Servants

This morning I want to reflect on the concept of servants, of being servants of Jesus Christ. You know that we use that expression a lot—servants. In certain countries, we are accustomed to calling pastors servants—the servant—even though that seems to have already become a sort of aristocratic title: “the servant.” Yet the meaning of the word is more one of total surrender, actually of slavery. And I want us to reflect a little on this: the fact that, as followers of Jesus Christ, as the Christians we are, we are servants. Say the word “servant,” okay?

You are a servant of Jesus Christ. When you came forward here one day, or in any church, and gave yourself to the Lord, you became a servant of the Lord. You did not merely become a member of a particular community; rather, what happened was that you changed categories and stations in life, and then you became a servant of Christ Jesus, a servant of God. And we are going to see what happens with that word, what it means. You know, over the next few Sundays, from time to time I will be drawing some teachings from this Epistle to the Philippians.

As I was reading this week, I was struck by that expression of the apostle Paul in chapter 1, verse 1, where Paul says, “Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints of Jesus Christ who are in Philippi,” etcetera, etcetera. He is greeting his brothers and sisters in the church at Philippi, and he identifies himself and his companion Timothy as servants of Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ said that the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and the apostles identified themselves as servants. Look, for example, at the greeting of the apostle James, who was Jesus’ brother and therefore would have had every temptation to feel like a member of an aristocracy, a member of an elite, because he was Jesus Christ’s brother in the flesh. But James himself writes in his epistle, in chapter 1, verse 1: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” He also identifies himself as a servant of God and of the one who had been his brother in the flesh, now glorified, but God Himself—a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the apostle Peter as well, in his second general epistle, chapter 1, verse 1, introduces himself as Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. That is to say, all these men, despite their exalted status as apostles and as people specially chosen and gifted by God, identified themselves as servants. Now, what connotation did that have? Because today that word does not have the same connotation it had in the first century. When these men said, “We are servants of Jesus Christ,” they were saying something very much rooted in the politics, economics, and sociology of their time. The word translated into Spanish as siervos is doulos, and the literal translation of that word doulos is actually “slaves.”

A doulos, a servant, was originally a slave. In the Greco-Roman Empire, to which Paul and James—and, by extension, all these people—belonged, slavery was a pervasive institution; it was everywhere. Many people owned slaves, and hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of people were slaves. So doulos actually meant “slaves.” And slaves, as you know—even in Europe and here, there were slaves for a long time, and it is still practiced in Africa, in the Muslim empire; there are many Muslims who enslave many people—but slavery meant that a person who was a slave was the property of his owner, of his master. He had no personal authority of his own; he belonged to someone else. His destiny, his days, the things he did—it was not for him or her to choose them. Rather, his master had priority over all those things: what time he got up, what he had to do, whether he married or not. A slave lived in his master’s house and often died there.

A master could even dispose of the lives of his slaves; he could even kill one, and it was his right. Perhaps he could not do so in a completely arbitrary way, but if the slave crossed certain lines, he could put him in prison if he tried to escape, and much violence was committed against slaves. That is to say, a slave was a person who did not have a life of his own, but belonged to his master and to the household where he lived. And the children who lived within that household were also slaves and had the same social status.

So when the apostles Paul and Peter said, “Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ,” today that word sounds harsh and terrible. No one wants to use it socially; it is not politically correct to use that word. I think that is also partly why it has been softened and “servant” is used instead. But the word was “slave of Jesus Christ,” and these men used that word to express a relationship they felt they had with Jesus Christ. They were saying, “Hey, we are slaves of Jesus Christ, with everything that implies for our lives.”

And by extension, the Bible also tells us that we are slaves of Jesus Christ—not in the terrible, dehumanizing way it once meant, because that is another matter. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “I will no longer call you slaves or servants, but I will call you friends, because the servant does not know what his master is doing.” Now, this relationship of service and enslavement to the Lord does not have—and has never had—the same degrading and humiliating connotation it has among human beings. But the essence of that condition—that our will and our freedom are subject to the prerogatives, preferences, lordship, and sovereignty of God—has never changed. What happens is that, within that total surrender, the Lord, as a benevolent master, treats us with the utmost gentleness. But that does not change our ontological status, so to speak; that is, our actual condition, the essence of our actual condition, does not change. We are servants; we are slaves of Christ Jesus, and people need to understand that.

