In the comments section of
40-Days to Servanthood: Day 14, Exalted Flesh poses an important question:
Will you elaborate on “each day to serve others in Christ’s Name and do so in hidden ways”? This seems like another contradiction. Does this refer to us not being boastful in our deeds? How can we use our servanthood as an example to others of the wonderful things God does and yet not proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ while doing so, giving all credits to God?
I replied [additions here are noted in brackets]:
As I see it, hidden service may mean several things:
(1) Sometimes, it will entail actual anonymous service. For people hardened by life, there are few things more stunning than an act of service in which there is no agenda and, more importantly, no seeming self-aggrandizement. It has the potential of beginning to change their "spiritual temperatures," increasing their receptivity to Christ at an opportune time. [The New Testament refers to such opportune times as kairos moments. The human reckoning of time is chronological, referred to in the Greek in which the New Testament is written as chronos. But, as several passages in the Bible remind us, God's understanding of time is different from our own. Kairos moments are those times of God's selection when His agenda is to be advanced.]
Servanthood entails having the humility to accept that we won't always be the one privileged to tell people the Good News. (We won't always make the Gospel sale, so to speak.) But God can use as the good news in people's lives that opens their hearts and wills to the Good News of Jesus Christ.
(2) Often, it will mean no overt witnessing for Jesus Christ. This doesn't mean that we're ashamed of Christ. It means that we allow a lifestyle of servanthood with no expectation of reward to have its effect on others.
We can expect that often, people will ask us why we serve. This is when I think Peter's advice to "be prepared always to give a defense for the hope that is in you, but do so with gentleness and reverence," comes into play [First Peter 3:15].
(3) Always, hidden service will mean not calling attention to one's self. If our attitude is one of trying to seem great or godly by taking time out of our busy schedules to do this humble thing, our motives are all wrong. We'll be like the Pharisees Jesus excoriated for loving to say long, pious prayers in public.
In fact, motive is central when it comes to this issue of "hiddenness." Jesus' portrayal of the judgment in Matthew 25:31-46 has a sort of hidden parable on hiddenness within it: The story of all these people who were the hidden Christ serving the hidden Christ.
The sheep in Jesus' story serve because the Christ living in their lives recognizes the Christ in the vulnerable and hurting people around them and so, serves them.
Here, we see too, that service is an act of worship, more than anything else. When we worship, we aren't calling attention to ourselves, we're declaring the "worth-ship" of our great and good Savior-God.
Do you remember the place early in Acts when Peter and John were dragged before the religious authorities for healing a man? Peter's defense included him saying, "...if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead." (Acts 4:9-10)
Peter hadn't gone out of his way to call attention to himself when declaring a paralyzed man healed. But when asked why he had done this good deed, he wasn't mush-mouthed about saying Who really had done the good deed. Like all servants of God, Peter acknowledged that without Christ, he could do nothing (John 15:5) and told everybody that was the case.
I believe that such hidden service earns Christians the opportunity to share Christ. Again, as I mentioned earlier, we may not be the servants who do the overt evangelizing, but if we are humble enough to be part of the process [God initiates] and pray that God will use our service in Christ's Name to convey the Good News of nw life in Christ, God will answer that prayer, I'm certain!
I hope that this responds to your very good question!
No comments:
Post a Comment