Serve One Another

Today I want to look at two similar “one anothers”. The first is written by Paul, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13). The second is written by Peter, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (I Peter 4:10).

In our first verse, Galatians 5:13, the Greek word for “serve” is speaking of the kind of service performed by one who is enslaved. According to Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary, such a slave “conducts himself in total service to another…in complete devotion to his or her master.”

This same Greek word is used by Jesus when He says, “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). Since total and complete devotion is required, it is truly an impossibility to serve two masters. Zodhiates’ Complete Word Study Dictionary further explains that such a person is not merely “in the position of a servant”, but also acts accordingly! Zodhiates’ lists two antonyms (opposites) for this verb – “to be idle” and “to be at leisure”. It would seem that such service is a full-time job in the extreme sense.

A couple more thoughts before moving on to Peter’s statement, the freedom Paul speaks of here is our freedom from sin and the Law that we now have in Christ (Galatians 5:1). The “flesh” he warns us about is enslavement to our selfish desires and the results are spelled out as “the deeds of the flesh” in Galatians 5:19-21. Both of these ideas speak to our motives when serving one another. We are not to be legalistic, adding rules, making a long list of “shoulds” that are burdensome and rob us of our freedom in Christ. Neither are we to selfishly serve others with the hopes of personal gain.

Lastly, let’s take a quick look at Paul’s phrase “through love”. The love spoken of here is agape love, the most devoted kind of love possible. This is the love referred to in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…” Agape love gives what is best and what is most needful. As for the Greek word use for “through”, it can also be translated as “on account of…” and “because of…” Therefore, our service to one another is to be on account of and because of the agape love we have found in Christ and it is that same sort of love we pass on to others. I John 4:19 says simply, “We love, because He first loved us.”

In I Peter 4:10, the Greek word for “serving” is the verb diakoneo, it literally means to be a waiter of tables. According to Zodhiates, the word generally means, “to care for someone’s needs, bringing advantage to others”. The antonyms he lists are “to harm, to cause loss, to destroy, to corrupt”. Clearly, the word means a lot more than serving food if the withholding of such service would bring destruction or corruption!

Historically, seven diakoneo table waiters were chosen in Acts 6:1-6 to help ensure the fair treatment of widows. The men selected for this job were to be of “good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (Acts 6:3). Later we find Paul instructing Timothy on similar requirements for choosing Deacons (diakonos) to help with church administration (I Timothy 3:8-13).

The thing I find most interesting about Peter’s statement “serving [diakoneo] one another” is that he is not speaking to just a few Deacons put in charge of this or that. His letter is addressed to all the believers living throughout Asia. Furthermore, I Peter 4:10 says “each one” has received a gift to be used in serving (diakoneo) others. In other words, every believer has been given the responsibility of serving as a deacon, whether they hold that title or not.

Notice also that Peter says we each have “received a special gift” (I Peter 4:10). Therefore, the way I serve will not be the exact way you serve; we are uniquely gifted and are intended to also uniquely serve.

Peter goes on to say our serving is to be done “as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (I Peter 4:10b). Stewards are managers put in charge of distributing and apportioning the goods on behalf of the owner. In Genesis 39:4, we find Joseph serving Pharaoh in this manner and later he is put in charge of distributing the grain during Egypt’s famine (Genesis 41:38-57). Likewise, Peter teaches that as we serve, we are stewards put in charge of distributing God’s many forms of grace to others.

To summarize, let’s pull all these various terms together and paint a biblical portrait of what it means to “serve one another” –

Galatians 5:13, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
•    Service is a by-product of our freedom in Christ
•    Biblical serving is not motivated by selfish desires of the flesh
•    We serve because of God’s agape love and we share that same love with others
•    Our serving shows an all-consuming devotion to our Master, Christ Jesus

I Peter 4:10, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
•    Each believer is uniquely gifted to uniquely serve the Body of Christ
•    Such service is required of all believers, not a select few
•    Biblical serving demands we actually help someone, “bringing advantage to others”
•    We are stewards in charge of distributing God’s grace to those we serve

Ephesians 5:15-16 “Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”

A Requirement of Stewardship

This month I began studying I Corinthians and early on I came across a couple sentences that left me with a puzzle to solve. The NASB version of I Corinthians 4:1, 2 reads this way: “Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.”

I am already fairly familiar with the word “steward”; I wrote about that last year here on my blog, the entry is “Steward of the Word” dated January 2, 2011. I’ve also learned since then that Joseph can be seen as a steward to Pharaoh. His story, told in the last few chapters of Genesis, accurately portrays stewardship as being in charge of another person’s possessions, and in this case, Pharaoh gave Joseph control over his entire kingdom.

So why did I stop at these verses in I Corinthians and question stewardship? Actually, it wasn’t so much the stewardship part I was questioning; I really thought I understood the concept of biblical stewardship. It was more the use of “trustworthy” that was tripping me up. It seemed to me that Paul was using some very strong, explicit language here – why is trustworthy required of stewards? And, more importantly, since it is required, I wanted to understand if this word describes me.

So, what does that word trustworthy really mean?

