is a service to God in which you can serve God day and night continually. Luke's gospel speak of Anna, the widow who was in the temple serving God with prayers and fasting day and night (Luke 2:36-38). The modern world would say, "That is not service at all," but we who have come to know Him and to know that He answers prayer can realize that perhaps that is the greatest service we can render in the kingdom of God, in the church of God.

Personal

"Making mention of you." Paul, in the last chapter of Romans, mentions no less than twenty-six of the members of this church which he has never visited. There is power in personal prayer, in mentioning names.

Particular

Paul's prayer included various details. He even asked for a prosperous journey to Rome. There is no detail in life that is so trivial that we cannot make it a matter of prayer.

Submissive

Paul recognized that the request must be in the will of God, including this phrase: "By the will of God." He is repeating the divine formula. "If we ask anything according to his will, he  heareth us" (1 John 5:14). This prayer of Paul breathes the very spirit of his life, following the pattern of Christ who said, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39).

Undemanding

His prayer was not dictatorial. Paul desired that he might go to Rome, but he made no attempt to dictate to God by what means he should go. He was willing to accomplish this "by any means" - just as long as he got to Rome. Perhaps Paul looked forward to going there with friends in a ship. When he finally went, it was as a political prisoner, wearing a chain on his wrist, and yet, he got there!

Genuine

He was not playing with words. Paul could say, "For God is my witness" that he prays for them unceasingly. It is a great thing to call upon God to witness that one's prayer life is genuine. This is a part of the Christian life where there can exist much sham, because God alone witnesses it, other men do not. In public, men may hear us pray and conclude we are remarkable in prayer. But their conclusion might be different, if they could only see us as God sees us.

~Alva J. McCain~

(continued with # 14 - "Paul's Longing")

Heart's Sacrifice

"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ" (Phil. 3:7).

When they buried the blind preacher, George Matheson, they lined his grave with red roses in memory of his love-life of sacrifice. And it was this man, so beautifully and significantly honored, who wrote,

"O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee,
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

"O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to Thee,
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine's blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

"O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee,
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shalt tearless be.

"O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from Thee,
I lay in dust life's glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red,
Life that shall endless be."

There is a legend of an artist who had found the secret of a wonderful red which no other artist could imitate. The secret of his color died with him. But after his death an old wound was discovered over his heart. This revealed the source of the matchless hue in his pictures. The legend teaches that no great achievement can be made, no lofty attainment reached, nothing of much value to the world done, save at the cost of heart's blood.

~L. B. Cowman~

The Gospel of God's Grace # 12

The Epistle to the Romans

An Expression of Paul's Personal Feelings (1:8-15)

In the first seven verses of the epistle, Paul established an official relation between himself and the church at Rome. The official gap is bridged. The average ecclesiastic would be satisfied with this. Paul never shrinks from declaring his official position as an apostle, but that is not enough for him. He continues beyond to establish a more intimate relation - a heart relation. There are occasions and times in our lives when, under the stress of circumstances, we unconsciously reveal our souls; and sometimes, perhaps, the revelation may be shameful. At other times, it may be glorious. If it is glorious, then we are like Moses who "wist not that ... his face shone" (Exodus 34:29). It is so here with the apostle Paul, and these verses are a glorious unconscious revelation of his great and tender heart: "I thank my God", "I serve with my spirit", "I long to see you", "I purposed to come unto you", "I am a debtor", and "I am ready".

These personal statements reveal seven characteristics in the life of the apostle Paul: 1. his thanksgiving, 2. his service, 3. his prayer, 4. his longing, 5. his purpose, 6. his indebtedness, and, 7. his readiness.

These items are essential and should be normal characteristics of every true Christian life. Practically, it would not help us to study what Paul was like unless these characteristics somehow come into our lives and transform us too.

Paul's Thanksgiving

"First, I thank my God, through Jesus Christ, for you all. that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world" (1:8). Thanksgiving for his fellow Christians seems always to have been first in the heart of the apostle Paul. Whatever epistle you may read in the New Testament from Paul to a church, soon after the salutation or greeting is over, he expresses his gratefulness to God for the church. There is just one exception to that rule, the epistle to the churches in Galatia. But there is a reason for that exception; those churches in Galatia had left the grace of God and had turned aside to what Paul called "another gospel."

