Congregation Shema Yisrael

Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior. -Psalm 27:9

“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your maidservant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” -I Samuel 1:15-16

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God… -Romans 1:1

Whether you call yourself a Christian or a Messianic, the concept of serving God; of serving the Messiah (Christ) isn’t something that should be foreign to you. It doesn’t matter who you are, whether you’re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or asking customers if they’d like to “supersize” the meal you’re about to serve them, if you are a believer, then you are a servant to the Most High. Even Mighty Kings like David considered themselves as servants of God, no more or less than the soldiers in the army, the Prophets, the Priests, and even humble merchants and beggars. The playing field is, or should be, level among the body of faith, relative to God, but is it?

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” -John 13:3-8

From a Christian’s point of view, the passage from John 13 is the prime example of how, in order to be a leader in the faith, you must be a servant. Certainly Yeshua, as King and Messiah, was far above washing the feet of his disciples. Peter knew this when he initially refused to let the Master wash his feet. Yet the Master was describing by example, what it is to actually be a servant, and not just to pay lip service to the role.

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this. Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. -Numbers 12:1-3

It seems hard to imagine that Moses could be described as “more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth”, when he had the responsibility to lead millions of people through the Sinai desert for 40 years and spoke “face to face” with God. You wouldn’t think that someone with that kind of stature and level of responsibility could be so humble, or even should be humble. Do we think of great and powerful leaders primarily as humble servants? Generally not. I seriously doubt that President Obama, or any other national leader is thought of as humble. We tend to think of such leaders as “dynamic” or “charismatic” or “bold”, but hardly as “humble”.

The concept of servant-hood in the Bible goes beyond serving God, though. When Hannah, the future mother of the Prophet Samuel, referred to herself as a “maidservant”, she wasn’t speaking to God, but to Eli the Priest in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Referring to oneself as a servant, was a way to show respect for the person to whom you were speaking. Certainly a Priest or Prophet of God deserves such deference. Yeshua also showed that leaders especially, should be considered servants of those they lead, and that leading is serving.

How does that work in our modern world, though? Do you see the Pastor, Rabbi, or leader of your congregation as a servant? Do they behave as servants? Are they humble in their dealings with the congregation, and with people in general? The example set by Yeshua, Moses, Paul, and many other leaders in the Bible, certainly models this type of role for us. Yet humility and servant-hood didn’t diminish their ability to lead, to inspire others to follow, and to be able to “take charge” when the situation required it.

I was inspired to write this particular article by a very simple statement. I’ve heard this statement uttered by Christians from time to time, and on each occasion, it’s always bothered me. I’ve never said anything about it, but for the past few days, I’ve felt driven to finally address the issue. Here’s an example of the statement:

I want to introduce you to Joe. He’s the one who lead me to Christ.

If you’re a Christian, you probably don’t have any problems with this quote, and may be wondering what I’m troubled about. Think about it, though. Joe (or whoever) lead someone to Christ. What does that mean and is the statement even accurate?

What does the statement mean? Probably something like, “Thanks to my conversations with Joe, I made a decision to come to faith in Jesus”, or “After talking with Joe, and listening to him tell me about his faith in Jesus, I decided to come to faith, too”, or “When I was sick, Joe came and prayed with me, talked to me about the Bible, and seeing how his life had been transformed by Jesus, I became a Christian, too”.

There’s nothing wrong with any of what I’ve just described and in fact, many believers probably have a “Joe” in their life, and an experience of coming to faith that’s somewhat like what I’ve illustrated. There seems to be something missing, though. Did “Joe” do this “leading to Christ” all by himself? Well, no. I don’t believe that based on logical or passionate arguments alone, people can be “lead” to put their faith in Christ or God. This is why secular people aren’t “converting” to Christianity or the Messianic movement in droves.

So if Joe didn’t do it, who or what does lead a person to come to faith? I suppose the answer is (or should be) amazingly obvious. Only God can lead us where He wants us to go.

