323: Ryan Vaughn - Exhoration: Are you a Servant or a Volunteer?

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Welcome to good Chris Selfian talks. I’m Levi. I’m Chris. I’m Jason. And I’m Brian, thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week we post talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world.

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   Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now let’s talk more about this week’s talk.

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   Hello, this is Levi. This week’s talk is an excitation given by Brother Ryan Vaughn at the Abilene Ecclesia in Texas on October 27th of this year. This was a suggestion, so thank you to the person who sent this in. Have you ever much enjoyed this excitation? I’ve chosen the name. Are you a servant or a volunteer?

4. 1:11

   Because the file was sent to me without a name. So that’s, that’s how that works. I really enjoyed this, this talk and kind of this meditation on the difference between being a servant and having an attitude of service that doesn’t end, you know, that doesn’t stop throughout your week and throughout our walk as servants of God, that meanwhile, volunteerism is kind of something that we can come in and out of.

5. 1:36

   We can, we can be a volunteer. We can stop being a volunteer. I really, so I really, really enjoyed this. Really excited to share it. Here is Ryan Vaughn. Are you a servant or a volunteer? Thank you, Ryan and good morning everyone. Like to start off by making a nomination that brother will read every scriptural reading for us.

6. 1:59

   There’s a voice that just makes it come alive. That was that was really great. I enjoyed that certain people just have a tone and a voice that sound really wonderful with reading the scripture so well. Trish and I just returned from California. We went back to visit our brothers and sisters and see me and to do our Thanksgiving, which is our my side of the family’s Thanksgiving.

7. 2:19

   We usually do it in October so we can enjoy it with both sides of our families. And of course, while we’re there, every night is packed with people are like, oh, you guys are in from out of town. You got to come over for dinner. We got to do these things. So just about every night of the week we’re with somebody else. And so we get lots of great conversations and lots of great fellowship with everyone.

8. 2:36

   So I, I was, I do want to bring back your love and greetings from the brothers and sisters in Southern California and the Ecclesia and Simi Hills. During a one such conversation with a brother over the course of the evening, we touched on the topic of what our purpose is in this life.

9. 2:54

   He had a very simple answer which can be summed up in one word, service. The purpose of our lives and the reason we’re put together in our communities is to serve. I have to say this idea really resonated with me in this past week. I’ve been ruminating on it. What does it mean to serve or to be a servant?

10. 3:17

    A good old Webster defines the word serve as to be a servant, which is not very helpful. However, it also has multiple definitions. And further down it also says that it means to be of use to prove adequate or satisfactory to help persons to food, such as to wait a table or to wait on customers. These are all good definitions and I think they all speak to the idea of taking action or performing actions for others. I’ve heard some say that we serve our community or our ecclesia by volunteering.

11. 3:51

    A volunteer is someone who voluntarily undertakes or expresses a willingness to undertake a service. Volunteering typically carries the connotation of donating our time. At first glance, that feels right, doesn’t it? None of us expect to be compensated for the things we do for the ecclesia. So it’s logical that we say we are a community of volunteers.

12. 4:17

    Isn’t that what we’re called to do? We volunteered to teach classes, make food for potluck, maintain the hall, coordinate activities, participate on the arranging board. We might say all these actions are volunteer work, but as being a volunteer the same as being a servant, we might say. When I sat down and really thought about it, my own conclusion was no, volunteering and serving are not the same thing.

13. 4:48

    What I’d like to do this morning is take a few moments to consider what the differences are between a volunteer and a servant. Now, the nation of Israel viewed servants were slaves a little differently than the rest of the world. And I know we’ve talked about this before, but slavery in Israel was not the same as the system of slavery perpetuated by America in the 1800s or by the rest of the world. For all history, all of human history for that matter, under the law of Moses, slaves were not allowed to be mistreated and additional protections were given to the Israelites who ended up as servants or slaves.

14. 5:25

    Leviticus 25 speaks to this, speaks to it specifically when it says in verse 39. That’s Leviticus chapter 25, verse 39. And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee bewax and poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond servant, but as an hired servant and as a sojourner. He shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee.

