The Spirit Of A Servant

Author: Michael Gott

Let every evangelist understand that term by which we call ourselves is simply another word for servant.  Gifted and called by the Holy Spirit to be an evangelist, yet behind it lie hints of another aspect of our lives.

All authentic Christian experience is stamped with the mark of servanthood.  Admittedly, we know the highest privileges of belonging to God’s inner circle, but also we must pass through the agonizing context of denials, suffering, and utter obedience.  Paul said, “. . . we suffer with him.”  I would point out, he did not say, “We suffer for Him,” rather, “with him,” which is an important distinction.

This, of course, is best demonstrated in Jesus as He faced the black night that would take Him to a painful cross.  We see in Him the utter obedience of a servant ready to suffer.  Coming is the blood, sweat, and hell of crucifixion.  So here is Jesus knowing the highest privilege of sonship, yet sonship could not be divorced from servanthood.  He was ever the suffering servant—that is the very spirit of Christ.  In this respect all evangelists must bear the same mark of a servant.

There is truth in the positive aspects of Christian life—the enthusiasm with which we preach Christ, the power which enables us, and even the sweet smell of being effective as we see people respond to the Gospel.  Of course, thank God there is truth in this, but do not forget the bloody sweat and the willingness to suffer in the dusty arena.

Never, ever must the privilege and the honor of having been chosen by God to be an evangelist overpower the other dimension—we are called to “suffer with him.”  Sonship cannot be divorced from servanthood; Jesus clearly teaches us that.

We must beware of the popular half-truths of today—the renewed emphasis on the positive, that is, the privilege and honor we may sometimes experience in evangelism.  The flip side of this coin is the willingness to obediently suffer.  We all have an inclination to enjoy the other aspect of evangelism.  I am afraid we have had a generation absolutely infatuated with the idea that evangelists are looked upon as almost celebrities in the spotlight.  Are we allergic to a thorough understanding of the cross with its suffering and shame?

When was the last time you were spit upon?  When were you last bombarded with rotten eggs as was John Wesley?  When did a family member last call you a madman, emotionally ill and needing psychiatric care?

To young evangelists just entering evangelism we must come down like a ton of bricks on the idea of sending out glamour photos and setting up a website as the first act of full-time evangelism.  We must say, “See yourself as a bloody gladiator in the arena, surrounded by those who would bring you down in shame to the glee and excitement of the applauding majority!”

Paul speaks of it,

for we are made a spectacle unto the world . . . we are fools for Christ’s sake . . . we are despised          I Corinthians 4:9-10

He then lists the things experienced by the early evangelists:  hunger, thirst, lack of clothing, constantly being assaulted, with no permanent home.  He mentions hard work that is exhausting, even manual labor, being laughed at and persecuted and defamed.  Then the ultimate is considered, “the filth of the world” and “the off-scouring of all things.”  Someday ask a quality Greek scholar to explain those two expressions in the context that Paul wrote them, and you will be shocked speechless!  Paul says we were like “men sentenced to death”—death row inmates!  I do not believe a more vivid picture could be given of the destiny of many early evangelists of Paul’s day.

Here is our legacy—it involves the great suffering and the constant hardships of the servant.  In Churchill’s famous words, “blood, sweat, tears.”  You recall that glorious passage in Philippians where the phrase is found

to share his suffering and become like him in his death,      Philippians 3:10

An evangelist of the good news?  An authentic evangelist of Jesus?  Well and good, but please know it leads to a life of pain and rejection and misunderstanding.  Do not be surprised at the hardship, the physical wear and tear; it’s all inevitable and inescapable if you spend your life in evangelism.  So prepare for that!  There is no crown without thorns.  There are no stars without scars.  There is no joy without tears.  There is no gain without pain, no ecstacy without agony.

The life of the evangelist; exciting, fulfilling, challenging, and incredible as it is; is, nonetheless, not without a regular diet of corresponding suffering first known by Christ himself and then by the early church and the battalions of evangelists they sent out to the dark, pagan world.  In all honesty, we should be very suspicious of any person claiming to be called into evangelism who does not fully understand that they are also called to tread the path of the humble servant joyfully willing to endure the pain and suffering required.

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