Be A Watchful and Faithful Servant

My wife and I were at the LSBC morning worship service again today. God spoke to me about 2 specific application areas during the sermon. The first was the pastor’s exhortation for us to develop the spirit of praying together as a family. I told my wife that we need to set aside regular time to pray together. Prayer helps us to lean on God rather depend on our own efforts, and brings us into the rest of God, a rest that is ever-present even if the storms of life surround us.

The second was a principle extracted from Luke 12:35-48. How do we respond to the increasing signs of the end times in the world today? The parable told by Jesus exhorts us to be a watchful and faithful servant. The willingness to serve others is the kind of spirit that we see in the leadership of Jesus. Unlike many leaders who focused more on their position and status, and who expected to be served and who liked to boss others around, Jesus demonstrated in his life what a privilege it was to be able to serve others around him. Jesus taught that the path to greatness is not in throwing our weight around but in serving the people around us.

 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:25-28)

I am deeply reminded of this basic principle once again today, a principle that so easily slips from our grasp as we grow in the social status that comes with age, career advancement and acquisition of more knowledge. There are some specific applications that I was able to share with my wife as we ask the Lord to teach us how to serve one another with the right spirit. Here are some thoughts that I have about what it means to serve one another with the right spirit:

1. Serving with a spirit of humility, realizing that all our resources and capacity to serve comes from God

2. Serving with a spirit of unconditional love, considering the interests of others with compassion and sincerity

3. Serving with a spirit of sacrificial giving, for the Lord has said that it is more blessed to give than to receive

4. Serving with a spirit of submission to authority, knowing that all authority has been appointed by God  

It is amazing how the Word of God can touch our hearts and rejuvenate our souls. By the grace of God, we can always walk forward courageously and confidently in our lives despite past failures and mistakes, because when Christ atoned for our sins at the cross, it was a once-for-all act of redemption. Because of the atonement that has been paid for by Christ, we have perfect redemption from our failures and mistakes, and God will never, never give up on us, even if we mess up with our lives and relationships from time to time.