Servant

Many American Christians believe they can achieve Christ's kingdom on earth through political means, by dominating the culture. Author Tim Alberta, in his 2023 book The Kingdom, The Power, And The Glory: American Evangelicals In An Age Of Extremism, attempts to get to the core of the issues involved.

He spoke to Pastor Brian Zahnd of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri. Zahnd told him:

Christianity is inherently countercultural. That's how it thrives. When it tries to become a dominant culture, it becomes corrupted. This is one major difference between Islam and Christianity. Islam has designs on running the world; it's a system of government. Christianity is nothing like that. The gospels and the epistles have no vision of Christianity being a dominant religion or culture.

Tim Alberta elaborates:

The Bible, as Zahnd pointed out, is written primarily from the perspective of the underdog: Hebrew slaves fleeing Egypt, Jews exiled to Babylon, Christians living under Roman occupation. This is why Paul implored his fellow first-century believers - especially those in Rome who lived under a brutal regime - to both submit to their governing authorities and stay loyal to the kingdom built by Christ. It stands to reason that American evangelicals can't quite relate to Paul and his pleas for humility, or Peter and his enthusiasm for suffering, never mind that poor vagrant preacher from Nazareth. The last shall be first? What kind of socialist indoctrination is that?

Pastor Zahnd considers that the kingdom of God isn't tangible for many Christians: "What's real is this tawdry world of partisan politics, this winner-take-all blood sport. So, they keep charging into the fray, and the temptation to bow down to the devil to gain control over the kingdoms of this world becomes more and more irresistible."

Alberta concludes:

Pastor Zahnd told me he was offended by what the American Church had become. God does not tolerate idols competing for His glory and neither should anyone who claims to worship Him. He said, “You can take up the sword of Caesar or you can take up the cross of Jesus. You have to choose.”

On January 15th, 2009, US Airways flight #1549 departed New York City’s LaGuardia’s Airport. Within a few minutes, the plane collided with a flock of geese, taking out both engines. Captain Sully Sullenberg made an emergency landing in the chilly waters of the Hudson River. Before he left the plane and got to safety, he walked the plane twice to make sure no one was onboard. As the captain, he knew that he must be the last person on the plane. “Sully” became a national hero.

Three years later—almost to the date—on January 13th, 2012, a massive Italian cruise ship called the Costa Concordia crashed into the rocks and started to sink. An investigation would determine the cause of the crash: the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, was trying to impress a younger female dancer on board when he veered too close to danger. The ship started sinking with its 4,000-plus passengers on board.

In the confusion and chaos, Schettino escaped on to a lifeboat before everyone else had made it off the ship. A coast guard member angrily told him on the phone to “Get back on board, d--- it.” Schettino later claimed that he fell into a lifeboat because the ship was listing to one side. But the court didn’t believe that story. Instead, he was found guilty of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning the ship with passengers on board. He was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Teacher and author Paul Borthwick was on a visit to one of his friends who teaches in Beijing, China. He attended a church with four young men who were new believers thanks to his friend’s ministry. The service was in Mandarin, so Paul understood nothing, but he did think the pastor, a very senior man, seemed a little boring. He was soft-spoken, a little stooped over, and preached without any expressions of excitement or emotion.

At lunch after the service, Paul asked the four young Christians, “Is your pastor a good preacher?” They exclaimed, “Oh yes! He is a great preacher. He spent many years in prison for Jesus Christ.”

Their measurement of the sermon and the pastor’s ministry had nothing to do with oratory ability and everything to do with a life faithfully lived in the face of suffering.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, US relief agencies began ramping up fundraising efforts to assist in helping out refugees. But many Americans found another way to provide direct relief to struggling Ukrainians, people like Volodymyr Bondarenko.

Bondarenko had a one-bedroom apartment in the capital city of Kyiv, and in the first several days of March he and several others like him were inundated with bookings via Airbnb from people who wanted to donate but had no intention of actually staying there.

