November 16 - Miriam

Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is Acts 17:16-18:3; 1 Thessalonians 1-5:11.

Two verses jumped out at me as though they were suddenly in bold letters as I read.  Acts 17:24-25 -  “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else." 

I found a message on these verses by John Piper - Why God Cannot Be Served But Loves To Serve

He had this to say:

If you feel strong and self-sufficient and morally in sync with God and able to serve God and make independent contributions to God and his work, then this is bad news when Paul says, "God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything." In other words, if this message is true about God, then self-sufficient people who think they can negotiate with God are deluding themselves.


But on the other hand, this is the best news in all the world - that God is not served by human hands has though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things." If you are weak and helpless and sinful and know that any good you do, you need God's help to do, then this comes as the best news in the world. That God is the kind of God who cannot be served, but loves to serve. His message to the world - the Christian gospel - is not a "help-wanted" sign, but a "help available" sign. He is not served as though he needed anything, but he gives to all people life and breath and everything. To those who feel morally self-sufficient this is bad news. It threatens to take away our basis for boasting. But to those who feel morally desperate and hopeless before a holy and infinitely righteous God, this is good news. Maybe a God who doesn't need me would be willing to be for me what I need.

Let me just look at one other verse of Scripture with you to confirm that we are at the very core of the Christian gospel. The verse I am thinking about comes straight from Jesus himself and is found in the Gospel according to Mark (10:45). It goes like this: "Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Here we have Jesus telling us why he came into the world. This is the
central Christian claim: Christ, the Son of God became a Son of Man and lived among us. Why? Did he come to recruit workers and servants for God? Did he come like a employer's company scout goes to a job fair at a college to find bright, young, able workers to help him keep his company afloat and prosperous?


No. That is not why he came. The words of Jesus are crystal clear: "The Son of Man did not come to be served . . ." He did not come in need of us. God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything - neither is his Son, the Son of Man. It's the same point. God is not served and Jesus is not served, as though they needed anything. Jesus came not because he needed us, but because we needed him.

So we are in no position to serve him, or impress him in any way with our abilities or our moral prowess. We are rebels at the root, and God is not our loved and honored and trusted and treasured king. We are captive to sin and destined for righteous judgment. That is why our greatest need is not for health, or wealth, or marriage repair, or job, or obedient kids. Our greatest need is someone to die in our place and ransom us from the penalty and power of sin, so that we escape God's judgment and enter eternal life.

The truth of the matter is, as we must know by now, that there is absolutely no way to earn salvation.  We cannot be good enough or "follow the rules" well enough.  We cannot just have the good outweigh the bad and the scales will tip in our favour. 

Having said that, GOD may not need anything that we feeble humans are capable of providing, but our spouses, our children, our parents, our extended families, our church families - they all benefit from our service, and we have been commanded to serve others as part of living with the Holy Spirit in us.  In 1 Thessalonians 4:7-12 of today's passage it says:

For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.  Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.  And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

You (and I) have been commanded to love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.  To love is to serve.  How do we show love to those around us?  It's not appropriate to go around hugging random people and saying "I love you."  Hugs and hearing the words are nice, from people in your family or circle of friends, but the way we show love to others in our church family, work environment, neighbourhood, at the grocery store, etc. is by serving.  It doesn't have to be something big... when you see the lady with her three kids in the store and one of them drops a mitten, pick it up and give it to her.  Offer to hold the baby for five minutes after church so the mother can help her older kids get their coats on.  Invite someone over for supper when his or her spouse is out of town for a few days - no one likes cooking for just themselves.  I even find it harder to cook for myself and the kids if my husband isn't going to be home for dinner. 

"Mind your own business" - well, that could be directed right at me sometimes - we all like to know what's going on in everybody else's life.  It all seems much more interesting than our own.  Especially nowadays, when you have not only the usual neighbourhood or small-town gossip or the gossip mags at the checkout, but entire blogs and websites devoted to every celebrity or celebrity-wanna-be out there.

"Work with your hands...so that you will not be dependent on anybody."  I generally find it difficult to accept help sometimes because I don't feel I should need it.  I'm young (relatively), strong, and in good health.  I had three children on purpose and it's up to me and my husband to raise and support them, etc.  (I'm not saying that's the right attitude, but it's how I feel more often than not.)  But there are people out there who take God's provision for them to the extreme.  Dr. Phil once, a few years ago, had a couple on his show who firmly believed that it was their responsibility NOT to work, because to do so was to not trust God to provide for them.  So they were living with one of their parents, basically sponging off people around them and saying "Look!  God is providing!"  Evidently they neglected to read 1 Thessalonians.


Tomorrow's passage:  1 Thessalonians 5:12-28; 2 Thessalonians 1-3:18; Acts 18:4-23.