Dear Sisters and Brothers,

I am Won KIM, voicing Pastor Caleb Soo Lee Chong. Shalom. Today, we’ll move on to a new topic, “Service View of a Disciple”.

There are people who lead a life as “lay disciples” – they “lay” low after accepting Christ. Others think of themselves as being a cut above the rest as they are walking around as “sacred personnel” now. Yet, there are some who attend church with the mindset of enjoying a show every week, as others are trying their level best to put up their best performance. Some view service as the responsibility of believers. Some are afraid to shoulder any responsibility whatsoever when it comes to service. Some carry out their service with great joy. Some cannot dam up their perennial grouses when it comes to co-ordination with other fellow-workers in the service of God. All of these can be traced to their service view.

Where do the notions of “sacred personnel” and “lay disciples” come from?

Let us start with the notion of so-called “sacred personnel” and “lay disciples”. Does the bible slot people into “sacred personnel” and “lay disciples” based on whether they serve and don’t respectively? We can approach this issue from three perspectives.

1. More often than not, the system or concept of Levites and Priests in the Old Testament has been recklessly transplanted into the church of the New Testament Age. Levites and Priests are groups of people selected by God to serve in the Holy Temple by performing sacred duties, and also to guide the congregants in related matters. The daily needs of these groups are totally looked after through supplies from other tribes. The modern pastoral staff of today replace the Levites of the olden times. Who are these common folks or other tribes, then?  They are your fellow congregants. By and by, these people gravitate into and make up the current “divide”.

2. During the Age of the Apostles, all believers took on the spiritual duty of priesthood; in other words, everyone is a priest. Such notions were commonly accepted and promoted in the church of the day. Every sinner can come to God directly to confess his sins and get pardoned by Him. There is no need for a priest, a Father or saviour to play the advocate. Generally, the believer, disciple, prophet and teacher and others who are specially gifted would be able to communicate with God directly. Thus, no advocate is required, other than the Lord Jesus Himself.

As Christianity began to spread across Continental Europe like wildfire, changes were also taking place on the ground. This was especially so after Emperor Constantine proclaimed Christianity as the state religion. The number of Christians shot up, increasing by leaps and bounds. At the same time, entry of heresies into the second century gave rise to the need to control the situation and preserve the quality of these teachings. The tasks of delivering homilies, teachings and performing the holy rites were delegated to the various local church elders, replacing the so-called gifted-personnel.

This was later to culminate in a system where bishops and popes led the church. The selection and appointment of these leaders came under statutory authority. Only popes held the authority to deliver sermons, conduct teachings and holy services, as everyone believed that only he was blessed and entrusted by God to lead the church. The situation was to evolve at a relatively slow pace until the power struggle between the church and state came out into the open. This took place after the fourth century when the papal system began to emerge within the church. A class with “sacred personnel” claiming to represent the church of the day began to interfere into the political affairs of the state as it rode on the back of religious influence. That was why and how the church went through the so-called Dark Ages as the Middle Ages stumbled towards its final legs in the history of Europe.

3. The Chinese church comprises believers most of whom hail from paganist or atheist backgrounds, with rites performed by monks in Buddhism, priests in Daoism while mediums and sorcerers handle the rituals for local believers in the case of traditional folklores. These, too, belong to their respective privileged social classes set apart from the common followers. Once they enter the church, it is only natural for them to frame the role of the preacher in a similar construct. Hence, the term “preacher” becomes “western monk” in the daily parlances of some folks.

From the above, we can understand how the segregation between “sacred personnel” and “lay disciples” came into being. Be that as it may, it is imperative for believers in the New Testament Age like ourselves to be absolutely clear that the Lord Jesus is the only Advocate between man and God. The difference amongst us is one of task assignment, never that of social standing. No one has ever promulgated that pastoral staff is of a higher order, followed by elders and stewards, with the lay believer at the lower rungs of an invisible ladder.

In the church, everyone is a priest and is on par with everyone else. We are able to face God and communicate with Him, advancing our prayers through the Grace of Jesus Christ, directly leading to the blessed pardon. There is thus no rhyme or reason for anyone to bring up talk of differences in status into church matters. We must be aware that different gifts have been conferred unto us from God so that we can serve Him in accordance with His intention. We are building up the body of Christ as we serve the LORD according to our assigned tasks.

Why are some believers not taking part in service?

Our question is this: Since everyone has been selected and called upon by God to serve Him, we should be thankful and serve Him as we receive His blessings. To our regret, we have discovered that many believers have either not been serving throughout their lives, or have cooled off and withdrawn after some time. Why is that so?

Firstly, some people say that they are too busy. Within a social / working environment where everyone is busy playing multiple roles at the same time, this is understandably so. Believers in this environment cannot help getting into the fast track to earn their keep. However, as Christians we need to hold on to the right values and contribute diligently to those tasks that are meaningful in nature. Otherwise, there will be no spiritual renewal for ourselves, not to mention serving God. Inasmuch as it is extremely worthy for me to serve and commit myself to God, it will be my greatest pleasure to serve Him with a willing heart, as my values have been aligned to match.  On the other hand, if we feel that the world is a more adorable, suitable and important place to work and to be in, then we would naturally put most of our effort and time on work, careers and other tasks to make more money.

Secondly, some believers mistake our faith for what it is worth. They take faith as a concept while others treat it as a place where we entrust our souls to. Some say that it suffices for us to believe Jesus; there is no need for us to wade into deeper waters. It may surprise you to learn that quite a number of such remarks come from church-going Christians! Such shallow comments come about because none of these people have gone through experiencing the Lord and His amazing and wonderful grace that saves at the personal level! As a result, serving God is something airy-fairy and too far-fetched for them to think about. Many of such believers come from families with traditional Christian backgrounds, but believe in God without follow up in consolidating faith in Him as their Saviour. Their attendances at Sunday service merely serve to warm the pew benches for an hour or so each week -- that’s it.