The idea came from a social media campaign, which urged benefactors to book trips at properties that are owned by individuals, rather than property management corporations. Bondarenko said, “More than 10 bookings came in today. This was surprising, it's very supportive at the moment. I told many of my relatives and friends that I plan to use this money to help our people who need it at this time.”

Careyann Deyo of New York City is one of many who stepped up to donate via Airbnb during such a critical time of need. She said, “I donated to larger organizations as well. But [I] felt this had a more immediate impact.” Her Ukrainian recipient’s response was humbling. "I'm crying. You are my heroes.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

When we use our resources to tangibly help and show compassion to those in need, we model the life and way of Jesus.

When Anastasia Elsinger ordered lunch delivery via DoorDash, she didn’t expect to receive her order from someone in uniform, since delivery apps don’t usually enforce a dress code. But when her order came to her door, it was delivered by a man in blue.

Minutes prior, Officer Sam Buhr had just pulled over Elsinger’s delivery driver for a traffic infraction. But because that driver had an active warrant, Buhr was required to make an arrest. Rather than let the food go undelivered, Buhr took a few minutes to finish the job.

According to Police Department information officer Sam Clemens, moments like this are common. Clemens said, "It's not like we have officers that are out delivering food. But the little things like this, going above and beyond helping people out that's the things that we do, and probably more often than people realize.”

Elsinger said that when she saw on the app that the driver was still a few blocks away, she was dismayed about her food being delayed. Seeing Officer Buhr walk up her steps was such a pleasant surprise, she shared the clip on TikTok, where it’s since been viewed more than 11 million times. She said, “There's so much negativity in the world right now and this is just something that's so funny and so happy that I was like, ‘More people need to see this. This is hilarious.’”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Even in the process of enforcing rules, we must never forget our duty to be helpers. That's how we show God's love to those around us.

In so many ways, Giannis Antetokounmpo is an unlikely superstar. The lanky 26-year-old, dubbed “The Greek Freak” for his stunning athletic feats, recently added an exclusive honor to his professional resume: NBA Champion. In July, Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns in the 2021 NBA Finals.

But his most distinctive attribute might not be his athleticism, but his humility. Following the Bucks’ Game 4 victory in which he helped preserve the win with a particularly impressive defensive play, Giannis explained how to keep a winning perspective after such a successful outing:

From my experience, like when I think about, “Yeah, I did this. I’m so great. I had 30, I had 25, 10 and 10,” or whatever the case might be … “Oh, we won this and that.” Usually … the next few days, you’re going to be terrible.

Giannis’ frankness elicited chuckles as he illustrated the benefit of staying humble:

When you focus on the past, that’s your ego. “I did this.” We were able to beat this team 4-0. I did this in the past. And when I focus on the future, it’s my pride. “Yeah, next game, I do this and this and this. I’m going to dominate.” That’s your pride talking. I try to focus in the moment, in the present. And that’s humility. That’s being humble. That’s not setting expectations. That’s going out there and enjoying the game.

Possible Preaching Angle:

When we remain humble and teachable, we honor the model of Jesus, who emptied himself by taking on the role of a servant.

A pastor in India was confronted angrily by a man in his office one day. This man made many unfair and untrue accusations against the pastor. After finishing his angry outburst, the man asked the pastor what he had to say.

In response, the pastor got up from his chair, walked to the washroom next door, filled an empty basin with water and came back to the room. The angry man was surprised when he saw the basin of water and asked what it was for. The pastor replied that even though the accusations were not true, that since the person was nevertheless upset with him, he felt the right thing to do, was for him to ask forgiveness. He then offered to wash the man’s feet. What happened then was that the man broke down in tears at this act of humility and opened his heart to the Lord. The pastor's humility was shown to be a strength and not a weakness!

One of the most important character traits a Christian needs to cultivate is humility. True humility always stands out as a powerful strength instead of a weakness, and always pleases God. The Scripture says, “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another” (1 Peter 5:5-6).

