ACCEPTABLE SERVICE – Charles Spurgeon

ACCEPTABLE SERVICE

“Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28, 29.

As a congregation, you have of late been diligently engaged in the service of God by endeavoring to provide a home for fatherless children. I have been astonished and delighted at the liberality shown by all sorts of persons in this good and gracious work. I felt sometimes like the king of old, who said, “Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort?” I am sure you have well earned all the commendation that your fellow Christians can give to you, for the work has been so well and so heartily done that we all rejoice together. But, now that it is all over, careful thoughts arise in my mind. It is but a small thing that you and I should be accepted of one another. The great matter is that we should be accepted of the Lord. I, who am but as the doorkeeper of my Master’s house, not only approve, but abundantly commend my fellow servants, but what of that? The great point is that the King Himself should say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We do but see the fair externals of things, but the great Father of spirits searches the hearts and tries the reins of the children of men, and judges after a higher standard. Therefore, with holy anxiety have I looked at this text and turned it over, hoping that the Holy Spirit may cause each one who has engaged in our benevolent work to examine himself, and to judge his part in this labor of love, that he may amend any fault which may hinder his work from being a sacrifice of sweet savor unto the Most High. What if we should bring our sacrifice and the Lord should have no respect to it! That would be a repetition of the sad story of Cain, of whom it is written, “Unto Cain and to his offering the Lord had not respect.” Then, indeed, would our countenances be fallen, but I trust it would be with repentance rather than rebellion. If unaccepted of the Lord, we would weep bitterly, and ask Him that the sin-offering which lies at the door might be available for us. The chief thing is that our labor should be acceptable unto God, and upon that subject I shall speak this morning, as the Spirit of God shall enable me.

THE NECESSARY CONDITIONS OF ACCEPTABLE SERVICE

Many things are absolutely necessary for the acceptance of any service rendered unto God. Some of these are not stated in the text, but they are so important that I commence with mentioning them. The first is that the person who attempts to serve God should himself be accepted. The offerer must himself be accepted in the Beloved, or his offering will be tainted by his condition and inevitably unacceptable. The uncleanness of the person pollutes his sacrifice. He that has an impenitent heart, an unrenewed will, a disobedient mind, an unholy life, may perform outward acts of devotion, but the Lord says, to such—“Who has required this at your hand, to tread My courts? Bring no more vain oblations unto Me.” The heart itself must be given to God, for the offering which comes from a heartless worshipper is a mere pretense of homage to the Most High. See well to that, my dear hearers. God says, “My son, give Me your heart.” Give whatever you please afterwards, but the heart must lead the way—that is essential. Let a traitor in actual rebellion bring tribute to a king, it will be but a mockery. He must first submit himself unto his prince, and then he may come with his token of loyalty.

The next essential is that, the act being performed by a person accepted, it should be distinctly done as unto God. Our text speaks of serving God. Alas, much is done which is in itself externally commendable, but it is not acceptable to God, because it is not rendered unto Him, and with a view to His glory. Some, like the Pharisees of old, give alms out of ostentation; they sound a trumpet before them that they may have praise of men. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward, and a poor reward it is. Some are energetic in holy work out of emulation, that they may surpass others, and may have credit for superior ability and goodness. Like Jehu, they cry, “Come see my zeal for the Lord of Hosts!” Now, inasmuch as in this they seek their own honor, and not the glory of God, they cannot be accepted of Him. Better far, the two mites dropped into the treasury unobserved of all but the great Master Himself, than all the wealth that we could possibly bring if we made the offering with divided intent. If we would serve God, we must forget self. There must be the distinct desire to obey and honor the Lord, and we must not act as men-pleasers, or as laboring for our own exaltation, otherwise, the Lord will abhor our offering.

We must take care that all this is done with faith in Christ Jesus, for it is a law of universal observation in the kingdom of heaven that “without faith, it is impossible to please God.” “Though I give my body to be burned and have not charity,” says Paul, “it profits me nothing,” and the same may be said concerning faith. He who does not believe in God, and yet pretends to be religious, is manifestly either a deceiver or deceived. As the unbeliever is condemned already, his service can only be that of a condemned man, and how can it give pleasure to the Lord? We must bring our offering to Jesus, our great High Priest, and He must present it for us, for it can only be acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

SERVING GOD UNDER A SENSE OF OUR IMMEASURABLE OBLIGATION

These things being mentioned, I now confine myself to the text itself, which has in it a world of solemn, heart-searching thought with regard to the acceptable service of God. First, according to the apostle, if we are to serve God acceptably, it must be under a sense of our immeasurable obligation to Him. Look, “Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” See, brethren, whatever service we may render to God, we must begin by being receivers. Our first dealing with the Most High must not be our bringing anything to Him, but our accepting of everything from Him. We receive, that is our first stage, and I believe it is our last, for if we are ever able to serve the Lord by our gifts, we shall have to confess, “Of Your own have we given to You.” When we are privileged to cast our crowns before Emanuel’s throne, they will be crowns which He Himself bestowed upon us of His own sovereign grace. Every hymn that comes up from saints made perfect is but an echo of almighty love. They love Him because He first loved them. They are first receivers, and then, like pipes that are well-filled from the fountainhead, they pour out their contents. First we receive grace, and then we return service, holy service is a gift from beginning to end. We must, then, in approaching God, remember what we have received from Him, and is it not wonderful that it should be written, “We receiving a kingdom”? What a gift to receive! This is a divine gift, we have received not a pauper’s pension, but a kingdom—“a kingdom which cannot be moved.”