15. 5:53

    And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto possession of his father’s shall he return. For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as bondsman. And there’s another provision in Exodus 21 that specifically states that after six years of service, the slave must be set free and all of his debts would be forgiven. However, if the man decided that he loved his master and wanted to remain in service, his master would take him before the elders of the city, and he would drive an awl through his ear or Pierce his ear, and that man would be his servant forever. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ has called us to do when He called us to serve in His ecclesia. It is a lifelong commitment.

16. 6:46

    I can’t help but see a bit of an echo to this in the crucifixion of Christ in Isaiah 53. It says that he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. It was after Jesus was pierced through his hands and his feet, and He was lifted up on the stake, putting the man of sin to death, that he was forever sealed to His Father.

17. 7:15

    That final act of dedication and service in giving His life for us sealed his fate forever. Which brings up the first difference that I’d like to point out between a volunteer and a servant. Volunteering is something you do while serving is something you live. When you volunteer for a task, it’s typically something that when the job is done, you’re done and you can walk away.

18. 7:41

    Anything that happens after that is none of your concern. However, that’s not the case for a servant. The servant is dedicated for life. The servant has built his or her life around the task, so there’s no switching on and off. The task is a part of who they are. We’ve all been given opportunities throughout our life in our community to sign up for something, whether it’s making a dish for potluck or planning activities for a Bible school.

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    When we plan out these activities, is there a separation in our minds between the task and our other life? Do we cordon off the minimum amount of time for the ecclesial work, looking forward to the time when it’s done?

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    I know I do. I’m the worst offender of this. I’ve said this before to many people, and there’s no feeling like being done with an exhortation or Bible class. The relief that I experienced from being done is euphoric. It’s something that I don’t have to think about anymore. I’ve realized, at least in myself, that I get that feeling because I’ve been volunteering and not serving.

21. 8:55

    Studying the Word of God and ruminating on these topics so I can share them with my brothers and sisters shouldn’t be something that I only do when I’m preparing for a class.

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    It should be a part of my everyday life. Because filling our minds with the Word of God, it’s not something we only turn on for Wednesday night class and Sunday mornings. It should be a part of who we are in everyday life. Secondly, a volunteer focuses on what they give, while the servant focuses on what Jesus gave. When we volunteer to help with the ecclesia, it’s easy to tell ourselves I’ve given so much energy, so much time, so much effort, so much of myself that we forget about what Jesus gave. A servant doesn’t weigh or measure how much he has given his master because his time, his resources, his very life is not his own.

23. 10:04

    It belongs to his master. When we think about how much Jesus gave, anything we have given or ever will give pales in comparison to the sacrifice he made #3A volunteer keeps score. Servants make sacrifices. A volunteer keeps a log of all the things they’ve done, and over time they become frustrated, disappointed or discouraged.

24. 10:33

    We don’t get the attention or the recognition or it cost us more than we thought it would. But a servant says that’s what I’m here for. It’s supposed to cost me something or inconvenience me. I’m supposed to take up my cross and bear it. I’m not always going to enjoy my service or like what I have to do.

25. 10:53

    I don’t have to always be comfortable. Our lives are very comfortable in this day and age, aren’t they? My brother Robert reminded of reminded us of this in one of his exhortations earlier in the year. By most of the world’s standards, we are very wealthy. And with wealth comes comfort and an aversion to anything that makes us feel uncomfortable.

26. 11:17

    And when we fall into this mode of being volunteers instead of servants, we give ourselves limits that, when reached, can cause us to be bitter or angry or burnt out with the ecclesia or with specific brethren. When we keep score, we start to notice that brother X or sister Y doesn’t give as much as I do, or they don’t put in as much effort as I do.

27. 11:42

    They don’t pull their own weight around here. Why should I have to give more? Every servant in God’s house is at a different stage in their journey towards the Kingdom, and once we come to that realization, serving in our own capacity becomes much easier. When we turn our focus to what Christ gave as our example, it’s impossible for us to keep score of what we have given or even consider what those around us have given #4 volunteers are time sensitive, a servant is need sensitive. A volunteer says I can only do this much because I only have this amount of time, while the servant says what is the need? I will arrange my schedule and ensure that the needs of others are met first.