My initial thoughts were that trustworthy means something like being dedicated and showing up to work every day on time, being honest by not stealing stuff from your boss, and being straightforward - letting your “yes” mean “yes” and your “no” mean “no”.

After a couple rounds with some hefty-sized English dictionaries, I concluded I wasn’t very far off. I did learn that this compound word (trust + worthy) was only “compounded” recently. Other than that, nothing else seemed especially interesting.

Now sometimes all you need is just to better understand the English uses of a word in the Bible (like indignation in Psalm 7:11), but here is a case where knowing the English meaning just wasn’t telling me enough. Why would it actually be required of stewards to be trustworthy? My gut was telling me there was more, so I grabbed for Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. . . .

So I found the word in question is the Greek word “pistŏs”. Here’s what Strong’s gave me as a definition: trustworthy, trustful, believe, believing, believer, faithful, faithfully, sure, and true. I don’t know about you, but as I look at the list - believe, believing, and believer - all seem to be out of place. The rest however, do seem to be just synonyms of each other.

Next I used my Strong’s in reverse to help me find some more verses that use this same Greek word. Among them I found II Timothy 2:2 which says teach reliable (pistŏs) men that they might teach others. This verse seems to speak of having a consistent behavior, having a dependable pattern in our lives. Then from I John 1:9, I found this word even applies to the immutable nature of God, it says He is faithful (pistŏs) to forgive us our sins.

If I had stopped at this point, I might be led to think that “pistŏs” means nothing more than being consistent, dependable, or unchanging and immutable – and these are all qualities desired in a steward. But does this really explain how the words “believe”, “believing”, and “believer” fit on this list? Well, maybe.

Follow along with me as I try to unravel this mystery a bit. . . .

I can easily see how God would require His stewards to be “believers” - He wouldn’t put unbelievers in charge of “the mysteries of God”. And this believer would need to have consistent faith, to be immutable, unchanging, and unwavering in his or her convictions concerning God. I’m reminded of verses in James that teach us to not be doubting and double-minded when we ask for something in prayer (James 1:5-8).

Our faith in Jesus, and the teachings of His Word, needs to be reliable in the sense that we don’t falter, causing the lost world around us to doubt if we have found Truth. Paul reminds us to not have child-like faith, tossed about by every wind of doctrine, but to be steadfast. (Ephesians 4:14-16).

We also shouldn’t be stumbling through life without any permanent transformation into the image of Christ - one day serious about our walk, and the next day “out to lunch” spiritually speaking. Last month I wrote, “Paul on the Road to Damascus” (4/18/2012) about renewing our minds, being metamorphosed by immersion in the Word and time in prayer – butterflies don’t return to being caterpillars (Romans 12:1, 2).

In this way then, I can see Paul’s point here in I Corinthians that stewards must be consistent believers if they are to be put in charge of "the mysteries of God". This sort of unwavering conviction of faith in God and His Word is certainly required.

But this kind of “pistŏs” believing isn’t what you did once on the day you were saved; this isn’t a past tense kind of word. This is continual and on-going, something that you live with conviction and consistency – 24/7, 365 days a year. You are to be ever and always, actively believing God, believing His Word, and believing His plan is working out in your life. And yes, Paul tells us quite emphatically; for a steward of God, this “pistŏs” is required.

So now the difficult question: does this “pistŏs” describe you and I?

“The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to “pistŏs” men who will be able to teach others also.” II Timothy 2:2 (NASB).

Here are journaling suggestions for you to try:

Describe the effects of a “pistŏs” mentor upon your life.

Pass it on - write a letter of spiritual advice to a “Timothy”.

The Christian and Taxes

Let’s turn our attention to Luke 20:19-25. This section in my Bible is titled “Tribute to Caesar” – it is the passage where the Pharisees are once again trying to trick Jesus into saying something that will get Him tossed in prison or killed.

In this case, they pose the question about paying taxes to Caesar, is it lawful for the Jews to do this? In this instance, the tax is a “poll tax” and every person living in the Roman Empire was required to pay it. But that was the sticking point for these Pharisees; they didn’t want to give money to the Romans because they weren’t Romans! Also, it probably had a lot to do with their love for money, as has been pointed out many times before in Luke’s gospel. But here they are, hoping Jesus will agree with them – then they could go running to the nearest Roman soldier and have Him put in jail. Or, better yet, maybe He would say that the Jews do have to pay this Roman tax and then the people will turn against Him. They really felt they had set the perfect trap!

All my life I have heard this story, and it has always been taught to me as a message that good Christians will do both: pay their taxes AND give money to their local churches. Render to Caesar what is his, and give to God what is His. This passage has always been presented to me as a teaching on the proper use of our wealth and possessions.

Now let’s take a closer look at Jesus’ response; “Show Me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” In my NASB Bible there is a little number next to the word “likeness” and looking in the margin, I see the word “image”.

Let’s connect the dots. In Genesis 1:27, we are told, “God created man in His own image”. When Jesus tells the Pharisees to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, He is saying the ownership is based on whose image is on the thing in question. Likewise, when Jesus says, give God what is God’s; He isn’t really talking about money at all. He wants these people to give themselves, their lives, and their every waking moment to the Lord God, whose image He stamped on each and every person when He created them!

