BECOMING FAITHFUL SERVANTS
(week 05/11)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Everybody wants to be a leader: to be no. 1 in whatever they do; however, most do not realize that to be a good leader, you must first of all have been a faithful servant.
1 Corinthians 4:2 AMP: Moreover, it is [essentially] required of stewards that a man should be found faithful [proving himself worthy of trust].
You must have been found faithful in serving another person before you can be trusted to become a leader of others:
Luke 16:12 KJV: And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?
We must realize that our destiny in life is not be a leader but rather to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29) and that as we become more and more like the Lord Jesus in our will, mind and emotions the more faithful servants we will be and so the better leaders we will be.
Matthew 20:26-28 MKJV: However, it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant. (27) And whoever desires to be chief among you, let him be your servant; (28) even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
The more people you serve by giving life to them by the Word and prayer the greater you are in the Kingdom.
In fact, some of the greatest men in the Bible were not the leaders in their time; but they were faithful servants to those who were the leaders:
1. Jehoiada who faithfully served the young king Joash:
2 Chronicles 24:1-2 KJV: (1) Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Zibiah of Beersheba. (2) And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
2 Chronicles 24:15-16 KJV: (15) But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died. (16) And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house.
2. Caleb who faithfully served Joshua as the leader that led the children of Israel into the promised land.
Joshua 14:6 KJV: Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea.
Joshua 14:10-14 KJV: And now, behold,the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. (11) As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. (12) Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said. (13) And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance. (14) Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel.
3. Nathan was faithful in serving David even after David had committed adultery (2 Sam. 12:13); was faithful to Davidduring the rebellions of Absalom and Adonijah (2 Sam. 15-20; 1 Kings 1:5-53).
4. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego faithfully served under Daniel as their spiritual leader (Dan. 1-3).
5. The arch-angels Gabriel and Michael faithfully served God after Lucifer the Son of the morning (Is. 14:12) rebelled against God. (Dan. 9:21; 10:13; Rev. 12:7-8; Jude 1:9). Incidentally, the name Gabriel means ‘man of God or warrior of God’ and Michael means ‘Who is like God?’.
Finally, it is humbling to see that all the 3 persons of the Godhead are servants:
1. The Lord Jesus serves the Father and will be eternally subject to Him (Phil. 2:5-8; 1 Cor. 15:28).
2. The Holy Spirit serves and is subject to the Father and the Son (Jn. 16.13-14).
3. God the Father serves all of us by being subject to the written Word:
Psalms 138:2 MKJV: I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your loving-kindness and for Your truth’s sake; for You have magnified Your Word above all Your name.
Psalms 89:34 MKJV: I will not break My covenant, nor change the thing that has gone out of My lips.
So as we serve God with our spirits by the power of the Holy Spirit and the authority of the written Word, we too will become like God: faithful servants and so good leaders whenever we are called upon to lead.
Romans 1:9 MKJV: For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you.