28. 12:32

    We find a beautiful example of this in the parable from the Good Samaritan that we read this morning in Luke 10. If you aren’t there, we could turn over there for a moment. Just like to quote a few verses, it’s in Luke chapter 10, beginning in verse 30. In this parable, a man while travelling to Jerusalem from Jericho is robbed, beaten and left for dead. And while he’s lying on the side of the road dying from his wounds, several people pass by him. First a priest and then a Levite. Both men who were highly educated in the law and were well aware of the commandment to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, strength and mind, and likewise to love their neighbor as themselves, as Jesus had, just as they had just told Jesus in the verses before.

29. 13:25

    But both men, seeing someone in need, distance themselves from the injured man and walked by on the other side of the road. The parable doesn’t tell us why they didn’t help. Maybe it was because they had just been purified for a feast and they didn’t want to make themselves unclean by touching blood, or perhaps at this point, a dead body.

30. 13:46

    Maybe they were afraid it was a trap and the same people who harmed this man would come out and do the same to them. Maybe they had an appointment they had to keep, and even though they had the ability to meet the need, their time was more important and they told themselves someone else will take care of it. Maybe they realized they would have to use their own strength, their own time, their own resources to help this man and it was just too much for them to do at this time. Thankfully, we’re told there was a Samaritan that passed by as well.

31. 14:18

    And this Samaritan in verse 33 had compassion on him. And in verse 34 it says he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he sent him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper saying take care of him and whatever more you spend, I will pay you when I come back. Like the injured man, the Samaritan was travelling and no doubt had planned ahead and brought provisions for his trip. If you’ve ever been on a road trip, travelling across the US like we have a million times over the past couple of years, you bring everything you need on your trip with you. You bring food, you bring clothes, maybe you bring cash so you can pay for gas or lodging for yourself and your family. Nowadays it’s a lot easier to get all these things if you run out because there’s a million stores along the way, but in Jesus’s time these things wouldn’t have been readily available.

32. 15:19

    However, this man takes his own oil and wine and binds up the man’s wounds. He gives up his mode of transportation, his animal, and puts the wounded man on it. He then takes him to an inn and pays for his room and stays with him there for a night. And if all that wasn’t enough, the next day he pays the innkeeper to continue taking care of the man and commits to return again and cover any additional costs. What an incredible act of service and sacrifice. Can we imagine doing something like this today? Maybe we would stop to help another Chris Adelphian that we knew if the town was on the route that we were taking and the timing lined up just right.

33. 16:01

    But could you imagine doing even one of these things for a random stranger we had never met on the side of the I-40? The magnitude of this sacrifice is unimaginable. This parable was a calling to those of Jesus’s day and to us. He says in verse 37, You go and do likewise. As servants, we must come to the conclusion that our time, our resources, our very lives belong to Christ and they and they should all be used in His service #5 Volunteers want themselves to look good, while a servant wants to make God look good. Serving is not about how I look, it’s about how what I do can be seen and how through what I do can make God look good. It’s not about me being noticed, it’s about God being noticed through what I do.

34. 17:03

    Matthew 5 and 14 says you are in the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Something about what we do and the way we do it should make others see God, which inherently means people need to know that we are servants of God.

35. 17:36

    We’ve talked about this many times in our classes, and even Jeremy spoke about this in one of his expectations earlier. No one we know should be surprised to hear that we are Christadelphians or to be more at a more basic level, level, that we’re followers of Christ. People should look at us and think, I know why they behave that way or why they made that decision. It’s because they serve Jesus.

36. 18:00

    Or maybe they just think it’s because they’re a Christian. And if they do, God receives the glory and not us. Number six, volunteering is about convenience, while serving is about commitment. There’s a story in Second King 17 about the people that were brought into the land by the Assyrians after the children of Israel were expelled during the reign of Hoshea. The Israelites were cast out of the land because of their idolatry.

