2015-20.4

Romans 7:6

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

"Jobsworth, jobsworth, it’s more than me job’s worth, I don't care, rain or snow, whatever you want the answer's no, I can keep you waiting for hours in the queue, and if you don't like it you know what you can do." – from song by folk singer Jeremy Taylor, late 1960s

Romans 7:6
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Serving out of love – it’s a call

HOW do we serve in the new way that's of the Spirit, and not the old way? And why are we told this?

One's hard work and the other is power-assisted. One we apply effort to, the other we allow. Like learning to swim, we start by flailing the water; proficiency comes as we overcome fear and allow the water to support us and do its work.

There's a number of things in life where we have to learn to just let it happen. Humanly, we easily fall into the trap of trying too hard. But serving doesn't just do itself. How does this work?

I was born in an era when the Second World War was a live memory and there was National Service for all young men (much older than me, I hasten to add). Even in my time, duty and discipline were given high value. There were many more people in the armed services – most families had someone serving – and so there was that sense of dutiful serving around.

It has to be said, there was also a lot more controlling behaviour, where people appointed to serve in an administrative capacity liked to call themselves 'officers' and thought it appropriate to exercise a kind of inflexible control that would be strongly criticised today. Jeremy Taylor’s song "Jobsworth, jobsworth, it's more than me job’s worth" became catchy and added a new word to the dictionary. But, thinking back to some of these crusty characters, they had served in uniform, and keeping tight control was to them a form of dutiful serving.

So, back to Paul's inspired words to the Roman church, where does the "new way" fit?

It goes beyond dutiful serving, although we need to learn that first – it isn't wrong. It goes with respect and consideration to neighbours and handing in lost property, reporting crime and driving within speed limits.

However, what the Scripture verse addresses is the sense of working at it, as something we consciously do. Remember that Paul was writing to Spirit-filled Christians (all the letters and Acts make this assumption) and so he was addressing people whose hearts had been changed and whose motivation was different. The prophet Jeremiah had foretold a time when God's law would not be learned but would be written on people's hearts in a more instinctive way (Jer. 31:33). Jesus’s parting words were about being empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).

Christians serve today in all sorts of ways, running or supporting Sunday gatherings and mid-week events with clubs and cafés. Some give up Friday and Saturday nights to be around town centres when the bars and clubs empty in the small hours; whatever your view of the binge drinking culture, this is a time when people (mainly young) are vulnerable.

In the winter, some give up television in the evening and sleep at night to look after homeless people escaping the cold in the night shelter. When I ask them about it, they don't talk about duty. They feel a call – they want to be there. It's not enjoyable as such but, for them, it's where they know they should be, and they wouldn't be anywhere else.

Pastors give up their career and move away from family and frfiends to serve for modest remuneration, and unless the spouse is a good earner, families suffer. There's a thousand pressures and conflicting expectations and to keep loving those who are difficult the same as those who are for you, is draining.

There are of course fun times and many good, rewarding, enduring relationships but for all of us church leaders, these are sprinkled with episodes of unearned hatred. No other occupation is so lacking in protection against an unsubstantiated accusation forcefully expressed. Slander without evidence has in an instance I know well led to long drawn out suspension and humiliating public trial and on acquittal the mud still sticks because it's been in the papers. At least three pastors known to me have experienced the 'ethics' of the corporate world invading the church and have suffered constructive dismissal.

But most pastors wouldn't do anything else. It's a call, a call with a cross to bear, and Jesus did say some things about this.

We love because God has done a work in our heart. The best kind of serving, in the new way of the Spirit, is empowered by that same love.