Extreme Servanthood

Recently my brother was telling me about their read aloud about one of my personal heroes, Clara Barton. She was called the “angel of the battlefield” during the Civil War for her nursing work during some of the bloodiest bottles in America’s history. Later, she founded and led the American Red Cross and was the first person to use the Red Cross during times of peace for disaster relief. What stood out to Josiah the most was all the things she did before these things that made her famous and changed the world. Since then I have been reflecting on the anatomy of a world changer, the people whose impacts on the world are felt long after they are gone. Each person’s story is unique, but at the same time there are principles and life choices that show up repeatedly in their lives. Often people who change the world, the pioneer missionaries, the social reformers, the church leaders, did not set out to change the world. They started out to help a few people. There are times when the bigges...

“Learn from mistakes; preferably someone else’s.” Unknown It seems that young people in the church (and pretty much everywhere else as well) are quick to stand up and point out what their predecessors did wrong. They overemphasized this… they underemphasized that… they weren’t tough enough on that sin… they were far too lenient on this other one. The battle of the generations is not new to generations X and Y and our baby booming grandparents; the tension was there between our grandparents and their grandparents and will still be there between our grandchildren and us. While peaceful co-existence and respect are important, in many ways, this is the way it’s supposed to be. We stand on the shoulders of giants; we should see farer and clearer than the giants beneath us could have imagined.   We can just never forget that we know more and see more because the generations that come before us are holding us up so high. Truth is not progressive, but our understanding of it is. For exa...

Since it is high school graduation time and so many of my young friends and siblings are seeing major changes in their lives, I thought I would post something I wrote a while ago about young adulthood and dreams. Young adulthood is a unique phase of life, for it is the only phase of life where you define yourself as what you will do, who you will be--- not what you have done or who you are. You are what you hope you will do, who you hope you will be, what you dream you will be. It is a time when it is acceptable to have done little, yet be proud of that which you have not done. It is a time when it is ok to have only dreams, and be proud of that. But will those dreams become reality or will they be left behind when the morning sun wakes us to the real world around? Will we see the change we plan on bringing or fad into the sunset as the world closes in on the desires of our hearts?   Will who we think we will be become who we really are? Or are we just lying to ourselves and othe...

A healthy view of ourselves is important. If we truly saw ourselves as God sees us, saved sinners , his beloved, his prize, his joy, ours leaps of faith would clear tall buildings. But we see through a glass darkly now, and constantly fog it up all over again with our sin, and our doubts, and our fears. But He loves us all the same. Part of a healthy view of ourselves is to understand who we are without God. For some this is hypothetical; we can say with Ruth Graham, “I have never known a time in my life when I was not a Christian.” For others it is the painful memory of a wayward son or daughter. Some of us are saved out of sins; some of us were saved from them, but we all needed and still need saved. We need God’s grace and mercy every day, every minute. And sometimes it is good to take a moment and remember why. Who we would be without the mercy of the God who loved us enough to save us. No one is good enough on their own Romans 3: 10 We have nothing to give God that He hasn’t giv...

So, how do we know what our mission is? Listen, obey, listen, obey, listen, obey, and repeat (John 14:15, James 1:22-25).   Seriously, the Christian walk (and living out our callings) is a series of steps of obedience made in faith (Hebrews 11). When they are put together by the Master Builder, they become a tour de force of His glory and love (not anything to do with us!). I think Paul’s life also shows three other characteristics of missionaries ( anyone with a mission) that can guide us in finding our missions. He had a calling, a burden, and a love for that people group or groups who are their mission (Acts 9:15, II Corinthians 12:14-16, Philippians 1:9, Ephesians 1:15-19). This is important because often in the church today, someone will go on a missions trip and come back with something that might resemble a love for those people they were with; hence, they are convinced they are called to those people. But there is no calling or burden to those people that comes with tha...

