This week my thoughts went on a journey from one place to another as I pondered about what to write in my blog. I know that the concept of truth continues to frame my thoughts, but in addition, while listening to a sermon by John MacArthur, I was reminded of Noah and his commitment to God through the building of an ark. I have also been thinking about faith and how faith frames how we see life and live our lives. And then I heard a quote from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing; “Serve God, love me, and mend”, which led me to an article by Annette Jarvis with the same title (and if you also heard the reference to “Serve God, love me, and mend” this week you also probably watched the Hallmark special- “Signed, Sealed and Delivered”). So, what do all these things have to do with each other and my title “Do we serve God, or does God serve us? Well, let’s see if I can tackle it in the next few paragraphs, and I will in a round about way start with the article by Annette Jarvis.
In the article by Annette Jarvis, she uses the line “Serve God, love me, and mend” from Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, and Luke 12:27-31 to frame a discussion on serving God. Although I do not agree with all the sources in the article, I do appreciate how the author prioritizes serving God in all aspects of our lives. Additionally, the phrase from Shakespeare has relevance in this discussion but I will not elaborate on that here. However, I will broaden the verses to include Luke 12:24-34 to expand the discussion: “Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (NIV).
In these passages in Luke, God makes it clear that above all else in life we are to seek and follow Him. And this service to God is not easy as it requires faith, trust, commitment, sacrifice, fearlessness, and the pursuit of a pure heart. But by following God, we are promised eternal life with Him in heaven. Additionally, there is joy and contentment in knowing that the God of the Universe knows our needs and will provide however he sees necessary during this life so that we may serve Him only. Our faith leads to eternal treasures in heaven, whereas a worldly focus accumulates earthly treasure, that is but just a fleeing moment in time. And this is quite different than the worldly perspective of seeking fame and fortune to achieve happiness and life satisfaction. Those who seek wealth and prestige seem never to have enough and spend a lifetime worrying about how to gain more or how to protect what they have obtained. Oh, how much simpler a life knowing of the immeasurable treasures instore for us in eternity. For I know of no instance where worry and anxiety over life has added a single second to anyone’s life, but since worry has significant health ramifications it may actually shorten one’s existence. I appreciate John Macarthur’s statement reflecting on these verses that “Jesus’ concluding statement, ‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’, interprets and clarifies His meaning. Salvation comes only from embracing Jesus the Messiah by grace through faith. Salvation is for the desperate, the humble, who mourn over their sin and hunger and thirst for righteousness. But how a person views money and possessions is a measure of the genuineness of repentance and faith. Anything that vies for a person’s allegiance to Christ is a roadblock to salvation” (Macarthur, New Testament Commentary).
Annette Jarvis personalizes these verses in Luke through articulating “In this passage Jesus reminds us that the secular things in our careers—earning money for food, drink, and fancy clothes—are all things that ‘the nations of the world seek after’. Thus, when we focus primarily on this goal, we are like everyone else. What should distinguish us as followers of Christ is the focus of our minds, our hearts, and our souls on the kingdom of God. This seems like a pretty obvious component of success, but its obvious nature does not prevent the enticements of the trappings of material and worldly success from diverting many from a focus on serving God” (Jarvis, 2013, p. 140-141). She continues “If we serve God, if we seek the kingdom of God first, we will find personal success, whether or not it is success that is defined as such in the world. Success without serving God can never be true success because we can never be successful when we act counter to our inherent nature. We are children of our Heavenly Father, and if we are not serving Him, we are not acting consistently with our divine heritage”. She concludes “Does our devotion to God ever interfere with our sought-for success in our careers? Absolutely. We have both time and financial commitments to our Church with which others do not have to contend. We have family commitments that many of our colleagues find to be inconsistent with success. We have standards that we abide by that sometimes make us the focus of derision or disdain. We deal with people who are ignorantly intolerant of our religion and who judge us in the context of their preconceived (and most often ill-conceived) notion of what our religion means or is. Our religion is not a passive religion. Rather, it requires daily sacrifice of time, of money, of missed business opportunities, and sometimes even a sacrifice of worldly acclaim. “Serve God” has to be the first foundation of any success”.
How often is our faith an act of convenience rather than of true service and sacrifice? This is where my title comes in “Do we serve God or does God serve us”? It would be interesting to keep a daily chart of what we do for ourselves and to satisfy our own desires, and what we do to serve and to please God. To be honest, I wonder sometimes how much of my list is really related to truly serving my Savior? I think that much of what we may intend to be service to God may actually be an expectation that God serve us. For example, is our prayer life a sacrificial demonstration of our commitment to commune with God and to serve Him fully, or is it an act of convenience to ask God to do this or that for us to make our lives more comfortable? “God, give me an answer to this question, God, heal that person, God, do this, do that…” If our primary focus is on what God can do for us, then I wonder who is the servant and who is the master? What I can say here is to contemplate and act on what we are commanded to do in Romans 12:1-2 (NIV); “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will”.
So, this is where Noah comes into my post and Genesis 6:9-22 provides the framework for my comments: “This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them. Noah did everything just as God commanded him”.
Noah is described as a righteous man who walked faithfully with God. Noah’s faith was demonstrated through doing everything just as God commanded him, including building an enormous ark that took scores of years to build, utilizing all of Noah’s time, resources, and effort to construct. And why did Noah build an ark, because God told him to do it, that’s it. Additionally, the first thing recorded that Noah did once he disembarked from the ark was to worship God (see Genesis 8:20). But it makes me wonder if that would have been my first reaction after spending a year on a boat with thousands of smelly animals (and your closest relatives- LOL). I find the story of Noah to be one of the most amazing demonstrations of faith, and also a story that personally challenges me in my faith. Are we really willing to sacrifice everything in service to God when He asks? And think of the gossip and ridicule Noah and his family received day in and day out as they built an enormous ship in the middle of the desert. It would be so easy to give up and just go back to doing our own thing, or to recoil into the background so that we did not have to endure the laughter and jokes. Additionally, according to 2 Peter 2:5, Noah was also a minister at the time of the ark’s construction. But apparently, no one responded to his preaching as only his immediate family was saved from God’s wrath with the flood. How many Christians serve God when it is convenient or when we receive earthy recognition for what we are doing? But when things do not go the way we want them to go, when our service becomes hard or when it does not go as we had planned, that’s when we complain, become anxious and depressed, or we just give up. It is hard to walk the narrow and lonely path when the more popular and bustling wide road with all its distractions is always in full sight (see Matthew 7:13-14). Maybe God is not asking us to build an ark, but He does have a purpose for our lives, and He does expect us to follow and serve Him only.
So ultimately, life is all about our faith and how we live out that faith. For our faith shapes the choices we make, and the paths we follow, and ultimately who we serve and where we spend eternity. It is not about following “our truth” or what we want to believe is the truth that leads to eternity in heaven. For we are sinful, and our truth is fallible and leads to death and ultimately hell. But only by grace through faith, lived out through following the truth of the Bible, and through serving our God rightly, will our journey be filled with joy and our destiny be eternity with God.
Reflection:
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33, NIV). “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24, NIV).
Resources
Jarvis, Annette (2013). Serve God, Love Me, and Mend. https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=life_law_vol3
MacArthur, John (2013). The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Luke11-17.
The Holy Bible (NIV).
Very encouraging writing, Charles. Thankful