It is the commission of the Christian to tell of the gospel of Jesus Christ – the good news of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not food or drink or days or weeks (see Romans 14:17 and Colossians 2:16). Why do so many doctrines and statements of faith include exclusions of food or drink? Are we in the will of God if we are teaching the doctrines of men as the gospel of Jesus Christ? The gospel of Jesus Christ is salvation through grace earned by the life, death, and life of Jesus the Messiah. The gospel is the fact that believers have communion with God through grace and the Holy Spirit. The gospel of Jesus Christ is that we are loved and served by our Lord and that we are to love and serve others.
We may use bread (as Jesus did) as an example of the physical sacrifices Jesus made for us and taking the bread into our bodies an example of our being a part of the body of Christ. We may also use wine (as Jesus did) as an example of the blood Jesus spilled for our salvation and of the Spirit that flows through the body of Christ. The bread and wine is not the issue; our understanding of the bread and wine and remembering those things is the issue. It is the actions of Jesus that saves us, not the acts we do to help us remember Jesus.
Go into the streets and invite the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind. Go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come that My house may be filled (see Luke 14:21 and 23). Blessed are they that know that we are Jesus to them and they are Jesus to us. What we do one with another is how we are treating our Lord Jesus. When one is sick and we visit, we visit our Lord and it is our Lord that is visiting. When one is without food and we provide we provide it to our Lord and it is our Lord who is providing. When one is without clothes and we share, it is our Lord we share with and our Lord that is sharing.
As Christians we want to say that we are Jesus to those in need. It is not as easy for us to say the least of these are Jesus to us. Yes the sick, poor, and needful people are also Jesus, they are also children of God. Were we not among the sick, poor, and needful people when we were called to Jesus? Do we not all need the blessing that is God’s grace, love and forgiveness? Yes, we are; and yes, we do!
Too many times sermons are preached from the pulpit on the subject of serving God. How many sermons are preached that state the fact that God serves us and we are to serve each other? The gospel states that the leader is the greater servant. In Matthew 25 Jesus talks about the king welcoming some into the kingdom. The ones being welcomed into the kingdom are those that served, not in a building or organization, but the needs of the individuals in need. There are too many pastors that do not serve the body of Christ (the church), but expect the members of the body to serve them.
There was a situation where my wife had had surgery. Just a few days after she went with me to a midweek service. Because of the surgery, my wife sat during the worship service. I sat with her as we sang and prayed. After the song service the pastor started into his sermon. At the end of the message, his last statement was to condemn those who had sat during the worship service. The only ones who had sat during the singing portion of the service was a man in a wheelchair and my wife and I. The man preaching missed an opportunity to serve others by example, with prayer and/or healing, instead condemning those in need.
There are repetitive things we do in our desire to know and worship God; they are too many to mention here. The repetitive things we do are not what is important; what is important is that we remember and worship God. How many times has someone been offended because they did not know the repetitive things a particular fellowship performed, but their heart wanted to worship God? How much time do we spend writing about and teaching the repetitive things instead of the gospel of our Lord? How often do we make the repetitive things taught more important than grace?
We worship God not just by our words of praise, but by serving one another. Serving one another is not a repetitive task. When we understand the magnitude of God’s service to us, we want to worship in service to one another. We do not worship God to magnify ourselves. When we serve out of thankfulness and the Holy Spirit, we serve out of love. The Holy Spirit produces love in us. Love serves. God is love. We are thankful and worship His service.
Every one of us has needs and every one of us had talents given to us so we can help others with their needs. In turn, another has a talent that will help you with your need. When we trust Jesus, accept the Holy Spirit, and start living a serving life we will start to see more and more of what God has done and is doing for us. Selfishness is taking what you need from others and ignoring those that have need of you. You do not always serve those that serve you and in turn are not always served by those you are serving.
We cannot bury our talents in the ground and save them for a rainy day. Our talents increase as we use them and praise God when we use them to serve others. Trust in our Lord, pray to our Father in heaven, and love one another. It is love to give one’s life for another; you can give your life without dying. You can give your life by living with a serving attitude. Actions speak louder than words. It is the commission is to serve.