Saturday, March 18, 2023

SERVING GOD ACCORDING TO PATTERN



The Bible reveals that God assigned people responsibilities to serve from generation to generation. He called some to serve in building boats, tabernacles, temples, garments, etc. He called men to fight battles, others to write Scripture, others to prophesy, and still, others to evangelize and pastor. Whatever the service was, God always provided a pattern for each project. The Bible constantly urges God's servants to serve according to the pattern!

 

A pattern is how something is done, organized, or happens (Pace, N.d.). The synonyms for the pattern are lead, guide, model, blueprint, template, and standard. God is the one who gives the template on how we should serve in a building. He does provide the blueprint in every area, including missions, life, marriage, etc.

 

Looking at Noah, the man to whom God issued precise instructions for building the Ark, the Lord told him which type of wood to use; which sealant to apply; the exact measurements of the Ark; and how many of each animal to bring aboard. And then God included a bold warning to Noah(Pace, N.d.). He said, "This is how you are to build it"! (Genesis 6:15) Details are important to God!

 

Also, God gave detailed instructions, along with a similar warning, to Moses regarding the template for the Tabernacle. Hebrews 8:5 says, "Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the Tabernacle; "See that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain." (Exodus 26:30; Acts 7:44.).

 

Solomon constructed a magnificent temple with all its grandeur. It had the Holy Place, the Most Holy Place, the Golden Candlestick, the Mercy-seat overlaid with the cherubim, and so forth. However, it was constructed quite differently from the Tabernacle of Moses(Pace, N.d.). Solomon deviated from the plans Moses so carefully implemented because 1 Chronicles 28 revealed the blueprints of the Temple to Solomon—and he was the world's wisest man! The Holy Spirit revealed the details of the Temple to David—a man anointed by the Holy Spirit. David said in 1 Chronicles 28:19"The LORD made me understand in writing by His hand upon me, all the details of this pattern" of the Temple.

 

The Jesus Pattern of Service, the Ancient Landmarks

The need for laborers has remained enormous from the Old Testament dispensation to the time of Jesus' earthly ministry. It is even worse now. The temptation to embrace just anybody who indicates interest to serve is powerful and allowing as many as are embraced to serve without regard to laid down pattern to retain a large harvest force is stronger. 

 

Yet the instruction not to remove the ancient landmark(pattern) stares at us(Proverbs 23:10). Jesus came to earth with a specific laid-down pattern in mind which He strictly followed. There were temptations to follow shortcuts, but He prayed: "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine be done" ( Luke 22:42). He insisted on following the same pattern stressing that "…as the Father has sent me, so also I am sending you. ( John 20:21)" He also insisted that "a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher" ( Luke 6:40). What are these patterns? How do we serve according to these patterns? What are the implications of serving differently?

 

Salvation

 

Salvation is the most necessary qualification any person willing to serve must possess. You cannot offer what you do not have. Salvation is superior to any charisma, civilization, education, or wealth. The disciples once returned from outreach, and while rejoicing over the manifestations of the charismatic giftings they enjoyed, Jesus quickly cautioned them to prioritize the fact that their names were written in the book of life. In other words, they were saved. Once, he compared salvation to all the wealth of this world put together as inferior to the salvation of the soul of man. His words: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark. 8:36-38). Jesus took time to teach His salvation on this several times because of how critical it is. Anybody who ventured into serving God without salvation end up becoming prey.

 

Service

 

Serving the Lord is much more than a clerical calling. It is the responsibility of all disciples. No one who benefitted from the finished work of Calvary is permitted to remain idle in God's vineyard. His words: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you…" (Matthew 11:28). If you accept the rest that Jesus promised in this passage, it is mandatory for you to also take His yoke. Taking His yoke means taking responsibility to serve in the vineyard. The impression that only selected few are intended to serve in the vineyard has done a lot of disservice to God's kingdom effort. The Great Commission was not for just some individuals but for the disciples. In the early church, every believer is considered Christ's disciple. The words Christians and disciples were used interchangeably, and the same thing applies to responsibilities.

 

Discipleship Term

 

To qualify for service, it is therefore expected that you are not just enlisted as Christ disciple but you must be seen to know and work towards meeting the terms of becoming one. These terms include self-denial, cross-bearing, supreme love for God, love for the brethren, consecration, among others. 

 

Jesus. For example, he insists that unless a believer denies him or herself, such person is not qualified to be His disciple. In Luke 14: 26, Jesus categorically declared that "if anyone come to me and does not hate his own life, he cannot be my disciple". This implies that unless self-seeking life is put to death, it does not matter what role one plays in the vineyard; such a person is not qualified to serve because he or she is yet to be a disciple. "Self manifests itself in various ways, including self-justification, self-advertisement, self-determination, etc. Self-denial will mean all that matters is God's opinion, putting off the secret desire to be noticed, praised, or congratulated, accepting criticisms with joy, etc.

 

Another term of disciple is SUPREME LOVE FOR GOD. A disciple who is qualify to serve God is one who loves the Lord with their spirit, soul, and body as instructed in Deuteronomy 6:5. The only way to test the disciple's love for the master is not by buying Him a love card but by obedience to His word. In John 14:15, the master declared that "if you love me, you will keep my commandments; in John 13:17 He said, "if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them". Loving the Lord demands costly, continuous and total obedience. Anything less than this is gross disobedience. 

 

For example, in Isaiah, the prophet of God had to walk naked (Isa. 20: 1 - 3), and in Exodus 32: 27, Moses told the Levites to put every man his sword and slay every man his brother. Obedience is one of the true test of discipleship.


