Monday, September 27, 2021

Finding Our Purpose for Life -- The Glory and Excellence

Ever since the early cowboy days, branding has been a way to mark a cow as belonging to a certain ranch or rancher. Today, that mark may be a tag clipped into the ear, or a chip under the skin, or, still, a brand burned into the hide.

Branding is a distinction that makes the cow uniquely separate from all other cows and says this cow belongs to a particular herd. You can even mix herds together and be able to separate them by checking the brands.

Today, branding refers to a marketing concept. A brand is how a company is known. It’s what separates them from all other businesses. They may be generally like other companies doing the same things, but sharp marketeers find a way to make their business stand out.

Branding is the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design. You see a logo and automatically know the product or company. You hear a theme song and know what’s being advertised. Even certain spokespersons are identified by what they’re selling.

How does a company build its brand?

  • They define how they want to be perceived.
  • They organize their business based on this perception. 
  • They communicate their perception creatively. 
  • They do it all consistently.

A well-branded business places certain expectations into the minds of customers.

People are also branding themselves. Being known for what they say or do, how they act or how they come across. Their brand is the widespread belief that they have a particular habit, set of skills or characteristics.

We call that our reputation. It’s what people know us by. Are we honest? Are we kind?
Are we reliable? Are we generous? Are we cranky? Are we snobby? Can we keep a secret?

Our reputation is the defining label by which we’re known. It may not be all that defines us, but it’s what stands out when others think of us. It’s our brand. They see us coming; they know what to expect.

Why do we use certain plumbers? We know what to expect from them. Why do we shop at certain stores? We know what to expect from them. Why do we eat at certain restaurants? We know what to expect from them.

Reputation is what draws us to businesses, products or people. It can also be what drives us away from them. One bad experience might be enough for us to refuse to go back, or buy what they are selling, or recommend them to others. Our negative comments may make others not even try them.

That’s why businesses want you to evaluate their products or services. Rate them with 5 stars. Give them high marks. Give them a positive review. That’s so they can use your opinion to encourage others to use their services as well.

But, reputation is subjective. It fluctuates. It’s fluid. It changes. Which places reputation into the category of opinion. In fact, it is the accumulated opinion of what others perceive to be who we really are. But is it the truth? They may catch us when we’re having a bad day, or maybe a really good day. We could be in the middle of falling apart or finally getting it back together. A reputation is fragile and can be easily broken or tarnished by a single indiscretion. On the other hand, character isn’t defined by reputation. Character is the heart of the person.

Character is what drives us. It operates by inner traits or ingrained qualities. Reputation can be driven by our upbringing or personality or life-changing circumstances. Reputation is what people think they see, which may or may not be true. Character is what’s true.

When someone excuses their actions by saying: that’s not who I am, actually it is. What they meant to say was: that’s not how I want to be seen. That’s not the public image I want. But what people see becomes who they believe us to be. And that’s how we are branded.

Does God have a brand? What’s His reputation? His reputation is what we think about Him when we mention His name. Is what we think accurate or assumed? Is His reputation the same for me as it is for you?  Which means, we may not have the same God in mind when we say the word. How I see God may not be how you see Him.

What has shaped that reputation? Typically, we form our opinion about God by how we have interacted with Him. If we’ve had little interest in spending time with Him, we feel He is distant from us. If we’ve allowed rebellion to run free in our lives, we feel He is disconnected from us. If we’ve made limited attempts to trust Him, we carry a lot of doubt about Him. If we expected Him to do something in some tangible way and He didn’t, we are disappointed in Him.

We judge God by limited experiences:

·       I prayed once when my momma was sick and she died, so God doesn’t answer prayers.

·       I was violated as a kid and God didn’t stop it, so God doesn’t care.

·       I asked God to take away my sinful urges and He didn’t, so God isn’t there.

Ever hear someone say: If I were God, I would have… Is that how we want to judge God? Based on what we would do? We really want a God who is the extension of our desires instead of a God with plans beyond what we can even think or ask for? Ps 50:21 These things you have done and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you;

When God doesn’t do what we expect Him to do, and from that expectation form our opinion about Him, most likely that opinion won’t be true. We will have decided His reputation based on a moment in time that He never obligated Himself to. We, then, create the disconnect between who God really is and how we think of Him. We give Him a false reputation.

How does that affect us? We end up living under the impression that God is less than He really is. In our minds we create an inferior God.

