WHAT ARE YOU SERVING GOD?

By Brother Godwin

Beloved,

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1)

A lot of us think that we serve God only when work in the church: I mean church as a place of worship. While that is service to God, it is perhaps a very small part of our service to God. Except for Pastors and those that run churches, the time we spend in church is very small compared to the total time available to us in a week or a month. A better mentality is to take service as working on the church. This is because the church is a living being, consisting of Jesus as the head with every believer as a member. So if you are a believer, everything you do in every minute of the day is working on the church of God. This is true whether you are conscious of it or not.
Romans 12:1 said that your reasonable service is to present your body unto God. First it says you should sacrifice your body. This implies giving yourself over; you do not have an opinion or choice as it were. Secondly, note that this is your reasonable service. This is the level of service acceptable to God. So the question is, the things you do with your body are they acceptable? Imagine for a moment that you are a waiter in a restaurant, and God is the customer, what you are presenting to him is it acceptable? In other words, what are you serving God?
Let’s take this from another angle. Colossians 3:17, 23-24 says “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.  And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ”. First note that service is defined as whatever you do in word or deed. This means whatever you say, think or do in activity, is service. Secondly, note that ye serve the Lord Christ. So all your words, thoughts and actions whether good or ugly are services unto God. If that is true, could you for a moment think about what you have been serving God?
Am I just talking or do we have examples in the scriptures? See this But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36). Did you notice “every idle word”? Words are to be spoken with good purpose and intension to have positive impact. This means someone is taking note. Now what about the day of judgment? It does not refer to judgment seat of Christ. It refers to the here and now. It refers to what we experience  today.  1 Peter 3:10 says  “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile”. This means that what you will experience here has a lot to do with the words of your mouth.  Friend, your words are services to God, and Colossians 3:24 says of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of inheritance. So what are the rewards? The life and the good days as stated by the scriptures. Would you want to read verse 11 of that scripture?
We had a couple that did something, without the consciousness that they serve the Lord Jesus Christ. They wer called Ananias and Saphira. We know the story but let’s see what the Holy Spirit said to them through Peter:  why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land (Acts 5:3)?  Remember, whatever you do in words and deed? They lied and kept back part of the price of the land.
You are serving God, whether you know it or not. We sit in churches and judge everything from the songs to the message. We sit in our houses and destroy people with the words of our mouth. We have killed so many people in our thought. Here this, Ananias and Saphirah may have kept back part of the price of the land. True, but are we keeping back part or all of our tithe? For instance, we remove our insurance money, our mortgage and other commitments, whatever remains, we offer the 10% of it as tithe. That is offering part of the tithe. I told myself a long time ago, “if I do not come late when I have an appointment with man, why should I come late to church which is an appointment with the King of Kings”?  I don’t want to offer part of my time to God.
The purpose of this write-up is not to make anyone feel guilty. It is to point out that God’s word remains the same forever. Whatever we do in word or deed is service to God. Take time to do everything well and in that consciousness because of the Lord we shall receive the reward of our inheritance.
God will crown 2011 with his goodness for you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen
Godwin