Dear BPCWA worshipper, Last week, many of us stood together to rededicate ourselves afresh to serve Him with greater commitment and purity in the year ahead.  The returns of signed forms are required for everyone who is serving in key roles in the church. This is a good annual reminder of whom we serve, and how He should be served.  Since it is important that we do fulfil our vows, it is good for us to have a quick recap of those vows, taken from Rom 12:1-11.      

a) Our bodies are a living sacrifice (v1).  Service is accomplished throughour bodies.  He purchased our soul and body for Himself.  So we joyfully reserve and set apart our hands, feet, tongue, and every part of our body as a sacrifice to Him alone.  By that, we are acknowledging that our bodies are now His to use as He sees fit.  It may mean physical labour, but it certainly includes our physical adornment of holy ways, and where we bring our body which is now His.  This means that we must be mindful of how we present ourselves at all times to our Saviour, not just in how we live, but also in particular when we serve Him.  While we promised willingness to exert labour for His work, we must also serve with clean hands and pure hearts. This means dealing with any known sin in our lives no matter what it will cost us in our personal or family lives.  This is in effect a good “side effect” of serving God because we know it is serious.  But this is not to say that that we can ignore our sins if we are not serving. It also means to constantly be checking the purity of our motives every time we serve and in everything we do for Him.  Only such service will bring fruitfulness.  Pride, the praise of man, and personal benefits are some reasons how service can be done with impure hearts and impure hands.

b) Our minds are transformed to do God’s will, not patterned after the world (v2).  Presenting our bodies outwardly for service is not the end of all things. The mind affects our body.  Hence, God expects a transformed mind.  What is a transformed mind?  One that is not conformed to his world. A mind that thinks like the world will cause the body to serve according to the concepts and ways of this carnal world.  How do we not be conformed to the world and set apart for His use?  How do we know His ways and His will?  Well, only through the study of God’s Word.  Only the Word of God can renew our minds, not service itself.  To be a living sacrifice does not start externally, but it is driven first by an internal change from understanding God’s will through His Word.  Do not think that God is pleased and grateful as long as we serve Him.  What does it mean to serve with a transformed mind for example?  He expects that we serve Him according to His ways, to fulfil His plans, and accept His outcomes.  We may have big plans and ideas, but not according to what He wants.  The services done with an untransformed mind often eventually result in problems and carnal outcomes, not to mention disunity and fights in the church.  We must also not ease our consciences by thinking that all is well simply because we are still serving.  Do not think God will turn a blind eye to our ongoing disobedience in other areas just because we serve Him.

c) Humility, humility, humility (v3).  The acid test to whether we have truly known God’s word in our hearts is genuine humility.  It humbles us because we see our sinfulness and how much sanctification we continue to need.  It humbles us because we realise our unworthiness to even tie the latchet of His shoes.  If we are rightly corrected or admonished in the course of our service, we receive it with humble hearts and endeavour to do better the next time.  Once again, humility is not in an outward form or mere words.  It means that we must squash any temptation to outshine and outdo one another.  Humility is also needed when we serve under the person in charge of that ministry or event.  If we serve with a high opinion of ourselves and our ideas and find ourselves disagreeing or cynical of what we are told to do or are supposed to do, there will be problems.  It starts with an attitude of our hearts.

d) Unity in co-labouring (v4-7).  As we stood in the various rooms around the church and as you see others standing, you were promising also to work together.  And the purpose of that co-labouring was for BPCWA’s advancement, His local church where He has placed you.  For the sake of His kingdom, you will put aside personal preferences and forgive any offenses that may arise in the course of serving Him.  Service is an area where we can step on each other’s toes without us even knowing.  Under the stress of the timeline and a load of things to be done, misunderstandings can arise.  One mind, one heart, one body, and God’s goal must be our motto in service.  To serve humbly means that for the sake of God’s purposes, to fulfil His will for His church according to His Word and our constitution, even when it conflicts with our preferences or our ideas, we will humbly seek to maintain the peace and unity of Christ’s church.

e) Using my gifts cheerfully (v8).  At salvation, God has given to every of His child a spiritual gift that is to be used for the edification of His body and the progress of His work.  It means a willingness to use it for His kingdom when you are able and called upon to do so.  It means serving Him with the right attitude, as this is holy service, with the best of the abilities that God has given us.  We must be cheerful, not murmuring as we serve the living God who granted us the skills and the privilege to use them for Him who does not need our service.

f) Avoiding evil (v9).  Service is not mindless, particularly in the church.  As we serve God, even if someone in the church instructs us to disobey God in the name of “service”, we “ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).   Avoiding evil also means that we should not stand to serve, especially in leadership positions, when we disagree with the church’s beliefs and constitution.  It will lead to conflicts and arguments eventually. It also means ensuring that what we do in our service is above board and in compliance to the instructions and authorities that God has placed over us, as long as these do not conflict with God’s laws. 

g) Loving one another (v10).  If he “loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20).  Service in the church is for the purpose of edification of the body of Christ, and biblical love – producing spiritual fruit, pointing men to God, and protecting from spiritual harm – serves the same aim.  Biblical love is not simply pleasing others even when such service promotes man’s personal likes and dislikes rather than God and His church.  Moreover, in contrast to love, if you hate your brother in your heart, God does not accept your service.  As you serve, do you harbour ill-will, anger, and hatred for someone in the church?  As you have vowed to love, get right before you serve. God will not bless your service, no matter how good it is.  It will be wood, hay, and stubble when you meet Him.

h) Conscientious service (v11).  Having spiritual gifts does not mean that our service will henceforth be easy and not require any effort on our part.  We promised to work diligently and work hard to labour in every area that we serve in.  We have promised to put in the required time and effort to ensure that things are done well, not cut corners, not needing frequent reminders, but instead ensuring that things are done on time, and that it is done to a high standard for the Lord.  It is giving our very best because it is service to the Almighty King – to Whom even our best already falls far short of His glory.

Often, we think that service is just and only about the “final product”, such as how unusual the design was, or how efficient and well organized the activity was.  Christian service is way more than that, as the vows remind us.  It is spiritual service to God who sees and judges the motives and spirit in which we serve Him.  We cannot serve God when we refuse to forsake our sin, when we are unhappy with the church or with the brethren at church, when we turn up for service with an unhappy demeanour and spirit.  Or we may want to use service to show to others our “skillfulness”, or we want others to see us serving and think well of us, or even to deceive others that all is well since we are serving.  God condescends by giving us gifts and commands us to serve Him – but we must do so humbly, cheerfully, holily, and reverentially.  In that service, He reminds us that we cannot serve Him “lovingly” without loving His body – the local church in which you serve.  Service is not an opportunity to demonstrate or exercise our talents, nor is it a “right”.  Let us repent when we have failed and come back to these rededication vows and remind ourselves to put on the mind of Christ in our service.  Let us serve God with our spiritual gifts and let us serve Him with the right spirit and learn from our Saviour,

“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”  Phil 2:8  

Yours in our Lord’s service,

Pastor