Is it ok to serve God out of duty or obligation?

Every so often I’m asked whether it’s ok to serve God out of duty or obligation.  If I as a pastor was welcoming to you, spent time meeting up with you, had meals with you after church on Sundays, but were only doing it out of duty or obligation (not because I really wanted to serve you or were interested in you or enjoyed my time with you, but because I had to as part of my pastoral duty), how would that make you feel?  Or alternatively, if a girl at church spent time with you, invited you out to have dinner with her each week, but was only doing it out of duty or obligation (not because she cared or had any interest in you) I suspect you would not only be appalled, but you would consider such actions hypocritical or insincere.  In fact, it would be downright hurtful.  The same works in a marriage relationship – imagine a husband doing all he does for his wife purely out of duty.  He would in effect be saying to her, ‘I’m only in this marriage, and doing what I have to do out of duty, not because I love you or enjoy you or delight in our marriage‘.  Now that’s the problem with serving purely out of duty and obligation.

Duty without love and joy reflects that I don’t treasure the one I serve. When I love the one I serve and treasure them, duty is not done out of obligation, but out of love and joy.  It’s the reason why the more we love and treasure something or someone in our lives, what we do in serving, protecting, sacrificing, defending, acquiring for them is not an obligation, but a joy.  So when believers serve God out of duty or obligation without love and joy, it reflects the affection of their hearts: that God is not the supreme treasure in their lives worth serving because serving him is not a source of delight, which is why they would rather be doing other things in their lives.

So if I’m serving and obeying God out of duty, devoid of love, thanksgiving, joy/delight then the way forward is to: work to make God your treasure, for until you see his supreme worth and value above all things in your life, you will not serve him in love.  It’s precisely for that reason Paul calls us to ask God to help us do this, and to pursue a growing love for Jesus and his redeeming work in our lives, that fills our hearts as a treasure of surpassing wealth (Eph.3:16-19).  Like everything in life, when someone is a treasure in our lives, everything we do in relation to them no matter how hard is always done in joy. In fact, when someone is a treasure in our lives, we are also empowered with joy to serve them (consider your relationships with people you love supremely and what you are willing to do for them.  Our joy in them as supreme treasures in our lives gives us strength and empowers our serving them).  It’s for this reason we read in Neh.8:10, that the joy of the Lord is our strength to endure, persevere, obey, serve.

So is it sinful to serve God purely out of duty without love or joy? The answer is – yes because it reflects where the affection of our hearts real love and joy lie which is not in the Lord, but elsewhere.  I can assure you for every believer who serves God only out of duty, you will also find something in their lives that they relentlessly pursue and serve with love and joy.  In fact, one of the most sobering OT passages that most people miss is Deut 28:47.  Judgment fell on the OT people of God, not just because of their idolatry, but ‘because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart’.  Why does it say that?  Because our joy and gladness of heart reflects Dt.6:4-5, whether we love Him as a supreme treasure above all things with all our heart, soul and might.

That being said, we have to remember that as fallen creatures we’ll never express perfect love and joy in our duty.  We don’t do even do it in our human relationships. Our emotions undulate, circumstances hem us in, disappointments wear us down.  During those times we need to be reminded more than anything else of God’s grace to us in Jesus, that we need ongoing repentance and we need to seek God’s help by his Spirit.  In fact, it’s a command for us to always seek joy in the Lord in all we do.  Paul says in Phil.4:4 – rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.  That tells me that we are imperfect creatures who need to be constantly reminded of where ultimate joy lies in who should be our ultimate treasure: that the pursuit of serving God with joy/delight is found in ‘the Lord’.  The more he is the object of my hearts affections as treasure supreme, the more I will know joy in serving him.  Paul says the same thing in Phil.3:8-11.  Everything he once considers a gain or a treasure in his life he now considers a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus, so he lives continually pursuing Jesus to enjoy the promises of the gospel that is his, even in his imperfect state (Phil.3:12-16) towards future glory (Phil.3:20-21).

So when you begin to fall into a place where you are serving out of duty, without love and joy, the way forward is to not stop serving (as some people do).  No one does that in marriage or in any area of life.  It’s a indicator to us that perhaps we need to spend time:

1) reflecting on what is causing our lack of love and joy/delight in serving as believers – is it because something else has stolen or replaced Him as our love and joy/delight? Is it because we have not given time to fostering our hearts and minds affections for Jesus?  Is there sin in our lives that we have not dealt with or ignored?

2) in repentance and prayer over the things that have replaced Jesus as our source of joy in our lives,

3) seeking his help in growing our affection for Jesus in the personal spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible reading, fasting/meditation on the riches of Jesus, the promises of his gospel and the glory of God, or

4) seeking God’s help in the corporate spiritual disciplines of ‘fellowship’ with others who can walk with us in pursuing joy in Jesus.

Tagged as: delight, duty, glory, God, God's Glory, gospel, Jesus, joy