May 12, 2018 - Suggested Reading Revelation 22 for the Mother’s Day message from Psalm 86 “save me, because I serve you just as my mother did”

“No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.”

Revelation 22:3 (NIV)

The Greek word behind the English word servants is doulos and it appears in the NT 124 times, and in 94 of those instances it refers to a servant and in 30 instances it refers to a slave.

Servant is a lowly word to us humans, we would prefer to be served rather than to serve, and yet tomorrow is a day we have set aside to honour the key servants among us.

One of the goals for us as we honour our mothers and wives on Mother’s Day is that we serve them – maybe breakfast in bed, or lunch at a restaurant, or a bbq at home with someone other than her doing the work. 

This has become a goal because the other 364 days of the year she serves those she loves, and we seek to honour her by serving her once a year.

I think we would all agree that mothers make the word servant look good.

Philippians 2:7 teaches that becoming human for Christ Jesus was “taking on the very nature of a servant”, which means that to be a human is to be a servant. The entire bible is clear on this truth, which is that we will either serve sin or serve God - there is no intermediate state.

The Greek word behind the English word serve is latreuo and it appears in the NT 21 times, and in each instance it refers to serving God, or worshipping God. We see it in the NT first in our Lord’s answer to Satan during His temptation when he answers; “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” Worship and service go hand in hand, they are a matched pair for those who are saved by grace. It is a truth that those who don’t worship God in this life now wouldn’t enjoy heaven for it is a place of continuous worship. It is also a truth that those who do not serve God in this life will not enjoy heaven for it is a place of continuous service.

Stated negatively –  those who do not bow their knee to Christ Jesus in worship and service in this life - will not enter heaven’s gates in the next life.

May we be those who come before our Lord today to worship and to serve Him.