Matt's Muzings
Service--The Currency of the Kingdom
July, 2002 Volume 3, Issue 24
Yesterday, I was in an old Hawaiian church involved with the DTS students, we were washing each other's feet. These ‘feet' had been involved in long walks in the heat of the day, games focused on teamwork, and community work. These 'feet' had not been washed in days. Three days of adventure and challenge where they are pushed out of their comfort zone and began developing their teams for outreach was coming to an end. All of the students and staff were ‘ripe' as far as developing scents and smells worthy of a good washing.
As the washing was going on I sat and reflected on Jesus words, ‘the son of man came to serve and not be served'. What was it in this action of washing their feet that was so significant?
The word that struck me was the word ‘serve'. What does that mean? I was struck by the thought that service is not a ‘work' word but actually a relationship word. You can't serve if you are alone. You can only serve if there are others. Service cannot be separated from relationship.
My Servant
When God said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil." The highest compliment God gave was that Job was his servant. Job lived as God lives. And God would show how much of an expression serving is of His own life much later in Jesus.
Another thought that I was struck with was that service is related to power. In our world, the more power you have, the more you are served. It is like a currency, the more power you have in an account, the more you can get others to do what you don't want to do. Your ‘comfort' becomes the primary goal. When we have a lot of the currency of the world we can pay people to do all the humbling tasks of humanity, clean the toilets, mop the floors, sweep the walkway, make the beds, weed the yard or wash the clothes.
These ‘jobs' or ‘expressions' of our humanity are humbling and we don't like to admit how weak and vulnerable we are. That disturbs our pride and we use the currency of this world to protect ourselves from this revelation of who we are.
Jesus was absolutely opposed to the world's currency. He showed that who you are is not to be hidden. That power is not a means to get what you want. Service is the currency of His kingdom that is used to bless others. The more power you have the greater opportunity you have to serve others; that he who has the most power is actually the servant of all.
Jesus took on the role of a servant to model the Almighty God. He took the less esteemed jobs, the ones that those with worldly power and worldly value would not take. He washed the feet of his disciples to declare that no ‘job' is too low, no ‘act' too simple, no ‘weakness' too exposing, when it is an opportunity to express the currency of the kingdom of God in honoring others and God.
My prayer is, "Lord, how can I humble myself and serve people as you do? How can I use whatever power I have to bless and encourage others to walk with you?" It is a scary prayer but if we are going to disciple the nations, if we are to be like Him, then we only have one clear choice, to use his currency and not the worlds.