Service, Service, Service...

Dear Friends Service has been at the heart of our Luke 12 passages for the past two weeks. Jesus’ exhortation in 12:35 to “be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning” should not surprise us since our call to be Christian is to follow and become like Christ. That He was a servant is beyond doubt and is possibly the aspect of His life that has proven most attractive to many. The unmistakable teaching of Scripture is that we have a Lord who serves. This was taught by Jesus of Himself in the memorable Mark 10:45 as a response to the jockeying selfishness of James and John (and their mother) and shown to us in the upper room washing of the disciples’ feet (John 17) which itself pointed to His willingly laying down of His life on the cross.The truth is captured by Paul so practically in Philippians 2:1-11 and the rub of course is that His followers must likewise be servants. Indeed the word so often used, as in Luke 12:37, is not the weaker word servants but slaves. My problem is that every bone, muscle, sinew and inclination in my body tends towards selfishness. Oh yes, I’ll serve but so often I’m thinking, “What’s in it for me?”, “I hope others will notice me”, etc. All of these thoughts are very tawdry and unworthy of a disciple.So we do well to read about Jesus in the gospels, ponder passages in the epistles (such as Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:1-11, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Acts 20:35, 1 Peter 2:21-25, I John 4:7-12) and, move with God’s grace, seek to serve others as Christ and for Christ.The prayer at Morning Prayer [Prayer of the Day, this week] reminds us that imitation of Jesus brings us much freedom.

O God the author and lover of peace, in knowledge of whom stands our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom;defend your servants in all assaults of our enemies, that, surely trusting in your defence, we may not fear the power of adversaries,through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

 In this way we are weaned off the endemic selfishness that is a hallmark of our Australian culture and alas, if we are honest, so much in our Christian church culture, as well. We, by our own example, can do so much in helping each other to find and demonstrate the freedom of service with its self-defeating outcome and the unsatisfying consequences of a smorgasbord-service that is lacking in credibility, since it is so different to that of our gracious, glorious Servant King.In Billy Graham’s words, “The most eloquent prayer is the prayer through hands that heal and bless. The highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service. The greatest form of praise is the sound of consecrated feet seeking out the lost and helpless." Blaise Pascal words, too, are full of challenge and encouragement “Do little things as though they were great, because of the majesty of Jesus Christ who does them in us, and who lives our life: and do the greatest things as though they were little and easy because of His omnipotence.”But we do well to let our Master Servant have the final say: “Whoever serves Me must follow Me; and where I am, My servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves Me’ John 12:26.Yours in Christ Peter Brain