Sunday, November 23, 2014

Is Servant Leadership Passé?

Luke 22:27 (NLT) Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves. (Emphasis added)




Previously in verse 24 the disciples were arguing among themselves about who would be the greatest among them. These are the hand picked disciples that he loves. Excluding Judas, they also loved our Lord. They have seen his power to heal, miracles of multiplying the bread and the fish to feed thousands. They saw him defying the natural laws of science as he walked upon the water and raised the dead, yet they still did not understand his heart. He did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life (Matthew 20:28). Once more Jesus attempts to bring clarity to eyes that still see dimly, to ears muffled by ego, and to hearts still lacking understanding of their true calling before the Lord.

It must sadden our Lord, that centuries later, mankind still struggles with the same levels of carnality.  The temptation to believe ones own advertising surrounding the greatness of their gifts and teaching is still very real. Many boast of the crowds that gather and the size of their ministries. Some are so arrogant as to flaunt their luxurious homes, wardrobes and excessive possessions as evidence of God’s favor and reward for their service.
Who is the greatest? Is it a high-powered flamboyant speaker or could it also be the unknown man or woman quietly serving in some obscure place waiting on tables?


I love this passage in John 13:12-16 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. (NLT)

The desire to exercise our spiritual gifts and talents for the cause of Christ is admirable, but we must all remember that it is not the scope of our ministry or the numbers that we use to calculate success, but rather the quality and size of our servant hearts. Can we be content to do the humblest of tasks, to serve and wash the feet of a select few as well as when we stand before thousands!


Position, comfort, fame, and fortune can never be the goal. Whatever measure of success we may experience in this life must not be allowed to define the true servant leader.
   

FIVE KERNELS OF CORN



THANKGIVING is distinctly an American holiday. There is nothing like it anywhere else in the world. It celebrates neither a savage battle nor the fall of a great city. It does not mark the anniversary of a great conqueror or the birthday of a famous statesman. The American Thanksgiving Day is the expression of a deep feeling of gratitude by our people for the rich productivity of the land, a memorial of the dangers and hardships through which we have safely passed, and a fitting recognition of all that God in His goodness has bestowed upon us.

 In early New England, it was the custom at Thanksgiving time to place five kernels of corn at every plate as a reminder of those stern days in the first winter when the food of the Pilgrims was so depleted that only five kernels of corn were rationed to each individual at a time. The Pilgrim Fathers wanted their children to remember the sacrifice, sufferings, and hardships through which they had safely passed—a fitting hardship that made possible the settlement of a free people in a free land. They wanted to keep alive the memory of that sixty-three day trip taken in the tiny Mayflower. They desired to keep alive the thought of that stern and rockbound coast, its inhospitable welcome, and the first terrible winter, which took such a tool of lives. They did not want their descendants to forget that on the day in which their ration was reduced to five kernels of corn, only seven healthy colonists remained to nurse the sick, and nearly half of their members lay in the windswept graveyard on the hill. They did not want to forget that when the Mayflower sailed back to England in the spring, only the sailors were aboard.

 The use of five kernels of corn placed by each plate was a fitting reminder of a heroic past. Symbolically, it may still serve as a useful means of recalling those great gifts for which we are grateful to God.   --Bliss Forbush



Psalm 9:1-2 (AMP)  I WILL praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth (recount and tell aloud) all Your marvelous works and wonderful deeds!  I will rejoice in You and be in high spirits; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High!