A SALVATION THAT SERVES
- UnstoppableRevKev
- Sep 5
- 3 min read
📖Scripture: “The prophets… were not serving themselves, but you.”
1 Peter 1:10–12
🔎Reflection: Peter reminds us that the prophets of old—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and the rest—spoke words they did not fully grasp, yet they proclaimed them in faithful service to God’s people who would come after them. The phrase “were not serving themselves” translates from the Greek ouk heautois deēteusan—literally, “they were not ministering to their own needs.” Instead, their entire calling was oriented toward the people of God yet unborn. This is a staggering and sobering reality in stark contrast with contemporary consumer Christianity. Their ministries were marked by rejection, suffering, and often death, yet they lived and died with the blessed assurance that their sufferings, trials, persecution, and labors were all for the sake of Christ, His coming glory, and for the salvation of future generations (cf. Heb 11:35–40).
The Apostle Peter underscores that “even angels long to look into these things” (1 Pet 1:12). The verb parakyptō (“to stoop down to peer intently”) conveys the image of angels bending low, straining their gaze to marvel at God’s redemptive plan unfolding in Christ. If the holy angels, untouched by sin, are enraptured by the mystery of grace, how much more should we, the redeemed, respond with awe-filled obedience?
The tragedy of much of modern Christianity is its reduction of diakonia (service/ministry) into volunteerism, consumer-friendly programs, or platforms for selfish agendas and self-expression. But the New Testament vision of service is cruciform. Jesus Himself declared that He came “not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). The Apostle Paul exhorts us to present our bodies as “living sacrifices” (Rom 12:1), to “serve one another through love” (Gal 5:13), and to “have the mind of Christ” who “emptied Himself” (ekenōsen, Phil 2:7). True service in Christ’s name is not convenient but costly, not self-exalting but self-denying, not temporal but eternal.
This means that genuine salvation will always necessarily bear the fruit of costly, Holy Spirit-enabled service. Jesus warns that on the last day many will say, “Lord, Lord,” pointing to their religious activity, but He will declare, “I never knew you” (Matt 7:21-23). In contrast, the true sheep are known by their self-forgetting service to “the least of these” (Matt 25:31-46). The difference between counterfeit and authentic discipleship is not in outward activity, but in whether the service springs up from our authentic relationship with Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Like the prophets and Apostles, the saints are called to labor not for present comfort, applause, or any immediate return, but for the building up of the Body & Bride of Christ and the advancement of His kingdom until He returns. To live otherwise is to deny and betray the very God whose grace and salvation we claim to cherish.
🤺Action: Ask the LORD to test and examine your present service in light of the cross. Is it costly, Spirit-dependent, and oriented toward the edification of Christ’s Body &Bride? Or has it become domesticated, driven by convenience, recognition, or the preservation and promotion of self? Repent of consumer-driven ministry, and resolve to serve Christ as He served the Father: humbly, joyfully, and sacrificially, even when at the cost of comfort, reputation, and safety. Seek ways to serve as a functional and devoted member of a local church that build up others’ faith, not your own pride.
🙏Prayer: Holy Heavenly Father, thank You for the prophets and Apostles who ministered at such great cost, serving generations they would never meet on earth. Please forgive my tendency to make my salvation about me. Please conform me to the likeness of Christ, the Servant-King, that I will gladly pour out my life for Him through my service to His Body & Bride. LORD Jesus, please strengthen me by Your Spirit to serve not for selfish and fleeting rewards, but for Your glory and the joy set before me until You return in power and majesty with the Father and all the heavenly angels. Amen!
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Blessings and love,
Kevin M. Kelley
Pastor
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