“But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink.”
Luke 17:8
My dad is probably the hardest working man I’ve ever known. He works 60+ hours a week between 2 jobs, one of which is just to pay taxes! He has an endless number of projects going on around the house, from building a shed out of scrap wood and nails to finishing the basement. He makes time to have coffee with my mom everyday and is always available for his children, whether it’s talking, taking us turtle hunting or digging an underground bunker. As if that wasn’t enough, he is actively involved in street ministry and political activity. He is an active voice for the persecuted church and he fights the social ills of our community as a regular contributor to the editorial page of the paper. He is a busy man.
Jesus was also a man pulled in a million different directions. One particular sequence of events takes place beginning in Matthew 14. Jesus gets news that his cousin John has been beheaded by King Herod. “When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him . . . and when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude, and He was moved with compassion for them. . .” He heals them, feeds them and sends them away and then goes up on a mountain to pray. What happens? The disciples are caught in a storm and He has to go rescue them. When they get to the other side of the lake, the mend recognize Him and bring out their sick. He heals them, has a confrontation with the Pharisees, an interaction with a Canaanite woman, the He departs, skirts the Sea of Galilee, goes up on a mountain and sits down. “Then a great multitude came to Him having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet.”
At what point in time does Jesus get to say, “Alright. Enough is enough already!” How many times does He have to teach them, heal them, feed them, and touch them before He earns the right to rest and be alone? The fact is He always had that right. But He emptied Himself and took on the form of a bondservant.
What a lesson for ministry. What a lesson for life! In John 13:16, Christ says, “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.” If Christ never put His own wants/desires before others, what makes me think that I have the right to do so? I am no longer my own.
1 Corinthians 7”23 says, “You are bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 states, “For the love of Christ compels, because we judge thus; that if Christ died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” And of course, that epic verse in Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
It seems like the master in this verse is asking a lot out of his servant. But that is what a servant does: he works. As Monica pointed out yesterday, being a servant is not a 9-5 jig, 5 days a week. It’s all day everyday. But if the God of glory denied Himself, how much more must I? Just know this: to he who is diligent at the task set before him, God rewards. The faithful soldier gets the approval of the higher ups, the persistent athlete gets the crown and the hard-working farmer gets to eat dinner first.
As my dad says, let’s get to heaven tired; we have all eternity to rest.
Application: To day I will write a note to my dad, thanking him for being such an amazing example of a true servant of God.
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