Christian Service

Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Twelve
THREE ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE

Scripture Reading: verses 11-13 (Darby translation)

IN SPIRIT FERVENT; SERVING THE LORD. AS REGARDS HOPE, REJOICING; AS REGARDS TRIBULATION, ENDURING; AS REGARDS PRAYER, PERSEVERING: DISTRIBUTING TO THE NECESSITIES OF THE SAINTS; GIVEN TO HOSPITALITY.

Chapter twelve of Romans is filled with timely injunctions toward wholesome Christian behavior. The words at the end of verse 11, “serving the Lord,” are a keynote of the entire chapter. In other words, everything performed by the Christian should have the Lord and His interests and honor as the objective. There are three different Greek words for service used in this chapter which are exceedingly interesting. The first is in verse 1, where the apostle has been telling us we should offer up our bodies a living sacrifice, “which is your intelligent service.” That word “service” is the word latreuo and it means the reverential service of homage or worship. We have its near equivalent in our English word “devotion;” the heart is captivated by the object of the One to whom we consider all we are and have. In one way it is expressed in the adoration of worship, but in Romans 12:1 it is the constant offering of a life devoted to the Lord – a living sacrifice – ascending to Him as a sweet smelling savor.

In verse 7 we have another word for service. There Paul enjoins those who serve “to occupy themselves in service.” The word there is diakoneo and it refers to a servant who has been appointed. This word bears an official character, exhortating those who take an official place of service among the Lord’s people, such as “shepherds” or “overseers” or “deacons” or in any other public capacity, to do so with constancy and diligence. The word for service in verse 11 which comes to our attention now “in spirit fervent, serving the Lord” is another Greek word altogether. It is the word douleuo and it has the intensive meaning of slavery or bondage.

Thus we have the complete picture of the entire life of service on the part of the Christian toward his Lord. In verse 1, our bodies are offered up a living sacrifice; an act of worshipful adoration at every step of our pathway going up before God as a sweet-smelling savor. In verse 7 it is the person who takes an office of service among the Lord’s people. Whatever his office may be – overseer, deacon, shepherd, helper – he should make that his job, occupying himself in service. If he is a shepherd things must be done in obscurity; he must not be ambitious to take a more prominent place. If the Lord has gifted him as a shep-herd, he should not assume to be an evangelist; if he has gifted him as an evangelist, let him not assume to be a teacher; and so on throughout the entire official list of functions. Then in verse 11, we learn that we should be bondmen to the Lord. In other words, just as a bondslave whose heart has been captivated by the loving-kindness of his master will perform devoted service far beyond the call of duty, so the Christian with fervency of spirit will serve the Lord.

Thinking on these three aspects of service, one might come to think that there is little time in life to do other things, such as earning a living, cleaning the kitchen, or doing other necessary work. The strange part is that every secular task which comes to our hand can be performed “as to the Lord.” Thus, the commonplace duties of life take on an aspect of worship, spectacular duty, and Christian bondage. This turns the menial tasks of life into a series of interesting adventures done in responsibility to our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose eye is constantly upon us and who appreciates everything we do, if done for Him.

Now consider some of the other exhortations. In verse 12, “as regards hope, rejoicing.” The glorious hope of the Christian is more than enough to flood the soul with rejoicing, even in the midst of abounding disappointments, provided it is kept in focus by the mind. Rejoicing in hope in a drab and pessimistic world becomes a refreshing occupation on the part of the Lord’s people. The day might be dark but the sunlight of the promise of the coming again of the Lord Jesus sheds its gladdening rays into the deepest gloom.

Then Paul says, “as regards tribulation, enduring.” This hope is the anchor of the soul (Heb. 6:19) which enables the child of God to endure whatever storms may come, but not without prayer. It is more than patience, it is endurance. Patience may sit idly by until the storm is over, but endurance will give stamina to the one who is passing through tribulation.