How does that affect Him? Rom 3:3 What then? If some do not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God. 

Just because we form an opinion that discounts the image of God in our minds, that doesn’t change who God is. My opinion is not the final word about God. Who He is, is far more solid than my fluid opinion of Him. God is known by facts. It’s the facts that tell us who He is and how He does what He does.

2Pet 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  

Glory speaks of who He is – that’s God’s identity. Glory means weight. It’s the impression God makes by being present. His foot prints walking with me. His fingerprints touching my circumstances. The weight of His power sitting on the throne.

Excellence is more than just what He does. It’s how He does what He does. Excellence is the quality within God’s work. God is good so all that He does is good.

In describing God’s glory and excellence, Peter says specifically: His own glory and excellence.

His own: uniquely one's own, peculiar to the individual. Stronger than simply the pronoun “his” implies. No one else is like our God. Nothing can compare to Him. He operates from a position of no one being higher, having greater authority or more power. His glory and excellence are uniquely His.

Isa 42:8 I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images. 

This is what defines Him. Characteristics that are uniquely His: His glory and His excellence. It’s who He is and how He does what He does. It’s also explains why.

Ezek 36:22 Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23 I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord GOD, "when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. 

How did they profane His name? By misrepresenting Him. Profaning comes from not treating Him as holy.

“I am uniquely the Lord. I will not be lumped into the category of religious deities. I will not conform to your idea of who I am. I am the one and only. And if I am unique, what I do is also unique. If you do not represent me as such, you do not know Me.”

So, if we’re guilty of profaning the name of God – misrepresenting Him, how do we change our perception of who He is? How do we remove the lies we believe and replace them with the truth?

We go back to character: The distinctive nature, the sum of the qualities that defines someone.

God spent thousands of years revealing His character for us. Scripture is story after story of encounters man has had with God and how God acted. His actions help us see who He is, revealed by what He has done. Again: Glory and Excellence.

He’s shown us: He is unique. There is no God like Him.

  • He is omnipresent, infinite and omnipotent. God is everywhere, unlimited, and all-powerful. So, wherever we are, in whatever we face, God is with us with all His power and authority to operate in our best interest.
  • He is eternal. God always has been and always will be. 
  • He is big enough for whatever He is attending to.
  • He is the same and always will be. 
  • He is personal. It’s how He relates to us:

1. He is Loving and Good.

2. He is Faithful and Righteous.

3. He is Sovereign and Just.

4. He is Compassionate and Gracious.

5. He is Forgiving and Merciful.

6. He is Present and Available.

Who God is isn’t changed by what we think.

Who God is isn’t damaged by our doubts.

Who God is isn’t diminished by our beliefs or lack of them.

This is His glory. It’s who He is. We can’t change that. We can’t make God less than who He is. All we can do is honor Him.

So, if God’s purpose for our lives is to be where we are to be, when we are to be there, doing what we are to be doing, the way God wants it done, and doing it all for His glory, then the job behind our purpose is to express who He is and how He does what He does, by us being who we are and doing what we are to be doing.

As children of God, we live to reflect the glory of God. We shine out the characteristics of God so others may know who He is. So that, perhaps through us He might shine on someone else’s path to lead them out of darkness and into the Light. He might turn on the bulb in our lighthouse to keep someone from crashing into the rocks. What illuminates us might be the very light that shows them the way, the truth and the life.

Dan 12:3 Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. 

2Cor 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 

Lev 10:1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the LORD spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored.'" So Aaron, therefore, kept silent. 

What were they doing? Creating a fire that reflected an inferior image of God. To them God wasn’t holy. By misrepresenting Him, they dishonored Him.

We are to be a reflection of God for people to see. We may be the first Bible someone ever reads. We may be the example they are looking at to see if all of this Christianity stuff really works.  How we represent Him is how many will believe Him to be.

What do we do? Determine to know Him. How? Read His word – let the truth fill our minds and hearts with understanding. Decide to live the truth we know. Delight in Him for who He is and how He does what He does. Let God’s reputation be formed by the truth of His character.

TAKEAWAYS:

  1. Being God is a position designed for one person and we’re not that person.
  2. Letting God be God is a challenge we fight regularly.
  3. If our soul purpose is to honor Him as God, it would be best to have a good idea of who He is and how He does what He does.
  4. Having an inferior God leaves us without help and hope.
  5. Fortunately, our God is good and what He does is good.

