Service - Every Christians Calling

 

Service – Every Christians Calling

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

John 15:15

It is hard at times to tell the difference between the local church and a social church. On many fronts they function much in the same way. But of course, the worship of God is the difference, and that we are to worship Him and Spirit and in Truth. And yet the worship can become stale and lifeless, simply going through the motions of worship.

How do we break this cycle? How do we get back to the way church was to be, the worship of God, the glorification of Him and Him alone?

It is quite simple and Jesus lays out how we are to do this in John 15:15. Jesus is spending the last few hours of His life spending it teaching and caring for His disciples. Here in verse 15 Jesus speaks plainly to them.

“No longer do I call you servants”

Jesus is dropping the formalities you are no longer my servants. For us it may not be a shocking statement, as the role of master and servant is foreign to the American mindset. But, to these men, it defined their place in society. First century culture was divided between master and servant, in fact it kept chaos away and order in place. Now Jesus is breaking down this long held cultural norm, He is removing the last true barrier to true relationship between God and man. Master and servant cannot have relationships that step outside the bounds of the formal arrangements, this is where the problems come. One only needs to look back at the Book of Genesis and the master and servant dynamic of Sarai and Hagar. Sarai telling her husband to take her servant as a wife so that she may have a child. That boundary was crossed, and chaos was born from it in the name of Ishmel. Jesus knows all of this, and yet He choses to breakdown the cultural norms, but not without a reason. God does nothing without a reason, and Jesus’ reason is the best reason.

“for the servant does not know what his master is doing”

The servant just mindlessly follows orders, he does not know the reason for the master’s orders, nor does he care. He has but one duty, to follow the orders. There is no wiggle room here, do what you are told. This is not the case with Jesus disciples. Jesus has taught them all that He can about the Father, and about the plan of redemption. He has kept them informed and in the know from the beginning. Jesus took Peter, James and John to His transfiguration, Jesus allowed them to behold Him in as much of His divine state that they could handle. Jesus had not treated His disciples as servants, no He treated them in a much different way.

“but I have called you friends”

Here is the difference. Our service is not a service as a servant, one that simply does what he is told and moves on to the next task, no, our service is that of a friend. Our service is wrapped in relationships in love for the brethren. The service in the church should be driven by a deep love. A love defined by Jesus in Mark 12

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:30-31

As a pastor, I serve the members because I love them and what them to know the Word of God so deeply that each member falls in love with God during every service. That they love opening His Word, that they seek to be disciples so that they can Go and make disciples themselves. But this must be driven by a deep love of God, it is a relationship it is a deep friendship one that cannot be broken by distance or time. I seek to serve not as a servant but as a dear friend.

As a deacon, I serve the members by lifting up the pastor through prayer and encouragement, but also with a willingness to lovingly rebuke and reproof when necessary. The hardest part of a loving friendship is that we can bring those who we love back on track. This is the role of the deacon at times, that they can help a lost pastor find his way back to loving God and loving his congregation. The deacon seeks also to serve through discipleship wanting to grow in his faith, but that is genuinely exciting when he sees the membership growing in faith. He walks with them step by step as a coach with a new player, giving encouragement and instruction.

As a member of the congregation, they seek to lift all up through prayer, through service to others in need, to the needs of the church. Being willing to step out in faith even during times when we are not completely comfortable. This is done not out of duty or obligation, but because of a love for others in the church, the community and to see the Body of Christ to grow. The greatest complement a member of the congregation can say about their church is that they love their church, but more importantly they love the people in their church.

Service within the church is not done because it must be done, service is not done because we are obligated, we do this because the people who we attend church with are our friends who we love deeply as we love God.

When the church, the pastor, the deacon, the congregation once again finds the love of being a servant, a friend to the Body of Christ, then we will see the worship of God exploded in our churches. Love of God drives the obedient heart, it drives one to serve others, it drives one to serve our community, and it drives our worship, because worship now extends past the walls of the church into our communities.

The question is, do you love the members of your church? Pastor, do you love the sheep you shepherd, or is it just a paycheck. Deacons do you love the members of the pastor and congregation that you support or is it just a title that you wanted to add to your name. Congregation, do you tell others how much you love the people in your church, if not why?

Darin Bracy is the former interim pastor at Jahnke Road Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia. He is a graduate of Veritas Baptist College with a BA in Ministry and a minor in History. He has a wife Stacy, two daughters, Ashlynne and her husband Justin, and Aftyn, and her two dogs, Eddie and Lulubelle.

You can reach Darin at his email address, Darinbracy@gmail.com and you can see his video content on YouTube – Darin Bracy