The old dispensation or kingdom has passed away, its ceremonial laws are done away with and its very spirit is superseded by a higher spirit, and we have entered upon another kingdom, in which the ruling principle is not law, but love. We are not under the yoke of Moses, but we are the subjects of King Jesus, whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light. The kingdom of Jesus will never end while time shall last, for He is the King Eternal, and immortal; neither will His laws be changed, nor shall His subjects die. Till that day when He shall deliver up the kingdom unto God, even the Father, and God shall be all in all, Jesus must reign. And even when the earthly mediatorial reign is consummated, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven shall be continued unto us, and we shall still be members and citizens of it. We have received an eternal kingdom, and for this we ought to be eternally grateful.

The shadows have vanished, but the substance abides, we have risen out of the types of Judaism into His kingdom by which grace and truth have come unto us. This gospel state abides, above the wreck of all things it remains, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Ours is the kingdom of Jesus Christ, in which the gospel is the law, believers are the privileged subjects, and grace and glory are the revenue—a kingdom daily growing in brightness, a kingdom which shall consummate its glory in the eternal world when Christ shall have put all enemies under His feet, and His people shall reign with Him forever and ever.

“But,” you say, “we have not received this kingdom yet.” I answer that we have received it in a certain sense. We have received it first in the promise. Our Lord said, “I appoint unto you a kingdom as My Father has appointed unto Me.” “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Now, with a man’s word, if he is a man of honor, we are content. We count his promissory note as the equivalent of the gold which he promises to pay. Let him set his hand to a promise and we pass it from hand to hand, regarding it as the thing, itself, which it promises. Shall we not think as much of the Word of God? The promise of God is so firm, so sure, so true, that inasmuch as He has promised a kingdom unto all them that wait for the appearing of His Son, that kingdom is ours, and by faith we grasp it this morning. Bless the Lord, we have received a kingdom. Let us worship Him in that spirit of thankfulness which such a gift should excite.

THE POWER AND PROTECTION OF THE KINGDOM

More than this, we have received it in the principles of it, for it is written, “The kingdom of God is within you.” As the fairest flower lies packed away within the little shriveled seed, and needs but time and sun to develop all its beauty, so perfection, glory, immortality and unspeakable bliss lie slumbering and hidden away within the grace which God has given to all His people. “He that believes in Him has everlasting life.” The life of heaven is begun within the believer, it is germinating, it is daily developing, and it shall in God’s good time come to its absolute perfection. We have the kingdom within us; it is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God within a man is the earnest of heaven, and an earnest is of the same nature as that which it guarantees. We who are born unto God have the first fruits of the kingdom of God in possessing the indwelling Spirit, and in the first fruits, we see the entire harvest.

Rise to this, my brethren, and under a sense of your immeasurable indebtedness go forth and serve your God with joyful thankfulness. This is the spirit in which to worship the Lord who has given us the kingdom. Moreover, in a measure we have received this kingdom in the power of it. Notice, the text does not say we have received a little lordship, a small estate, a scanty portion, but we have received a kingdom. No gift less than this could content the great heart of our heavenly Father. He never stops halfway in His march of mercy. He made us first His subjects, then His children, then His heirs, and here He makes us kings, for every heir of God is heir-apparent to a throne. “He has made us kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign with Him.”

Brethren, in the grace which God has given you, you received a measure of kingly power, you who have believed in Jesus have power over yourselves, power over your passions, power over the powers of evil, power in measure over your fellow men for their good. You have also power in prayer, and what a real power is that, when a man can ask what he wills and it shall be done unto him. God has endowed you with power from on high by giving you the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Thus you have received a kingdom in promise, in principle, and in power. Moreover, you have received much of the provision and protection of that kingdom. You that are children of God, are not left in the power of the enemy, but being redeemed the Lord is a wall of fire round about you. You are garrisoned by angelic strength; you are led by unfailing wisdom. The all-sufficiency of God is your treasure house. The Lord has said, “No good thing will I withhold from them that walk uprightly.” This is a royal charter of boundless liberality. “For all things are yours. Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” What royal provision is thus set apart for you! “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose.” Everything is arranged for our benefit.

