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The most difficult thing within Christianity is the trials saints will bear; but God will not allow us to endure more than we are supposed to endure (1Co 10:13; Heb 12:4; 1Jo 5:3). Nevertheless, trusting God in all our “hardness” (2Ti 2:3) is the primary reason He takes us through every single difficulty, regardless the level of discomfort. Let's not forget that we are privileged and destined to "suffer with Him" (Rom 8:17), which means the most!
NC
To serve in itself implies that there is need of service, and if there be ability, the greater the need the greater will be the demand on the servant; and the one who can meet a great need will be a great suffer. If there be love, the very existence of the need imposes on him who is able to relieve it an extent of toil or suffering equal to the demand. Now as the ability to serve must exist before one can be a servant, so also the greater the ability, the more is the servant taxed if there be need of his services.
In our blessed Lord we see the perfect Servant. He says, “I am among you as He that serveth.” “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His Life a ransom for many.” He has the ability to meet every variety of need, and hence there was the greatest demand on Him, so that as we read in Mark 6:31, “They had no leisure so much as to eat.” But this was not all; in order to meet the whole need of man, He gave His Life a ransom for many.
The greater the need the greater the service required, and the greater the suffering in rendering the service; the need of man could only be met by One who could undergo the liability which has created the need. Christ served unto death, and instead of His service being accepted, for His love He has hatred. He had done among them works which none other had done (Jn 15:24), and at the end of it He had to say, “Now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father.” He was the greatest Servant and the greatest Sufferer.
All true service must be after this order. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought is not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation (though being equal with the Father in everything except authority, in which the Father is the “greatest” - Jhn 14:28—NC), and took upon Him the form of a servant . . . and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross” (Phl 2:5-8). All service now must bear the character of the Master’s service; we are to love one another as He has loved us; as He died for us we are to die for one another.
In 1Corinthians 12, charity, which is the more excellent way, shapes and forms the servant. It is not what it confers on others, but what it effects in self. The great object of service is to present everyone perfect, or complete in Christ (mature in Christ - Col 1:28; Eph 4:15—NC); and this is death (denial - Mar 8:34—NC) to the flesh (nullification, not annihilation of the old man - Ro 7:17, 20—NC). The servant’s ability is in proportion to self’s own advance and practical self-denial. Service in its nature now is death to oneself. “If any man serve Me, let him follow Me” (Jhn 12:26). True, there is a reward for the slightest act of service, even “a cup of water” (Mar 9:41); but service in principle is placing myself at the disposal of another, and not seeking my own profit, but to please Him who hath chosen me for His servant.
Hence the fuller and greater the service, the greater the self-surrender and self-sacrifice. It is not giving what one can spare without feeling it, for I will not offer the Lord “that which cost me nothing” (2Sa 24:24)! “Endure all things for the elect’s sakes” (2Ti 2:10). “For the work of Christ he was nigh unto death” (Phl 2:30). “This poor widow hath cast in more than they all”: “she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had” (Luk 21:3, 4). The service declares its virtue and aim by suffering which is endured in rendering it, for what can be done at one’s ease is generally done without much concern for the one to whom it is rendered, and thus the true quality is lost or overlooked.
—J B Stoney (1814-1897)
MJS daily devotional excerpt for May 1
“We first come to know something of the Lord Jesus’ love by what He did for us; but that is only the basis for coming to know His love in what He is to us. The first is known at the Cross, the latter is entered into through personal fellowship with the risen Lord. -MJS
“There are three steps in appreciation of His love for us. First, I learn that He loves me so much that He saved me. He is our treasure ‘My Beloved is mine’ (S.S. 6:3). The second step of affection is the consciousness that He loves me so much that He has a right to me. He would have me for Himself. ‘I am my Beloved’s’ (S.S. 6:3).