LOVE FOR THE BRETHREN is another ancient landmark that cannot be compromised. In John 13: 34 & 35, Jesus said that "A new commandment I give to you that you love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another". To



serve the Lord requires that you be a disciple of Christ, which requires that you must love all the brethren irrespective of whether they dislike you, ignores you, or even betrays you.

 

Another requirement for service is RENOUNCING ALL. 

In Luke 14: 33, Jesus said that "so therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." Any heart attached to the earthly things is not ready to serve, yet neither is that person qualified to be called a disciple. 

 

Renouncement here does not necessarily means throwing away, and it simply means all that you are to be surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ in such a way that whenever He demands it, there will be no argument over the ownership. You must begin to see yourself as a caretaker of whatsoever you have. If a person renounce all, he no longer has anything. He must therefore receive all that he needs from the Lord.

 

CROSS BEARING/SUFFERING is also very critical. In Luke 14: 27, Jesus also declared that "whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple". Cross-bearing is synonymous with suffering. Jesus bore His cross and died on it. Apostle Paul substantiated this call to suffering when he wrote to Timothy that "… all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (II Tim. 3: 12) and to the Philippians believers, he stressed "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe on him but also suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which ye saw and now hear to be in me" (Phil. 1: 29 - 30).

 

There are other terms of discipleship that cannot be exhausted here. If every believer would genuinely becomes His disciple and everyone serves in the area of discipleship, the Great Commission will be speedily completed. This is the whole essence of discipleship. The reason why he gave topmost priority to processing) making) of disciples. "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people." (Mathew 4:19). This is a call that Jesus makes to Peter and Andrew and to each of us. 

 

Jesus' missionary template is a legacy left for the church to emulate. Jesus is the life of the church and missions. His strategy, method, and model worked and helped the church be planted and developed to this stage. For example, He integrated the Christian's twin evangelism and social involvement responsibilities. To help make Jesus" ministry more effective and productive, he preached, taught, and healed. His concern for the physical needs of people flowed from his love and compassion for them as people, image-bearers of God, who are burdened by sin and its consequences, hurting, hoping, seeking, and dying. His healing ministry was a bridge to his preaching ministry, as he blended concern for the temporal and eternal dimensions of human existence (Roger, 2000).

 

His compassion was holistic, concerned for sick bodies, empty stomachs, and perishing souls. Out of compassion for a leprous man, he reached out and healed (Matthew 1:41). He moved out with compassion for people without spiritual direction. He set aside plans for a restful retreat and taught a multitude (Mark 6:34). When people were hungry and had no food left, Jesus used his power to feed them (Mark 8:1-10). Both his words and his works were expressions of his compassion for people. Finally, in the prayer, Jesus taught us he kept humankind's two essential needs together-daily bread and the forgiveness of sins. Thus, there was a genuine concern for men's total needs, physical as well as spiritual. And this concern, while expressed especially within the church, was not confined to the church.

 

Paul encourages the church in Galatians, "so then, as we have the opportunity, let us do well to all men and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Galatians 6:10). Missions by word and deed make a powerful witness to Jesus Christ. It has opened up homes, towns, and nations to the gospel. It follows the example of Jesus himself, who "went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness" (Matthew 9:35). The scope for Jesus was the whole world, including towns and villages (Mark 16:15). 

 

WHERE JESUS SERVED MATTER

 

God has always been interested in where we are located. For Abraham, the condition was to move out of his kindred to a place he had never known. Elijah had to move to Cherith before Jordan and then to Zarephath. When Jesus was ready for ministry, he relocated to Capernaum from Nazareth (Matthew 4:12). God is concerned about the places with greater need. For Capernaum, the location was described as a place where the people were sitting in darkness and regions of death. If today's church considered deploying the harvest forces more to the dark places of the earth, the percentage of unreached people would have reduced drastically. According to Mission Guide(N.d), all Missionaries in the world today are :

·   All Missionaries in the World (Catholic, Protestant, etc.): 420,000 foreign missionaries 

· Missionaries in the Reached World: 324,600 foreign missionaries (77.3%) [estimates based on older percentage]

· Missionaries in the Unevangelized: 81,480 foreign missionaries (19.4%) [estimated]

· Missionaries in the Unreached: 13,860 foreign missionaries (3.3%) [estimated]

Yet the need for world evangelization is growing by the day. The most recent research update by Joshua Project (N.d.) indicated that:

 

v  Total Population: 7.93 Billion

 

v  Population in Unreached: 3.37 Billion

 

v  % Popl in Unreached: 42.5%

 

 Jesus taught the church to prioritize the very needy areas when engaging the world for a harvest in Luke 15. The woman who had ten coins lost just one but was not just satisfied with the nine coins she had left. She put in her best until she got what she wanted. The church must not ignore that pattern. Oswald J. Smith asked: "Why should anyone hear the Gospel twice before everyone has heard it once?" Refrain from following this laid down pattern results in duplication of efforts and slows the world evangelization effort. 

 References

 

Joshua Project. (N.d.). Global Summary. https://joshuaproject.net/

Mission Guide ( N.d), The Current State of theWorld. https://missionguide.global/articles/the-current-state-of-the-world#:~:text=The%20ratio%20of%20UPG%20workers,every%20one%20unreached%20people%20group.

O.J. Smith. (1959). The Cry of the World. Marshall.  Morgan & Scott, London  

Pace, R.D. (N.d.). According to Patternhttps://revelationcentral.com/according-to-the-pattern/

Roger, G. S. (2000). Cities: Missions' New Frontier. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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