The essence of your identity is to be a servant. Listen to that. If that sank deeply into our minds, it would change the way we exist, because nowadays people come to church, they turn to the Lord, and, as I was saying last Sunday, it is more as though God were to become our provider, the one who indulges all our whims, the one who meets our needs. And that is real—God does so many wonderful things—but that is not the essence of our relationship with God. Those are benefits that come as a consequence of a prior condition of total surrender to the Lord and of submitting everything we are.

It is one of the things that is important for us to understand in our minds, because I also believe—let me say this; it is not at all outside the focus of this reflection. I was thinking this morning about that idea that people, nowadays and especially in this culture, where many pastors need people to come to church—sometimes churches are small, we feel powerless, the culture criticizes us, churches have an inferiority complex, and there are pastors and churches who want people to come, who want the world to love us and appreciate us and know that we are not hypocrites, that we are not Pharisees—and so people come in from outside, sometimes with a sense that they are special. People come to church as customers; a culture of clientele has been created. And what is that?

Well, people come to church, and the customer is always right. I think people come to church and there is no process taking place that I believe ought to take place in every congregation and when people enter the gospel. It is as though, first, when someone comes forward here and receives the Lord, I ought to have the right to give them a couple of slaps and let them know, “Hey, you are entering a different condition in the Kingdom of God. You now enter as a servant of Jesus Christ. There is a humility and a surrender that you must have.” Because otherwise, people come and they have to be treated like Bethlehem glass. Why? Because if they do not like what you preach, they go somewhere else. They have a sense of entitlement, that if you do not meet their needs and give them the things they need or want, then look, there are plenty of other stores out there where they can shop. They go somewhere else where they will receive better service. And so we pastors live in fear of telling people what the Lord truly wants us to tell them. What a shame—and we do people terrible harm. It is true.

Because I believe that the calling of pastors—true pastors—is sometimes to tell people what they do not want to hear. Do you understand? And we need to have a big bottle of oil to rub on ourselves every time we come to preach, so that things will slide right off us, and then say what the Lord wants us to say. That is especially true in this time in which we live, brothers and sisters, when there are so many doctrines everywhere and television sets spew out a huge quantity of false teachings. The church has a terrible need for sound teaching at this time in history, and the independence of pastors is needed more than ever, as is the submission of the people who listen to the Word of the Lord.

And that means that sometimes I am going to be wrong; that is true. But you have to assume that I have the best desire to bless you when I say something. I do not say it out of anger, to hurt you, or because I want my own preferences—no. It is because I have a great desire to bless you, to be a true pastor, and to shepherd you. And so it is with all of us. Churches need people who are servants; they need a servant’s attitude; they need servants of Jesus Christ. My responsibility is to Jesus Christ, not to people. And we need servants on the other side who say, “You know what? My obligation is to listen to the Word of the Lord, not to what I like. And if this person is preaching the Word of God, then I have to listen to it and submit to it.”

So come with that sense of letting go and surrendering. Look at how Paul puts this in Galatians chapter 10, where he says: “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” One of the church’s problems is that it tries to please men nowadays, and that is why people do not want to—we believe that if we change the gospel and tell people what they want to hear, somehow they will commit themselves to the gospel, the Word of God, the doctrine of God. Yes, some will leave, but others will come. When you pay the price of preaching the Word of God over the long term—because people react; at first they get upset, and some do leave, but others say, “You know what? That truly is the Word of God. The Spirit of God is in that place,” and they stay, and the church—but first you have to pay the price.

