Servants of God are Loved by the Master
As we close our week I want to bring some perspective to this word “servant”. Let me ask you this, when you think of a servant or a slave, do you picture somebody full of joy? Somebody radiant and happy to be doing the work they’re doing?
I don’t. A servant or a slave, in my mind, is likely to resent their master. They’re likely to resent the work they’re doing, because the master cares little for them.
John Wesley was a great man of God. He grew up in a Christian home, son of a preacher. He became ordained as an Anglican priest himself as a young man, went overseas to do missionary work. For years he tried and tried and tried to please God and earn God’s love by being fiercely dedicated to church things and religious things. And yet it was only years later that he truly met God in a personal way, and learned of his love.
Loved as Children
As an old man he was looking back over his diaries from the time when he was working hard for God but living in fear of God, and he said something profound: he said: “I had even then the faith of a servant, though not that of a son.”
Do you want to hear some good news today friends? Servants of God are loved by the Master. And indeed, instead of calling them servants, He calls them his sons and daughters.
So many people – Christians! – never learn this, perhaps because of a style of preaching that is hard and graceless. They end up seeing God as a hard taskmaster, who works his servants hard and punishes them for stepping out of line. But God’s servants are not poor wretched creatures, cowering under his harsh hand. God sees us not as faceless labourers, but as precious children whom He loves.
Do you have the faith of a servant or the faith of a son/daughter? It turns out that God’s dream is not to have worker ants, grinding out His work for Him. His dream, hear this, is to have his children thrive in the work they do for Him.
Joyful Childlike Service
A writer named Cornelius Plantinga once said this: “God wants not slaves but intelligent, grown-up children who show enthusiasm for the family business.” I love that! We’re not slaves, burdened under the heavy hand of God the taskmaster. We are His children, thriving enthusiastically as we serve in the family business – God’s mission.
Friends, God is not out to oppress and condemn you, but to set you free to serve with joy! And that freedom comes when we know ourselves to be His children. And we serve Him from that place of acceptance and grace.
A life of service is certainly our calling, as we’ve seen all week. But I pray that you and I will serve God not slavishly, but with love and joy, as His precious children.