Thirdly, some people are short on bearing witness in life. Those who spread the Gospel and serve God must have a treasure trove of effective witnessing to share with others. It is better for him to stay away from spreading the gospel if he is not adequately equipped. It would be totally unfruitful for you to invite your neighbour to attend evangelistic meetings if you are not on good terms with him. If he finds out that you are a Christian, he would be totally disappointed with what you are believing in.

That is why I used to say that spreading the gospel and serving God are work for witnessing Christians. These are the privileges that God has gifted to them. There are those who do not bear witness as their moral lifestyles and family lives do not honour God in any way either. Maybe he thinks this way: “I am not fit to do this; so, I will try to stay away from taking part in serving the church as much as possible, so as not to dis-honour His Name.” It would be unlikely for such a person to serve, but stay on as a passive believer instead, while keeping himself at arm’s length from others. No one would then question what his moral life is like. It is such a mindset that holds him back from committing to serve in church.

Fourthly, she could be disappointed with the church for one reason or another! Some people might have gone through an unhappy experience in an attempt to offer her service in the past. Or perhaps, she might have been deeply hurt in the past when she could not get along well with a co-worker. From that day onwards, she vowed never to involve herself in similar undertakings in the future. The old scars left behind by criticisms, slanders, and other negative feedback are still smarting from pain. The upshot was her decision to have nothing to do with such work henceforth. She decided to disengage herself for good in bitter disappointment!

There could be other reasons though. We see Jesus Himself, too, going through frustrations even as He came to give up His own life to do the will of His Father. However, His great Love overrode these frustrations. Thus, He was willing to pay the heavy price, even as some people around him had misunderstood Him completely! Let us turn our eyes upon Jesus, rather than any human being. Everyone of us has our own weaknesses; thus, we cannot demand others to be perfect either. We are not perfect, so it would not make sense to expect others to act in the perfect manner Jesus treated others. Of course, we are unable to treat others the way Jesus did too. Indeed, that should be the target we are running towards. Dear brothers and sisters, the opportunity to serve God is His precious gift to us, and we must hold it close to our breasts, and not cast it aside at the drop of a hat.

Service and Worship

Next, we will be talking about “service and worship”. Both of these words trace their roots to a common word:  latreia. What inspiration can we draw from this? It is worth wrapping our heads around this topic, as the same word is used for service and worship in the New Testament. It is interesting to observe how different translations are used according to the context. These are Bible passages from the New Testament:

Romans chapter 12 verse 1

“12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” --- You can also translate the same verse to read, “It is only reasonable and a matter of course for you to worship in this manner.”

Matthew chapter 4 verse 10

“10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Notice that the phrase “Worship the Lord your God” flows into and is closely positioned to the words “serve him only”. It would not be erroneous to translate serve into “worship Him only”. In the original text, both verbs (worship and serve) are the same word ---“latreia”.

Luke chapter 2 verse 37

“..37 and herself a widow up to eighty-four years; who did not depart from the temple, serving night and day with fasting and prayers.”(this is from the New King James Version) This may be translated as “worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. ” as done in the New International Version -- which describes how Simeon served as well as prayed at the temple day and night.

Hebrews chapter 9 verse 6 

“When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. (this is from the New International Version).” This is translated as “performing their ritual duties” in the English Standard Version.

Hebrews chapter 9 verse 9

“Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, (this is from the New King James Version). Or “…. that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshipper.” (this is from the New International Version)

Dear brothers and sisters, since service and worship are one and the same word, what does this reveal? I will speak on this further next week. In short, we need to keep this in mind: when I serve God, I worship Him; and vice versa. I have blended the two actions into one, so that we can follow and serve Him well. Dear brothers and sisters, let us learn and look up to Him together.

Let us pray

Dear Heavenly Father,

We are truly blessed to be chosen in Christ to become your children. We also thank you for giving us different positions in the Lord Jesus, so we can perform different roles in the church. We want to respond to you, and to be accountable to you, O Lord, as you have conferred us with different gifts to do the job, so that our lives can be useful. In this way, we respond to you with a heart filled with blessings from you; we are willing to witness you, glorify you and serve you throughout our lives. May God help us to serve and worship you unceasingly, as we serve you in our worship, and worship you in our service. May you hear our prayers. In the name of the Lord Jesus, I pray, Amen!

Recommendations by Rev. Dr Caleb SOO Lee Chong

The three books “The Gospel for the Modern Man”, “Faith of the Modern Believer” and “Values for the Modern Disciple” by Rev. Dr Caleb SOO Lee Chong are worthy books to edify disciples. In order to minimize differences in the qualities amongst Christians, our churches need to set up basic courses to address these issues. In turn, this will enable all disciples to incorporate their faith into their lives and allow changes to take place through renewal of minds. May God make use of these basic courses to edify more disciples to strengthen His soldiers and claim victory on His battle-ground!

The three books “The Gospel for the Modern Man”, “Faith of the Modern Believer” and “Values for the Modern Disciple” are suitable course materials for anyone who wish to acquire understanding of the Christian faith in a more comprehensive manner. The contents are easy to grasp and relate to the real world that we are living in. They are written with an eye for the man-in-the-street and explore how to make our faith come alive in our daily social interactions.

In particular, these are suitable if you  

1. are someone who wants to understand the Christian faith or,

2. are someone who has just accepted the Christian faith or,

3. have been a Christian for many years but still hungering for a firmer grounding in the faith or,

4. are a pastor or co-worker who plans to use these materials for teaching purposes.

If you need to take up learning or use these materials in a systematic manner, please us contact at this email address.: [email protected]