“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you – that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” Romans 1:8-12
There is in the life of a Christian a blossoming of deep friendships and love for others in the faith. There’s a burning in the heart to be with those who are also the Lord’s. Often there are those precious moments when the Christian family is together and they mutually encourage one another, and they share their lives of faith, which fills our hearts with a joy unlike any other.
We aren’t made for isolation, but for true fellowship with both God and His people. Notice how Paul delights in the church at Rome, thanking God for them, mentioning them incessantly in prayers he offers up. What a model for us! Once again we note that the core of Christian life is a change of values from self to both the Lord and His people. Often the Christian life that’s beaten down by sin has this to blame: the focus on making oneself happy by focus on self. In such a case a Christian lives, unwittingly, a dual life: one of soft humanistic hedonism and the other Christian. This is the war war between the Spirit and the flesh. And it’s an unnatural life too. Being God’s world, He is both the standard and goal of our lives. But if we make our own life the goal, ourselves and will as the standard of happiness, the final arbiter of right and wrong, then we’re running east looking for a sunset.
To be like Paul in this way is to be like Jesus who clearly lived for others. There’s a thing that’s popular these days. Well-meaning Christians ask, “what would Jesus do?” There’s a danger in this line of reasoning, though, and that’s the mischaracterization of personal holiness (our goal). Christ-likeness is one thing, if by that we mean that we identify with Him as Paul does. But to ask what He would do finds this answer: He would live a sinless life and sacrifice Himself for His people. We can’t do that. We are His servants, slaves to Him…we aren’t Him.
But to be like Him…how do we do that? One of our best answers is to study Paul and His values. Paul is always praying. That means not just formally but also in his mind, throughout the day. He has a constant awareness of God’s providential love and care for him and His total sovereignty over every aspect of life. To pray without ceasing is to have a God-saturated consciousness. And Paul identifies himself as a servant of Christ in accord with the work of Christ. Thus, to know God is to know the life and work of Jesus Christ. We may know many passages of Scripture. We may be in church every Sunday and everyone there might know our name. But unless our life is infused with the love of God, from our very heart, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are missing the whole point. Always remember that we have the righteousness of Jesus credited to our account through faith alone, not our works. That fact will inspire good works and, like Paul, those works will be to serve others in whatever capacity we can in the name of Christ.
You see, Paul is an apostle, which is an official messenger of God. His work is specific to him. We are called to fulfill the Great Commission in our own way, through our unique set of circumstances. In our family. Through our vocation. We aren’t called to be Jesus Christ, but His servant. Understanding this is a great blessing in that it alleviates an extraordinary amount of stress in the Christian’s life. Do your work where you are; do it for the Lord and for his people. Yearn to be with His people and to be of some benefit to them in whatever way you can. This is the life to which we’re called – the saint’s life.
Finally, all of this is, as we’ve said, contrary to the world’s values of “me first.” It’s a humble life of love. Politicians call themselves, erroneously and often deceitfully, public servants. They are, and seek to be, in the main, rulers, not servants. How many have gone to Washington as alleged servants and left poorer? True servants are like Paul here, who was like His Lord, never putting a burden on anyone arbitrarily but carrying the greater one. To serve others is to pray for them and to ask the Lord for opportunities to use our God-given gifts and talents for mutual benefit. We aren’t to be sacrificial for others. The Lord calls no man to be a sacrifice to another. No one is a means to the ends or benefit of another (2 Corinthians 9:7). That was the unique office and ability of Jesus Christ. Ours is to be a service of mutual benefit, of win-win, which speaks to the motive and goal of the actions of service. Again, in Christ, no one is a means to an end for others. All authority, political, vocational or within the family, is to be in the Lord, for the mutual benefit of all and for the gospel.
All service is toward the dual goal of producing both righteousness and thanksgiving to God (2 Corinthians 9:11-12).
This is partly what it means to pray, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The will of God is that all would glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and come to Him for salvation.
The antithesis of true fellowship is, as we’ve said, the focus upon self. It’s the principle of Matthew 16:25, where we seek our own way in life rather than seeing our very existence as from the Lord, to the Lord and for the Lord. This is the reason for so much strife within families, churches and businesses. It’s the default setting of sinful mankind – to see others (whether as individuals or groups) as a means to our end. Notice how Paul only references himself in regard to the Lord and others. Paul’s mind is set on God and this God-focus leads him to focus on others, specifically, God’s people.
Modern culture, despite its claims of love and tolerance, is anything but loving since true love proceeds only from the Father. What they really have is love’s counterfeits: lust and need. True love isn’t jealous, contentious, it doesn’t brag, isn’t easily provoked nor remember wrongs suffered, doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness but in truth (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). False love uses and makes demands; false love demands that others serve us; false love keeps a record of wrongs and is constantly provoked.
We will not have peace in our homes, churches, businesses or country until Christ-likeness, from the heart, is our goal. And this can’t happen until one repents of their sin. Everywhere that men and women preach peace and love without repentance of sin, be sure that you hear the voice of the Enemy, that liar and murderer. The clearest sign that one is truly the Lord’s is when they’re more worried about how their sins impact the people around them than what others can do for them. A self-righteous Christian is, in point of fact, a contradiction in terms.
Watch for this in modern politics as well as in all personal squabbles: people fixated on what others owe them. This is the language of hate for if others owe you just because, there is no end to it. Listen for it in politics especially and be warned. The wolves in sheep’s clothing train us to not only keep a record of wrongs but to be constantly looking for new ones. And watch for it in your home too! What a hell a house becomes when a parent or a spouse has a critical spirit!
In all, we should strive for Christ-likeness; we should strive to be like Paul. And Paul never got over being saved! Neither should we. That changes everything – especially how we view others.
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