Noble Volunteer or Humble Slave?

Noble Volunteer or Humble Slave?

The rules change when you go to work for God.

Matthew 20:20-28

"Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and
whoever wants to be first must be your slave-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" (Matthew 20:26-28).

From a human standpoint, the church is a volunteer organization. We have
recruiters and outline specific tasks and give strokes to those who
volunteer their precious time to work.

            But what about God's standpoint? The church is his kingdom.
Volunteer organizations are democracies in which the governed give their
consent to the governors, and the consent can be withdrawn whenever the
masses wish. Not so in a kingdom. A king doesn't recruit; he decrees.

            And strokes? These are not totally out of place, but neither
are they of great importance. With a king and his subjects, it is more
like what Jesus said in a parable: "When you have done all that is
commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what
was our duty'" (Luke 17:10, RSV). Slaves and subjects do not give to
their Lord. They simply take their hands off what was his in the first
place.

            One of our great problems is that many Christians want the
church to function like a democracy, when it is really a theocracy. Sam
Shoemaker illustrated something of this fact with the story of a
near-sighted professor who was an expert in entomology. His office walls
were covered with pinned and framed insects. One day his students
decided to play a practical joke. They took the body of one bug, the
legs of another, and the head of yet another and glued them all
together. 

            The specimen was brought to the professor for
identification.  "What kind of bug is this?" they asked.

            The professor eyed the bug closely and replied, "Gentlemen,
this is a humbug!"

            Shoemaker drew the analogy to a person whose heart belongs
to King Jesus, but whose head is run by the world and hands are run by
the devil. Hybrid Christians call themselves slaves of Jesus Christ, but
they regard themselves as volunteers who serve the church if they so
choose.

            Once we name the name of Jesus, we cease to be volunteers in
the kingdom. We become humble slaves. It is my desire that the church be
a place where we surround ourselves with people who will demand much of
us and themselves, as together we serve the One who "came not to be
served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

-Ben Patterson – Taken from Leadership

Questions to Consider:

1. Who comes to mind when you hear the phrase "slave of Jesus Christ"-and why?
2. If you were trying to get someone to help with a ministry, how would you ask the person if you saw her as a volunteer? How would you ask if you saw the person as a slave of Jesus Christ?
3. How can we help people understand the difference?