When Servant Betters Master

I cringe many times when I hear ministers being introduced to preach. A lot of time is used adding value to his person that it almost appears as if it is he who is doing God a favor to speak about Him.

He has done this and studied that and travelled there and accomplished the other. The profile of the minister clearly overshadows the One whose message he is presumably sharing.

Let me ask you a simple question, you who are comfortable pouring title after title, accomplishment after accomplishment to someone before they preach, which Biblical character would qualify to take that pulpit according to that yardstick?

Let me take us through a few of them. Enoch walked with God would be too brief and ‘vague’ for an introduction. Noah was a fool and clearly unfortunate. He either married too late or his wife was barren for too long for him to get children at 500 years. Jacob was a conman by name and conduct. David was unrecognized even by his own parents.

The New Testament is worse. Imagine if Peter had decided to make is introduction at Pentecost. His selling point would be that he had betrayed his master not many days previously. Most of Christ’s disciples had no rosy pasts to boast of.

Even Jesus would be disqualified from our pulpits very easily. You see His CV is too brief to justify any message He may have for us.

We give them status because we have their stories from their conclusion. Enoch was translated, Noah saved the world, Jacob became Israel, Peter led 3000 people to Christ with a single sermon and of course Jesus is the pivotal character of history.

The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? (Matthew 10: 24, 25)

If that is the reception He received, how do we expect a better reception? Why do we strive to get a better reception? Who are we serving if our introduction far surpasses that of our Master? Can we really be His servants if we must become more visible so as to be effective? Is what we parade essential or even important for the message we are preaching?

And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (1Corinthians 2: 1 – 5)

I am afraid that our packaging (call it introduction) may actually be pointing people away from the Christ we are pretending to preach. And we could be deceived if we are still thinking of ourselves as servants of our meek Savior.  And it could easily be another master that we are serving using Christ as a front to gain leverage.

The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. (Luke 6:40)

Why are we comfortable surpassing our Master? Is it really true that we are serving Him? Or are we serving ourselves in His name?

I am very uncomfortable with some introductions about me before being called on to speak. There was one time I almost cancelled an invitation to teach discipleship because they were insisting on me painting a rosy CV that they could use to introduce me. God stepped in because they probably became so caught up with planning the conference that they forgot to follow up on my achievements.

You see being a disciplemaker is enough as an introduction for me. Saying I am Christ’s servant more than makes up for anything else I may achieve.

I am Christ’s servant. Anything else I may do is swallowed in that reality. Anything else I may become is also swallowed by that reality.

Let me give a secular example. Suppose you are employed by a water providing company and are therefore involved in providing water in places in dire need of the same. Will you go on boasting of the water you provided outside the company employing you? Will you put us a sign with your name as the provider of that water?

We have a home for persons with disabilities and at one time needed water and did not have enough money to complete the project. A company stood up and completed the project and of course needed us to launch that project.

We thanked them of course for their contribution before asking them to speak. None of them spoke in their private capacity, even the one most closely involved in it. All they said was that we did, the company did, etc.

Why do we think it is different with God’s affairs? Why do we behave differently when we are in ministry?

The reality is that if you are more visible than the master you serve it is very possible that you are serving a different master, a master whose standards are different, a master whose victory consists of pampering of the flesh. He is really the one in control when you become the main act.

It is not only preaching that falls for that error. Singers are way ahead in that aspect. Many a musician would be scandalized if their name is absent from an event they would be performing. Some would even cancel that performance if they would be blocked from selling their productions after performing. I have seen many getting into the church just before they are called to sing as if nothing else in the service is worth their presence. Many walk out after their performance, leaving the boring sermons to others.

Do not be surprised if you learnt that the bulk of musicians (called worship leaders) do not have time to read God’s word or pray (of course unless for the sales of this or the other product in their name). And the evidence is out there as very few sing sound scriptural based songs, some clearly heretical and even blasphemous though socially very appealing. Their lives are too full of their performances that they have no time left for God. And I write this as one who sang and played instruments for quite some time, though I did not record any of my compositions.

Writing is not much different for the same reason. We are more fulfilled when we outshine the message we write as opposed to John the Baptist who craved diminishing even as Christ grew in prominence (John 3:30)

Let me ask some application questions in closing. Can you imagine life and ministry without that gift or title? How would you operate in a scenario where that gift and talent is not being noticed? How would you feel if people trashed that gift? What would you do if God asked you to stop operating in that gift? How would you introduce yourself if that gift is excluded from that introduction?

Do the same thing with your CV (training, experience, expertise, etc). Do they define you? Would you operate if God takes you to a place they will never be noticed or even required?

Read Matthew 6 and Philippians 3. Then close with Matthew 23.

And finally, does that gift help you minister to the least of the brethren or does it limit you to the high and mighty? Does it make you accessible to all or does it block some undesirables from your ministry?