The Secret of Life: Serving Others

You may think the secret of life is some deep mystery, some hidden thing you have to uncover, but we're going to give it away for you today. The secret of life is serving others. Let's talk about why that's true and why it matters. Coming up right now on the Theory Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr.

Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis, and welcome to the Clearview Today Show. We're so glad you're joining us here in the studio with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah, who's the pastor of our church right here in Henderson, North Carolina.

Dr. Shah, talking about the secret of life. You know, the secret of life. I think it was Monty Python that said, what did Monty Python say? No, that's the meaning of life.

But did you ever see that movie? No, I didn't. It was really bad. It was like they hit gold with the Holy Grail, and then every movie after that was. I thought you were going to go with The Secret to Life, the Universe, and Everything.

Oh, that's 42. 42. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Gap. I have no idea. I never, you know, what's funny?

As much of a sci-fi nerd as I am, I've never read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Gap. No, I've never read it. I've just seen the movie. I want to see it. I want to read it really bad.

Dr. Shah, The Secret of Life, Serving Others. You know what's funny? You recently preached a message about this, like, I think this year. Going back and looking at all of your sermons through Nehemiah from 2013, you were saying the same thing 13 years ago.

That is really a new level of consistency. Yeah, serving others is the key. Success in ministry.

Now you say, well, wait a minute. I thought prayer was. I thought a vision was. Yes, all those things are. But if you're not serving other people, if you're not bringing value to other people, then what are you doing?

That's right. You say, well, I'm here to glorify God.

Well, that's great. And I hope we do. But if in that bringing glory to God, if you're not inspiring people to find how wonderful God is and how God has blessed them and how He deserves to be praised, then you're not bringing value to them. That's right. And that principle of bringing value to people is something that I learned from listening and following John Maxwell.

He focuses a lot on valuing others. Yeah. That's a big part of leadership. And you know, we talk about that.

Well, I'm just here to glorify God. And we say this, and we don't say it very flippantly, but God does not need us to glorify Him right. But the people in your life, the people that you are serving, the people that you're leading, they need you. That's why you're. You're a leader.

Absolutely. I was going to say the valuing others part that sounded a lot like John Maxwell. And all the books that we've read together as a staff and the leadership initiative that we do with our students, it always goes back to adding value to people. And think about what Jesus did because. Of course, we're going to talk about Nehemiah and how Nehemiah heard the complaints of the people.

And this time it was not about Sanbalat or Tobiah or Geshem, these outsiders.

Now the complaints was against their own. Their own people were taking advantage of them. And so Nehemiah is Is doing whatever he can to help them to get them back on track.

Now, in verse 14, so for those of you who are following along. This is Nehemiah chapter 5 and verse 14. It says, Moreover, from that time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year until the third 32nd year of King Artaxerces, twelve years. Neither I nor my brothers ate the governor's provisions. Even though other previous governors had done so, Nehemiah didn't.

Think about that. Why was that significant? Because in doing that, he was number one. Identifying with the people. And he was also trying to use maybe those provisions.

To help people in need, so he was he served in Jerusalem for 12 years, is what he's saying. Right. From the time he left Persia to the time the walls, I guess, were finished, it was 12 years. And he's saying that. I didn't partake of any of these provisions because of my people.

That's right. I was not going to be living in the lap of luxury while my people are suffering. I am here to serve people. Oh, eating, okay, eating of the governor's provisions, is that like a turn of phrase, basically? He's saying, I'm not making myself.

Yeah, yeah. I'm not like, yeah, I'm here, but now I am using my position to to to domineer you and and to sh to to to make myself a king. Without the title, without a crown, but I'm your king. Gotcha. He said, I'm not going to do that.

I'm here to serve people. Amen. I feel like a leadership trajectory often is not you go do. It's come, let's together. Yeah.

Come, let's come, let's partner together. Let's arm in arm pursue this goal. True leaders are in the trenches with their people. Yeah. That's right.

And we talk about that too, like servant leadership, things that we instill in our men. And maybe you can talk about this, Dr. Shell. We've had a very intentional and very focused campaign to get our men in our church to become servant leaders. Not just servants, like, hey, we want you to go do this project or whatever, but to lead people, to lead the people that they're working for and the people they're working with in their leadership and by servitude.

That's right. Yeah. And that's that's the spirit we all need. Yeah. And if I can read a little bit more here in verse 16, indeed.

