Sons Before Servants
We live in a church age where service is applauded more than sonship.
You can be the most unkind person or have a shady personal life but as long as your ministry is drawing large numbers it doesn’t matter. With the rise of social media, it’s becoming more and more difficult to identify fruit. Oftentimes works are even seen as synonymous with fruit allowing for a ‘free rider’ situation where Christians can preach Godly principles without the accountability of living out the same principles themselves.
What we end up with is a generation of people who know how to say the right things to get retention online yet struggle to retain attendance in the secret place. I say these things not to condemn any fruitful service for the Lord, but to bring to attention where our priorities should lie.
“On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’”. – Matt 7:22-23
The type of person Christ describes here would be famous in our day and age. I’m sure many Christians would be blessed, some even saved as a result of the great works he mentions here, yet, in their negligence in actually knowing the Christ they preach about Christ says ‘depart from me’. Christ isn’t condemning works here but highlighting what he later describes to Martha as choosing ‘the good portion’ (Lk 10:42).
Christ first calls us into sonship before he enrols us into ministry.
If we serve while neglecting our relationship with Christ then we’ve missed the whole point of the Cross.
We see this expressed in the story of Gideon (Jdg 6-8). God found Gideon at a shameful point in his life. He was hiding, cowering in fear of the Midianites and threshing wheat inside a winepress Judges 6:11. Despite this, when God met him he called Gideon a ‘ mighty man of valour’ (Jdg 6:12).
We see here, that God first established Gideon's identity before sending him out as a servant to lead his people and defeat the Midianites.
The first concern God has towards us is establishing who we are in him before any service he calls us to do for him.
The person that we see when we look in the mirror is often different from the version of us that God sees. While Gideon saw himself as the least of his household, the weakest of all the clans where he lived (Jdg 6:15) God saw a 'mighty man of valour’. Gideon caught up to that reality later on as he went on to defeat the Midianites with only a few hundred men (Jdg 7:7).
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” - Jer 1:5
The Hebrew word for ‘knew’ here is ‘yada’. The Biblical usage and cultural meaning of this word was beyond an 'intellectual knowing' but often resembled a deep, relational understanding. Before we were formed, Christ knew us. He really knew us. Before we even existed, we were an idea conceptualised in the mind of God. An idea he loved so much that by his word he spoke it into existence. An idea so precious, that he went to the extent of shedding his blood to remove the sin that stained his masterwork. He’s done everything to preserve and protect what he still sees: mighty men of valour, children of God, a people for his own possession (Jhn 1:12, 1 Pet 2:9).
The Holy Spirit sanctifies us, allowing us to walk in Sonship and synchronise the reality of who we are in Christ with our lifestyles and how we see ourselves.
Knowing God is the best thing life has to offer. There is no greater thing. Serving him should come from a foundation of intimacy as we give our whole lives as living sacrifices unto him (Roms 12:1). But, let’s ensure we never neglect to choose the good portion (Lk 10:42). He’s first called us into sonship so let’s strive to walk in this identity, putting away childish things and seeing ourselves how he sees us.
“ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” - Romans 8:14
