A person may feel unwell and very sorry for himself, but an accident to

another, happening in his presence and demanding immediate help, will usually

enable him to forget his own troubles in the endeavour to share others which

are greater.  Some burdens are referred to as 'infirmities' of the 'weak',

and, with regard to these, those who are 'strong' must remember that their

strength is not for selfish ends but for the common good.  Finally, burden -

bearing must be accompanied by patience, and must be devoid of self -

pleasing; otherwise the service rendered will lose its spiritual value.

We have seen that none can truly serve who have not been sent, and that

none can truly build unless occupied with God's building.  We are now to

learn the related truth that no man takes office of himself:

'And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of

God, as was Aaron.  So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made an

High Priest' (Heb. 5:4,5).

The servant of the Lord says, 'Here am I, send me', but never, 'Here am

I, I'm going'.  The first symbol of service, then, is a calling, and the

apostle, whose office has already been before us as that of a 'sent one', is

also a symbol of true service in that he is likewise a 'called one'.  'Paul,

a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle' (Rom. 1:1).  Strictly

speaking the words read, 'a called apostle'.  In Romans 1:5, Paul speaks of

'grace and apostleship', and in Galatians 1:15, again speaking of his office,

he says:

'But when it pleased God, Who separated me from my mother's womb, and

called me by His grace'.

The call to service is 'by grace', for there is no more room for merit

here than in our salvation.  The word 'calling', in Scripture, denotes

occupation, employment, or profession, and is therefore identical in meaning

with present -day usage:

'Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called' (1 Cor.

Let us remember that our service is a calling; that we cannot serve without

divine appointment, and that it is far better to serve in a lowly capacity

and please God, than to grieve the Holy Spirit of God by self -choosing,

remembering, together with our opening text, Hebrews 5:4,5, that 'Even Christ

pleased not Himself' (Rom. 15:3).

Let us now give attention to the second symbol of service, namely,

cleanliness, that those who are called to serve the Lord are called to be

'Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord' (Isa. 52:11).

We naturally turn to the great symbolic teaching of the Tabernacle for

illustration of this important qualification.  Leviticus 22 sets forth the

necessity for the priests of Israel to be clean:

'Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your

generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of