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” -Acts 9:1-6

The church sees this as the beginning of Paul’s “conversion” to Christianity (though why would a Jew need to convert to a completely different religion in order to come to faith in the Jewish Messiah?), however it is also a wonderful illustration of the fact that, while people may be used to help bring about a person’s coming to faith (see Ananias as an example of that type of person in Acts 9:10-19), it’s the Master who leads people to him.

I suppose you could say that I’m splitting hairs, but as human beings, we have a “natural” tendency to give too much credit to ourselves and other people, and less credit to God and Messiah. Just take a look at the “famous” Christian or Messianic leaders, and see how many of them behave as servants, not elevating themselves, but giving (sincerely giving, not just mouthing the words) “the glory to God”.

I’m sure that my hypothetical “Joe” would feel a momentary sensation of pride to be referred to as “the person who lead me to Christ”, but hopefully Joe would then realize, it really wasn’t his doing, but the Messiah’s doing instead. We are all called upon to serve, like Ananias, and we have a role to play, but that doesn’t make us the author of the story. Being a servant means that we’re serving somebody and actually, many “somebodies”. We see from the Bible that we serve not only God, but each other. We don’t so much lead as we follow and, by the example of our lives, we demonstrate to others how to follow as well.

That makes leaders like Moses and David and Paul followers and servants, not only of God, but of the people they served. For Moses, that’s three million people, for David, that’s the entire nation of Israel, and for Paul, that’s not only the faith communities and disciples he shepherded, but anyone who has ever read his letters in the Bible over the past (nearly) 2000 years.

I have the responsibility for providing much of the teaching of the adults in my congregation. I’m also a board member, manage the congregation’s website and, as you know by reading this, create the articles for the congregation’s blog. That makes me a leader…and a servant. It’s not always an easy role, but not because of any effort I need to generate. It’s not always easy, because I have to make sure I know who really is responsible for any “success” produced by those activities. If someone complements one of my teachings, I need to remember who is responsible for giving me gifts in that area. The same goes for any complements I receive as the result of one of my blog articles.

No, I’m not just a hollow tube that has no will or animation, and the only motive power is God. A hollow tube doesn’t make choices. If water flows through it, the tube doesn’t have a say in the matter. If water stops flowing, it’s the same thing. When God “flows” through our lives for His purpose and design, we can choose to respond to God or not. Ananias had a choice, as did Paul, and for that matter, as did Moses, and David and many, many others. They chose to be servants, not only of God, but of other people. They didn’t say “It was all me”, but rather, “I am a servant of God”. The more we are used by Him for His purposes, the more we tend to “stand out”, and the greater the temptation to take credit for the activities and the result.

That’s why I would tend not to say that Joe “lead me to Christ”, because it wasn’t just Joe. Joe was being like Ananias in relation to Paul, but it was the Master who did the leading. In the rest of Paul’s narratives in the Apostolic scriptures post Acts 9, Paul doesn’t mention Ananias again…ever. He does talk about Messiah Yeshua almost constantly, though.

We are servants and ideally, humble servants, both before God and before people. If what we do for God is pull weeds out of the flower bed by the congregation building’s front door, or wash the coffee mugs after a Bible study, then it’s probably not hard to feel and be humble. On the other hand, if God, who sees we’re responsible in smaller matters, gives us responsibility over larger matters, our humility is put to the test. It’s especially put to the test when people say how great we are, or how cool we are, or what wonderful servants of the Almighty we are. We’re tempted to say something like, “You’re right, I am a really cool servant of God”. Oops. Wrong answer.

Before words like that leave our mouth, and when the thought enters our awareness, it’s important to stop and consider the author of all things. When the Master gives us greater responsibilities, we choose to be good stewards and servants. When people complement us, they are really complementing our Master and Lord.

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ -Matthew 25:23

We know we’ve really done a good job when the Master gives us a complement, but we should always remember that we are the servant, and the servant in this case, never exceeds the Master. “Do not turn your servant away”, but let me continue to serve you, in humility and in truth. Also, please let me know if I start getting a swelled head and need to be deflated a bit.