Scripture “I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” 1 Cor 9:19
Observation
Who can tell me “no”? I won’t go far in life until I have the answer to that question. For that is the test of submission. If someone has the authority to stop me, then I am a man under submission to God.
Submission is where authority comes from. Hollywood presents independence and rebellion as the way to power. But it is the person who asks questions who has more power than he who gives answers. It is the person who serves leaders who has more authority than those who lead. It is the person who complies, follows and acquiesces who is just waiting for promotion from God.
Submission works fast and deep when it is voluntary. Everyone is made to submit at some time in life. Really great people choose to submit even when it is not required. For Paul, he knew that if he submitted to customs and culture that God would give him authority to win as many as possible. Such is the blessing of submission.
Application
My life will be graded, not by how I was forced to submit but when I chose to come under the leadership of others. If Paul was rewarded in his submission by winning as many as possible, there is no limit to what God will do in me.
Prayer Father, show me where I need to submit today. Amen.
Press the arrow to listen to Hillsong Church sing “Eagles Wings” as you read today’s devotional.
Scripture For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority—whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.
It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king.
You who are slaves must accept the authority of your masters with all respect. Do what they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel. For God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment. Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you. 1 Peter 2:13-20
Observation
It was a warm, spring morning of 1986. Behind me were the stained glass windows of the seminary that had been my home for three years. Next to me was a friend in the parking lot. We chatted excitedly because we had not just finished a final exam, but my final, final exam in my student life. After 19 years of schooling, I was done. I never felt so free as at that moment. But I wasn’t free at all. I was soon to discover that life would throw many exams at me and that I would be accountable to new kinds of teachers.
Freedom is an illusion, because every person is accountable to somebody. Even when I was a senior pastor, I was still accountable to the board and to the superintendent.
If freedom is an illusion, then the opposite is true as well. Servitude is a delusion. Even though I am accountable to others, I am no man’s slave. The person in authority over my life is Christ at work in me. My service to them, is as my service to the Lord. I am not a slave to anyone because I serve Christ, but I must submit to the authorities over me, for that is how Christ comes to me.
Liberty is found through submission. When I receive the authority God has placed over my life then it is safe for me to be at liberty. Submission is not subservience. Submission is voluntarily bringing all of my abilities and rights under the cover of another person. Subservience is based on inferiority and intimidation. Submission is gives us honour, for it implies that we have something significant to submit. When I submit to authority, I give Christ the freedom to access me. He will then position me in the place most secure for me.
Application
Someone came to see me yesterday, who was disoriented with life-change. Where did they fit? I said, “If you are uncertain of where you stand, then begin to serve. When we serve from the lowest place, then Christ has the freedom to place us where it is best for us to be.” Serving and submission are the safest place for me to be.
Prayer Father, I open my heart to receive the influence of every authority over my life, from the President on down. I also choose to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus so that I will know the value you have given to me. Help me to serve with humble dignity. The rest is yours. Amen.
Scripture Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Saviour and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us…. Titus 3:1-5
Observation
Behind the rusting Iron Curtain of the Cold War, a peasant farmer and his wife kept their faith in God through intense persecution. Their son John told me the story of a police raid on their property. A truck loaded with workmen pulled up to the farmhouse. The workers clambered up onto the roof of the little house. As a reprisal for their stubborn faith in Christ, the farmer and his wife would lose the roof of their house that day. The tiles would be removed one by one and they would be left open to the elements. Around lunchtime the old farmer sang out to the men on the roof, “Boys, come on down. Mama has fixed you some lunch.†John told me that the workers put all the tiles back in place and drove away.
Obedient and ready to spring to action that describes the motive of the Christian. When treated unfairly we are to not talk badly of others but to be peaceable and gentle. No matter how much our point of view may not be considered, we are to consider the perspective of others, even if that means feeding a work crew that is tearing down your own house.
If Paul’s words stopped at verse 1, it would all be hard to take and impossible to do. But thankfully he adds a few more verses. He reminds us that there was a time in life that we supposed that rebellion is the way to authority. But then kindness appeared and that changed everything. It is impossible to watch the injustice of the cross and not to be moved by the tenderness of Christ. He died not for himself but for us. He forgave those who killed him. He showed mercy to his mother and to thieves. He refused anaesthetic so that he could be fully awake to love us.
