Serving God Despite The Opposition

God's people will have opposition from many different sources.

Exodus 4:31 Then the people of Israel were convinced that the LORD had sent Moses and Aaron. When they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

Exodus 5:3-5 But Aaron and Moses persisted. “The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they declared. “So let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness so we can offer sacrifices to the LORD our God. If we don’t, he will kill us with a plague or with the sword.” 

4 Pharaoh replied, “Moses and Aaron, why are you distracting the people from their tasks? Get back to work! 5 Look, there are many of your people in the land, and you are stopping them from their work.”

We found out in my previous post that the unqualified get called by God into ministry that is way over their head. We learned through Moses that a lack of skill or specialized training seems to be what God is looking for in the people that serve him.

It must have been a great relief to Moses when he returned to Egypt and the people of Israel were convinced that he is on a mission from God to help his people. They seem to be thrilled that out of nowhere, after God's promise seems to be on the edge of failure, God finally sends a rescuer to put an end to their suffering in Egypt.

Wouldn't it be great if ministry was always this easy? Isn't it a beautiful thing when God sends a leader, the leader goes to God's people and the people agree to their leadership and their program that the leader wants to implement. So far their isn't any opposition and all is well but Moses hasn't been to see Pharaoh yet.

Suddenly the Israelites situation has gone from bad to worse, Pharaoh decided that he had been too easy on the Israelites by providing them with the materials that they needed to make bricks, so for now on they had to produce the same quota of bricks without any help getting the material they needed to make them.

Exodus 4:21  And the LORD told Moses, “When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go.

The blame game started up immediately despite the fact that they were so sure of God's plans and God already told they wouldn't be released and allowed to go until God steps in and forces Pharaoh to let them go.

God's people don't like opposition and they are quick to let their God appointed leaders know about it. It is a shame that God's people treat their leaders this way but it may be worse that the leaders run back to God and complain to him when God already warned them there would be opposition to his work.

Exodus 5:22-23 Then Moses went back to the LORD and protested, "Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? 23 Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!"

We should expect that difficult days are going to come our way when we are serving God. When we are God's friend and we are being used in ministry then we are an enemy to Satan and he will start working overtime to oppose us.

Satan is already actively opposing God's plan to bring the Messiah to the world to redeem his people. The chances of the Lion of the tribe of Judah surviving all of the opposition to God's purpose and his people are extremely small but that's just how God works.

God allows his promises to come to the edge of failure for a purpose, God's people have to wait until there isn't any human ability to accomplish God's promises so that God is the only one that can get credit for making them happen. God knows that we will try to steal his glory if there is any way to explain away his miracles.

When God's people are doing what he ask them to do they should expect opposition from the world and also from God's other children that don't understand how he is working. We know that the world has a great reason to oppose you but Satan will convince some of your church friends to also go against you.

Serving God requires that we remember:

• How strong and how desperate our enemy is.
• The helpless, desperate condition of the people that you are serving.
• Your own weakness and inability for the task.

We must rely on God's strength and his timing in order to accomplish his work.

I Am A Slave

We like being God's friend but the truth is his friends are also his slaves.

 

John 15:12-17, 20  This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.

20 A slave is not greater than the master

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I remember as a kid that someone would come to me and ask me to do something for them and even though I didn't want to do it there was an incentive being offered that would make me consider doing it. You have heard the line "I will be your best friend forever." This is the best offer that a kid can think of when he is trying to get his way.

We teach our kids that we shouldn't treat people that way, we like to base our friend relationships on equality and "give and take" but that doesn't work on God. Jesus told his disciples that if they obey all of his commands and do everything that he tells them to do then he will be their friend.

This sounds harsh or bizarre but that is what it all comes down to. Jesus says that the greatest display of love is for someone to die for his friend and you are my friend if you obey my commands. I know that if I do everything he tells me to do then that makes him Lord and it makes me his slave.

