August 13, 2012
Lip Service
When I ask Bill to do something he will often in jest salute me saying,
“Yes Boss, whatever you say boss. Yes ma’am.”
I normally take his joking in stride, however if it is something that I
have repeatedly asked him to do for me, it can get under my skin. The other day
there was one of those occasions so I snapped back, “I’ve heard that before…that’s nothing more than lip service.” The
Spirit wasted no time letting me know that there have been occasions where I
too have offered lip service to the Lord. Jesus chastised the Pharisees and the
teachers of the law concerning their lip service, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far
from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules
taught by men’.” (Matt 15:7-9 NIV)
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2 comments:
Gail;
-----The New Testament often addresses how we are to be servants to one another. Our new lives are deeply involved with service to others. Jesus emphasizes this relationship by insisting that whoever is or would like to be great amongst others must become the more serving to others. And if one wishes to be the greatest, he must become the most serving. Jesus demonstrated this in His life and death on the cross and in His resurrection. He became the least and is the greatest.
-----But never will you find in the New Testament the concept that any of us are masters over others. It just doesn’t exist. Some might desire to see it in I Timothy 5:17, and maybe even more so in Hebrews 13:17. However, God’s Word does not contradict itself lest it be found false. Romans 14:5b, “Let everyone be fully convinced in his own mind,” and 22, “The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God,” applies to everyone in the Lord, from the greatest of us to the least of us, therefore, to the leaders and elders too. Authorities given to men in the church to go around commanding and demanding (or to any of the rest of us, as well) are about the boundaries between right and wrong and truth and falsehood as discernibly presented by God’s Word itself, and no more. Men are not made by two verses into masters, otherwise I Cor 4:6 empties of its exhortation to not go beyond what is written, and Christ would cease to be the head of the church. So it is I think that Peter exhorted elders to watch over the church, “...not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock.” (I Peter 5:3)
-----So servant-hood in its best goes forth without any master-hood amongst man. It is like we have our Master in the nature of what the new life is and Who made it possible. From the desire to please one another the consideration of everyone within your proximity becomes your master in as much as you‘ve learned it from Him. So you just do what considers the needs of everyone involved. And if some of those needs are more accurately articulated by a request or command of the needy, then all the better.
-----That will be the blessing of the perfect world. Until then we are stuck in this place where failure seems maybe more operative than success. So lip service is no surprise here. From softness of heart, requests can be reduced to avoid becoming the master. It participates in God’s having done the same for us by His mercy. Then everything will work out in the wash, so to speak.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
:) God has used my husband on many occasions to teach me a lesson. sigh. .......There's a rant here that I'm withholding..... cause, you know, I want to sound all spiritual and mature.... snicker.
Under the misery loves company category, I have a funny, sort of, story. Bill and I usually go out to dinner at a local hole in the wall after church on Sunday. Think 1970s and you'll have an idea of the decor. It is not retro--it is original.
So, there we were, sitting in our gold fake'leather booths waiting for our meal. (The food is very good-like moms used to make in the 60s.)
I don't know how the conversation abut that morning's service got me to what I said, because Bill's reaction obliterated everything that came before my most sincere statement.
I said, leaning forward for emphasis, "I've been talking to the Lord, and we're working on something with me." "What's that?" he asked with mild interest. You know, how husbands make an effort to be interested...that kind of interest.
My reply was, "We're working on me becoming meek."
My usually quiet, mild-mannered husband just burst out laughing. He laughed so hard, he began to choke. :o Hmmpphhh. :[ Throughout our dinner, he would periodically just start to chuckle all over again.
~~~~~~~~~
About 6 weeks later, as we were going from the car to the house, He said, "Hey, How's that meek thing going?" And started laughing all over again.
I told him, "The fact that you're still alive shows that it's going better than expected."
He thought that was funny, too. Sigh.
I know that you were trying to impart a spiritual lesson, but I'm feeling ya on the husband thing.
Deb
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