Serving Christ

What does it mean to “serve Christ”?  The word “serve” can mean performing duties or services; it can also mean attending someone as in serving a meal.  The word is used many times and in many forms in the Bible.  If you have spent any time in the local church, you have been asked to serve God in some fashion.  You may serve God by teaching a class, singing in the choir, going on a mission trip, feeding the homeless, or mowing the church yard.  And of course, all these activities are good and needed.

All of us learn from what we are taught, and more so, from what we have caught!  My idea of service, that I gleaned from watching others, is to do things for God and hope those things are pleasing to Him.  I’ve heard prayers like this, “Father, I pray our service is pleasing to You.”  The focus on this “service” is what I do.  If my heart is in the right place, then hopefully God will be happy with me.

Paul says in Romans 14:18, “For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved my men.” (NASB) When I read this verse it seemed to be suggesting the same old dogma: serve God and you will be acceptable.  However, the Greek word for “serves” in this verse is “douleuo.” It means, “to be a slave,” “to obey,” or “submit to.” 

If you owned slaves, what would you consider to be a great slave?  The perfect slave is a slave that does exactly what the master commands.  A disobedient slave is useless.  A slave who loves their master and has the best of intentions to serve their master by predicting the master’s needs is equally useless.  The master doesn’t need a slave who goes out there and tries to anticipate what might please the master.  The master needs an obedient slave that listens first, and then acts.

Serving Christ is not about you and I doing anything for God.  Because we are new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), our core desire is to serve God.  So how do we serve Him if it is not by offering our gifts and talents to Him?  Jesus Christ is the only person who has ever lived the “Christian” life perfectly; no human has ever come close.  The scripture tells us we have Christ in us (Rom. 8:10; Gal. 2:20).  Our only hope to live the Christian life is through Christ.  God is asking us to let Christ live His Life in, with, and through us. 

In every moment of our life, we must submit to or “douleuo” Christ in us.  We don’t have to anticipate what might please God and then activate our gifts and talents for Him.  I believe God appreciates our intentions, but this kind of service is ultimately useless.  This kind of service is focused on me and what I am doing for God.  Does this kind of behavior sound familiar?  The Bible calls it flesh!

Paul says in Galatians 5:13, "For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."  "Serve" is the same Greek word. Isn't it interesting that Paul is talking about freedom and serving one another like a slave in the same sentence?  Our real freedom doesn't come from what we can do, but rather what He can do through us. That freedom requires us to submit to Christ.

Romans 7:6 says, "But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter."  Again, Paul is using the language of slavery to illustrate that true freedom comes from submitting to Christ in relationship.  The Law was about obedience to rules that brought a blessing if obeyed and a curse if disobeyed.  Our "serve" or submission is in the newness of the Spirit.  It is relational, not occupational.

We are designed to serve Christ.  When Christ (Emmanuel) lived His life here on this earth, He expressed God’s love to those around Him, those who came in contact with Him.  He did that perfectly!  He still has the same desire now.  He has placed His Life in each of us and wants to continue expressing God’s love to the world.  When we submit ourselves to Him in every moment, we are serving Him.  He is able to express His Life to those with whom we come in contact.  Because He is in every believer, He is connecting with more people everyday than when He walked this earth in the flesh.

I pray you see “service” in a new light.  Don’t see it as a duty, but simply an expression of Christ’s Life in you!