Exodus 31:1-6; Acts 10:38
Everybody wants to lead, but not everyone wants to serve. Sincerely, very few people are willing to serve. However, the truth is that everyone has been called into the place of leadership. In your own capacity, you are a leader.
Service is the essence of leadership!
Leadership is the all about taking responsibility!
As a true (heavenly-inclined, kingdom-focused) leader, any promotion that excludes you from the place of service MUST be seen as demotion! It’s dangerous! Please don’t go for such opportunity! It’s a trap of the devil, to make you irrelevant in the things of God!
If you must remain relevant in God’s agenda, you must remain actively involved in selfless service (kingdom service).
Example – Daniel maintained his relevance throughout three powerful regimes, through service!
True service is not the one which is convenient, but the one which is sacrificial…it must cost you something!
If your service seems to cost you nothing, you’re most likely involved in ‘self-service’
Self-centred people cannot go headlong into service…they get stuck in the process, because they find it hard to deny themselves…their priorities are not rightly set. They have an entirely different value system from that of God!
Many of us want to follow Jesus, but we are not willing to adopt His core values. He came to lay down His life for people, but we are not willing to lay down our resources (heart, life, money, time, etc.) for His kingdom.
(The young rich ruler – Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-30).
There are dimensions of greatness which self-centred people can never experience in God’s kingdom…
Service is giving. It involves giving selflessly!
When you are a committed giver, you attract divine favour! As a fearless giver, you are putting your entire trust in God, and He will always command heavenly blessings upon your life.
Some elements of acceptable service:
Worship
Present yourself, your life, your heart, your body as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). Lay it on the altar.
‘I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live…’ Galatians 2:20.
The Macedonian churches: they gave themselves first and gave their gifts… (2 Corinthians 8).
Abiding/Dwelling in His presence
‘And He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach’ – Mark 3:14
Don’t neglect the place of devotion – your personal altar!
Covet His presence – Psalm 16:11, Psalm 27:4
Faith
Believe in Jesus Christ (John 6:29).
Faith is the starting point of effective service in the kingdom of God.
Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).
Whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).
Dare to be a kingdom investor!
Take responsibility for kingdom service!
Don’t be self-centred. Be responsible for others…
Joshua 24:15
‘And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’.
