A lifetime of service

'I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.' 1 Tim 1:12

I've been challenged over the last week or so listening to Revive our Hearts' series on 'Serving like the Saviour'. Nancy Leigh deMoss made this striking comment:

'We’re never more like Satan than when we’re serving out of a desire to be recognized, and we’re never more like Jesus than when we’re serving with no need for recognition, no reputation seeking, just wanting to lay down our lives for His sake and others.' (Today's Servants)

I think so often I am preoccupied with being applauded, or in serving in the ways I really like, that I miss completely the true heart of servanthood, which is shown so beautifully in Jesus.

The apostle Paul takes time in his letter to thank Christ for considering him trustworthy and appointing him to His service- he thanks God for the opportunity to serve, with no restrictions on the way he serves. He also says Christ has given him strength in order to do it. If we're serving in our own strength, then we're just acting in the flesh and not like one of the branches connected to the vine.

I can see, in myself, the desire for position, the desire for status within the church, and it can be tempting to use service to try to gain that. How contrary to the gospel! How can we, being saved by grace, then proceed to try to build up achievement points before God or men?

If I'm going to serve, I have to imitate Paul in always remembering that I serve because of His mercy and abundant grace (1 Tim 1:13-14). I have to serve without measuring out how much I am giving or having an expectation of what I receive. I need to have more concern for His glory than for my own, and I need to draw from the endless wellspring of His love to do it, rather than from my own, very finite resources which are like a puddle on a dry day - soon depleted!

Rather than wanting to be remembered for great gospel exploits, my goal should be to be known as one who served - if known at all. Lord, shape my heart into that of a true servant, for Your glory! Amen.

Ruth: the beauty of kindness

Ruth the Moabite is a drastic contrast to the other Moabites mentioned in the Bible, who worshipped other gods (Num 21:29), feared Israel and sent a prophet to curse them (Num 22) and led the Israelites into sexual immorality (Num 25). Ruth chooses to worship the God of Israel, Yahweh, and turns her back on the gods of her own people. Instead of fearing Israel, she joins God's people (much like Rahab before her). Unlike Rahab, Ruth is an example of moral purity. She does not seduce Boaz- she appeals to his sense of justice and righteousness.

But what the book of Ruth really seems to extol her for is kindness. She shows the kindness of covenant love which reflects the great hesed of God towards His people.

Ruth doesn't just make a promise like Orpah; she follows through, and at great personal cost: 'where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.' (Ruth 1:16). Naomi has nothing to offer her; she is a poor widow returning to her homeland (which was a place of famine at the start of the book) empty-handed. Ruth was probably grieving the loss of her husband, and Naomi was not going to offer much solace as her words mention the bitterness she feels towards God (Ruth 1:13, 20). Yet Ruth doesn't just talk the talk to her mother-in-law; she lives it out too. Her love for Naomi is steadfast throughout the book. She loves her enough to put aside her own interests and move to another country in order to care for her and look after her. She voluntarily binds herself with an oath in Yahweh's name, showing the seriousness of her commitment: 'May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.' (Ruth 1:17)

Ruth's kindness leads to Boaz's kindness towards her: 'All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord' (Ruth 2:11-12). Boaz, as an instrument of the Lord, rewards Ruth's loyalty and kindness with special protection, provision, and ultimately possession as he marries her when the nearer kinsman-redeemer declines to act. He sees Ruth's willingness to marry him as a greater kindness (Ruth 3:10), because she has not chased after the younger men.

There is nothing grasping or presumptuous about Ruth. It is interesting that the people bless Boaz's union with Ruth by saying 'May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah' (Ruth 4:11). The implication is that Rachel and Leah were barren women (as Ruth appears to be from being married for ten years with no children) blessed with offspring by God, and this is what the people wish for Ruth with Boaz. However, whereas Rachel and Leah seem trapped in a cycle of grasping, demanding children and warring against each other in a lack of sisterly kindness and compassion, Ruth does not seem to think that it is her right to be married and have children. In fact, by travelling to Bethlehem with Naomi, Ruth was considerably lessening her chance of remarriage after being widowed. In Israel, Ruth would be a foreigner and without protection from her own family. So here we see a link between the kindness Ruth shows towards Naomi with Ruth's humility that makes her willing to be an outsider in a strange land, and go without the security of having a husband and family to provide for her.

As the 'underdog', the Moabite woman in Israel, Ruth recognises her dependence on others (such as Boaz), and ultimately her dependence on God. We can perhaps infer that it was her faith that Yahweh would look after her and Naomi, that He would provide for them, that gave her the ability to act in kindness and in faith, and leave the comfort and security of home behind her. Boaz recognises that it is "the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!" (Ruth 2:12) The story shows that her confidence was not misplaced. Ruth encourages us that God's kindness is available to those who depend on Him, and the more we cultivate humility, the more we will be able to show true kindness to others and put their needs before our own.

