The Discipline Of Servanthood Part 1

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Being a servant goes against our grain, but in God's eyes, it's the servants who win in the race of life. Everybody likes servants as long as they don't have to be servants.

Ready for a paradigm shift? Stay with us today as we explore the discipline of servanthood. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, becoming more Christ-like means becoming more servant-like.

There doesn't seem to be a way to separate these two. Dave, you know, when we think of the life of Jesus Christ, of course, what comes immediately to mind is that he's the one who washed the disciples' feet. You're absolutely right. When we think of Christ, we think of servanthood.

As a matter of fact, he actually said that about himself. These messages that you've been listening to are intended to help you in your inner life, the disciplines that grow godliness. And we're making this series of messages available to you for the simple reason that many of you perhaps have missed some of the messages or you know others who need to hear what has been said. For a gift of any amount, ask for the series of messages, Disciplines That Grow Godliness.

Once again, the contact info, go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. For a gift of any amount, these messages can be yours in permanent form. If you were to ask the question, what is it that people generally today think about us as Christians, I mean the born again type of Christians, you'd probably get a variety of answers, but most people look at us very cynically. And they look at us very cynically because they think that we lack a crucial word, and that is credibility. You know that word credibility means worthy of belief. And many people think today that Christians are not worthy to be believed. What an indictment, but it is true in this cynical age. And I was trying to think about why this was, and it dawned on me that there is a gap, I think, a couple of gaps that we could speak about that cause this cynicism.

And you know the cynicism, don't you? You witness to somebody at work or you know of somebody who witnessed to other people at work of Jesus Christ, and the person to whom they're talking basically just says, oh, spare me, spare me. Let me give you three gaps that sometimes exist in our own lives. The first is the gap between belief and behavior. The gap between belief and behavior. Yesterday my wife and I were out with some friends of ours and they were talking about a certain person who claims to be a Christian but is manipulative, dishonest, always out for himself, very selfish. He exists in the business world, and a person like that, it would be better if he were not to identify himself with Christ. Have you ever met some Christians you just wish that they wouldn't say that they were Christians but tell people that they've been converted to some other religion?

Let some other religion have them. You see, most people know that Jesus Christ was kind and honest and was a man of integrity, and therefore they think, they actually think that we should be like him, of all things. Now I might say that they don't expect us to be perfect, but what the world really hates is hypocrisy. They dislike it when we are unwilling to admit our imperfections and still go on pretending that we are on a higher platform than they are preaching to them.

That is deeply resisted in our culture. So the first is the gap between belief and behavior. The second is the gap between life and lip. I make that a separate one because a lot of people who don't have the life that is in conjunction with behavior, they nevertheless probably do not witness for Christ. In the second category, I'm talking about the person whose life is a contradiction to what Jesus Christ is, but yet they tell others about Christ. And it's that gap between life and lip that really turns people off.

There's a third gap that we can't deal with today. It has to do between fact and faith. Many people think that we are gullible because we believe the miracles and so forth, and they have no idea that all the good arguments for the Bible are on our side. And that's also our responsibility to be able to give a reason for the hope that is within us with meekness and with fear.

That is your responsibility and mine. And so you exist today with this gap in an age that does not want to believe because they think that belief has no merit. Many years ago I heard a story about a young boy who lived on the very top of a high hill and he had an old jalopy. It was a car, a very ancient vintage. And in order for him to make it to the other side of the other hill, he always needed a running start. So one morning he got his contraption all geared up and he was zooming down the hill giving it all that it could have so that he'd be able to make it up the hill that was on its way. And as he came to the intersection at the base of the hill, he suddenly noticed that to his right a car was coming, followed by another. He had just a fraction of a moment to figure it out but he discovered that by letting the first car go through and then gunning his pile of junk, he had just enough time to make it in between the two autos.

The only miscalculation was he didn't realize that the first car was actually towing the second. And he learned a very important lesson that day that you should never try to separate the inseparable. And what Jesus says to us today is, if you follow me, live like me, to give the gospel credibility, the worthiness of belief. The question is, how do we do that?

How is it translated into culture? And that's the purpose of this message. Would you take your Bibles today, please, and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, Acts Romans, Corinthians, and then this is 2 Corinthians, where the Apostle Paul is speaking to this church and he is defending his, quote, credibility. And he is letting them know why it is that what he has to say is worthy of their attention and their belief because he experienced a lot of criticism. Some people said that he didn't have the right message and so he wants to back it up with his life. And we're going to pick up the text in verse 3 of 2 Corinthians chapter 6, giving no cause for offense in anything in order that the ministry be not discredited.

That's what we're going to talk about today. That there be no offense so that the ministry is not discredited. Paul says, I want to live in such a way that if people stumble they stumble over the cross and not over my own inconsistencies and my hypocrisies. I hope that you regularly pray for me and for the pastoral staff, but there may be times when you say, well, we don't know how to pray for the pastor because you may not know my schedule. I want you to know that even if you don't know it, you can pray this verse for all those of us who are in the ministry.

