Posted by: Anna Ever been told you have a servant's heart? Do you like serving and helping others? I do, oftentimes. As the introvert I am, I enjoy those behind-the-scenes tasks such as stacking chairs or cleaning to help out our church, and that sort of thing. I won't and can't claim to have a servant's heart, necessarily, but I did always consider myself 'okay' at serving others. Until the other day. Randomly, I was hit by a sudden thought. Okay, so it wasn't randomly. I was thinking about someone I know, and how I felt like that person wasn't necessarily being a very good friend to me. It was as I was thinking that that I suddenly realized something. . . Shouldn't I be more concerned with whether or not I'm being a good friend to that person, than if they're being a good friend to me? Shouldn't their needs be first in my mind? The more I thought about it, the more I realized I do not have a servant's heart, and that most likely, few do. I think that just about everything we do has an underlying motive of me. Our culture and society is so I-focused. Everything is supposed to be about my accomplishments, my looks, my qualities, my abilities. Who are the celebrities in the world? Are they the ones serving, or the ones being served? Who are the esteemed in the world? The ones with wealth and skill, or the ones with humility and meekness? Who are the ones we look to? Those that are 'cool', and those that we can gain something from, or those that are weak, and need our help? Pretty soon, it became clear to me that just about everything I do has a secret, even subconscious, aim of personal gain. Asking if I can help with something? Or doing something unexpected for my mom? How often do I do that with the goal of getting praise or attention? I'm sure I'm not alone. We all crave recognition, and we know that oftentimes, the way to get it is service. Which is why it's not so surprising that our 'servant's heart' has a limit. . . nobody's around, or nobody's going to ever know you took the time to do something for them? Then why bother. Or, let's say the service will actually get you scorn. Then will you do it? Or is that were someone else can play humble? In light of this realization, I spent half an hour the next morning flipping through the New Testament. What I found was a noticeable focus on serving others. I'm sure I don't need to tell you we are called to be humble, and to put others first. I'm sure you know that we're told to serve others multiple times in the Bible. But has it ever struck you just how many times? Or how it's actually a theme throughout? Here's a few verses I found that very clearly pointed toward serving others. "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to serve the flesh, but through love serve one another." -Galatians 5:13 "Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor." -1 Corinthians 10:24 "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." -Philippians 2:3-4 To me, those pretty obviously say that serving one another shouldn't be for our own exaltation. . . it should be done out of love and humility. And that's a hard one! Easier said than done, I totally agree! Yet why is it so hard? Pride. Everyone has pride. Even the shy, insecure kid or that friend of yours that is simply as sweet and kind and gentle as they come. Though there are certainly those that are more so than others, everyone struggles with pride. Really though. . . none of us have a single thing worth being proud of. Stuff? Money? What's that worth? As soon as you die, it's gone. And even while you're here, what does it gain you? Some fun, some luxury, some fame maybe? Most of that just leads to less joy and contentment than if you didn't have it. And how about skills and personality qualities? Aren't those gifts from God? How can we boast of that? Or our faith? Definitely God's doing, not ours! Only by His grace are we saved, so that none may boast. And think about it. . . Jesus totally had a great reason for pride, yet is the perfect example of humility, and of serving others. His entire life was spent serving others. His life was for us, His death was for us. He served us. Which is why it really is a theme in the New Testament- serve one another. Not just because of the verses you find that specifically say it. . . so much of what we're told in Paul and the other apostle's letters can be summed up as: love and serve! Check out these verses, which I'm guessing all of you will be familiar with. "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection, Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; . . . Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly." -Romans 12:9-16 "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." -Colossians 3:12-14 Can't a lot of that be described as loving and serving one another? Loving with brotherly affection, outdoing in showing honor, contribute to the needs and show hospitality, bless others, associate with the lowly, have kindness and patience, forgive, love, and more. Doesn't that sound like putting others first? Like caring for others, above yourself? And those aren't the only examples I have. Seriously. Flip through the New Testament, particularly Paul's letters. Almost whenever he's talking about what life as a Christian should look like, you can find the theme of love and serve. That, I think, is such a big part of our faith and our walk with God, yet easily and even accidentally overlooked! Which isn't that surprising, in a culture of "I" and "Me", like I said. And the other thing is, I think sometimes Christians have plenty of a go-get-em attitude, but not enough of the servant's heart thing. There's a lot of emphasis on evangelism, but less on serving others. Yet really, I think serving others is evangelism. All that said, I've had to take a hard look at my motives and priorities in a lot of areas, and my focus: how often it's on me instead of God and others. I need to work on it as much as anyone, perhaps more. I get caught up in my own problems, and I'm not always very good at being the friend I should. Like I said earlier, am I more interested in what I can do for my friends, or what my friends can do for me? How about a Dr. Martin Luther King quote to end? "Everybody can be great. . . because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love." "Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love." -Ephesians 4:1-3
