Service, Separation and Humility

I'm going to throw some thoughts out about Christian service in this blog, but before I do I thought it would be good to talk about societies, groups, affiliations and cliques - anywhere where a group of people establish an identity within their group. That group could be anything, people who prefer Macs to PCs, people who like a particular genre of music, people who are wealthy, or good looking or just look the same or have the same ethnicity or social class.

These groups can be useful, people can share stories and information about subjects that are of interest to them but they can also over-emphasize the differences between the people who are within their group and those who are not - rather than look at the similarities.

There's an Emo Philips joke which captures perfectly what happens when we become too cliquey.

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said, "Stop! Don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said.

I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"

He said, "Like what?"

I said, "Well, are you religious or atheist?"

He said, "Religious."

I said, "Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?"

He said, "Christian."

I said, "Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

He said, "Protestant."

I said, "Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

He said, "Baptist!"

I said, "Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

He said, "Baptist Church of God!"

I said, "Me too! Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God!"

I said, "Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?"

He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!"

I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off

So even (or maybe especially) within religious groups our desire to be with those who are like us can cause us to look down and remain apart from those who are not like us, to judge others, and this makes it hard for us to have true compassion on others.

What has this got to do with service you may well ask (hopefully in your head, it would look odd if you were talking to your computer right now)

Well these issue of isolation, and our pride are broken down through the practice of true Christian serving. True Christian service is a solution to separation and an antidote to pride

Q: What is Christian service? Often when we think of service in a Christian context we imagine playing in the worship team, helping with the childrens' group, leading a study etc..

All of these things are service but they are just a subset of the ways in which we can serve and in fact the more we get involved in Christian service the less time we have to mix with those who are not Christians and we can end up living in a religious bubble where we really don't care too much for those outside because we rarely interact with them and don't leave ourselves enough time to serve them.

When we spend lots of time with people we cannot help but get some level of emotional attachment to them, whether that is good or bad. At work I deal with some companies that I don't particularly admire (although some of the people are really good) and yet we all have to work together on projects which can be challenging sometimes as the different companies are trying to achieve different things. One of the ways in which we work around this is to sit everyone on the same floor and get rid of partitions between desks so it is all open plan. Not everyone enjoyed this at first, people liked their cubicles and the privacy they offered, but they soon got used to it and and being able to see everyone all the time and speak to everyone just by throwing something at them and them and then having a few words across the desks has helped build a sense of community. Even though the companies have different objectives the individuals have 'gone native' and work towards the goals of the people they see and hear every day. The company they work for is in many ways out of sight and out of mind.

Let's look at some examples of pride, humility and service in the Bible

Matthew 20: 20-28: Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
"What is it you want?" he asked.
She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom."
"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?"
"We can," they answered.
Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father."

When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

We can see a very counter cultural message in this passage - Increasing authority does not mean decreasing service. We're so used to those with the most authority doing the least serving that it is a radical message to hear that our call to service and the authority we have are not related.

Here's another passage to look at through the lens of service.

Matthew 25:31-46: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

This is another great passage that we can maybe glean something different from when we look at how it relates to service. For me this really emphasizes that the people did care for the 'least' had no idea that they would get recognized for it, and maybe also that the reason was that these were also random acts of kindness - unplanned and motivated by compassion rather than duty. Especially these days its difficult to even find time to do the things we're obliged to do let alone making time for unplanned kindness.

So true service holds no regard for recognition and has time for random kindness and compassion


This next passage shows both true service and a wrong perspective on service.

John 13: 1-17
It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"

Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."

"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"

Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Now Peter doesn't want Jesus to wash his feet because of his view of authority and service, that the one in authority is served by the ones under authority. However, much like in the first passage Jesus is showing in a very clear and in what must have been to the disciples, a very startling manner that authority and service are independent. In this and the following passage we also see a unique aspect of Christianity

Philippians 2: 1-7 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

What an incredible privilege we have as Christians - to have a God who has shown us how to live with both authority and love. What other religion can claim to have been shown so clearly how to live.

So we see Jesus serving, but why is service important?

Going back to the start of this post, service helps us mix with different people whether that is age, class or ability - this is vital for stopping us from seeing the world from a self-centered perspective. When we mix with people we stop seeing them as different and start identifying with them and we are able to connect with them and care about them in a way we cannot while they are anonymous. When Jesus washed the disciples feet he gave us the example that service and love are linked - how can we love someone if we're not prepared to serve them - but what humility that requires.

This is another reason why service is so vital - in that it builds up humility, in fact it is probably essential for humility.

Humility is a virtue that we cannot attain by seeking it, the more we seek it the more distant it becomes. We cannot decide to be more humble, we cannot act more humbly and actually be more humble. The only sure way to become humble is to serve with a servant's heart and for it to be true service rather than self-righteous service.

To see what the difference is between these think about the following aspects of service:

• Attention
• Results
  
• Who and how we serve
• Opportunity

In all of these areas true service is agnostic - all that matters is whether the call to serve in that situation is there . It neither hides from or seeks the limelight, it does not get discouraged or over-confident because of results, it does not care about the worthiness or otherwise of the one being served or the manner of serving, and nor does it mind if the opportunity comes or goes, it is not possessive or dismissive of opportunity.

So here's a question; can service ever be a bad thing if we have good motives?

Here's an example that I think shows that we can let it become so

Exodus 18:13-23

The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, "What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?" Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws." Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied."

