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Pointers along the way #112

Servants of God
- Jacob Ninan

When God made a transition from the old covenant to the new, He moved from what was imperfect, partial and just a shadow to the fullness of what He wanted as a relationship with man. He made the first covenant with Israel over the ten commandments. He knew it was not a good arrangement and that the people would not be able to keep all the commandments perfectly, because He had not yet given grace through Jesus, His Son, and the Holy Spirit had not been poured out (Jn.1:17;Joel.2:28). But in the fullness of time God brought forth the new covenant which replaced the old. There are many features of this covenant that are far better than those of the old. Here is one of them.

Under the old covenant, only people from the tribe of Levi could be priests who would stand between God and man and offer sacrifices and prayers to God on behalf of men. They had special robes to distinguish them from 'ordinary' people.

But under the new covenant, all can know God personally, from the least to the greatest (He.8:11). Through our faith in Christ, God gives us the grace to be His children and 'saints' (Ep.2:19). God has also placed us together in churches (not buildings, but gatherings of 'called out ones'), and the church worldwide is the Body of Christ (Col.1:18).

Jesus has given to the church a few men with special gifts to serve the saints, as prophets, teachers, shepherds, evangelists, etc. (Ep.4:11). While these men provide leadership in particular activities, the leader of the church is Jesus Christ (Mt.23:10). The Bible points out that these men are to help the saints to build up the body of Christ (Ep.4:11,12).

The Bible says that the Body of Christ is built up when each member functions properly and contributes his part (Ep.4:16). What can we contribute? One of the secrets is given in 1Cor.4:2 which is paraphrased in the Living Bible as "Now the most important thing about a servant is that he does just what his master tells him to" (1Cor.4:2). If what God wants you to do is to cook and feed the children, while somebody else is to teach from the Bible, both can serve God by doing just that!

God wants us to do whatever we do, whether it is eating or drinking or anything else (!), as unto the Lord - heartily, thankfully and to the glory of God (1Cor.10:31;Col.3:17,23). When we do that we are serving God (Col.3:24).

Of course if we are doing whatever we like, not bothering to see if that is what the Lord wants, we are not servants of God even if we do 'spiritual' things (Mt.7:21-23). But when we seek to find His will and do it, we serve God. Shall we not do it full time?

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