Individuals – Pieces Of A Puzzle
Serving – December 2024 – Grace & Truth Magazine
Individuals – Pieces Of A Puzzle
“For God is not unrighteous to forget your work, and the love which ye have shown to His name, having ministered to the saints, and still ministering.” —Hebrews 6:10 JND
Anyone who thinks that service for the Lord must always be work done in public, visible to everyone, is mistaken. The truth is just the opposite. Most services for the Lord are rendered behind the scenes, or are services to which hardly anyone pays attention.
Whoever searches the Bible for more of the services or helpful deeds that believers have done will be surprised to find out how many of these services God has recorded in His Word. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just talk about the work of great servants of the Lord like the apostles Peter, Paul and John in the Bible. Many other activities of faithful Christians are mentioned, some, however, only in passing. Anyone who looks at these more closely will notice how valuable and indispensable such pieces of the puzzle were to the entire work of the Lord Jesus. Without these, Paul’s public activity, for example, would hardly have been possible.
Let’s take a little trip through the New Testament and look at some of these “smaller” services.
• Acts 6:1-6 – Seven brothers served tables for the care of the widows. That this task was not unimportant is demonstrated by the fact that Stephen, a man full of the Holy Spirit, who was also gifted as a preacher as Acts 7 demonstrates, was entrusted with this work. The service of these seven brothers, in the final analysis, also prevented a division in the still young assembly.
• Acts 9:10-19 – Ananias appears here as a messenger. We only read of him in this passage. But how far-reaching and important his service was for the apostle Paul’s ministry, so rich in blessing afterwards! In spite of his initial misgivings, Ananias faithfully carried out his commission. Certainly his greeting, “Brother Saul” was an encouragement to Paul as well.
• Acts 9:36-42 – Tabitha was a great practical helper among the believers, especially for the needy widows. She was “full of good works” (v.36) and applied her capabilities in handicrafts to service for the Lord. The Lord Jesus valued her ministry so much that He let her be raised from the dead.
• Acts 16:15 – Lydia exercised real Christian hospitality. This was the first fruit of her conversion.
• Acts 18:28 – Aquila and Priscilla, husband and wife, served by teaching believers individually. This couple took Apollos home to themselves and unfolded to him the way of God more exactly. He was still lacking knowledge about the resurrection of Lord Jesus and His glorification at God’s right hand. In all likelihood they also passed on to him the apostle Paul’s teaching about the glorified Christ’s association with the Assembly, the Church.
• Acts 28:15 – Brethren from Rome came to meet Paul, encouraging him as he faced an uncertain time of imprisonment in Rome. How valuable this simple service was, as Paul’s reaction shows us: “whom when Paul saw, he thanked God and took courage.”
• Romans 16:1-2 – Phoebe was a helper of many, also of the apostle Paul. She was a servant of the assembly in Cenchrea (v.1). What gave her this title? We do not know, but it is a magnificent testimony! Can this be said of you and me too, that we are servants of the assembly?
• Romans 16:3-4 – Priscilla and Aquila staked their own neck for Paul’s life. What this consisted of, we are not told. Evidently they had risked their lives. Naturally, in the strictest sense, this was not a service for the Lord, but thereby they showed that they clearly were concerned that Paul might continue to be able to carry out his tasks. All the assemblies of the nations had heard of this and were thankful to them. It must have been quite a danger into which they had ventured out of love for their brother Paul.
• Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19 – Aquila and Priscilla’s home was open to the believers. They had also provided accommodation for the assembly. The meetings were held in their home. Besides, they were also hospitable, as we have already seen in their welcoming of Apollos.
• Romans 16:6,12 – Maria, Tryphena, Tryphosa and Persis labored in the Lord. Precisely what this consisted of and what their labor was, God’s Word does not say, but the service of these sisters is recorded forever in Scripture. Of Persis it is even said that she labored much in the Lord.
• Romans 16:22 – Tertius was Paul’s secretary. He wrote only what Paul dictated to him, but this was an important service demanding great care, for he was writing words inspired by God! Besides, his ministry can even be seen today, because we can still hold the letters in our hands.
• Romans 16:23 – Gaius, the host of the whole assembly, had the meetings of the believers in his home. This service will surely have been a blessing to the home, to the entire family. The Lord Jesus Himself came into this house, for where two of three are gathered unto His name He is in the midst (Mt. 18:20).
• 1 Corinthians 16:15 – Stephanas and his household had devoted themselves to the service of the saints. This doesn’t just mean that they were ready to serve but that they had actually committed themselves to be serving the believers. Here, too, it does not say what this service consisted of, whether it was a ministry of oversight, or perhaps also of helping in many practical ways.