So like all things in our Christian life we need to consider how it affects our relationship with God and those around us - service can become unhelpful:

• When it becomes a chore and we start to resent doing it. At this point it stops becoming something that builds up our relationship with God
• When it prevents us from performing random acts of kindness
• When our identity is so wrapped up in it that we need to keep doing it even if the need is not there, or the need for us to keep doing it is not there. Imagine playing in the worship team at church and a new person joins the church who plays the same instrument and who volunteers to play but we get protective of our position in the band.
• When we do it for the recognition or position
• When we do it for other wrong reasons, such as wanting to be in a group with certain people
  

So wrapping it all up we hopefully have a more complete view of the need for service in that true service:

• Stops separation, which in turn
  
• Enables compassion, which helps us put others before ourselves and so
  
• Builds up humility

We also need to understand the difference between self righteous service and true service - if we ask ourselves 'would I do this if no-one ever knew' then the chances are that it is true service.

Part II - Monday - The clearing of the temple and the withered fig tree

Spoiler alert - If you just started here without reading the previous blog you should start there, this is part 2 of a series

Monday

Mark 11: 12-21
Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it.

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written:
" 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"

The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

When evening came, they went out of the city. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."
Let's start with the clearing of the temple. Remember the anticipation that has built up about what Jesus will do when he reaches the temple in Jerusalem - the very center of the Jewish faith. Well they may have expected lots of things but not this.
Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.

Imagine that someone comes into your church during a service and kicks the microphones off of the stage, unplugs the microphones, tips over the drum set and kicks the lectern over - and no one tries to stop him! Now imagine that this isn't just your local church but the most important church in Christianity.
Q: So why didn't anyone stop him?

We have to understand this in the context of the triumphal entry the day before. Everyone in Jerusalem is waiting to see what he will do, waiting to see if he is the messiah, waiting to see if he will drive out the Romans. The crowd are behind him, the Jewish leaders are on high alert, everyone is waiting and uncertain - apart from Jesus. He knows exactly what he is doing and everyone else is just left puzzled in his wake - they just don't know how to react.

OK, so that's pretty interesting but let's scratch a little deeper and see what else this reveals - take a look at the end of the sentence about him clearing the temple.

[He]would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.

Q: What is the significance of this statement?
Well the merchandise was to sacrifice, either animals or grain, and sacrifice was the way in which the people made atonement (quick diversion - good way to remember what atonement means is simply by splitting up the word at-one-ment - in other words making you at one with someone - in this case God) for their sins.
So Jesus was stopping people atoning for their sins at the temple - what is the significance of this? Well in the days before the temple the Israelites would sacrifice in many places - you often hear that so and so built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed on it. Well, when the temple was built the Jews only sacrificed at the temple.

Putting this together we can see that Jesus has singlehandedly stopped the Jews sacrificing to God.

That's not all though, and this sometimes gets lost in the drama of the temple clearing, but Jesus teaches the people in a very powerful way

And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written:
" 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"
The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

What does he teach that is so amazing? Well the Jews of Jesus' day would have known the passages Jesus quotes off by heart, sadly that level of Biblical knowledge is way beyond most if us; we have to use a Bible and a concordance and so we don't immediately understand the references. Of course we can argue that the Jews of Jesus' day also wouldn't have been anything like as good at Wii bowling but then maybe not all acquired skills are equal.

Let's look at the quotes in the context that Jesus conveys to his audience

Isa 56:3-7
Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the Lord say, "The Lord will surely exclude me from his people." And let not any eunuch complain, "I am only a dry tree." For this is what the Lord says: "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant- to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to serve him, to love the name of the Lord, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant- I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."
So here Jesus is saying that the way to God is open to everyone, regardless of their heritage (foreigner) or state (eunuch). And the last sentence is particularly telling - Jesus has just stopped the Jews sacrificing but he says that [the foreigners] burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar.

Let's get some more context from the second quote.he Lord
Jer 7:1-11
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord : "Stand at the gate of the Lord's house and there proclaim this message: " 'Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!" If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
"'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"-safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.


Check out the first part in particular for relevance
Stand at the gate of the Lord's house and there proclaim this message: " 'Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord"

The rest of the passage

Q: What do you think of Jesus' actions in cursing the fig-tree?

In his 1927 essay 'Why I Am Not a Christian', Bertrand Russell argued that a divine figure would either know that the tree would not have figs or could have simply produced the figs by a miracle and thus finds the story illogical from a literal sense, he says of it "This is a very curious story, because it was not the right time of year for figs, and you really could not blame the tree. I cannot myself feel that either in the matter of wisdom or in the matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to history."

I have also personally known people who used this story as a reason to doubt Jesus claim to be God - they also thought it was petty and even spiteful. So what is this about?
Let's go back to some first principles about Bible study

The Bible is consistent
The character of God is consistent
The character of God is good

So applying these to the fig tree we still have an issue because it doesn't seem like a very good action on Jesus' part. So let's see how we should interpret this story as the Bible uses many different techniques such as:

• Poetry
• Hyperbole
• Metaphor
• Narration
• Simile
• Symbolism

From the style of the writing it certainly seems like this is a literal narration of what went on, no poetry in play here. We do however get a big clue in how this account frames the clearing of the temple; Jesus curses the tree, clears the temple and then we see the tree is cursed. So it looks like it has something to do with the clearing of the temple then. And this is where is all comes together, with what Jesus says to the fig tree, his actions at the temple and the message he preaches there.

Jesus says to the fig tree 'may no one ever eat fruit from you again' - and we see that he is really talking about the temple, and that the withering of the tree is a symbol of the end of the era of the temple, both spiritually, as he was coming to replace the need for temple sacrifice and literally as the temple would be destroyed less than 40 years later. He was also announcing the coming of the time foretold by Isaiah and Jeremiah, where the kingdom would be open to all and the need for sacrifice would be removed.

So although the writer is using narration, Jesus is using symbolism - the withered fig tree is a symbol, the season for figs is over and in this case will never return, it is time for something new, a new covenant. However we shall see that any covenant needs to be paid for with blood and Jesus has just symbolically shut off the old route to sacrificial blood...