Servant – Being a Pilgrim

“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church in Cenchrea. Welcome her in the Lord as one who is worthy of honour among God’s people. Help her in whatever she needs, for she has been helpful to many, and especially to me.”
Romans 16:1-2 NLT

The last chapter in Romans starts with the names of Paul’s friends, with each of them accompanied by some words extolling their virtues. First on the list is a lady called Phoebe. Paul records her role in the Cenchrean church, located in a town a few miles from Corinth on the coast. She was obviously a benefactor of Paul along with others and was doing an important job in her local church. The fact that Paul was asking that she should be welcomed by the Roman believers indicated that she was to travel there at some time. Perhaps she was the bearer of his letter, accompanying others from the Corinthian church, where Paul was assumed to have written the letter to the Romans. We wonder if Phoebe was perhaps a business woman, so she might have been using a trip to Rome to further her business interests.

Paul introduced Phoebe as being a deacon, a Greek word meaning no more than servant. But her ministry of helping others was worthy of a title. And as we should with all of our visiting Christian brothers and sisters, Paul asked that she would be given a special welcome, and given any assistance she required, as she has helped others.

Not much here for us pilgrims today, we might think, but it’s the principle of being a servant in our churches, helping those around us that comes across. Phoebe was an example to her church, and, because Paul recorded her name in his letter, she has been providing the same example down through the ages. If our ministers and pastors were writing a letter like Paul, would we get a mention like Phoebe? Of course that would not be something that we would expect, but in our churches and fellowships we should all be “deacons” or servants. Sadly, too many people who go to a church service are irregular in their attendance, and do little or nothing to help others when they are there. It is often said that 80% of the necessary work is done by 10% of the people.

So we pilgrims should aspire to be male or female Phoebe’s, using our resources, our time, skills and money, to help those around us. It may be inconvenient at times but it is our calling. Jesus set the scene for us in His act of washing His disciples feet. Jesus said, as recorded in John 13:14-15, “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”. Was Phoebe a foot-washer? Probably. But we pilgrims today should certainly have the same attitude that Jesus had, in His service to His disciples.

So we pilgrims must look out for one another, and try and outdo each other when it comes to acts of service in our local church or fellowship. Contrary to common custom, the church minister is not responsible for doing all the tasks in the church. If the building belongs to the church that meets there, then there will be plenty of opportunities to do a Phoebe. And what we do is done as to the Lord. Recently I attended a service in Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh, and after the service I was down in the gents bathroom where I found a young man mopping the floor and singing his heart out. I said to him that he sounded happy. He said of course, I’m doing this for Jesus. What a lovely attitude. Surely a young man “worthy of honour among God’s people”.

Dear Father God. We too sing for Jesus, because of what He did for us. Thank You. Amen.

“What can I offer the Lord for all he has done for me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord’s name for saving me.
I will keep my promises to the Lord in the presence of all his people.
O Lord, I am your servant; yes, I am your servant, born into your household;
you have freed me from my chains.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭116:12-14, 16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In our culture we hate being anyone’s debtor. “Neither a borrower or a lender be” is a saying from one of Shakespeare’s plays, and it underpins the proudful independence so respected in British society. But when it comes to God, we’re in a different league. There we were, bumbling along in our sinful worlds, heading like lemmings over the cliff of self-destruction into a lost eternity, “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. And all of a sudden, by a series of circumstances, Jesus found us, and we read in Romans, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” All of a sudden, as we embrace our salvation through the love and blood of Jesus, we find that we owe a debt to God that is unpayable. We can never earn enough to repay God for all he has done for us. In fact, even the whole world would be insufficient to pay the debt. Through God’s grace, our salvation cost Jesus everything but cost us nothing. But none of this stopped the Psalmist from saying, “What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me?” It’s a trap we can fall into if we try and answer that question by our own efforts. The reality is that there is nothing I can do to earn God’s gift. I can only approach Him with a humble heart, overwhelmed in gratitude for “all His goodness to me“.

I have heard people plead with God saying things like, “God, if you only heal my mother, then I promise I will go to church every Sunday for the whole of this year.” or, “God, if you help me give up smoking I’ll put the money saved in the offering every week.” I’m sure we have all walked that road at some time in our lives. But nothing we do to tug a concession from God’s heart will ever work. It’s because He knows what we need. He knows what our problems are. And through His grace and mercy, through His goodness and love, he will answer our prayers of faith, simply and effectively.

But that is not to say we should sit back waiting for our new life, basking in God’s grace. He has work for us to do. And we will be obedient, not to earn His salvation of course, but because we love Him. What does He want us to do? The Psalmist writes, “I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord’s name for saving me. I will keep my promises to the Lord in the presence of all his people.” And then in verse 16 he writes, “O Lord, I am your servant”. God has things for us to do. We are His servants and we delight in doing His will. We might ask, “What is God’s will for me?”. If we don’t know we only have to ask Him – He will soon answer.