We do not like the term and we try to stay away from the idea of being a slave but the Bible is clear. Nobody in the Bible call themselves God's friend or Jesus friend, the Bible refers to both Abraham and Moses as friends of God and Jesus calls the disciples His friends but none of these people ever said that about themselves.

The apostles call themselves God's slave

Romans 1:1 / 1 Corinthians 9:19 / Titus 1:1 / James 1:1 / 2 Peter 1:1 / Jude 1:1

We love Romans 5:12 where Paul says that we are "friends of God" but we like to look over the fact that he says we became friends through "our Lord Jesus." Our thoughts should be that "Jesus is Lord and I am his slave."

Matthew 7:21  "Not everyone who calls out to Me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in heaven will enter. Luke 6:46  "So why do you keep calling Me 'Lord, Lord!' when you don't do what I say? Luke 9:23-24 “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself.” Luke 17:9-10  And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey Me you should say, 'We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.'"

The New Testament refers to Jesus as Lord more than five hundred times yet we refuse to actually see him and treat him that way. We call him Lord but we live with our own agenda, we obey our desires instead of his commands, we fail to let him be in charge.

Church leaders like to refer to the people that take on job duties around the church as volunteers but the truth is we are slaves and that should be the deciding factor in whether we fill a position. We like to signup if it is convenient but that isn't the lifestyle of a slave. How many "volunteers" would sign up on a list that refers to them as slaves?

Who Is In Control

Romans 6:16-18  Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.  17  Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you.  18  Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

If being a slave is offensive to you then the Bible has some bad news for you. The most important person in my life became a slave so why should I think that I should have it any better than he did? (Philippians 2:5-7) Jesus says that you should deny yourself daily, take up your cross and follow him wherever he leads. (Luke 9:23-25)

I tried a Google search on "who is in control of your life" and found that none of the search results mentioned the Bible. There are a lot of people trying to get control but the Bible tells me that I have to give up control. Scripture tells us that we are all slaves to something, we are all under the control of someone, the only thing that your free will gets to decide is who your master is going to be. (2 Peter 2:19, Matthew 6:24)

This slave has been bought at a high price, I am cared for, protected, rewarded, and loved but I am still a slave. I am not really free as a follower of Jesus, my morality, my attitudes and my convictions are all decided by him.

The way that I spend my money, my time and my talents should bring glory to my Lord and Master. My goal is to hear Jesus say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant!"

RELATED ARTICLES

Beyond Blind Faith (everystudent.com)
How To Take Up Your Cross (gty.org)

How Is Your Serve?

Jesus condescended the most because he loves us the most.

 

John 13:3-6  Jesus knew that the Father had given Him authority over everything and that He had come from God and would return to God.  4  So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist,  5  and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples' feet, drying them with the towel He had around Him.  6  When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to Him, "Lord, are You going to wash my feet?"

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This is Jesus last Passover celebration, his Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus knew God's timetable and that his final hour was drawing near. You and I would be very self-centered in this situation, just like the disciples were as they sat at the table with Jesus but instead of worrying about himself he is concerned with the men that he would leave behind and the strength of their faith.

On many occasions Jesus was asked who he is, where he came from and why he thought that he had the authority to scold the Pharisees. John tells us that Jesus knew that he came from God, he would return to God and he knew that God had given him the authority to do God stuff. Yet he did things that we wouldn't expect God to do.

It is difficult to imagine that Jesus had authority over absolutely everything, we can't even comprehend what that means, when we say that somebody has authority over something we know in our heads that the authority covers certain boundaries. A school teacher has authority in certain areas that we can clearly define but Jesus rules over things that we don't even know about.

Should the ruler over absolutely everything be my servant?

"No," Peter protested, "You will never ever wash my feet!"

Jesus stepped down from the highest position and humbled himself, he made the greatest leap in condescension, we will probably never understand why he loves us so much that he would make this giant step from greatness to the lowliest servant.

