Too Many Chiefs......? (Part 3)

Service, sacrifice, and self-denial. These are the marks of believers, the true followers of Christ. But human tendency is to desire to be served, to be popular and well-liked, and to receive. However, none of these tendencies can be reconciled with the concept of ‘servants of Christ’ or more correctly ‘slaves of Christ’. If we are truly servants, we do what our master commands, and our master commands such things as “if you want to be great you must be least” and “if you want to be first you must be last”. He also commands us to love God and love others as much as we love ourselves. The whole of the Law and Prophets hang upon these two principles. No self-promotion here.

Not only do we have a tendency to think of ourselves more highly than we should, we also have a tendency to we have done enough when we have done all that WE want to do. It is easy for us to demonstrate an attitude that says, “I’ve done “X” for ten years. It’s someone else’s turn to step up and do it for a while.” Or “Don’t expect me to do “X”. I’m already involved in “Y”. Get someone else. I already do enough”. Sadly this type of attitude is often prevalent within the Body of Christ, but look at what Jesus has to say about such an attitude.
In Luke 17, Jesus says, “Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
You see our service and duty is not based on what we have done or what we want to do. It is based upon who our master is and what he has commanded, and no matter how much we have done, we have only done what we were supposed to do. Although this is the Biblical picture of servitude, it is not a popular one. Few people fancy themselves in this role. Far too many want to be seen as the ones “on top”. It feeds our egos to think of ourselves as a “shot-caller”, a “power broker”, or even a “trend-setter” within the Kingdom of God. So we tend to gravitate toward positions and foster ideas that feed that way of thinking and boost out egos. But how much could be done for the Kingdom of God if more people yearned to be servants in the trenches rather than leaders at the helm? How much better off would churches be if they were filled with people who after a lifetime of devoted, sacrificial service say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”