Articles
Serving in the Kingdom
The church needs leaders. The church needs men to teach, to preach, to lead the congregation in song, and prayer. The church needs men to serve as deacons and elders. The church needs men to work for the kingdom in whatever capacity they can serve. Young men need to look to the future and prepare themselves for leadership roles in the congregations where they will worship and serve.
And what should motivate each man to assume those responsibilities? Does he serve to impress others with how much or who he knows? Does he expect to be recognized publicly for his work or praised for his efforts? Does he try to impress oth-ers with his knowledge and behavior?
If he answers ‘YES’ to any of these questions, he is proud, and his behavior is repulsive to God, and offensive to others serving in the kingdom.
Humility can be defined as: free from pride or ar-rogance; low self-regard; self-abasement; a feeling or attitude that one has no special importance which makes him superior; not proud or assertive.
In His word, God demands humility. Peter warns of self-pride in his first epistle: “Be subject to your elders, and all of you, clothe yourself with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourself, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in proper time.” (1 Pt. 5:5-6)
The apostle James also warns the prideful to “humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (James 4:10)
What makes us humble? How can we replace arrogance with humility?
We need to read and meditate on the greatness of God‘s word, where He reveals to us the danger of arrogance and self-importance. He warns in Ro-mans 12:3 that man should not “think more highly of himself than he ought to think”
We need to consider such passages as: Proverbs, 22:4, “the reward of humili-ty and the fear of the Lord our riches, honor, and life.” Proverbs 27:2 “Let another praise you and not your own mouth.” Proverbs 29:23 “A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.” Proverbs 30:32 “If you have been foolish in exalting yourself, or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth.” Micah 6:7-8 “He has told you, O Man, what is good And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.”
There are many roles, many responsibilities, much work to be done in the church by both men and women. Some of the work is obvious and visible. Some is done by individuals, alone. We all have work to do. Let us do it all to help each other get to heaven and to glorify God.