Author Alan Fadling asks us to consider this parable:

There was once a king who had two servants. One of the servants, for fear of not pleasing his master, rose early each day to hurry along to do all the things that he believed the king wanted done. He didn't want to bother the king with questions about what that work was. Instead, he hurried from project to project from early morning until late at night.

The other servant was also eager to please his master and would rise early as well. But he took a few moments to go to the king, ask him about his wishes for the day and find out just what it was he desired to be done. Only after such a consultation did this servant step into the work of his day, work comprised of tasks and projects the king himself had expressed a desire for.

The busy servant may have gotten a lot done by the time the inquiring servant even started his work. But which of them was doing the will of the master and pleasing him?

Genuine productivity is not about getting as much done for God as we can manage. It is doing the good work God actually has for us in a given day. Genuine productivity is learning that we are more than servants, that we are beloved sons and daughters invited into the good kingdom work of our heavenly Father. That being the case, how might God be inviting you to wait for his specific direction? Or is God inviting you to take a specific step now?

How far would you go to understand the struggles of someone else? How close would you get? Consider the sacrifice of Kris Rotonda. Many thought he was crazy. His girlfriend, family, and friends tried to talk him out of it. But once Kris Rotonda became aware of the struggles the Humane Society of Pasco County faced—a lack of funding and a limited number of volunteers—he knew something had to be done to shed a light on the conditions.

So, he packed rice cakes, protein bars, pre-packaged meals, an ample supply of water, a pillow, blanket, and three lanterns, and barricaded himself in a cage with different dogs at the shelter for 10 nights.

Rotonda said, "(Shelters) are often overlooked. I kind of wanted to wake up … the community a little more and put myself in the position of these animals to understand how solitude gets to you and how to deal with it. It’s very difficult, and it gives you a different perspective.”

Staff employees treated him like a dog, (as he asked them to), taking him outside only for an hour and a half to play and use the bathroom. He said, “I told the shelter, ‘Don’t give me any special treatment. Treat me like a German Shepherd.’” It was hot. He couldn’t shower. There were bugs. The smell of urine filled his nostrils. And the loud barking of up to 50 dogs kept him up at night.

Possible Preaching Angle:

By putting ourselves in the middle of another person's struggle, their loss, their cage, we can better identify with them as individuals. It will not be easy; it will be loud and messy. And it will reflect the work of Jesus. He left the comfort of a heavenly home to live with a bunch of strays. not for 10 days, but for 33 years.

Keoni Ching is like a lot of boys his age. He likes to create things, and he likes to help people. But during a school event, he combined those likes to make a big difference at his school.

He was inspired by NFL cornerback Richard Sherman, who recently donated over $27,000 to help pay off student lunch debts in Santa Clara. Ching wanted to help erase student lunch debts at this school. So, by selling handmade keychain bracelets for $5 each, he raised over $4,000--enough to pay for the lunch debts at his school, and six other area schools.

Ching came up with the idea as part of the school’s “Kindness Week,” and said he selected key chains because “I love key chains. They look good on my backpack.” With the help of his parents and grandparents, he sold over 300 of them.

His mother, April Ching said, “We have sent key chains to Alaska, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Arizona, all over the country. There was one lady who said she wanted $100 worth of key chains so that she could just hand them out to people. ... There were several people who bought one key chain and gave (Keoni) a hundred bucks. It was absolutely amazing how much support the community showed for his whole project.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

God gives each of us opportunities to use our gifts to bless others in need; it's also part of the redemptive cycle of shalom that those enslaved by debts be given the mechanism to be free from those debts.

In his book about famous sports team captains titled The Captain Class, Sam Walker examines the hidden forces that create the world's greatest sports teams. Here's one of his surprising findings about one of the characteristics that makes for a great team captain: they took care of tough, unglamorous tasks. In other words, they were rarely stars. They did the grunt work.

