Servir
Servir é o coração do evangelho. Jesus não veio para ser servido, mas para servir. O cristão é chamado a seguir esse exemplo, colocando-se a serviço de Deus e do próximo.
O exemplo de Jesus
Cristo é o modelo supremo de serviço. Ele lavou os pés dos discípulos e deu a própria vida como resgate por muitos.
For why man’s Son came not, that it should be ministered to him, but that he should minister, and give his life again-buying [or as a redemp-tion] for many.
As man’s Son came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life redemption for many.
It shall not be so among you; but whoever will be made [the] greater [or more] among you, be he your minister;
and whoever among you will be the first, he shall be your servant.
Therefore if I, Lord and Master, have washed your feet, and ye shall wash [or ye owe to wash] one another’s feet;
And he sat, and called the twelve, and said to them, If any man will be the first among you, he shall be the last of all, and the minister [or the servant] of all.
Servindo ao Senhor
Servir a Deus é um privilégio e uma ordenança. Devemos amá-lo de todo coração e servi-lo com alegria e fidelidade.
But if it seemeth evil to you, that ye serve the Lord, choosing is given to you; choose ye to you today that, that pleaseth, whom ye owe most to serve; whether to gods, which your fathers served in Mesopotamia, whether to the gods of Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; forsooth I, and mine house, shall serve the Lord.
so only that ye keep busily, and [ful] fill in work the commandment and [the] law, which law Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded to you; that ye love your Lord God, and go in all his ways, and keep his behests, and cleave to him, and serve him in all your heart, and in all your soul.
And now, Israel, what asketh thy Lord God of thee, but that thou dread thy Lord, and go in his ways, and that thou love him, and serve thy Lord God in all thine heart, and in all thy soul;
and that thou keep the command-ments of thy Lord God, and the ceremonies of him, which I command to thee today, that it be well to thee.
Pursue [or follow] ye your Lord God, and dread ye him; keep ye his commandments, and hear ye his voice; ye shall serve him, and ye shall cleave to him.
not slow in busyness, fervent in spirit, serving to the Lord,
how much more the blood of Christ, which by the Holy Ghost offered himself unwemmed to God, shall cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve God that liveth? [or to serve to living God?]
Servir ao próximo
A liberdade cristã nos chama a servir uns aos outros pelo amor. Cada dom recebido é para edificação do corpo de Cristo.
For, brethren, ye be called into freedom [or into liberty]; only give ye not freedom [or liberty] into occasion of flesh, but by charity of [the] Spirit serve ye together.
As free men, and not as having freedom the covering of malice, but as the servants of God.
If any man serve me, pursue he me; and where I am, there my minister [or my servant] shall be. If any man serve me, my Father shall worship him.
No man may serve two lords, for either he shall hate the one, and love the tother; either he shall sustain the one, and despise the other. Ye may not serve God and riches.
Neither give ye your members arms of wickedness to sin, but give ye yourselves to God, as they that live of dead men, and your members arms of rightwiseness to God.
Fidelidade e recompensa
O servo fiel e sábio será recompensado pelo Senhor. A fidelidade no serviço honra a Deus e produz frutos eternos.
His lord said to him, Well be thou, good servant and faithful; for on few things thou hast been true [or faithful], I shall ordain thee on many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Therefore, my dearworthy brethren, be ye steadfast, and unmoveable, being plenteous in work of the Lord, evermore witting that your travail is not idle in the Lord.
For all scripture inspired of God is profitable to teach, to reprove, to chastise, [for] to learn in rightwiseness,
that the man of God be perfect, learned to all good work[s].
The goings of a man shall be dressed with the Lord; and he shall delight in his way.
The Lord shall again-buy the souls of his servants; and all, that hope in him, shall not trespass.