Serving As The Least

Matthew 20:26-28

“Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many ” (NKJV)

We all at one point in time desired to be great. We all have wondered what it would be like to become a king or become the manager at our jobs. Our community is centered on working up the ladder, but also is heavily engrossed in entitlement. We both desire that we should be at the top of the ladder as well as feel like we deserve better. We feel entitled because we believe that, because we are giving someone our hard earned money, they need to treat us like kings. But this is not what Christ has taught us. Christ is the “King of kings” and “Lord of lords”. Christ is the greatest person to walk on this earth, yet he didn’t live as a king or asked to be served. Christ came to serve us. We all are Christians who are striving to be true Christ-followers, so we need to walk like Christ walked and serve like Christ served. If we really do desire to become great, then we need to serve like Christ served; for “desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave”. Now maybe not all of us want to be kings and want to instead live the mainstream life in Heaven, which is fine; but if we make that decision and want to be served on earth rather than serving then we need to be careful. Although this is not a sin, it is the easiest way to gain pride which is the root of evil.

To try to become the least and live how Christ did I am going to read a chapter of the gospels where Christ has served others and take notes on how He did it and the heart He had behind it.

Serving as One Part

1 Corinthians 12:14

 “For in fact the body is not one member but many” (NKJV)

As the body of Christ, we need to be unified and dependent on one another just last a human body. The human body is made up of individual parts that all make up one “whole” body. Every part has its own function and its own special role that it was created specifically for. In a human body, when one parts begins to fail the others work twice as hard so the body can continue to function and, hopefully, overcome. Our church needs to be just like this. We need to accept our function, recognize our role we have been specially made for, work without complaining when someone can’t fulfill their role and overcome the problems. But just as a body fails and needs a doctor to take care of it and guide it, so we need our Doctor to heal us, keep us upright and guide us.

When I think of this analogy, my mind goes back to when one of my friends got diagnosed with Leukemia Cancer. His body was as healthy as could be because he was young, exercising most days and was eating healthy. When he would get sick or would break a bone, he went and saw a doctor that was able to nurse him back to health. But then Cancer came; a sickness that he couldn’t overcome on his own. Leukemia Cancer isn’t just an ordinary illness, it is lethal because your own body is attacking itself. His white blood cells, the very ones that were suppose to protect him, became mutated and were destroying him from the inside out. This is what Satan is trying to do with the church. If he is able to turn the body of Christ against one another, then he will be able to sect off the church and attack the more susceptible Christians. A unified church body is impervious to Satan’s attacks, but when it becomes a house divided and weak in God then Satan can cause unimaginable destruction.

To become more unified with my church body, I am going to pick the role that nobody else wants to do during servant time and do it without complaining and do it without any mention of the other roles others have.

Serving For Others

Romans 15:1

 “We then who are strong ought to bear with scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (NKJV)

“We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves” (NLT)

“We who are strong” is talking not just about “strong” Christians, but all Christians. How do we know this? When I think of weakness, it brings me back to when I played soccer. We would have this drill called “a gut” where we would have to sprint around a square and every corner we had to do push-ups, sit-ups, five stars or burpies. For the first 8 laps (a quarter gut) we would joke around and encourage one another; our spirits were high and there were smiles on our faces. Once we got to 16 laps (a half gut), the jokes were very little and we only talked when it was important; for every breath counted. We finished the “gut” breathless with tears of frustration and determination in our eyes. We would crumple at the finish line, crawl over to our water bottles and chug. How does this relate? I think us in our flesh is just like when we finish the “gut”. We are selfish, weak in both body and mind, self-centered and a little bit sad/bitter. We are weak and many can’t see passed their own weakness. Everyone in this world is born into their fleshly sins. We have all “fallen short of the glory of God”, but we are offered salvation and strength through Christ. Through Christ we are strong and have resilience. We are strong, yet need to be sensitive about the things that take away from other’s strength, that way we can proclaim the Gospel and help strengthen our brothers and sisters.

To be sensitive to what makes others weak and help build strength, I am going to ask my roommate Roaren what in my daily routine I can change because it isn’t building him up.

Serving by Following

John 12:26

“If anyone serves me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor” (NKJV)

We all, as Christians, desire to serve Christ. We accept Jesus in our hearts, ask Him to cleanse our hearts and then live a life honoring Him. We go to church and read our bible and so are Christians, right? We ask Christ for permission with the big steps in our life and live a “good” life; for if Christ disagrees with us, then He will condemn us and we will listen. No. This is all backwards thinking because we need to live a life for Christ and not for ourselves. I like to think of it is this way, the best way to lie is to tell as much truth as you can inside of the lie. We can either be a servant of Christ or a slave to sin. Satan, the “head” of sin, deceives us with these lies by putting as much truth into them as he can. We do need to accept Jesus, have Him cleanse us and live a life honoring to Him but we aren’t honoring Him how He wants us to. We aren’t supposed to live a “good” life and wait for condemnation, but rather need to live a life of honoring Him through servitude. I grew up in the church and lived a life as a “good” Christian. Everybody looked at me and thought that I was living a life as God’s child; and I was. But now I realize that we need to live a life more than God’s children, but as God’s servants. As a child, you need to submit to authority and obey, but it is a relationship that can be full of rebellion and doing things with the wrong heart. When a child grows up, they gain more and more freedom until they reach the point to where they are independent from their parents. We need to remember that we are, and act like we are, children of God, but need to serve Him all our life. We need to live a life of humility under God and learn to listen to His voice so we can serve Him with all that He desires and be where God is moving.