 

Monday, September 20, 2021

Finding Our Purpose In Life -- The Context

 There’s an old expression: let’s not try to reinvent the wheel. It means: someone in the past came up with a workable way of doing something, so let’s just do things like they did instead of spending time trying to find a different way.

It may just be my rebellious spirit, but that’s not how my mind works. I’m always thinking: is there a better way? Can we improve an idea or a process? Can I edit what I’ve written to say it more clearly.

Most everything we use today is the result of someone saying: There’s got to be a better way of doing this?

What necessitates change in how we do things? We want to do something faster, more efficiently, safer, with more power. We need to do something better. Need becomes our motivation for change.

Plato first said: “our need will be the real creator.” This was the source of the proverb: 'Necessity is the mother of invention'. Which says new ways of doing things are found or created when there is a strong and special need to do so.

If what you’re doing isn’t meeting that need, you should change what you’re doing. If what you’re using isn’t accomplishing the task, you should change what you’re using. If the way you’re going isn’t getting you where you need to go, you should change your direction. Need looks at what is and asks, “Is there a better way to do this?”

It could be that what worked in the past may not work any longer. Or it may be so inadequate that it seems archaic. Like using methods that once got the job done but would be seen as barbaric today.

I was sitting in the dentist’s chair the other day and there was a picture on the wall of the old drill used back when I was a kid. My dentist used to call it Woody Woodpecker. It was crude and intrusive. It shook your whole head when he drilled out a cavity. Antique by today’s standards but modern back then. Before that it was chisels and hammers. Or even hand drills and rocks. Remember those, Max?

I’m so glad that today they use high-speed rotary tools that make quick work of an unpleasant treatment.

James B. Morrison patented the first pedal driven dental drill in 1871. It turned at 600 to 800 rpm. On January 26, 1875, the first electric dental drill was patented by George Green. This revolutionized dentistry by getting speeds up to a rumbling 2000 rpm. Then, in the 50s, a new drill, using compressed air, was created that increased speeds to 200,000 rpm. Modern drills now turn at over 600,000 rpm.

What if these guys had lived by the adage: let’s not try to reinvent the wheel? It was good enough in the past, let’s just keep on using it. No, they looked at how they were doing dentistry and said: we can do this a better way.

I’ve heard it in churches by lazy leaders. “Hey, this program worked at this other church. Let’s not reinvent the wheel. Let’s just do what they did and ask the Lord to bless it.” I hear those words and shutter.

Why? It sounds so practical. Look at how successful they were back then. Look at how God moved among them. Yes, He did back then. But God isn’t back there any longer. He’s right here in this moment. He doesn’t work in the past. He works in the present.

Isa 43:18  Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. 19 Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. 20 The beasts of the field will glorify Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My chosen people. 21 The people whom I formed for Myself Will declare My praise. 

Giving water to the wilderness is a special moment. Deserts live on very little water. They can go years with little to no moisture. Annual rainfall in Las Vegas is 3” a year. But then, a sudden rain can come and things pop out all over. Flowers, cactus, sagebrush. It’s like being in a new place. The desert comes alive. It’s a new thing in an old setting.

So, what was the Lord saying through Isaiah? My plan has a scheduled change built in. It will be something new. It will be like Me pouring water onto a desert. You’ll see things you’ve never seen before. Dead things will come alive. It will result in praise from My people. Which means they will see what I’m doing as a good thing.

God gave Ezekiel a vision like that: Eze 37:1  The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know." 4 Again He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.' 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. 6 I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.'" 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life." 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. 11 Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.' 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. 14 I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it," declares the LORD.'" 

The miracle of something new wasn’t reconnecting the dead bones. Archeologists do that every day. It wasn’t resupplying the fleshy parts. That just made them look like they used to. Restoring the breath was a necessary step in making them alive again. The miracle of something new was the Lord putting His Spirit inside them. That was something new.

Prior to that moment God was with His people. Now, He would be in them. He was among them. Now He would indwell them. Not just doing things for them but doing things through them. Jesus told His disciples that day was coming: John 14:16 I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

It was the new thing He had put into His plan. His people would now be able to live as He intended and to do what He wanted done because He would provide everything necessary for them to be able to do so. All they had to provide was the willingness to obey. Obedience aligns us with the will of the Master.

