For the duration of this talk let's play a thought experiment. Let's say this is not a servant's prep meeting, rather it is a servants meeting. We've all been serving for a while. Some of us are serving Sunday School classes. Some of us are organizing conventions. Some of us are doing community work. Let's put ourselves in that lens as we delve deeper into this topic.

What is Service?

• Serving the Lord of the House and not the House
  • And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24)
• John 21:15-17

  • ⁵ So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of ^[b]Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”

    He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I ^[c]love You.”

    He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”

    ¹⁶ He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of ^[d]Jonah, do you love Me?”

    He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I ^[e]love You.”

    He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

    ¹⁷ He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of ^[f]Jonah, do you ^[g]love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”

    And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”

    Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

  • Moral of the story: Love of the Lord is shown through feeding his sheep
  • Works come later. Salvation is a gift. And we are created for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
    • We do not earn God's love and Salvation through our work. God's love is what leads me to the path of doing the works which God has prepared for me since the beginning.
• This implies I should put a lot of effort in my relationship with God.
• Service is like painting a picture of the Love of God in my life.
  • The clearer I see God's love in my life the more beautiful the painting will be
  • Each person will draw a unique painting. My painting will be different than yours
  • People should see the painting and say I want that type of love in my life.

Key Premise

Service is the Love of God in action

What is the Goal of the Service?

• First let's look at what it is not, so we know what it is:
  • If you're preparing an activity or a convention, and thinking, "It'll be awesome get Fr. XYZ as  a guest speaker. He's awesome. He's such a public personality and has many youtube videos. He wrote a book and started such and such service." FULL STOP. Then we have a problem. Your goal has become about getting Fr. XYZ in. That's not a sufficient goal.
  • The same can be applied to anything; the venue for your convention; the organization; the technical wonder; blah, blah, blah.
• The goal of the service is not any of these things. The goal of the service is to bring us in relationship with God, and I hate to say it, but sometimes simpler is better. When there are a lot of bells and whistles, it distracts us from who really is the purpose of why we are serving; Jesus Christ.
  • The point is not to put on a show. The point is to provide an environment for the people being served and the servants to grow and become closer to Christ and in effect closer to each other.
  • And I repeat the more complex activities are, the more stressful they are, and the more they lose their original purpose.
    • I'm not speaking against organizing such activities, but when we do work on this, we have to make sure the goal is always clear.
    • Look at your demographic and see what best suits them.
    • Be wise in how you deal with people you are serving with and people you are serving.

The Commandment

To reinforce the point. From the Lord Jesus Christ's own mouth:

⁹ “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. ¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another. (John 15: 9-17)

The Warning

If we do not follow the commandment, there lies a warning:

"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

Self-Examination

If the core of my service is my love for God, then I have to regularly sit with myself and realign my goal.  I have to repeatedly ask myself:

• Why do I serve?
• What is the motivation of my service?
• Did I do this activity or prepared that lesson out of my love for God, or for other reasons?

I have to be honest with myself. The question becomes, what If my motivation isn't right? What should I do? Should I stop?

The Strategy of the Enemy

To answer the above question, I need to first understand the strategy of the evil one. How does he fight? Only then can I mount an offensive.

• Deceit - He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (John 8:44)
  • his purpose is to blind-fold me so I lose my way. He convinces me that the purpose of the service is anything else but the love of God.
• Isolation - In war the first thing an enemy does is destroy bridges, roads and any method which can be used to deliver reinforcements. The goal is to isolate and besiege until I run out of resources and fall.
  • It is important not to fall into the trap of working on your own and not listening to those around you.
  • It is very important to have someone you go to for advice. Choose that person carefully. Someone who would listen to you and give you impartial advice.
• Attrition warfare - Now that I'm blinded and isolated comes the continuous wearing down until defeat.
  • At this point if I'm isolated and everything is in my head, it's easy to draw me away
  • I might have the appearance of righteousness, but on the inside I'm full of all hypocrisy and lawlessness

Diagnosis

How can I diagnose myself? What are the warning signs that my service is going sideways?

Lack of Spiritual Law in my personal life

• I have no set time with God
• I do not have a routine of reading my bible
• I do not have a routine of prayer
• I do not come to Liturgy or take communion
• Or if I come to Church it is for something else entirely.

