“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.” Matthew 20:27-28
“We all know what the character of a faithful servant or slave implies. Devotion to the master’s interests, thoughtful study and care to please him, delight in his prosperity and honor and happiness. There are servants on earth in whom these dispositions have been seen, and to whom the name of servant has never been anything but a glory. To how many of us has it not been a new joy in the Christian life to know that we may yield ourselves as servants, as slaves to God, and to find that His service is our highest liberty, the liberty from sin and self?
We need now to learn another lesson, that Jesus calls us to be servants of one another, and that, as we accept it heartily, this service too will be a most blessed one, a new and fuller liberty too from sin and self.
At first it may appear hard; this is only because of the pride which still counts itself something. “If once we learn that to be nothing before God is the glory of the creature, the spirit of Jesus, the joy of heaven, we shall welcome with our whole heart the discipline we may have in serving even those who try to vex us. When our own heart is set upon this, the true sanctification, we shall study each word of Jesus on self-abasement with new zest, and no place will be too low, and no stooping too deep, and no service too mean or too long continued, if we may but share and prove the fellowship with Him who spake, ‘I am among you as he that serveth.’”
Andrew Murray (1828-1917) in Humility: The Beauty of Holiness (Abbotsford: Aneko, 2016) 22-23
Today I get to speak at a CMA Governance Forum in Sydney related to The Council: A Biblical Perspective on Board Governance. In short, I will remind them that service to God and one another is our highest liberty.
I will walk through four spiritual practices for boards: Scripture, Silence, Sharing, and Supplication. When we do them together, these rhythms help block out pride, deliver us from ourselves, and preserve this liberty.
Are you serving in an oversight role? Like the Council of Moses in Numbers 11:16-17 and like Jesus in today’s Scripture take a standing and listening posture so that you service reflects both liberty and generosity.