Service with the Heart of God

What is the most loved Christian hymn of all time? A beautiful heart declaration by an old slaver and sea captain.

 

Amazing Grace

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I am found
Was blind, but now I see

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Through many dangers, toils and snares
We have already come
‘Twas grace has brought us safe thus far
And grace will lead us home

When we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright, shining as the sun
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I am found
Was blind, but now I see

John Newton’s Deliverance, and Mine

Amazing Grace was written by John Newton. Perhaps you know about his life. He was an Englishman and became a slaver, the captain of a slave ship. He became a slave himself, a slave of a slave in the Guinea Coast of Africa. Many times, he came very near death, but God saved him through many dangerous trials and snares, as He has us. Here is what John Newton said:

“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.”

What were his final words, whispered to a friend?

“Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”

Here is an incident from pp. 87-89 of “Amazing Grace” by John Pollock ©1981, Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. This part of the book is about when he was saved from shipwreck and death, and he really turned to God fully on the ship.

“…He was struggling to pray, not simply for rescue from their terrible predicament but for faith and understanding. ‘How faint and wavering were my first returns to Thee.’ He had been heartened especially by the story of the Prodigal Son which seemed to parallel his own; he clung, as an illustration of God’s attitude to returning sinners, to the father’s goodness and running to meet such a son.

“Newton could expect neither sympathy nor guidance from man. All on board would have laughed and sworn, assuming his questions some new trick in blasphemy, although they must have noticed that he swore no longer himself. [Note: Newton had been quite a blasphemer and very anti-Christ and anti-God for years. So, his turning to God might not have seemed genuine to them.] They shared the hunger, cold, weariness and fears of sinking or starving, but the bitterness of heart was peculiarly Newton’s own because no one else saw the hand of God in their past deliverance [Note: so far on the ship] or hoped for him in their present danger. Yet as he stood at the wheel on the fourteenth day he knew that for him, hope had become stronger than the despair to which all the others had abandoned themselves. Prayer came more easily. He had dared to believe that God had a particular purpose in saving his soul and therefor would save the body too, and his companions. God had saved the Apostle Paul to display him before the world as a trophy of his grace; perhaps God planned to do the same with John Newton.

“It was then that he noticed a slight shift in the compass. As he watched, the strong wind came round to the very point they needed to suit the battered part of the ship which must be kept out of the water. The wind dropped. And when, hoping against hope, they set more canvas on the masts, it blew just gently enough for the remaining sails to bear…At last, on the twenty-seventh day since their disaster, the deck heard once again the shout, ‘Land Ahoy!’ This time it was land indeed, the island of Tory off Donegal. Next day they rounded Dunree Head and limped up Lough Swilly on 8 April 1748. Their very last victuals were boiling in the pot as they anchored beneath Buncrana castle.

“Two hours later the wind got up and blew violently. If the Greyhound [Note: Newton’s ship] had been out at sea in her shattered, feeble state, they must surely have gone to the bottom.

“Thankfully they began to disembark. Then a shout brought some of them running down to the hold. The mate had made a horrifying discovery: the five still untapped freshwater butts [Note: the barrels of water], which had relieved the crew’s misery by encouraging all to drink plentifully when so short of food, and that food salted fish, were in fact empty. Their backs had been stove in by the storm.

“Had the crew realized all along how little fresh water remained, they would have rationed it, and the necessarily short ration would have increased the distress. Unknowingly they had drunk their last drop as they anchored in harbour.

“To John Newton the entire episode, from the first storm to the change of wind which brought them to port in the nick of time, looked nothing less than an act of God: ‘Thou didst preserve me from sinking and starving.’ He determined to make a solemn dedication of himself to his Deliverer.”

I have a story of amazing grace. Back in 1975, I was ready to commit suicide and I went out in the woods to “talk to God.”  I said, “If you’re there, I need some answers or I don’t want to go on.” That was my simple prayer. I probably used some less polite words in the process, but I opened my heart to God. And the next day, a man, an ambassador for Christ, came to work where I worked and led me to Christ. He helped me grow in the fellowship of believers and in the power of the Holy Spirit. I was lost, but now I am found. I was blind, but now I try to see better each day.

Today I was inspired to write this short poem. Perhaps it will be a hymn someday.

