ARTICLES ON SERVING

DATE: 10 March 2002
SPEAKER:  Pastor Tayo Adeyemi
TITLE:  The power of the towel - Rediscovering the lost art of servanthood.
Part I - Discovering the power in the towel
TEXT:  Matthew 20:25 - 28

In I Corinthians 12:12-27, Paul gives us a picture of the church as a body with many members. In verses 24 and 25 of that scripture, Paul highlights the fact that God has designed the body in such a way that the members should care for one another, so that there will be no schism or division in the body.
This principle holds true in the human body even at a microscopic level. Every cell in the body is designed to fulfill a specific function for the good of the whole body. Some cells are grouped together and called a tissue, some tissues are grouped together and called an organ. But their coming together is still for one purpose - to serve the entire body.
When every member of the body is fulfilling its role as a servant, Paul says in Ephesians 4:16, that the body is edified and there will be growth. The opposite is also true - when a cell or group of cells loses its sense of servanthood, the entire body suffers - to a greater or lesser degree. The church is only as strong as the degree to which its members are willing to serve.
As the days of Jesus on earth were winding to a close, it seems He was particularly eager to bring this message across to His disciples. He seemed to be saying to them: "I am about to leave you, and you will be my body on the earth. You will only be as strong as your willingness to serve" But it seemed that the disciples were so locked into their own agenda, they didn't get it.
Right up to the last few months of His earthly ministry, Jesus' disciples were still clamouring for titles and jockeying for positions. So He decided to give them an object lesson. He said "I am going to leave you with two weapons; and you are going to have to learn when to use each one rather than the other". Jesus left them with a sword and a towel and seemed to say to them "your ability to discern when and how to use each weapon will determine how strong My body will be"
When we fight in the heavenly realm; and contend against principalities and forces of darkness, of course the weapon of choice should be the sword. Ephesians 6:13. When we are dealing with other members of the body, our tool is the towel.
Every believer is called to be both a soldier and a servant. A soldier carries a sword and a servant carries a towel. When we are dealing with the devil and his agents, we are soldiers and are expected to wield the sword, but when we deal with other believers, we are servants and should approach them with the towel. When we confuse these weapons, we divide the body and render it ineffective.
Three events in the final week of Jesus' earthly ministry effectively illustrate this principle.
1.John 12: 1-3While the disciples were jockeying for positions at the right hand and left hand side of Jesus, Mary discovered that there was a lot of room at His feet. She washed His feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. I Corinthians 11:15 says a woman's hair is her glory and her covering. So this woman takes her glory and uses it to wipe the dust and the animal dung from Jesus' feet.
In Mark 14:6 Jesus commended her saying "she has done a good work for me" and in verse 9, He testified that her action would be memorialised around the world.
2.John 13: 1-10Six days later, the disciples gather in the upper room for the Last Supper. They all sat to eat with unwashed feet. The entire room was smelling, but they had quickly forgotten how Mary changed the atmosphere five days earlier by taking the position of a servant.
When we refuse to serve, the house of God stinks. It stinks to God and it stinks to our guests. The atmosphere of any house is determined by the attitude of the servants.
When you deal with any organisation, you make your first impression based on the people who serve you, not by the directors or chief executive.
Many times people reject Christ because they first have to wade through the muck and mire of our flesh as believers - they are first confronted with the dust and dung of our ego.
Mahatma Ghandi once said "I like Christianity, I would have been a Christian if it were not for Christians"
When we learn to wash each other's feet, we clean away the mess in each other's lives and release the fresh fragrance of God's anointing in our services.
Galatians 6: 1-3 - "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ."
The law of Christ is the law of the anointing. When instead of applying the towel to our brethren's weaknesses, we swing the sword, we dismember the body and render it ineffective.
3.John 8:10The third incident occurred on the same night. Jesus had told them earlier to all go and get a sword - Luke 22:36. When the Roman soldiers came to arrest Jesus, His disciples thought "This must be the reason why He told us to get a sword - now is the time to use our swords". So they asked Him "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?" - Luke 22:49
But Peter did not wait for an answer; he immediately pulled his sword and cut off the High Priest's servant's ear. Jesus then commanded him to put his sword back into its sheath.
Peter must have been wondering - "If He didn't want us to use the sword, why did He tell us to get one? Had Jesus answered Peter's thoughts His answer would have sounded something like this "Peter, right weapon - wrong realm. When you swing the sword on earth, you dismember My body".
It takes maturity to keep your sword in its sheath even though you know you can use it. Earlier that same night as He shared communion with them, Jesus had commanded them "Do this in remembrance of me" I Corinthians 11: 23-26. Could it be that He was saying that our serving one another would re-unite His disjointed and dismembered body? Luke 23: 39-42
When that thief said "remember me", is it possible that he wasn't just asking Jesus to be mindful of him? It is possible that he was asking Jesus to put his disjointed body back together again? Or could he even have been asking to be joined to the body of Christ where he belonged?
When we serve one another, we re-member the body of Christ;
When we swing the sword, we dis-member the body

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