Why is church important? #2

'Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.' Ephesians 5:25-32

Jesus and the church

• He loves us
• He gave himself up for us, by dying on the cross
• He cleanses us so that in God's sight we are holy
• He cares for us
• We become united with Him

It really is amazing when you think about this passage, not in the usual wedding-service way, but in the universal application is has for all Christians. We are all married to Jesus! And although we are saved as individual souls, precious in God's sight, when we are saved we become part of the corporate Body of Christ, the church.

So the church as a concept is made up of all Christians... but then there's also church in a local context, a specific body of members and a real and tangible community. This is where we see the concept lived out and made reality for us to understand and participate in.

Joshua Harris writes:
'[Jesus] calls and expects us to be part of [the church]... because we are part of it!
If Jesus loves the church, you and I should, too. We can't use the excuse that the church has messed up too many times or that we're disillusioned. Jesus is the only person who has the right to disown and give up on the church. But He never has. And He never will.' Stop Dating the Church, p40

Being a Christian who doesn't go to church is like being a brick lying on the ground (an analogy from Spurgeon which Harris quotes). It's useless and even trips people up! It's not what we're made for. We are made to be the people of God, living under His rule: that's what heaven is all about. Heaven is not going to be full of isolated individuals. No way! It's going to be people from every tribe, tongue and nation worshipping God together (Revelation 7:9).

The Christian life is hard. We find many struggles: against the world of people who have rejected God, against the devil who loves to trip us up, and against our own sinful nature which battles for supremacy within our hearts against God's Spirit. We need other Christians to keep us on the right track, to challenge us when we have compromised, to encourage us when we're down and ready to give up. To 'go solo' in the Christian life is to go against everything Jesus taught us about being humble and serving one another. It also buys into the lie that the less we give of ourselves and our time and money, the happier we will be. That's just not true! There is far more blessing in giving all of ourselves to the church, because it is an eternal investment.

Never judge a book by its cover...

Lessons From David #1- 1 Samuel 16

This is our introduction to David: he is a young shepherd boy, not counted as important and certainly not the future king Samuel was looking for. He is described as 'ruddy' with 'handsome features'- nothing to dislike, but nothing to impress either.

'The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.' (7)

This is immensely encouraging for us! We are not sized up by God in terms of height, muscles or social stature. He just looks at our hearts. God is not impressed by how much money or stuff we have- all He wants from us is a 'broken and contrite heart' (See Psalm 51). That means humility- we should recognise our need for Him. We don't need anything else, because God can meet all our needs anyway.

This is shown clearly when David is anointed and the Spirit of the Lord came on him in power (13). This then has the knock-on effect of being the reason for David entering Saul's service:
'He is a brave man... And the Lord is with him.' (18)

David's harp-playing gives Saul peace- already pointing towards Saul's defects as a king and how David is a better, more godly man. But it's notable that David starts small- he doesn't become king straight away. He has to wait, and go through a lot of troubled experiences first. God has much to teach him. And, through his experiences, we have much to learn too.

Final Destination (Rev 21)

At the close of the Bible, this chapter is the ultimate climax of creation, the goal we are all working towards- the day when we will finally -and gloriously- be with Jesus forever.

The descending city of Jerusalem is real, but also metaphorical for the people of God. That means that we are the bride of Christ (cf Ephesians 5:25-32)- we will be united in intimacy with Him forever:
'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.' (3-4)

It is a picture of stunning intimacy with the living God- a real relationship of love. And this is possible through God's grace to forgive us, and His efforts to reach us through Christ.

Jesus says 'I am making everything new!' (5) and then 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.' (6) Jesus thus declares His creative power, His sovereign authority, His eternal nature, and His offer of life to those who come to Him. This offer was given in John 4:14, as Jesus told the Samaritan woman that 'whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.' What an amazing offer! Our response should be like the Samaritan woman's- astonishment, humility and worship. And most of all: love. Love is shown in her eagerness to tell others; love is the right response to Jesus' deep knowledge of our sinful hearts.

We need sometimes to remind ourselves of Jesus' tenderness- offering life and tear-wiping. If we persevere and 'overcome', this is our inheritance! Jesus' judgement when it falls will be terrible: 'the fiery lake of burning sulphur' (8) But He graciously offers us an alternative eternity completely different in character, if we love and trust Him. As we look forward to that eternity, may we love Him more each day that brings us closer to it.