Saved to Serve

I didn’t deserve the freedom and grace,
When tears wept like rivers and streamed down my face,
My life seemed all darkness, lost in despair
Seeking salvation, and not knowing where.

Then I cried in my heartache, one last gasp for help,
Not knowing already, the Lord gave himself.
And so hours later, a man brought me light,
Spiritual wholeness, a place of delight.

Now what can I give, in response to such love?
How can I live, to please Father above?
I’ll serve best I can (though weak, sinful, frail),
By the grace of my Christ, who will make me prevail.

A Heart of Service

The Apostle Paul realized where his true life resided. In Christ. That gave him a heart of service.

Galatians 2:20,21:
My old identity has been co-crucified with Messiah and no longer lives; for the nails of his cross crucified me with him. And now the ESSENCE OF THIS NEW LIFE is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives his life through me—we live in union as one! MY NEW LIFE IS EMPOWERED BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, and dispenses his life into mine!
So that is why I don’t view God’s grace as something minor or peripheral. For if keeping the law could release God’s righteousness to us, the Anointed One would have died for nothing.

How much of our commitment is enough for our heavenly Father? He wants ALL of our heart.

Deuteronomy 10:12:
And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear [show respect and awe to] the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with ALL THY HEART and with all thy soul.

Is true service based on physical sacrifices and religious observances? Not in the least. In fact, God says true service is the very opposite of religion.

Micah 6:6-8:
Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body [like pagan sacrifice] for the sin of my soul?
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD REQUIRE OF THEE, but to DO JUSTLY, and to LOVE MERCY, and to WALK HUMBLY with thy God?

God’s required service involves three simple attitudes. First, we do our best to walk justly, righteously on the Word of God we know. Next, we love mercy, for we will make mistakes and need forgiveness and healing. Finally, we walk humbly with God. That allows us to have HIS STRENGTH which is unlimited, and not our own meager supply. In Christ, we have the righteousness of God, the merciful forgiveness of our sins, and the ability to walk humbly as he did.

We see a great prophesy about the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, in Psalm 40.

Psalms 40:5-10:
Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
SACRIFICE AND OFFERING THOU DIDST NOT DESIRE; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Then said I, [was written about the Messiah] Lo, I come: in the volume of the book [in the scroll of scriptures] it is written of me,
I DELIGHT TO DO THY WILL, O my God: yea, thy law is WITHIN MY HEART.
I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have DECLARED THY FAITHFULNESS AND THY SALVATION: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

Jesus, like no other man, declared his Father’s faithfulness and salvation. Every moment of his life, Jesus Christ did the Father’s will. He delighted to do the Father’s will because he had hidden the Word in his heart. Thus, the entire scroll tells of him. He is the great subject of all the scriptures.

The psalmist spoke to “the great congregation.” The word “congregation” comes from the Latin con [together] and gregō [to guard or shepherd a flock].  Today we are in the body of Christ. We are a great congregation, gathered together by the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ.  We can learn more about ministering healing, getting out into the community with other Christians and other non-Christians and bringing God’s deliverance. Isaiah spoke of this heart of service and what the Messiah would do. It was not a “fast” FROM things, but a fast to minister TO others.

Isaiah 58:6-8,10,11:
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to LOOSE the bands of wickedness, to UNDO the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed GO FREE, and that ye break every yoke?
Is it not to DEAL THY BREAD to the hungry, and that thou BRING the poor that are cast out TO THY HOUSE? when thou seest the naked, that thou COVER him; and that thou HIDE NOT THYSELF from thine own flesh?
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.
And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

Jesus opened his ministry in Nazareth with a similar call to service. Much of this “fast” is giving physical comfort and care to those in need. But it is much greater. We break the bonds and yokes on those enslaved to spiritual, mental, and physical darkness. We feed the simple and loving Word of God to the hungry. We bring the poor to a “home” of believers where they are loved. We cover the spiritually naked with Christ in them. We don’t hide ourselves from those closest to us: our family or other Christians.

The Devil offered Jesus worldly power and acclaim if he would worship and serve the adversary. Jesus knew that the ONLY ONE we worship and SERVE is our heavenly Father.

Matthew 4:9,10:
And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and HIM ONLY SHALT THOU SERVE.

