The way that we kill self is to take the place of a servant. Our calling in serving is not about self; it’s all about Christ. Our role is like the best man with the bridegroom. The best man’s purpose is to make the bridegroom look good, to make the bridegroom the “best man.” Our calling is to glorify Him, and to rejoice when our bridegroom, Jesus, gets all the honor.
But let’s start a few levels down first. Let’s start with making our co-laborers the “bridegroom,” making them the stars, letting them always have the first preference. Before we talk about being like Jesus, before we talk about honoring Him, let’s come down a few levels. What do you do with your peers? What do you do with the people that are under you? Do you honor and give weight to those younger than you?
When you honor your people, you will walk in the gifts of God. They will be flowing in your life, because the gifts will flow when they are used to love people. That’s why Paul said to “covet the best gift, and I’ll show you a more excellent way, the way of love.” The gifts of God will always flow when there is love in your heart towards those that are your peers or perhaps are, in your estimation, a few levels down. Don’t just honor your leaders. Don’t just honor the Lord. Start by honoring a few levels down. God will not require something of us that we cannot do.
Be the best man of the bridegroom, whose joy is to see the bridegroom take center stage. In John 3:30 it says that “He must increase, but I must decrease.” In my journey of the last 20 years, serving is nothing more than coming to an end of my self. That’s why the Apostle Paul could say that he was the least of all apostles, and could even say that he was the worst of all sinners. He came to an end of himself. He began to realize the depravity of sin and self in his life, and that is why the grace of God was realized in His life as well.
Coming to the end of yourself is always the beginning of Christ. Acknowledgement of your flesh and weakness brings the empowerment to change. Acknowledgement is not to bring you into condemnation, but it’s to acknowledge what you cannot do, and to recognize and reckon again yourself crucified with Christ, so that what comes out of you will always be the fragrance of Jesus, so that your ministry, in whatever capacity you are serving, is always the ministry of the best man where the bridegroom is Jesus.
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Posted on 16 September '09 by Pastor Benjamin Lim, under Blog. 2 Comments.
In John 3:27, John said that a person can receive nothing unless it is from heaven. This was said in the face of what some might have perceived as “competition” from Jesus who was just starting in His ministry. If you put yourself in John’s place, Jesus was the “new kid on the block,” and not only that, He was John’s cousin! John could have looked down on Jesus and just said that this is my cousin that I grew up playing with! He could have had an attitude that Jesus was just trying to copy him. When competition comes, what is your response?
John’s response was that a man can receive nothing except that which comes from and has been given to him from heaven. I want to encourage you that the way you die to self, the way self is crucified, is in recognizing that everything that you have been given comes from heaven and nowhere else, not just in your life, but also in the lives of your peers, your fellow leaders, and the lives of your servers that you work together with.
That’s the way that you kill envy and jealousy, by recognizing that everything comes from God. If you think that you need to have more things or be more eloquent to feel better about yourself, then you are tying your identity with what you do and not with who you are in Christ. Then you will always remain an insecure server.
You can tell that there is self when there is insecurity, because insecurity is self-consciousness magnified a thousand times. Before there is competition, there must be some form of comparison. But John did not respond with jealousy. His response was a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. That is a secure man.
To be continued…
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Posted on 15 September '09 by Pastor Benjamin Lim, under Blog. No Comments.
In serving, never look at yourself. Look at others. Honor the people that God has brought to you, not just the leaders. Most of the people in our youth ministry don’t have a problem submitting to the leaders. The test of honor is not just how you honor your leader, but it’s also in how you honor your peers and those under you. There are people that can honor their leaders, but they cannot honor their peers or their sheep under them. By honor, I mean give weight or give attention to them.
Never be a man-pleaser…a person who only does what is pleasing in other people’s eyes. That is called “self.” If you set your heart to serve in the course of destiny that God has set for you, the greatest enemy is not without, it’s within. Your “self” is your greatest enemy, because it is the most subtle and deceptive of all enemies. It can come across as a religious cloak that you don’t even realize, especially when you think that you’re doing well or have something. Be watchful of self and being consumed with it.
Yes, God wants you to be yourself, but God wants you to be your BEST self. A person recently shared with me that they were still learning to manage themselves. I turned to that person and I shared with them that self is not meant to be managed. Self is meant to be crucified. This is the gospel; this is Christianity. Paul said that it is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.
Self is the thing that will try to stop the flow of grace in your life. Self is the thing that will try to make you so conscious of what you cannot do or what you can do, that you fail to turn and put your eyes on what the Father is doing, because as you behold what the Father is doing, you will do that.
To be continued…
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Posted on 14 September '09 by Pastor Benjamin Lim, under Blog. No Comments.
There will always come a time of challenge in your life in serving. But when there are challenges in your life, it’s because there is an anointing on your life. David was sent to Goliath because he was first anointed. When there are challenges in your life, it’s because promotion is on the way. When I know that I have stepped into something new in my own life, or when I have entered a new level or a fresh anointing, challenges begin to hit me. That is the time that you learn to put your eyes not on the challenges in front of you but on the anointing that is upon you.
When the challenges of life come, don’t allow any demon or man to persuade you out of your call and anointing to serve. Not that you are serving for a reward or for recognition from man, but you are serving out of a love for the Lord. You are serving because you know that God has EMPOWERED you to do so, and that will put you on a different level altogether compared to your peers and friends.
Often now, our friends cannot see why we are doing what we are doing, why we are serving, why we give up our time to go for meetings during the week or at services on the weekend, because our friends do not understand the blessing of serving. They don’t understand the anointing that we are walking in.
When God appoints any one of us, He will always anoint us. Hold on to the anointing that is on you. Rely on that anointing, especially at times when you face self-doubts, and you begin to question whether you should really be serving where you are serving, or if it is worth it? Keep relying on the anointing that God has placed on your life, and God will turn all things around for your good. If God has appointed you, He has already anointed you, even if you don’t know it.
To be continued…
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Posted on 13 September '09 by Pastor Benjamin Lim, under Blog. No Comments.
I always say that I am a result of the books that I read and the men that I meet. Often people will share with me that I don’t sound my age or that I sound older than my age. But being old doesn’t mean that you are wise, being experienced doesn’t mean that you are wise, and having lots of knowledge and intelligence doesn’t mean that you are wise! Wisdom is from ABOVE. Wisdom that is from above will ALWAYS bear peaceable fruit, and God will many times give that wisdom to us through people.
Often it’s not that God is not speaking to us, but it’s that we are not listening to what He is already speaking to us through the people around us. Sometimes we think that when God speaks it has to be a voice from heaven, or that when we open up our Bible it will mysteriously open to the right page. But God will speak to you supernaturally through the people around you.
This is why God loves to put you in teams, because He wants to speak to you through the people around you. God knows that iron sharpens iron, and He wants to put you in a place where He can sharpen you.
Often when we first start serving we’re very excited, and we have a lot of energy and passion. But then, after the first conflict or challenge, we lose that excitement. But if you are starting to experience conflict, I have good news for you. You are in the Potter’s hand.
God will use conflicts and differences to shape us and to help us understand things. God knows that we need to be shaped, that’s why He puts us in a team and under leaders that may not even be what we consider to be the “ideal” leaders. We may not always be serving in a team that is of our choosing, but what is always more important is God’s preference for us. God will always know what is best for us.
To be continued…
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Posted on 12 September '09 by Pastor Benjamin Lim, under Blog. 1 Comment.
