c. What does God provide when we serve others, and why?
Answer: When we serve others, God provides us the strength to do so. God provides this strength to serve, and we, in turn, serve others with this strength so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ, (verse 11).
MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
The wording in this verse says, "IF anyone serves..." The word "if" here does not mean, "Well, IF you decide to serve--should you make the decision to serve--God will provide the strength for you to do so. So now you decide what you want to do, serve, or not, speak, or not." NO! The phrases used in verse 11, "IF anyone speaks," "IF anyone serves," are ASSUMED TO BE FACT!! It is God's requirement that you SERVE, and in the course of obeying that requirement, God provides us the strength to meet this requirement.
No child of God who does not serve (and who does not speak, doing it as one speaking the very Words of God) can be pleasing to Him! We may have been called by God to be free, but that freedom in Christ requires that we serve one another in love. To do otherwise leads to a destruction of each other:
Galatians 5:13-15: "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.' If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."
The Lord rewards His children for whatever good they do, whether that child is the slave of a man, or free from earthly slavery. Whatever our situation in life, we are free in Christ, but that means we are slaves of Christ. This is a paradox--to be free of the chains of Satan and his world of sin and darkness, only to willingly become slaves of Christ so that we might serve, out our love and gratitude, to bring glory and honor to Those Who freed us from the slavery that brings death.
Perhaps our earthly minds can understand when we compare this to a Chinese saying that goes something like "When you save a man's life, that man is bound to you for the rest of his life to serve you in any way possible--That man's life is yours." After all, the man whose life was saved would be unable to serve anyone were he dead!
And we are like that. Through, in and with Christ, we are free from the fear of physical death that was conquered when God resurrected Him, AND we are free from the second, eternal death that was conquered FOR US when our resurrected Lord opened the Way of reconciliation to our Father. We, who before were twice dead, are now eternally alive.
To serve Those Who accomplished that which we were unable to accomplish ourselves, is the epitome of love in Love! When the debt was paid that we could not pay, when love was offered and received by us, God's enemies, then love and service can be the only result.
We love because He first love us, we give because He gave all, we serve because He was a servant to all of us, we persevere because He persevered to accomplish the Father's Will, we conform to Him because He conformed Himself to the Will of His Father, we are righteous because He is righteous, we are holy because He is holy, we wear His clothing, we have His mind, we follow in His footsteps, we approach the Father through Him, we have salvation in Him, and on and on and on. We do these things because we are now IN HIM, and we can be no other way.
We serve everyone wholeheartedly, doing the Will of God from our hearts, because we are serving the LORD, and not men, in everything that we do:
Ephesians 6:5-8: "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the Will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free."
The following are only a few verses concerning the strength and power we receive from God, because we ARE IN that strength and power, we have ACCESS to that strength and power at all times, and we DEPEND upon and USE that strength and power because we have NO strength and power on our own:
Deuteronomy 8:17-18: "You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.' But remember the Lord your God, for it is He Who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which He swore to your forefathers, as it is today."
2 Samuel 22:33 and Psalm 18:32: "It is God Who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect."
Psalm 59:16-17: "But I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. O my Strength, I sing praise to You; You, O God, are my fortress, my loving God."
Psalm 73:26: "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
Isaiah 58:11: "The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."
Ephesians 3:16-21: "I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him Who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
Ephesians 6:10: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power."
1 Thessalonians 3:12-13: "May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones."
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17: "May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, Who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word."
2 Thessalonians 3:3-5: "But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance."