The Prevalence of Routine sins

• I do them without thinking twice
• I have grown numb.
• Each one is privy to their heart. I should ask myself, what's hindering me from a relationship with God:
  • The truth is that these sins create a wall, which I setup, between myself and my God.
    • ¹⁸ The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. ¹⁹ Do they provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?” (Jeremiah 7:18-19)
      

    • ²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and ^[l]self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. (Matthew 23:25-26)

    • ²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matthew 23:27-28)
      

Being too busy in the service

• What's better, right? I'm busy coming to meetings, preparing activity days, preparing lessons, doing research, etc, etc.
• But am I serving the house of the Lord or the Lord of the House?
• Has this busy service over burdened me with thoughts about how I can shine? How to be the centre of attention? How to supplant others?
• Has it kept me from, "lifting my eyes to the hills... From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth"
• Isaiah 1 - God is not waiting for the sacrifices (of service) with unclean heart.

Ownership in the Service

• Do I feel that I own the service?
• Do I identify myself as the guy who serves grade 10/11? or Servant's Prep? or whatever?
• Do I derive my self-worth from the service itself? IE I feel a sense of accomplishment when I do something great, and I get depressed when things don't go my way?
• Do I reject other people's input in my service? In my mind I'm thinking, why is that person trying to get into my business? Who is he to tell me what to do?
  • The best measure of this is to challenge yourself by working with people who have their own ideas, and make it a point to give them the free range to be creative. Work as partners and not in a subservient model (IE I say jump, you say how high)
  • I think this point passes over people's heads a lot of the time. They don't see its importance. I believe it's because the goal is muddled. The goal of the service becomes about me. About what I want to accomplish. About fulfilling a need of accomplishment in myself.
  • Of course there is nothing wrong with feeling a sense of accomplishment when I do achieve something, but if the main reason you're doing something veers away from the goal stated above into only a sense of achievement, then I lost my way.
• That's why it's my opinion that servants shouldn't have permanent posts. One of the sub-goals of any servant is to train someone to take their place, or to work in a partnership with someone as equals.
  • After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. (Luke 10:1)
• Again everything in balance. I'm not saying there should not be order and hierarchy. Hierarchy is needed for organizational purpose, but if we make this hierarchy divine, then we get into a problem. No matter where we are in the hierarchy we should remember to deal with each other in respect and as part of the same family. We are striving towards the same goal.

  • 6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: ³ “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

    ⁴ And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

    ⁵ Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; ⁶ not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, ⁷ with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, ⁸ knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.

    ⁹ And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that ^[a]your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him. (Ephesians 6: 6-9)
    

Bickering, Contention and Hate

• Am I in continuous contentions with others.
• Do I really dislike so and so? and can't get along with so and so? And just hate so and so's guts?
• Am I continuously in contention with others to get my way?
• Is getting my way occupying my mind so much that I lose sleep over it?
• This is literally the opposite of what God says:
  •  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)
• This is a clear sign of pride: I can't compromise. I can put on a show of humility, but the real test of humility is when I come at odds with someone over something and I have two choices: 1) To fight, backbite, gossip and get my way or 2) Back down and let my brother/sister get what they want?
• It is understandable that I might not be able to get along famously with everyone. But if I find that I'm starting to harbour hate towards an individual, that the sight of his face gets me angry... Well buddy, something ain't right.

Judging

• Am I continuously analyzing other people's faults and motivation? Pointing at their shortcomings to make myself feel better?
• When someone goes up to speak or give the lesson, do I have this feeling that I can probably give the lesson better than him?
• Do I feel the need to keep adding extra talking points during my brother's lesson? What does that say about my state of mind, if after someone has given a lesson I feel compelled to spend another 15 minutes adding extra material? Is it really that I think I'm adding benefit? Or is it that I think I have so much I can teach these kids, while the other servant just said things I don't really value? Is it denying the work of the Holy Spirit in others? Fruit for thought.
• He beholds every high thing; He is king over all the children of pride (Job 41:34)
  

Respect of Persons (Partiality)

• That's a big problem.
  • You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.(Leviticus 19:15)
  • Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger who is with him. ¹⁷ You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s. (Deut 1:17)
    
  • You shall appoint judges and officers in all your ^[c]gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. ¹⁹ You shall not pervert justice; you shall not ^[d]show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and ^[e]twists the words of the righteous. (Deut 16:19)
    
  • My bretheren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons (James 2:1)
  • And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him (Ephesians 6:9)
• I ask myself "Do I have respect of Persons" in my service? Am I nice to person A because he's my friend and not so nice to person B because he's not? Do I encourage that kid, while I discourage another? Do I go out of my way to point out this person's mistakes, while turning a blind eye to the same deeds done by my favourite human?
  