Paul's thanksgiving is rendered to God "through Jesus Christ." That passage can be read in two ways. Either the apostle's thanksgiving was rendered to his God through Jesus Christ, or Paul was saying that his right to call God "my God" is through Jesus Christ. In other words, that God is my God through Jesus Christ. It does not matter which way you read it, because both interpretations are true. Every good thing we have - whether  it is the glorious privilege of thanking God for the favors received, or the right to look up into the face of God and say, "My God," comes through Jesus Christ.

His thanksgiving is "for you all." The idea of thanking God for our fellow Christians is not new to us. We have often done it. We thanked God for those who have led us to Christ, for those who taught us the Word of God, for those who have helped us in time of need. But how many can say, "I thank God for you all"? Even for those who have spoken evil of you and misunderstood you, as they had Paul, who have caused you sorrow - can you thank God for all those who, nevertheless, trust the name of Jesus? We must be acquainted with the deep things of God in order to do it. Isaiah 53:11 points the way, speaking of the suffering of our Lord: "He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied." Out of Christ's anguish on the Cross, there are born into the kingdom of God individual souls, and when He sees that, He is satisfied! If every soul saved is the fruit of the travail of His soul and brings satisfaction to Him, shall I not thank God for every one of them, even though there may be among them some that mistreat me?

Paul thanks God that their faith is spoken of through the whole world. That phrase "the whole world" was very customary in the days of Paul. To say "the whole world" meant the whole Roman empire. Luke's gospel says that Caesar Augustus issued a decree that the "whole world" should be taxed (Luke 2:1). Of course, Caesar had no jurisdiction outside of his own empire, but the Romans were accustomed to speaking of their empire as "the whole world." The faith of the saints at Rome was so rich and remarkable that wherever Paul went throughout the whole Roman empire, he heard it spoken of. Today when our churches are spoken of throughout the world, it is too often notoriously.  Frequently information comes through the newspaper that there is immorality in the church, or blasphemous pastors - and not faith. And this brings reproach on the faith for which our Lord died.

Paul's Service

"For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son" (1:9). I want to call your attention first of all to that word "serve." It means literally 'to serve as a priest." It was the Greek word used in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament to refer to the service of the priests in the temple, including also the idea of worship. The same word is translated "worship" in Philippians 3:3. This word is a commentary on what rue Christian service ought to be: we serve God as priests, and therefore every act of our service should be rendered to God as an act of worship. In this light the distinction between sacred and secular disappears. The very ground you walk on is holy, and every trivial act acquires meaning. If you remember that, all your Christian service (no matter what it is) will become to you significant of that time when we shall be before the throne of God and "serve Him day and night in his temple" (Revelation 7:15). Again the same Greek word is used that Paul uses here.

This exalted conception of service fits in perfectly with the next phrase that Paul uses: "with my spirit." Since all Christian service partakes of worship, it dare not be a mere fleshly service. It must find its origin in the spirit and be rendered with the spirit, which is why Paul says, "Whom I serve in my spirit." This echoes what our Lord said to the Samaritan woman: "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

~Alva J. McClain~

(continued with # 13)

The Greatest Pains

"As many as I love I rebuke and chasten" (Rev. 3:19).

God takes the most eminent and choicest of His servants for the choicest and most eminent afflictions. They who have received most grace from God are able to bear most afflictions from God. Affliction does not hit the saint by chance, but by direction. God does not draw His bow at a venture. Every one of His arrows goes upon a special errand and touches no breast but his against whom it is sent. It is not only the grace, but the glory of a believer when we can stand and take affliction quietly.
--Joseph Caryl

***

If all my days were sunny, could I say,
"In His fair land He wipes all tears away"?

If I were never weary, could I keep
Close to my heart, "He gives His loved ones sleep"?

Were no graves mine, might I not come to deem
The Life Eternal but a baseless dream?

My winter, and my tears, and weariness,
Even my graves, may be His way to bless.

***

I call them ills; yet that can surely be Nothing but love that shows my Lord to me!

***

"The most deeply taught Christians are generally those who have been brought into the searching fires of deep soul-anguish. If you have been praying to know more of Christ, do not be surprised if He takes you aside into a desert place, or leads you into a furnace of pain."

Do not punish me, Lord, by taking my cross from me, but comfort me by submitting me to Thy will, and by making me to love the cross. Give me that by which Thou shalt be best served . . . and let me hold it for the greatest of all Thy mercies, that Thou shouldst glorify Thy name in me, according to Thy will.

