SERVANT LEADERS NEEDED<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
 
 
On the return flight from San Diego following our son's wedding, it occurred to me that half the people I had met in the last week were overworked and underappreciated folks that make up this country's giant "service industry."  If this legion of servants ever did go on strike for a day, it would shut down Southern California, and realistically, every city in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />America.
 
I was particularly impressed by a young bellman donned in butler regalia and stationed at the entrance of our pink hotel.   He was everywhere, like seven persons in one.
 
Before I had turned off the ignition, he had opened both doors and the trunk lid. He smiled and called me Mr. Carlson (I'm now a little nervous how he knew my name, weight and VISA card number).  
 
At this juncture of the trip, he was just what we needed; The National Comic Book Convention had driven lodging prices through the ceiling, and my wounded pocket book was crying foul. 
 
The lad escorted us to the front desk, parted the sea of patrons, secured our room keys, and slipped us some scrumptious chocolate to dull the pain.    He led us to the elevator, slid us on, greased the squeaky wheel, slid us off, and scurried us to our freshly-appointed room.    He proceeded to hang up our travel-weary wedding clothes, fluffed the pillows, retrieved some cold water from the fridge, pulled back the curtains to expose the azure view of the Pacific, recommended salmon for dinner, polished my shoes, flossed my teeth and dropped my jaw.
 
I stuffed the one dollar bill in my back pocket, and awkwardly shuffled him a crisp five spot. I would have given him half my kingdom had he asked.
 
When he left, a feeling of royalty swept over me. I got out my purple blazer and sat on the throne.
 
I want to be a bellman when I grow up.
 
Later that evening I met the manager of the hotel. He was the bellman plus thirty years and a fine Italian suit.    
 
I must have been wearing a name tag, because everyone knew my name, including the manager.    When he asked if there were anything else he could do to make our stay more pleasurable, I was caught off guard and whimpered for another chocolate mint.   Had I had the presence of mind to request an ocean, he might have brought the Pacific to our room.
 
The hotel commands a King's ransom for a night's stay because the staff makes you feel like a king.    Their extraordinary service disarms your fiscal defenses.
 
Extraordinary service – what a concept!   Like all great notions, its basis is in scripture.
 
As folks such as Zig Ziglar have noted for years, Christian virtues are not only good business for the soul, they  represent sound business principles, as well.
 
People serving people is God's idea, and not just for profit.    Though extraordinary service consistently generates revenue, God does not advocate it for monetary gain, but because it is one of the great manifestations of His love doctrine.     We serve one another because in love God serves us.    We mimic what we see and hear from the counter-culture example of Jesus.   
 
In the natural order of things (fallen and self-centered), we choose to be served in lieu of serving.    We desire a position of power and status, forcing others to pay homage.    We fancy ourselves as masters, lording our position over subordinates who must serve or perish.  We scratch and claw our way up the food chain to gain an advantage in the pecking order.
 
The "Survival of the Fittest" doctrine makes no allowances for humility or kindness.   Where Darwin is preached and enforced, the carnivores have a field day; it is a theory best designed for cartel kingpins, crooked politicians and T-Rex.
 
Thank God for a contradictory vision of reality, summarized clearly and powerfully in Galatians 5:13:   "Through love, serve one another."
 
Love remains the world's most powerful and irresistible social force.  "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.   Love never fails"  (I Cor. 13:7-8).
 
Love is often best illustrated in unmerited service to others.   Serving folks who have neither earned nor deserved our love reflects the love God has for us (note Romans 5).  
 
When Paul tells the struggling Ephesians' church, "to submit to one another out of reverence for Jesus" (Eph. 5:21), he reminds them and us that the ability to submit and serve is a supernatural gift imparted by the Spirit of God.    He also reminds us of its paramount importance to Christian joy, unity, and maturity.
 
Take a moment and examine the startling truths of Jesus' example offered in the first eleven verses of Philippians, Chapter Two.    The King of the Universe purposefully chose to become the Suffering Servant prophesied by Isaiah.    Jesus "humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death on a cross!"
 
This passage advocates that we model His servant heart by adopting His attitude: "See others' interests as more important than our own."
To be a disciple of Jesus, one must dismiss any false notions of superiority and worldly prominence.    Fact is: "The meek shall inherit the earth."
 
If you want to be great in God's Kingdom, learn to the servant of all.   
 
Servanthood is near the top of the list of hard teachings from Jesus.   Even the Apostles struggled to balance the idea that greatness was identified with humble service – it's so other-worldly!
 
In a somewhat comical (and painfully typical) episode found in Matthew 20, the mother of James and John, two of the original Apostles, petitioned Jesus on behalf of her career oriented sons.   She desired prominence for them, the opportunity to be major players in the coming Kingdom.
 
Jesus said her request was misguided, and when granted, it meant sharing in His suffering.
 
Their problem, he explained, was their old pagan thinking:    But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. "It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."  (Matt. 20: 25-28).
 
 
The Apostles never became real leaders in the church until the Holy Spirit invaded their hearts and transformed them into loving servants.   They then proceeded "to turn the world upside down!"
 
We live in two starkly different worlds-- one fallen and power-mad, and the other redeemed and love-powered. Which makes you feel most at home?
 
It's good to be reminded that "the Kingdom of God is not of this world."   We are citizens of God's Kingdom!    This means, "we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake"    (II Cor. 4:5).
 
I wonder what our Jesus congregations might look like if we truly practiced the servant love advocated by Scripture.   I have a sense that our doors would be blown off!
 
People cannot resist extraordinary service, especially if it is backed up with genuine, supernatural love.   A church culture featuring endless service as its calling card will never run out of customers; folks cannot get too much love.
 
We must purge our churches of the worldly characteristics that hinder our pursuit of authentic servanthood.   We need to snatch the reins from phony church leaders who seek prominence and power and wield false authority through autocratic and deceptive means.   Jesus will provide the boot to drop-kick them down the basement stairs (always in a loving way!)
 
We need to stop spending big dollars on ourselves.   Nothing turns off the unredeemed like selfish displays of opulence in the name of Jesus.    We can begin by reusing the boot and the stairs on the endless line-up of televangelists and their gold-plated contribution plates.
 
We need to rethink brick and mortar.   Should we be spending millions of dollars on magnificent edifices while neglecting the poor and disenfranchised?   Where would Jesus hang-out?    Who are we trying to impress?    Whom are we serving?
 
It's high time we swallowed our pride, picked up a towel and basin, and washed some dirty feet (the real Jesus of John 13). Who do we think we are, anyway?