I also continued the work on this wall. Never expect from your people what you're not willing to do. You want them to go into the highways and the byways and in the dark streets and go witness to the lost and talk to your family member about Jesus. But if you're not willing to do that, if you're not willing to put yourself out there, then in time, and I would say very quickly, people will know. you are not a good leader.

Right. Yeah. See, nowadays, people sit behind bunkers And Bark orders at somebody else to go put their lives. On the line to fight the enemy. But there was a time when kings would lead their army into battle.

It means you're the first one on that horse or the elephant or whatever. You're the first one down the hill. You're the first one leading the charge. And when your people saw the king out front with the sword raised or the flag raised and you're going out there, that's when people knew it's time to go. Reminds me of the story of David.

The whole thing about Bathsheba is because he wasn't at war with his people. He wasn't. Yeah, he wasn't with his people. Yeah, I think. He was at home.

He was walking on the rooftop as his. Men were going into battle. And of course, as you know, This was the perfect opportunity for Satan to tempt him. Yeah. And he took the bait.

People not idolize is not the right word, but people make a huge hero out of David. And certainly he was a hero of the Bible. But David has a lot of character flaws that people tend to gloss over because they're really focused on the man after God's own heart bit. What did Nehemiah retain that David either missed or lost?

Well,. I think David had a heart for God. I mean, he was a man after God's own heart. But unfortunately, he went the way of kings, which was: I have the power. I deserve this.

And this is what kings do.

So What is Off-limits for the average person is perfectly In my divine right to do. And he did it. You know, he had many wives. That's one thing God never wanted his people to do. one wife for life and he had many wives.

And then, of course, his son Solomon took that to a whole different level where he had. Close to a thousand. Yeah. You know, 700 wives and 300 concubines. I don't get that at all, man.

I can't even handle the one I got. The one I got is a handful. Yeah. Imagine having 700. Yeah.

I mean, so what I'm saying here is this, this, this is ridiculous. Yeah. Yeah. But something else it says here: Nehemiah did not just do that one time, it says, Indeed, I also continued the work on this wall. and we did not buy any land.

Land must have been cheap. I mean, who wants to go In Flanders Field, you know, right after World War II, right, where everything is torn down, no man's land. Yeah, it's a ruined city. Yeah, ruined. And it's like, yeah, I want to buy real estate here.

This looks like a lovely piece of land.

Now, today you can look back and say, it's like, yeah, that would be the perfect chance to buy it. Right. But not if you're living in real time. Right, of course. That's not there's enemy, there's enemy armies literally at the gate able to just walk right in.

Right. I mean, right now, okay, you won the battle or you won the war, but who knows the enemy may regroup and come back at you. That's right. So, what's the use of buying all this land? Right.

So land must have been very cheap. Nehemiah could have used that opportunity to say, Hey, look, we're going to build a wall. We're going to get business going again. This is the time to strike. I'm going to get while the getting's good.

The iron is hot. Let's strike. And he could have bought. several thousand acres of land. He did not buy any.

All my servants were gathered there for the work, verse seventeen, and at my table were one hundred and fifty Jews and rulers, besides those who came to us from the nations around us.

Now that which was prepared daily was one ox and six choice sheep, also fowl were prepared for me, and once every ten days an abundance of all kinds of wine. Yet in spite of this I did not demand the governor's provisions, because the bondage was heavy on this people. And then he says in verse 19, Remember me, my God, for good. According to all that I have done for this people.

So. He is Saying God. I am doing what's right. Whether the people recognize it or not, whether the world may remember it or not. I know.

That I'm truly sacrificing here. And it's because I believe that Jerusalem is worth saving. This is going to be the city of. The promised one, the man of promise, who will later on be called the Mashia, the Messiah. I don't know if it's our.

Yeah, I don't know. And I don't know if it's our lax relationship with our own sin. I don't know if it's. Just fear. I don't know what it is that keeps us from praying that.

Like, God, I'm doing the right thing. And I don't pray like that. I might say, you know, God, I'm trying. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I'm disillusioned.

I'm confused. But I want to be able to have the faith to say, God, whether anyone else realizes, I know I'm doing what's right. Yeah, that's huge. That confidence to say before God, I know that I'm following you. And that takes, that's not just a one-day decision.

That's not a spur of the moment decision. That takes years of faithfulness. That's right. That takes years of obedience to God to be able to say that. Nehemiah had that.