Application
In the face of Christ’s kindness, of the Father’s kindness, it is hard to live selfishly. This intention of Jesus lubricates our stiff joints into action when we are asked to do what we don’t want to do. My call is not just to do good, but to do good for the right motive and to package it with the tenderness that Christ gave to his suffering. The only way we can surrender rights in that way is to have full trust in God our Saviour. What we release he will bless. He just might give us our roof back.
Prayer Father, help me to live the Jesus life. Jesus live through me. Amen.
Press the arrow to listen to Kari Jobe sing “Though I Am Not Worthy”
Scripture [Be] of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; Philippians 2:2-3
Observation
Paul had high expectations: that his multi-cultural church would have one purpose. His church was full of Jews as well as Gentiles, Romans as well as Greeks and Macedonians, slave as well as free, and military as well as civilian. This was Philippi, a Roman colony in Greece filled with retired army officers. Yet Paul called for one purpose.
How can a leader of any group hope for one mind among many?
The secret is found in the next sentence.
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.
He called these people to a new level of maturity. He did not ask them to be selfless but to recognize that at the core they were selfish. He did not ask them to stop be conceited, but to recognize that at the core they were self-centered. Once they would recognize their selfishness and conceit they could then make a second choice: not to respond to it.
Each of us is to one degree or another selfish and conceited. We like things our way and think of ourselves if not better than others, then at least not worse than most. Maturity comes not when all selfishness and conceit is purged from me, but when I choose to see it and not respond to it.
Paul showed another way: humility. Selfishness and conceit exist only when look at ourselves in the mirror; humility comes when we look others in the eye. Each human being we meet is crafted in the image of God out of the dust of the earth. We are surrounded by divines who struggle, like we do, with the dust of their character. This calls on one had for profound respect of others, to listen, to value, and to engage. On the other hand, it calls for great tolerance as we see the faults in others that are also in us.
Application
The bottom line is that we really need each other and we need to set up each other for success.
Prayer
Father, I make the choice today to see each person I meet as more important than myself. Amen.
Press the arrow to listen to Casting Crowns sing “East to West” while reading today’s devotion.
Scripture Now Ahithophel urged Absalom, “Let me choose 12,000 men to start out after David tonight. I will catch up with him while he is weary and discouraged. He and his troops will panic, and everyone will run away. Then I will kill only the king, and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride returns to her husband. After all, it is only one man’s life that you seek. Then you will be at peace with all the people.†This plan seemed good to Absalom and to all the elders of Israel. 2 Samuel 17:1-4
Observation
Leaders are brought down not by enemies from afar, but by those closest to them. For Jesus it was his traveling friend Judas. For David it was his son Absalom and his trusted advisor Ahithophel. The king’s son and his right hand man cooly plotted an assassination and employed metaphors about a happy wedding ceremony. Why would someone on the inner circle treat a leader with such vindictiveness?
We know that Absalom had years of unresolved offenses that had never experienced closure. His sister was raped and David did nothing. He murdered his brother and was allowed to moulder in exile. When he came home he was not allowed to see his father’s face. Years of unresolved issues built up pressure. For Ahithophel it is unclear what his issues were. All we know about him is that he was an exceptional advisor from David’s own tribe. He came from a town a short walk from Hebron, so more than likely he had been with David since the beginning.
We could leave it there, but their animosity had a greater cause than the offenses David the leader caused them hurt, but their real issue was their lack of trust in God to resolve things and their choice to take matters into their own hands. Their rebellion was not David’s fault; it was their own responsibility. A leader is ultimately accountable to the Lord for all decisions. Those who follow need a confidence that God is fully capable of contending with leaders he has appointed when he sees the need. Those who follow are responsible for that which is in their authority to repair. The correction of kings, however, rests in the Creator’s hands.
Application
Offenses will not make my heart rebellious. But it if attempt correct offenses out of my control, that will lead me into an Absalom or Judas spirit. Like a kitchen grease trap, so offenses that collect need to be purged. How important it is to keep our spirit clean.