You can pray it consistently and every day that we give no cause for stumbling or for offense that the word of God and the ministry be not discredited. But now the apostle Paul begins to move on and he begins to tell us what he has been through to show his credibility. And he picks up the text and says to himself that the reason for this, verse four, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God. Bottom line, he says, I am a servant of God and the way in which I am a servant of God is going to show you that what I have to say is worthy of investigation and belief. And he pins it down on servanthood. And then he launches into what most commentators think is a poem.

He goes on and he begins to string words together. In fact, I want you to know that he has 27 different words or expressions in this text. So with your Bibles open and it is important that you look at the text. If you're sitting next to somebody who doesn't have a Bible, you might like to look on with me, three different series of nine apiece.

Paul just seemed to, it was just his day for writing and he just took one phrase and laid it on another. First of all, I want you to notice the trials that he endured. This is verses four and five and he lists nine of them. Notice he says, we serve the Lord in afflictions.

This word is the general word that really covers everything. I don't know whether or not you had any afflictions this week, but if you did, they would fit immediately under this category. He says, I have been through afflictions. I have been through hardships. This refers to duties and obligations that have to be discharged with a great deal of grief. And maybe you had duties and obligations this week that had to be discharged with that kind of grief.

You were told to do things at work that you didn't want to do that were outside of your aptitude, the range of your responsibility and gifting. And there was conflict within the office and you experienced that hard to ship that he is talking about. The next word is distresses and notice that all of these words are plural.

Paul is saying, I endured a lot of hassle. Distresses, places of perplexity. If you're a teenager and you couldn't get your locker open this week, that would be a distress for some of you. Perhaps it was a distress because you could get it open either way. You know what distress is. It's the frustrations of life.

If you're a police officer, you know what distress really is and you could tell us a whole lot about it. Beatings and stripes is the next one. He says in another place, stripes beyond measure. Five times, he said, I received 39 stripes from the Jews. See, in those days you were supposed to beat a prisoner only 40. That was the max.

In order to make sure that they did not exceed the max, they said, we're satisfied with 39. Paul says, I went through those kinds of lacerations five times. He doesn't say it here in the text but elsewhere when he's referring to the same ordeal.

That's what he says. He says, on three occasions I was beaten with rods. He went through that kind of persecution and that kind of hassle. The next word is imprisonments. We have one example in the book of Acts where he and Silas were in prison and they were singing hymns to God in the midst of it.

Two malts is the next one. This refers to the mob riots that frequently ensued when the apostle Paul came to town. It happened in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra where he had a whole mob that was so angry with him because he was preaching the gospel. He says in labors, that's the weariness that comes through bearing many burdens. Notice that the next one is sleeplessness. This isn't insomnia. It means that the apostle Paul was in situations where he couldn't sleep very much because of the difficulties of travel and the stresses and the death threats and all the other things.

Sleeplessness and hunger. Not fasting, though he fasted often, has to do with the fact that sometimes he was hungry simply because he had nothing to eat in his travels and in his work. Now what in the world is God doing in this? He says, I am a servant of God and this is what I get. You know what God is doing? God is taking the gap that exists between life and lip, between belief and behavior and he's closing it in the life of the apostle Paul because he says, Paul, what I'm trying to do is to put you through so much grief that people who look at you and see the way in which you respond to it, they will give you that crucial word called credibility.

And that's part of being credible, is suffering in the right way. Alright, first of all, he's told us his trials in verses 4 to 5. Now let's look at his triumphs in verses 6 to 7. How did he handle it?

Well, notice what the text says, impurity. That's how he handled it. He didn't succumb to immorality. He did not succumb to a false motive or a duplicity with the duplicity of motive.

He didn't do that. He remained pure within. If the first nine descriptions have to do with the physical aspects of the torment and the torture of the body, so to speak, and the hassle from outside, we get now to the triumphs which are inside of his life.

It's as if the apostle Paul is allowing us to have an x-ray machine so that we can pick up exactly what was going on inside during the time when outside was so difficult. Purity, he says. Knowledge, that has to do with perspective, the ability to have the long-range point of view because the scripture says that Jesus Christ in him are hidden all the wisdom and knowledge that we will ever need. And people who have knowledge have the ability to see beyond the hassles of life. And then he goes on to say impatience, the ability to endure hardship without compromise, kindness which is a fruit of the Spirit.

Let me ask you something today. High visible Christians that are sometimes even fighting in what is called today our cultural wars, do you see in their lives kindness? The next one is the Holy Spirit which I take to be the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the ability of the Holy Spirit. And then verse six, genuine love.

Genuine love. I don't know whether or not we always see that in the lives of Christians. We see an angry side. We see the same thing sometimes in their lives as we see in the world and what is it that they lose? The crucial term credibility. People think that the gospel is unworthy to be believed.