Obey Your Father

Service with a heart for God is simply to obey our Father. Children learn to “listen, remember, and obey.” We can do the same. Jesus showed us how to do God’s will and not our own.

John 5:19,30:
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The SON CAN DO NOTHING OF HIMSELF, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
I CAN OF MINE OWN SELF DO NOTHING: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but THE WILL OF THE FATHER which hath sent me.

The greatest man who ever lived, the only-begotten Son of God, could do NOTHING without his Father’s help. What about us? Jesus taught his apostles this truth.

Acts 4:19:
But Peter and John replied, “You can judge for yourselves—is it better to LISTEN to you or TO GOD?

Bondslaves for Christ

Romans 7:6
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should SERVE [as a bondslave] in NEWNESS OF SPIRIT, and not in the oldness of the letter.

There are many words for serving and service in the Greek New Testament, but we will now focus on the Greek word douleuō, which means to serve as a bondslave. We did serve like a bondslave dead works, but now we are delivered from the law. Praise the Lord it’s not a bunch of rules and regulations. Now we should serve as a bondslave in newness of spirit. We don’t listen to men, but to God, Who lives in us. Today we are “new wine skins.” We have the spirit that can expand and bubble and grow and ferment spiritually as we allow it. Walking by the spirit is the key to true service to the Master.

Romans 12:11:
Not slothful in business; fervent [white-hot] in spirit; serving [as a bondslave] the Lord.

We are to be “white hot” spiritually, spiritually glowing like heated metal, when serving as a bondslave to our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 8:6 makes clear that we have only ONE GOD Who is our Father and that out of [Greek work ek] Him are all good things. And we also have only ONE LORD today, the risen Savior Jesus Christ, who is at the Father’s right hand, and we are through, by means of [Greek work dia] Christ. All of the good things of God are through His Son, and we serve as bondslaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. A little later in that same letter that Paul wrote to the Romans, he had to discuss a proper heart of service when it comes to food and daily living.

Romans 14:17-19:
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
For he that in these things SERVETH [as a bondslave] Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

Serving Christ is acceptable to God. Let’s be acceptable to the Father and serve His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we will also be approved by men, specially by believers and those who love God. So, let’s follow after, pursue, the things which make for peace with one another and things wherewith we can build up others. We don’t need to argue and fight with other Christians about man-made doctrines. We can walk with the love of God and break every yoke. Yes, we can. We’ve been called to liberty in Christ

Galatians 5:13,14:
For, brethren, ye have been called unto LIBERTY; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love SERVE [as a bondslave] one another.
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

You have been called to liberty and freedom. The Greek word eleutheria used here is such a great word—it even sounds free. We’re called unto freedom and liberty, but NOT liberty for an occasion to the flesh, to get what WE want. I think of our great country in our 250^th anniversary this year. So many served and died to give us national freedom. We have in so many ways great liberty in our country to move around, and be with people, and speak the truth in love. America is still pretty much a Christian nation, but we don’t do it for our ego or to build our ministries in the world. We love and then serve as a bondslave, for all the law’s commands are summed up in one phrase. We love our neighbor as we want to be loved. But to love our neighbor, we must first love God our Father and have liberty in Christ. Then we can love our neighbors as ourselves.

This heart of service for God can be taught and learned.

Philippians 2:21,22:
For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
But ye know the proof of him [Timothy], that, as a son with the father, he hath served [as a bondslave] with me in the gospel.

This is what Paul wrote about a young man with whom he served. People often look out for their own selves and not the things of Jesus Christ. That’s naturally how most people live. But Paul saw the proof of Timothy, that as a son with a father, he had that endeared relationship: that great father-and-son life they had spiritually. Timothy served as a slave with Paul in the gospel, and that’s what we want to do. We want to raise up young people and people who are older. We want to minister and serve together in the gospel.

Make Serving a Habit

I want to show you one more thing about John Newton. After he had been delivered from shipwreck and turned to Christ, he married and became a pastor. He had always wanted to be a minister since youth, and now he was finally able to be one. Let’s see the habit of service that Newton developed. This is again from Amazing Grace, pages 154 and 155.