So what sets those the church typically calls missionaries apart from the rest of the church? It is not that they have a calling (the missionary part), but what they are called to (the world part). World missionaries or what the contemporary church calls missionaries are those who are called to the world.   Again, this terminology is never used in Scripture. Instead, the Bible uses phrases like “appointed as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1: 7) and “chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles” (Acts 9:15) to describe those people whose mission is the nations. The life of Paul gives us more insight into the process of someone becoming a world missionary. First, there has to be a call to it. For Paul, this happened on the road to Damascus at the time of his conversion (Acts 26:15-28); it was confirmed several days later by Ananias (Acts 9:15). This pattern of confirmation is a continuation of the Old Testament law, which says that “in the mouth of two or three witne...

I am a missionary, and so understandably, missions is important to me. So for the next few days, we are going to look at missions and some of what the Bible says about missionaries, who is a missionary, and how a person knows if they are called as a world missionary. Starting with the basics, what is a missionary?                        The Bible never uses the word missionary; it is a modern invention, but the Bible is saturated with the idea of missionaries and world missions. To me, a missionary is someone with a “mission.” And I don’t think the word mission is any different than how we would use it today when we talk about someone “being on a mission,” “having a mission,” or “his mission in life.” It is a specific purpose, exclusive to that person, given from a higher authority (God, in this case). In this sense, all Christians are missionaries in one way or another (Psalms 139, I ...

Martha is one of those biblical characters with a bad reputation. Since St. Augustine first distinguished between the Mary complex and the Martha complex in the early fourth century AD, Everyone wants to be like Mary, not Martha. Because Mary was the saint who chose the better thing, and Martha was the workaholic who couldn’t find time for Jesus in her schedule. She was the one that wanted to control everybody else. And, of course, we aren’t supposed to imitate her. But what if you already are her? Seriously, we say there is hope for anyone to change, but I’ve always wondered about someone like Martha--- someone like me--- someone who is saved and serving God, but so focuses on doing things for God. I’ve learned there are no such things as doing things for God. Either God is doing things through you or you are doing things for yourself. There is no middle ground between my agenda and God’s. It is either one or the other . In the first story of Mary and Martha, Martha was completely f...

One of those people who have shaped me the most has been Amy Carmichael. Her life and writings continue to speak to believers around the world. Amy was a radical. She saw no room for compromise in her life or the lives of those she worked with. On that subject, she wrote a book called God’s Missionary, a reflection on the mission given to the people of God. Today, I just want to share an excerpt from that book. “Comrades in this solemn fight--- this awful conflict with awful powers--- let us settle it as something that cannot be shaken: we are here to live holy, loving, lowly lives . We cannot do this unless we walk very, very, close to our Lord Jesus. Anything that would hinder us from the closest walk that is possible to us till we see Him face to face is not for us. We need to be sensitive to the first approach of the hindering thing. For the sake of the souls that may be stumbled if we turn even ever so little aside, for the sake our Master’s glory—dearer surely to us than all e...

The father of the modern missions’ movement, William Carrey made a very simple, powerful admonition, “Attempt great things for God. Expect great things from God.” In so many ways, serving God and others is nothing more complex than this. Attempt and expect. Sometimes you will mess up. Sometimes you will fail. But expect God to do something in spite of you. However, people have so many objections about why they cannot be the one to attempt or expect these things from God. This is just a list of some of these, and the truth of God’s Word to move you past your objections into his truth.   “I’m not smart enough.” God doesn’t choose the smart. He chooses the willing. I Corinthians 1: 27 God is the source of all wisdom. Go to Him. I Corinthians 2: 5-7 “I’ll mess up.” So will everyone else! Failure is the one thing that humans can be counted on for, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying. The one time in history that God needed someone perfect to do something was Calvary, and He had ...

“ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”   John 13:3-5 Hey all! Now, we are going to look at the relationship between servanthood and leadership, particularly as it was modeled in life of Jesus. Western culture’s understanding of leadership has been greatly influenced by its pluralistic and democratic roots. Leaders are to hear and respect all viewpoints and lead by the consent of the followers. If followers are displeased with the leader’s practice, they find a way to get a new leader through pressure, elections, unions, or just plain quitting. Because followers have so much power in our western understanding of leadership, leaders have to go out of their way to please the...

