“We serve God whether people honour us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.”
2 Corinthians 6:8-10 NLT
Three words define Paul’s ministry – “we serve God” – but what a cost! Regardless of the consequences, which in themselves were quite severe, Paul and his colleagues remained totally focused on those three words – “we serve God”. They were despised, slandered, treated as impostors, ignored, beaten, troubled with aching hearts, and living in poverty. But nothing was going to stop them from serving God. Most believers today would have given up long before they experienced all that Paul did.
How do we define serving God? After all, He is the Creator of all, being all-powerful and all-seeing. Does God really need our puny efforts to accomplish all that He wants to in this world? But 2 Corinthians 6:1 reads, “As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvellous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it”. In the previous chapter, Paul refers to himself and his colleagues as being “Christ’s ambassadors”, and in 1 Corinthians 1:9, Paul wrote, “God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord”. These amazing verses clearly establish our privileged position of being trusted by God to do His work in the time allotted to us, wherever we live. It’s not that God can’t, but it is because He loves us and wants us to be involved in all that He wants to accomplish.
Peter wrote, “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen” (1 Peter 4:10-11). From these verses, we can see that God wants us to serve Him by using the gifts He has given us to help and serve one another. Peter mentioned two gifts, but of course, there are more. Specifically, Peter mentioned speaking and helping as examples of ways to serve, but the goal is the same in the way the spiritual gifts are used, because in the end, they all point to one thing, which is to “bring glory to God through Jesus Christ”. Serving God is to ultimately give Him glory.
Paul, in all the troubles and strife that he experienced, demonstrated the selflessness of a servant of God in a world that was built on selfishness. Two opposites that very well expose and amplify how God gets the glory. Think about it for a moment. As we serve God by speaking to someone, our relationship with God comes through what we say, and in the process, we direct the glory away from ourselves and point it to God. What happens then? Well, people will hopefully recognise that Jesus has brought about real change in our lives, and those to whom we speak will start to explore a relationship with Him themselves.
In His second temptation by the devil, “Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him’”” (Luke 4:8 quoting Deuteronomy 6:3). Our service must only be directed to God and His purposes. Of course, we have to serve our employers and fulfil societal responsibilities, but we do so as though we are serving God. Our Christian lives are lives of service to God. Anything else is the wrong sort of service. I have quoted before the 1979 Bob Dylan song with the words, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody / Well, it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord / But you’re gonna have to serve somebody“.
“Do as I have done to you“
Every Christian might have a different reason for serving God; different people are motivated by different things. However, the Bible does make clear that, when a person is in a real relationship with God, he will serve God. We should want to serve God because we know Him; an inherent part of knowing Him is a desire to serve Him. Jesus set us an example as the ultimate Servant. Matthew 20:28, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many”. The Gospel of John recorded the episode of when Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, and afterwards we read what He said, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you” (John 13:13-15).
We want to serve God because we love Him, and we serve Him because He first loved and served us through Jesus Christ. The more we are aware of and experience God’s love in our own lives, the more likely we are to respond in love by serving Him. If we want to serve God, or serve Him more, the key is to get to know Him more!
Father God. We love You and thank You for Your many blessings. Please reveal more of You to us as we go about Your business here on earth, doing Your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 