Romans 12:11 - Homiletics

The spirit of Christian service.

Religion is a personal, individual matter. Its seat is in the heart. Christianity is both an intelligible truth and a living power. It enters into and takes possession of a man's spiritual nature; and controls and governs his life, and affects his social relations. Christ dwells in the heart by faith, and rules in the heart by the energy of the Divine Spirit. It is in this light that the apostle in this verse regards the religion which he authoritatively teaches and enforces. Let us look at the matter thus, and consider what Christianity proposes to do in the character and life of every person who truly receives it.

I. We have here described THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE , It is service, rendered to Christ. Several very important views of our existence and vocation are afforded by this language.

1. Life should be neither aimless nor selfish. A desultory way of spending time, with no definite purpose, no unity, is most unsuitable to the professed Christian. To seek simply the satisfaction of one's own wants, the gratification of one's own appetites and tastes, is flagrant violation of the Divine law. How can such a life be termed a service? The bondman has one occupation, doing his master's will; and one aim, securing his master's approval. So with the Christian; the life which is not service cannot he his.

2. Life should be, consciously and deliberately, a service rendered to the Lord Jesus. This is what our Divine Master expects. "Ye call me," says he, "Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am." This is what his inspired servants acknowledge to be right. "We serve the Lord Christ." This is, in fact, the proper designation of all true Christians—servants of the Lord. The will of God, revealed in Christ Jesus, is our proper law. The glory of God, in the advancement of the kingdom of righteousness, is our proper aim. The disciples of Christ are our congenial fellow-servants. The wages of our service, what are they? "The gift of God is eternal life."

3. Our service rendered to Christ should be an acknowledgment of his incomparable service rendered to us. Jesus was the Servant as well as the Son of God. He was the Servant of God for us. Such was his own declaration: "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." And the apostle says of him, "He took upon him the form of a servant." This amazing condescension, perfected in his sacrificial death, demands a grateful recognition and return from us; and is, indeed, divinely adapted to awaken within us the purpose and resolve to devote all our powers to him who withheld not his labours and his life from us. Hence we draw the motive and the power to obey and serve. To express our gratitude and love and consecration to him, no devotion can be too unqualified, no effort too strenuous, no sacrifice too great.

II. We have here described THE PRACTICAL DILIGENCE WHICH SHOULD DISTINGUISH THE CHRISTIAN 'S SERVICE . "Not slothful [or, 'remiss'] in diligence." "Business" is a misleading term, as it seems to refer to the occupation by which a man gains his livelihood. It is a quality or habit which is thus designated.

1. With regard to the scope for diligence, there is no limitation; except that, as a matter of course, the employment in which we are to be diligent is to be one which conscience and the God of conscience approve. The Christian should be diligent in the discharge of the common duties of life. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Whether the sphere of your activity be in the family and household, in the Church, or in what is called secular life, the same rule applies. Let young people especially take advice in this matter, and, remembering the flight of time, and their responsibility to Heaven, be alert and active.

2. How needful is this admonition! All men have some, and there are those who have many, temptations to indolence. Natural disposition or the example of idle companions may induce some to remit their efforts. Others may become weary in well-doing, or may be discouraged because all their glowing expectations are not fulfilled; or because they are left, they fancy, to work without sympathy and alone. The work of the Lord may seem so vast, and your powers may seem so limited, that you may be tempted to say, "My exertions are worthless, and can issue in no result; I may as well fold my hands, and wait for some supernatural interposition." But the right spirit is this—Work as if all depended upon you; pray as if all depended upon God.

3. We have in Jesus Christ the motive and the example of diligence. Who can do too much, who can do enough, for him who has done and suffered all for us? His meat and drink were to do the will of him who sent him. Strenuous were his exertions in his earthly ministry; limitless his devotion. "It is enough for the servant that he be as his Master." Learn, therefore, of him.