Yeah, absolutely. Dr. Shaw, as we're walking through this story of Nehemiah and as we're looking at his faithfulness, as we're looking at his ability to say, I know that I'm doing what's right, how does that translate into our understanding of the various callings that God has on our lives? Maybe we're in a ministry context or maybe we're just a volunteer in church. Maybe we're just attending and still looking for a place to fit in.

How does Nehemiah's willingness to say before God, I know that I'm doing what's right, bless this work? How does that translate for us? Several things. Number one, never forget. That you are there to serve people.

Don't ever forget that. That's what Jesus did. On the night before he was crucified, he. washed the feet of his disciples. You know, they had a discussion going on among themselves as they were walking to the upper room.

They were they were arguing over who was the greatest among them. Like, who was the leader? Who was the boss? When Jesus retires, who's the head of the deacon board? Who's Jesus?

We know this is you right now, but one day when you're gone, who I mean, who's your appointed successor? Who's your successor? Yeah. And Jesus, knowing what they were talking about, decides to You know. Rapid.

towel around himself, takes a basin. Fills it with water. And then with Soap begins to wash the feet of his disciples. And And then he says, For I have given you an example that you should do. As I have done to you.

Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. It strikes me about that the timing of this encounter, because not only were the disciples arguing about who was the greatest on the way up to the upper room, but this is the night before Jesus. Lays down his life. Yeah. He's arrested, lays down his life for humanity.

The greatest act of service possible. And he, it would have easy for been easy for him to say, you know what, I got a big day ahead of me tomorrow. You guys don't know this, but tonight I'm just taking it easy. I'm laying low. I'm doing my thing.

I'm doing some self-care. Exactly. Yeah. I need some time to reflect and be alone. But he's serving even before he serves ultimately by laying down his life for humanity.

That's right. And I think that's what makes Jesus who he is, which is a son of God became son of man. Yeah. That he came not to be served, but to serve. Yeah.

And to give his life a ransom for many. You know, Dr. Sho, Ryan and I were born in the millennial age, right? Like Ryan was born in 88. I'm born in 92.

We are old enough, or we're young enough, I should say, to not really remember a time when everything was so others focused. Like when I was growing up, all the messaging was, you know, you are special. That's what Barney told me. You are special, special. Everyone is special.

You messaged. Or you're the chosen one. Yeah, seriously, yeah. All the stories are about you being the chosen one and you being the one that's destined to save the world. And now we're in the 2010s when I'm in college.

Everything is self-care, take care of yourself, take care of your mental health, value yourself. You're strong, you're worthy. When you're probably old enough to remember when that was not the case in America. When it was more about looking out for your fellow man, doing and helping and serving your fellow man. Where do you think that shift happened?

I think it's just time signs of our times where people feel like, hey, how about me? How about me? I am doing everything I can. I am helping people. I am the man who is putting his life on the line.

So how about me? And so the cultural shift has happened in the past, I would say, 30 years. It began with the millennials. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

And these generational cycles do come around. And so.

Now we're in a different generational cycle, but hang in there. And a couple more is coming back. Yeah. We are seeing, I'd notice a difference in kids and teenagers today in how. They are a little more others-focused, I feel like, than you and I were growing up because it's taking care of others, giving back to the community, making a difference.

It's not really spun in a. Like a Christian light, necessarily across social media, but there is that sense of like you can make a difference on the other side of the world, you can adopt this community, you can sponsor this kid, you can pay for clean drinking water in a like a third-world country.

So, there is that element where things are starting to shift back. I don't think we're quite on the other side of the pendulum swing, but we are seeing some differences in Gen Z and Gen Alpha. How do you get that? How do you do that on a cultural level? You know, because.

You know, even take our church, take the microcosm of our church in the larger community. We've got a very, very serving attitude here. Like most everything that we do, I would say, is serving for other people. But then you go outside of that and you don't see it as much. How do you expand it?

Or if someone's listening to this and they're saying, My church is the same way, how do they expand it outside of that bubble of the church?

Well, it has to begin with your understanding. How do you find favor with God and people? We've talked about this on this show before. Throughout the Bible, you find two attributes linked together. Truth.

And mercy, wisdom, and grace. They're basically saying the same thing. Synonyms Truth and wisdom synonym. Grace and mercy synonyms.