~L. B. Cowman~

The Gospel of God's Grace # 11

A General Survey of the Epistle to the Romans

A Declaration of Paul's Official Relation

The Saints of God

The transition to "the saints at Rome" is beautiful. Paul has stated his commission to be an apostle to all nations. Since they are included in his apostleship to all nations, he easily makes the transition to them: "Among whom are ye also." By means of this, he justifies the writing of this letter to Rome, because his field is the world. Note three things about "the saints."

Called of Jesus Christ

The meaning includes the idea of possession. You might read it like this: "They are called Jesus Christ's." They are the called ones belonging to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ called them, but He also called them to be His own.

Beloved of God

Christ is His beloved Son, and if we are His, then we are beloved, because He is beloved. We are "accepted in the beloved" (Ephesians 1:6).

Called to Be Saints

The words "to be" are italicized because they were added by the translators. Excluding them, it reads: "Called saints." Paul does not say, "called to be saints," as if sainthood were some goal to be attained in the future. They are not to be saints - they are saints. They are "called saints." If the present church at Rome believed that doctrine, it would sweep away and destroy forever that awful, unscriptural doctrine of special sainthood to be attained. Not only could the Roman church learn at this point, but also the Protestant churches.  If we believe what Paul teaches here, there would be more saintly lives among the saints. A Christian whose life is not what it ought to be often gives this excuse: "I don't pretend to be a saint!" It doesn't matter what you pretend to be - if you are a Christian, you are a saint! It is not humility to refuse to take that name that God has given us but unbelief, masquerading in the role of humility. Does the world expect anything of a sinner? Not a thing. Does the world expect anything of a saint? It certainly does. If a man that has taken this position falls, every man will jeer at him, saying, "There is your saint!" To accept the position of saint demands living in conformity with the position. Those who do not want to take that position know that they do not intend to live in accordance with that position, and therefore they refuse to take it.

God never goes to a sinner and tells him to try to attain to sainthood. He picks us out of the mud, and He says, "You are  a saint." We are not making believe. We are holy and must live in accordance with our position. This is never attained by striving, but by taking possession of sainthood, remembering our position, and living in accordance with it.

The salutation closes with "grace and peace," which can never be separated. They flow together from two persons who can never be separated - God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

The words of Dr. Beet conclude the discussion of Paul's first sentence:

"Paul's opening sentence is a crystal arch spanning the gulf between the Jew of Tarsus and the Christian at Rome. Paul begins by giving his name, he rises to the dignity of his office, and then to the Gospel he proclaims. From the Gospel he ascends to its great Subject Matter, to Him Who is the Son of David and Son of God. From this summit of his arch he passes on to his apostleship again, and to the nations for whose good he received it. Among these nations he finds the Christian at Rome. He began to build by laying down his own claims: he finishes by acknowledging theirs. The gulf is spanned. Across the waters of national separation Paul has flung an arch whose firmly kept segments are living truths, and whose Keystone is the Incarnate Son of God. Over this arch he hastens with words of greeting from his Father and their Father, from his Lord and their Lord."

~Alva J. McClain~

(continued with # 12 - "An Expression of Paul's Personal Feelings")

Nothing Is Too Hard

"Is there anything too hard for Jehovah?" (Gen. 18:14).

Here is God's loving challenge to you and to me today. He wants us to think of the deepest, highest, worthiest desire and longing of our hearts, something which perhaps was our desire for ourselves or for someone dear to us, yet which has been so long unfulfilled that we have looked upon it as only a lost desire, that which might have been but now cannot be, and so have given up hope of seeing it fulfilled in this life.

That thing, if it is in line with what we know to be His expressed will (as a son to Abraham and Sarah was), God intends to do for us, even if we know that it is of such utter impossibility that we only laugh at the absurdity of anyone's supposing it could ever now come to pass. That thing God intends to do for us, if we will let Him.

"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" Not when we believe in Him enough to go forward and do His will, and let Him do the impossible for us. Even Abraham and Sarah could have blocked God's plan if they had continued to disbelieve.

The only thing too hard for Jehovah is deliberate, continued disbelief in His love and power, and our final rejection of His plans for us. Nothing is too hard for Jehovah to do for them that trust Him

~L. B. Cowman~