The Call to Servanthood

Three New Testament writers opened their epistles in a similar way: “Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus…” (Romans 1:1), “Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ…” (2 Peter 1:1), and “James, a bond-servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ…” (James 1:1). These men whom we call great for their unfailing commitment to the Gospel viewed themselves as humble workers.

Galatians 5:13 For your Bretheren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

God calls each believer to a life of service, just as He called these men. This should be an exciting prospect, but too many people get hung up on the belief that they can't be “as good” as the apostles of old or the preachers and missionaries of today. A popular idea in the church is that the Lord’s servants are those doing full-time ministry but that everyone else is simply trying to live well. Nothing could be further from the truth. From God’s perspective, we're both the same as Paul, Peter, and James: servants with important kingdom work to do.

Some kingdom jobs look more important than others, but that’s only because we evaluate with human eyes. Every work that advances the Gospel or serves a need is valuable, from cleaning the church or preaching to evangelizing or recording a praise album.

Not every person can be on a foreign mission field, but we all can share the Gospel with a neighbor. Some people can sing in the choir; others can put a dollar in the hand of homeless man. God invites us to do His work in the world, whether the task is great or small — and we do it by serving our fellow man. What is He calling you to do?

Praying that we all find our mission in life
Pastor Mike


Joke of the day:

Admission Polices . . . . .

A young man died and went to Heaven, where he was the third person in line at the Pearly Gates. St. Pete was taking a break, so an angel was admitting the newly arrived into Heaven. Trying to get a little stricter with the admission policies, the angel said they each had to state their former occupations and yearly salaries.
The first man in line said, "I was an actor and I earned $5 million last year." The angel ushered him in.

The woman behind him said, "I earned $350,000 last year as an attorney." The angel thought about it for a moment, then ushered her in as well.

The young man moved up to the gates. "I only earned $18,000 last year..." he began.

"Oh," the angel interrupted, "and what state agency did you work for?"