THE REWARDS OF SERVING

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Take care of a tree, and you will eat its fruit; look after your master, and you will be praised.

Proverbs 27:18 (CEV)

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Look at the heart of Jesus and you will find the heart of a servant. It’s was His very nature from the very beginning. Early on at the early age of 12, you’ll recall He was about His Father’s business. He told His parents, Joseph and Mary, as much after they realized He had stayed behind in Jerusalem while they had departed with others after the Passover. Doubling back after a day of travel, Joseph and Mary discovered Jesus in the temple where He was “sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46b NKJV).” Later in life, Jesus would proclaim His service-centric approach to living as He said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). As Christians, we are to adopt the same attitude.

As He grew older and began His ministry work, Jesus wasn’t just about serving but calling others to serve as well. To underscore His servant nature and His expectation of others to likewise serve, He told fishermen to follow Him because He would make them “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19) and so He did as His disciples not only walked and worked alongside Jesus as co-workers in the harvest field but carried on His will to bring the gospel to all people long after He ascended to sit at the Father’s right hand.

That call to service from Jesus to His disciples has been passed from generation to generation to reach us where we are today. We are still to be fishers of men and women, guided and directed by the Holy Spirit to help others find their way to a relationship with Jesus and the salvation He offers. And we’re to seek to serve and not be served in the way we live our lives. When we live in accordance with the life of Jesus, the One who told us He is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6), we will do just that because our lives will be defined by a special self sacrificing commitment to others, the very self sacrificing commitment that led Jesus to give His life as a ransom for many as He bore the sins of the world and crucified them along with Himself on the cross of Calvary. His willing sacrifice for others brought Him honor and glory from God, His Father, who brought Him to heaven to sit in power and authority over all mankind at the right hand of the throne. We too will be blessed when we serve in obedience, willfully and willingly carrying out the desires of the Lord.

Now, Solomon preceded the coming of Jesus. That is a well known fact. But as we see, David’s son and predecessor as King over Israel understood the reward from service concept. Look at the 18th verse of Proverbs, Chapter 27:

Take care of a tree, and you will eat its fruit; look after your master, and you will be praised. (CEV)

Neglect to serve a tree with the care it needs and it will die off, yielding nothing. The same result happens when we fail to serve in any other capacity. Think about it in reference to the sowing and reaping concept the scriptures speak about. For we know we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7) and thus we will only produce an outcome when we take the initiative to serve as Jesus served, to sow His seeds of love and grace and mercy and salvation to all we meet.

When we do this, when we obediently respond to the call to service by our Savior, emulating His Spirit in all we do self sacrificially for others, then we will be living in the light of His favor, the glow of His praise, and the joy of His abundant blessings.

In other words, we will be basking in the divine rewards that come with serving others.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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