August 16, 2011 … Serving Your Master

Passage of the Day: Matthew 6: 24 … "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

My Journal for Today: Jesus’ teaching and exhortation in today’s passage is straight forward and logical. He says NOBODY can be a slave to two masters. The Greek word for “nobody” means ……… NOBODY!

Now, in today’s world, many people are into “multi-tasking;” and many people get quite good at this method of getting things done (even though this can be a recipe for “burnout,” which is another lesson entirely!). But handling two tasks simultaneously is not what Jesus is teaching about. When he uses to the concept “serve” in today’s teaching, He is referring to the Greek word “douleuo,” which clearly refers to being a “slave” to a master. And Jesus is saying that we cannot be a slave or servant (i.e., disciple) to Himself and to any other worldly or fleshly master, such as money (in this instance). For in bowing down and serving money or some worldly pleasure as our master, we are deferring our allegiance to Satan, the world, or self, which means that we cannot serve God at the same time.

The world and Satan, the world’s [temporary] master, demands that their followers be proud, to walk by sight, to seek the things of the world, and to be anxious over everything, having no power except that provided by Satan. But our Lord, God, demands Christians to be humble, to walk by faith, to seek the things of heaven, and to be anxious for nothing, having all power provided by our God. And as you can read, these two masters are separated by 180 degrees of difference in their demands. So, which will we choose?

Romans 6: 17 – 18 reminds us that Christians, who are now in Christ, were once slaves to sin; but now, anyone who has chosen to believe and make Christ as Lord, becomes a slave of righteousness. Hence, the Christian – the true Christian – will never comfortably be able to choose to be a slave to the pursuit of the world or selfish gain because God’s Spirit will never provide peace in such pursuits. When God’s Spirit is deeply rooted in the heart of any believer, that one becomes a sold-out bond slave to Christ; and any decisions that are made in the flesh or in the pursuit of Satan’s world will produce Holy Spirit generated reactions (i.e., conviction), ultimately leading one to surrender to The Master, Who always wants the best for His servants. But if a Christian chooses to be temporarily mastered by his own deceit-ridden heart, by the world, or by Satan, he can expect to live in the misery of conviction and chastisement from a God who loves that one enough not to let him stay directed toward a sin-directed master.

I know that the concept of being a SLAVE is not one that sits well with the western consciousness, especially in our culture of American individualism and post-modern relativism. But the irony is … we can never find true freedom or God’s peace without being a slave to God’s Truth (see John 8: 32); and Jesus is The Truth (see John 14: 6). So, we, as believers, must decide … do we serve (i.e., become slaves) of Christ; or do we serve Satan, the world, or the flesh?

It is our choice!

My Prayer Today: I serve You, Lord! Amen

April 7, 2011 … The Sinful Captors

Passage of the Day: Matthew 26: 47 … 47 While He [Jesus] was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

My Journal for Today: In his devotional book Strength for Today, John MacArthur, for this date, correctly observes that the mob who came after Jesus, including the Jewish soldiers from Herod’s court, were a prophetic life-picture of what the world – even today – would do to the Person and Name of “Jesus Christ.” How many times is it in the news today for worldly influences to attempt to “kill off” or erase any influence Jesus might have in our culture? There is a “mob” today who, if they could, would eliminate the name of “God” and/or “Jesus” from every vestige of our culture.

The mob coming after Jesus at the time of His Passion hid behind the guise and charade of legal justification, perpetrating a totally illegal, certainly sinful, mob-engineered act of murder. It was an organized “hit” with the purposefully intent to rid the world of the Man Who claimed to be “God.” And our unbelieving, flesh-driven world today would still like to eradicate Christ from any degree of influence over their lives. Christ comes in and demands allegiance to His word and His life; and He commands the world to believe and follow Him; and, just as in Christ’s day, the world politic did not want to relinquish power or control. And so, that world, as we read in today’s verse, was coming to kill Jesus, the self-proclaimed “Son of God.”

Cassie Bernall, at Columbine High School in 1999, when asked, with a gun to her head, if she was a Christian, said quietly and simply, without hesitation, “Yes.” And the young man who challenged her faith, couldn’t hear that and shot her dead. And now we have to ask ourselves as “disciples” of this same Jesus, … “Are we going to cut and run as did His disciples after the Gethsemane encounter? Or will we stand in and for His Name as did Cassie Bernall? Will we being willing, even onto death, to say, “I am His!”

Do we believe what Jesus said in His word? As MacArthur said, “… believers (i.e., Christians) are called to stand apart from any unbelieving crowd and defend the Name of Jesus Christ.”

But I ask myself (and you) … “Do we believe?” … AND … “Are we ready to stand for that belief, even in the face of death?!”

My Prayer Today: I stand with You, Lord; … give me the strength! Amen

March 29, 2011 … Servanthood: Humility In Action

Passage of the Day: Matthew 20: 24 – 28 – emphasizing 26 – 27 [see underlined] - 24 When the ten [the remaining inner disciples] heard about this [after the power play by James/John], they were indignant with the two brothers. 25Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

My Journal for Today: In this passage, especially the two verses emphasized [see underlined above], we have Christ’s operational definition of the humble servant, i.e., the disciple who serves God’s kingdom with distinction. Since I’ve grown in my understanding of my relationship with Christ, it has become my deeply sought desire to one day stand before my Lord in heaven and hear Him say to this humble disciple, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” And Jesus makes it very clear, in this emphasized passage, what it takes in the servanthood of discipleship to receive that accolade from Him – and that is to become His “slave,” surrendering all of myself to Him as Lord. Therefore, the key to “greatness” in God’s kingdom, both here in this life and the next, is the degree to which we’re willing (and it’s always a choice!) to humble one’s own needs/desires and serve others, modeling the Servanthood Jesus displayed in His ministry on earth; … and that is to serve in the in the hard places, … the lonely places, … and the places where rejection and persecution are often found. It is the attitude of Romans 14: 8, “… whether we live or die, we are The Lord’s.”

So, what does this role of servant leader (“diakonos” in the Greek) look like? And I’ll bet you can answer that. … It, of course, looks like Christ; and our ability to fulfill that role for God’s kingdom depends solely on the degree of one’s surrender as our Lord’s disciple … i.e., … the degree to which one has surrendered to God’s Spirit; … and the obedience to which one walks in submission to our Lords commands/teachings (mostly found in God’s word).

Note in verse 26-27 from Matt. 20 above, Jesus equates being a servant-leader, using the Greek term “diakonos,” and relating it to that of serving others by become a “slave” to the needs of others. That term for “slave” in the Greek is “doulos;” and it often is softened in biblical translations to read as “servant.” But Paul (and God) meant that it should indicate what our attitude should be as we seek to emulate Christ in our relationships with others. Christ wants for us to lead by being the “slaves” of others; and in doing so we become “doulos” [i.e., a "slave"] to Christ.

So, we’ve got to ask ourselves, again in the light of that all encompassing command of our Lord found in Luke 9: 23; … just how much are we willing to deny ourselves, … to take up Christ’s cross daily, … and just how much are we willing to really follow Christ – as His slave? He held the attitude that “… the last will be first; and the first will be last.” Do we (I) have that attitude? Only to the degree we do will we be in line for that wonderful confirmation in heaven, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

My Prayer Today: O, how I desire to be Your servant, Lord … Your slave! Amen