"Service" (Eph. 4:12)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/4/2019 11:09 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                                 Focus: “Service”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:12

 

            Message of the verses:  “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;”

 

            I want to go back and look at what we looked at when we began this first main-section which is entitled “The Progression f God’s Pattern,” and we stated that all of the sub-sections will come from Ephesians 4:12.  John MacArthur wrote in his very short intro to this first main-section “In the simplest possible terms Paul here sets forth God’s progressive plan for His church:  ‘equipping’ to ‘service’ to ‘building up.’”  We have spent a few days looking at the equipping sub-section and now we will move into the “service” sub-section, which I mentioned in our last SD that it is going to be very short.

 

            Service is the second aspect of God’s plan for the operation of His church and Paul’s language indicates that it is not the gifted men who have the most direct responsibility to do the “work of service.”  In our last SD I told of the story that John MacArthur gave when he first come to “Grace Church” and that was that he had told the board of elders that he wanted to spend his week in preparation to preach and teach the Word of God.  It was not his desire to be involved himself with things like the everyday things that go on in a church.  That is why there were others in the church to take care of these things, and the reason that he wanted them to do these things is because of the topic that we are talking about in today’s SD, and that would be service.  A few years ago our church took on a very large project as we desired to raise 1.6 million dollars to do a number of things including paying off the debt that was to come due in a short time, and also to give money to help with the OT translation of the “Day” language in Africa.  I think that is pronounced “die” language.  I noticed that our pastor was having some health problems while all of this was going on and so after all of this first part of the project was completed and we paid off the building, and also gave the money to have the translation cared for things seem to slow down as far as his health issues.  It took me a while to figure out that his health issues went along with the entire fund raising and also and the other parts of this things that went along with these projects.  We have a couple more things we want to do and I noticed that our Pastor was beginning to show similar signs that he was going through when we first started the projects and so I wrote an email to him about all of this and then spoke to him and he agreed that the things going on were causing stress for him.  I plan to kindly talk to him again next month as his daughter is getting married at the end of this month and so I don’t want to add any more things to what he already has on his plate.  As I look at this section of service and what MacArthur is saying about this I have come to the conclusion that service is something for the people of the church to do for the church, which means it is for the Lord. 

 

            MacArthur writes “No pastor or even a large group of pastors can do everything a church needs to do.  No matter how gifted, talented, and dedicated a pastor may be, the work to be done where he is called to minister will always vastly exceed his time and abilities.  His purpose in God’s plan is not to try to meet all those needs himself but to equip the people given into his care to meet those needs (cf. v. 16, where this idea is emphasized).  Obviously the leaders share in serving, and many of the congregation share in equipping, but God’s basic design for the church is for the equipping to be done so that the saints can serve each other effectively.  The entir church is to be aggressively involved in the work of the Lord (cf. 1 Cor. 15:58; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; 4:10-11; and contrast 2 Thess. 3:11).”

 

            MacArthur concludes “Spiritual service is the work of every Christian, every saint of God.  Attendance is a poor substitute for participation in ministry.”

 

            In our next SD we will be looking at the sub-section “Building up.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to do thing in our church in the form of service and not just be one that sits in the audience like I am going to a movie or stage show.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord as He guides me into situations where I am learning more about humility.

 

Today’s quotation and this one is from Isaac Newton:  “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”

 

4/4/2019 11:49 AM