I know I said we would talk about servant-leadership this week, and we will, but this is any old poem I just rediscovered today, and I thought I would share it and the admonition to keep serving because one day it will be worth it all. Everything They Forgot They told me Christ should be everything and me nothing; They forgot to tell me it hurts to be invisible, They encouraged me to give up anything--- everything, But did not mention that it meant all and then some, They told me God loves a heart that’s kind and humble, But missed the embarrassment and annoyances there too, They forgot to tell me all these things I know they knew. The preached the beauty of fasting alone with God, But didn’t warn me I would get distracted and hungry. They said I should live for heaven’s praise and laud, But forgot my earthly ears can’t hear heaven’s sounds yet. They taught me to fight the good fight valiantly, But never ever said I would get tired there too. They forgot to tell me all th...

Just a quick poem to finish out the week. Next week, we'll look at the relationship between serving and leadership, so stay tuned! Raging Sea of Love We asked for your love to come in like a raging se a, But what we wanted was a quiet mountain stream. One that we could build our sandcastles beside, With all the world’s decorations, pillars and beams, With the water flowing gently--- not too deep or wide, Just close enough to hear the water trickling down, And far enough from the coast high up on mountain ground, To fool ourselves into thinking it’s the ocean’s roar. We listen with rapt attention to the seamen’s lore, Thinking we know what the great captains know of. What they mean when they talk about the waves they felt, As their eyes looked at the endless water of God’s love, Which caused their flesh to die and their hearts to melt. We congratulate each other; stepping in the stream, Never daring to go too far from the shore to dream, and play the great sea trav...

Self-denial is a foundation attribute of Christ's life and what our Christian life should be, but it is really spoken about or practiced in the church. We deny the importance of self denial--- denying our wants and desires for the sake of someone else--- by our actions. In his book, The Imitation of Christ, Thomas A Kempis give a much better explanation of this then I ever could, so I'll just pass on what he had to say about it. From Thomas a Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ (slightly modernized for increased readability) “Jesus has many lovers of his heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of his cross. He has many desirous of comfort, but few of tribulation. He finds many companions at his table, but few of his abstinence. All desire to rejoice with him, few are willing to endure anything for him, or with him. Many follow Jesus unto the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of His passion. Many reverence his miracles, few follow the humiliation of his cross. Many l...

Hey all! Hope you had a great Easter. This week on Extreme Servanthood, we are going to finish up beliefs that get in the way of Christians serving, so stay tuned! I love the Holy Spirit. He is a member of the immortal Godhead, whom I love and serve. He is our Comforter, Counselor, Teacher, and Intercessor. The Holy Spirit is an ever present indwelling reality in the life of a believer, but Scripture gives us lots of examples of times when people had very powerful encounters with the Holy Spirit--- Pentecost, Saul’s conversion, Philip in Samaria. There are times when the Holy Spirit chooses to make his presence known in powerful ways. Depending on your denomination, these power encounters, as some call them, may happen in different ways. It happens a lot during worship. Sometimes the Spirit will touch someone during a sermon. Some churches have altar calls or sharing times when the Spirit can move. Unfortunately, these power encounters are not always so powerful. They often don’t le...

For this Easter season, I would just like to share some reflections on the greatest servant of all: God himself in a short “story” I wrote awhile back on the fictional origins of his name, The Rose of Sharon. Humankind has often speculated what a perfect world would be like. Today it seems it can be nothing more than imagination. For our world is certainly not perfect. Everyday the news carries another account of bloodshed in some far away land--- or on a neighboring street. Our homes themselves are pictures of chaos and sin: fathers deserting their families, mothers rejecting their own children, siblings at each other’s throats, and teenagers leaving for the promises of this world. What a paradise, indeed. But once. Once there was a paradise. A place without evil, without pain, without anger, or bitterness, or hatred. A place where mankind and creation lived in peace together. But above all, a place where God walked. Where He came to see His creation. His masterpiece of perfection. ...