Then, “as regards prayer, persevering.” Prayer is the breathing of the redeemed soul, and the cessation or neglect of it will smother and destroy spiritual life. This touches all of us. We are living in an age when prayer is largely a formality and a growing number fail to realize the importance of a prayer life. In an adverse world it is the soul that senses its need for God; that comes on bended knee to beseech the Lord for His intervention. It is not merely vain repetitions, but a pleading with the Lord, as Abraham pled with Jehovah on behalf of Sodom. Every Christian should be an intercessor, and intercession is not a salutary duty performed at the close of the day like a kind of religious rite. We are living in an age of many burdens on our hearts, and perseverance in prayer is a solemn privilege in the Christian life. “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Humanly speaking, had Elijah not persevered in prayer before the Lord, many thousands of his people would have died of starvation as a result of the drouth. But Elijah prayed perseveringly and the rains came. Perhaps we are not seeing the refreshing showers of spiritual blessing in these days largely because we lack persevering prayer.

Paul then says, “distributing [communicating] to the necessities of the saints, given to hospitality.”1 Today we see much need on every hand. The Christian is under definite obligation to be kind, and those of the household of faith have first claim on our kindness. There are many thousands of Christian people around the world at this very moment who are suffering from want and starvation. Many true believers are doing their utmost to send food and clothing to them, but too many of us are going our selfish way, forgetting that we have an obligation. Not all the suffering is on foreign land – there is much need around us, if we look for it. At this moment in history, the world is crying out for loving-kindness. The ministry of distributing (communicating) to the necessities of the saints should be a challenging thought to every Christian. Rightfully, our hearts, homes, and money should be at the disposal of the Lord Jesus Christ, and those who are poor and needy have first claim.

Service, then, should be offered first as an act of worship to the Lord. Next, it should be done with all the dignity and honor of our official calling. Finally, that service must be rendered with all the devotion of a willing bondslave.

Footnote:
¹ This refers to the giving of money or supplies and is the constant duty of every Christian, the first priority in such sharing of God’s gracious gifts going to Christians, rather than to the world generally; and even the Christian’s claim upon the generosity of his fellows being resident in his “necessities,” and not merely in his desires and wants. Some scholaers, such as Darby, translate “distributing” for communicating; but on the assumption that the English Revised Version (1885) is founded upon a necessary implication of the word, it appears that the “sending of funds” is part of the meaning of this word. At least, many New Testament examples did involve the sending of contributions from one part of the world to another. Therefore, in this light there is here indicated the need for special concern for such needs as those of missionaries and of communities visited by calamity or disaster. Regarding “Saints,” Griffith Thomas (St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, p. 341) wrote: “Its simple meaning is ‘belonging to God,’ and refers invariably to our position, not our condition, to our standing in Christ, and not to our actual state. It is most unfortunate that the word has been so frequently associated with exceptional holiness, when it means nothing of the kind, but only the actual fact that from the first moment of conversion every Christian soul is consecrated and devoted to God. The needs of God’s people were great when these words were written; and we know how keen Paul was in encouraging the Gentiles to help their poorer brethren in Jerusalem. In the same way, he appeals to all the Christians in Rome to communicate to their fellow believers whatever might be necessary.” In an affluent society, the desires of the so-called poor are frequently substituted for necessities in the benevolent programs of both the church and the secular society and government, and, in this, failing to retain the Biblical concept of “need” as the basis of all true benevolence; but despite this there are always examples of Christian need in every community. It is the plain duty of the more able to supply such needs, and the widespread neglect of the Christian obligation of charity and hospitality must be deplored. Moses E. Lard (Commentary on Paul’s Letter to Romans, p. 391) went so far as to say: “I have never seen it practiced except upon a scale so parsimonious as to render it a virtual nullity. The scanty manner in which the rich disciples of the present day share the wants (and one supposes Lard meant the needs of the poor) of the poor is a sham. From their thousands, they dole out dimes; and from their storehouses full, mete out handfuls. This is no compliance with the precept; and it were better for a Christian that he were without a coat to his name, than, having two, not to give to his brother who has none. Such precepts as the present will, in the day of eternity, prove the fatal reef on which many a saintly bark is stranded.” “Given to hospitality” ... in the Greek is “pursuing hospitality” (margin); and, as F. Godet (Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, p. 436) thought: “We are not to confine ourselves to according it when it is asked, but we should ever seek opportunities of exercising it.”