The Son and The Worker

I at one time inadvertently made an uncle almost hit me in rage.

We were talking and he mentioned the fact that our generation is very irresponsible as they dispose of their lands as quickly as they inherit them from their parents.

I gave him my young wisdom (I was quite young then), wisdom that most incensed him.

I told him that many in their generation treat their children as workers, a fact that disconnects them from their inheritance. They therefore do not connect to the land as theirs in all their labor.

It is therefore a windfall when the same land that they slaved in becomes theirs since it is like them winning a lottery.

It was later that an elder brother who stays at home told me that my truth had hit the mzee where it really hurt as I had been describing his situation.

We were having a fellowship with a pastor friend when this came out so clearly.

There are two types of ministers, those who are doing God’s work and those who are serving God.

Interestingly, very few are able to differentiate between them. And it is not much different with the ministers themselves

A son works with the father while the servant works for the father. Both are working at pleasing the father.

Work therefore describes both of them to the observer. But that is where it ends.

One is a partner in the enterprise while the other is a performer. One is preparing to take over the enterprise while the other is waiting for his emolument.

One depends on the success of the enterprise for a better package while the other has the enterprise define him.

A worker will look for another employer if the enterprise fails. The son may sink into depression to the point of suicide when it goes bust. The worker will feel a pain in their pockets in the occasion of a failure while the other will have a pain in their heart.

Now take this to ministry and church.

How many are involved in church as servants? How many serve in the church as sons?

How many feel the pain of a son when things in church are not going well? Why?

How do you feel when you hear of sin in the congregation and why?

Why do you preach the way you do?

Why do you give the way you do?

Why do you pray the way you do?

Defining the church in your context will tell you whether you are in the church as a son or a servant.

Just as a son imitates his father, a minister with the sonship dimension will imitate God.

He will love what God loves and hate what God hates. And that whether he sleeps hungry or full.

A worker, however, will want to be identified with God, especially before people.

Remember King Saul?

Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God. (1Samuel 15:30)

Being honored before his people carried more weight to him than being rejected by God as king.

Compare this with David

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. (Psalm 51:4)

People’s opinions counted for nil to David. And we see this all his life. No wonder God called him a man after His (God’s) heart.

Remember him being consumed by guilt after cutting a piece of Saul’s cloak yet the same king was seeking to kill him?

The fact that God had anointed Saul was enough to keep David from defending himself against such dangerous folly of a deranged king seeking to kill him for his delusions.

To David, God never makes mistakes. His anointing was not subject to question, however illogical it looked.

That is how a son thinks and operates.

A son’s obedience stems from trust; trust in the father’s position and intentions. Surely father must know what he is doing, is a son’s reasoning. That is why a father’s word is revered.

A worker’s obedience is short term. It is therefore a surface obedience. And this because he knows that however much he may work he will never achieve the position of a son. It may not make much difference to his future whether he just works or works extremely hard since his position does not change.

His remuneration may rise to the clouds but he will never own the enterprise.

At the surface, a worker may seem to enjoy better than the son but that is due to the fact that he is eating everything he gets whereas the son is not in any hurry as it will all be his anyway.

A servant’s obedience is driven by a paycheck and so he must be receiving it regularly. He can therefore not defer the same for anything.

A son on the other side could defer pleasure since he knows that all will be his eventually.

A worker could introduce short cuts, especially if he could easily cover up for the same. A son dares not do so as it is his structure that will fall.

Ever heard of believers who wonder why we are so particular about small sins? Ever wondered why we have bishops who have no problem with homosexuality provided the person doing it is faithful to their gay partner and church? Ever wondered why pastors have no issues with secular performers doing their thing in church provided they insert Jesus somewhere? Ever wondered why whoremongers continue ministering in churches with the leaders fully aware of the fact?

Those are workers who have no issues with ‘small’ issues and sins since they do not cause much damage to the church and what they are getting from it.

That explains why a dissenter (who many times is a son incensed with sin) is a worse enemy in church than the openly sinful.

Sons have the father’s heart and so are more interested with what the father loves and hates than in the work the father wants done. He therefore works according to the father’s heart.

That is the reason I always say that the clearest way to know a church that is aligned with God is how they relate with sin, especially sin in their midst.

A son is ruthless against sin, be it in his own life or in the lives of the ones around him.

Excellence counts for nothing to the son if there are things, however small or concealed, that are contrary to the father’s will since they could very easily mar the enterprise.

An accountant may conceal things to an auditor and it won’t be a big deal. Doing the same to the son or father could very easily lead to has sacking.

Let me close by saying the thing I have tried to explain in this whole post.

A son lives and acts as his father does while a worker is more interested in performance since that is what is rewarded. A worker works to be seen since that is how he is remunerated while the son does not care being seen since he is working on what will eventually become his.

Does the Bible call you a son or a worker?

That is who you are irrespective of how psyched you might be otherwise.

God, not your favorite motivator or preacher, determines who His sons are.