Latest / Finding God at Work / Episode 11: Servant

Transcript

Episode 11: Servant · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  In our current series, Imagining Work, we're asking
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  a question, what story about work am I
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  living in?
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  And we're looking at key images of Scripture
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  that can help us think about what story
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  about work is God telling on the pages
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  of Scripture.
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  And today's image is servant.
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  So, this is kind of a part two
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  of the image of king from the last
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  episode, and in the last episode we talked
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  primarily about the perils of kingship, how not
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  many of us should presume to take roles
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  of authority because our heart is the hinge
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  on which our influence turns.
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  And the question is, how do we deal
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  with that heart and the influence that we
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  do all have?
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  We all have our own little kingdom.
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  Well, in many ways, servant is the antidote
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  to the perils of kingship.
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  The image of servant is what shows us
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  how do we get to a place where
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  we can exercise authority in a way that's
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  safe and healthy and that serves God and
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  other people.
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  Now, when we hear the word servant, we
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  might immediately jump to thinking about serving other
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  people, and that is, of course, appropriate and
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  a big component of what Scripture says about
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  service.
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  But the key thing about a servant is
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  that the servant does their master's bidding.
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  And this is hard for us to think
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  about in an egalitarian society where we don't
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  have servants per se anymore.
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  But I was thinking of an analogy, and
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  I thought of executive assistants.
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  So I've been an executive assistant several times
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  in my life.
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  Most recently, I was executive assistant to president
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  of a mortgage company named Kevin.
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  And Kevin was great.
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  He gave me a voice.
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  He let me be creative.
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  He let me use my gifts as a
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  full-fledged human being in his eyes.
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  But I understood that my job was not
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  to do what Chris wanted to do.
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  My job was to do what Kevin wanted
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  to do.
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  My job was to make the will of
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  Kevin so.
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  And that's what it means to be an
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  assistant.
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  It was to take his agenda and concretize
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  it, make it realize, make it so.
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  And that was fun and energizing.
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  But it sometimes meant I had to give
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  up what I wanted to do in order
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  to do what Kevin wanted to do as
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  a good assistant, as a good servant.
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  It was my job to do my master's
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  bidding, so to speak.
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  And so that's actually the key thing is
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  the relationship between the servant and the master.
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  We're so used in our society to think
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  about, oh, like, I'm going to serve on
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  a team, but I still get to choose
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  what team I serve on, or I'm going
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  to go serve my neighbor by doing something
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  for them.
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  But that's still my free choice to do
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  that.
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  The locus of control is still in my
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  hands.
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  But the biblical concept of servanthood is different.
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  The biblical concept of servanthood puts the locus
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  of control in the hands of the master,
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  and we have to respond to our master's
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  will.
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  So last time we looked at King Jeroboam
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  and how he held more tightly to his
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  authority than he held tightly to the Lord.
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  He was willing to let go of the
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  Lord in order to hold on to the
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  authority that had been given to him.
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  And this is a pitfall that many, many
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  different people have fallen into.
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  We see it tragically among pastoral leaders again
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  and again.
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  Just a day ago, I read another headline
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  of a pastor of a church where there
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  was vibrant ministry and the Holy Spirit was
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  doing things, and yet now it's come to
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  light.
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  There's credible allegations.
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  He sexually abused several women on his staff
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  team over several years.
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  And obviously, without even saying the name of
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  this leader, you can probably think of four
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  or five names of people who fit that
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  bill just in pastoral leadership within the past
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  several years.
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  And what a crisis we seem to be
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  in of people whose role in life, whose
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  charge from the Lord is to shepherd other
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  people into having Christlike hearts themselves again and
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  again have somehow let go of life with
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  God and embraced a duplicity and an abuse
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  of power.
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  There's more to why that is and how
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  we can unpack that particular problem than we
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  can get into right now.
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  But suffice it to say, they're falling into
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  the same trap as Jeroboam.
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  In some way, they're holding more tightly to
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  their authority or to their vision of what
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  they have to accomplish than they're holding tightly
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  to the Lord himself.
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  And so when we think about how do
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  we face this Jeroboam temptation, how do we
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  avoid falling into that pitfall?
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  Jesus is our guide.
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  So we're going to go right to the
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  example of Jesus in this episode, looking at
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  Matthew chapter three.
