BECOMING A FAITHFUL SERVANT

The late A.W. Tozer, pastor and author of 40 books including “The Pursuit of God” and “The Knowledge of the Holy,” wrote in the 1950s that:

·       It is our belief that the evangelical movement will continue to drift further and further from the New Testament position until its leadership passes from the modern religious star to the self-effacing saint.

How do we become the “self-effacing saint?” Ordinarily, we are self-centered, rebellious, and want our own way. When my daughter was about four, the babysitter caught her going through her drawers. When she informed my daughter that she shouldn’t be opening the drawers of others, my daughter fired back, “You are the babysitter, and you have no right to tell me what to do.”

Years later, I was surprised to find that little had changed. My daughter’s daughter in a most serious tone instructed me, “Grandpa, you are not my parents, and I don’t want you to tell me what to do.”

Even at her tender age, she wanted to be autonomous. How then was Israel to become the people of God? He explained how He had taught Israel obedience:

·       “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers…And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD….Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills…(Deuteronomy 8:1, 3, 5, 6-7 ESV)

For their own benefit, God had to humble Israel so that they would learn that “man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” However, learning this lesson requires a major seismic shift. How did God achieve this? First, they lived as slaves for hundreds of years. This oppression moved them to cry out for the only possible hope available.

When God encountered the humbled Moses after forty years as a shepherd in the desert, He explained:

·        “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land…” (Exodus 3:7-8)

Ordinarily, we do not cry out to God for help unless we have to. Had Israel been comfortable in Egypt, they never would have been willing to leave. Even after slavery, they continued to rebel against God. He therefore had to show them very clearly that their welfare depended upon their strict obedience to His words.

Even after their liberation from Egypt, Israel hungered and complained against Moses and God. Therefore, He issued them a set of instructions that they would have to carefully obey:

·       Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread [manna] from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” (Exodus 16:4-5)

However, self-willed Israel, even though they just came out of the most abject captivity, thought they knew better. God had warned them to only collect what they would eat for the day and to not save any of it. However, they disobeyed, and what they had saved became maggot infested and stunk. He also instructed Israel to not collect manna on the 7^th day, the day of rest, but instead to collect a double-portion on the sixth day. Consequently, they learned that this portion wouldn’t become maggot infested. Nevertheless, some went out to collect manna on the 7^th day and found that there was none.

In this way, their God was teaching them that their welfare depended upon exact obedience to His Word. Jesus also taught Israel, 1500 years later, that they had to live according to every Word of the Lord (Matthew 4:4).

Tragically, we still think that we know better. We pick-and-choose His teachings feel right for us. We attend church-growth seminars and, in myriad ways, glean from the words of men instead of the Words of God. We are more impressed by the teachings of the successful and the celebrity Christians than we are our Savior and His teachings. This is why the question of becoming a “self-effacing saint” will not go away.

However, the road to becoming a faithful servant is a road full of bumps. In order to become a man of God, we first have to die to self and the trust we place in our own ideas (Proverbs 3:5-7). This can only happen through affliction. King David, the man after God’s own heart, had to learn this lesson:

·       It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. (Psalm 119:71-72, 67; Hebrews 12:5-11)

After we have been afflicted for a while, our prayer changes (1 Peter 4:1). Before all else, we seek the will and the glory of our Savior (Matthew 6:9-13) according to His Word.