Servants Maintain a Low Profile by Rick Warren

2008/09/23

Servants Maintain a Low Profile by Rick Warren

And all of you must put on the apron of humility, to serve one another; for the scripture says, “God resists the proud, but shows favor to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5 (TEV)
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Real servants maintain a low profile. Servants don’t promote or call attention to themselves. Instead of acting to impress and dressing for success, they “put on the apron of humility, to serve one another” (1 Peter 5:5 TEV).

If recognized for their service, they humbly accept it but don’t allow notoriety to distract them from their work. Paul exposed a kind of service that appears to be spiritual but is really just a put-on, a show, an act to get attention. He called it “eyeservice,” serving in order to impress people with how spiritual we are (Ephesians 6:6 KJV; Colossians 3:22 KJV).

This was a sin of the Pharisees. They turned helping others, giving, and even prayer into a performance for others. Jesus hated this attitude and warned, “When you do good deeds, don’t try to show off. If you do, you won’t get a reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1 CEV).

Self-promotion and servanthood don’t mix. Real servants don’t serve for the approval or applause of others. They live for an audience of One. As Paul said, “If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10 NIV).

You won’t find many real servants in the limelight; in fact, they avoid it whenever possible. They are content with quietly serving in the shadows.

Joseph is a great example. He didn’t draw attention to himself, but quietly served Potiphar, then his jailer, then Pharaoh’s baker and wine taster, and God blessed that attitude. When Pharaoh promoted him to prominence, Joseph still maintained a servant’s heart, even with his brothers, who had betrayed him.

Unfortunately, many leaders today start off as servants but end up as celebrities. They become addicted to attention, unaware that always being in the spotlight blinds you.

You may be serving in obscurity in some small place, feeling unknown and unappreciated. Listen: God put you where you are for a purpose! He has every hair on your head numbered, and he knows your address.


© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved. Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th Century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers. Pastor Jon Walker is a writer for
www.GraceCreates.com.
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Dinner to Raise Funds for Pastors’ Kids and Widows

Source: The Star Online

Wednesday September 24, 2008

Dinner to raise funds for pastors’ kids and widows

THE Assemblies of God (AG) of Malaysia is now one step closer to its goal of raising RM1mil for its existing AG EduCare Fund and establishment of an AG WidowCare Fund.

A fundraiser dinner held at the Civic Hall in Petaling Jaya on Monday was successful in raising about RM70,000 from the 70 tables sold.

“This is a real encouragement for the children and widows of pastors in Malaysia.



For you: Ong (right) presenting a souvenir to Teresa.


“It gives hope to the children, who now not only can look to God, but also to AG EduCare Fund, to further their tertiary studies. The funds will also help the widows financially,” project chairman Rev. Terrence K. K. Sinnadurai said.

He added that more than 75% of pastors in small towns or small churches in big cities do not receive proper salary.

“We wish to enlist 10,000 individuals to contribute at least RM100 each to help us achieve our goal. Christian businessmen and companies are also welcome to contribute,” he said.
Senior Selangor state executive councillor Teresa Kok, who was the guest of honour, contributed RM5,000 on behalf of the state government.

In her speech, she urged the audience to continue praying for the country.
“I was able to sleep well in the cell when I was detained under the Internal Security Act for seven days, while the fact is sometimes I couldn’t rest soundly in my own bedroom,” she said.

An Urgent PRAYER Request 4 ORISSA

We just received this SMS.

Pls pray for Paul Thangaia in Bangalore. RSS planned to kill him. They burnt 20 churches yesterday night and planned to destroy 200 churches in ORISSA. BJP has planned to kill 200 pastors in the next 24 hrs.

Pls pray for at least 2 mins for our brothers and sisters and the dear pastors and church workers in ORISSA now.

Thanks to a reader who has given us this info.

Please click here to find out more: http://www.gfa.org/orissa-update

We Serve God by Serving Others by Rick Warren

Subject: Permission to publish your daily devotions on our blog.
Dear Pastor Rick Warren,
We are writing to ask your permission to publish your daily devotion which we receive in our email.We find your devotion today, "We Serve God by Serving Others" most relevant to what we are facing today in our life.
Thank you and God Bless.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Purpose Driven Life Customer Care" <devotional@purposedrivenlife.com>
To:
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 2:10 PM
Subject: RE: Permission to publish your daily devotions on our blog. (#8262-111489602-6623)
Greetings,
Thank you for your integrity on checking about that. Yes, you have permission to use all of or part of the Daily Devotional so long as you give credit to the author and refer your members to the Purpose Driven Life website at> http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/en-US/FreeTools/devotional/dailyDevotional.htm
where they can view additional issues of the daily devotional. Blessings, Purpose Driven Life Customer Care

*********************************************************************************
2008/09/15

We Serve God by Serving Others by Rick Warren

Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Mark 10:43 (MSG)
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We serve God by serving others.

The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions, prestige, and position. If you can demand service from others, you’ve arrived. In our self-serving culture with its me-first mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept.

Jesus, however, measured greatness in terms of service, not status. God determines your greatness by how many people you serve, not how many people serve you.
This is so contrary to the world’s idea of greatness that we have a hard time understanding it, much less practicing it. The disciples argued about who deserved the most prominent position, and 2,000 years later, Christian leaders still jockey for position and prominence in churches, denominations, and parachurch ministries.

