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NASB | Mark 9:35 Sitting down, He called the twelve and *said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Mark 9:35 Sitting down [to teach], He called the twelve [disciples] and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all [in importance] and a servant of all." |
Bible Question:
Dear yokefellow, Greetings in Jesus' name! Thank you for a good 'spiritual' answer! Friend, I am not against any of your answers, but desire more depth. I believe that Christian servanthood is one of our 'prime directives,' so would like to broaden the question(s). Please do not take this as a refutation of your post. :-) 1) But wasn't Paul a minister? Of course he had to serve, but what about 'regular' (or irregular? :-)) Christians? Where does the Bible tells us that we ALL must serve? 2) The kingdom of God is a large place, and most of it we have yet to see. I ask in a more temporal sense, a bit more specifically, where do Christians serve in the here and now? 3) Do we serve 'only' God? As God is spirit, our service to Him would be faith and praise and worship. Are there no 'physical' aspects to service? i.e., all we have to do is believe and praise and worship? Yokefellow (great name!) and fellow saints, I don't mean to be 'unspiritual,' but as a minister of the Gospel I desire to know what the Word speaks of more 'practical' service to God. Blessings in Christ Jesus, charis |
Bible Answer: Charis, I appreciate your response, however, in my previous posting, I gave you scriptural answers to the specific questions YOU ASKED! I'm afraid that I'm not into philosophical ideolgies when it comes to God's Word. If that's what you're looking for you might want to allow someone else to answer them. I'm only interested in a "thus saith the Lord" and in following the principle found in 1 Peter 4:11 when answering questions pertaining to the scriptures. To follow any other method would be spiritual suicide (Gal. 1:6-9). With the above in mind, let me address your present questions: 1) "Where does the Bible tell us that we all must serve?" Christ stated in John 12:26, "If any man serve me, let him follow me". The phrase, "any man" means exactly what it says. John tells us in Rev. 1:5 that Christ is "the prince of the kings of the earth". He is "Lord of lords, and King of kings" (Rev. 17:14). We are "kings and priests" in His kingdom (Rev. 1:6,9). His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom (John 18:36) or "spiritual house" (1 Pet. 2:5) "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" (Eph. 2:20-22). His spiritual kingdom and His church are one and the same (Matt. 16:18-19). This is the kingdom (church) that He purchased and died for (Acts 20:28). He is the head of the church (kingdom) - his body (Eph. 1:22-23) and believers are members of it (Acts 2:47; 5:14; Eph. 5:30). We as "priests" in His kingdom must offer up spiritual sacrifices to God (1 Peter 2:5), sacrifices of praise, the fruit of lips (Heb. 13:15), having first presented our bodies as "a living sacrifice", holy and acceptable to Him (Rom. 12:1). This sounds like something a "servant" would do, doesn't it you? 2) "Where do Christians serve in the here and now?" Specific areas of service would be: (1) Evangelization (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15); Benevolence (Matt. 25:35-36; Rom. 12:13; 2 Cor. 8; Gal. 6:10; James 1:27; 2:15-17; 1 John 3:17-18); Edification (Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 14:26; 2 Cor. 12:19; Col. 3:16; Heb. 10:24-25). 3) "Do we serve only God?". We serve God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit because all three persons of the Godhead testify to the validity of the Word (1 John 5:1-10) that we (servants and priests) are to obey (Matt. 7:21; Rom. 6:16-18; James 1:22) and to "hold fast" to (2 Tim. 1:13; Titus 1:9; Heb. 10:23). When we "obey" God's Word, the Holy Spirit "beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Rom. 8:16). If we "disobey" God's Word, that Word will judge us in the last day (John 12:48). One last thought. In order to serve God "acceptably", we must serve Him "with reverence and godly fear" (Heb. 12:28) or we will suffer the consequences (Heb. 12:29). This answer is about as "in-depth" as I can give. I pray that this answer will be scripturally sufficient for you. Mike |