"Spot the servant". 2 Cor 6:1-13. WBC 5 May 2005 am
Thought you’d like this!
"I’m going away for a while. Please could you water my pot plants for me
when I’m gone. Once a day should be fine. (PPT after reading out to reveal "please water my plants while away.jpg" in My pictures\illustrations & Jokes)
Well- how do you ’spot a servant’?
It’s here in this passage- but why is Paul addressing it?
CONTEXT
He’s been talking about ’reconciliation’- and that’s because there is a need for a bit of it!
- with God (5:20 - they are believers and need to be reconciled to Him- so something’s out of kilter)
- with him. As you know
o are folks who have been discrediting him
o he’s asked them to act over someone who’s out of line and they have reacted
So he’s had to justify his own ministry as an Apostle- and a servant
- v1 he says he is a fellow- worker for GOD (clear in the way it’s written)
- v4 describes himself as a servant of God
So- we get to listen in on him justifying what a servant of God is/isn’t!
So- how do you ’spot a servant’?
- is it the person who gets invited to speak at a ’super servant seminar’… like someone I know did? (In Hawaii!)
- is it me who says ’ha! Mega servant’- when I take Robin/Liz coffee? (or to Maureen on Fri- PLEASE let me make you a cuppa so I’ve got an illustration!)
- Illustr: ’Looking for the best’. Advert for pastor of a Texas Baptist CHurch (geunine!). (’The 25,000 member Church has voted to get a co-pastor to work alongside its 78 year old former Southern Baptist convention president . The pastor said the man would have to be a fundamentalist. he added "We are seeking the finest, best, most gifted and successful, most God-blessed pastor in this universe to come here and be pastor co-equal with me
- In fact- is the servant of God the kind of person who makes a noise about it at all; "I’m gonna serve the old folks, now!"
Well
- servants here are ’servants of God’ - so ultimately only He knows and ’spots the servant’
o that is both incredibly consoling and challenging, eh?
" God knows! He knows whether you are serving Him or not- so don’t worry about people… but also don’t think you can pull the wool over His eyes!
" Illustr: praying so people can hear
" But -who are we to judge someone else’s servant?
- Secondly- it doesn’t say a lot about what someone DOES, here
" (as that will be different for different people)
o rather HOW you do it…. live… react
From this passage you spot a servant in
SUFFERING v4,5, 8-10
Actually- this is a big chunk of this text, eh?! Most of it!
- you spot a servant when the going gets tough! How they react to that
- that they keep going- because it’s God not glory they are serving
o = one of the reasons they bear such fruit… as they are ’long haulers’
And he addresses 3 kinds of tough-times serving, here
1) The stuff of life- uninvited stuff v4
"trouble, hardship and distress" (afflictions, hardships, calamities)
- those things that come our way because we are in the world and human. Uninvited
o Ilustr: watching ’why do bad things happen to good people’ thurs pm. One answer: "because they do. Why shouldn’t they. It’s how you react that counts"
- Illustr: best example I currently know is Rob Lacey. Email again about health-
o But he’s a servant of God alright. HUGE fruit! Wal-Mart
- It is there in the Bible: in Isaiah the NIV entitles him the ’suffering servant’. In fact there are 4 or 5 passages about him. And he achieves God’s powerful purposes in the suffering. Uninvited
- It’s Jesus, of course: but also maybe the OT prophet… or the people of Israel
o Though they (the Jews) didn’t understand this aspect of God’s working. But we must! Do!
2) Suffering for serving v5
The second kind of tough-times serving is the active stuff against the servant as a consequence of them serving
- as though they invited it!
It’s beatings, imprisonment, riots
- and they stick at the serving because they are serving God
o and this is people and Satan kicking against Him and the fruitfulness
- Illustr: I jest not. Those who do not believe in ’attack’ have probably never done anything warranting it! Fruitful! It’s very real. Temperature has gone up over the Feast- and some of you are bearing the heat/consequences
3) Suffering service v5
It’s the way they serve- "in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger"
In the end there are times when serving God takes a lot of work
- it’s not ALL the time. There are green pastures. There are also steep and rugged pathways… that we must tread ’rejoicingly’
- there’s no other way around it
o it takes a lot of work to get people sorted out, sometimes
o it takes a huge amount of work to bring people to faith
" 50 man-years for one person?!
