{"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 readers: Chi Alpha @ Stanford is \nengaging in our annual summer reading project. As we read through \nCelebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, I\u2019ll post my thoughts here \n(which will largely consist of excerpts I found insightful). They are \nall tagged <\/em>summer\u2010reading\u2010project\u20102019<\/em><\/a>. The schedule is <\/em>online<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week we come to the discipline of service \u2014 the habit of \u201cquietly and unpretentiously\u2026 caring for the needs of others.\u201d (page 130).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a solid chapter and full of insights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf all the classical Spiritual Disciplines, service is the most conducive to the growth of humility. When we set out on a consciously chosen course of action that accents the good of others and is, for the most part, a hidden work, a deep change occurs in our spirits.\u201d <\/p>Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, page 130<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As I sometimes remark, \u201cGod\u2019s plan A for your life is humility. Plan B is humiliation. Choose wisely.\u201d Pursuing humility through service is countercultural at an ambitious place like Stanford, and so we need to constantly remind ourselves of the model of our Lord. Jesus showed us that leaders are examples and not exceptions. A position of leadership does not exempt us from service \u2014 it gives us an opportunity to serve more people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we tell if we are using a position as a platform for service? Robert Greenleaf, who was an executive at AT&T, wrote <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe best test [of your servant leadership], and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?\u201d<\/p>Robert Greenleaf, The Servant as Leader<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The passage I found most helpful, though, is Foster\u2019s insight on the difference between serving and being a servant:<\/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 worry a great deal about anyone stepping on us, that is, taking charge over us. But when we choose to be a servant, we give up the right to be in charge. There is great freedom in this. If we voluntarily choose to be taken advantage of, then we cannot be manipulated. When we choose to be a servant, we surrender the right to decide who and when we will serve. We become available and vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, page 132<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Years ago someone told me that one of the truest tests of your servanthood is how you react when you are treated like a servant. It stuck with me, probably because I had recently felt the sting of being taken for granted. I had been treated like a servant and it bothered me, which meant that I did not yet see myself as a servant. In Philippians 2:7 we are taught that Jesus took \u201cthe very nature of a servant\u201d (NIV). I came to see that if my goal was to have the very nature of a servant, then being treated like a servant was actually a marker of success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What prevents this from becoming destructive is recognizing that although we are servants we are not serving the whims of people. Colossians 3:23\u201324 says, \u201cWhatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.\u201d He gets at the same idea in 2 Corinthians 4:5, \u201cFor what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus\u2019 sake. \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, our ultimate service is to the Lord. This limits the way we serve any specific person. I must not serve others in a way that undermines my ability to fulfill God\u2019s purposes in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n