Remember: “God’s purpose for our lives is to be where we are to be, when we are to be there, doing what we are to be doing, the way God wants it done, and doing it all for His glory.”

Where – abiding

When – timing

What – serving

The way God wants it done:

·       As He wants it done

·       Using the resources He gives

·       Energized by the power He provides

As He wants it done.

A word in Scripture for being assigned a job is entrusted. We’re technically not given the job; we are entrusted with the job. We are assigned a task or series of tasks by which we accomplish a purpose. We are entrusted with the responsibility of getting the job done.

Entrust means: to set before someone, or deposit something with someone else. One is assigning tasks, the other to manage a deposit. A service or a stewardship.

If it is a matter of service, the master sets before his servant a work to be done. As we might for someone who works for us. We entrust the cleaning of our house to them. We entrust the mowing of our lawn to them. We entrust the delivery of our food to them.

If it is a matter of stewardship, we deposit with them something of value that they are responsible to care for. We entrust our money for them to manage. We entrust our household goods for them to keep safe. We entrust our family to make sure no harm comes to them.

Entrusted is being given the responsibility to do with something what the person entrusting it wants done. The servant is held accountable for what the Master expects.

That is our directive from God to do what we are doing the way God wants it done.

If you hire a painter to paint your house, he doesn’t have the right to tell you how he wants the job done. Paint the house blue. But he paints it green. You are naturally upset. What’s it matter? I painted the house, didn’t I? It matters because with the assignment came the expectation that the result would be what you wanted done the way you wanted it. The ultimate goal isn’t the job but pleasing the master.

Col 1:10  Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects,

God is pleased when we do His work as He wants it done. He is also pleased when we use the resources He gives.

It is the responsibility of the Master to provide the servant the tools necessary to do his assigned job.

You tell your servant: I need you to hurry and go to Dallas and hand deliver this contract. Immediately, the servant heads for the door. You ask? What are you doing? I’m going to Dallas. How do you plan on getting there? Running as fast as I can. How about using this ticket I bought you to fly there and here’s my credit card to rent a car and to cover additional expenses.

A good Master not only assigns a job but provides the resources for what it takes to do the job.

2Cor 3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant,

What does the Master do? He determines the job, assigns the task and then provides the servant with what it takes to do the job.

What does that mean in church?

1Cor 12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 

Each of us is to serve the common good. To do so, we need to connect with the ultimate Good – God’s intentions. We’re not to decide what we think is good, but find the will of the Master. To do so, we are given gifts by the Spirit, abilities that make us able to serve or minister according to the way the Lord wants to use us, so that God might accomplish His unique results through us. The gift is the evidence we are equipped to serve in the best interest of the Father, able to accomplish His will His way. His way requires the gift and ability be energized by a power we don’t possess within our own strength. It is a spiritual resource that must be: Energized by the power He provides.

1Pet 4:10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever.  

The special gift is that ability – the resource – to do what the Father calls us to do. The gift matches the job. It may be a sanctified, natural ability or a supernatural ability. But because the gift fits within the context of God’s work, it requires supernatural strength to exercise.

God is not simply saying do the best you can with what you bring into the moment. He’s saying, “Do what I want done, the way I want it done, which requires these resources. And for those resources, here’s the power you’ll need.”

Col 1:10 Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience.

The strength to do what God wants done requires power we don’t naturally have. Which takes us back to Isaiah’s insight into what God was planning: Isa 43:19 Behold, I will do something new,

Attach that insight with the prophecy of Ezekiel, and you see that God was planning, at some time in the future, to not only restore a dislocated people to place them back in their Promised Land – which was fulfilled in 1948 when Israel was declared a nation again – but also to do a new work for all of His people which He did at Pentecost in the 1st century. What He declared to be coming is now the means by which He accomplishes mighty things in us, taking dead and disconnected lives and put them together again, then infill them with the power of His presence.

Not just returning life to us, but infusing that life with the power to live for Him.

Eph 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

Eph 1:18 what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies. That’s the new thing.

Bringing us from death to life, darkness to light, unrighteousness to righteousness, ungodliness to godliness, hopelessness to hope, weakness to strength.

To do that He takes us from where we were or even where we are now, to where He wants us to be. Not just wanting to make our lives better but to give us new life. Then to energize that life with strength only He can give by His Spirit indwelling us, not to resupply the old strength but give us new strength for a new life, a new life that makes the old life obsolete, even archaic. A life that now cooperates with what God is doing rather than rebels against it.

