Author: art rogers
Spiritual Disciplines: Service
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 @ 12:01 am
Check out the full crew of Spiritual Disciplines bloggers at Joe Kennedy’s fraggelriffic blog, Word’s Are Not Enough: Live from New Orleans.
Every person is a leader. We all lead, but the question is always “Which way are you leading?”
Another pertinent question is “How are you leading?”
24When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25Jesus 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. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Matt. 20:24-28
The essence of our relationship to Christ is service. It is who He was and who He has specifically said that we should be.
The heart of service is that we would offer ourselves for the betterment of others, which is in opposition to the Gentiles in the above Scripture, who used those under them for their own benefit.
As a minister, it took me a long time to learn this lesson. I started out twenty years ago with the idea that I was in charge. Frankly, I held that idea through the next 14 years to varying degrees – which is why I think God never let me be a Lead Pastor until this last year. I only started learning this lesson 6 years ago.
The Pastor as authoritarian leadership model that has been so prevalent over the last generation has had a horrible impact, in my opinion, on the church. I have suffered under such leadership as a staff member, and that is one of the best reasons for me to attempt to avoid it at every turn.
As I started out with, however, service is a discipline for every Christian, as we are all leaders.
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September 25th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
I like your point about leadership and how it relates to service.
good post
September 25th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
SV (Paul)
Thanks.
For those who don’t know, Paul del Signore (sacred vapor) is one of those blogging the Spiritual Disciplines. You should check him out. He is always succinct, but has something significant to say.
September 25th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
At a week-end (out of town) retreat a few years ago, I was impacted by the speaker when he stressed that, as Christians, we should leave our rooms nicer than we found them. They should be swept clean so the housekeepers were not caused undue stress in having to clean up after us.
This has carried over into other areas as well, such as eating out. I like to leave the table as clean as possible with all the dishes piled as close together as possible in order to make cleaning the table easier after we leave. I like to wipe it down too, if possible. There are so many opportunities to bless others by serving them when they least expect it.
I am grateful for this impact on my life. It has become a huge blessing to me and has opened my eyes to see from others’ perspective. And not to think so much of myself!
I appreciate what you have said above. I am sure your congregants love your servant heart.