So we are servants of Christ. This church serves Christ, and therefore we preach the gospel the Lord tells us to preach. But let us all be humble. When we come to the gospel, we have to set aside our prerogatives. Many times, I sense when people have not bowed their necks, have not lowered their heads. They are like a horse that is still untamed, and the rider wants to see when it will finally yield and lower its head. Many people come to church with their heads held high; they do not submit to the Word of God. I believe there has to be a breaking of the will. When a person is humble and teachable and allows himself to be guided, there is such a great blessing in that, brothers and sisters.

This culture does not like this matter of service, of being servants. What it emphasizes instead is independence of judgment, being your own person, being independent, “my rights.” But what I see in the gospel is entirely the opposite. In the gospel there is a matter of surrender, submission, and service, and then God raises you up, God exalts you, God lifts up the humble. Be teachable. Ask the Lord to give you a teachable heart and mind, and allow yourself to be instructed by His church. There is blessing in that. And if your pastor makes a mistake, do not worry; the Lord will deal with him, because we hope that your pastor is also submitted to the Lord and says, “Father, correct me. If I am wrong, please correct me, because I want to do Your will.” And then God will carry out His work in His time.

But finally, brothers and sisters, I encourage you to have that servant’s attitude. One of the things it tells me is this: Well, first, “Roberto, you are a servant of Christ and not of men, so preach the Word.” That is how every pastor in this congregation should be, right? “Preach. You are My servant—not a servant of the culture or of people, but a servant of My Word.” Amen. And He says to the church, “You are servants of My Word as well. When My Word rings out and you hear it, say, ‘Yes, Lord, here we are, listening attentively so that we may do whatever You want me to do.’” That is what I saw in the apostle Paul, in these people who were so surrendered: “No, I am not serving you; I am serving Christ Jesus.” That would be number one: serve; be a servant of your church. Let us abandon this attitude that says, “I am a customer.” You are not a customer. You are a servant; I am very sorry. You are a servant of this church, of the church of Christ, and of the Kingdom of God. Do not go around with this notion that, “If they do not give me what I want, then I will go to another supermarket.” No. Submit yourself, surrender yourself, serve the Lord, and serve your congregation.

So that is very important, first of all, right? Another thing about this—and this cannot be left out—you know, nowadays this culture has also been created in which pastors and evangelists are treated as a special caste. I believe that, speaking in terms of its identity, this congregation, this church, should be distinguished by one thing: everyone who works as a leader in this church—whether cell-group leaders, deacons, pastors, ushers, children’s teachers, or leaders of any department in this church—please, those of you who serve and are leaders, listen to this: you should be distinguished by a very humble and unassuming attitude, because you are a servant, not part of an elite, okay?

That means that the people who serve in this congregation and work in this church should be distinguished by their kindness toward others. I do not believe in that sort of thing; we pastors are servants. You know that in the past a hole would be pierced in slaves’ ears and a ring put through it as a sign that they were slaves. I have thought about putting a ring right here myself and showing up here with it one day, but I have not done it yet for fear that three or four of you might have a heart attack. But honestly, there is something beautiful about having a ring here that says, “I am a slave of Jesus Christ; I am not much more than that.” I do not need to drive around in a Mercedes-Benz so people will think, “Oh, what a successful pastor.” No, no, no. We are servants; we have to be humble. I repudiate today’s culture of elites and superstars.

Listen to me, God abhors that. That is why the Church is as powerless as it is in these times. Even in the best churches—often churches filled with the Holy Spirit, where the Word of God and the gifts are exalted—the pastors strut around like peacocks, helping themselves to the sheep, with these airs of grandeur and this solemn demeanor, and no one can approach them. May the Lord rebuke the devil, honestly, because that is not from God. And that brings me to this point as well, right? Being a servant means that I am the servant of others, that I serve others, and that we must distinguish ourselves by that attitude of serving others.

