In this chapter, we are going to try to investigate the importance of serving our fellow Christians and the place it should play in growing as a Christian.
Hebrews 10:24 "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."
We want to notice the writer of Hebrews tells us we as Christians are to be considerate of each other and we do this by trying to encourage each other to grow in the Christian love they have and to encourage them to produce more good works.
The way we as Christians are to do this is in every action we take that may affect a brother or sister in Christ. We need to make sure the action will be one that encourages them to grow in a positive way in the area of love and good works. Everything we do as Christians should be done for the purpose of encouraging or exhorting one another. In other words, we need to deal carefully in our actions to make very sure when we provoke someone it will be to encourage them to the good not to the bad.
1 Corinthians 16:15-16 "I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,) That ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth."
The Bible in I Corinthians uses the household of Stephanos, as an example of how we as Christians should be. The household of Stephanos had addicted itself to the ministry. The Greek word translated, “ministry” is also translated Deacon and also servant.
The word addicted implies a very strong attraction to something. The implication is something one has to be involved in. We as Christians should to be addicted to ministering to each other or to serving one another.
So we as Christians are to be addicted to helping and serving our brothers and sisters in Christ. This means at the very minimum it should be our habit or our nature to be putting the needs of the congregation and the other members ahead of our own needs.
Luke 22:24-27 "Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.' But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves."
We see here in the New King James Version’s rendering of Luke 22:24-27, the disciples were as human as many people in the Church today and were concerned about their position in the coming Kingdom of Heaven, the Church. Of course each one of them thought naturally, they should be the greatest and most important. Jesus answers this dispute with words that should have settled this argument forever, but many people today like the disciples back then, do not listen. Jesus said and I will paraphrase if I might. The world worries about power, authority, and rank, but in the Church there shall never be positions of rank and authority. But rather, the only positions which shall exist in the Church shall be positions of service. The only way my Father will consider one as great in the coming Kingdom of Heaven, the Church is if they humble themselves and serve the other members of the congregation. In order to do this, they must consider the rest of the body as more important than they are.
James 4:6-7 "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
In James, we are told in words that make it abundantly clear as how God feels about proud arrogant people. We are told God resists the proud. Do we want God to be on our side or do we want God to be opposed to us. The attitude we portray determines whether we have God on our side or against us, whether He extends his grace to us or whether He puts stumbling blocks in our path. If we have an arrogant attitude, we put God against us.
The best and only way to get God on our side is to stop being arrogant, to humble ourselves and submit ourselves to the will of God, then when we try to resist the devil, he will turn and flee from us because there is one being who Satan fears and that is God.
Ephesians 5:20-21 "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God."
Here in Ephesians in talking about being filled with the Holy Spirit, among the things we are told that are part of being filled with the Spirit is submitting to each other in the fear of God. This shows very clearly, I believe, the importance and necessity of humbling one’s self and submitting one to another. If God tells us it is necessary to submit to and serve one another in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit that should speak volumes about the type of person we should be.
If you really want to be strengthened and mature as a Christian, there is something we can do to make sure this happens. In order for one to become a mature Christian, we need to feed the Holy Spirit that indwells us. One of the ways to do this is to serve the other members of the local congregation. The more we submit to the needs of the other members of the congregation, the more we humble ourselves and serve others, the more we feed the Holy Spirit within us and the stronger it becomes and the stronger we become. As Christians, the stronger we become, the more mature we become also.
The irony is the more we humble ourselves, the higher God will exalt us. The weaker we appear in the eyes of man, the stronger we become. The more we serve others, the greater we are in the Kingdom of Heaven, the Church. This is the paradox many cannot overcome and the reason why many people never mature as Christians.
1 Peter 5:5-6 "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:"
Peter tells us the younger should submit to the older, to us this seems logical, but how do we learn to submit properly? We are to learn from the example set by the leadership in the local congregation. This does not seem logical to us from a worldly perspective. Why would the leadership be held accountable, if they have no control over the congregation? Shouldn’t the leadership be those who are telling the rest of the congregation what to do? This is how the world thinks, but God’s ways are much higher than our ways and God’s thoughts are much higher than our thoughts. God’s ways are definitely different than our ways. It is God the Father though His Son, Jesus Christ, who said there would not be positions of authority in His Kingdom, His Son’s Church.