“The third step is the consciousness that He loves me so much that He wants my company, ‘His desire is toward me’ (S.S. 7:10). Love’s delight is found in the company of its object. May we know in a deeper way, and in a fuller measure, the sweetness of personal intimacy with ‘the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me’ (Gal. 2:20). – Charles Andrew Coates (1862-1945)
NC
The Suffering Servant
To serve in itself implies that there is need of service, and if there be ability, the greater the need the greater will be the demand on the servant; and the one who can meet a great need will be a great suffer. If there be love, the very existence of the need imposes on him who is able to relieve it an extent of toil or suffering equal to the demand. Now as the ability to serve must exist before one can be a servant, so also the greater the ability, the more is the servant taxed if there be need of his services.
In our blessed Lord we see the perfect Servant. He says, “I am among you as He that serveth.” “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His Life a ransom for many.” He has the ability to meet every variety of need, and hence there was the greatest demand on Him, so that as we read in Mark 6:31, “They had no leisure so much as to eat.” But this was not all; in order to meet the whole need of man, He gave His Life a ransom for many.
The greater the need the greater the service required, and the greater the suffering in rendering the service; the need of man could only be met by One who could undergo the liability which has created the need. Christ served unto death, and instead of His service being accepted, for His love He has hatred. He had done among them works which none other had done (Jn 15:24), and at the end of it He had to say, “Now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father.” He was the greatest Servant and the greatest Sufferer.
All true service must be after this order. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought is not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation (though being equal with the Father in everything except authority, in which the Father is the “greatest” - Jhn 14:28—NC), and took upon Him the form of a servant . . . and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross” (Phl 2:5-8). All service now must bear the character of the Master’s service; we are to love one another as He has loved us; as He died for us we are to die for one another.
In 1Corinthians 12, charity, which is the more excellent way, shapes and forms the servant. It is not what it confers on others, but what it effects in self. The great object of service is to present everyone perfect, or complete in Christ (mature in Christ - Col 1:28; Eph 4:15—NC); and this is death (denial - Mar 8:34—NC) to the flesh (nullification, not annihilation of the old man - Ro 7:17, 20—NC). The servant’s ability is in proportion to self’s own advance and practical self-denial. Service in its nature now is death to oneself. “If any man serve Me, let him follow Me” (Jhn 12:26). True, there is a reward for the slightest act of service, even “a cup of water” (Mar 9:41); but service in principle is placing myself at the disposal of another, and not seeking my own profit, but to please Him who hath chosen me for His servant.
Hence the fuller and greater the service, the greater the self-surrender and self-sacrifice. It is not giving what one can spare without feeling it, for I will not offer the Lord “that which cost me nothing” (2Sa 24:24)! “Endure all things for the elect’s sakes” (2Ti 2:10). “For the work of Christ he was nigh unto death” (Phl 2:30). “This poor widow hath cast in more than they all”: “she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had” (Luk 21:3, 4). The service declares its virtue and aim by suffering which is endured in rendering it, for what can be done at one’s ease is generally done without much concern for the one to whom it is rendered, and thus the true quality is lost or overlooked.
—J B Stoney (1814-1897)
MJS daily devotional excerpt for May 1
“We first come to know something of the Lord Jesus’ love by what He did for us; but that is only the basis for coming to know His love in what He is to us. The first is known at the Cross, the latter is entered into through personal fellowship with the risen Lord. -MJS
“There are three steps in appreciation of His love for us. First, I learn that He loves me so much that He saved me. He is our treasure ‘My Beloved is mine’ (S.S. 6:3). The second step of affection is the consciousness that He loves me so much that He has a right to me. He would have me for Himself. ‘I am my Beloved’s’ (S.S. 6:3).
“The third step is the consciousness that He loves me so much that He wants my company, ‘His desire is toward me’ (S.S. 7:10). Love’s delight is found in the company of its object. May we know in a deeper way, and in a fuller measure, the sweetness of personal intimacy with ‘the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me’ (Gal. 2:20). – Charles Andrew Coates (1862-1945)