To work on servant hood, I am going to find five passages in the Bible that show examples of being a servant.

Serving always

Luke 17:7-10

“And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink. Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded of him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you were commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.” (NKJV)

When I read these verses, I feel a sense of conviction. I have been working on putting servant hood into practice for the last month and a half, doing whatever I can and everything I am asked. I have been working on serving not only in the motions, but with the heart of serving. I have also been working on worshipping God with my service and have thought that I had figured out service and being a servant. But I now realize that there is no “figuring it out”; for being a hardworking, selfless, servant is only achieved through Christ living inside of us and pouring out.

We are all servants working in the field (both needing to faithfully work avidly for Christ as well as work on the mission field). We have our own battles we need to fight and have people we are called to minister to. Most of us Christians have realized this and are serving, while others need to begin, but I believe we are all guilty of being unfaithful servants. I have heard from many sources that the number one reason why missionaries leave mission fields is because of other missionaries. Potter’s Field Ministries has many missionaries in the world preaching the gospel and has a lot of experience in this topic. They say that one problem that all missionaries need to fight through is being a servant both on and off the mission field. In other words, many missionaries can serve God faithfully throughout the day, but when they come home at night they leave their servant hood at the doorstep and are selfish slobs in their house. They were faithful in the field, but then refused to serve when they came home. A servant who serves faithfully in the field, but then refuses to serve his Master is just as bad as the servant who is lazy in the field and refuses to serve his Master; for they are equally failures. Just as we need to have Christ flow into us for us to pour out, so we need to be a servant behind closed doors to be a true servant on the field.

To exemplify what I have learned I am going to pray for a heart of servant hood

Serving in Our Freedom

Galatians 5:13

 “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love” (NLT)

We, as Christians, have two types of freedom; the freedom from our chains and the freedom of choice. We are free from our chains because of Christ, yet many times we pick up and chain ourselves back to our sin because we have the freedom to do so. We are “called to live in freedom” in Christ but our freedom of choice allows us to stray away from God’s plan and calling in our lives.

I grew up in a church family and am a pastor’s kid. I grew up going to church on Sundays and going to youth group on Wednesdays. I knew about God’s freedom that He had for men and had accepted it many times, but would give it up. In other words, I would give up everything and become free in Christ on Sundays and Wednesdays, but then would turn back to pleasing my flesh on the other five days of the week. I thought I was free in Christ because I was a “good Christian” that went to church more than the average person and gave Him my everything when I went, but I was all wrong. You see, I had freedom in Christ but I wasn’t honoring Him in my freedom of choice. I wouldn’t do anything considered “bad” but I used my freedom to “satisfy (my) sinful nature”.

We are commanded to love another various times throughout the Bible, but Paul here takes it a step further by saying “use your freedom to serve one another in love”. It is achievable for us to love one another by looking at everyone in a good light, but it is difficult to use our freedom to do so. On our free time we so often please our flesh and not serve one another out of love.

Today I am going to use my freedom to serve Julio during my free time to put what I’ve learned into practice.

Submitting as Christ has Called Us

Ephesians 5:21-23

 “submitting to one another in the fear of God. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body” (NKJV)

God has appointed men as head of the household and “head of the wife”. In today’s day of “freedoms” and “equal rights”, many would argue that it should be a co-dominate household. God hasn’t created us to be co-leaders, but rather partners that are equally dependent on each other with equally important roles. God created men and women to be judged individually, but to aid each other throughout life. God has appointed men the role of leading his household for which he is responsible, while He has appointed women the role of nurturing both new life and their husband’s life and encourage them through times of trouble.

Jesus Christ is the head of the church just like men are the “head of the wife”. God should be the leader within our church as the head of the “household”. God is not only worthy of this role because He has Created us and is a superlative leader, but also because He is our Savior that has given us salvation. God should not only fulfill the role of a man in our lives, but also the role as a woman; for we are both made in the image of God. We need to allow God to lead and rule in our lives as the uncontestable authority and also allow Him to nurture and encourage us. So we really need to be a child in faith that obeys his father and runs to his mother in times of need.

To apply this, I am going to write down three ways of how God is a father and three ways of how God is a mother and then I am going to pray that I will turn to Him as a father and then as a mother.