• Ephesians 6:21-22; Colossians 4:7-8 – Tychicus delivered vital information in the service of the Lord. He was a faithful informant for Paul. Reliable information is very valuable and indispensable in the Lord’s work. Tychicus must have had spiritual understanding in order to properly assess the situations about which he reported. Paul could trust his judgment. He might be considered a second echelon man, a person not on the front lines – but how vital was his ministry!
• Philippians 2:25 – Epaphroditus was a minister to Paul’s need. He had brought a gift from the Philippians to Paul (Phil. 4:18), and in so doing had supplied Paul’s need.
• Colossians 4:8,10-11 – Tychicus was not only a good informant but a comforter as well. Aristarchus, Mark and Justus had been a consolation to Paul. Giving comfort is also a vital ministry in the Lord’s work.
• Colossians 4:12 – Epaphras exercised his ministry especially on his knees. He was a prayer warrior, always wrestling in prayer for the Colossians. Prayer is definitely one of the most important ministries in the service of the Lord, and it is precisely this work that is done entirely in private (consider Mt. 6:6). Without prayer nothing goes well, and each of us has this ministry. How often we are exhorted to pray!
• Colossians 4:15 – In Nymphas we again find one who provided accommodation for the assembly in his house. Evidently at this time believers very often met in the homes of generous hosts.
• 2 Timothy 1:16-18 – Onesiphorus applied all diligence to seek for Paul in the big city of Rome. When he then found him, he often visited and refreshed him in his prison.
• Titus 3:13 – Titus was to set forward Zenas and Apollos on their way. To provide for the material needs of brothers and sisters who serve the Lord is no small thing. Without this help their work would not be possible. Gaius in 3 John 6 likewise was to send brothers who were strangers on their journey in a manner worthy of God.
• Philemon 7 – Philemon was characterized by love for the saints, and through this had been an encouragement to others.
• Philemon 22 – Paul asked Philemon to prepare a lodging for him. We can be sure that Philemon was very glad to carry out this request. Furthermore, Philemon had received the assembly in his house (v.2), which shows us his hospitality.
• James 1:27 – James teaches us what pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction. This too is a service that is done more in private and surely is often difficult. Are we ready to do this?
With this we want to end our little trip through the New Testament. Perhaps we are marveling about how many helpful services of second echelon people the Holy Spirit relates. God has not left them unmentioned. We see that not only the servants who employ their whole time in the service of the Lord are important. Most of the believers mentioned had very ordinary occupations, which they carried on as usual alongside their service for the Lord. They were a city treasurer (Rom. 16:23), a lawyer (Ti. 3:13), a tentmaker (Acts 18:3), or a farmer (as Philemon may have been).
Ready For Little Things?
The question is whether we are ready to carry out smaller things, things no one notices. Paul exhorts the Romans, “Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble” (Rom. 12:16 NKJV).
Service for the Lord Jesus is quite varied. The biggest part of the work probably takes place in secret. Whether it is a mother who is there 24/7 for her children and who leads them to the Lord Jesus, or the plumber, the carpenter, the bank teller or the office worker, the field representative or the manager of an enterprise who serve Him individually. Besides their earthly occupations these believers thus have their place in the work of the Lord and are to be performing their service for the Lord Jesus faithfully. For “whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men” (Col. 3:23).
It is not the greatness of our service that is important, but it is the faithfulness with which we accomplish our tasks for the Lord Jesus. Each of us can and should serve the Lord Jesus, and no service, small as it may be in our eyes, is ever forgotten by Him.
By Henning Brockhaus, translated from the German publication “Folge Mir Nach” and then published in the May 2020 Prayer Calendar, edited at that time by Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.
I knew a young man who as a lad had professed the name of the Lord Jesus, but as he grew up he threw his whole energies into pleasure and sport, and at 29 lay dying. He seemed impervious to anything that was said to him, but one night he had a dream. He was in a room in which were exhibited some beautiful specimens of the wood carvers art, many of his own being among them. Suddenly, as he examined these works of art, the building burst into flames, and he with great difficulty just managed to escape from the building as it collapsed in ruins. He was saved by the skin of his teeth, so to speak. He knew the Scriptures, and two of them flashed into his agitated mind when he awoke. “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” and “the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (1 Cor. 3:15; 2 Pet. 3:10 KJV). It was God’s voice to his soul; he saw that he had lived for himself and the world, and his life was a lost life. But, thank God, he made good use of the little while that was left him, and in witnessing to the saving power and pardoning grace of the Lord he built gold, silver and precious stones. — J. T. Mawson, “The Judgement Seat Of Christ” (adapted)