Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am Won KIM, voicing Pastor Caleb Soo Lee Chong. Shalom. Today, we’ll carry on from where we left off last week on “Service View of a Disciple”.

During that session, I shared with you that the words “service” and “worship” have been used to translate the one and same word – latreia -- in the Bible. What is the message here?

To worship is to serve

Firstly, we must be very certain about this: worship is a type of action (or effort), a type of service.  To serve without worship is to downgrade such service into some sort of religious activity. Someone might say, “Look here. I am serving in addition to my worship as I have plenty of time on my hands. If I don’t, how am I going to kill time?” Such an attitude does not lead one to consider service as being extremely sacred and a dedication and reverence to God. Instead, such service is viewed as some type of religious activity – or even as a means to chalking up one’s merits, as the pagan worshippers do in their temples. Its true value and depth suffer gradual compromise in time as a result.

When the person serving God views worship as a kind of service, she will worship and get near to God in a serious manner. She will intuitively involve herself in both personal worship (spiritual cultivation) and corporate worship (worship lifestyle) with the right frame of mind. Such a lifestyle will inject vibrancy into her service. We see, therefore, to worship is to serve. One will pay attention on cultivating her own spirit and also on worshipping at both the personal and the community levels, because everything here is about service and worship!

To serve is to worship

On the other hand, service is a type of worship. Such notions remind these servants to serve with humility, caution and dedication as they go about their work. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 7 (NIV) in the Bible says it all: “we are to serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people.” This is because he is aware that his service is towards God; it is a service and worship towards Him. Hence, he would never cut corners in anything he does but will, instead, focus on God and not human beings. Some people say: “I will not serve someone whose response is bad; but will show greater enthusiasm to those who show friendliness towards me.” That is not the way to go! Instead, I will act according to my call of duty to serve God, as this service is my offering and worship towards God.

The long and short of it is that serving and worship come as a single entity and cannot be separated from each other. To serve without respectful worship is as good as just putting on a show; on the other hand, to worship without any service is to downgrade into some kind of personalized religious exercise. May God help us to say “This is an act of worship towards God” on every occasion when we serve; and also to say, “This is serving God” on every occasion of worship. That would be extremely beautiful!

Categories of Service

Pastor Philip Teng (1922－2013) delineated service into three categories:

One: “Creature service” – this means serving God in our position as His creation or as His creature. The one serving the Lord posits himself as the created one and offers his worship and praises to His Sovereign accordingly. As documented in the Bible in the book of Acts chapter 13 verses 1-3,

“1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers-- Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” This is “creature prayer”. The disciples are clear about their own identities as the creation -- who have been called and are worshipping towards the Creator. From this perspective, both fasting and prayers are “creature services.”

Two: Services Living or Life Service. According to the book of Acts chapter 1 verse 8: “8, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” We are witnesses to God through our entire person, lives, character and all that we do– a type of “life witnessing”, as you will. Such witnessing is the indispensable worship in our daily living; we must become His witnesses in our lives.

Three: the service of work.  We tap into the blessings from the Holy Spirit to work for God. Every one of us puts in all our minds and all our might to finish the work entrusted by God at our respective work stations. As pointed out in the book of Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11-12, “11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” I put to use the gifts from God to serve Him well. That is the service of work.

Which one do we find to be most wanting out of these three services? Do we find ourselves short in creature service, failing to pray in quiet time, looking up to God, getting close to God or worshipping Him? Or could it be that we are far from serving Him as we have shortchanged God by our lifestyles? Or, we are passionate in serving the church, but back home our family is in a quagmire. We show great enthusiasm in church matters with our generous tithes, but our family life is all topsy-turvy. Life service, too, is most crucial. Or are you claiming to lack in work service and say, “I am not well-equipped, fail to bear witness to God, and lack the competence to do a good job?”

Dear brothers and sisters, indeed, all of these three services: creature, work and life are important, and equally so. How is someone with no peace going to express the life conferred upon him by God? If he prays and reads the bible daily for someone else, but finds himself at odds against this person thereafter, do you think his life and work services would bring honour to God? Even if he has clocked in so-called creature service, that would still be inadequate.

Therefore, true creature service should be the foundation, while life witnessing should become our life.  Thus, service witness would show up naturally through our work and church services. That would be beautiful indeed! There could be some differences in terms of sequence, but all in all, we have to serve God well. We need to have the Godly tools and gifts in order to serve Him with efficacy.

The bible states clearly that God will gift us differently in order for us to serve Him efficaciously.

The bible also states clearly that God will gift us differently according to His Plan, in order for us to serve Him well.

In other words, we need to have the Godly gifts in order to serve Him with efficacy. These gifts are tools for us to work with; God will not call upon you to serve Him without supplying you with the right tools. That would be unthinkable!

Bible verses relating to gifts may be found in the books of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 8-10, 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 28-30, Romans chapter 12 verses 6-8 and Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11. We can sort out various gifts from God according to these four verses as follows:

The first category is known as “Ministry in Word”, and are blessings given to spread the word of God. These include

1. People who preach the Gospel (disciples, evangelists)
2. People who are moved by the Holy Spirit to speak (prophets, people who can tell the various spirits apart, speak in tongues, and translate from these tongues)
3. People who teach and guide others (those who are able to provide guidance, offer words of wisdom, erudite dialogue, counsel and comfort others)

These are blessings given to spread the Word of God, many amongst which are supernatural abilities.

