This Servant School talk contrasted a worldly view of work and service with what Scripture says. Clem Walters explained how answering the Lord’s call to a life of service leads to true joy and happiness.
Transcript
This document is a direct transcript of an audio recording, and may contain transcription errors and other minor edits for the sake of clarity.
CLEM: Well, if my numbering system is right, this should be Servant School talk number six, yes?
What I’d like to explore tonight is our attitudes of work and service. And this is based on the assumption that we’re already involved in work and service. And we’ve been serving now in the capacity of servants for several weeks.
And looking at the world’s view of work and service, it’s one nearly— the view is nearly one of forced labor. And that is, people working only for a paycheck. In other words, just doing a job, with no joy in the work. The attitude is like, “Well, if I have to work to earn money”—in other words, “If I’m forced to work by my employer” —“I can’t just accept the paycheck and make myself scarce or just do as little as possible.”
If the attitude is one that, “I’ve got to work, I might just as well get it done quickly, so to be able to begin the recreation, or the playtime, or the fun time, or the non-working time.” As a result of this, we have nearly a total disintegration of quality workmanship in this country and in other areas of the world, with the attitude of just getting it done quickly, and with no pride in the workmanship, or without really putting our hearts into our work. There’s just no pleasure or pride taken in the quality of our work or service with that attitude.
We’re taught in the world to separate work and service from play and pleasure. And in the world, the emphasis is certainly placed on play and pleasure or recreation.
Most people want to get the work, which they describe as a necessary evil, out of the way, so to begin the play, that is, the recreation. But while doing the necessary work, they’ve got their minds on the play. In other words, we’re daydreaming while we’re working. We’re considering this work as an evil—necessary evil. We have our minds on the recreation or playtime.
Thus, in that process, we find absolutely no joy in the work that we’re doing. And the reason we find no joy in the work that we’re doing is it’s—there’s a contrast between the work and what we’re thinking about, and that is the play and recreation. So in that process, we’re rushing through the work thinking about the play or recreation time, so much so that we’ve blown the recreation or playtime out of proportion, so that when we finally get to the play or to the recreation time, we’re disappointed, since it doesn’t measure up to what we thought it would be.
And as an example, there are a lot of people that plan a vacation and they save. Maybe they have a vacation club. Or you hear them say, “I can hardly wait until March, until I get to Florida, until we leave for Florida.” And when they get back from that vacation, they’re planning the next one. Well, the difficulty with it—it’s all right to plan vacations. But the difficulty with that is that as we plan that and as we have our minds on that constantly, it never really is what we expect it to be. We’re disappointed when we finally get to Florida. In fact, oftentimes it rains for 14 days, or it’s cold.
There’s just a lot of other examples of how it is that with this worldly view of work, that is, taking no pride in the work and not really working, but just wanting to rush through it to get to the play and pleasure—with that attitude, we’re very disappointed. Because the play and pleasure or recreation never quite measures up to what we’ve imagined it might be.
You must admit that what I’ve described is a sad, sick, frustrating approach to work and service, but I believe we’re all a part of it by our experience in the world.
Satan teaches us to desire riches, as we’ve discussed before, in this worldly kingdom, and to be play and pleasure orientated. And there are signs of that all around. We talked about advertising last week, but this play and pleasure is thrown at us, from the springtime pleasure of Salems, to getting away from it all with United1, as an example.Â
My own experience goes along with what I’ve described as the worldly experience. That is, I was hoarding play-and-pleasure time selfishly, thinking about it a great deal. What I found myself doing in earlier years was rushing through yard work. We have a large yard and a lot of grass, and that was before we had teenage children who could ride the lawn mower. And it was before the time that the children were old enough that Julie could give me help in that area.
But I vividly remember while I was doing this yard work, rushing through it, finding absolutely no pleasure at all in the work. I was just in a big hurry to get that work done, and what I was thinking about while I was doing that work, rushing through the yard work or doing the repair work around the house, was going fishing, as an example. I was—that’s what I had in my mind. Or playing golf, or the other 150 things that I really enjoyed doing when it comes to play and fun.
Well, the difficulty was that the golf game, or the fishing trip or all the other things that I had been wanting to do never quite measured up to what I thought it should be. I never did break a hundred, or when I got out and finally went fishing they weren’t biting, or when I finally got out there, I found that I didn’t have much time. By the time I finally found the fish, it was dark and time to come in or some ridiculous thing like that. But it was very real, and it was a very frustrating experience.
And I think that whole experience that I have described would have taken in a good number of years of my life. I think it was quite by accident, because it was before the baptism in the Spirit for me, that I discovered the joy and happiness resulting from just meager efforts of service, meager efforts of serving other people. But I praise the Lord for that.
I’d like to read from Romans 12. Paul is saying:
So then, my brothers, because of God’s many mercies to us, I make this appeal to you. Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. Do not conform outwardly to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God, what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.
What Paul was telling the Romans was, “Don’t conform to the world’s way.”
The Lord continues to show us that we’re called to a life of service. And it’s through that service that we find true joy and happiness. I’d like to read from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.
[loud humming noise]
Hope that squeak isn’t me. [laughter]
Pardon? [man in audience says something inaudible]
This is from First Corinthians 10:
Well, whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it all for God’s glory. Live in such a way as to cause no trouble either to Jews or Gentiles or to the Church of God. Just do as I do. I to [sic]—try to please everyone in all that I do, with no thought of my own good, but for the good of all, so that they might be saved. Imitate me then just as I imitate Christ.
