Servanthood

Ministry has been the topic recently. The word ‘ministry’ itself is from the Latin ministerium meaning servant. I think too often we forget that ministry is all about service. Recently I attended a breakfast honoring ‘servant leaders’ in the community. Many of the men and women have dedicated their lives to making a difference simply by the way they live their lives.

According to the organization Servant Leadership: “may grow out of a calling to help those in need, to live out one's faith in day-to-day work, or to mentor and influence others to a life of leadership focused on outcomes that are above and beyond one's own self-interest.” Doesn’t that sound like the Golden Rule that we looked at earlier this fall? — “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Taking these two thoughts together, I think we can say that Christian Ministry is being a servant to one another out of love that comes first from God and then flows through us as we live in obedience to God’s call on our life and hearts. It is living what Christ modeled to his disciples at the Last Supper. “After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (Jn. 13:12-17)

Many people think of Advent as the ‘church’s new year.’ It’s when we start the cycle of church seasons again by focusing on Jesus birth and on the Second Coming. As we move toward Advent, how can we more fully live into the ministry we are called to? I hope you have found insight in these mediations that will encourage you to “let go and let God” be in control of your life.

Next Sunday we will be almost to Thanksgiving. I've taken on a Facebook challenge to post one thing I am grateful or thankful for from now until Thanksgiving. It's always good to find something to be thankful for because no matter how dark the day, there will be some glimmer of grace to be found.

After Thanksgiving we enter Advent on December 29. I invite you to join the Advent meditations here in an exploration of Mary’s story and the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness. You can also be part of the Yahoo group study “Dancing in the Footsteps of God (with Miriam)” starting the beginning of December. (Go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dancinginthefootprints/ to join--you do need a Yahoo account.)

Me? Do what? Now?

Are you feeling that God is urging you to do something new? Are there opportunities for new ministry opening up? Do you feel like Moses, asking “Who am I to go to Pharaoh?” (Ex. 4:11) or like Jonah who “rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3)?

This week I came across a series of questions (thanks to Called Magazine) that help focus us on whether it is me or God doing the calling. Their questions made me stop and ponder and I would invite you to do the same.

Do I feel a gentle, but persistent, tugging at my heart? A burning desire? Does it refuse to go away, even when I ignore it?

God loves us so much that He urges us toward our best efforts and the perfect ministry, even when we try to do something else or ignore the “still small voice” that says “this is the way, walk in it.” (Is. 30:21) The Bible has many stories of people who tried to ignore God. Jonah is the most famous, but there are others. Amos believed his life work was to be a “herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees,” (Amos 7:14) until God called him to be a prophet. Paul was an avid Pharisee, until God turned his life around and made him the so called “apostle to the Gentiles.”

The most comforting thing for me to remember is that when God calls, he also gives the gifts and talents and strengths needed. (Not that I don’t hesitate and say, like Moses, ‘who me?’ or ‘send someone else’.)

When other people say I should go into ministry, does it feel right? Does hearing it satisfy my soul or my ego?

This is a very important question. It can be very easy to allow our ego to get in the way of the real, humble, self-effacing ministry God is calling us to. Paul had to abandon all the things that made him important in society to become God’s evangelist. “In Philippians 3:4-7, he brags, “If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” In the next sentence though, he say, that this is all worth nothing compared to “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

When you are hearing God’s call, through prayer and patient waiting, it won’t matter if any fame or fortune comes with it. All that matters in true ministry is that we “love God and love our neighbor.”

Do I associate status and power with ministry? Is this my desire, fueled by ambition? Am I wanting to serve or to be served?

The third question ties to the last one because it makes you really look at the motivation for ministry. We have all seen and read about men and women who started out with the best intentions and let the fame and status and power go to their heads until their ministry was compromised.

It isn’t a new problem. In the Bible, we find David, “a man after God’s own heart” who slipped when he started thinking he was in charge instead of God. He let his desire for what he wanted get in the way of being a true servant to his people and God. When he saw Bathsheba, he took her and had her husband killed. (See 2 Samuel 11)

When we do find our ministry becoming a power trip, we can repent and turn back to God, like David did. Then we can reevaluate our ministry and the direction so that once again we are servants of the Living God. Jesus tells his disciples, “You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servantsare not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.” (John 13:13-16). Our ministry needs to be humble enough to wash each other’s feet.

Am I listening for the calling with an open heart? Or does “selective hearing” keep me from seeing either my gifts or my own limitations?

