¹⁰ For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.

Moving on, we are encouraged to focus on the work we were created to do. Of course, this work does not merit us salvation, but should be seen as the fruit of our salvation. We don’t need to belabor this because every believer should have this basic, foundational truth well secured in his repertoire of settled truth.

However, work alone is not enough, but must be work done in love (agape). Our motivation is love for God because of all He has done for us. Is that not what 1 Corinthians 13 is all about?  Without love, our works are like serving styrofoam in place of ice cream—totally useless. Our words, no matter how loving they sound, irritate like clashing cymbals.

The way we show that love is through serving the saints. The word is diakoneo, which is related to our word, deacon. It means, “to serve.” The Christian life is all about loving and serving. It is not about relaxing, experiencing, enjoying, imbibing, possessions, wealth, fame, prestige or any of a host of other self-adjulating, self-building, self-pleasurable things. Our role now as redeemed, sanctified believers is to be other-focused. And the other begins with God.  Notice that the love motivation this passage speaks of is first and foremost, love for God (“love shown toward His name”). Initially God’s love for us engenders our love for Him (1 John 4:19). How can we not love Him when we realize what He has done for us in salvation? It is out of this love relationship that we can love and serve others.

Serving does not seem too exciting. When we consider the momentous event of Christ’s dying for us, giving us a secure foundation, should not the Christian life be more exhilarating? We don’t always feel God’s presence the way we did when the truth of His salvation first incited us to love and good works to begin with. After awhile, the emotion wears off and we begin to wonder, “Does God notice? I don’t feel His presence anymore.”  Don’t worry, “God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love …” He is aware and taking note, the record of God’s mind misses nothing, and one day when the books are opened, God will show Himself to be perfectly just in remembering every thing you have ever done “toward His name.”  “If any man’s work which he has built on [Christ] remains, he will receive a reward (1 Cor 3:14).”