Now, keep in mind, I know there are some very significant differences between truth and wisdom and mercy and grace. I do get that, but. Generally speaking, this sort of are very overlapping. If you want to have favor with people. And favor with God.

You gotta have mercy. And how do you show mercy? You do it by serving those who cannot serve you back. Right. You do by helping those who may even turn against you.

you show mercy.

So Once you understand that, you want to grow. You want God's blessing? You want people to look at you with with good thoughts? Than truth and mercy. Start serving.

And how can you show mercy if you're not serving? Yeah. That's true. I cannot go out there and say, I'm a merciful person. Yeah.

From my office. Yeah, I can do that. Have some mercy. Yeah, you cannot do that. You show mercy by serving.

That's right. Serving people who are less deserving, serving people who are less fortunate, but mercy, mercy, mercy. And so once you understand that principle, Then you set about Implementing that. And you do that by serving others. Have you met leaders?

Who were really good at one or the other? Oh, yes. Very, very, very merciful, but not a lot of truth. Absolutely. All the time.

Or he may be, I don't know when's better or worse, but just full of truth, but the church does nothing. Yeah. You're not serving. It happens all the time. I've known pastors, especially conservative.

Thank God you're conservative. But you are so truth-heavy. And there's no place for mercy in your life. Because we think if I'm merciful, then I must be becoming liberal. Not necessarily.

But then again, you also have people on the other side who are very merciful. But no element of truth means, man, God loves you just the way you are. Do whatever makes you happy. It's about you. Forget about God.

He wants the best for you, He wants the best for your life and all this here. He wants you to be happy. He's loving God, He wants you to be happy. God cares about your happiness. But the balance is where truth and mercy, where you stand for the truth of God's word, where sin is sin.

But then you also have mercy, which is God wants us to reach down and Pick people up and help them and encourage them and all the rest.

Now, why do we say that that's the secret to life? Why do we say, because we could easily say, you know, this is a very important thing. If you want to be a leader, it's really a non-negotiable, but the secret to life, that's a big, that's a big qualifier. That's a sought-after goal. I mean, there's find, find me a bookstore and I'll find you three aisles dedicated to the secret of life.

But they're not getting the right formula. Right. The secret to life, when we say life, we're talking about. Hope. A future, we're talking about growth.

All this is life. Yeah. Because. Think about it. When a person doesn't have life, what happens?

There is no future, there is no hope, there is no growth. They just stagnate. And they don't decay.

So, growth means, or life means hope, and future, and growth, and many other things. Yeah. So. If we're going to bring life to people, definitely we have to, if we have to do that, show mercy, kindness. Mercy and truth.

You know, I'm trying to think of an example in the Bible that displays that really prominently. One of the ones that comes to mind is something we talked about this past weekend here in Clearview in our Sunday school lesson is the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman, where Jesus, you know, in mercy, he has a conversation with this woman who by social standards, he would have not had a conversation with otherwise. But then truth, he confronts her with, hey, you know, you're living a life that is not honoring God. You're living a life that is living in sin. But he leads her to the truth of who he is.

It's probably the most profound example, at least one that I can think of, because he says, I think in the same passage, I could be misquoting, but I think he says, your sin are forgiven, go sin no more. It's truth and mercy in two sentences back to back.

So I think that's always when we talk. About this kind of thing. That's always the example that my mind goes to. Yeah, absolutely. Jesus Himself was.

Was full of mercy and truth. John chapter 1 talks about that. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. That's right. That's right.

And you know, as we're talking about Nehemiah, I think that, and you've done a great job throughout this whole series of Nehemiah. comparing the two, right? Would you say that Nehemiah is a is a type of Christ? Oh, yes. Okay.

100%. Yeah. Yeah. He left his Yeah. Kushijob in Shushan and came to Jerusalem A broken down, run down city.

With no walls, the gates are still smoking. Smoldering, I would say, maybe in some places. We don't know. The the The situation of the people Is heartbreaking, they're in dire straits. And that's what Jesus came.

He came to our horrible world. Yeah, of course it's beautiful. You can see the beauty of in nature and all that. But at the end of the day, it's full of sorrow and pain and suffering. And evil.

And violence and debauchery, I mean, just on and on and on. And he left this wonderful fellowship. With the Father and the Holy Spirit and came down. Not that he ever. Detached himself from the Trinity, but no, he entered into our realm.