Only humble people love, and your capacity to love is directly related to your capacity to humble yourself. The less interested you are in yourself, the greater your capacity to invest yourself in somebody else. The lower you go in self-concern, the higher you go in concern for others. -John MacArthur

I have never considered the connection between loving and being humble. Jesus willingness to be so humble and come down so low from his superior position in heaven is incredible. That level of selflessness is far superior to the love that we have that is self serving and seeks to gain something in return.

Shouldn't Jesus announce that I am his greatest follower?

Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank. 

These guys were so busy arguing about their rank and how well they were doing at following the Rabbi that they missed one of the most important qualities of a Christ follower. Think about this, the hands that control the universe, including all the angelic host, humbly washed the dirty feet of twelve undeserving apostles! And that includes the feet of the betrayer!

Unworthy Servants

Luke 17:7-10  "When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, 'Come in and eat with me'? No, he says, 'Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.' And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey Me you should say, 'We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.'"

I am an unworthy servant that has a hard time thinking of myself as I should, my level of gratitude for what God has done for me is severely lacking because of my perception of who I am and what level of despair I was in without my Savior doesn't really sink into my head. Pride gets in the way of seeing myself the way that God sees me.

If I could wrap my head around the idea of how depraved I am then my level of gratitude would be increased along with my ability to love and serve the hurting world around me the way that Jesus did.

Help me Lord to see myself through your eyes for who I really am so I can fully appreciate what you have done for me.

Equality In The Body

We are all the same in the body of Christ.

2 Peter 1:1-2  This letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have. This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.  2  May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.

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Despite what the Catholic church says about Peter and the glory and praise that they have erroneously given to him, Peter refers to himself as a slave and an apostle.

Faith is a gift from God and the gift has been given to us the same as it was given to the first disciples. Since we are all slaves without Christ we are all the same before him and none of us deserves to be treated differently.

The apostle Peter is a servant and so am I, it is amazing that the believers in the New Testament are seen as filthy rags, servants without any status or rights and "Saint" Peter never had the attitude that he was any different than the other believers.

The Roman Catholic Church still holds to the lies of Papal headship and Papal infallibility. Their lies state that: "The Pope possesses full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole Church and not merely in matters of faith and morals but also in Church discipline and in the government of the Church."

Christ is the head of the church and everyone of us is not worthy to have anyone look at us as having any authority or power. The levels of power and authority that the Catholic church tries to tell us that the chain of command from the Pope all the way down to the local priest is wrong. (Ephesians 1:19-23, Colossians 1:18, 2:10)

Mark 10:43-45  But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.

A slave is subordinate, his service to his master is out of obligation, he has to serve he has no concern about the cost of serving or the inconvenience. It is too bad that the church is so full of volunteers today. The volunteer gets to decide if the time is right or if they like the job that they are being asked to do. If it is convenient then they will signup.

I am just a slave for Jesus, I need to remember that I am not any better than the next guy, we are all nothing without Jesus. I need to be ready to serve without reservation or excessive rules about when, where or how.

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him. (1 Timothy 1:12) Thank you Lord for loving me despite who I am. What an incredible privilege to loose my bondage to sin and become your servant.

Serving Your Master

You have to choose because you cannot be a slave with two masters.

John 8:34-36  Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.  35  A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever.  36  So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.

Matthew 6:24  "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Deuteronomy 13:4 Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him.

The news is filled with stories of war everyday, they are evidence of the spiritual battle that we cannot see, the battle wages on in the physical and spiritual realm. You may not like to think about it but there is a relentless force for evil that will stop at nothing to get you to choose any of his options over the single best choice.

Our loyalty to God is constantly being challenged just as it was for Adam and Eve back in the Garden of Eden. Satan is always questioning God's right to have our praise and worship. He wants to be God and he will stop at nothing to have us treat him that way. Satan knows that we were made to worship and that we will serve something or somebody so he is always looking to take advantage of this God given trait.