- Illustr Alpha. Tiring work! Feast- gonna be work
- And the person who isn’t a servant of God (me included!) will find every reason to drop out of the race… not follow through till the fruit
o (and then feel unrewarded)
Let me reads to you from Alan Kreider. "The change of conversion and the origin of Christendom, Trinity Press 1999, p 19ff"
"A fascinating example comes from early fourth century Egypt, where press gangs were abducting peasants and shipping them down the Nile for service in the Roman legions. In Thebes the Christian church heard of conscripts in their local jail; the military authorities had put them there to prevent them form escaping before they transported them further. When the Christians heard that the prisoners were in distress, they brought them food, drink and other necessities. One of the conscripts, Pachomius, asked what was going on. The people coming to his aid, he was told, were Christians who "are merciful to everyone, including strangers". Pachomius had never heard of Christians, so he asked for more information.
"They are people who bear the name of Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and they do good to everyone, putting their hope in Him who made heaven and earth and us humans"
Inspired by the Christian’s visit and material aid, Pachomius sought as much solitude as possible in prison where he offered to God a prayer of conditional commitment: " if you will deliver me from this affliction, I will serve you all the days of my life". Shortly thereafter, Pachomius- who was to become the prime mover of early conventional monasticism- was discharged, whereupon he went to a church where he was instructed and baptised.
Next point. You spot a servant by
STANDARD OF LIVES- V6,7
Seems a strange thing to judge servanthood by- as it’s really nothing they DO… it’s about who they ARE (and they way they do, I guess)
It says here- purity, understanding, patience, kindness, sincere love… truthful speech
- they are obviously ’fruit of the Spirit’- as v6 says these things are ’in the Holy Spirit’
So- someone is a real servant of God not because they exercise ’gifts of the Spirit’ (though they must!) but rather because they exercise the fruits of the Spirit. Character is more important than giftedness
- it’s not what you do but how you do it… the spirit in which you do it… that marks out a servant of God
- zeal without character can lead to destruction!
o Illustr: I guess this is important to us as we look for a new YP. We are not just looking for someone skilled- but also spiritual and humble (like me!)
- Deacon = ’servant’. Phil 2:7 Jesus took on ’nature of a servant’
o So, greatest quality of a leaders (as well as them being able to lead!) is - servant nature/charcter
o LK 22:24 Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25 Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves
It’s an issue for all Christians. I
- lllustr: discussing with someone 2 weeks ago… something they had to work through… why a couple they knew claimed to have faith but were no different! If it works they should be. I agreed with them. (while encouraging them that salvation happens overnight but sanctification takes a lifetime)
- but if we’re no different in spirit- are we really servants of God?
The reward is there for those who serve without thought of reward
"Jesus rewards those who are serving without thought for reward"
Rudolph Bultmann
Albert Schweitzer wisely said, " I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: The ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."
Contributed by: Kent Lenard on www.sermoncentral.com
Children see this instantly. I remember reading in Leadership Magazine:
We were walking in a park with Mihai, who was probably four years old at the time. At one point he had to be taken to a public lavatory. As he left he said, ’The lady in charge is a very good Christian. She allows people to make her home smelly. She couldn’t be nicer.’ (Quoted from leadership Magazine)
The next way, here to ’spot the servant’ is
SPIRITUAL POWER V7
"in the power of God with weapons of righteousness in the right and left hand"
Yes- God gives His power….. to servants. That’s why a true servant is so fruitful
- you can spot one, not by the power of their spirits- but God’s spirit
o and there is fruit all around them. Check this out! Mark my words! There are some Christians who are just such life changers- and it’s not the noisy ones. It’s often the most silent. The servants. And wherever there is fruit you will find they are not far away.
- And this is what I’m looking for. (and striving for)
So what’s this weapons of righteousness bit?
- God’s weapons that tear down arguments- (not necc by arguing!)
- 2 Cor 10:4 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
- They are the shield in the left hand as a defence against attack and ’comeback’…
- And the sword in the right- as an offensive weapon. The sword of the spirit (Eph 6 ’which is the word of God’)
A true servant of God knows God and knows just how to make the Bible relevant to people’s lives. They disarm people’s attacks and apply it to their questions and wounds
I am looking for the power of God’s Spirit in people’s lives.
- not ’words’ Not ’Works’. But FRUIT
Real servants have it
There’s one last thing they have, that Paul mentions. One last way to ’spot the servant’
SINCERE HEARTS v11ff
Open-heartedness. Vulnerability
Paul says here- we haven’t held anything of ourselves back from you. We have opened wide our hearts to you. Because we’re trying to serve you… in God’s name
Let’s pray
O sacred king
Father, hear the prayer we offer