I think the true sense of this passage is not about the stewardship of our money, but about the stewardship of our lives. The very image of God, stamped on you by God Himself, means He has ownership over you — and Jesus is saying, give to God what is His!

Steward of the Word

Happy New Year! I’m excited to see what 2011 will bring, I hope you are too!

Lately, I’ve been thinking about stewardship and I’m amazed at all the ways God has shown me to apply this word in my life.

It began a few weeks ago when I noticed the bathroom scale was giving me some un-wanted news and I acknowledged that tackling my weight-eating-health problem alone would probably end in failure – again. I realized then that my body was something on loan to me from God to be a steward over – to care for on His behalf.

But as I said, that was only the beginning. Over the next few days I jotted down several other “things” God has entrusted into my care. And then, I stumbled across this definition of stewardship: a minister of Christ, whose duty is to dispense the provisions of the gospel. If that doesn’t sound like anything you find in your dictionary, don’t toss the thing out, there’s a good explanation. I recently got my hands on a newly published copy of Noah Webster’s 1828 English Dictionary. I’ve really enjoyed thumbing through it to compare old definitions with those in our modern dictionaries. What an eye-opening experience! But, I’ve digressed here a bit . . .

So a steward is one who cares for someone else’s property and looks out for their best interests. A Christian Steward is one who cares for God’s property on His behalf. And according to Noah Webster at least, one of those pieces of property in our care is the Gospel. What a glorious gift! What a marvelous thing it is to share the good news of Jesus Christ with someone! But also, what an awesome responsibility it is to be charged with “dispensing the provisions” of the very words of God.

As Christians we often find ourselves over-focused on our great privileges – and yes, they are great and many and we should be eternally thankful. However, in doing so, we have often overlooked our solemn duties and responsibilities. Throughout Ephesians 3, the Apostle Paul challenges each of us to be faithful stewards and bring God’s Gospel of Grace to all the nations. And may I add, beginning with those living in our own neighborhoods.

Maybe 2011 is the year you’ll become bold for Christ. How many people have known you for years and you’ve never spoken with them of your faith? Are there people in your life who would be surprised to bump into you if they visited your church? If so, resolve to be a better steward of the gospel this year – be bold about your faith, not offensive, but not ashamed either. . . . “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16

But witnessing to the lost is only part of the steward’s challenge. We also are responsible for knowing and applying God’s Word to our own lives. If you don’t already have a new year’s resolution, please allow me to suggest one for you: read your Bible through this year. If that seems too daunting and difficult, get your hands on a copy of Halley’s Bible Handbook. This gem has been in print several decades so even used copies are readily available. A friend of mine shared with me just a couple weeks ago how she always reads along in her Halley’s as she studies the Scriptures. And I applaud her method of choice – Henry Halley is an excellent “Tour Guide”!

But perhaps for others, the idea is little ho-hum because you’ve “been there and done that” so many times before. If that’s the case, then offer to be that Tour Guide for someone tackling Scriptures for the first time. Seeing their excitement is guaranteed to put fresh meaning into every golden nugget of Truth you unearth together.

In the end it doesn’t matter how you do it, just as long as you do it! Letting your Bible sit on the coffee table or book shelf and gather dust is an awful waste of knowledge. But it is also against God’s will for your life: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” (II Timothy 2:15). This book contains God’s revelation to us, and He longs for us to know what is there. The English preacher Charles Spurgeon had an interesting twist on our need to be stewards of God’s Word. He said we should never let our fingers be defiled by Bible dust.

Unfortunately, here in the United States, we often take for granted we will always have access to God’s Word – that it will be there for us, whenever we manage to get around to making time for it. We’ve lost our passion – we’ve forgotten how precious Scriptures are. Just five hundred years ago, Gutenberg’s printing press first allowed non-clergy folks to hold God’s Word in their own hands. And Reformers, like Martin Luther, fought to have Scriptures written in the common language of the people. Our nation’s Founding Fathers saw to it that every child had an opportunity to learn reading so they could study Scriptures.

In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John passes along God’s warning to the church at Ephesus, “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” (Revelation 2:4). If these sad words describe you, don’t lose heart. Today marks a new beginning. Start the year off right -- cherish the Word, be a good steward of the Gospel. Here are some practical suggestions to get you going:

• Be a better steward of your time -- schedule a regular meeting with your Bible.

• Volunteer to be a teacher or work with the youth of your church, share with others the knowledge of Scriptures God has entrusted to you.

• Consider giving financial support to organizations dedicated to sharing the Bible around the world. The Gideon’s and Wycliffe Bible Translators come to mind, but check with your clergy for other suggestions.

• Start a neighborhood Bible study group and watch God do great things as you maintain an “open to all” atmosphere.

• Commit to memory one Bible verse or short passage each week or month. And plan to review these regularly in order to keep them sharp in your mind.

• Search out opportunities to personally share the gospel with others. Be a faithful witness for the Lord, telling others what great things He has done for you. You don’t need to memorize fancy scripts, just speak the truth from your heart.