The above statement should shape our lives as Christians. It also should illicit some questions from us. For example: What does that mean for me? How does that statement impact my life in terms of service to my neighbor? How can I best serve my neighbor through my various daily vocations?
In reality there are times when we simply look upon other people in light of the question, “What can they do for me?” What do they have which can enhance my life? When those attitudes and actions persist we end up using other people. To do so, is to sin. Sin is always something which God calls us to repent of; in fact as we live from our baptism we find that repentance is a daily activity in the life of the believer.
The reality is that we are saints and sinner at the same time. Paul says: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” II Cor. 5:17. We rejoice that in Christ Jesus we have become new creations. Jesus actions for us help shape that life as a new creation. Jesus said: “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matt. 20:28. He also states: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10.
Christ Jesus served humanity through His perfect life of obedience and service and by His all-atoning bloody death upon the cross for the sins of all people. His victorious resurrection was bestowed upon us in the water and Word of Holy Baptism. Our lives are now directed to serving our neighbor as he or she is the one who needs our good works, not God!
Luther wrote: “The noblest and greatest work and the most important service we can perform for God on earth is bringing other people, and especially those who are entrusted to us, to the knowledge of God by the holy Gospel.”[1] What a wonderful opportunity for parents to teach their children and to bring them to the Divine Service where that Gospel is proclaimed in its truth and purity.
One other quote from Luther is pertinent to our lives as well. Luther wrote: “The greatest of all services is to free him [my fellow man] from sins, to liberate him from the devil and hell. But how is this done? Through the Gospel, by preaching it to him and telling him that he should cling to the works of Christ and firmly believe that Christ’s righteousness is his and his sins are Christ’s. This, I say, is the greatest service I can render to my fellow men. On the other hand, blessed be the life in which a man does not life for, and serve, himself but his fellow man.”[2]
All of that flows for us as a result of having received the forgiveness of sins and newness of life in Christ Jesus. Our lives are freed for service and to show mercy to our neighbor because “all has been done for us!”
[1] What Luther Says, Ewald M. Plass, (Concordia: St. Louis, 1959), Vol. II, p. 958.
[2] What Luther Says, Vol. III, p. 1282.