That means each day I wake up, God provides strength for the day. It will be enough for what I need to make it through, to do what needs to be done, to please Him is all respects, because I am strengthened with His power in my life.

Isa 40:31 Those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

The strength I had yesterday isn’t sufficient for today. It’s gone. I need new strength so I can serve my Master today, the way He wants to be served, using the resources He gives, energized by the power He provides.

We’re not expected to reinvent the wheel. Instead, we are to live by the promise: Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Which has a context: He determines the job, assigns the task and then provides us with what it takes to do the job.

TAKEAWAYS:

  1. Serving the Lord is not optional for Children of God, but there is a context to our serving.
  2. The Lord provides the way we are to serve, the resources needed and the strength to do the job. 
  3. By staying within that context, we please Him.
  4. And from His pleasure come the abundance of His blessings.

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Finding Our Purpose for Life - Servanthood

Ever be in the middle of a conversation and the other person says, “Not to change the subject, but…” That’s like driving down the freeway and Siri suddenly says, “Exit here,” and you have to cross over three lanes of rush hour traffic, dodge the concrete dividers, miss the exit and then back up into on-coming traffic so you can stay on the pavement to get off the highway.

Or you spend 30 minutes talking to someone about your grandkids and they have the audacity to interrupt to talk about theirs.

Or you’re pouring out your heart to someone and they say something so totally unrelated that it shouts, “What you’re saying isn’t important to me.”

Or like the other day, Jan said: You’ve not heard a word I’ve been saying. And I thought: that’s a strange way to start a conversation.

Matt 20:17 As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, 18 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up." 20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. 21 And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left." 

Do what? I’m telling you about my death. We’re only days away. And you want to talk about positions? Okay, let’s talk about positions.

Matt 20:24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." 

These guys didn’t get it. Jesus had one agenda and they had another. The plan of God was on His mind. It wasn’t on theirs.

This had happened before, after the Transfiguration – the great moment the Father declared who Jesus was - Mark 9:33 They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, "What were you discussing on the way?" 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. 

So, what did He tell them? Same thing: Mark 9:35 Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." 

Wait, what? First to be last and last to be first? That’s not how life works. Jesus, you don’t live in the real world. It’s the ones at the top that get the benefits. The ones at the bottom are nothing. Top dogs eat first. The last get the left-overs.

 So, Jesus realized they needed an attitude adjustment. It’s called a reset, flipping the script, changing the mind-set. As Paul said: change comes by changing our minds.

They thought Kingdom operated like the World. They thought you just lived in one like you did in the other. All they showed was how ignorant they were for how life really worked within the Kingdom. They had distorted the true image. Jesus is trying to correct that image.

Paul clarified this: 2Cor 5:15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 

Living for the benefit of someone else is a struggle for most. You’ll see it in primary care givers, nurses, moms caring for their little ones. We even promised it in our wedding vows, but rarely do you see it in everyday life.

Jesus had to explain how things were to be different. Under the New Covenant, there was a change of life direction, life intention and life determination. There was a new life with new expectations for how the Kingdom of God worked.

God will be using His people to get His work done. We are His gloves. His hand provides the power and direction. That’s what had been going on in Jesus’ life. He fleshed out what that life was to look like.

John 14:31 so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. 

John 17:23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 

When people saw Jesus, they saw the Father. When they listened to Jesus, they heard the Father. When people were cared for by Jesus, they felt the love of the Father. Jesus served the Father by making Him known and served others by showing what the Father was like. By serving the interests of the Father, Jesus revealed the goodness of the Father. That’s how glorifying God works. As the moon reflects the sun, Jesus reflected the goodness of God. Jesus was the glove into whom the Father slid hand.

John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. 

Explained: exegesis - explain in a way that clarifies what is most important. It refers to what a preacher or teacher does. Neh 8:8 They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading. They served the people by taking the complicated off the top shelf and placing it down on a lower shelf where the people can handle it.

Isa 55:8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 [So, to help you understand what I want you to understand] For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. 

Let me stretch you: Jesus is the Word of God. The One by whom God explained Himself. Jesus explained the thoughts and ways of the Father. But since He was God – whose thoughts and ways are beyond us – how did He explain what is beyond us? He took Himself off the top shelf and went down to a lower shelf where the people could understand. Jesus accomplished what the Father had sent Him to do.