The apostle Paul did that. Look at 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, verse 20, because, you know, this has become so pervasive nowadays that the people themselves seem to want their pastors to go around behaving that way. Some people are not happy unless the pastor is slapping them every five minutes, and they think the pastor does not deserve respect—really—if he is not wearing a five-hundred-dollar tie and a crocodile-skin tie, and if he is not going around with the airs of a super-apostle and speaking in a voice like this—(deep voice) “God bless you, brother; the Lord is with you”—then he is not a true servant of the Lord. And often, when someone is humble, unassuming, and affable, you know, people seem to underestimate him. It is true; I have seen that many times with my own eyes, and I have experienced it. People want someone who goes around with a certain persona, wearing the mask of a great servant, so that they can then respect him and submit to his authority. And when we display the Spirit of Christ—simplicity, affability, humility—then their opinion of us declines. It is terrible.

The apostle Paul experienced that, by the way. I say this because it drove Paul crazy. He was like a rabid dog that had been slapped on the snout too many times, and he was always upset by that attitude. Look, for example, at 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, verse 20. Paul says, “You tolerate it if someone enslaves you, if someone devours you, if someone takes what is yours, if someone exalts himself, if someone slaps you in the face. To my shame I say it: we were too weak for that.” If you read that entire passage and other passages, the apostle Paul complained to the Corinthians because, he says, “You know, if someone comes along to steal your money, to ask you for large offerings, to mistreat you, and to put on airs of grandeur, you immediately kneel before him: ‘Oh, this is a great man of God.’ But then I come with a sincere heart and a meek and humble attitude, preaching the Word of Christ in a legitimate, authentic, and biblical way, and you say, ‘Oh no, look how weak he is. His letters are those of a strong man, but look, his physical presence is weak and his preaching contemptible.’ But someone else comes declaiming, gesturing, doing this and that, and putting on tremendous airs of grandeur, and then you say, ‘Oh yes, this is a great apostle of Jesus Christ.’”

And he was continually upset about this. That is why he sometimes had to say, “Look, God did this through me, and He did that.” Then he would feel ashamed and say, “You forced me to speak that way, because if I do not speak that way, then you do not believe who I am.” The Church should be the one that teaches pastors and servants of God to be unassuming and humble. That does not mean that the children of God should not be respected, but neither should we idealize them, magnify them, embellish them beyond what is fitting, or place them on a pedestal. And we pastors must reject that, repudiate it, and there should be a culture in which the most unassuming and humble-hearted person is the person who receives the greatest respect. If someone—a leader or pastor—treats you well and deals with you unassumingly, look, give that person more respect than the one who keeps you at a distance, places himself on a pedestal, and all the rest.

It is important: do not allow yourselves to be manipulated, brothers and sisters. Be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil. Many people are manipulating God’s people—on television, in churches, and in many other places—and we are cultivating this culture of grandeur and self-importance, when the Lord calls the sons and daughters of God to be humble in heart, as the apostle Paul and others were. So this is very important. Look, the Lord had no tolerance for that. I want to tell all my brothers and sisters: this church should always be characterized by leaders who are servants, leaders who are not seeking glory, adoration, or the esteem of others, although others will give them esteem when there is genuine humility.

Look at Matthew 23:5–12 and how the Lord spoke about the Pharisees. He said, “These men do their works to be seen by men.” Never do anything so that people will see you. Quite the contrary: look, if you discern that you are doing something so that people will see you, then immediately flee and do not do what you were going to do, simply as an act of discipline. Always discern the motives in your heart for the things you do. Why do you serve? Why did you move from one place to another? Why did you stand up? Why are you in the place where you are? “I am going to kill that monster of pride; I am going to make it wither away in my life.” “For they broaden their phylacteries”—those were strips of cloth—“and lengthen the fringes of their garments, and they love the places of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the marketplaces, and to have men call them, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’”

Look, when you arrive at a church and they invite you to something, sit in the back so that they will then tell you, “Come, sit up front,” instead of embarrassing you by saying, “No, that is reserved, brother; you had better sit over there.” Some people will fight over it. Look, when you arrive at a party or at someone’s house—wherever it may be—do not immediately go in and eat all the sweets and everything on the platter. Wait until you are invited. Be humble; be unassuming—so that afterward they will say, “Listen, it is not time yet; try to be a little discreet.” You have to be humble; you have to be unassuming in everything in life. Always distinguish yourself in that way. When you are invited to join a committee, do not immediately begin giving your opinion. Be discreet; wait a little while until they ask you, “What do you think?” Some people arrive and immediately begin holding forth; everyone has to know what they think right away. No. Wait, listen, familiarize yourself with the environment, and then, once you understand the context well, begin very gently at first, tentatively. Get your bearings, and then gradually earn people’s trust. Afterward they will invite you to speak, instead of your tiring them out too quickly and making them say, “No, this person has already said everything he had to say. Be quiet now; that is enough,” right?