• Do I give privilege to people based on their status? He's a servant or priest or a bishop or whatever, so I justify all his actions?
• Respect of persons (Partiality in service) hurts people. It leads them to feel like they are not worth it. That God doesn't love them because they are not someone's favourite. This can lead to long term problems in their view of God.

  • ¹⁷ ‘And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. ¹⁸ Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the ^[c]residue of your pasture—and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? ¹⁹ And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet.”

    ²⁰ ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: “Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, ²² therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. ²³ I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken. (Ezekiel 34: 17-24)

Speaking and no action

• The most notable aspect of Jesus' ministry on Earth is that he was among the people and he dwelled between them.
  • Surely He has borne our ^[g]griefs
    And carried our ^[h]sorrows;
    Yet we ^[i]esteemed Him stricken,
    ^[j]Smitten by God, and afflicted.
    ⁵ But He was wounded^[k] for our transgressions,
    He was ^[l]bruised for our iniquities;
    The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
    And by His stripes^[m] we are healed.
    ⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
    We have turned, every one, to his own way;
    And the Lord ^[n]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)
    
• I need to take a cue from this. My service shouldn't be a service of words only, but of action.(Service is the Love of God in action)
  
• I need to be among the people of God and to strive to the following height:
  • Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? (2 Corinthians 11:29)
    
• Do I listen to people's burdens, or do I lay more on them?
  • Con: For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. (Matthew 23:4)
    
  • Pro: He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,
    Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
    ³ A bruised reed He will not break,
    And ^[b]smoking flax He will not ^[c]quench; (Isaiah 42:2,3)
    
  • Am I the first type of servant, the one that binds heavy burdens? Or Am I like the second one who doesn't break a bruised reed? Do I seek to help carry people's burdens? Or am I like the Pharisees who bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders?

All their works they do to be seen by men

• ⁵ But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. ⁶ They love the ^[b]best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷ greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ (Matthew 23:5-7)
• Do I like people's attention?
• Do I do everything to be seen by people?
• Do I love the best places, where people can see me? Do I figuratively place myself at the front of the class so that everyone may take note of me?
• Do I like to show off my holiness? accomplishments? Social Skills? Technical Skills?
• Do I seek validation from people?
• Do I want people to tell me how good of a job I did?
• Do I want to feel like the people I serve love me more than they love someone else?

Legacy Building

• Am I preoccupied by how people will remember me when I leave a service?
• Do I think to myself, look at all this. I did it. Before me the service was non-existent, and now look at it. I did this, I did that and I start enumerating all the things I accomplished. Remember, I don't have to say these out loud. I could just be speaking to myself.
  • At the end of the twelve months he was walking ^[i]about the royal palace of Babylon. ³⁰ The king spoke, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?”

  • ³¹ While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! ³² And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven ^[j]times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.” (Daniel 4: 29-32)

• Do I put down the service that happened before me? Do I put down the servants who served before me in an area so I can appear like the one who achieved all the results? Do I want to say, "Look at me, all those other guys, they didn't know what they were doing. They were ignorant fools. I'm the one who's gonna save you and the service."
• As a personal goal we shouldn't cling to any particular service. Dedicate your time to whatever you're doing, but make sure it doesn't become the only thing you do. Look forward to changing classes, or doing different services around the Church and outside the church. Remember: You are serving the Lord and not the house of the Lord.

Conclusion

• Service is love of God in action. If the love of God fills my heart then all the works flow naturally and the opposite is true
  • Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body ^[a]to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13: 1-3)
• Serve the Lord of the House and not the House of the Lord.
• I have to continuously examine my ways to make sure I have not fallen

  • ¹² Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to ^[d]bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13)

• I need to be aware of the strategy of the enemy to better defend myself and to mount an offensive.
• I have to examine my personal life and my service in an objective light with the guidance of a spiritual mentor to identify if there are areas I need to improve on or if I'm totally straying.
• I have to be aware of certain symptoms which would indicate to me that I'm not on the right path.
• At the end of the day I have to be on guard in my spiritual life. I can't put it on the back burner, or else nothing I do will matter much:
  • ²⁶ For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26)

  • ⁸ Be ^[c]sober, be ^[d]vigilant; ^[e]because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. ¹⁰ But ^[f]may the God of all grace, who called ^[g]us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, ^[h]perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. ¹¹ To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5: 8-11)