Walker gives the following example:

In 1962, when Brazil won its second consecutive World Cup, its team's unquestioned star was Pelé, arguably the greatest soccer player of all time. The prevailing view is that Pelé's brilliance, expressed by the 77 goals he scored, was the team's driving force. But Pelé was never made captain—nor did he lobby for the job. The team's primary leader was Hilderaldo Bellini, a tough and humble central defender who, during a nine-year stint with Brazil, never scored a goal.

Bellini was a functionary, not a star. While Pelé attended to the pressures of celebrity, Bellini took care of the daily, hourly grunt work of unifying the team. He cleaned up their mistakes with his fearless defense, often leaving the pitch bruised and bloodied, and calmly urged them forward when their confidence sagged.

Walker concludes, "The captains on my list were rarely exceptional talents. … The leader's job wasn't to dazzle on the field but to labor in the shadows of the stars, to carry water for the team, to lead from the back.

Aircraft carriers and cruise ships sail on blue oceans with immense reserves of power and degrees of freedom. One sort of ocean-going vessel is devoted to aggression and war, the other to comfort and leisure. Both, however, are massive, independent, floating islands of power. They navigate "strategically"—based on large-scale charts, covering vast distances, driven by economic or military considerations.

Tugboats, on the other hand, are limited to a specific harbor. A tugboat master may be one of the highest paid individuals in the shipping industry, but only in one place. To be a tugboat is to be committed to a specific place and to know it intimately. Tugboats have to be nimble, maneuverable, and responsive to the slightest variation in the sea floor or the local currents. Tugboats are not especially impressive, mechanically or visually. But they are indispensable. Tugboats, you might say, are servants. They don't navigate for themselves—they navigate to bring other ships safely to shore.

Did you know that the Pope gave a TED Talk? Whatever you think about the Catholic Church or it's current spiritual leader, he offered these biblically based words about the use of power:

The more powerful you are, the more your actions will have an impact on people, the more responsible you are to act humbly. If you don't, your power will ruin you, and you will ruin the other. There is a saying in Argentina: "Power is like drinking gin on an empty stomach." You feel dizzy, you get drunk, you lose your balance, and you will end up hurting yourself and those around you, if you don't connect your power with humility and tenderness. Through [Christ-like] humility and concrete love, on the other hand, power—the highest, the strongest one—becomes a service, a force for good.

Writing in Real Simple magazine, author Karen Weese observes how it's easy to volunteer when the people we help are grateful. It's not so easy when recipients of our help don't say thanks. Weese then shares a story from when her church youth group volunteered to serve meals in an inner-city soup kitchen.

We washed dishes and doled out beans and mashed potatoes to a long line of homeless men. Most of them didn't make eye contact or express more than a mumbled thanks. Afterward, the pastor asked for our reflections. The room was silent; and then, finally, one of the girls said softly, "I didn't really like being here. I guess … " She paused, embarrassed. " … I wanted them to be more grateful." I cringed—because I'd been thinking the same thing.

But as an adult she started to think about how it might feel to be one of the men in that line. Weese writes: "What was it like to accept a plateful of charity from a bunch of suburban teenagers who were dabbling in do-gooding, then heading back to warm beds and well-stocked refrigerators? If I'd been in their shoes, would I really have been making small talk?"

Weese ended the article with her new expectation for her volunteer experiences:

I still catch myself wishing for magic moments of gratitude this time of year; I treasure volunteer experiences where I feel like I've made a difference. But overall I've moved the bar. Now I feel that not making someone feel worse on a particular day qualifies as a victory. And even if I occasionally forget, deep down I know the best gift I can give as a volunteer: generosity devoid of expectation.

Leadership coach Karen Miller tells the following story about how she and her husband needed to identify and develop new leaders for a new church plant:

One Sunday morning Irene, a church plant leader in her seventies, set up the Communion table. I noticed that she then went around to make sure everything else was in order—and people did whatever she asked them to do. Afterward I asked her, "Irene, have you ever considered that you have leadership gifts?"

