God's Custodians Series

I’ve had some experience in signing contracts with various musicians over the years to do concerts in the church. Those contracts spell out the details of what each party expects, and they contain few, if any, surprises.

That’s not the case with some of the big-name entertainers. For example, Van Halen’s contract insists that “a bowl of M&Ms be provided backstage, but with every single brown M&M removed.” If the band arrived and saw any brown M&Ms in the bowl, they could cancel the concert and still receive full payment.

It sounds silly, but Van Halen had good reason to include that in their contract. Lead singer David Lee Roth explains. He says:

“Van Halen was the first band to take huge productions into tertiary, third-level markets. We'd pull up with nine 18-wheeler trucks, full of gear, where the standard was three trucks, max. And there were many, many technical errors—whether it was the girders couldn't support the weight, or the flooring would sink in, or the doors weren't big enough to move the gear through. The contract rider read like [the] Yellow Pages because there was so much equipment, and so many human beings to make it function.” So he buried a little test in the middle of the contract: Article 126, the no-brown-M&Ms clause.

Roth says, “When I would walk backstage, if I saw a brown M&M in that bowl, we'd line-check the entire production. Guaranteed you'd run into a problem.” The mistakes could be life-threatening… In Colorado, the band found that the local promoters had failed to read the weight requirements and that the staging would have fallen through the arena floor (Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto, Metropolitan Books, 2009; www. PreachingToday.com).

Jesus said, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10). Now, that principle challenges and encourages those who wish to serve God. It challenges God’s servants to pay attention to the little things, but it also encourages them, because all they have to do is pay attention to the little things.

Some people fear serving God, because they complicate it so much. But serving God is simple—just faithfully do the little things God puts before you each day. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Corinthians 4, 1 Corinthians 4, where the Bible spells God’s simple requirements for serving Him.

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful (ESV).

If you want to serve the Lord, then simply…

SERVE HIM FAITHFULLY.

Just reliably do what He tells you to do. Merely carry out His directions every day.

That means resist taking control yourself, because you are only a servant (vs.1), taking orders from the only One in charge. The word translated “servants” here is literally the word “under-rowers.” It described the slaves who rowed the huge Roman galleys. “We are not the captains of the ship,” said Paul, “but only the galley slaves who are under orders” (Warren Wiersbe).

You are only a servant, and you are only a steward (vs.1). You are only a custodian of God’s Mysteries. God’s ways seem mysterious at times, hard to understand, but God doesn’t require that you understand Him, just do what He tells you to do.

Corrie Ten Boom once received a letter from a missionary, who wrote: “Sometimes adversity tempts me to discouragement in the face of seeming failure. But I take courage and press on anew, as I remember that God does not hold me responsible for success, but for faithfulness. Jesus said, ‘Well done, you faithful servant’” (Corrie Ten Boom, Each New Day; Christianity Today, Vol. 34, no. 3; www.PreachingToday.com).

Let me tell you. That relieves the pressure! You can avoid the headaches of control in your pursuit of success. Instead, you can enjoy the blessings of compliance, leaving the results up to God.

Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30).

Serving Jesus is easy. But you must resist taking control yourself and relinquish control to Him. Just faithfully follow His simple directions, not your own complicated plans

The film (and the book) The Soloist tells the true story of an unlikely friendship between Steve Lopez, a reporter for the L.A. Times, and Nathaniel Ayers, a talented musician and homeless schizophrenic living out of a grocery cart. Lopez had been trying to come up with a story for his newspaper column, and it struck him that Ayers could be that story.

Lopez began investigating and learned Ayers had attended Juilliard for two years in the '70s before having to leave for “personal reasons,” which turned out to his sudden onset of schizophrenia. The story focuses on their friendship as Lopez tries to help Ayers get off skid row and become a productive member of society. At one point Lopez writes: