#191 THE SACRIFICE OF SERVICE 9-26-26

There is a cost to following Jesus that cannot be measured in dollars and cents. It is measured in time, energy, comfort, convenience, and sometimes even personal ambition. Jesus call us to follow Him, to obey Him, to let Him rule our lives. Respect and admiration are important but they are not enough. There must be surrender. And following Christ eventually leads us into the pathway of service.

The world often defines greatness by how many people serve us. Jesus defined greatness by how willing we are to serve others. “Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave” (Matthew 20:26-27). Then He pointed to Himself: “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

The cross was the supreme expression of Christ’s service. He did not serve from a place of convenience. He served through suffering. He gave Himself. Christian service will sometimes require that we give something of ourselves.

SERVICE REQUIRES OUR TIME

One of the greatest sacrifices we can make in service to Christ is our time. Time cannot be stored in a bank, recovered from yesterday, or purchased tomorrow. Every hour we give to the Lord is an hour we will never get back.

Jesus demonstrated this kind of availability. He was constantly interrupted by human need. Jairus came while Jesus was on His way somewhere else. Blind Bartimaeus cried out while Jesus was passing by. Zacchaeus was found while Jesus was traveling through Jericho. The hungry crowds interrupted His rest. But Jesus never treated people as interruptions to His ministry. People were His ministry.

Paul understood this. He told the Ephesian elders, “Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears” (Acts 20:31). That is service measured not merely in hours, but in tears.

“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). We do not have unlimited time to serve God. The question is not simply, “What do I have time to do?” It is, “What am I willing to give my time to because I love Christ?”

SERVICE REQUIRES OUR STRENGTH

Service is not always convenient, comfortable, or easy. Sometimes the work of God is physically exhausting. Sometimes it requires us to keep going when we would rather sit down. Sometimes the need is greater than our energy.

Paul knew something about this kind of service. He wrote, “Therefore I labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily” (Colossians 1:29). Notice the balance. Paul labored, but God was working through him.

Here is a divine mystery. God does not merely ask us to serve Him with whatever strength we possess. He supplies strength for the service He gives us. Isaiah said, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31).

Sometimes service means getting tired for somebody else. It means making the phone call when you would rather remain silent. Visiting someone when you would rather stay home. Teaching when preparation is difficult. Helping when nobody notices. Carrying another person’s burden when you already have burdens of your own.

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9).

SERVICE REQUIRES OURSELVES

The deepest sacrifice of service is not our time or our strength. It is ourselves.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). God does not merely want what we can do. He wants the person doing it.

That changes everything.

Christian service is not about building our reputation. It is not about being noticed. It is not about receiving applause. Jesus warned against doing righteous acts merely “to be seen by men” (Matthew 6:1). The servant of Christ can work in the shadows because he knows the Father sees what others do not.

Jesus washed feet. The King of glory took the position of a servant. In John 13:14-15 He said, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”

The sacrifice of service is ultimately the sacrifice of self.

We cannot serve Christ while constantly asking what we will get in return. We serve because He first served us. We love because He first loved us. We give because He gave Himself for us.

The world may never know the hours you spent, the prayers you prayed, the people you encouraged, the burdens you carried, or the sacrifices you quietly made. But heaven knows.

Hebrews 6:10 gives us this wonderful assurance: “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name.”

Service may cost you something today. It may cost you time, strength, comfort, sleep, money, recognition, or convenience. But when service is rendered for Jesus, nothing offered to Him is wasted.

The hands that serve others are following the hands that were pierced for us.

And one day, the servant who gave himself away for Christ will discover that he never really lost anything at all.

BDD