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  So in Matthew chapter three, we have a
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  kingship temptation that Jesus faces and he offers
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  a servant solution.
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  So this is when Jesus is in the
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  desert.
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  He's preparing to start his ministry and the
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  devil comes to him and tempts him three
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  times and the third time kind of the
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  devil's last shot to see if he can
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  get to Jesus is a kingship temptation starting
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  in verse eight.
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  Again, the devil took him to a very
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  high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms
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  of the world and their splendor.
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  All this I will give you, he said,
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  if you will bow down and worship me.
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  Jesus said to him, away from me, Satan,
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  for it is written, worship the Lord your
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  God and serve him only.
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  Then the devil left him and angels came
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  and attended him.
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  So you see this dynamic here.
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  The devil is saying, Jesus, you can have
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  authority.
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  I can give you authority.
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  I can give you what you want, the
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  kingdoms of the earth, because that is the
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  destiny of Jesus to inherit the kingdoms of
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  the earth.
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  Is it not?
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  The devil is promising Jesus what is rightly
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  going to be under Jesus's purview and authority
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  in the timing of God, but he's offering
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  it the quick and easy way.
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  He's offering it.
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  If you just worship me right now, it'll
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  be yours right away.
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  And Jesus's response is not to argue the
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  point about timing, but to say, it's about
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  who you're worshiping.
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  It's about who you're serving.
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  He says, worship the Lord your God and
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  serve him only.
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  What gets Jesus out of this bind is
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  his commitment to be a servant to his
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  master, his father, the Lord.
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  So even for Jesus, the only safe place
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  for him to exercise his authority is under
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  the authority of his father.
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  That's where he goes for safety when he's
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  tempted as I'm under the authority of my
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  father.
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  I will not do anything that violates the
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  authority of my father.
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  You would think if there was any human
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  being whom we could trust to just do
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  his own thing, it would be Jesus.
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  And yet Jesus refuses to do that.
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  Jesus refuses to just do his own thing.
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  And we see this very clearly in John
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  chapter five, starting in verse 19.
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  I tell you the truth, the son can
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  do nothing by himself.
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  He can do only what he sees his
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  father doing because whatever the father does, the
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  son also does.
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  And then a few verses later, I tell
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  you the truth.
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  A time is coming and has now come
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  when the dead will hear the son of
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  God and those who hear will live for
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  as the father has life in himself.
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  So he has granted the son to have
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  life in himself and he has given him
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  authority to judge because he is the son
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  of man.
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  And a few verses later by myself, I
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  can do nothing.
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  I judge only as I hear and my
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  judgment is just for I seek not to
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  please myself, but him who sent me.
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  So these verses are really counterintuitive.
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  If they weren't in the Bible, nobody would
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  have thought to put them there because we
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  would think, oh yeah, Jesus can do his
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  own will and that's good because Jesus's will
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  is good.
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  But Jesus is saying that his aim is
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  not to please himself, but to please the
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  one who sent him, that even the authority
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  to have life in himself is granted him
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  by the father.
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  And Jesus exercises that authority to raise the
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  dead, to save sinners from sin and from
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  death.
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  As he said, a time is coming and
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  has now come when the dead will hear
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  the voice of the son of God and
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  those who hear will live.
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  It's beautiful poetic encapsulation of the entirety of
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  Jesus's ministry, that that's what he does.
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  He liberates us from death.
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  And yet even that is grounded under the
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  authority of the father.
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  Jesus does nothing by himself.
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  He only does what he sees the father
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  doing.
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  His entire ministry is under that banner of
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  the father's authority.
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  And so as we think about the kingship
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  dynamic that we were looking at, again, the
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  hinge that influence turns on is the heart.
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  Well, that's true for Jesus's heart too.
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  What's, what's the character of Jesus's heart?
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  What is most true about his character?
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  Well, it's obviously a character of love, but
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  the first object of Jesus's love is his
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  father, that he has a heart that chooses
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  to do his father's will rather than his
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  own will.
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  He's a servant who does his master's bidding.
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  And of course, the culmination of this is
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  the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prays, not
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  my will, but yours be done.
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  And so even though Jesus is king, he's
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  a king with the heart of a servant,
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  a heart that says yes to the master.