So what he was saying to them is that, “I try to please everyone in all that I do, with no thought of my own good.”
I think that work for its own sake can and should be a joy. And I think it’s a matter of setting our minds to it and willing to do the very best job that we’re capable of in our particular service. It’s a matter of—it’s the old saying of—getting your head screwed on straight and making up your mind and willing to do the very best job in the particular service that you’re doing.
But in order to do that, we have to purge from our minds the worldly view of play and pleasure, which is the world’s ideal, to quite a different ideal. And that one is to accepting a work/service ideal in the Lord. In other words, serving the Lord through serving our brothers and sisters.
I’m also very convinced that God created men and women to do manual labor. And I know that’s against the American way, but—and with our mechanized age. But it’s pretty clear to me that the whole body, that means the physical body, feels better and we have a much better mental attitude after we’ve worked, after there’s been physical exercise and we’ve worked.
And what I’m saying is that it’s really good to work hard. In other words, it’s really good to put out, in other words, to remove the governor. Maybe I’d have to ask Don to explain the technical terms of what a governor is on an internal combustion engine. But at any rate, it’s a thing that allows the engine to only go so fast. It’s just limited. I think that we need to remove the governor as we work. We need to work hard, and we need to put out. That it’s good to work hard, and we feel better physically and mentally if we do that.
I’d like to read from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Paul says to them, and I—we’ve heard this before, but I think it’s good to repeat it:
Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling. And do it with a sincere heart, as though you were serving Christ. Do this not only when they are watching you to gain their approval, but with all your heart do what God wants as slaves of Christ. Do your work as slaves cheerfully then, as though you serve the Lord and not merely men. Remember that the Lord will reward every man, whether slave or free, for the good work that he does.
And looking at that, it doesn’t say, “the good works.” I’m sure we’re going to be rewarded for the good works. But it says, “for the good work”, that means work, like, you know, like sweat, work that we do.
[loud buzzing]
We’re also called to use our different gifts of service in accordance with the grace that God has given us. As the Lord gives our particular service and gives us the gift of service, we must use it. And he tells us from—in Romans again, Romans 12—how to go about that:
So we are to use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us. If our gift is to preach God’s message, we must do it according to the faith that we have. If it is to serve, we must serve. If it is to teach, we must teach. If it is to encourage others, we must do so. Whoever shares what he has with others must do it generously. Whoever has authority must work hard. Whoever shows kindness to others must do it cheerfully. Love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil. Hold on to what is good. Love one another warmly as brothers in Christ and be eager to show respect for one another. Work hard and do not be lazy. Serve the Lord with a heart full of devotion. Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles and pray all times. Share your belongings with your needy brothers and open your homes to strangers. Ask God to bless those who persecute you. Yes, ask him to bless, not to curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Show the same spirit towards all alike. Do not be proud, but accept humble duties. Do not think of yourselves as wise.
Again, in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he tells them to never tire of doing good. It’s from Galatians 6:
Do not deceive yourselves. No one makes a fool of God. A man will reap exactly what he plants. If he plants in the field of his natural desires, from it he will gather the harvest of death. If he plants in the field of the Spirit, from the Spirit he will gather the harvest of eternal life. So let us not become tired of doing good. For if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest. So then, as often as we have the chance, we should do good to everyone, but especially to those who belong to our family in the faith.
So Paul tells them and is telling us never to tire of doing good. But he says, never tire of doing good, especially to those who belong to our family of faith.
Again, Paul tells Titus, “You must keep your minds occupied in doing good works.” From Titus 3:
I want you to give special emphasis to these matters, so that those who believe in God may be concerned with giving their time to doing good works. These are good and useful for men. But avoid stupid arguments, long lists of names of ancestors, quarrels, and fights about the law. They are useless and worthless.
So he’s telling us to keep our minds occupied in doing good works.
Again, Paul addresses the Hebrews. From Hebrews 13:
Let us then always offer praise to God as our sacrifice through Jesus. That is, let us always give thanks to his name with our voices. Do not forget to do good and to help one another, for these are the sacrifice that pleases God.
So he’s telling us there, “Don’t forget to do good and help one another, for this is a sacrifice that pleases God.”
As we continue to respond to his call of service, that is, the call of service not only in Servant School, but the call of service all of our lives, we must make sure it’s based on love. And from First Corinthians 13, I’d like to read you that passage that we all know about love:
I may be able to speak the languages of men and even of angels, but if I have not love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching. I may have all the knowledge and understand all secrets. I may have all the faith needed to move mountains. But if I have not love, I am nothing. I may give away everything I have and even give up my body to be burned, but if I have not love, it does me no good.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or conceited or proud. Love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable. Love does not keep a record of wrongs. Love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up. Its faith, hope, and patience never fail. Love is eternal. There are inspired messages, but they are temporary. There are gifts of speaking, but they will cease. There is knowledge, but it will pass. For our gifts of knowledge and of inspired messages are only partial, but when what is perfect comes, then what is partial will disappear.
What I’d like to do now is just stop for a minute and thank the Lord, and then we’ll move on to discussion.
Endnotes:
- Clem references 1970’s advertisements for Salem cigarettes and United Airlines. Return to text
Copyright © 2022 People of Praise, Inc.