He's Calling--Pick Up--to Service

In 1973, I turned 18. Do you remember what you had to do once you turned 18? Well,guess what I got shortly after my 18th birthday--my very own Selective Service card. It made me eligible to be drafted for military service.

If I had been called, my options were few. Go, go away, or get a deferment--those were the options. Honestly, I don't know what I would have done. I was too much of a coward to desire military service, nor was I in the best of physical shape.

But this I know. If I had been drafted and sent away to boot camp, I would have been trained and equipped for service. Now isn't that what Jesus has done for us? When he calls us to salvation, there comes an accompanying call to service.

From 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, we will learn of

1. Paul's call to service. He was called to be an apostle, one who was sent, by Jesus. Just like the Twelve before him who were called by Jesus into his service (Mark 3:13-18) , so was Paul (Acts 9, 22, and 26). This was "the grace given me" (1 Corinthians 3:10); his giftedness--both natural and supernatural--prepared him for this work. Consider his zeal, his knowledge, his heritage, and his dual citizenship. Consider too his attitude toward his call to service--he saw it as a trust (1 Corinthians 4:2), that woe would be on him if he didn't fulfil it (9:16), motivated by love (2 Corinthians 5:14), and with the authority given him he was still gentle (1 Thessalonians 2:6-7).

2. The Corinthians' call to service. Like Paul, the Corinthians Christians had grace given them (1Corinthians 1:4; see also Romans 12:6) in a great measure (1 Corinthians 1:7, chapters 12 through 14). Unlike Paul, however, they saw their giftedness as a privilege and something of which to boast (pride in 4:7 and as kings in 4:8), Was Paul hinting at such problems in a passage like 1 Corinthians 12:25-26? Yet despite having all these gifts, note what they lacked--love (13:1-3).

3. Our call to service. We are called individually through the gospel to salvation, but then we are placed by Jesus into his body. In this corporateness, we nurture and are nurtured by others through the exercise of our God-given giftedness. The Head of the church has called us to live as a freed slave (Galatians 5:13-14) and to see ourselves as stewards of our gifts (1 Peter 4:10-11). If we are paradoxically adopted sons and willing slaves, where is boasting and self-serving?

Consider this as I wrap this up. We are called to service, NOT "serve us." Each one is to serve others--it's what the Master tells us to do, and if he IS Lord...? If he has called us to serve, surely he has gifted us to do so. Too, as it is with anything else we do, our attitude and motivation for doing so is important. In each of the four gift passages (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12-14, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4), love is emphasized. Such love motivates us to serve, and we serve in that love. Let the one with ears hear!