A servant, a friend, a son

SCRIPTURE:

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.’” Luke 17:10

Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 10:43-45

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:12-15

For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Matthew 12:50

OBSERVATION:

Our Lord Jesus is our Master. By calling Him Lord, we acknowledge that we are His servants. One of the key lessons the Lord taught His disciples was to have the attitude of a lowly servant. In washing His disciples’ feet, the Lord showed them there was no dishonor in serving others, even in the lowliest of tasks.

Also, in serving the Lord, in whatever capacity, we are not to become proud and think that we have done a lot for God, and expect special blessing or favor or commendation for our efforts. Instead, we should have the attitude of thankfulness that we are worthy to serve at all, and that it is our duty to do the very best we can for God.

And the wonderful thing is that the Lord does not mean for us to just remain as servants but to be lifted up to be his personal friends and even family members. Yet, even as friends and family, our service does not stop. Rather, it is precisely in that relationship that we serve all the more, doing what the Lord commands, and doing the will of our Father in Heaven. The more we serve and obey Him, the closer we become to Him, and the more God reveals to us concerning His business. We then grow to understand better how God works, what is important to Him, and how we can please Him. As Christ taught His disciples, so the Holy Spirit teaches us today, and it is this impartation of knowledge that builds our friendship and family relationship with God.

APPLICATION:

Praise God that He did not just call us to be His servants, but to be His personal friends and family. The entire Bible is the story about God’s plan to draw a people to Himself who would not only serve Him but be His personal friends and family forever. We are so fortunate to be called into this plan, and we need to be forever grateful.

Remember that even in that close, intimate relationship and fellowship with God as personal friends and family, we do not lose our attitude of servanthood. We are saved to serve, and that is our purpose, and to those who truly love God, it is a joy to serve Him.

Where and how should we serve Him? We need to be careful here not to fall into pressures from well-meaning leaders who may direct us to areas of service that they think is suitable for us. Each one of us has a particular calling from God into areas that He knows is best. When an opportunity for service comes, we should pray to God, and if we feel at peace, then to give it a try. There are times to say “yes”, and times to say “no”, and there is a balance between service to our own family at home and service in the church or other ministries. Also, in all our service, we should not think of ourselves purely as just servants, but also as family of God, knowing that all that we do is for the good of the family. The pure hired servant only thinks of wages, but the servant adopted into the family loves the family and wants the very best for the family regardless of wages.

PRAYER

We praise You and thank You, Abba Father God, precious Lord Jesus, that You called us to be part of Your family. And You did not just mean us to be only servants, but to be Your personal friends and sons and daughters. Continue O Lord, to help us know the joy of serving You. Lead us, Lord, to be able to serve You in the ways You know is best for us. Guide our paths, and give us wisdom in the choices that we make. May we always honor You in what we do, and have the humility and attitude of a servant just as You did when You came to earth, Lord Jesus! We bless You and thank You and love You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.

Our bags of gold

Our bags of gold

Scripture:

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. ¹⁵ To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶ The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. ¹⁷ So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. ¹⁸ But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

¹⁹ “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ ²¹ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²² “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ ²³ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²⁴ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ ²⁶ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. ²⁸ “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.²⁹ For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Observation:-

In yet another allusion to His second coming, the Lord gives us the parable of the bags of gold, which is similar to the parable of the talents and the parable of the minas which also tell of the same subject. A master gives bags of gold to three of his servants, each according to his ability. One is given 5, another 2, and the last one only 1.

The first one at once puts his money to work and gains 5 more bags of gold. The second one does likewise and gains 2 more. The third however hides his money in the ground and does nothing. When the Master returns he happily rewards the first and second servant according to their success, but turns harshly on the third servant and throws him out, again alluding to hell, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

It is interesting how the Lord uses investment language in this parable, which can certainly relate to those in accounting and finance! “ Notice how the first servant “put his money to work”. We work to earn money but the money we have already earned can be put to work to multiply itself through investments. In every investment, there is an element of risk, and the higher the risk, the greater the potential return. Even while we sleep or eat, our money is working for us in the place of our investment, so to speak. The first and second investors got a 100% return on their initial investment, doubling their master’s money to his pleasure.

However, the third servant chose the approach of taking absolutely zero risk from his point of view by hiding the money in the ground. However, the Master scolded him for not even putting the money with the bankers to earn interest. Technically, bankers can also go bust, but in general, they are usually the closest thing to giving risk-free returns for most people.

Application:

This parable applies to all of us who have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. He is our Master. We are his servants.  Each one of us is given one life, with our own unique set of abilities, strengths and weaknesses. We each have unique upbringing and experiences and unique world of people that only we interact with. What are the bags of gold to us? Jesus is certainly not referring to worldly riches which decay and rust like all earthly possessions. Instead, He exhorts His disciples to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and store up treasures in heaven where rust and moth cannot destroy.

Our initial bag of gold would be likened to our initial conversion, when we first received the salvation of God by believing on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Investing this gold that we received would be likened to going to church with joy, learning and seeking the knowledge of God, experiencing the joy of serving God in church or the marketplace, giving to the poor and needy, learning to share with and pray for the unsaved. As we invest in the things of God, doing the things that we know will please Him, we continue to grow in maturity and receive more and more from Him in rich experience and capacity to bless others.

In contrast, consider the Christian who after his salvation does nothing thereafter but continue with his own life, focused only on his own wants and desires, without further thought for God other than having a perceived security for salvation. We must beware for we are saved for a purpose, to serve God, to grow in Him, to be a blessing to others. We are not saved to just do nothing and wait for Jesus to come!

