What does it mean to serve in God’s household? Serving isn’t about an act of kindness or duty; it’s a fundamental shift in our being, a transformation from a selfish life of independence to a grand and rich humanity. True serving is a parenting — it is a depositing of a vision, or a “memory,” revealed by the Lord to us into one another. As we minister to Him, the Lord shines outward from our genuine, transparent being. And through that shining, something new happens: we receive an image, a memory, an understanding that we can feed to others. Just as parents dispense nutrients to their children, we, too, are depositing that light, those shined-upon experiences, as food into one another for a constitutional change. What was once a dull, selfish, and shallow condition is now renewed and refreshed from this true and shining supply, so that we may continue onward for a reigning churching.
Serving, like parenting, requires a power and vision. As serving ones, each one we serve becomes our harvest, which is a joyful celebration to remember before God, just like God’s people in the Old Testament feasted to celebrate a remembering (Ex. 23:16). We are bringing people out of a physical life of survival into a noble and rich life of feasting; that’s what being a servant of the Lord really means. Under this serving, we see hopeless ones transformed into precious stones for God’s dwelling place. We experience the joy of participating in His redemptive work. We are equipped so that our serving one another is not a burden but a privilege. In serving our children, whether spiritually or physically, we are serving the Lord Himself.
As parents and serving ones in the church life, our goal is to nurture, cultivate, and perfect one another “until we all arrive … at a full-grown man” — someone who is functioning, overcoming, serving and “at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). Is this full-grown man something you’re serving the saints into? God desires us to be matured, transformed, and built in this household. If we have received His shining, let us not delay to rise up and parent!
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 8/16/2024, not reviewed by the speaker.)