Servanthood is not the church’s only task, but it is a central one. In his letters to the Corinthians, Paul writes, “although I’m free from all people, I have made myself a slave for all people to win more of them.”
In those same letters, Paul commends the Jesus followers in Corinth for their material generosity: “You will honor God through this genuine act of service because of your commitment to spread the Good News of Christ and because of your generosity in sharing with them and everyone else.”
In freely giving time and possessions, the people who follow Jesus give themselves away. This act of self-sacrifice is paradoxically energizing. Shortly before his death in 2013, Byron Porisch noted several passages in a book coauthored by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay. These authors write that it is
in the essence of being given away that we will find the meaning and reason to keep going.
The people who follow Jesus work to build relationships and friendships in all directions, to all sorts of people. As Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians, “whenever we have the opportunity, we have to do what is good for everyone.”
Realistically acknowledging that this world will never be perfect, people who follow Jesus know that God still reaches into the lives of individuals with His abundant blessing.
This world will never be perfect, but God makes the life of each person better. He gives us the privilege of being the instrument of His blessings, and as Halter and Smay phrase it,
There's just something about this thing called church that captures our hearts and keeps us fighting for a better day.
Paul’s prayer for the Jesus followers in Thessaloniki shows this spirit: “We also pray that the Lord will greatly increase your love for each other and for everyone else.” The ‘love’ which Jesus followers show is practical help, friendly relationship, and spiritual truth.
Those three elements - help, relationship, and truth - are all necessary. The church must avoid the temptation merely to present the truth.
A second temptation is to ignore or cast aside those who don’t embrace the truth; this temptation must likewise be avoided. Paul’s imperative to show love and generosity to ‘all’ people is unconditional.
The metaphor of the church as ‘bride’ gains richness in this light: in many cultures, the bride is ceremonially ‘given’ by her parents to the new husband. But as she is given, she simultaneously decides to give herself.
The content is not about marriage and wedding traditions in various cultures. The content, as authors Halter and Smay report, is about generosity in giving of one’s time, one’s possessions, and one’s self:
The mysterious awe associated with the Bride of Christ is in the character of her sacrificial and missional calling. The church is beautiful because it is endowed with the purpose of giving herself away wholeheartedly to the world God desires to redeem.
So it is, then, that Paul writes to Timothy: “First of all, I encourage you to make petitions, prayers, intercessions, and prayers of thanks for all people,” and “a servant of the Lord must not quarrel. Instead, he must be kind to everyone.” The operative phrases here are ‘all people’ and ‘everyone.’
People who follow Jesus live in communities of believers and nonbelievers, of righteous and unrighteous. Paul tells Titus that “believers shouldn’t curse anyone or be quarrelsome, but they should be gentle and show courtesy to everyone.”
The letter to the Hebrews advises the Jesus followers to “try to live peacefully with everyone.” The ‘peace’ with which they are to live is not mere absence of conflict, but the full wellness and wholeness of the Hebrew shalom. They are to be generous friends to everyone.
To be sure, there is a need that the people of Jesus not be weaklings, and not endure unnecessary abuse. Self-sacrifice is a sacrifice that serves a purpose, not merely to gratify a bully.
So when Peter writes that Jesus followers should “honor everyone,” he is not commanding passivity, and not relegating them to codependence or victimhood. Generosity and friendship, which sometimes entail self-sacrifice, demand courage when carried out authentically.
