Qualifying for Kingdom Dominion Part Five
THE KINGDOM OF GOD -Part 60 - by J. Preston Eby
In a book I read there is a story which beautifully illustrates why the mighty God would stoop so low as to appear as a servant in His sons in order to restore creation. A little child is handed over to the keeping of another by her own father -- not that he wants to part with her, but they are poor, and so he gives her into the rich man's keeping, making her the rich man's daughter so far as a resolution can do it, in order to find bread for both. He then hires himself as a servant to the rich man and stays about where she is. He keeps watch and care over that little life until it is matured; and the girl, as she grows up, begins to feel that she can always rely upon the unselfish love of him who seems but a serving man. But her father, as she supposes him to be, is cold, distant, and even cruel. The day came when he repudiated her with anger, selfish and base, because she had brought what seemed disgrace on his name. Then forward stepped the serving-man, and flung his arms around her, shouting, with the fierceness of righteous indignation to the man who had evilly entreated her, "She never was your child!" Then the girl knew why it was that she had felt such rest, peace and joy in the presence of the serving-man. She had listened to his language of love many a time, not knowing the speaker was her real father.
Old father flesh, old father world, old father the devil repays all men with cruelty, injustice, baseness, lack, sorrow and death. But there is a better Father -- the One that sent you here, the One who has watched over you, blessed you, cared for you, counseled you, entreated you, woo'd you and overshadowed you with His love. Even when you knew it not, He was already your Father! And in Jesus He came as a servant to minister to your need, to lift and redeem and restore you unto Himself and His Kingdom. And now, bless His name, He comes in many sons to reveal His heart of love to the whole vast creation and restore all things. We, as sons of God, are among men as Him that serveth!
This is the great miracle of sonship! It unites greatness and humility in a divine combination. This is the new creation in Christ Jesus! This is the balance that is rarely attained in this world of natural men. The great secret lies in the indwelling spirit of Jesus. Being made partakers of His nature and mind we are able to stand before Pilate, and when he says, "Are you a king?" we answer, "Thou sayest it." At the same time it is possible to kneel before our brethren with a towel and a basin of water, washing their feet -- cleansing their walk -- in the spirit of service and humility. Only in sonship do power and humility find their true relationships and their true balance. Have you ever seen the President of the United States cutting the grass at the White House? How about Queen Elizabeth scrubbing the floors of her palace? Or the Prime Minister of Canada washing dishes? We don't expect people of high position to do lowly and seemingly unimportant tasks. Yet Jesus has revealed the law of a Higher Kingdom, a Kingdom where power and humility are joined together in a divine outpouring of love, grace and goodness!
Lyn Gitchel, a dear friend of ours in Pennsylvania, shared a precious point about the meaning of what we call ministry. She wrote, "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and give His life a ransom for many. The whole idea that we have of "ministry" has got warped up in these days, and I believe we shall have to have a new picture of what ministry really is put into our minds by God. The word ministry comes from two Latin words, minis, (from which we get minus), which means lesser, and tri, which is the Latin word for servant. Now, when you think about it, a LESSER SERVANT is a whole lot different from what we think of when the word ministry is put in our minds. We think of famous evangelists, and large meetings, crowds with a tremendous flow of miracles and of worship, and people that can really hold your attention by their great preaching -- and then we find that the word means LESSER SERVANT!
"The impact of this hit me recently and I'll share the experience with you. For most of my life I have served in a professional capacity. Before I was an ordained minister I was a registered nurse. I have never really worked as a servant of any kind, until recently. A friend of mine was doing a little job here in town which involves helping an elderly lady who has had a stroke. You need to help her in whatever capacity she needs, from housework to bathing her. My friend had to leave town and, to help her out, I took the job. Nearly a year later I am still doing it! One day I was kneeling on the bathroom floor drying her feet when suddenly I said to myself, 'Whatever am I doing here? -- I'm supposed to be an Ordained Minister!' Immediately the Spirit of God answered within my heart, 'You wanted to minister, didn't you?'
