Saved to Serve
Saved To Serve
Philippans 1: 27 - 2: 30
Every service given by any Christian is the obedience of his soul to the will of the indwelling Christ.
Almost everything that ever happens in a group of Christians is the personal action of individual
believers in that group.
It is a common practice today to use the collective noun, " the church," for the actions
and the activities of Christians.
While the word, " church," may be used to refer to a group of believers
by way of recording their actions, or by way of referring their attitudes and plans, it can be misleading.
" The church" may be conceived as an entity in itself as if it were something
with a mind and plans of its own.
This is not true.
The only way that the word, "church," is properly used is when we have
a number of believers in mind.
The primary unit of all human behavior, and thus of all Christian behavior is individual.
If anything is ever going to be done, it is going to be done one by one.
It is true that people may work together, but they remain individuals.
If up a person is not careful, he will speak about serving the Lord, but will say,
" Well, the church ought to do it."
"Who?"
His reply: " Well, the church."
That will mean nobody.
It will be a case of everybody's business and it turns out to be nobody's business.
The primary unit of all human behavior is the individual.
The unit of Christian behavior is the individual.
The basic response to God on the part of any believer is love.
We read in 1 John 4: 19: " We love him because he first loved us."
It all starts with God.
God loved me and gave His Son to die for me.
When I believe that to be true and take that into my own life, my response to Him is like
His action toward me.
He loves me, and because He loves me I respond in love to Him.
Think about the Christian serving.
The Christian is God's servant.
Before the Christian has any notion of serving, he is born again as a child of God.
The basic truth is that as a child of God the Christian is guided and enabled by the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit reveals the will of Christ Jesus and activates the response in the believer as to the living Lord.
The inward power of Christian living that causes a Christian to live as he lives is
" Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1: 27)
Christians are to be together, and they are to work together in true unity because in each
believing heart the Living Lord is working.
So when each one responds to the working of the Lord within, he will find himself serving together
with other Christians.
Paul wrote of his desire for the Christians Philippians 1: 27: "… that ye stand fast
in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel."
Christians work together in one spirit and with one mind, very much like the fingers of my hand.
All are different, yet, if my hand is normal, these fingers move as if they were one.
They work together in unison.
They are all controlled by the one mind.
The head is over them all.
So it is with the Christian.
Christians work together with an inner cooperation and as they are led by the Spirit.
This cooperation is made effectual in them by the working of the Holy Spirit, who inclines
each one into a personal humility.
And it is written by Paul in Philippians 2: 3, 4: " Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."
These things belong in the mind of the servant.
Isaiah 42: 1-4 is used in the New Testament to describe Jesus of Nazareth.
It will teach us what it will be like when we have Christ in us, guiding us as Christians
by the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah 42: 1-4 says: " Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth;
I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench:
he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth:
and the isles shall wait for his law."
Now let us look at this.
" Behold my servant, whom I uphold… in whom my soul delighteth."
The first thing that comes to your mind about this servant of God is that he belongs to God.
The servant of God is dependent upon God for his living, implied in the phrase, " whom I uphold."
And also for his satisfaction which is implied in the phrase, " in whom my soul delighteth."
There is no such thing as striving to qualify to be good enough to be a servant of God.
The believer starts out as His servant.
The believer may be just a beginner as a servant, but he belongs to God.
Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit will guide the believer.
" I have put my spirit upon him."
So the servant of God has the Holy Spirit within him.
The Holy Spirit in the believer activates the servant to do the will of God.
The person who is a servant of God is not doing what he or she thinks is good,
hoping that God will like it.
The believer is not doing what he or she thinks is right, hoping God will approve it.
No, the servant of God is actually seeking only to be obedient to the inward guidance
that he has from the Living God.
" He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles."
Whenever we see the word, " Gentile," in the Old Testament, insert
" every one, all people."
There were the Jews " chosen", and all else were Gentiles.
So the phrase, " he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles" means He will help all men.
The Christian, living as the servant of God, also will have this attitude of helpfulness toward everyone.
" He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street."
The phrase, " lift up," really means to say, " he shall not cry nor lift up his voice,
nor make it to the heard in the street."
In other words, the servant of God will be gentle, mild, and quiet-mannered.
This brings to mind the Lord Jesus, gentle, but with all power.
In this connection, think of how the sunlight comes in -- quietly, but with power.
Think of how the law of gravitation operates.
It pulls you to the ground without noise or fuss, but with power.
Think of the flow of electricity.
You do not hear a rustling sound nor see a bulge in the wires, but there is power.
So it is with the Lord Jesus!
He did not have to impress anyone with what He said.
He did not have to shout.
" He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street."
He maintained a mild-mannered, gentle approach.
" A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quence."
This means to say, that if you would use a reed or stick as a rod until it is cracked and bruised,
He will not break it and throw it away as useless.
The phrase, " the smoking flax," refers to flax that was used for burning
to create more heat.
If the material used to light a fire is damp or wet, it will be difficult to to start a flame.
Flax straw that is wet will just barely catch fire, and there will be smoke, as the fire smolders
when it is not really burning brightly.
When the fire burns strongly, there will be very little smoke.
So, here " smoking flax", means the straw is just barely lit with just a little fire.
However, He shall not quence that fire.
He will not put it out.
The believer can take great comfort in this.
This entire statement means that when a believer is weak, incapable, faulty, Christ will not
discard that person.
" He shall bring forth judgment unto truth."
In other words Christ is just with all.
" He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he has set judgment in the earth."
That is to say He will be persistent.
This is one of the wonderful truths learned when a person really belongs to the Lord.
The believer might become discouraged and fail, but the Lord will not.
Christ is consistent and persistent.
He will not fail!
He will be victorious!
" And the isles shall wait for his law."
The fact is that the servant of God is sent to help everyone because God would have
His gospel revealed to everyone.
In order to do that He sends His holy spirit to live in our hearts, and to empower us by His Spirit
to help people everywhere.
With the unlimited strength of God's Spirit, we can serve our great God by being mild, patient, honest, persistent, and work to reveal God's great gospel to everyone.
Because we are led by the Spirit of God, we will manifest the character of Christ as we serve Him.
We are saved to serve!