Have you ever gotten a drop of pond water and put it under a microscope? I don’t mean a clear mountain lake, but a stagnant, sluggish pond – the “bog” at certain times of the year. What do you suppose those poor little creatures are thinking as they looked back up at you? There is sense in which the saints of the Lord are like those amoeba and paramecium. The world is watching us – sometimes through the eye of a microscope.
The Greek world was studying the example of the Thessalonian Christians. Their trumpet had been blasting out the sound of the gospel. If you heard a trumpet down the street from where you live, wouldn’t you be just a bit curious? Is that Handel, Hayden, or Engelbert Humperdink? Who is the trumpeter? Marcellus, Michael or Gabriel? And why it so loud, does he think that this is important? The neighbors of Thessalonians were beginning to pay attention.
The more perceptive folk recognized three important things in regard to that new, little Baptistic church. They noticed that its members had turned from idols to serve Jehovah and to wait for His Son from Heaven. And no longer did they buy little silver religious shrines of Alexander Smith. The sale of candles, incense and rosaries had tailed off, too. And although they seemed to be serving the God of the Jews – it was in a non-Jewish fashion. Paul knew that this new deity was the living and true God.
Let’s camp here for a few minutes, in the beautiful little garden of verse 9. Let’s assume that you, too, have turned to God from idols – that you have been born again. You have been lifted up from the dust of the Macedonian hills. You have been delivered from the philosophy of Alexander, Plato and Phillip of Macedon. Does the rest of the verse still apply?
This verse refers to our master as the TRUE GOD – there is our first hint for service.
If I was the owner of a print shop and I hired you serve me in that shop…. If you insisted on frying hamburgers instead running the camera or the press…. I’d fire you. Or if I owner of a Wendy’s outlet, and you were my employee – but you wanted to fix cars… you’d be fired. It is safe to say that the service of God should be according Who He is – not according to who we are. And that means one area of our service is directly related to truth. Jehovah is the God of truth – not error, not deceit, not confusion. Of course, this is a huge subject, but we can only touch upon it..
For example, Psalm 119 says, “Thy word is TRUE from the beginning and every one of righteous judgments endureth for ever.” In another place scripture says “Thy Word is TRUTH.” So one way of serving the living and true God is through the ministry of the Word of God. For those who are called to that work – this can mean pastoring a church. It might mean the work of an evangelist or missionary. For some people this is teaching a class of little children or teenagers. But these may not be God’s will for everyone – leaving us with other ways to minister God’s Word. It can be in sharing a memorized scripture with a friend over the fence, or with the Starbucks barista. It can be bringing a neighbor to the House of God to hear God’s word from the pastor. And it can certainly be in your prayers for that man as he studies, prepares and preaches the Word. There is not a Christian anywhere who couldn’t or shouldn’t have a part of the ministry of the Word. There is financial support, verbal encouragement, a sincere “thank you,” – even simple attention.
A man came up to D.L. Moody after a service and said, “You made eleven grammatical errors tonight. It was disgraceful.” Moody replied, “I doubt that I made only eleven errors. But I did preach the gospel. Can you remember and share with anyone, the three points to my message?” And still speaking about D.L. Moody, a man named Grenfeld approached him after a service. “Sir, I was converted through your preaching twenty-six years ago.” Moody replied, “What have you been doing since.” If this was William Grenfield, he may be the only Christian to be imprinted on a Canadian postage stamp. The man was a pioneer missionary serving the Lord up and down the frozen east coast of Newfoundland.
The second little pearl that we have in text about serving is found in the words “Living God.”
One of the differences between the former gods of these folk and their current God is – “life.” Those idols had been of stone, gold, wood and silver, but as we know, Jehovah lives. Sunday we sang, “I serve a living Saviour; He’s in the world today. I know that He is living whatever men may say.”
There is only one way to serve a LIVING saviour and that is with our LIVING life. I have no doubt that the Lord appreciates some of the songs which are dedicated and sung to His glory. He appreciates, and I appreciate the tithes and offerings – mites and millions. It is good to see you in the house of the Lord when the doors are open. But Paul points out that these things are just the beginning – they are the hem of the garment. “I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies as living sacrifices unto God, which is your reasonable service. “What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you…” As has been often pointed out – there are a lot people want to serve God – but only as consultants. The testimony of that Apostle as given to us in Philippians 3:7-8 reads – “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” For a time, one of the most common Roman coins depicted an ox standing between an altar and a plow. That should be an illustration of us.
We may say, “But Paul was a missionary and I’m just a kid, a housewife, a businessman.” Was there ever any hint that Paul wasn’t serving Christ while he was making his tents. Cleaning your house in order ready it for a visit from the lady across the street, may be serving the Lord. Fixing supper bit early so that there is ample time to get to church is serving the Lord. There was a Canadian family serving as missionaries in India. One day they got an official letter from the government of Canada. It had traveled half way around the world. It was dirty and tattered. Official envelopes used to have the letters “O.H.M.S.” printed or stamped on them. (I have an accumulation of these, which some day I’ll shape into some sort of collection.) On this occasion, the missionary’s son asked what the letters meant and was told – “O.H.M.S means On His Majesty’s Service.” For some time after that the little boy prayed that he might be like a government letter – no matter how dirty he was. Serving the LIVING God must be done with a LIVING life. If you think I’m stretching things to make this application, that might be true in part. But consider John 4:24 – If we worship God, it must be in spirit and truth because the Lord is spirit and truth. I see no great harm saying our service must be in life and truth, because the Lord is the living and true God.
Then we are told that our service ought to be with our spirit and Heart.
Deuteronomy 10:12 is a verse worthy of memorization. “And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” “The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
Here is a problem that every preacher has to face – especially those pastors who preach 3 or 4 times a week. “It is Tuesday morning and time to begin to prepare two more messages. Now it is Thursday, and if I don’t begin at least one message today, the pressure will be on by Saturday.” How often do we – any of us – perform our service for God, because it must be done – like it or not. Is tomorrow another “fellowship Sunday?” I don’t want to fix another casserole. Is tomorrow the first Saturday of the month already? Do I have to get up early for prayer meeting? There have been extra bills this week, do I really have to tithe?
Paul testified to the Church in Rome – “I serve God with my spirit.” That involves service in the power and under the direction of the Holy Spirit. It involves a ministry of prayer, with the Holy Spirit making intercession for us. But it also means personal service coming straight out of our inner core – outward service flowing from the spring of living water within our hearts. Generally speaking, it is not the really talented people who serve God best. It’s the consecrated ones – it’s the loving ones. Service to God is nothing more than love in work clothes.
One more thing suggested about service in this scripture is that it is freely offered.
There is an implication in our text that these people used to SERVE their idols. How difficult it is to serve someone who never responds to that service. How long would you work for an employer who refuses to pay for your service? Only to the deluded does there seem to be any reward from the service of a dumb idol. This is one of the strongest arguments against idolatry in Old Testament.
These former idolaters were now freely serving a living God – willingly, lovingly serving. Not like robots, programmed to move their little arms at certain electrical impulses. Not like addicts who were forced by dying nerve endings or rotting brain cells. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and strength and mind.” I serve him because I love him; I love him “because He first loved me.”
This service is freely given to the Lord because it is an ennobling service. To serve a hunk of stone is incredibly degrading. But the service of the living and loving God, up lifts and ennobles. And what is more, it is rewarding to serve Christ. “Well done good and faithful servant” – that should be your desire.
