The Glory of Divine Service

There are several individuals in Scripture who are noted for serving God. In the rendering of service to the Most High God, and God working through them, most all of these individuals left behind something that was of great profit to men for generations to come. Only God can do something like this! In reconciling men back to Himself from sin and transgression and death, the God of Heaven used several of His servants to lay foundational thoughts, to assist men in making their recovery back to God from sin and from the snare of the Devil. The entrance of sin into the world left in its wake a bleak and desolate wasteland with regard to the knowledge of God. Sin caused men to have completely wrong thoughts and a wrong understanding of the Most High. Men had corrupted thoughts about serving God, about what pleases God, of coming back to God, and of what the Lord required for the doing of these things. "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Rom. 3:10-12). In preparing fallen men for the blessed Savior who would, at the appointed time, come into the world, God the Father raised up servants who would restore pillars of right thinking about the Most High as a fruitage of the service and devotion that was being offered up to Him. The service that each of these notable men rendered to God would, by His own wisdom, assist men in readying themselves for the great salvation that He would be bringing through the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son. "My Servant Abraham" (Gen. 26:24). For example, God used Abraham to "sow" in the earth the heretofore revolutionary thought and understanding, that righteousness can be imputed to, or layed to the account of, men who believe "in the Lord" (cf. Gen. 15:1-6). In other words, God fully receives men, who had "sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23-24) to Himself on the basis of their belief of His testimony, and not on the basis of what men are able to accomplish. Centuries later, the Apostle Paul would further develop this consideration for the people of God in the matter of their being justified by faith without the deeds of the law (Rom. 3, 4, 5). His epistle to the Romans commends to men in great detail the excellencies of this blessed reality. In one of the Apostle's many summary statements, he declares: "Now it was not written for his (Abraham's) sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead" (Rom. 4:23-24). Moses, the Servant of God. (See I Chr. 6:49; II Chr. 24:9; Neh. 10:29; Ps. 90; Dan. 9:11; Rev. 15:3, plus many other Scriptures). God used His servant Moses to "sow" in the earth the law of God itself, and the understanding, in part at least, that God's law must be kept without spot and without error, if men are to be accepted of Him on the basis of what they have done. And as well the consideration that the law can only bring men up to a certain point in their understanding of the Most High. The law, it will be recalled, and the guilt-instilling understanding that it would impart to men, "was added because of transgressions" (Gal. 3:19). Moses himself, being, in type, a representantive of the Law of God in his own person, was not permitted to enter into the promised land (cf. Deut. 34; Num. 20:11-12). The law can assist men even today in considering the land of promise, and even enable them to peer into it to some degree, but it is absolutely powerless to enable men in the taking possession of it. Joshua, the son of Nun, "the servant of the Lord" (Josh. 24:29). Joshua is the Hebrew word for Jesus. He foreshadowed the Savior in his leadership of the people of God into the promised land, the land of Canaan being a type and a shadow of the world to come. Joshua, by his service rendered to God and the Lord working with him, "sowed" in the earth the understanding and knowledge that an appointed Leader, other than Moses, can and must lead God's people into the land of promise. This is certainly not to slander Moses, the man of God in any way, but as "the law was given by Moses," his name became synonymous with an approach unto God, in which men seek to find acceptance with God in their own strength and by their own wisdom and merit. The law was also a divinely appointed schoolmaster to bring men unto Christ, that they might be justified by faith (cf. Gal. 3:24-25). But it can only bring men unto Christ, and effectually show them their desperate need of Christ. It can in no wise take the place of Christ. And just as the Lord Jesus Christ is now bringing many sons unto glory (cf. Heb. 2:10), Joshua the son of Nun, foreshadowed the Lord Jesus Christ as "a leader and commander to the people" (Isa. 55:4), in his leadership of the children of Israel into the promised land. Caleb (Num. 14:24). Both Joshua and Caleb were used of God to sow in the earth the understanding that entrance into the world to come requires great courage, determination, and help that only God can give. Remember that it is written, "with many of them God was not well pleased" (I Cor. 10:5), Joshua and Caleb being excepted. Only these two believed the report that the spies brought back from Canaan, and only these two entered into the land of Canaan of that original number of Israelites. The service that both Caleb and Joshua rendered to God is indispensably instructive to men about the seriousness of believing God, seeking to please Him will all the heart, soul, mind, and strength. David (II Sam. 3:18, plus many other places). David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel (II Sam. 23:1). David, a man after God's own heart (I Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22). David, a man ahead of his time. Many of his words commend to us his nearness to God and evidence that he had a grasp on many new covenant things (Ps. 16; Ps. 32:1-2; Ps. 103, etc.), while yet living under "the first covenant" (cf. Heb. 9:15, 18). David, by his service rendered to God, is instructive to men, persuading them that they can be near unto God as David was. David's life and devotion to God is also a testimony to God's lovingkindness and tender mercies. David was able to recover himself from the awful transgressions that He committed with Bathsheba and against Uriah the Hittite. He recovered himself by making an appeal to the multitude of God's tender mercies and to His lovingkindness, with which David was thoroughly acquainted. God chastened him sore for the remainder of his days for these grievous sins, but in His wrath He remembered mercy. And these thing were not written for David's sake alone, but rather to teach men about the marvelous ways of God. Paul (Tit. 1:1). God used Paul to sow in the earth the doctrine of justification by faith and the High Priesthood of Christ. He used this Apostle to the Gentiles to enable men to get a hold on these realities. Both Paul and David are, as it were, "case studies" on how that in wrath, God remembers mercy, in chastening, He is working the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are submissive thereunto, and in the simultaneous exercise of both severe judgment and tender mercies, God is vindicating His own glorious Name. Paul persecuted the church of God, and God "took it out his hide" for the remainder of Paul's life, even up until the time that he was "offered" (II Tim. 4:6) at Rome. But consider also how that Paul gloried, and even learned to take pleasure, in all of sufferings and afflictions for Christ's sake, and what marvelous things God worked through the blessed Apostle to the Gentiles (cf. II Cor. 12:7-10, Rom. 8:18). Consider what glorious revelations that were given to him, and what a blessed understanding that he, through the Holy Spirit, had of the Father and the Son. And consider, that in Paul's service to God, what a marvelous legacy that he was given to leave behind for us in his epistles, which were written mostly during times when he was imprisoned and chained in Rome's dungeons. I give thanks to the Lord for His servant, Paul the Apostle. I sense such a great indebtedness to this servant of God for what I have been given in Christ Jesus. But only God can work something like this. Thus, in the examples enumerated above, can be seen the great benefit and fruitage that proceeds from rendering service to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The benefit went far beyond the borders of the persons mentioned above. With regard to serving God, self-benefit is certainly a valid involvement, but in the service rendered to God, the benefit extends far beyond the borders of self. It results in God Himself being glorified, and the people of God being greatly benefitted as well. http://www2.blogger.com/ym/Compose?To=--editor@banner.orgVisit My InJesus to manage your subscriptions, change your profile, or check out thousands of other great ministry groups.
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