III. We have here described THE FERVENT SPIRIT IN WHICH THE CHRISTIAN 'S SERVICE SHOULD BE DISCHARGED . The same expression, here used with regard to the servants of the Lord Jesus generally, is used regarding that remarkable man named Apollos ( Acts 18:25 ). It may be objected to this admonition that fervour is very much a matter of temperament; and that it would not be reasonable to expect that persons of a calm and equable character should display the same warmth as persons naturally excitable and emotional. In this there is some truth; yet there may be true fervour without demonstration and noise. A glow of love in the heart may animate the conduct and inspire the efforts even of the tranquil and quiet. It may further be objected that fervent people seldom wear well. We all know persons who have been full of feeling, eager to find fault with methodical and steady hard-workers, loud in their professions of zeal, and abundant in schemes for its display. And we have all known such persons as quick to cool down as to warm up. We have watched their ways, and have found them volatile and fickle; their fine schemes come to nothing; they themselves perhaps make shipwreck; or, at the best, they weary of one plan only to be hot for a season in promoting another. And perhaps experience has led us to undervalue ardour, to place no reliance upon the professions of the fervent, and to regard with no confidence the glowing projects of the sanguine. But let us bear in mind that it is not the fervour that is at fault, but the uncertainty of the flame, and the haste with which it burns out and dies down. The metaphor of the text may give us a hint as to the real truth of the matter. The word used applies to water which is heated to the boiling point. Now, if water be placed in an open vessel, and if heat be applied to it, it soon evaporates in the air—in homely language, it boils away; and the heat applied, the fuel consumed, have served no useful purpose. But let the water be poured into the boiler of a steam-engine, and then let the furnace be heated. What now will be the result? The fervour becomes power, the expansion of the steam occasions motion; the machinery begins to act, and some useful result is secured. So in the spiritual realm. Let us have warmth of devotion, love to Christ the Saviour, zeal in the service of God. But let them be under the control of Christian wisdom. Let them be applied to purposes of practical piety and benevolence. Let them, instead of evaporating in words, whether of insincere profession or of insincere devotion, be used according to the counsels of inspiration, the dictates of sober experience, and the holy promptings of the Spirit of God. What counsel shall be given to those professed followers of the Saviour who are deficient in spiritual fervour? In every Christian society there are, it is to be feared, some who, in the judgment even of charity, must be accounted lukewarm. How displeasing to the great Head of the Church are such characters need scarcely be said; his word to them is, "I would thou weft cold or hot!" When you are careless as to your spiritual state, indifferent to God's Word and to the exercises of prayer and praise, negligent and irregular in attendance upon the public means of grace, slow to reform yourself and quick to censure your neighbours, illiberal in your gifts and slothful in your services to Christ and his cause, it cannot but be presumed that you are wanting in fervour of spirit. There is but one remedy. You must draw near to that Saviour from whom you have wandered. You must repent, renew your first love, and do your first works. Seeking forgiveness for culpable lukewarmness, you must revive the flame of piety by kindling it anew at the sacred altar of Divine love. Contemplate the grace and compassion of the Redeemer as evinced in the anguish of Gethsemane and the woe of Calvary. Call to mind the fervour he displayed when, in the anticipation of his sacrifice, he exclaimed, " Father, glorify thy Name! .. Thy will be done!" Thus shall your languid zeal be revived, thus shall your flagging devotion be reanimated. And your service shall no longer be cold and mechanical, but it shall be rendered gratefully and joyfully; it shall be the tribute of a loyal subject, and the offering of a loving child.

APPLICATION .

1. Let all hearers of the gospel clearly understand what are the claims of Christ upon them. A profession of faith in itself is of little value. What the Lord Jesus asks is the devotion of the heart, and the service of all the powers.

2. Let members of Christian Churches ask themselves how far the tone of their piety and the conduct of their life agree with the language of the text. And let them be on their guard against the insidious approach of lukewarmness.

3. Let communicants approach the Lord's table with the desire of so meeting with Christ that the fervour of their love may be renewed, and that they may be led to consecrate all their energies anew unto the hallowed service of their Saviour and their Lord.