The Face of Grace: Expressions of Servanthood

Have you noticed that in the world ‘serving’ is for the low ranking members of society? The ‘have nots’ are expected to serve those who ‘have’.  The ‘unfortunate’ are expected to serve the ‘fortunate’.   The ‘untitled’ are expected to serve the ‘titled’. 

Have you also noticed that Jesus taught and expressed servanthood from strength? So when He had finished washing their feet and had put on His garments and had sat down again, He said to them, Do you understand what I have done to you?  John13:12 AMP

Good question:  Do we understand what Jesus had done? 

There is a great lesson of humility in the text, but there was also a powerful picture of grace.  Peter’s respect for Jesus and understanding of culture led him to say,  "You shall never wash my feet!"  Peter could not let Jesus wash his feet!  It would be humiliating for Peter to allow Jesus to do for him what he should be doing for Jesus.  In most churches today, Peter would have probably heard a lot of amen’s.  Therefore, Peter must have been shocked when Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me."   Before we can serve others, we must allow Jesus to serve us.  This is grace!  

We serve because we have received! As each one has received a gift, minister (serve) it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers (serves), let him do it as with the ability which God supplies …1 Peter 4:10-11NKJV  What a relief!  What a blessing.  We don’t supply, we simply dispense.  God gives, then we pass it on!  We don’t have to artificially come up with talents to bless others.

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet.  For I have given you this as an example, so that you should do in your turn what I have done to you.   John 3:14-15 AMP In your turn, wash one another’s feet.  When I serve you, I express grace.  When you serve me, you express grace.  Either way, we both are blessed!   To allow others to express grace to us is an act of grace as well.

1 Peter 2:16 says: Live as free people, yet without employing your freedom as a pretext for wickedness; but live at all times as servants of God.   AMP   Live as free people and be at all times as servants of God.  This can only be done through grace. Serving through grace is to serve from the mindset of God’s children.  To serve from the mindset of a servant is to serve from the mindset of a slave.  A slave serves with anxiety and fear. A child serves with joy and freedom.   I recently found a great example of the difference:

The servant is appreciated on the basis of what he does.

The child is appreciated on the basis of who he is.

The servant starts the day anxious and worried if his work will please his master.

The child rests in the secure love of his family.

The servant is accepted because of the quality of his workmanship.

The child is accepted because of relationship.

The servant is accepted because of his productivity and performance.

The child belongs because of his position as a person.

At the end of the day the servant has peace of mind only if he is sure he has proven his worth by his work.  The next morning his anxiety begins again.

The child can be secure all day and know tomorrow will not change his status.

When a servant fails, his whole position is at stake.  He might lose his job.

When a child fails, he will be grieved because he hurt his parents, but he is not afraid of being thrown out.  His basic confidence is in belonging and being loved.  His performance does not change his performance or stability.

  

Do we understand what Jesus had done?    Jesus was teaching them to serve by grace.  Jesus was teaching the disciples to serve an expression of grace.  Serving as a child of God is a liberating experience of grace.  Serving as a slave leads to burnout, discouragement and self righteousness.  If your service for God is not full of life, ask yourself:  

Do I have the mindset of a child or a slave?  

When we have a mind set of a slave, it is and always will be ‘all about us’.   However, when we serve as children, it is all about Him.  When we serve as a slave, it is heavy and ill fitting.  We always wonder if we’ve done enough.  On the contrary, serving as a child out of the rhythms of grace is light and easy. (See Matt. 11:28-30 AMP)   Fear is replaced by faith.  Effort is replaced by fruit.  Dread is replaced by joy.

The Face of Grace - Expressions of Love

I have always been a dreamer.  As a small child, sometimes I dreamed of being a Cowboy, Superman, Batman, a famous actor, and a Heisman Trophy winner, just to name a few.   My dreams were partially motivated by my selfish desire to be recognized.  However, my dreams were also motivated by an inward desire to impact my world.  This desire is a God given desire common in mankind.  We are uniquely made to personally impact our world.  The Psalmist David recognized this and said:  I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;  Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. (Psalms 139:14) Maryanne Williamson said it this way:

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.   

I also dreamed of being a preacher.  At a very young age, my first cousin and I would often pretend we were having church.  He would lead the music and I would preach.   (Really, we did!  I would tell you to ask him, but I’ve left his name out on purpose to protect the guilty. lol)  In reality it was only him and me, but I dreamed of preaching to a multitude!  This dream increased in intensity when at the age of fourteen the Lord touched my life in a special way and I recognized He was calling me into the ministry.   I still remember the emotion provoked in me as a teenager by a song from a Music group in the 70’s named Dogwood. The first sentences of the song were:  I’d love to stand upon a mountain and look down upon the world and see a thousand times a thousand people and tell them all what Jesus did for me.  I’d love to travel all the highways of all the nations and the seas and show the ones who are travelling in darkness the light that shines upon the road for me.  The desire to impact the world here and abroad would sometimes literally bring me to tears. 

Too bad neither my dream nor my passion equated effectiveness!

I had zeal, but “not according to knowledge” (Rom. 10:2)  Sometimes my methods were insinsitive and harsh.  Being right was often more important to me than the people I tried to help.  Other times my passion was squashed  by guilt.  Still, I felt compelled to do something for God.   Throughout history, many lives have been destroyed by people who thought they were doing something for God. 