"The time has come when we must understand that ministry is not preaching but servanthood. We are going to have to learn all over again what it means to serve people with the same heart of love that Jesus had when He walked among men. It was not beneath Him to lift a woman caught in adultery to her feet and speak a word of reassurance to her, nor was it beneath Him to eat at the house of an ungodly tax-gatherer and his friends. Jesus did not hire a huge auditorium and put out publicity announcing great meetings. He simply moved among men and women where they were and touched them with love, and healing, and compassion" -- end quote.
There is the story of a man who desired from the Lord a true understanding of heaven and hell. One night in a dream he was told that he would soon receive this understanding. He was taken into a room where a few dozen people were sitting around a huge kettle of stew. Each one had only a long handled spoon to eat with, and their arms were straightened so they could not bend them and bring the food into their mouths. This, he was told, was hell. Then he was taken into another room which would be a picture to him of heaven. To his surprise, the room was identical. The large pot was there, as well as people with stiff arms and long spoons. There was one major difference, however. In this room, each one would dip into the stew with his or her long-handled spoon and feed his fellow on the other side of the kettle! In this day we are being translated from hell to heaven within ourselves as we learn the way of the Kingdom of Heaven which is the Kingdom of Love -- by SERVING!
Every new year the Queen of England publishes her Honors List, conferring titles and decorations upon the men and women who have rendered distinguished service to mankind or to the country or to the political party in power. I have in my mind a little Honors List of my own. There is not much point in publishing it, because you will never have heard of these people. They include a dear sister who was poor in this world's goods, who lived in a little house that approached being a shack, yet was committed to God's purposes in this Day and vibrant with the love of God. She was always sharing the word with the neighborhood children who graced her porch, continually cooking and sharing with others, fixing up and maintaining a building for the gatherings of the saints, entertaining the ministries the Lord sent their way, and encouraging everyone. She never murmured or complained about anything that came her way.
Honor goes also to a brother who prayed earnestly and is credited with "praying down" a mighty move of the Spirit of God many years ago, by which others with whom he was associated were propelled into world-wide fame, while he unpretentiously cherished the deep truths and hope of sonship and the reconciliation of all things, continuing in prayer, setting an example of righteousness and humility before his family and community, regularly visiting the widows, orphans, and shut-ins. I honor another brother whose name I do not even know who, during our Conferences in Florida years ago, would sweep and clean the meeting place until the wee hours of the morning (without being asked -- it wasn't his responsibility!), while most of the brethren and the preachers were enjoying rich fellowship over food at the local restaurants. The one thing that these quiet heroes have in common is that they lived the spirit of servanthood without pretense or any motive other than a pure love and the deep desire to bless creation and advance the Kingdom of God into men's lives. Truly such shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven!
To be continued...
Old father flesh, old father world, old father the devil repays all men with cruelty, injustice, baseness, lack, sorrow and death. But there is a better Father -- the One that sent you here, the One who has watched over you, blessed you, cared for you, counseled you, entreated you, woo'd you and overshadowed you with His love. Even when you knew it not, He was already your Father! And in Jesus He came as a servant to minister to your need, to lift and redeem and restore you unto Himself and His Kingdom. And now, bless His name, He comes in many sons to reveal His heart of love to the whole vast creation and restore all things. We, as sons of God, are among men as Him that serveth!
This is the great miracle of sonship! It unites greatness and humility in a divine combination. This is the new creation in Christ Jesus! This is the balance that is rarely attained in this world of natural men. The great secret lies in the indwelling spirit of Jesus. Being made partakers of His nature and mind we are able to stand before Pilate, and when he says, "Are you a king?" we answer, "Thou sayest it." At the same time it is possible to kneel before our brethren with a towel and a basin of water, washing their feet -- cleansing their walk -- in the spirit of service and humility. Only in sonship do power and humility find their true relationships and their true balance. Have you ever seen the President of the United States cutting the grass at the White House? How about Queen Elizabeth scrubbing the floors of her palace? Or the Prime Minister of Canada washing dishes? We don't expect people of high position to do lowly and seemingly unimportant tasks. Yet Jesus has revealed the law of a Higher Kingdom, a Kingdom where power and humility are joined together in a divine outpouring of love, grace and goodness!