They love having people call them rabbi. How many people want to be pastors now? Many people have an unhealthy desire to be pastors, not because God has called them, but because they have pretensions of being pastors (laughter). Everyone wants to be a pastor nowadays, and they do not realize that being a pastor is the riskiest thing in the world, because you have to speak so much that at some point you are going to make a fool of yourself; you are going to say something wrong. At some point—as the Bible says, where there are many words there is also much foolishness. That is the horror pastors face: you speak so much that you are always putting your foot in your mouth. And the Bible says, “Not many of you should become teachers, because you will receive a stricter judgment.” The more authority you have, the more is expected of you and the more God demands of you. If people knew what the responsibility of serving the Lord entails, they would not want to thrust themselves into serving the Lord; they would have to wait until the Lord called them. Yet many people want others to call them this: “Rabbi, Rabbi; Pastor, Pastor.”

“But you are not to be called Rabbi, for One is your Teacher, Christ, and you are all brothers.” I am your brother, and you are my brother and my sister. I am no greater than you. I simply occupy a position God has given me, and I fulfill it as best I can, but I am not superior to you in any way. Therefore, we are brothers and sisters. “And call no one on earth your father, for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Neither be called teachers, for One is your Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant, for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

As a church, we must create a culture of brotherhood and of serving one another. The higher a person rises, the more that person should be distinguished by humility, by being unassuming in heart, and by setting personal rights aside. Now, let me tell you that a servant also has to exercise authority, because otherwise everything becomes a free-for-all, right? Sometimes you have to establish order, exercise discipline, and take a firm stand, but it must be done in a way that betrays no pride, haughtiness, sense of superiority, or anything of that kind. Do you understand me? There is a way to establish discipline from the standpoint of the position one occupies in terms of rank, but not in terms of ontology—not on the basis of what I am, as though I were better than you or anything like that. I always have to say that people must be treated with the utmost care and the utmost dignity. Every member of this church is precious in the Lord’s sight, a son or daughter of God, and must be treated with the utmost care.

And as we carry out our duties, whatever duty you may perform—listen, brothers and sisters, if someone does not display that attitude, I do not know what to tell you: report them or something, but do not submit to that. Let us not tolerate haughtiness from a leader in this church. Speak with him or her and express your point of view, because that is not of the Kingdom of God and does not reflect this church’s preferred culture. We must have the attitude of being servants of others.

Look at the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians, chapter 9, verses 19–23. He says, “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the greater number. To the Jews I became as a Jew, and to those who are under the law, as one under the law, that I might win those who are under the law. I became weak to the weak”—verse 22—“that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. And I do this for the sake of the Gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it.” Why should we behave with that humility, that simplicity, and that gracious treatment of others in the church? For the sake of the Gospel, to lend credibility to the Gospel, because it speaks about that. The Lord continually spoke of serving others, of being servants to others: “And you call Me Lord, and you speak rightly, for so I am. But if I, who am the Lord, wash your feet, you must wash one another’s feet.”

Brothers and sisters, if that culture of serving one another became dominant in this church, how it would transform the home and husbands’ service to their wives! Listen, if your wife came home one day and found the dishes washed, she would have a heart attack—but before dying she would receive a blessing (laughter). I am joking. If, when she came home, there were a chicken waiting—not from Kentucky, but from Boston—if you went to Boston Chicken and bought a nice roasted chicken, a little container of mashed potatoes like this, another of corn, and perhaps even a little bit of sweet potatoes, also mashed, and a few cornflakes that you brought her—you know what I mean?—and you do not have to cook any of it, but serve it and set it out there with two little candles and some nice plates, listen, that woman is going to reward you afterward in an unimaginable way (laughter).

