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We’ve made it to the top step after a long climb. We’ve arrived! But arrived for what? Not for taking it easy, but for serving.
Jesus was at the top, and consider what He did with that position:
- He laid aside His prerogatives as God to serve us—Philippians 2:6-8
- He demonstrated this by becoming a servant of the servants—John 13:3-5
- He said, “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as One who serves.” (Luke 22:27)
(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)
We strive for the top not to be served, but to serve. This is why the final Song of Ascent addresses those at the top as “servants of the Lord” (Psalm 134:1).
The first duty of the servants is to praise (2x in vv. 1, 2). The KJV actually renders this word “bless,” which I believe is a good way for us to think about this. The word means:
- praise God with a reverential mind and
- celebrate God on bended knee
In other words, both our heart and our body need to be in a posture of a praising servant. In the Septuagint, the word used for praise / bless is eulogeo, which means to say good words. In putting the two parts of the definition together, it mean we aren’t grumbling about our service (like “I have to do this”), but we are thankfully and worshipfully serving (as in “I get to do this!”).
These servants are called to “minister…in the house of the Lord [and] in the sanctuary” (134:1-2), just as the priests in the tabernacle (1 Chronicles 9:33; Leviticus 6:13; 24:2, 4).
This blessing and serving is itself a blessing which unlocks even more blessing. The final words of the final Song of Ascent is a prayer request (notice the word “may” in v. 3).
The word bless in this final is the same word translated praise in vv. 1-2, except here the form of the verb means “to be shown divine favor”!
We don’t get blessed by God because we have blessed God, but we bless God because He has already blessed us. I don’t command His blessing, but I bless Him in recognition of the blessing that continually flows from Him to me.
To word minister as in v. 1 means to:
- endure all hardships
- continue until the task is done
- cause or help others to stand too
God loves to bless people who love to bless people!
As long as we’re here, keep blessing and serving others as your act of worship to God. Say good words to people about God and say good words to God about people. Lift up your hands, fall on your knees, sing out loud, or worship quietly in your heart. But keep on serving like Jesus. All of this blesses God.
Your final and eternal reward in the Heavenly Zion is coming and it is beyond compare—
It will be good for those servants whose Master finds them watching when He comes. Truly I tell you, He will dress Himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose Master finds them ready, even if He comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. (Luke 12:37-38)
In blessing others, we are blessing the God who has already blessed us and who longs to bless us for all of eternity!
If you’ve missed any of the messages looking at the fifteen Songs of Ascent, you can find them all here.
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Craig T. Owens 