Are you serving God or is God serving you?

July 16, 2008

Jude 1: 3-4

“Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

He arrived recently on the front door step of the church and I went out and sat down with him. He was hairy from not shaving for days and there was a slight odor about him as if bathing had not occurred either. His name was Timothy and he told a tale of having an army career and of having killed 450 people through those duties. He claimed that he had lived a bad life even shooting his own father in the foot. He wanted to change, or so he said, and he wanted to “be saved.”

For Jude, salvation is about an ever renewed life—one in which morals are in place, an awareness of God’s Spirit at work in one’s life is occurring and the believer is given to fellowshipping with like minded folk. While Jude wants to expand on that thinking, he simply cannot because there are false teachers that are diverting his work. He has no choice but to call attention to this behavior. Because their Christian perspective is being redirected, Jude wants them to understand that such redirection is a threat to their salvation. It is thought that the false teachers crept into the churches in clandestine fashion to purposely mislead Christians and cause them to deny Christ. These people were like spiritual terrorists in Jude’s view and the Christians must wake up to what is going on around them and see the truth for what it is! These words are their wake up call to protect their salvation and to recommit themselves to living lives that reflect God as their Lord!

I found myself listening to Timothy and thinking that his presence before me was not about being saved. What he really wanted was money. He balked at that when I told him that’s what I thought and so I realized that it was just best to play his game. I talked to him about Jude’s understanding of salvation. Salvation is not something you do for a moment to get something you want. It is a lifestyle choice and a relationship choice. I talked to him about God’s love and gave a smile and handshake. I think Timothy will continue to use God to get what he wants but I pray for him that one day he will let God use him as his servant.

Maybe that is the best question for us. In this world where our senses are bombarded with Godless images, how is that we are relating to God? How is that we are relating to our world? How is that we are relating to each other? And, ultimately, are we using God’s name and status to attain what we want in life or are we allowing ourselves to be used by God and then reaping the glorious and inevitable benefits? Let’s hope when we are honest we are at least striving for the latter. May that be our goal and may we reap joy from it! Amen.