Fervently Serve the Lord
“Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.”
Romans 12:11
There is a paradox in the Christian life. On the one hand, we are to rest in the Lord but that does not mean inactivity. On the other hand, we are to fervently serve the Lord but that does not mean works righteousness. Both seem like a contradiction; how can you rest in the Lord when you are being active and how can you fervently serve the Lord without it turning into works righteousness? It is easy for our rest to become inactivity or worse, just plain laziness. We are called to be fervent which is the opposite of lazy. In our activity it is easy to slip into different forms of works righteousness. Perhaps we want people to think well of us or to have the appearance of being spiritual. We may want others to know that we are busy, so we make sure to drop a few hints just in case they miss it. It is subtle, but we can also begin to believe that our acceptance or worth before God is based on our effort. We think that God is going to punish us the moment we mess up or that he is more likely to bless us because of something we have done.
The remedy, of course, is the gospel. The Gospel tells us that God loves us because he loves us. He chose us before the foundation of the world, and he worked in our lives to draw us to himself. It was solely based on his kindness and good pleasure, not because we were so good or so smart or so much better than other people. In fact, he often chooses the things that are foolish in the eyes of the world to confound those who think they are wise (1 Cor 1:27-29). Jesus did 100% of the work for your salvation and right standing before God. You added nothing to his work and nothing you do can diminish his work because it is perfect and fully applied to all those who are his. The reason you became acceptable to God was because of Jesus. The reason you are acceptable today is because of Jesus. The gospel is what enables us to rest in Christ. The pressure is off. We can rest in Christ because all the work for us to be right with God and acceptable before God has been completely accomplished already.
But this is what also motivates us to fervently serve the Lord. When we realize how much we are loved, when that seeps to the depths of our hearts it motivates us to respond in kind. John the Apostle said, “We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).” Paul added, “For Christ’s love compels us (2 Co 5:14 NIV 2011).” It isn’t our love for him, but it is his love for us that motivates us. God’s love has been poured out into our hearts (Rom 5:5). He has lavished his love on us in Christ (1 John 3:1)! We don’t serve the Lord to earn his love. We serve the Lord because we are already fully loved. The gospel is what motivates us to fervently serve the Lord. We can rest in the Lord and fervently serve the Lord because of the daily reality of the gospel in our lives.
