{"id":5621,"date":"2019-08-12T10:19:26","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T18:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=5621"},"modified":"2019-08-12T10:19:27","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T18:19:27","slug":"celebration-of-discipline-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2019\/08\/12\/celebration-of-discipline-service","title":{"rendered":"Celebration of Discipline: Service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"book<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is \nengag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through \nCel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of Dis\u00adci\u00adpline by Richard Fos\u00adter, I\u2019ll post my thoughts here \n(which will large\u00adly con\u00adsist of excerpts I found insight\u00adful). They are \nall tagged <\/em>summer\u2010reading\u2010project\u20102019<\/em><\/a>. The sched\u00adule is <\/em>online<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week we come to the dis\u00adci\u00adpline of ser\u00advice \u2014 the habit of \u201cqui\u00adet\u00adly and unpre\u00adten\u00adtious\u00adly\u2026 car\u00ading for the needs of oth\u00aders.\u201d (page 130).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a sol\u00adid chap\u00adter and full of insights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf all the clas\u00adsi\u00adcal Spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal Dis\u00adci\u00adplines, ser\u00advice is the most con\u00adducive to the growth of humil\u00adi\u00adty. When we set out on a con\u00adscious\u00adly cho\u00adsen course of action that accents the good of oth\u00aders and is, for the most part, a hid\u00adden work, a deep change occurs in our spir\u00adits.\u201d <\/p>Richard Fos\u00adter, Cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of Dis\u00adci\u00adpline, page 130<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As I some\u00adtimes remark, \u201cGod\u2019s plan A for your life is humil\u00adi\u00adty. Plan B is humil\u00adi\u00ada\u00adtion. Choose wise\u00adly.\u201d Pur\u00adsu\u00ading humil\u00adi\u00adty through ser\u00advice is coun\u00adter\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal at an ambi\u00adtious place like Stan\u00adford, and so we need to con\u00adstant\u00adly remind our\u00adselves of the mod\u00adel of our Lord. Jesus showed us that lead\u00aders are exam\u00adples and not excep\u00adtions. A posi\u00adtion of lead\u00ader\u00adship does not exempt us from ser\u00advice \u2014 it gives us an oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty to serve more peo\u00adple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we tell if we are using a posi\u00adtion as a plat\u00adform for ser\u00advice? Robert Green\u00adleaf, who was an exec\u00adu\u00adtive at AT&T, wrote <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe best test [of your ser\u00advant lead\u00ader\u00adship], and dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to admin\u00adis\u00adter, is: Do those served grow as per\u00adsons? Do they, while being served, become health\u00adi\u00ader, wis\u00ader, freer, more autonomous, more like\u00adly them\u00adselves to become ser\u00advants? And, what is the effect on the least priv\u00adi\u00adleged in soci\u00adety? Will they ben\u00ade\u00adfit or at least not be fur\u00adther deprived?\u201d<\/p>Robert Green\u00adleaf, The Ser\u00advant as Leader<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The pas\u00adsage I found most help\u00adful, though, is Fos\u00adter\u2019s insight on the dif\u00adfer\u00adence between serv\u00ading and being a ser\u00advant:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we choose to serve, we are still in charge. We decide whom we will serve and when we will serve. And if we are in charge, we will wor\u00adry a great deal about any\u00adone step\u00adping on us, that is, tak\u00ading charge over us. But when we choose to be a ser\u00advant, we give up the right to be in charge. There is great free\u00addom in this. If we vol\u00adun\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adly choose to be tak\u00aden advan\u00adtage of, then we can\u00adnot be manip\u00adu\u00adlat\u00aded. When we choose to be a ser\u00advant, we sur\u00adren\u00adder the right to decide who and when we will serve. We become avail\u00adable and vul\u00adner\u00ada\u00adble.\u201d<\/p>Richard Fos\u00adter, Cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of Dis\u00adci\u00adpline, page 132<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Years ago some\u00adone told me that one of the truest tests of your ser\u00advant\u00adhood is how you react when you are treat\u00aded like a ser\u00advant. It stuck with me, prob\u00ada\u00adbly because I had recent\u00adly felt the sting of being tak\u00aden for grant\u00aded. I had been treat\u00aded like a ser\u00advant and it both\u00adered me, which meant that I did not yet see myself as a ser\u00advant. In Philip\u00adpi\u00adans 2:7 we are taught that Jesus took \u201cthe very nature of a ser\u00advant\u201d (NIV). I came to see that if my goal was to have the very nature of a ser\u00advant, then being treat\u00aded like a ser\u00advant was actu\u00adal\u00adly a mark\u00ader of suc\u00adcess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What pre\u00advents this from becom\u00ading destruc\u00adtive is rec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00ading that although we are ser\u00advants we are not serv\u00ading the whims of peo\u00adple. Colos\u00adsians 3:23\u201324 says, \u201cWhat\u00adev\u00ader you do, work at it with all your heart, as work\u00ading for the Lord, not for human mas\u00adters, since you know that you will receive an inher\u00adi\u00adtance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serv\u00ading.\u201d He gets at the same idea in 2 Corinthi\u00adans 4:5, \u201cFor what we preach is not our\u00adselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and our\u00adselves as your ser\u00advants for Jesus\u2019 sake. \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In oth\u00ader words, our ulti\u00admate ser\u00advice is to the Lord. This lim\u00adits the way we serve any spe\u00adcif\u00adic per\u00adson. I must not serve oth\u00aders in a way that under\u00admines my abil\u00adi\u00adty to ful\u00adfill God\u2019s pur\u00adpos\u00ades in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n