Service - Leitourgia

Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. – Philippians 2:17

Somewhat related to our last word Sharath, the Greek word Leitourgia describes “service rendered to meet the needs of others.”  Leitourgia relates to the Hebrew word Sharath because in the Greek translation of the Masoretic text (Hebrew), leitourgia was used to translate the service or office of the Levites.  In other words, in describing the privilege, and in some ways liability, the translators of the LXX chose to render it as a sacrificial service to meet the needs of others to worship.    The word first found its use as a description of a Greek who carried out his/her office at their expense.  In other words, our service to Christ is something we offer in spite of its cost to us personally.  In the context of our passage, the apostle Paul is speaking of the reality of his present imprisonment.  “The present tense clearly indicates that he was speaking of his current experience as a prisoner.”  What the apostle Paul is saying is that if the offering of my life as a prisoner is the necessary reality to bring about the sacrificial Leitourgia or service of the Philippians, he would rejoice.  Paul rejoiced because his bonds only helped to further the service of the Philippians in meeting the needs of others, in this case himself.  Paul used the same word in 2 Corinthians in reference to that which “supplieth the want of the saints.”  As leaders of worship, we must realize that our service of worship is something helps to meet the needs of others.  Now, this is something we willingly contribute to.  Realizing that our goal is not only to glorify God, we strive to meet the needs of others to glorify and worship the Lord.  To download the entire study with footnotes, click here.