Merry Christmas, Church!
In further reflection on my sermon Text from this past Sunday, I want to share with you Christ’s commentary on the Holy Spirit’s prophecy through Zechariah in Luke 1.
Hopefully you heard how important it was for me to emphasize the purpose of our salvation in Zechariah’s salvation song (Luke 1:67-79).
Vv74-75 describes why we’ve been saved or what we’ve been saved to do: “to serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.”
From whom to the tomb, from nursery to the nursing home, we are to delight in this wonderful purpose of God for our lives where we get to serve Him in righteousness and holiness. This should be our great ambition within school life, work life, family life, Church life, and community life. Everywhere we go we are privileged and blessed to serve God (remember that He sent Jesus to serve us!…Matt. 20:28…and our service is a thankful worshipful response to His for us).
I tried to mention how many Christians know what they’ve been saved from, but they lack this real soteriological purpose in their life. Instead, they have purpose amnesia and don’t know who they are. Purpose is tied closely to identity. And we attach usefulness to the purpose and value that we give ourselves (identity). Of cource, God has given us value that’s reflected in His estimation of us; the fact that we are made in His image and created to know Him is where our value stems. But nevertheless, God created us to get work done (‘service’) with humble and true character (“in righteousness and holiness”) with Him in mind (“before Him”).
And within the context of Zechariah’s prophecy, that service involves getting involved in God’s salvation plan for other people as well (like John in vv76-77).
Now here’s that commentary from Jesus on how we are to view the purpose of our salvation in serving terms:
Luke 17:7-10 – “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
You see, service is not an option and we should not think of it as so exceptional if we serve God with righteousness and holiness. It’s simply what we should do. I don’t give my sons a present or reward every morning when they get out of bed to go to school. It’s what they should do. No doubt, God rewards our service (Heb. 11:6), but when thinking about our great purpose of serving Him, we should realize that it’s simply our duty. We should all be doing this like its food to us. We’re not surprised when somebody eats because they need it and their body is dependent on it. And neither should we be surprised when others serve God around us or that we serve God. It is just what we should be doing because we were created for it and it is a deeply energizing mission.
And there is great purpose in that, even if it’s not extremely exciting.
However, seeing people live out their purpose as Christians as they “live all their days serving God in righteousness and holiness” is actually surprisingly spectacular. In other words, when you see somebody live faithfully to their spouse their whole life in continual true love and self sacrificing service, people notice that because it’s rare.
So we’re attracted to other people who serve their whole life with good character and in obedience to God’s Word, but we somehow don’t naturally want that purpose for our own life because it may seem mundane and stodgy. Nevertheless, character counts, and it’s what makes us as Christians “shine like lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation” (Phil. 2:11-12), so to serve God in faithfulness and righteousness all our days, is anything but dull. Truly, it’s a gleaming light that creates more joy in this dark world where most people are self-serving. And that, my friends, is a great purpose indeed.
Therefore, if you are to “serve God in righteousness and holiness all your days” you will be a great impact in the lives around you, and what a good purpose that is. This is God’s purpose for your life. As you serve Him, you’ll serve other people, and you’ll shine your light upon other people’s sad lives (Matt. 5:13-16)! And the result, people glorify God!
To my Word of Chapel friends, I pray that we would all find great purpose in doing the mundane things well, in serving God in every way all the time…in your home, to your spouse and kids, to your parents, to your neighbors, to your Church mates, because indeed, this is actually a spectacular purpose. May we work with the awareness that we’ve been saved, not to nothing, but to get work done and shine the light that God has given us into other people’s lives as well (Luke 1:79, 1 Peter 2:9).
In what ways can you grow in serving God in righteousness and holiness today? Because “all our days” includes “today!”
With love in Christ,
Aaron