And he came to save us. He didn't come to be served, but he came to Tooth surf surf, yeah. And He gave his life for us, just like Nehemiah. Jesus did not come to buy land. Jesus did not come to marry and To raise a family.

No, he came to give his life for us. That's right. That's it. And so lots and lots of. Parallels there for typology, if you will.

Yeah. Dr. Shaw, for the person who's listening in the time that we have left, talk about how you develop an attitude and a mindset of serving others. Maybe the way that they've grown up or maybe the context that they've grown up in, that hasn't come naturally for them. They have to work to serve, they have to work to see the needs of others.

What can they do? How can they practically develop a mindset and an attitude of serving other people? Get around people who do that. Get around pastors, leaders who truly want to serve others.

Now, at first, you may not get any energy from it. And I know I'm using a very secular term, energy. You may not get any joy in it. You may be like, oh, this is exhausting. Can I just go back and do what I do naturally, whether it is playing music or working on a sermon or writing a paper or building something?

Can I just go do that? Because this is draining. is really exhausting. But when you get around people like like that who love to s serve and share. You begin to realize, man, I can do that too.

I need to do that too.

So Having grown up in a home where I saw my dad serve people, go into small villages and share the gospel and love people. And he was so educated, he was so smart, he was so strong. And yet he spent time in these small villages. And and then he he also served people in the church.

Some of these people would come only when they needed something. But dad did not like. Turn them away. He's like, No, I still have to help them. Yeah, you shared with us recently a story that I hadn't ever heard before.

It was kind of the schedule of events on a typical Sunday and all of the different services and different things, opportunities to worship, different language-based services that your dad did and was a part of. And that really kind of stuck with me: man, serving people in a variety of ways. He wants to make sure there's service where they're speaking English and a service where they're speaking Hindi and a service where they're speaking various other languages, going out in the community, serving at this local center, and then coming back on Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening for a different type of service and Bible study together, constantly pouring into the people around him and inspiring other people to do the same.

Meanwhile, there's pastors all over America right now, or ministry leaders, I should say, who are like three services on a Sunday? I can't do that. Oh, it was, it was more than three. I can't think of that. Oh, yeah.

Four. Oh, yeah. But I'm saying like in America, I think most churches would have one or two. Oh, yeah. They have three people.

I think there's a lot of ministry workers who are like three. Yeah. Are you kidding? I can't commit to that. I'm so sorry.

Dr. Joe, we got maybe like three minutes left in the show. For the pastor who's listening to this or the ministry leader or whoever who says, you know, I feel like I genuinely have this heart of service, but my people, I'm struggling to get my people where I'm at. Right. What can they do?

Well, I would say you go out there and you start doing things, and sooner or later, your people will follow. That's happened here at this church. Also, keep in mind, and I'll say this very quickly. People may hurt your feelings. People may reject you Opposition will be from outside and from inside.

Don't let that change you. Be just as kind and loving. No matter what. I remember telling my dad about Somebody in the church years ago, somebody in the church who was giving me a hard time, and I was just sick and tired, and I'm just gonna deal with this and deal with that. And he said, He said, you know.

Be like Jesus. I said, okay, what do you mean? He said the Bible says that he went about doing good. You know, you can find that verse in the Bible. Jesus went about doing good.

What does that mean? Went about doing good. Means He just Just everywhere he went, he did good. He fed the hungry. He wheeled a set.

He loved on the brokenhearted. He preached to the poor. He just went about doing good, regardless of how people were treating him. Or doubting him, or challenging him, or even wanting to kill him. That's right.

He just went about doing good. If anybody wants that, it's Acts 10:38. There you go. If anybody wants that, that's a great, great verse. I think.

I don't know. I think I've got a life verse, but I might have a close second because I love that he went about doing good. He went about doing good. And that's a great trajectory for our lives, too. When in doubt or when you're struggling or when you face opposition, go about doing good.

Tack two Acts 10:38 and send it on your body and take a picture and send it into the picture of that fresh ink. You know, it's funny. I bet someone out there would do it.

Someone would do it. Absolutely. Guys, make sure you join us next time. We're going to continue the story of Nehemiah and talk about how it impacts our lives today. Thanks so much for listening today.

And if you're listening for the first time, write in and let us know where you're listening from. 252-582-5028. We love getting to meet our Clearview Today show family. Today's episode was a blessing. Consider supporting us financially at Abadanshah.com forward slash give.

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