Monday, April 16, 2007

Servants of Jesus Christ (part 2)

Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:” (Phil. 1:1)

The Old Testament has a distinct phrase in reference to some Bible characters as being the ‘servant of the LORD.’ Moses is called ‘the servant of the LORD’ in Deut. 32:5 and in many other places. Joshua was also called this in Josh. 24:29. David also in Ps. 18:1 and in Ps. 36:1. Job was called ‘my servant’ in Job 1:8. Isaiah also in Isa. 20:3. The point is in the New Testament, Paul substitutes his name for these servants, and more importantly he substitutes the name Jesus Christ in place of Jehovah. The LORD of the Old Testament is revealed unto us as the Lord of the New Testament. Truly we have one Lord (Eph. 4:5).

Christ is worthy of service. And so I ask “how is your service towards Him?” In Gal.1:10 Paul puts a contrast between pleasing men or serving Christ. “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Are we loyal enough to Christ to present Him as He presented Himself to the lost during His earthly ministry? Or do we hide His exclusive claims and fold under the pressure of wanting to be accepted by a world that hated Him? What exactly are we, but mere servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we work, we ought to work as unto the Lord. When we sing, we ought to sing as unto the Lord. Actually the New Testament deals with every aspect of our service and calls us to do it as unto the Lord, knowing that of the Lord we shall receive the reward and that because we are His servants (read Col. 3:24). As servants we are accountable to a higher authority, namely Jesus Christ. And so we must take care of what service we do for Him, how we do service for Him, and why we do service for Him.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Serving Christ to gain recognition of men is a lesson in learning for every believer. When I serve others, I envision myself as actually serving Christ and this brings more joy to me than anything!! Good study on Philippians, Brother!!

Teacherbug said...

Hi Billy! Thanks for the comment. I will be able to attend Preaching Conference for a few days. I'm flying in Monday night and leaving Thursday afternoon.

Are you and Marcia going to be there?

Unknown said...

Yes we will. We'll see you there! Like they say: "here, there, or in the air."

NoHayNada said...

Would like to share with you the following newspaper article please clickhere
Please pray for this!!!

Unknown said...

As we are winding towards the last days, persecutions are sure to abound. No doubt, we will commit this to the Lord in prayer. God bless you Brother Asmat!