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Posted by: Anna In my post on grace, I went over the fact that we are saved by grace through faith, not by what we do. And I believe that. If you believe your Bible, you pretty much have to- it’s made quite clear! However. I do not find it easy to believe it, at least not easy to truly believe it. To trust it. Our legalistic mindset is what makes it tough. We judge people (and ourselves) by what we do, by what we say, by who we are. All of us do. Let’s say you meet a missionary who has be serving in Africa for the last five years. But a few minutes before that, you met a person that’s only been a Christian for a year. They’re still struggling to get out of all the sin they were enslaved to before accepting Christ. Who are you more likely to be impressed by, to admire, to think of as a ‘good Christian’? Well, if you don’t feel like answering, I will: the missionary! It’s just our natural instinct. Wrong, but natural. The fact that we are saved by grace through faith, not through works, means that the struggling new Christian is loved and accepted by God just as much as the missionary. Which is, let’s see. . . AWESOME. I’ve been a Christian my whole life, but I still probably fall closer on the scale to the new Christian than the missionary. So, to know that I really am just as loved by God as the missionary, despite my shortcomings and failings, because I have been saved by grace through faith, is really pretty great. And that’s what it comes down to. Salvation is not the list of do’s and don’ts, it is not who you are, but Who He is. It’s not what you did, it’s what He did. Alright, post over? Not quite. Ever read James? I’m sure you have. I’m going to assume you haven’t memorized it though, so check these verses out. “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James 2:14-17 Whoa! Contradiction! “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 Now, I do not claim in any way to have all this figured out. I’ve been spending the last few days collecting verses on whether or not we are judged by what we do, and ever since I read (and actually understood) that verse in James a year or two ago, I’ve been muddling through how to make both work on and off. And sometimes I still find other aspects of this topic confusing, but here's what I've got on the seeming contradiction between James and Paul. I think what James was pointing to is the genuineness of our faith. Did you know that three-quarters of Americans claim to be Christians? Okay, well now you know that, so let me ask you another question. . . by looking at our society and culture today, would you make the same estimate? Would you think that three-quarters of the people you meet are devoted followers of Jesus Christ? I wouldn’t. Honestly, the more I learn of the world and the people in it, the more the fallenness of mankind leaves me dumbfounded and ashamed. I don’t know about you, but my experience is that more than a quarter of the people out there don’t quite act like Christians. Now I’m not necessary excluding myself from that. I hope I wouldn’t qualify as one of those non-Christian Christians, and I’m striving to not be one, but I’m all too aware of how short I fall. Don't we all? Which is why it’s really, really great that we’re saved by grace and not by works! Okay, but back to it. By grace through faith. The faith is a biggy. If it were only by grace, everyone would be saved, which wouldn’t work because God is perfect and can’t tolerate sin as such, but that’s not what I’m on for this post, so back to it once more! The fact that we are saved by grace through faith is what Paul teaches us in Romans. Think of what James teaches us is as what faith is. But really, I think Paul talks about it too, just in more subtle way. “. . . present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” Romans 6:13 This verse is in the midst of Paul’s by-grace-through-faith message, and I think it pretty well says that, as those saved by grace through faith, we are to present ourselves to God as instruments for righteousness. Wouldn’t that mean serving him, which would mean good works? Or later on in Romans. . . “. . . present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1 That says basically the same thing- to present ourselves to God as a living sacrifices, to let Him use us. To let him work through us. And of course, after that, Paul goes into the section that is basically a how-to of Christianity. “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, but be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” Romans 12:9-13 And even after that, he talks about blessing those who persecute you, submission to the authorities, fulfilling the law through love, not judging one another, not causing one another to stumble. If all that isn’t telling us to live our faith and not just speak it, then I don’t know what is. Back to James. “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without given them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” James 2:14-18 Let’s break that down. The gist of it: how can you claim to have faith, if there is no proof of that faith through works? By works, James means the things Paul talks about. I don’t think repeating a certain prayer so many times, or touching a holy artifact, is going to ‘prove’ your faith. But loving your brothers and sisters in Christ genuinely, showing honor, serving the Lord, showing hospitality, not judging one another. . . those are all works. Or as James says, giving a brother or sister clothes and food when they are lacking. As he says, what’s the point of smiling and saying with great confidence: “Go, be warmed and filled, hunger no more.” if you don’t make it so that they can be warm and can be filled? Perhaps the most powerful is the last verse- “But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works’. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” What does that mean? Well let’s say Billy-Bob tells me he's a Christian. I look at him a second, and say, “Prove it.” Suddenly he's either a smidge nervous, glancing around and shuffling his feet, or he smiles and nods. “Well,” he says, “I have faith.” “Okay, show me your faith.” I reply. That’s where Billy-Bob hopefully will point to how he serves God with his life. Otherwise, how can he sincerely claim to have faith? If someone you’re talking to is swearing, stealing something, and being an all-around jerk, and turns and says to you they’re a Christian, would you believe it? Okay, time for another clarification. I’m not saying anyone who doesn’t have a certain amount of stuff they do to serve God doesn’t have faith. And I’m not saying everyone who is a bit rough around the edges doesn’t have faith. I’m saying that genuine faith leads us to obedience and service to God. That when we’re truly on fire for Christ, we want to serve Him. We want to be living sacrifices, we want to be instruments for righteousness. We want our faith to shine through our works. We want to be the lights in the world. That’s why we are saved by grace through faith, but also why our faith is evident through our works. We are not saved by works, we are saved by faith, which leads us to service to God- or works. I really don’t want to give the impression that we’re saved by works; that’s not true. If we were, then Jesus’ death and resurrection was purposeless, since we wouldn’t need it. We are saved by grace through faith, not by works. Simple. However, we’ve got to walk the walk, not just talk the talk! (is that even how that phrase goes?) We are called to be living sacrifices to God, which means that true faith means we desire--above all else, even--to glorify Him, and strive for it. Our faith isn’t a life motto, it’s a lifestyle. So how about we start living that faith? "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ . . . For by grace you have been saved through faith." ~Ephesians 2:4-8 |
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