And not only those folks out there, let's look at ourselves. Genuine love. Genuine love, is that the way we respond to those who mistreat us at work and those who want to get ahead of us and those who want to manipulate us and those who want us out of the office because they want somebody else to take your place?

Is that the way we respond or do we respond with the same kind of response that they have? The power of God, the Apostle Paul says. And then a very interesting expression, he says and the weapons of righteousness on the right hand and on the left. The Apostle Paul says that I'm ready for anybody who comes to me and I want to live righteously whether the attack is coming from this way or that way.

I'm going to be ready for all attacks. I hope that you've seen two things already so far. First of all, in Paul's trials and in his triumphs, does he not mirror Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ is spoken of as the suffering servant. You think of all the sufferings that he went through and then he said he did not come to be ministered onto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. You look at the life of the Apostle Paul and you say Paul, you must be a follower of Jesus.

You're acting like Jesus about whom it is said that when he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he uttered no threats but kept committing himself unto him who judges righteously. What is God trying to do in the life of the Apostle Paul? God is saying, Paul, when people see the way they hassle you and when they see the way you respond which is so different from what would be expected, that is going to give your message credibility.

It is going to make you authentic and believable. Now let's go on to a third category here. Paul gives his testimony. We've had the trials of the servant. We've had the triumphs and now we have the testimony of the servant and I need to tell you what I thought about as I was looking at this up and down, almost like a yo-yo. Some of you have heard my rather humorous news report which actually goes on for about five or six minutes when I get wound up but I remember that one of the lines is this and some of the people on the platform are already snickering. I'm glad to know that but one of the lines is this, that a ship carrying 100 metric tons of yo-yos hit a reef off the coast of Florida yesterday afternoon.

The vessel sank and resurfaced 64 times. Now I look at this and I read the passage of scripture and I say, Paul, you seem to be sinking and resurfacing at least nine times. Notice the expressions that he uses here. He says, first of all, in glory and dishonor.

In glory and dishonor. Sometimes I'm popular, he says, and sometimes I am regarded with reproach. An evil report and a good report. He says, sometimes there are those who speak well of me and he's talking here about those who speak behind his back.

A good report and then there are those who bring an evil report and all of these things are swirling behind my back and there's nothing that I can do to really substantiate myself. I have to entrust my reputation to God. I have to make sure that my conscience is clear before God that the ministry be not blamed but ultimately I have to punt the ball to God because I can't control what people say. Well, my friend, this is Pastor Luther. If the Apostle Paul were living in a day of social media, he would have even emphasized again and again that you cannot control what people say.

What an interesting world we have created for ourselves. I've written a book entitled Holy Living in an Unholy World and I need to tell you that this is the second to last day that we are making this resource available to you. It deals with a number of different issues in the Christian life. Issues regarding evangelism, resolving differences and perhaps one of the most important aspects is the distinction between legalism and the legitimate use of rules in the Christian life.

You've thought about those things. I think that this book will be of help. For a gift of any amount, it can be yours.

Simply go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. As I look through the table of contents, I think one of the most important chapters is entitled The Acts Put to the Root of the Tree. It has to do with those issues in our life where we finally confront God, we confront ourselves.

It's a transforming experience when we finally give up the weapons of a rebel and say, God, I am yours no matter the cost. For a gift of any amount, as I just mentioned a moment ago, this book can be yours. Again, I want to emphasize this is the second to last day that we're making it available, Holy Living in an Unholy World.

Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. And thanks in advance for helping us. Your gifts, your encouragement make this ministry possible. It's time once again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. When we read the Bible's account of events, only certain details are provided. We wonder about the other details.

One of our regular listeners is trying to put it all together in this question. At the Mount of Transfiguration, how did Peter, James and John recognize Moses and Elijah? Well, I think they just read the name tags.

I'm kidding, of course. I think this is so beautiful. I believe that in heaven we will instantaneously know each other. I don't think that we will need name tags. Perhaps God will give us intuitive knowledge so that when we meet Abraham, we know that it's Abraham. When we meet some other person that we're interested in, Martin Luther or John Calvin or John Wesley, and we want to connect with them, we will know who they are.

Now, I think I have some scriptural warrant for this also. The Bible says that we shall know even as we are known. What that means is that after the resurrection, once we are in our permanent bodies, we will have a great deal of knowledge. We'll never know how much God knows, but we will know one another. That's why the Bible says, so shall we ever be with the Lord. There is in scripture there in 1 Thessalonians 4 a great encouragement for those who die that the affection that we have for those who pass on today will continue in the world to come.

So we will certainly know our friends, our relatives, but I think we'll also know intuitively those whom we have never met before. Some words of hope once again from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer, or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. In life, it's only through some hard knocks that we learn to help others face their hard knocks. Paul gave some crucial advice, advice we need to hear in this age of self-gratification. Next time, more from Paul on enduring hardness. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.