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Excellence: Part 3
Allen Webster
Topic(s): Jesus
Topic(s): Christian Life, Salvation
Links to this entire series:
In one Vacation Bible School, the children prayed at dismissal time: “I will do the best I can with what I have where I am for Jesus’ sake today.” That’s excellence!
A Person Who Excels Must Serve
Jesus said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” One man correctly summed it up by saying, “We are on earth to love, live, and serve, not to grab, growl, and get.” The Bible is a book about service. In it, the words serve, served, and service are found 258 times. Not all service is good, however, as some serve “mammon” (money)1 (Matthew 6:24); some, misunderstood religion (John 16:2; Galatians 4:8); some “the creature” (idolatry) (Romans 1:25); some, sin (Romans 6:6); and others, “their own belly” (selfish desires) (Romans 16:17).
What should we serve?
God (Mathew 4:10; Acts 27:23; Romans 1:9; 2 Timothy 1:3; Hebrews 9:14).
Jesus drew the line and told us we had to make a choice of masters. We cannot serve both God and mammon (Matthew 6:24). We can serve God by “fastings and prayers night and day” (Luke 2:37) and by presenting our “bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” (Romans 12:1). We can serve God by keeping a happy disposition toward others (cf. Ephesians 6:7,8). The Bible says, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace…” (Hebrews 12:28a). “Grace” (charis, “graciousness”) here comes from a word (chairo) meaning, “to be cheerful or calmly happy.” He continues, “…whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” We can serve God by worshipping with reverence and fear—literally “bashfulness” (aidos, “the idea of downcast eyes; awe”) and “caution” (eulabeia). The word most often translated serve (latreuo, from latris, a hired menial) in relation to God means to “render religious homage, worship.”2 We will continue to serve God even in heaven (Revelation 7:15; 22:3).
The Lord Christ (Colossians 3:24).
Jesus promised that “…if any man serve me, him will my Father honour” (John 12:26). Honor here means, “to place a value on.” God will put us in the treasure chest we call “heaven.”
The New Testament Law (Romans 7:6).
We are delivered from serving the Old Law, but should serve Christ by keeping His law (Galatians 6:2). Timothy served with Paul in the Gospel (Philippians 2:22). John wrote, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life…” (Revelation 22:14).
Our Generation.
David served his generation (Acts 13:36; cf. Romans 15:31), and Paul collected for the poor (2 Corinthians 9:12). We should try to help our fellowman though medicine, humane treatment of the handicapped, service to the poor, or whatever other opportunity we have for public service. In American slang, a “white elephant” is something useless to its owner. Rummage sales used to have lots of “white elephants.” In Thailand, though, a white elephant is a symbol of great honor. The king of Thailand even gives the “Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant” to one who contributes to his kingdom an act of great service. We serve the King of Kings by serving our fellowman. One preacher wanted to teach teens to demonstrate Christ's love. He phoned several neighborhood grocery stores and laundromats with a plan. One employee hesitated, then said, “I’ll need to ask the manager, but first, let me make sure I understand: You want to clean up the parking lot, retrieve shopping carts, hold umbrellas for customers, and want nothing in return.” “Yes, that's right,” he replied. When the employee returned, he said, “I'm sorry,” he said, “we can’t let you do that because if we let you do it, we’d have to let everyone else do it, too!”
Each Other.
Service is spelled with an “I.” Some people spell service, “s-e-r-v-e u-s,” but it has an “I” in it. (As in “I will help.”) Someone said, “God didn’t call us into the vineyard to eat grapes but to get busy and hoe.” The Scriptures put it this way: “…he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve”3 (Luke 22:26). One church placed a hand-lettered sign over the only door into the auditorium: SERVANT’S ENTRANCE. There isn’t any way into the Lord’s church except through the service door.
It must be motivated by love (“…by love serve one another,” Galatians 5:13).
Someone said, “Grant that the heat in my heart will melt the lead in my feet.” One Korean Christian physician had lost most of his physical strength with advancing age. When someone called for an appointment, he would ask, “Do you have money?” If they said yes, he would say, “Please go to other doctors. I am too weak to take care of a patient who has money.” If they said no, he would see them. That’s service motivated by love.
It must be characterized by humility.
“Serving the Lord with all humility of mind…” (Acts 20:19). Greatness lies not in trying to be somebody but in trying to help somebody. True greatness is to be able to serve unnoticed and work unseen. Invitations to greatness come in opportunities to serve unlikable people in self-sacrificing ways. We may have declined such an opportunity at one time or another with a statement like, “Who does he think I am—his slave?” Actually, that is exactly who I am. When Paul said, “…by love serve one another” (Galatians. 5:13), he used the word douleuo which literally means, “to be a slave to.” Jesus wants us to treat one another like we are each other’s slaves.
In 1953 Sir Edmund Hillary was the first to climb Mount Everest—and return alive. But he almost did not make it. On the way down, he slipped and fell. He would have been lost, except his companion, Tenzig Norgay, pulled him back up the cable. Nobody hears his name, but if it had not been for Norgay Hillary would not have lived to tell his story. When someone asked Norgay why he didn’t brag about it, he said, “We mountain climbers help each other.”4 That’s the way it is with us Christians, too.
Our Employers (1 Timothy 6:2).
John Newton, the converted slave trader who wrote the beloved hymn, “Amazing Grace,” had these words put on his tombstone: “A servant of slaves.” That would be fit description of an “excellent life.”
Endnotes:
1 mammonas, a Chaldean word for “wealth personified” or “greed deified.”
2 This is not always the case. In 1 Thessalonians 1:9, for instance, douleuo is used.
3 This comes from the root, diako, which means “to run errands; be a waiter at a table, or attend to.”
4 To his credit the famous Hillary would never say which of them reached the summit first. Historically, they both receive equal credit.