Morning Moments

To serve or to be served; that is the question.

Jesus faced a great deal of pressure to be served. Those among the Jews who expected Him to break the yoke of Roman rule and establish His kingdom in the incarnation pressured Him to BE served. Those of His disciples, such as Peter, in John 13, wanted Him to BE served. “Are you going to wash MY feet?...Thou shall NEVER wash MY feet.” Peter is saying, “I need to be serving you, not you serving me.”

Another example is that of the disciples when they asked Jesus, “Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” They wanted Him to rule, not serve.

Make no mistake about it, HE WILL RULE, but then He came to serve and to sacrifice His life for us. He will come again to rule and we shall rule with Him. The first coming was as the Sacrificial Lamb, the second coming as the Sovereign Lord.

Jesus made it perfectly clear in the John 13 passage that the disciples DID NOT understand what He was doing. Think about it! What was it they did not understand? What was it NOT to understand? Jesus washed their feet which was the custom of a host for the guests.

What they DID NOT understand was the SERVING part. Many of us don’t understand that either. Today’s preacher often thinks he should be served. Many see themselves as CEOs of the church, but Jesus rebuked the disciples who wanted to be seen, but did not wish to be serving. Jesus said (and if I am not mistaken the servant is not above his LORD), “I came not to be served, but to serve and to give…”

In truth, most of the church today seems to want to BE served. How sad! Jesus said, “He that is lord of all must serve all.” In a brief time when I was attending rather than pasturing, I told my pastor that I would gladly shine his shoes for him. He refused, but I was sincere. Now that doesn’t make me ANYTHING but obedient. By the way, whose shoes have you shined lately?

Anybody can do the showy stuff, but everybody MUST do the serving stuff! Jesus never called anybody to a position that does not include serving others. It is the love of God IN us that prompts us to serve. It is human nature to want to be served, so we substitute giving and a thousand other things for actual serving.

May God teach us to SERVE one another, rather than expect others to serve us.
It is true in the home, the church, and the world. We must serve our mates, serve our Lord in the church, and serve our community. JESUS DID! Let’s not just think about it or preach about it, let’s just do it.

God has called NONE of us to be "benevolent dictators", but He has called ALL of us to be servants.

BLESSINGS!