37. 18:30

    But of course the people that were brought in by the Assyrians to replace them were no better. In verse 26, we’re told that they brought with them all their foreign gods, Sakath, Banath, Nergal, Ashima, Nibhas, and Tartek, and they burned their children in the fire to add Rumilek, add Ramalek and Anamalek. However, we’re told in verse 25 that they did not fear the Lord, and because of this the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

38. 19:01

    And when the king of Assyria hears this report, he says it’s because they don’t know the the law of the God of the land. So he sends some of the priests, Israel of Israel back so they can teach the newcomers into the land, the law of Moses. So maybe that will put a stop to the lion attacks.

39. 19:20

    And after this education, we’re told in verse 33, so they feared the Lord, but also served their own gods after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. These people said, God, I just want enough of you in my life to keep the lions away. I want just enough of you so the attacks will stop. I want you in my life, but I don’t want to have to be committed to you.

40. 19:49

    This way of thinking can infiltrate our minds if we are only volunteering in the ecclesia. We want to give just enough of our time. We want to have just enough God in our life so He keeps the lions of life away. And just like the people that were living in the land of this time, we have a respect for God.

41. 20:10

    But Monday through Monday through Friday, we’re serving our own gods. We’re connected to God, but not committed to Him. A true servant loves the Lord with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind. That means that God will be a part of every aspect of our lives. That means we don’t have some dark corner of our life where God is not allowed to go or the activities that we participate in that God would not approve of. To be a true servant, we must be wholly committed to God. Finally, volunteering makes you feel superior, while serving makes you humble.

42. 20:51

    Often times when we volunteer for things, we can feel superior because of the role or the position that we’ve taken. I don’t think this is really an issue in our current ecclesia because we’re smaller. But when you’re in an ecclesia of 60 or 100 or more, positions like arranging brother, finance brother or recording brother can make you feel important or special. You’re given what some might consider a position of authority and this can quickly go to our heads if we don’t have the spirit of a servant.

43. 21:24

    Jesus chastised the scribes and Pharisees for this time and time again and even had to address it with his disciples. We come over to Matthew chapter 23. We see an example of this where he calls out the Pharisees.

44. 21:41

    Matthew 23, Beginning at verse one says, Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat. All Therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do, but do not ye after their works. For they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

45. 22:12

    But all their works they do. For to be seen of men they make broad their phalacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chiefs seats in the synagogue’s, and greetings in the markets. And to be called men. Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi. For one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your Father upon the earth. For one is your Father which is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for one is your master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. But woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the Kingdom of heaven against men. For you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in when you seek positions of power and authority.

46. 23:09

    We put ourselves in a dangerous place because of because of the station and authority the scribes and the Pharisees put themselves in. They couldn’t see past their own pride, which led them to put Jesus to death. In Matthew 18, we’re told that even Jesus’s own disciples came to him and asked who’s the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And again in Matthew 20, the mother of James and John came to Jesus and asked him to give her sons positions of honor in the Kingdom.

47. 23:39

    In both instances, Jesus reminds them that it’s not the positions of honor or rulership that they should be seeking after. Instead, like in Matthew 18, they should come to him as little children, willing and eager to serve. In chapter 20, he says, And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom. For many, serving is about being humble and about helping people wherever they are in their journey. So before we close, we’ll summarize what we’ve considered this morning when considering what the characteristics of a servant of Christ are.

48. 24:24

    As servants of our Lord, we approach life in the truth with humility, and we’re committed to the work of Jesus and all that we do. We serve in his ecclesia and in the world around us, not for our own glory and recognition, but so God can be glorified through us. Our service is not time sensitive, but rather based on the needs of those whom we serve.

49. 24:48

    We keep no record of the deeds we perform or the time we dedicated to His service, but rather we sacrifice our own needs, resources, time and desires so that God’s name may be glorified and to all. As servants, we don’t focus on what we’ve given or will give in the future, but instead we remember what Jesus gave and we’re motivated to act by His example. Finally, as servants, we recognize that our our work in the ecclesia is not just a list and a task of deeds that we check off our list, but it’s a way of life. Our service to one another is a part of our lives and makes up the very fabric of who we are as people. As we partake of these emblems.

50. 25:33

    Now, may our commitment to him be strengthened and renewed, and may the day come soon where we hope to hear those wonderful words from him. Well done, thou good and faithful servant, Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.

51. 26:02

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52. 26:32

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53. 26:48

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