"Absolutely not!" she said. "I am just an ordinary woman, housewife, and mother. I'm not leading; I'm just serving."

Some months later, our young church received a visit from a Rwandan church leader. He told the church how he dreamed of starting an orphanage and school for children whose parents had been slaughtered in the genocide. We decided we had to help. Could we hold a banquet to raise funds? Irene agreed to help put on the banquet.

When she visited a possible caterer, she somehow convinced the caterer to donate most of the food. Irene talked with a banquet hall, and they gave her a deep discount. So did the tech people. No one could tell Irene no. On the banquet night, over 200 people came, and enough money was raised to build the school and its first dormitory.

I teased her afterward: "Irene, that was amazing! Maybe you are a leader?" She laughed, for she finally had to acknowledge the truth. Each May, Irene led the banquet again. Now we could see photos of kids who had lived on the streets and never brushed their teeth flashing broad, white smiles. Boys who had been malnourished, their arms and legs painfully thin, now ran and jumped across the courtyard on strong legs. Girls who'd come dressed in rags showed off their neat school uniforms and barrettes.

After Irene went to be with the Lord, Sonrise Orphanage named a dorm after her did I find out that the banquet she'd led had singlehandedly covered one third of the school's operating costs.

Possible Preaching Angles: Leaders; Leadership; Leadership development—Why does leader training matter so much—especially when we're busy with a thousand other things? Because for any change to happen, there needs to be a leader. And for any God-honoring change to happen, there needs to be a God-honoring leader like Irene.

Robert Morin, a cataloguer at the University of New Hampshire's library, "lived a simple, frugal life," complete with TV dinners and a car that was more than 20 years old. He read plenty of books—thousands of them over the course of his life—and "loved to talk to students," according to UNH spokeswoman Erika Mantz. Morin passed away in March 2015, but the school announced last week that upon his death, he had left his estate to the school: an estate totaling $4 million. While reading and going about his work, Morin had "quietly amassed" a fortune.

The extraordinary gift was a first for the school: "In our history, I'm not aware of anything like this," said Mantz. Morin's wish was that UNH would spend his money to fulfill whatever needs they had; he apparently told his financial adviser that the school would "figure out what to do with it."

The humble, peaceful way in which Morin went about his life—all the while storing up massive wealth—is reminiscent of Jesus' message on how believers should go about their own lives. Instead of "announcing" our good deeds and acts of charity "with trumpets…to be honored by others" (Matt. 6:2), we are to be a little more secretive about it: "when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" (6:3-4).

Potential Preaching Angles: Humility; Secrets; Rewards; Giving; Christian Living; Christian service

Cheryl A. Bachelder, the CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, turned her company around with a focus on serving others. A committed Christian in the workplace, Bachelder is also the author of Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others. In a recent interview, she share her thoughts on servanthood:

The Bible verse that's on my calendar every day is Philippians 2:3. Because I haven't found one that's more paramount to how I want to lead in my family and in my work. And that is, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." I really like the choice of words around counting others more significant than yourselves. I believe we're all born with an inner 2-year-old. And we'd really still like to be laying on the floor, kicking and screaming because we didn't get the candy bar we wanted. It's pretty hardwired that we're self-absorbed little people. And we learn to fake it well, but we're still pretty much that 2-year-old on the inside.

I find that biblical perspective really challenging in every aspect of my day—how I'm spending my time, the decisions that I make. To put them through a filter of whether I'm thinking about myself or whether I'm thinking about others. Am I doing this because I'll get a bigger bonus check? Or am I really thinking about the long-term interest of this company? Am I doing this truly for my franchise owners, or am I getting some personal benefit that I haven't been willing to acknowledge?" Those kinds of provocative self-mirror questions hold you to a higher standard. I always say servant leadership is an aspiration, because you can really never claim you've arrived. Because as soon as you do, someone will find you—and in a trap of self-interest. It's something you're always working toward.