“In addition to Sunday services he had already started a less formal weeknight ‘lecture’ in the old church with its tower topped by a spire. Each Thursday he borrowed a room in Lord Dartmouth’s disused Great House, an old manor fallen into a neglected and rather filthy state, for a children’s meeting, an innovation which anticipated Robert Raikes’ famous Sunday school movement by fifteen years. Eighty-nine children came the first time, almost more than the room could contain, and his aim was to ‘talk, preach, and reason with them, and explain the Scriptures to them in their own little way.’ He taught them plenty of hymns; he shrewdly instituted a system of rewards for knowledge and good behaviour; but it was his manner and affection, and not least his sea stories which drew them.

“Newton quickly won his parishioners’ love. Unlike many of the rural clergy of the day he visited them frequently in their sickness and their health and regarded himself as their servant. Here was no coldly distant scholar or idle sprig of the gentry but a jolly sea captain turned parson; deeply serious in teaching and aims, something of the quarter-deck about him, but larding his sermons with anecdotes and nautical allusions, and his conversation with quaint sayings and touches of fun. He seldom wore clerical dress on weekdays, preferring to visit in his old sea jacket, whereas, neighboring clergy wore clerical dress when riding to hounds or shooting with their squires.

“The people flocked to hear him. ‘Neither uncertain weather or dirty roads,’ he wrote to Alex Clunie that first winter, ‘make any considerable diminution in our assemblies, and their attention and seriousness give me hope that they do not all come in vain.’ Within a year he had to add a gallery to the church.

“He was not a polished preacher. He preached extempore, and did not always prepare as he should. Articulation was poor and gestures ungraceful, yet he held his hearers by the strength and passion of his convictions and the love which shone through his words. He used to say that the point in all his preaching was ‘to break a hard heart and to heal a broken heart.’ He did not preach long, aware that an overlong sermon competes in the listener’s mind with the pudding overboiling at home, but the sermon formed the centre of the service, always expounding the scripture.”

John Newton was not haughty or pretentious. He loved people where they were at and made service a daily habit. He always taught the Bible and tried to live it the best that he could. Paul encouraged Titus [like Timothy, another young leader that he trained] to make service a habit.

Titus 3:2-8:
To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.
For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving [as a bondslave] divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the WASHING of regeneration [the new birth], and RENEWING of the Holy Spirit;
Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou AFFIRM CONSTANTLY, that they which have believed in God might be CAREFUL TO MAINTAIN GOOD WORKS. These things are good and profitable unto men.

We used to be bondslaves to our foolish lusts and desires. We hated others, but God’s love shone through to us in His Son. Now we are to be careful to make it our habit and our thought to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable.

Paul had a meeting at Miletus with leaders from Ephesus when he was heading to Jerusalem. He knew this would be his last time with them, and here’s something he told them in Acts 20. He was talking about himself serving as a bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ with all humility of mind. He knew he wasn’t to trust in “himself.” He asked the Lord to take away a thorn in the flesh three times, and the revelation was that in Christ, he could handle it. That’s why he just kept going right into the spiritual storm. He could have had an easy life, but he knew what he was called to do. What can we do? We can give our all in service with a heart for God, our Father. All who serve Christ will endure persecution from the adversary, from the Devil, again and again. But we are sufficient for these things.

Acts 20:19-21:
Serving [as a bondslave] the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews:
And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance TOWARD GOD , and faith TOWARD OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Paul served by teaching, both in public settings and in more intimate home fellowships. He witnessed to two things: 1) repentance toward God, and 2) faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. When we truly repent and change our thinking in humility toward God, we must then also turn in faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. That brings the victory.

Peter was another apostle of Jesus Christ who understood where his strength to serve came from.

1 Peter 4:10,11:
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

We have the MANIFOLD GRACE of God. That means there are so many good ways in any given day that the grace of God can be shown in your life. As a good steward, take account of your life and use wisely that manifold grace of God in Christ. If any man or woman speaks, let them speak as the “oracle” [spokesperson] of God. Just as the prophet of all prophets, Jesus Christ, and those ministers like Peter, Paul, and John Newton, we can speak as the oracles of God.

When we are ministering, we don’t do it of our own ability. We do it as of the ability which God gives. Why? That God in all things, and not ourselves, may be glorified through [dia] Jesus Christ. Then the praise and dominion will go to God through Christ forever and ever. Amen.