There were two brothers, one of whom had been diligently attentive to his worldly business, to the neglect of true religion. He succeeded in accumulating considerable wealth. The other brother was diligent in the service of the Master, and had learned both to distribute to the poor and for conscience’s sake to forego many an opportunity of gain, so that when he lay sick and dying, he was in straitened circumstances. His brother somewhat upbraided him, remarking that if it had not been for his religion, he would not have been dependent upon others. With great calmness, the saintly man replied, “Quiet! Quiet! O Tom, I have a kingdom not begun upon, and an inheritance I have not yet seen.” Speak of laying up for a rainy day, we have infinite goodness laid up for them that fear the Lord, and none can rob us of it. Every child of God is as David when Samuel anointed him to a throne. He has a kingdom in reserve, secured by a covenant of salt. This kingdom which we have received has come to us by grace alone. We could not have earned it, or merited it, or won it by our own strength, but the Lord has given it to us in Christ Jesus. He has taken the beggar from the dunghill and set him among princes. He has lifted us up from the ruin of the fall and redeemed us from the misery of our ungodly days, and He has enriched us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. Shall we not serve Him out of gratitude for such inestimable benefits?

THE SPIRIT OF HOLY CHEERFULNESS IN SERVICE

No crack of the whip shall drive us to His service, for we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. No fear of hell, no hope of deserving heaven shall urge us on to please our Lord. No, rather this shall be our song—
“Loved of my God, for Him again
With love intense I burn!
Chosen of Him before time began,
I choose Him in return.”

Gratitude is the only fountain of acceptable service, without it the streams are far too defiled to flow in the paradise of God. A large measure of the splendor of our kingdom lies in this, that it is a “kingdom that cannot be moved.” Other kingdoms go to pieces sooner or later. You and I, who are in middle life, can remember kingdoms that have been blown down by the wind, or toppled over at the blow of one brave man’s sword. Empires that have rivaled Caesar’s in apparent strength have been swept down like cobwebs. As houses made of a pack of cards, so have dynasties fallen never to rise again. There was one year in which our great caricaturist pictured kings and princes out at sea in little rowboats, tossed up and down by the wild waves of revolution. So frail was their tenure of power at that moment.

Even today, I guarantee you, the last office I would choose would be that of an emperor in any country. A man might wisely prefer to take the post of a common crossing-sweeper rather than be a king, or even a president. As for the Empire of Russia, who would court its deadly honors? If those who deserve the most severe imaginable punishment for horrible crimes were compelled to be autocrats, it would be a punishment too heavy. What must be the strain upon the mind, the constant fear, the awful unrest of a man who has the sole control of millions, and has deadly foes upon his track? Glory be to God, our kingdom cannot be moved! Not even dynamite can touch our dominion. No power in the world, and no power in hell, can shake the kingdom which the Lord has given to His saints. With Jesus as our monarch, we fear no revolution and no anarchy, for the Lord has established this kingdom upon a rock, and it cannot be moved or removed. When the sun and moon are blown out in darkness, and when the stars fall like the withered leaves of autumn, the kingdom in which we rejoice shall enjoy perpetual prosperity, as it is written, “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.”

Receiving such a kingdom, what are we bound to do? I would gladly cast silver chains about you to hold you fast to your Lord. I would fasten anew these silken chains upon you to bind you to your God. You have received a kingdom. You can never pay back the millionth part of what you owe. Today, however, let the sweet love of Christ constrain you to judge that if He made you kings, it is for you to crown Him King with all your hearts, and if He has given you a kingdom that cannot be moved by you, it is for you to be “steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord.”

Is it not a splendid thought that when we do anything for God, though it is but the simple offering of a prayer, or the helping of a fatherless child, we may do it with all the holy dignity of princely priests? A certain set of men arrogate to themselves exclusively the title of priests, and so deny the priesthood of every believer. In this, they act like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, thrusting themselves into an office which does not belong to them, and intruding out the true priests of the living God. Has not the Lord said to all His people, “You are a royal priesthood”? As for any who receive a supposed priesthood by the laying on of hands of bishops, we know nothing of them, except that they err, not knowing the true dignity of every believer. They intrude into this priesthood so far as they pretend to possess priestly power beyond the lowest child of God, for all that believe in Jesus are this day made priests unto Him.

THE SPIRIT OF HUMILITY IN SERVICE

With what sacred orderliness, and saintly carefulness ought we to serve God, because we serve Him not as common persons, if we are indeed in Christ, but we worship Him as priests and kings. One of our early Saxon kings was rowed down the river Dee by Kenneth of Scotland, and seven other vassal kings, who each one tugged an oar while their lord reclined in state. The King of kings this day is served by kings, each man, each woman among us, is made royal by the very fact of holy service. Let us labor for God not as slaves, but as kings! Alas, I confess that sometimes I have not served the Lord as a king. I have put on the ragged robes of my unbelief, and I have come up here mourning and groaning when I ought to have arrayed myself in royal apparel and served my Lord with joy and gladness.

Some of God’s own saints forget what they are, and where they are, and they go to His service as if it were toil and drudgery, laboring as if they were galley slaves, and not rejoicing as princes who wait upon a great king. Brethren, your high dignity should make you joyful, and you should perform the Lord’s service with intense delight because of what He has done for you. It should be heaven upon earth to be allowed to do anything for Jesus.

“Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably.”

Charles Spurgeon