The Privilege of Serving
Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 097
Ephesians 3:8
Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.
Philippians 1:29
For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.
1 Peter 4:16
But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name!
We need to embrace ministry as a privilege.
When I was a very young believer, my pastor asked me to drive the church van early on Sunday mornings to pick up about seven widows that lived in our community. These women were very godly women and, for most of them, their husbands had been very involved in the church. When my pastor asked me to do this, I went home feeling overwhelmed that my pastor would trust me with the responsibility of caring for these ladies. I was overwhelmed by the privilege of being able to serve the Lord.
Early on our marriage, Penny and I decided that in whatever we did, we would not act like we were doing God a favor. We were going to act like He was doing us a favor by letting us do anything—from scrubbing toilets to pastoring. You never outgrow serving.
Not only are we not doing God a favor, but we are not doing the people who ask us to serve a favor. The core of what we do has to be as if we are doing it as unto the Lord. When you are doing someone a favor, your job will eventually show that. When doing something as unto the Lord, it will be done with excellence and will be well thought out.
When you have a privilege mentality, you don’t get a position mentality. When you see people with positions who have lost feeling, sensitivity, or connection to people, my suspicion is that somewhere along the line they have lost the understanding of privilege.
It is an incredible privilege to pray for someone in God’s name. To serve in His name. To provide for the poor in His name. To sit in jail for His name. Ministering in the name of Jesus is a great privilege.
Praise God for the privilege of being called by His name!
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