The equivalent here of at least putting the money with the bankers could mean going to church on Sunday, paying one’s tithes, and perhaps serve a little here and there. However, there is no significant growth and little reward from the Master when He returns. We need to strive for more in God, to grow more and more in Him, in experience and service.

The savvy investor watches over his investment closely, to ensure it is doing well and protecting his return. If necessary, when a better investment opportunity arises, he is quick to switch his holdings to pursue a better return, all the while properly balancing risk and reward. As he continues to invest, he learns and becomes a better investor.

For us too, it is the same. We need to seek God constantly seeking to grow. It is His will that we move on from faith to faith, from glory to glory. We must not become satisfied and content where we are in God. We need to continue pursuing more and more from Him. Smith Wigglesworth once said that if you are not moving forward, you are backsliding. We need to ask God for more and more passion and Spirit and fire from Him for us to go deeper in the Lord. Invest in the things of the Lord, and see how magnificent our returns in Him!

Prayer:

We praise You and thank You, Lord for Your glory, Your purpose, Your calling to us. We thank You for the bags of gold we have received, the initial call that drew us to You, that led us to Your salvation. Let us not be like the third servant who hid this great salvation away and did nothing only to lose it completely. Instead, Lord, let us move on from this great salvation to greater faith, greater heights, even as we seek You and desire to go deeper in You. Teach us, Lord, to invest in the things of God, to turn our eyes away from temporal things but to pursue the things of lasting value, like Your Word, like Your service, like spending time in prayer, and in communion with You. We bless You and thank You, Lord, for the great truths You reveal to us. Be with us always we pray. In Jesus name, Amen.   

Which type of servant

Which type of servant

Matthew 24:45-51

Scripture:

⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. ⁴⁷ Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Observation:

At the end of His prophecy of the end times and His second coming, the Lord gives His disciples a curious parable. The picture given is of a servant put in charge by his master to be in charge of all the servants in His household, with the specific responsibility of giving them their food at the proper time. Now this servant has two choices leading to very different outcomes. Firstly, he can be faithful and wise and discharge his responsibility faithfully. If at any time the Master comes back, He will be pleased and even put him in charge of all His possessions.  Secondly, this same servant could also choose to say to himself “Aah, my Master is away a long time” and proceed to beat his fellow servants and indulge himself in drink with drunkards. When his master returns, at an hour not expected, the punishment is death, for he will be cut to pieces and assigned a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, which is an expression the Lord uses time and again to depict the situation in hell.

The first thing we gather from this passage is that we are all servants when we accept the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Master and we are His servants. We are to serve Him, to worship Him. Too often, the gospel has been turned the other way around so that it seems like God is serving us. The popular “Cat and Dog theology” concept explains this most precisely. The cat says “You feed me and take care of me, I must be god” while the god says “You feed me and take care of me, You must be God”. We are not on earth just to be blessed by God, though that is one primary aspect of being a Christian. We are on earth because we are to serve God, and it must be our daily goal to see how we may serve Him more and more. Service is not confined to missionary service or service in Church, but in our whole lifestyle, in the way we treat others, in the thoughts that we think, in the words that we say, in the prayers that we pray, in the thanksgiving and praise that we give God. A non-serving Christian is a paradox in itself.

What is the demeanor of a servant? Humble, helpful, polite, regarding others as better than ourselves. However, too often, we are arrogant, easily angry and unwilling to help others. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many, we too who follow Jesus need to learn to serve.

The specific duty for the servant in question was to provide food for his fellow servants at the proper time. The unspoken meaning here refers to how we treat those lower than us. There are poor among us. Do we care for their needs? Do we provide for the hungry? In another parable, the Lord says that what we did not do for them, we did not do for Him, and vice versa. It is good and important for us who follow Christ to be involved in giving to ministries that serve the poor and marginalized of society. Nevertheless, in regard to service, we are to be faithful in whatever area God has commissioned us, with our hearts pure in seeking to please Him in all that we do.

On the other side, the behavior of beating up people doesn’t seem relevant to most of us. However, the root of this behavior is anger and unforgiveness. Do we shout and scream at waiters or staff because of “poor customer service?” Do we hold grudges? Do we harbor unforgiveness and anger in our hearts? Beware the Lord’s warning that even He who says “you fool” is in danger of the fire of hell, and that God will not forgive those who do not forgive others. Getting drunk with drunkards is probably a foreign possibility for most of us, however the root of this behavior is self-indulgence and lack of self-control. Have we allowed the lusts and desires of the world to so indulge us that we end up valuing them more than the things of God. The world of entertainment with PayTV, Ipads and Iphones offer great temptations to lure us away from seeking God and serving Him.

Application:-

We need to check ourselves to see if we have the mindset and attitude of a servant of Jesus Christ. Is it our desire to seek God and to serve Him? Or is it our desire to serve ourselves and our indulgences? Are we obedient to forgive and change our angry ways? When the Lord returns, will He find us serving Him faithfully or will He find us indulging ourselves and not showing love to our neighbors?

Prayer:

We praise and worship You Father God, for Your great and glorious love. We thank You, Lord for calling us to be Your Servants, to learn to serve You as our Lord and Master. Quicken our spirit we pray and give us that deep desire to want to know You more, to serve You more, to love You more. So abide in us we pray, that we live a life out of Your presence, letting Your Spirit flow through us to bless others, to serve others, to serve Your Holy name. Lead us away from temptations we pray, teach us to be focused on You alone, letting the things of the world recede and fade away. In Jesus name, Amen.