Thousands of books have been written on leadership, but few on servanthood. Everyone wants to lead; no one wants to be a servant. We would rather be generals than privates. Even Christians want to be “servant-leaders,” not just plain servants. But to be like Jesus is to be a servant. That’s what he called himself.

While knowing your shape is important for serving God, having the heart of a servant is even more important. Remember, God shaped you for service, not for self-centeredness. Without a servant’s heart, you will be tempted to misuse your shape for personal gain. You will also be tempted to use it as an excuse to exempt yourself from meeting some needs.

God often tests our hearts by asking us to serve in ways we’re not shaped. If you see a man fall into a ditch, God expects you to help him out, not say, “I don’t have the gift of mercy or service.”
While you may not be gifted a particular task, you may be called to do it if no one who is gifted at it is around. Your primary ministry should be in the area of your shape, but your secondary service is wherever you’re needed at the moment.

Your shape reveals your ministry, but your servant’s heart will reveal your maturity. No special talent or gift is required to stay after a meeting to pick up trash or stack chairs. Anyone can be a servant. All it requires is character.

It is possible to serve in church for a lifetime without ever being a servant. You must have a servant’s heart.

How can you know if you have the heart of a servant?
Jesus said, “You can tell what they are by what they do” (Matthew 7:16 CEV).

© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved. Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th Century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers. Pastor Jon Walker is a writer for
http://www.gracecreates.com/.
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"The Anointed Priest Who Sins"

Rev. Susan Tang's book, entitled, "The Anointed Priest Who Sins," and amazingly it zeroes in on what is happening now in the Church...

"When we raise money supposedly for God's kingdom and then use it on ourselves, it is extortion. It is wrong to tell people to give money to church projects, to "God's work" for starving orphans, destitute old people, unwanted mental patients, etc. and then use the money on ourselves to feed our excesses." (Tang, 2005, 29)

"It is unfortunate that the 21st century church loves to thrive on outward excesses and extortion. Are we using all these exteriors, the theatrics, the sensationalism, the false excitement, the sensuality, the 'hyping up,' the showmanship, the entertainment, etc. to make up for the lack of inward spiritual reality?

Human nature loves excesses. Greed is so natural. If we can have two, three, or four, why have one? God speaks very clearly in His word that kings [or, senior pastors - some senior pastors do see themselves as kings, and even worse, they act like they are really kings!] are NOT to multiply horses [or luxury cars, in today's context!], silver, gold [or loaded personal ministry bank accounts, in today's context!] or women, yet Solomom did it and was not judged. This emboldened him to continue to multiply these possessions until he lost the spiritual reality and the presence of God." (Tang, 2005, 29-30)


"If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering" (Leviticus 4:3)

STEP THREE: "Bring a young bullock" The offending priest was required to bring a sacrifice larger than that brought by the common people and the ruler of the people. This is because he had a larger share of the sacred position before God. Special privileges do carry with them special responsibilities. But why bring an unblemished young bullock?

Holiness demands it. God will not accept any sacrifice with defects as the sacrifice is a symbol of the coming supreme sacrifice that will be offered at Calvary. Why a bull, and not a lamb or any other animal? Because that bullock represents the offending priest - and all of us. Yes, by nature, we are all 'bullish' - stubborn, insensitive, rebellious, stong and (destructively) powerful. The guilty priest had to identify himself with that bull by laying his hands on it and then he had to KILL IT. Yes, kill it. Kill it without any second thoughts, without any mercy and without any excuses.

This is not a pleasant scene - no, not in the natural. To plunge a knife into a healthy animal and watch it totter, die and have its body hacked into pieces with its blood splattered all over the place is nauseating. But God requires it because this is the only way to atone for this sin. This is the only way to put an end to all our natural talents and human dynamism. Many of us are too strong, too capable, too brilliant, too shrewd, too manipulative in ourselves for God to use us. We have to die. This nauseating and brutal act of killing and hacking this young healthy bull to death has spiritual meaning and eternal validity." (Tang, 2005, 21-22)

(This is a borrowed comment that someone posted on The Spikeee's blog. It is so relevant for our current situation. Thank you whoever you are, for this comment)

We Only Need To Believe.

ISAIAH 65:24 "And it will be, before they call I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear."

This beautiful story was written by a doctor who worked in Africa .

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but inspite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive, as we had no incubator(we had no electricity to run an incubator) . We also had no special feeding facilities.

Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up thefire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress totell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easilyin tropical climates). 'And it is our last hot water bottle!' she exclaimed.

As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow ontrees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways. 'All right,' I said, 'put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm.

'The following noon , as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.

During prayer time, one ten -year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. 'Please, God' she prayed, 'Send us a hot water bottle today. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon. 'While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, 'And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?'

As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say 'Amen'? I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the home land. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home.

Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator! Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the verandah was a large 22-pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children.

Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.

From the top, I lifted out brightly-colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend. Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the.....could it reallybe? I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.

Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, 'If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!' Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully-dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked: 'Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?' Of course, I replied!

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it 'that afternoon.

''Before they call, I will answer.' (Isaiah 65:24)