HEBREWS 6:10 – For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.”
Before we move into today’s nugget, two things need to be clarified. First, we are in the ministry. The book of Hebrews is not a pastoral epistle or written to an individual. It is for Christians. All Christians. So, when we read the scripture of the day and the emphasis on serving other believers that applies to all of us, not vocational pastors or paid teachers. If we are Christians, we serve other Christians. There is no non-serving believer in the family of God.
The other thing to clarify is the life of serving other Christians is, well, for life. The author of Hebrews states of these believers in their service to others the words “as you still do” showing the serving life is past, present, and future tense. It is a fundamental truth; we are saved by Christ to serve like Christ and that towards Christ’s people. And the extent we live serving lives will be a significant factor toward the depth of joy in our lives.
So, all that takes us to the theme of the day–“How’s our ministry to other believers going?” I know that is a broad question. We might even be thinking, “What would such service look like from my life to other believers?” Well, what it does not mean is we have to be in some public teaching or preaching role. Nor signing up for the nursery or some other outward service opportunities in our churches. Now do not misunderstand. We should be actively serving in some capacity in our churches. We should never find a “Help Wanted” sign hanging over any of our church ministries and especially if we individually are “unemployed.” But the ministry to other believers consists of lives of intentional obedience to the “one another commands” in the Bible. And there are a lot of them. What a good study that would be individually or with other believers to go through our Bibles, highlight each one another command, and then discuss with other Christians and the Lord how to flesh them out in our lives toward other Christians. By the way, there are over 55 one another commands in the New Testament!!! But here are two to get our ministry going if we are not there yet–“love one another as I have loved you”(John 13:34-35)and “encourage one another while it is still today”(Hebrews 3:13). Those two are enough to keep us occupied in serving other Christians.
But before we run off and start doing a bunch of one anothers to each other, evaluate our understanding of the Christian life. Friends, God did not save us to sit. Nor did God save us so we might be served. The very model for our lives is the Suffering Servant, the Lord Jesus. He was the one who said, “I did not come to be served but to serve and give My life as a ransom for many”(Matthew 20:28). As we look to Him, let us also pray to Him that He would show us that we truly exist to minister in His Name to His people; that salvation is deliverance from being self-serving to self-denying for the sake of others.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to see my identity as a Christian is affirmed by my serving other Christians.”
QUOTE: “If we are Christians, we are in the ministry of serving others. There is no non-serving believer.”
Because of Him,
Pastor Jim