There is a lot at stake and we need to keep in mind some important advice:

Remember That God Won't Share 

1 Corinthians 8:6, Exodus 20:3-6, Deuteronomy 6:14-16

Over and over again God told the Israelite's that they needed to make a decision. They could choose from a long list of gods, they could choose to serve themselves, or they could choose the real God. God made it clear that he will not share what belongs to him with anything else.

Don't Serve The Things The World Serves 

Luke 16:13, James 4:4, 1 John 2:15-16

There is one true God and since is the only one that means there is nobody like him. Therefore he alone is to be worshiped and served. If you truly love God then you will have an unfavorable opinion of the world and it's philosophy.

Don't Value The Things The World Values

Matthew 6:19, 6:33, Luke 12:20-21

Jesus cautioned us to crave or value the right things. The world finds pleasure in craving what they can see, the toys that they have, pride in their accomplishments at work or school, all of the things that are temporary.

We love to seek our own kingdom, to stress how good we are and build up our treasure, we burden ourselves with the pursuit of the temporary. Seeking God's kingdom means that I must set aside my own kingdom and declare my allegiance with the eternal kingdo

Who You Serve Is Who You Trust
Romans 6:16, 18  Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

Do you serve yourself? Do you serve money? If you think about it, whatever it is that you serve, that is the thing that you are putting your trust in. Why would you serve something you don't trust? If you feel secure enough to trust in something then it is reasonable to assume that you will probably serve that thing.

In our previous post we saw that Jesus called us all slaves, we are all serving something or someone, Jesus made it clear that a slave is usually a slave until the day they die. Because we are “in Christ” (Romans 6:11; 8:1), and He died in our place (Romans 5:6-8), we are counted dead with Him. I have become a slave to righteous living!

It is clear that I cannot serve both God and mammon, I cannot serve the god's that the rest of the world serves, they all want my full attention and my allegiance. I must choose everyday who I will serve, I must choose to serve the Lord wholeheartedly.(Joshua 24:14)

Christian vs Christian

You shouldn't have to wear boxing gloves to church.

Romans 14:4, 10-13  Who are you to condemn someone else's servants? Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall. And with the Lord’s help, they will stand and receive his approval.

10 So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer?

Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.  11  For the Scriptures say, "'As surely as I live,' says the LORD, 'every knee will bend to Me, and every tongue will confess and give praise to God. '"  12  Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God.  13  So let's stop condemning each other.

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Every organization has it's share of division and strife among the people that are in the group. Whether it is in the military, a social group or a workplace, there is going to be conflict.

That shouldn't be true of the church but unfortunately it is not any better inside the body of Christ. There have always been divisions and fighting despite the fact that Jesus prayed for us to get along with each other and serve each other and to be united together just the same as he is united with God the Father. (John 17:21)

I have never slowed down and allowed this verse to sink in. It is stuck in the middle of a bunch of verses about whether the Gentile believers should stick to the dietary restrictions that the Jews observed under the law. The verse is Romans 14:4 "Who are you to condemn someone else's servants?"

The first thought that came to mind is that I am a servant of God. I am just a slave, I do not have any rights, my life has been redeemed by Jesus and therefore it belongs to him. Since he has purchased me he has all rights to me and my life should be spent making sure that I am pleasing my master.

Second thought that comes to mind is that I am surrounded by other servants of God that he has also redeemed and none of those other servants around me are answerable to me. I don't have any rights and I don't have any authority. As a fellow slave, I have no power or any right to have another slave give an account for his actions.

What if the other servants are doing what God has told them to do? Why am I putting them down? So what if they are not pleasing me when it comes to stuff that isn't an essential part of the gospel. There is one Lord, one Holy Spirit and one God and I am not any of them.

James 4:12  God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?

Jesus had the right to walk around this planet and point his finger at everybody that he saw that was wrong and condemn all of them but instead the main characteristic of his life was love. It was love that drew people to him. Without love the gospel doesn't have any power and instead of drawing people in to Jesus we will drive them away.

Help me Lord to be less like the devil with his judging personality and help me to grow more like my loving redeemer.