We have to serve our wives. Perhaps I am being overly dramatic—take her to Kentucky, then—but no, many times, brothers, it is not about my saying, “I am the head of the household because that is what Christ said.” And wives, likewise, be mindful of your husband’s prerogatives. Glory to God, at least someone appreciates what I am saying. You know, the Bible speaks of the woman who respects her husband. We men have fragile egos; it is because we are weak that you need to respect us. A man needs a woman who gives him preferential treatment, who makes him feel special, that he has worth, that he has authority. I understand that a woman is nourished by love and a man by respect. If you want to serve your husband, treat him with love, with respect—I was going to say reverence; okay, that is too much—but at least with respect. Make him feel that his manhood has worth and that he is a good provider; build up his masculinity instead of trampling on it. That is important.

That is serving one another. Parents have to serve their children, and their children must serve their parents as well. Listen, if a culture of service were to spread throughout this church, it would be the glory of God on Earth. Let us practice it; let us serve one another, brothers and sisters. The leaders serve the laypeople in the congregation; the laypeople lift up their leaders and say that they are doing a good job, right? It is not that they are flattering them, but they are acknowledging their good work. What a tremendous blessing. That is the atmosphere in which the Holy Spirit can do very powerful things, when there is service to one another.

So we see that, right? We are servants of Jesus Christ, as opposed to servants of men. Congregations are servants of the Word and of the Kingdom of God and therefore allow themselves to be taught by those values. Leaders are humble, unassuming servants who serve the people under them through servant leadership. Those who are served bless their leaders and make life easier for them—leaders who neither abuse nor manipulate nor oppress them—but rather admire the fact that these men and women serve them with humility and simplicity of heart, and there is blessing throughout that entire area.

Finally, the last value that follows from this—because many values flow from this culture of service—is that we are servants of righteousness and holiness. Wow, that really hurts. We are servants, and so the Bible calls us to understand that now we have to serve some very high values. Look at Romans chapter 6. Let us go to Romans chapter 6, verses 16 through 19. It says here—well, let us start with verse 15, because that is where the section begins: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?” That is what happens as well: when people are under the law, an oppressive, demanding, exacting system, oh, then they behave themselves. But then the grace of God comes, which does not treat us like slaves but with love and mercy, forgives our sins, and does not require deeds from us in order to be saved. So many people abuse that. Then Paul says: “By no means! Do you not know that if you submit yourselves to someone as slaves to obey him, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”

There are two kinds of slavery you have to choose between in your life: either you choose slavery to sin or slavery to righteousness, but you have to choose one or the other. I prefer to be a slave of righteousness. It says: “But thanks be to God that, though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered”—there is that word again, huh? It retains the idea of authority, of submission to authority, and of belonging to something greater than yourself—“and having been set free from sin, you became servants of righteousness.” Amen? You went from being a servant of the devil, of sin, and now you go on to live for the righteousness and holiness of God.

“I speak in human terms because of your human weakness. For just as you presented your members to serve uncleanness and lawlessness, so now present your members to serve righteousness, leading to sanctification.” In the same way that you threw yourself into the deep end of the pool to do evil and commit sin, now throw yourself in to pursue the holiness of God and to serve God in a pure, holy, and clean way. It is a call to complete immersion in a life of purity, holiness, and righteousness according to God’s values; there is no middle ground. I believe that in this season the Lord is calling us as a congregation to be a church that serves holiness, serves God’s values, and serves the Word. We have to plunge into the waters of holiness and righteousness because we are servants.

Look at verse 22: “But now that you have been set free from sin and made servants of God, you have sanctification as your fruit, and eternal life as the end.” We have already been set free from sin and made servants of God, and our fruit should be sanctification leading to eternal life. Look at another passage to drive this point home completely, as it should be—well, there are many, but turn with me to Matthew chapter 24, verses 42 through 51, Matthew 24:42–51. This one may not be quite as clear regarding holiness in that sense, but it does speak to us about total surrender in every aspect of our lives and about watching for our Lord’s approval.

