The Grace to Serve and be Served

Recently, I have been reflecting on a famous hymn, "The Servant Song", better known as "Brother, let me be your servant". It was written in the 1970s by a man called Richard Gillard. Though the song has been altered over the years, Matthew 20:26b- 28 provides the primary scriptural background for the song; it reads;

"…but whoever decides to be great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Many believers thrive on the idea of servanthood. Christ himself calls us to servanthood. He came not to be served but to serve. I will leave this here for now and let it simmer while I move on to my next thought.

In the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul writes to the Church at Ephesus, now a combination of Jews and Gentiles who have believed in Jesus Christ and are now in him because of his finished work on the cross. Among other things, Paul instructs them on how they should live their lives due to their coming into the fold of God. In chapter 4, Paul prays they walk in unity as a body. He further highlights God's many different gifts that the body is blessed with so that the saints can be equipped and edified and grow in unity, faith, and the knowledge of God.

In reflecting on the servant song, chapter 4: 11-16 caught my attention. It says;

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking in truth and love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."

Among other things, this passage screams Service! Service! Service! We serve one another in unity to achieve a goal: glorify God. We joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, to the effective working by which every part does its share. In this picture, every part uses its gift to serve in the body. Serving other believers and ultimately serving God.

There have been two points of reflection for me;

1. Brother, let me be your servant; if Christ himself, the head of the body, came not to be served but to serve, who am I that I should not serve within the body of Christ? The Bible asks believers to serve one another and do their part in the body of Christ according to the gifts that the good Lord has blessed us with. Imagine what it would be if every single part of the body did its share as described by the Apostle Paul. Right now, we are plagued with one-eyed, one-armed, peg-legged churches going about handicapped because there are parts that remain idle as if they have yet not met Grace. May God give me the grace to do my part wholeheartedly.

2. I pray that I might have the grace to let you be my servant, too; this is interesting. The last time I mentioned this to someone, they gasped. So, if everyone is going around serving everyone, everyone should be giving and receiving. It's such a joy to serve others and equally a joy to be blessed by someone's service. There are a lot of people who turn down service from others in the name of being a "servant", being "polite" "a battle of the service as it were. The "no no no, I can't take this", or the "you take the seat, no you sit, no you sit" battle, or turning down an offer of help with chores, watching the kids, or running errands so you can rest. The examples are endless. We can all think of a time when we needed some kind of help, but we turned it down or were too afraid to ask. Sadly, sometimes, our need to be the perpetual "service providers" denies us the opportunity to be blessed by the service of others who would like to partake in the blessing of serving. It takes humility to be on the receiving end. To be in need, accept help, and ask for help. Why should this be uncomfortable?

The Church is a body. We are meant to depend on each other, to rely on each other. We are meant to all do our part, whatever our area of gifting is, whatever love compels us to do. We are pilgrims on a journey; we are brothers on the road. We are here to help each other, walk the mile, and bear the load.

Note: This post is written by my wife, Kunda Mwanza.