The second category relates to “Ministry in Deeds”. These include:

1. Extraordinary abilities (including performing miracles, healing and faith matters)
2. Management and leadership qualities (such as managing, executing and pastoring)
3. Ability to provide physical help (helping, serving, giving, minding, comforting)

Dear brothers and sisters: gifts are needed to spread the Word and also to serve God. Both tasks call for blessings from God, so that we can serve Him in an efficacious way.

Other than these gifts mentioned in the Bible, what other gifts must we have to satisfy the needs found in our society and churches of the day for the gospel ministry to be promoted more effectively? Plenty! I would say. For instance:

1. Musical gifts in composing, conducting, performing, singing and so on. Some people can sing very well; they hold the attention and touch the heartstrings of their audience as soon the lyrics flow from their tongues. On the other hand, there are those who are not too good at this. The listeners will be “out of sight” not long after listening to singers who go “out of tune.”

1. Artwork creation, such as posters, magazines, illustrations, advertising panels, publicity materials etc. We need people with these special gifts to spread the message to those who have yet to trust in the Lord. Artistic skills would come in handy to attract their attention.

1. Skills in financial matters. Management of wealth, investment, fundraising etc. All of these are very important too. We would not be able to execute many plans if we are short of funds. What is more, qualified and experienced people are needed to ensure that management and investments are carried out in the proper manner. Therefore, it is essential for the church to get the support and advice from these professionals, instead of just stashing all the wealth away. We should make use of these monies to invest and increase the value of these assets to broaden our scope of service.

1. We are now into the post-modern era of information technology, when advanced gadgets and equipment must be harnessed to reach our goal via intelligent and relevant vehicles. Skills in audio and video recording, editing, and electronic applications are part of the tools available to us. It is very, very important for the church to have a handle on the broadcasting of information and media contents at this age when IT takes top command, operation wise. The choice and control of media and its transmission engenders life-changing impacts on everyone.  Just look at the people around us, especially our younger set, many of whom have become negative teaching materials to highlight the harm or even destruction from fake news and vicious propaganda. It is also timely for our churches to shoulder greater responsibilities in spreading the Word. The sacred and pure teachings of our God must reach these post-modernist youngsters. Help must be given to them to access the Good News; getting to know our Lord through the New Media is of great primacy in this environment that is under siege by the Big Boys, many of whom are trading morals for money without as much as batting an eyelid.

1. Harnessing language skills as in writing, translation, editing and publications. We must put out more good books so that the world would have greater access to wholesome reading materials.

1. Increase exposure to theological teachings.  Organize forums, talks, classes etc. to deepen and widen exposure to biblical materials, and training of teachers to carry out these tasks. We need theologically trained personnel to do this work. Our theological colleges need them too.

Why are people still not serving God effectively when God has endowed the church with so many different gifts for it to grow at a steady pace?

In a word, you will find that the church needs various gifts to carry out its evangelist missions and shepherding work going forward. God has given the church so many different gifts. Why are people still not serving God effectively when God has endowed the church with so many different gifts for it to grow at a steady pace? These are questions waiting for answers. Amongst them: 

1. We did not make good use of these God-gifted provisions. Many people bury the treasures entrusted to them in the ground, as the servant did in Matthew chapter 25 verse 25. Our church leaders would do well to deploy or unearth such talents within their midst. This is something we need to do, so let no one short-change God on this score. We need people who are more talented than ourselves to serve God together.
2. There is a lack of coordination amongst these co-workers. It is our human weakness to hold oneself above others, rather than work with a humble mindset like that of Jesus. Failure results from the communication breakdown amongst the workers as they fail to accommodate each other along the way. Only when each worker contributes his best to the common pool after coming to a clear understanding of the roles of other team members can the body of Christ be built with success.
3. Wasting resources. Today there are quite a number of situations where there is duplication of efforts in gospel organizations and theological colleges, resulting in unnecessary wasting of resources and manpower. Things would have turned out better and resources optimized if they were to work together with an eye on higher efficiency so our evangelical efforts will be structured to become leaner but synergized.

May God help us as we need blessings, vitality and full commitment to engage ourselves to serve the Kingdom better. May God use us to achieve this end.

Let’s pray

Dear Heavenly Father,

We express our deep gratitude to you, as you have called us to become your children, and to work in your vineyard to serve you better. On top of this, you have conferred upon us different gifts in order that we can put our hearts, minds and compassion to maximize results from these blessings from you. Please help us so that we can receive your praise, saying “Well done, my good and faithful servant” on the day when we see the Lord face to face. Such is our prayer, O Lord. May you help your own church, so that many of those gifted would be revealed to serve you, while those gifted ones who are already within our midst with a willing heart of their own will commit themselves to join the team working in your vineyard. Hear our cries, O Lord, even as we praise you. In the name of our Lord, we 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]