June 30, 2013
Matthew 25:40 — And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Another Sunday. Another chance to worship with friends and fellow-believers, as well as some who aren’t sure yet that church is home, or that Jesus is Lord. But it’s not those kind of services I have in mind today. No, what I have in mind are the small services, often unnoticed — the unconsidered trifles — that quiet people do. The quiet people, so often Martha, or Dorcas, doing the small things that make life work. The quiet people, who may in the end be the greatest of the servants of The Lord.
It was small services in our church that rose to the surface of my mind when this thought came into my head. If you were in the 9:30 (worship!) service at 9:30 today I wonder if you noticed the red stoles? Those stoles are reversible, purple on one side, red on the other. If someone hadn’t mentioned it on Wednesday then (to my shame) it would not have occurred to me that someone was quietly performing the small service of reversing them …
There’s another “small service” that happens that supports the worship service. If you were there you will have heard mention of a card in the seat back in front off you. Not many people know that on Friday mornings a small “gang” of volunteers prepare those seat backs for the weekend’s worship. It’s a small group of quiet people performing a “small service” for a lot of people who know nothing about it …
I think the Kingdom of Heaven will have a lot more small people in it than “big people”. I have this feeling that God sees those quiet people as great servants – He is, to borrow Shakespeare’s phrase, “a snapper-up of ill-considered trifles”.
Life is impossible without the quiet people and their small services. So how about you? Do you provide any — or are you too important, reserved for bigger things? (Yes, I know, that’s a cheap mean shot.) Read the verse above, though. What does it really say? “Whatever you do for anybody”? No. It speaks about “the least of these my brethren“. It seems God sets a very high value on the services done for those who are in His Church.
Do you ever feel you’re not doing enough of those small services? I do. Maybe we’d better watch out! Remember the punchline to the story in Matthew 25:45-46:
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.