An open heart is a key asset for anyone who will be a leader in ministry. This is a heart that listens to God and waits for God’s guidance. An open heart looks for open windows when the door appears to be closed. A heart open to God sees opportunity where some see a dead end. Respond to God with an open heart. As Psalm 37 says, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act…Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him.”

False humility, or alternatively hubris, can keep us from knowing if a ministry is right for us. “Oh I couldn’t do that” is a cop out. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13) is a true statement. We have to remember the important part of that citation is not ‘I can do all’ but that anything we do is ‘through Christ who strengthens’!

What strengths will help me in my calling? What weaknesses will need special attention?

The final question to consider when looking at a ministry is an honest look at your personal strengths and weaknesses. None of us are perfect but each of us has gifts that can be used to “build up the body.” Paul’s analogy is one that we all need to keep in mind as we discern ministry. “The members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable…and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body…that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another… Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (I Cor. 22-27)

It may see nice to be the eye or the ear, but it is the “members of the body that seem to be weaker [who] are indispensable.” Even if your ministry is being the tiniest cell inside the entire organism that is the “Body of Christ”, you are important and necessary.

Jesus promises, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples…lo, I am with you always.” (Mt. 28:19) We each do this in our own way and all our ministries work together for the glory of God. In I Cor. 12:8, we are reminded that God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” It doesn’t matter if we think we are weak or unprepared, if God is in your ministry, if will not fail.

See you next week for more fall thoughts on ministry.

In Control

Through October we’ve looked at ministry. We considered how to start to identify our ministry, and ways to live out our ministry, and what it means to be involved in ministry. Undergirding all this is God. It is the Living God who invites us to participate in sharing His love, His story, His grace with others. It is our Father God who gives us the gifts and talents we need to accomplish our service.

Jesus reminds us that we are like the servants of a household. In Matthew 25:14-29, we read the Parable of the Talents. The householder gives three servants talents/money (a talent is worth about 15 years wages) to use wisely until he returns. When he does return the householder finds that two of the servants have used their talents and earned more. One however says, “I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” (Matt. 25:25)

Like the householder, God expects us to use the gifts—our natural talents—to the Glory of God. Our lives are to be lived so that everyone we meet knows that we are stewards or ambassadors of God. An ambassador or a steward is someone who acts on behalf of someone else. As God’s ambassadors we act as God’s representatives—an awesome responsibility.

Lest we begin to think that we are important because we are God’s ambassadors, we are to remember that God is in control. It is God who gives us responsibility (ministry) and it is God who gives us the gifts, strengths, talents to accomplish our ministry. We are like this child, in God's eyes. The planting of a seedling by this child is what our greatest ministry is in comparison to God's glory and power. Yet, planting of the seedling of Love that we are called to do.

The Epistle to the Philippians is filled with exhortation to minister on behalf of our Lord. Paul reminds us that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:6) We are all given many opportunities to do ministry. And each is an opportunity to glorify God--like Christ, to step aside and "take the form of a servant" (Phil. 2:8)

When we feel that we cannot go on, encouragement can be found in Phil. 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Like the first disciples, Jesus calls us to follow. Below is a poem I wrote several years ago. Maybe you will find yourself in the words.

Follow Me

(c) Cynthia Davis

“Follow me,” the man said.
Do I want to be led?
Who does he think he is
To ask for change in lives?
But still, there he stands
Holding out his hands.

“Follow me, for lives you’ll fish.”
Is this the pathway I wish?
I do want to do God’s will
But to stay as I am still.
To follow will mean a turn
And at his hand new ways learn.

“Follow me,” I wonder why
He asks me to give a try
At new ways of faith and trust.
Leave behind the old, I must.
The way is hard, I can tell
Yet his hand & eye compel.

“Follow me,” where will we go?
There is so much I want to know.
But it’s one step at a time
Not knowing what hill we’ll climb.
And he will lead the way
Yes, is all I have to say.

“Follow me,” this, of life the word
Of calling by the Lord I heard.
And the life of this Love is ever new
I will live and follow what is true.
In trust, not fear I will freely stand
Choosing to be guided at His hand.

See you next week. If you are interested in participating in the upcoming Dancing in the Footprints of God study check out more info on my website CynthiaDavisAuthor.com.
 
(Those in Albuquerque are invited to the ReadWest Book & Craft fair on Nov.7 at the Rio Rancho Inn--lots of books and crafts by NM Authors and crafts-persons--do your Christmas shopping early!)