Learning To Serve

All I hear these days is about leadership in the Church. One would have to be a millionaire to attend all the various seminars and conferences on developing leaders. Leaders, leaders, leaders. What about learning to be a disciple, one who follows?

Jesus spent a bit of time on leadership, only he taught us that the Kingdom does not function like the world. In fact, he turned our idea of a leader on it's ear. My little blog is not adequate to deal with all the scripture so I am going to choose one as an example.

“The kings of the Gentiles rule over their subjects, and those in authority over them are called ‘friends of the people.’ But that’s not the way it will be with you. Instead, the greatest among you must become like a person of lower status and the leader like a servant." (Luke 22:24-26)

It is strange how we have managed to hold on to these words while doing the complete opposite. We quote the world's standards when it comes to what is owed to our leaders, while shutting off our brains. I am not saying we should not trust the leaders only that we should understand the Kingdom character of leadership.

Servanthood sounds so "sexy" according to what is taught today but the life of a servant was void of any personal needs. It was all about the one being served. We look at this and consider that it is God we are serving but that is not what Jesus was saying. Leaders in the Kingdom set aside their personal affairs to serve the people:

So which one is greater, the one who is seated at the table or the one who serves at the table? Isn’t it the one who is seated at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. (Luke 22:27)

I love how Jesus pointed out that we set the example for those called to leadership. Yes, called. Leaders do not make that decision themselves but instead are selected by the Spirit, called out as the apostles were, to lay down their lives in service to the members of the Body of Christ.

It is not the leaders who sit at the table but the members of the Body. Servants get abused, taken advantage of, some are even killed. That is the position and consequences of being a servant, a lowly one. It is not employment, a job or a career. It is a responsibility to which people are assigned. If you are in this position, do you think you should be better respected, better treated, better paid? Wow! There is so much wrong with that mental picture. Just the pay aspect. Who is our provider? Yes, Scripture tell people to support those who serve them but does that mean you stop serving if they don't? If this is your mentality you aren't really paying attention to the example Jesus set and what we did to him.

Today's blog is only to point you in a direction I believe it is worthwhile investigating. Take a closer look at what Jesus instructed was the position and responsibility to which some of us are called. Maybe fewer of us would volunteer if we knew the full price.

Do You Stand Or Bow In Worship?

I can be a very stubborn man and something I have learned over the years is that being stubborn is a stupid thing. Stubborn is not the same thing as determined. When you are determined you have the drive and energy to go to the end of what you are doing. Determination still leaves you open to instruction and correction that will help you achieve your goal. A stubborn nature closes you off from everything, even those things that would make it better or even easier for you to reach your goal. Being stubborn can ruin a person. In case I didn't make my point: Being stubborn is not good.

Being stubborn means that you harden your heart, even to Yahweh. Think of king Asa for a moment. He was a good king, honoured by Yahweh, but when he made a mistake and was corrected for it, Asa hardened his heart and would no longer seek Yahweh's help for anything. Scriptures say that he got a foot disease and even then would not seek Yahweh's healing but instead turned to physicians. Five years later he died. That's compared to king Hezekiah who, when Yahweh announced it was time for his death, humbled himself before Yahweh. Yahweh looked at this, was blessed by it and extended his life by 15 years.

The biggest example of stubbornness or hardened hearts are the generation of Israelites who were rescued from Egypt. These people could not take instruction to save their life. With every turn they were questioning Moses and doubting Yahweh. They were like a mule that refused to be dragged to the watering hole. When presented with the Promised Land they refused to trust Yahweh to enter to possess it. Then, when they were told the resulting correction, they refused to submit to the correction and tried to enter the Land, resulting in death. Of them Yahweh said:

“Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
For forty years I was grieved with that generation,
And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.’
So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’” (Psalm 95:8-11)

We have no ground to stand on to judge these people. We have been no less rebellious and stubborn at times when we have been instructed to do something we don't understand or we don't want to do. Forgiveness is often a hard thing for us to obey, or to love those who persecute us. I would say those are harder things for us to obey than if Jesus asked us to move to China to start a church. It is usually the daily things that we struggle to submit ourselves to than the big stuff. But consider the call to worship found in this same psalm:

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand. (vv. 6-7)

It is here that the psalmist writes, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Notice the posture in worship: bow down, kneel. These are positions of submission, humbleness, recognizing the authority of Yahweh over us. How can we worship if our stubbornness keeps us on our feet, refusing to bow and submit to Father's instructions? So many scriptures reveal to us that Yahweh is not interested in lip worship; he desires the whole heart, mind, and soul.

The attitudes of stubbornness, pride, know-it-all, destroy the relationship our Father desires with us. The last thing he wants to say to us is "They shall not enter my rest". But he will. The last thing he wants to see happen is us die with "foot disease". But he will. There is no way we can be in the presence of our God without an attitude of humbleness, and stubbornness is not the route to humbleness. As you move throughout your day today and you are desiring to hear the voice of Jesus for direction and instruction, ask yourself if you are trying to stand in his presence or if you are bowing before him.

Humility And Power

Sometimes we do not know as we aught to know. Other times we do not see ourselves as we aught to see. It is true that God has declared us holy and blameless. It is true that as his children we are beautiful in his sight. It is also true that we are the objects of his affection. But we also need to keep in mind that this is all by his grace. Sometimes we forget and we think of ourselves more highly than we should.

It's almost like a balancing act because we do not want to deny who we are in Jesus. We have the authority to cast out demons, heal the sick and bring new life into every situation. Not our power but the power of Jesus in us. We have this incredible relationship with our Father to be free in and to enjoy it. At the same time we can't allow it to go to our head so that pride ruins the whole thing. That was Satan's failing and we do not want to repeat that mistake.

Humility must remain a cornerstone of our walk with Jesus. That should be an easy thing considering our humble beginnings. Doesn't matter what we were before we met Jesus. We could have been the most successful, wealthy, liked person in the world but before God we were nothing more than a rebellious creation, a sworn enemy of the Creator. When we accepted Jesus everything changed, it was a rebirth and suddenly we were rich in all the blessings of our God, a child of the Father and a sibling of the King.

Apostle Paul never forgot what he was before encountering Jesus and it kept him humble, despite his position in the Church:

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. (Ephesians 3:7-8)

It was because of his persecution of the Church that Paul always considered himself the least of God's people. It kept him humble but it did not rob him of his purpose or of the power of Jesus in him. Paul knew what he had been and he knew what he was now. He also knew that he did not deserve to be in that position and it was simply a work of God's grace that had him there. Paul clearly understood his purpose and the One who made it possible for him to fulfil that purpose.

We can remain humble without denying the purpose and power of Jesus in our life. We may feel like the least of God's children but we must never deny his grace to do with us as he sees fit. We cannot deny our calling just because we do not feel worthy of it. Who does? The person in service to the King who feels he deserves to be there should not be there. Pride is knocking on his door. All of us were worthy of only death but it was by grace that we have received salvation and by grace that we serve.

Too often we judge ourselves and others by the past but as a follower of Jesus our pasts do not exist. We are a new creation and we need to remember that too. Yes, allow what you were to keep you humble in your service but also allow what you are now, a child of God and a servant of the King, to cause you to rise up and fulfil your purpose. Although I was 'that', by grace I am 'this'. Be not proud but neither handcuff the Spirit in you by denying God's grace which has transformed you into something beautiful and new. Serve our Lord in humility and power.