If I could become a bird…

Jesus said to His disciples. That’s what servants do. They take a lower position to accomplish a greater good. You’ve got to do the same thing.

Paul explained it: Phil 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

Form of GodWho He was - God. Then He combined that with the Form of a bond-servant. How He operated - Servant. He was the God/Servant.

We hardly ever combine the word servant with a role of a leader: General/servant, President/servant, Pastor/servant, Elder/servant, CEO/servant, God/Servant.

It was only through that combination Jesus could accomplish the Father’s plan and be able to say to His men, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Only The God/Servant could fulfill the role as Messiah. One coin. But, for them to understand, He had to show them both sides of the coin. One side God, the other Servant.

The Kingdom of Heaven didn’t work like the kingdom of the world. In the world, the top dog gets the extra portion. In the Kingdom, the top dog gives the extra portion to others. That’s Grace.

Matt 20:25 Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant

Remember, on the last night He spent with the disciples, Jesus washed their feet?

John 13:12 So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 

Why do that the night before the crucifixion? Wasn’t the clock running down? He only had a few precious hours left. Shouldn’t He have been pouring information into the minds of His men, giving them last minute instructions? No, Jesus knew they didn’t need more information, they needed the right attitude. He was about to die, the great climax of why He came to earth, and they had yet to learn the important lesson for how He did the things He did and why and how His life was the example they’d need to follow to carry out their mission.

They were expecting a pep talk for fighting. “This is it, men. We’re fixin to go to war. This is what we signed up for. We can do this. Are you with me? Grab a sword and let’s go.” They expected a rumble. But, instead, Jesus bent down and washed their feet.

What was the lesson? The servant is more important than the position.

On 9/11, when Flt 77 hit the Pentagon, the place broke out in chaos. One plane was still in the air and they feared it was coming there. And yet they continued operating in rescue mode. There was a day care on site with 40 babies of various ages from infants to toddlers. The lady in charge tried to get her people to gather up the little ones and get them to safety. But it was overwhelming. A Marine came by and asked what he could do. She told him. He ran off. She thought he failed her, that this wasn’t worth his time with everything else going on. In a minute he returned with 30 Marines who loaded up cribs and tucked toddlers under their arms and got all the babies out of the building. They made a circle with the cribs, building an enclosure to hold in the toddlers and then made a human fence around the enclosure to protect the little ones until the parents came to get them.

Men of war, stirred to fight, yet serving the needs of babies.

That’s what this moment in the upper room meant. Regardless of what you think you ought to be doing – what position you think you deserve – you are first and foremost a servant. A servant does what needs to be done. It isn’t a job. It’s an attitude.

Phil 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus8 who humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

God the Son became Jesus the Man to take away the sins of the world and open the doorway through which children of the world can become Children of God. He was Lord of all, and yet servant to all.

Nobody wants to be the servant. Everybody wants to be served. Everybody wants to be the chief. Nobody wants to be the Indians. Everybody wants to be management. Nobody wants to be labor. So, Jesus levels the hierarchy. We’re all servants. Wait. If that’s so, then who’s in charge? Who’s the boss?

Again, Paul clarifies that for us: Col 3:23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 

Yes!

Remember how the actions of our purpose in life are all interconnected. Like the old, retired preacher in Nevada, “God’s purpose for our lives is to be where we are to be, when we are to be there, doing what we are to be doing, the way God wants it done, and doing it all for His glory.”

What are we to be doing? Serving. Not working on a to-do list where we mark things off as we complete them. We don’t serve for a moment. We serve as our lifestyle. Otherwise, we will only do what we want to do. Serve if that service fits our desire. We’ll select from a pool of opportunities only those things that appeal to us. And with that attitude, nobody will wash anybody else’s feet. And people will stop coming to church because our feet stink.

Servants don’t tell their Master what they are and are not willing to do. Servants serve at the pleasure of the Master. They are the extension of the Master’s desire. They are the gloves He places His hands inside to do His work.

TAKEAWAYS:

  1. The mind of a servant must be in agreement with the will of the Master.
  2. Since it is the Master who accomplishes His work through His servants, the servant does not place conditions on his service.
  3. The glove doesn’t tell the hand what to do; the hand controls the glove.
  4. Being a servant requires surrender to the purposes of the Master.