[b]A Bossy Attitude[i]by Zac Poonen
Our Lord was a servant, but alas, Christian leaders and missionaries today are often masters-bosses and Sahibs. We may not be able to prevent others from calling us "Sahibs" perhaps, but the question is whether we desire to be Sahibs in our hearts.
We need to re-learn the lesson that Jesus sought so patiently to teach His disciples. To them He said, after washing their feet, "In this world the kings and great men order their slaves around...but among you the one who serves you best will be your leader. Out in the world the master sits at the table and is served by his servants. But not here! For I am your servant" (Lk. 22:25-27-Living N.T.). Oh, how these words should convict us of our bossy attitude to those under us. How we should be humbled by the example of our Lord. My the Lord remove from us all false, worldly ideas of self-respect and dignity and race-superiority that we may yet be having. May He teach us afresh that the real mark of greatness in the kingdom of God is to be a servant, a pourer of water, as Jesus was.
May God help us to take the low place not only now but right through till the end of our lives. Let us never seek for honour and respect and obedience from our fellow-brethren at any time, not even when we feel we are senior workers in the Lord's vineyard. In our attitude to others, may we always recognise that they are the masters and we are the servants- even if our official position in the administrative set-up of our church is higher than theirs and even if we are senior in age and in experience. The higher we go, the more it becomes our responsibility to serve others.
2 Corinthians 4:5 is a very challenging verse in this connection. Paul says there (paraphrasing his words). "We preach two things: By our lips we proclaim Christ Jesus as Lord. By our life we proclaim ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake."
Brothers and sisters, this is our twofold message; and what God has joined together, let no man put asunder. This is the full gospel. May we never be guilty of proclaiming only half of it, for only when this message is proclaimed in its entirely will the heathen begin to see Christ sanctified in us. It is the lack of this that hinders so much of the Lord's work today.
If we are to be servants, we have to be genuinely humble. We shouldn't mistake condescension for humility. It is easy to have condescension. Even selfish politicians have that. We can have a conceited opinion of ourselves in our hearts that we are big people and then condescend to fellowship with lesser folk and mistake that for humility. No, that's not humility at all.
Genuine humility involves my recognising that in God's eyes there is no difference whatever between me and anyone else. All the natural distinctions that exist between me and others are caused by circumstances and environmental factors etc., and are all eradicated at the Cross. The Cross of Jesus reduces us all to zero. If that has not happened in my life, it only indicates that I have not yet been to the esteem others as better than and superior to ourselves, as Philippians 2:3 commands us to. It is easy then to take the lowly place, willingly and joyfully. And it becomes easy then for God to use us.
As long as Moses (at the age of 40) felt that he was to be the leader of God's people, God couldn't use him (Acts 7:25). God had to take him out into the wilderness for another 40 years and break him. Finally, Moses came to the place where he said, "Lord, I'm not the man for this job. I'm unfit. I can't even speak" (and he really meant it; it wasn't just false humility as it often is with some folk who say similar things!). It was only then that God could use him, for Moses had now come to an end of himself. At the age of 40, in his own strength, all Moses could do was bury one Egyptian under the sand. After God had broken him, he buried the whole Egyptian army under the Red Sea. Such is the result of brokenness.
It is not enough that the Lord take the five loaves and bless them. They must be broken before the multitude can be fed. This is a process that has to be repeated in our lives constantly. God takes us, blesses us, breaks us and uses us. Then we tend to get exalted because we have been used to feed so many. So He has to take us and break us again. And this process goes on all through life.
How we need to covet this brokenness. When a small atom is broken, what power is released! Then what power could be released if only the leaders in our churches and then the congregations were broken by God.