Lyn Gitchel, a dear friend of ours in Pennsylvania, shared a precious point about the meaning of what we call ministry. She wrote, "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and give His life a ransom for many. The whole idea that we have of "ministry" has got warped up in these days, and I believe we shall have to have a new picture of what ministry really is put into our minds by God. The word ministry comes from two Latin words, minis, (from which we get minus), which means lesser, and tri, which is the Latin word for servant. Now, when you think about it, a LESSER SERVANT is a whole lot different from what we think of when the word ministry is put in our minds. We think of famous evangelists, and large meetings, crowds with a tremendous flow of miracles and of worship, and people that can really hold your attention by their great preaching -- and then we find that the word means LESSER SERVANT!
"The impact of this hit me recently and I'll share the experience with you. For most of my life I have served in a professional capacity. Before I was an ordained minister I was a registered nurse. I have never really worked as a servant of any kind, until recently. A friend of mine was doing a little job here in town which involves helping an elderly lady who has had a stroke. You need to help her in whatever capacity she needs, from housework to bathing her. My friend had to leave town and, to help her out, I took the job. Nearly a year later I am still doing it! One day I was kneeling on the bathroom floor drying her feet when suddenly I said to myself, 'Whatever am I doing here? -- I'm supposed to be an Ordained Minister!' Immediately the Spirit of God answered within my heart, 'You wanted to minister, didn't you?'
"The time has come when we must understand that ministry is not preaching but servanthood. We are going to have to learn all over again what it means to serve people with the same heart of love that Jesus had when He walked among men. It was not beneath Him to lift a woman caught in adultery to her feet and speak a word of reassurance to her, nor was it beneath Him to eat at the house of an ungodly tax-gatherer and his friends. Jesus did not hire a huge auditorium and put out publicity announcing great meetings. He simply moved among men and women where they were and touched them with love, and healing, and compassion" -- end quote.
There is the story of a man who desired from the Lord a true understanding of heaven and hell. One night in a dream he was told that he would soon receive this understanding. He was taken into a room where a few dozen people were sitting around a huge kettle of stew. Each one had only a long handled spoon to eat with, and their arms were straightened so they could not bend them and bring the food into their mouths. This, he was told, was hell. Then he was taken into another room which would be a picture to him of heaven. To his surprise, the room was identical. The large pot was there, as well as people with stiff arms and long spoons. There was one major difference, however. In this room, each one would dip into the stew with his or her long-handled spoon and feed his fellow on the other side of the kettle! In this day we are being translated from hell to heaven within ourselves as we learn the way of the Kingdom of Heaven which is the Kingdom of Love -- by SERVING!
Every new year the Queen of England publishes her Honors List, conferring titles and decorations upon the men and women who have rendered distinguished service to mankind or to the country or to the political party in power. I have in my mind a little Honors List of my own. There is not much point in publishing it, because you will never have heard of these people. They include a dear sister who was poor in this world's goods, who lived in a little house that approached being a shack, yet was committed to God's purposes in this Day and vibrant with the love of God. She was always sharing the word with the neighborhood children who graced her porch, continually cooking and sharing with others, fixing up and maintaining a building for the gatherings of the saints, entertaining the ministries the Lord sent their way, and encouraging everyone. She never murmured or complained about anything that came her way.
Honor goes also to a brother who prayed earnestly and is credited with "praying down" a mighty move of the Spirit of God many years ago, by which others with whom he was associated were propelled into world-wide fame, while he unpretentiously cherished the deep truths and hope of sonship and the reconciliation of all things, continuing in prayer, setting an example of righteousness and humility before his family and community, regularly visiting the widows, orphans, and shut-ins. I honor another brother whose name I do not even know who, during our Conferences in Florida years ago, would sweep and clean the meeting place until the wee hours of the morning (without being asked -- it wasn't his responsibility!), while most of the brethren and the preachers were enjoying rich fellowship over food at the local restaurants. The one thing that these quiet heroes have in common is that they lived the spirit of servanthood without pretense or any motive other than a pure love and the deep desire to bless creation and advance the Kingdom of God into men's lives. Truly such shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven!
To be continued...
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