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  And that's actually really good news for us
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  in our lives and our vocation at work,
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  because we have to think about, okay, how
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  do I not fall into the Jeroboam temptation?
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  How do I not become somebody who's going
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  to exercise authority in a way that's destructive
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  towards other people?
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  Well, Jesus's solution for this is to give
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  us a heart like his.
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  If he's a king with the heart of
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  a servant, he can take our hearts and
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  change those to be more like his.
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  And we see this elsewhere in scripture in
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  the teaching of Jesus.
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  Think about when in the parable of the
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  talents or in the gospel of Luke, it's
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  the 10 minas, minas like a monetary unit
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  worth about three months wages.
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  The king or the master entrusts the servants
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  with money, then he goes away, the servants
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  invest it or they don't.
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  And then the king comes back.
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  And in the gospel of Luke, there's this
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  verse that puts it so poignantly in the
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  way that the master responds to the servant.
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  He says, well done, my good servant, because
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  you have been trustworthy in a very small
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  matter, take charge of 10 cities.
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  So the master is looking at the character
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  of the servant's heart and he's saying, ah,
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  you were faithful, faithful as a character word.
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  You were faithful in a small matter.
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  Now, because I've seen your heart, because I've
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  seen what it's like, I can trust you
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  with more.
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  I can put you over 10 cities.
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  And that's a really astounding response that he
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  was investing this money and now he's going
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  to be like the ruler over 10 cities.
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  And Dallas Willard, writer and philosopher whose work
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  we often go to in this podcast, he
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  has this great turn of phrase where he
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  invites us to think about that.
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  He says, perhaps it would be a good
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  exercise for each of us to ask ourselves,
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  really, how many cities could I now govern
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  under God?
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  If, for example, Baltimore or Liverpool were turned
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  over to me with power to do what
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  I want with it, how would things turn
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  out?
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  That's from Dallas's book, The Divine Conspiracy.
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  And that's really the question.
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  What's in our heart such that God could
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  trust us with something?
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  What kind of authority could God give us
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  that we would actually do well with if
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  we had the opportunity?
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  And so Jesus's plan, because he has the
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  heart of a servant, is to make our
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  heart more like his, to turn his servants
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  into the kind of people who can be
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  kings, because their heart can bear the weight
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  of authority well.
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  And this is what we ultimately see promised
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  in the book of Revelation, the 24 elders
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  who kind of represent the leaders of the
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  people of God.
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  They are worshipping Jesus and then they're talking
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  about what Jesus has done among the people.
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  And they say, you have made them to
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  be a kingdom and priests to serve our
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  God, and they will reign on the earth.
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  That's our destiny as followers of Jesus, is
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  to reign on the earth.
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  But how are we reigning?
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  It says, a kingdom and priests to serve
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  our God.
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  We're reigning because we have the character of
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  people who say yes to the master.
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  We're reigning with the heart of a servant.
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  We're being entrusted by God with more over
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  time because he sees the character of our
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  heart and because he's changing it.
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  So what does that mean for our lives
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  at work?
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  Well, I think we can look at kind
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  of two postures when it comes to our
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  work and our career, and it's the Jeroboam
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  posture, which is grasping tightly to authority, grasping
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  tightly to what you think your work is
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  going to give you, looking out for number
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  one, pressing your own advantage, not trusting that
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  God will take care of things unless you
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  really make sure that they're taken care of.
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  Versus an open handed posture of the servant,
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  the servant who says, not my will, but
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  yours be done, which requires the faith to
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  trust that God will come through for us,
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  that he will take care of us.
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  And that's the posture of saying, I'm waiting
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  for the King to come back and see
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  what I've done, to see my heart, and
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  then to entrust me with more, that God
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  is doing his work in us while we
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  carry out our daily tasks at work.
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  And so really, ultimately, it's the posture of
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  patience, of trusting that God is doing his
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  work day by day, as we do ours,
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  even if for the time, it seems like
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  very little, that we would be faithful in
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  that little, whatever it is, trusting that God
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  will bring much in his time.
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  Lord Jesus, you are the King with a
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  servant's heart.
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  We want you to make our hearts like
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  yours.
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  Show us how we can participate in what
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  you are doing.
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  Show us how we can trust that you
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  are working in our work.
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  And as you work in us, let us
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  do our work with you.
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  Thanks for listening.
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• 14:04
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• 14:07
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