Scripture
11The greatest among you must be a servant. 12But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Matthew 23:11-12
Observation
They needed to be seen but they couldn’t see their own hypocrisy. They needed to be heard but they couldn’t hear the words of truth from Jesus nor how they sounded from their pompous positions of power. They needed to be served but were unwilling to serve those around them. Jesus was not about to let the religious leaders of His day get away with perverting the truth. Here He was the God of the universe to which all will one day bow at His feet and Jesus chose to wash dirty feet. Back in chapter 20 the disciples had learned from this false example of religious piety and were vying for position with Jesus. He made it clear “among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.”
Application
I had a great conversation with Josh Godknecht, a volunteer pastor at our church who exemplifies this heart to serve at TFH while also serving as the CEO of his own company. He said, “I think we should stop calling them “Sunday services” and start calling them “Sunday gatherings where we come to serve.” I couldn’t agree more. It’s not just semantics. The phrase “Church service” implies that we come to church to be served in the same way we come to a restaurant to be served. We pay our tithe so the staff can serve us in the same way we pay our bill at a restaurant. This is very clearly not the way God designed His Church, His people, to operate. Everyone must come to church as The Church not to be served but to serve for everyone has been given something from God to be shared. Paul explained it this way to the Church in Corinth, “26Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.” (1 Corinthians 14:26). Look what happens when we show up ready to serve! Everyone is strengthened! Francis Chan asked, “have you ever been to a church service where everyone is trying to out serve each other?” Can you imagine what a healing strengthening experience that would be? If we’re not careful the church structure can cater to the consumerism our culture is built on. The Kingdom of God is counter-culture. In other words we’ve been called to wipe down the counters! Pastor Wayne said it this way, “In The Kingdom of God we don’t graduate FROM serving we graduate TO serving.”
Prayer
This is the reminder I needed this morning. As I’m grappling with our paid staff all transitioning out I’m seeing this an amazing opportunity to return to the way You originally designed Your Church to operate. It’s not that we won’t need staff as we grow, but what if everyone at The Fathers House saw themselves as “staff”? What if The Church was no longer about one personality but every person? What if The Church was no longer about one day but every day? What if The Church was no longer about self-promotion but serving? That’s a Church that I’d like to be a part of. That’s a Church that would change the world!
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