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We are no more than servants

(Lk 17:10)

        When we signed our Covenant, we solemnly promised the Lord that we will make ourselves available to the Lord for service: Make time to serve in Couples for Christ wherever I am called to serve and follow the directions of those who have responsibility for my service.

         In Couples for Christ, we do not choose our service, because if we do, then we are not truly servants. We promise the Lord “to serve wherever we are called to serve.” As servants, we cannot insist that God should give us the kind of service that suits our personality, interests or personal preference. As servants, we do not serve at our own convenience.

         Like the Lord Jesus who was obedient unto death, we should likewise be obedient servants: Although he was Son, he learned through suffering what obedience was (Hebrews 5:8). Obedience to His authority is the most important requirement of the lordship of Jesus. It is the mark of our being servants. Our obedience cannot be halfway or half-hearted. Either Jesus is Lord of all areas of our life, or our calling Him Master and Lord does not have much meaning.

         Some of us have lost touch of the real meaning of the word “servant” as it was understood in Jesus’ time. During the time of Jesus, a servant was someone who was another person’s property and had no rights whatsoever. In Luke 17:7-10, Jesus provided a very clear answer to the question: who are we if we are mere servants? He said to His disciples: If you have a servant coming in from the fields after plowing or keeping sheep, do you say to him: “Come at once and sit down at table?” No, you tell him: “Prepare my dinner. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink; you can eat and drink afterwards.” Do you thank this servant for doing what you commanded? So you also. When you have done all that you have been told to do, you must say: “We are no more than servants; we have only done our duty.”

         His disciples understood very clearly what Jesus said. Indeed, in the culture of Jesus’ time, it would have been incomprehensible to have a master serving his servant. A servant’s duty is to serve his master, and he should not expect to be given thanks for rendering service.

         As members of Couples for Christ, we are the Lord’s servants. Jesus has bought us at the price of His own life. We no longer own ourselves. The Lord owns us. He is the Master and we are the servants. We are therefore to be men and women who serve the Lord without regard to ourselves. We are to serve without hoping to be appreciated, without waiting to be given thanks, without expecting to be patted on our backs.

         Pride and ambition will prevent us from being true servants of Christ. Pride will make us refuse one type of service because of an erroneous feeling of “seniority” in the community. Ambition will make us aim at being appointed to a certain position, thinking that we deserve such a position because we have been in the community longer than others, or that we have served better than others.

         Our Lord Jesus rebuked James and John when they came to Him asking for exalted positions: Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory (Mark 10:35-40). Since they were the third and fourth apostles to join Jesus (cf. Mark 1:16-20), perhaps James and John felt that they were more “senior” than the others and therefore deserve this “promotion”. Since they were among the only three apostles (with Peter) whom Jesus allowed to witness His transfiguration (cf. Mark 9:2-8), perhaps they felt that they had “done better service” and therefore more deserving of higher positions. But Jesus rebuked them and told all His apostles: Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be the slave of all (Mark 10:43-44).

         Our service in Couples for Christ is not simply what we do. What is more important is who or what we are as we are doing our service. The emphasis is not on doing the service but on being a servant. We can fulfill our duties and accomplish all our tasks in Couples for Christ but, at the end of it all, we should examine ourselves: Do we really have a servant’s heart? Do we have the attitude of a true Christian servant? Or, do we have the ambition of James and John?

         Our model as servant is our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, as described by Paul in his Letter to the Philippians 2:5:8: Let what was seen in Christ Jesus be seen in you: Though being divine in nature, he did not claim in fact equality with God, but emptied himself, taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness, and in his appearance found as a man. He humbled himself by being obedient to death, death on the cross.

         Humility and obedience, therefore, are the qualities of a true servant. To become true servants, we should ask the Lord to give us the grace of humility and obedience. Then, and only then, can we fulfill our solemn promise, our solemn Covenant with the Lord, to serve wherever we are called, and to follow the directions of those who have responsibility for our service.

         My brothers and sisters, I pray that in God’s great mercy, He may hear the true desire of our heart. I also pray that God may give us a humble heart and a mind devoid of earthly ambition; and, in His great love and compassion, He may make us realize that indeed we are no more than servants.

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