Enabled to Serve

MEMORY SELECTION: “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” —John 15:16

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Nehemiah 2:11-18; John 15:1-5

THE very exclusive and selective nature of the call to God’s service is recounted in the very familiar text: “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me.”—John 6: 44,45

Jesus, when asked by his disciples, “Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” (Matt. 13:10) answered and said unto them, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” And then he continues in the 16th and 17th verses: “But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”

It is obvious that in order for anyone to serve the Heavenly Father acceptably in anything or in any way, the service must be in harmony with his will, and this requires a knowledge that is not revealed to everyone. To “hear” the Word of truth means more than simply to be able to detect the audible sound. To “hear” in this instance means to discern with conviction. And so the apostle, in Ephesians 1:12-14, speaking to the brethren in Ephesus, said: “We should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.” And then he continued in verse 18 of this beautiful prayer, asking the Heavenly Father that, through the Holy Spirit of promise the eyes of their understanding being enlightened, they might know what is the hope of his calling; and, knowing this, they would be able to serve God acceptably.

In Ephesians 2:10 the apostle continues the same line of thought, stating, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

One of the complaints Paul mentions against the nation of Israel was that “they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”—Rom. 10:2,3

Jesus, when speaking to the woman at the well, said, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24) Therefore, to enable those whom he has called to serve him, God has sealed them with the Holy Spirit of promise. The effect of the sealing is to enable the prospective servant to hear and understand spiritual things and thereby be enabled to serve God acceptably.

The Apostle Paul, in I Corinthians 2:4-14, further confirms this necessity of spiritual discernment as a means to service and acceptability. “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. … We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. … But God hath revealed … unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. … Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God…. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

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