Matthew 24:42 through 51 says: “Watch, therefore, because you do not know at what hour your Lord is to come. But know this: if the master of the house knew at what hour the thief was coming, he would watch and would not allow his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect. Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant whom his lord placed over his household to give them food at the proper time? Blessed is the servant whom his lord, when he comes, finds doing so. Truly I tell you that he will place him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says in his heart, ‘Oh, my lord is coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and even to eat and drink with drunkards, the lord of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Do you understand, my brother?

We have to live as though God could come at any moment, because many people have entered the Gospel, and it is as though we have settled into a mindset that says, “Ah, two thousand years have already gone by, and yes, Christ could come today, but He could also come a thousand years from now, so why should we concern ourselves with living at that level of total holiness?” He is going to come at any moment. “I did this the other day and no lightning bolt struck me; it did not split me in two, so I will do it again just to see.” And before we know it, we gradually fall asleep and misbehave. As it says here, we begin to abuse the house of God, where God has placed us as servants of the Lord.

It says, no, you have to live with a sense of urgency, a sense of total surrender to the Lord. You have to live as though God were continually watching and as though today itself could be the day when you appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ and have to give an account of your stewardship—of how you have behaved and how you have lived. Wow, that compels us to examine ourselves and ask whether we are living up to the Gospel that God has called us to live.

Let us ask the Lord to develop in us that complete sense of urgency, the awareness that Christ could come at any moment. We have to live that way, totally surrendered to Him, living at a level of purity in our lives. May that be the disposition of our hearts, brothers and sisters. How beautiful: servants of Jesus Christ. You are a servant of Christ; I am a servant of Christ. This is a culture; this is a church of service to the Lord. Let us ask the Lord to seal that in our hearts this morning. Amen?

Let us stand. Ask God right there to do that work in your spirit, in your heart, right now, and may this call to a culture of holiness, humility, serving one another, simplicity of heart, always looking to the Lord and asking Him, “What do You want me to do, Lord? You tell me what You desire from me, what You ask of me, and everything belongs to You,” sink deeply into you. I did not have time, my brothers and sisters, but that is another point as well: everything we have belongs to Him. Everything you have belongs to the Lord; nothing is yours—your money, your time, your body, your energy, your family, your house, your job, your profession, your future. Everything belongs first and foremost to the Lord, and you manage it with the Lord’s permission. When the Lord needs it for His purposes, you have to surrender it to the Lord for His purposes, living only for Him. You do not live for yourself. The apostle Paul says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; the life I now live, I live by faith in the One who gave Himself for me.”

If God would help us, brothers and sisters, to live as though nothing were mine and everything belonged to the Lord—when I am at work, I have to say, “No, this profession is not mine; this job is not mine. This job belongs to the Lord. This money belongs to the Lord. This woman whom I have married belongs to the Lord. These children whom I love so much belong to the Lord. Whatever God wants is what will be done in this church. This church is not mine; it belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we manage it with the utmost care because it belongs to Him.” God grant that this may be our disposition in life.

Father, help us attain that level of awareness—that everything we have and everything we are belongs to You, and that we are subject to values and to a Kingdom that is not a kingdom of false independence, but of submission, love for one another, service, humility, meekness, lifting one another up, strengthening one another, loving and encouraging one another. Father, we plead, almost desperately, that this may be the defining characteristic of this family, the Lion of Judah congregation, every day of its existence. We want to please You, Lord. We want to be a church surrendered to You, pleasing to You, desperately eager to serve You and please You alone, Lord. Help this Word to be a prophetic declaration that, like a screw, penetrates deeply into the structure of this church, shaping its government and its economy, its way of living and existing every day of its existence.

Thank You. Help us, Father. We declare Your Truth and live it now. Help us to live it now, Father. Thank You, in the name of Jesus. And the people of God say amen. God bless you, my brothers and sisters.