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I. THE HIGHEST TITLE KNOWN IN EARTH OR HEAVEN is "a servant of God."

1. At the commencement of their Epistles, Paul, James, Peter, and Jude, use, indiscriminately, the expressions — "servant of God," and "servant of Christ," as if they were synonymous. It is one of the undesigned, and therefore strongest arguments for the Deity of Christ. James combines the two. And in every case each apostle places it first as his highest title — above his apostleship.

2. And were you to ask the man on earth nearest heaven, "What are you?" or the saints in Paradise, or the angels — in all their order and degrees — the response would be, "I am a servant of Jesus Christ."

3. And no marvel! The Lord Jesus Himself gloried in the name. It designated Him in prophecy. It was His own delineation of His work — "a Servant."

II. HOW DO WE ENTER THE SERVICE?

1. It begins with a vocation from God. It is not such as anyone may say that he has it. It is a distinct call. Everyone here might be inclined to say, "I am a servant of Christ — of course I am." When did you go to that "service"? There cannot be "service" without an act of engagement. The outward vocation — the pledge on either side — was at baptism. But it was not there that it became real. It is real when you begin to close, with certain inward impulses, which have been at work in your heart by the Holy Ghost; and to love God. This love is the child of liberty, and the service is the child of love.

2. Now you are prepared for "service." And you go, and in some way or other — it may be at confirmation, or holy communion — you go and consecrate yourself to His work. "Lord, here I am. I am Thine. Accept me, fit me, teach me, use me, as Thou wilt."

III. THE PRIVILEGE OF THE SERVICE.

1. You are placed in close communication with your Master, He tells you His secrets. "The slave knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father, I have made known unto you."

2. You serve "the King of kings and Lord of lords"; but you serve One who was once a servant. Many an earthly servant may sometimes have wished, "O that my master or mistress knew what service is!" That is what you have. He understands it all, and has the heart to feel, and the power to help.

3. And to that same Master His servants bring all their work; and as they lay it at His feet, He makes it clean, and perfumes it with the odour of His own perfect service. What has been wrong in it, He cancels: what is good, He accepts, when He has made it — by what He adds to it — acceptable to Himself.

4. And all along the sweet feeling of the servant is, "My Master is pleased with me and my poor service. And all I am doing, it is practice for a far higher and better service."

IV. THE CHARACTER OF THE "SERVICE." It does not much matter what Christ's servants do. They are His servants everywhere. It is the motive which makes the service, not the action. If a person desires to carry on his business upon Christian principles — and directly or indirectly to honour Christ in the world — that man is "a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ." If anyone does an act of kindness to another — if he give to the poor, or minister to the afflicted, and if he see Christ in them — then he does it to Christ, and he is "His servant." If a man humble himself for Christ's sake, then that man is Christ-like in His service, and he is a "servant" indeed. Or, no less, if a man suffer patiently, for Jesus' sake, he is "a servant of Jesus." Perhaps that is the highest service which combines the right fulfilment, for Christ's sake, of the greatest number of the duties of life. The daughter whom every day her father, mother, brothers, sisters, and servants, rise up to bless, and who, as she has opportunity, goes out to the poor, and the sick, and the schools about her, she is a truer "servant of Christ" than the daughter who shuts herself up into the one narrower sphere of her own selection. Practically, what you have to do, is to accept whatever work the providence of God may give you. And if you want to know what it is, in the providence of God, that you should do, consult, after special prayer about it, your minister, your Christian friends, your own judgment. A field of service will be sure to open to you, in due time, if you look for it. There go in, nothing doubting, and put all the Christ you can into it.

(J. Vaughan, M. A.)

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KJV: Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

WEB: Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God,