Scripture And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.†Acts 6:3-4
Observation
A pastor-friend of mine vented to me over breakfast, “My senior pastor delegates to the staff and then bounces around the office saying, ‘I feel so much better now with a clean plate.’” My friend grizzled because he experienced not delegation but dumping. The dumping delegator off loads his responsibilities on others without a recognition of what God is up to. Delegation from God’s point of view is not about plate scraping but about mentoring a new generation of leaders.
The apostles off loaded the widow ministry and went back to their prayer meetings and Bible studies. God, however, was up to something, doing more with their decision than they anticipated. Stephen and Philip did not plod along forever in their duties. Once they started the widow ministry their potential was developed and new doors of ministry opened for them. For Stephen it was the work of a martyr. For Philip it was the work of an evangelist. Others would have to pick up their duties for the Lord had new plans for them.
When God delegates he does not dump. Potential is not suffocated under drudgery. When the Lord delegates he develops people and their potential. Waiters become warriors for the kingdom while the leaders are in their offices praying.
Application
When a leader delegates he should do so with a profound respect for the hidden potential of people. If a leader is a good leader then those around him will have more potential than he. Delegation is not a way of making a leader’s day easier but to strengthen the ability of team members for their future. When the leader delegates he should do so with a holy expectancy of what God is doing. David was sent to deliver groceries and came back with a giant’s head. One never knows just what God might do in the life of someone given a new responsibility. One never knows what might happen in me.
Prayer Father, I want to be a developing leader that those around me excel beyond me. Give me a healthy sense of my own significance and surprise me with what you do with those who work with me. Amen.
Scripture But Joseph was upset when he saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head. So Joseph lifted it to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. “No, my father,†he said. “This one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.†But his father refused. “I know, my son; I know,†he replied. “Manasseh will also become a great people, but his younger brother will become even greater. And his descendants will become a multitude of nations.†Genesis 48:17-19
Observation
Joseph was like any father, he wanted the best for his sons. He hoped for the right schools and college, boy scouts, little league, and varsity sports…well at least Egyptian style. In Egyptian culture the first born son was nothing short of a demigod. Manasseh would have slept in a special raised bed, unlike his little brother Ephraim who had a mat on the floor. Manasseh was the designated favorite. Bursting with pride in his first born son Joseph hurried his boys to grandpa’s house for a final blessing before he died.
Joseph wanted the best for his sons, but God wanted what was right for them. What Egyptian culture said about the destiny of Mannessah was not God’s plan for the boy. Ephraim would be given more responsibility, not because he was loved any more, but because it was what fitted his potential. The boys were different and God used their differences to please him.
Application
Jacob was relaxed about the unpredictable ways that God uses people, so the old man went with God’s flow. I want to be relaxed about the uneven blessings of God as well, for my children and even for myself. God uses people differently but loves each of us totally. If we can become secure in his love for us then we will be comfortable with the differences in life outcome.
Jacob in a sense said that all people are great. “Manasseh will also become a great people,” he said. This implies that it was not as if one boy were superior and the other inferior, instead they were just different. If I can accept God’s uneven ways I can come to bless those like me who are used in more remarkable ways. I can come to accept the uniqueness of the way that God uses me.
Prayer Father, I chose today to base my security not in my life outcome but in the fact that I loved by you. You bless me because you love me. That blessing is different for me than for others because I am unique. And because I am unique you love me differently than all the rest. I thank you that each of us is so greatly loved we would be excused to think we were the only ones on earth loved by you. Thank you for the unevenness of life, for it shows me that you know me personally and give me what fits me best. Amen.
I'm Phil McCallum, a husband, father and most of all one of the people Jesus loves. I'm privileged to serve Evergreen Community Church in Bothell, Washington as Senior Pastor where people love enough to believe "it's all about relationships." In 1982 I made a vow to read God's word daily and apply it to life. Each day I write out my reflections. Some days I post those on my blog. It's a little personal but it's my hope it will stir you to go deeper still. Learn how I do my devotions. These are my thoughts and not necessarily those of the ministry I serve. By the way check out the computer study Bible Glo. I highly recommend it.
