The Attitude Of A Servant Series

Romans 1:8–10. 8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. (ESV)

This past week has Elon Musk offered US$54.20 ($69.38) per share as part of his bid to buy Twitter for US$44 billion ($56.3 billion). Twitter has become famous over the past few years for DE platforming those they politically disagree with while still allowing international terror organizations to post. When the offer by Musk was first made, the board of directors for Twitter was looking for ways to reject the deal but with the threat of personal legal action, they relented from their opposition. As board members they had a fiduciary duty to serve their shareholders and not their personal political aims.

People serve the Lord from many motives. Some serve out of legalistic effort, as a means of earning salvation and God’s favor. Some serve the Lord for fear that, if they do not, they will incur His disfavor and perhaps even lose their salvation. Some, like Diotrophes (3 John 9), serve because of the prestige and esteem that leadership often brings. Some serve in order to gain preeminent ecclesiastical positions and the power to lord it over those under their care. Some serve for appearance’s sake, in order to be considered righteous by fellow church members and by the world. Some serve because of peer pressure to conform to certain human standards of religious and moral behavior. Children are often forced into religious activities by their parents, and they sometimes continue those activities into adult life only because of parental intimidation or perhaps from mere habit. Some people are even zealous in Christian work seeking unjust personal financial gain as an aim unto itself.

The Apostle Paul was greatly used of the Lord because, by God’s grace and provision, he always kept his motives pure. Because his single purpose was to please God, the displeasure or disregard of other people, even of those he was serving, could not deter his work or lead him into bitterness and self-pity. In his opening words to the believers at Rome, Paul tells of his sincere spiritual motives in wanting to minister to them. With warmth, affection, and sensitivity that permeate the entire letter, he assures them of his genuine devotion to God and his genuine love for them. Although Paul had not personally founded or even visited the church at Rome, he carried the heartfelt passion of Christ for their spiritual welfare and an eager desire to develop their spiritual and personal friendship. When they first received Paul’s letter, the believers in Rome probably wondered why this great apostle whom most of them did not know would bother to write them such a long and profound letter. They also may have wondered why, if he cared so much for them, he had not yet paid them a visit. Beginning in verse 8 of Chapter 1, Paul gives the answers to both of those questions. He wrote them because he cared deeply about their spiritual maturity, and he had not yet visited them because he had thus far been prevented.

Even when the Lord is served from a right motive and in His power, for us, there always lingers near a ready temptation to resentment and self-pity when one’s work is not appreciated by fellow Christians and perhaps goes completely unnoticed. No matter how orthodox or helpful to other people our service might be, unless it is done out of a sincere desire to please and glorify God, it is not spiritual nor acceptable to Him (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31). It is, of course, possible for a person to begin Christian service out of genuine devotion to God and later fall into an occasion or even a habit of performing it mechanically, merely from a sense of necessity. It can be easy to neglect service or do it out of mere habit, thereby carelessly leave our first love and fall into a rut of superficial activity that is performed in the Lord’s name but is not done in His power or for His glory.

In order to avoid common pitfalls in service and fine tune godly service, in Romans 1:8–10, Paul’s words suggest three marks of true spiritual service: First it is marked by: 1) A Thankful Spirit (Romans 1:8), 2) A Concerned Spirit (Romans 1:9–10a), and finally 3) A Willing and Submissive Spirit (Romans 1:10b).

The first mark of true spiritual service involves having and attitude of:

1) A Thankful Spirit (Romans 1:8)