Then through a personal revelation of God’s grace, my ministry forever changed.     Now I know that one of the signs of a heart touched by grace is the expression of love.  Being touched by grace does not guarentee we are right!   Grace is not a reward to the well informed.  The message of grace is the most powerful and enlightning message I have ever heard.  Yet, the expression of grace is more powerful and enlightning than words can express.   Truly grace touches the heart before it penetrates the head.  Grace is not a doctrine.  Grace is God’s presence and ability freely given to those who will receive it. 

Have you ever thought about where God had the love chapter (1 Cor. 13) placed in the Bible?  The placement was divine.  It is in between two chapters that talk about the gifts of the spirit and the proper publilc use of them.  To accomplish their purpose, God’s gifts of grace must be empowerd by His love.  The heart of grace is to love.  We must never put the message above the expression.  A grace awakening means a love awaking, because love is a face of grace. 

I’m still a dreamer.  I dream of a large church, large responses to the message of the gospel, a large world wide impact, and large offerings (I guess that’s the preacher in me).  I dream of family vacations, exotic anniversary trips with my wife, and consistant golf rounds below par.  I dream of success, fulfillment, and salvation for my children and grandchildren.  Yet, my greatest dream of all is this: At the end of my life those who have known me will unmistakingly, unforgettably and undeniably know they have been loved. If I accomplish this, I know I will have allowed the grace of God to express through me the essence of life itself.     

The Face of Grace

Grace, you’ve heard of it.  Realize it or not, you’ve experienced it to some degree.    Few other words produce more discussion, emotion, debate. I recently looked up grace on Amazon.com under the heading of Religion and Spirituality, and found 6531 books on the subject.   In the Bible we find that we are ‘saved by grace’ and ‘called unto grace’.  We are challenged to ‘grow in grace’, ‘continue in grace’, not to ‘receive grace in vain’, and to ‘let your speech be always with grace’.  

No wonder so much time has been spent dissecting the word.  Grace is amazing.  1 Peter 4:10 calls it manifold. Manifold means multicolored; various in character.  It is not wrong to define, grasp or read about what grace is.  However, more important than defining grace is that we recognize, receive and distribute grace to our world.  Charles Swindoll says “It’s time for grace to be awakened and released, not denied... to be enjoyed and freely given, not debated.”

In his book, What’s So Amazing About Grace, Phillip Yancey never actually tries to define grace.  As a matter of fact he says:   “Grace can be dissected as a frog, but the thing dies in the process, and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind. I have just read a thirteen-page treatise on grace in the New Catholic Encyclopedia, which has cured me of any desire to dissect grace and display its innards ... For this reason, I will rely more on stories than syllogisms (deductive reasoning or crafty argument).  In sum, I would far rather convey grace than explain it!”    

That’s it!  As Christians our challenge is not to explain amazing grace, but to convey grace to our grace hungry world.   Manifold grace could simply be called the characteristics or expressions of grace.  We are called to experience and display the outward expression or the face of grace.

Sometimes we miss seeing or displaying the grace of God because we only look for it in the fantastic.

 However, grace is expressed in everything from the simple to the profound.   Grace is a song in the heart on a bad day.  Grace is a word of encouragement for the discouraged. Grace inspire hope for the hopeless.  Grace is gratitude for what we do have in a time where we don’t seem to have much.  Grace is a smile when a frown would be easier.  Grace is taking time to enjoy the moment.   Grace is helping someone we are not equipped to help. Grace is an act of service to the undeserving.  Grace is paying what the debtor can not pay.   Grace is loving the unlovable.  Grace is forgiveness for the unforgivable.   Grace is salvation to the unsaved.   Grace is amazing!  And every Christian has been given Charisma or gifts of grace to share with our world.   As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10  

You are the only Jesus some of your friends have ever met.  When they meet you are they coming face to face with an expression of His grace or are they meeting a cheap imitation? 

P.S.  I would like to hear from you.  I believe all of our lives have been impacted many  times through someone else’s grace inspired action.   Would you please send me a short testimony of how you experienced the face of grace through someone else?     

Hypocrite?

One of the most negative words I often hear associated with Christians is hypocrite. I hear things such as, ‘I don’t want to be a hypocrite’, ‘I would go to church but I cannot stand the hypocrites’, and ‘They are a hypocrite, because they go to church and still ____________________’ (You fill in the blank)



Biblically speaking a hypocrite is not someone who has personal problems, yet goes to church, and participates in worship or service. The Greek word Jesus used to describe hypocrite literally means: a stage actor, a pretender. Therefore, according to the scriptures it is not hypocritical to be a Christian and have issues such as: bad habits, shortcomings, temper tantrums, marriage problems, etc. However, it is hypocritical to be a Christian who pretends or acts as if he/she has no issues.



I’m not suggesting that Christians need to publicly announce their issues to keep from being a hypocrite. After all we are told not to cast our pearls before swine. Neither should we use our imperfection as an excuse not to grow in Christ. I am suggesting that we get real, and realize we don’t go to church because we are perfect. God gifts the church with ministry gifts, not as a result of our perfection, but as a result of His perfect love. In His perfect love, he uses common people to change the world. Our imperfection is not the sign of a hypocrite, but ultimately something that brings glory to God. But this precious treasure--this light and power that now shine within us--is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own. (2 Cor 4:7 NLT) God uses weak people to distribute his power in the world.



Don’t let the fear of being called a hypocrite keep you from church this Sunday. Come as you are, worship the king of kings, and before you know it, not only will your life improve, but God will shine through ‘even you’ in order to touch the life of someone else.