God’s way is instead of telling the congregation what to do, the leadership of the congregation, demonstrates what to do through example. God’s way is after a man has humbled himself and served the needs of the congregation, this will cause the other members of the congregation, to learn to trust him and thus they will begin asking his advice and through this process the leadership is exalted by God.
Proverbs 15:33 "The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility."
Solomon in his wisdom puts it very simply and clearly. Do you want to be considered wise? In order to gain wisdom, first you must have a reverent respect and fear of God. This means before one just jumps into the thick of things, they stop, pray to God for wisdom and guidance and then they search the scriptures to come to the understanding and knowledge of what God wants. This is the only way one can gain the wisdom which is from above. And when one humbles himself and chooses to serve the needs of others, then truly God will exalt him and bestow honor upon him.
Proverbs 18:12-13 "Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility. He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him."
We see through the wisdom of Solomon what the results of thinking like the world is. The world teaches the bosses in the world are better than the workers and they know what is best for the average person. In the words of Solomon, they are haughty or high minded. When a person thinks they know what is best for everyone else, they have become haughty and high minded and they don’t listen to others. They surround themselves with “yes men”, people who tell them what they want to hear, so then they do not listen to warnings of danger and before they know what is happening, destruction is upon them.
In verse 13, Solomon gives forth tremendous words of wisdom, when he says, “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.” I never used to understand this verse, because in the midst of someone trying to tell me something, I would interrupt and try to answer them before they would finish their statement. This is something I have had to work hard on, to let the other person speak until they were finished. Even then I found in many instances I still needed to solicit more information from them. I am reminded of the game show “Family Feud”, in which the contestant with the most points wins the contest. I never understood this verse very well until I watched two families playing. One family had over 200 points while the other family had 0. On the last question, the man representing the family which had the most points, jumped in and hit the buzzer when the question was only partially read. The question started off with “What food does not tastes right…, The contestant blurted out “Sour Cream”, then when the rest of the question was read, ”without salt?” The other contestant, ended up getting the answer and the family with 0, went on and won the game. I remembered thinking, “How foolish that man looked.” Then the next time I read this verse, I thought of that instance and I understood better what Solomon was saying.
1 Corinthians 12:12-28 "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say 'Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body'; is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues."
Paul uses the example of the human body to help us to understand the importance of each member of the local congregation. What good does it do, if the stomach is healthy and ready to do its job, if the mouth does not do its job and eat food? The entire body would starve to death. What does it matter how healthy the rest of the body is if your heart is in bad condition? Through these examples we can see the effect any member can have who is spiritual weak, or spiritual sick or dying spiritually on every other member of the spiritual body, the Church.. In the same way the stomach cannot do its job if the mouth isn’t doing its job, each member’s spiritual well-being depends on the spiritual well-being of every other member.
When one realizes other member’s of the Church depend upon them to do their work, and also realizes Christianity is not a selfish religion, then and only then will one understand the importance of doing their job. If anyone of us does not do our job, other Christians are harmed and the entire spiritual body, the local congregation could die and each one of us will give an account of the results of our actions to God in the final day.
Chapter Summary
- 1. Christians are to put the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ ahead of our desires.
2. Christians are to stop and think about the effects of their actions before we do anything.
3. Christians are to consider what will encourage their fellow Christians to grow in love.
4. Christians are to consider what will encourage their fellow Christians to grow in good works.
5. Christians are to exhort and encourage each other.
6. Christians are to become addicted to the ministry of the saints.
7. Christians are to listen to those who have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.
8. Christians are to submit to those who have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.
9. Within the Church, there are not to be offices of authority.
10. Within the Church, there are not to be positions of rank.
11. Within the Church, in order to be considered great by God, one must serve the needs of the congregation.
12. Within the Church, in order to be exalted by God, one must humble themselves.
13. In order to overcome Satan, one must first submit to God, then resist the Devil.
14. In order to become a mature Christian, one must submit to one another in the Church.
15. The younger in the congregation should learn how to submit through the example of the elder.
16. To be considered wise, one must have a reverent respect and fear of God.
17. To achieve honour one must first learn humility.
18. A haughty heart leads to destruction.
19. It is folly to not listen to everything before answering.
20. Each member of the Church is necessary and depends on every other member of the Church.
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