The Heart of Service

There is a principle that they teach in psychological development classes.  As an infant, we live in a very self-centered world.  Our only concerns are what I need and what makes me happy, the relational contact as an infant are me and mom.  As we grow from being an infant to the toddler years our circle of relational contact grows to include our family unit, Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters and to a lesser degree grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins depending on the level of contact.  We start to realize that there are things we do that make others in our family happy and this often ends in happy feelings and reactions for us. We begin to learn to love our family even if it is still an immature form of love.  As we grow into school years our circle of relationship begins to expand even further, beginning with a few friends in class and expanding to our entire class, then our grade, then our school.  We begin to find our identity in our relational groups, I am a (insert your last name here), I am a Wyman Elementary student, I am a Rolla bulldog, ect.  These relational connections continue to grow and shift the older and more mature we get, as an adult, they are more complicated and diverse.  I am an employee at XYZ Company, I am a Caucasian Male, I am a resident of Missouri, I am a University of Rolla Miner Alum, I am an American, ect…

This Developmental concept is mirrored in our spiritual lives.  When we first give our lives to God it is all about me, my needs and how God makes me feel, and it is all about me and God.  Our circle of relational contact quickly grows to include those Christians in our immediate vicinity, our natural family if they are Christians, then to small groups within our church, and ultimately our church as a whole.  All too often individuals spiritual growth stalls at this point and we never learn to show love to those outside our small church circle.  The Bible warns against this and cautions of the dangers associated with it.

Thinking on these things, I am reminded of the scripture 1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

Keeping in mind what our pastor has taught us about context let's take a closer look at this verse and what it means within the scripture surrounding it.  Here we see 1 Corinthians chapter 13

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

This seems to be emphasizing the importance of the spiritual gift of “Love”.  I love the idea of prophecy, knowledge imparted directly from God and not gained by natural ways of learning, but from what His Word says it has no value if we do not learn to love.  This next part is I am sure we have all heard.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.

This is the best definition of Godly love that you will ever find anywhere, Love always puts others before myself, and as one of the gifts of the Spirit, we can all love this way if we let God's spirit live within us.

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 

Prophecies and tongues are not gifts of the Spirit that are thought on much in the Baptist church, that may be because this passage says they will pass away and many believe that they are no longer something that God uses in our lives.  Regardless of that, it is clear that this passage emphasizes that they are far less important than Love.

11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

It is interesting that this passage falls in the middle of talking about spiritual gifts and more specifically the importance of Love.

12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

So, to me, what is going on here is God is trying to tell us that the big part of spiritual maturity is wrapped up in learning to love others with the love that we can only get by letting the Spirit of God dwell in us and to see others the way God sees them and loves them, with the Spiritual Gift of Love.

Thinking of God and Love I am reminded of another scripture, Matthew 22:36-40.  In this passage, Jesus is talking with the Pharisees. If memory serves the Pharisees are quizzing Jesus trying to find flaws in his teaching and trip him up.  They asked Jesus,

36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 

This is a really good picture of spiritual infancy like I was talking about earlier, this Me and God relationship, it is a key part of our Christian walk.  But Jesus did not stop there,

39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets (AKA the Bible, AKA the Word of GOD) hang on these two commandments."

It is not an accident that Jesus answered them this way, they asked for the 1 greatest commandment, not the 2 greatest commandments, but the two are inseparable for a mature spiritual life with God  we cannot stop at just loving God and we cannot truly love God if we are unwilling or unable to love those whom He loves!
From here God led me to Hebrews 6, I want to focus on verse 10, but again for context let's look at verses 1-12

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.

It is interesting that this passage begins by talking about spiritual maturity and the need to grow to more advanced teaching about Christ.

4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

This is one of the places where God’s Word warns of the dangers of our spiritual growth stalling and warns of the consequences of being content with where we are so we quit trying to grow and expand the circle of relational contact as I mentioned at the beginning of this lesson. 

9 Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case — things that accompany salvation.10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

In case you missed it let me rephrase this part.  We talked about the consequences of what happens when we stop growing spiritually and become content with a basic immature spiritual life. I am not worried, though, that you all will fall into that.  God sees the work you are doing and how you are showing His love by serving others. We want to encourage you to keep up the good work and be assured that in the end, the reward is great.

So what is the lesson here?  What is God trying to say?  God is calling us to grow closer to him and grow stronger in our faith.  How we do this is by learning to love with God’s Love and seeing those who are maybe outside our current circle of relationship and reach out to them and show God’s Love to them through service.  We do that by looking for people's needs and trying to find a way to meet those needs.  Our church has lots of opportunities to do this through the shoe closet, the Love Rolla ministry, the food pantry, Operation Christmas Child, etc…  I want to encourage all of you to search your hearts and find God’s Love for others and out of that find a place to serve other people.  In doing so you will find you will grow and ultimately have a closer relationship with God