The True Servant of the Lord!

The True Servant of the Lord!

There are men in church leadership positions who would say: “I have a Bible school education, 20 years of experience as a pastor of a church of 75 – 95 people.

I take a very modest salary to get by for I serve a people of meager means. We are a poor church but rich in Christ.  At times we are even persecuted from the world for our stand for Christ and His biblical principles as we take the Gospel of Christ outside the church doors. 

The church building I serve is 55 years old and the pews are old wooden pews with an old wooden floor. The windows and roof need replaced but we do not have the money to update both.

Our furnace is on its last leg, but we are all thankful to Jesus that He has kept us and watched over us for we give Him all the glory.  Our entire focus is Christ and His purpose and mission of our church.

I have written no books and am rarely invited to speak at conferences. I am just a servant of the Lord and consider myself a nothing but the “scrum and dregs” of the world.

But I love my Savior and serve Him with all my heart.  I live for Him and will gladly accept persecution for witnessing and testifying to others about the good news of Christ and His message of salvation to all who come to Him.

 I preach and teach Christ crucified, redemption through the Savior’s blood, and His life of suffering and His victory over sin, the world, and the devil.  I do not hold back of preaching on hell, judgment, sin and transgression, and Christ’s invitation to come to Him, confess sins, repent of sins, and ask Christ to come and make one a new person.

 I tell the people to go out and win others to Christ for this is the mission of each disciple of Christ. I say to the people to “go” is to grow and to stay is to “decay.” 

Thus, the mission of the church is to “go” and testify and witness the Christ of the Cross. We are first a praying church and everything we do comes out of much individual and corporate praying. 

Prayer is our priority! Prayer is the key!  Therefore, prayer, petition, praise and promotion of Christ’s death and resurrection and his offer of salvation is our marching orders from Him.

We are not a sitting and placating church growing “fat” on God’s Word and being entertained with no application of His Word to the world outside the church door. 

We are a “going” and “challenging” church taking God’s Word beyond the church door into the streets, alleyways, business establishments, schools, government offices, restaurants, parking lots, hardware stores, malls, etc.” We are Christ’s servants – seeking, obeying, and worshipping Him with all our hearts.

The Pseudo-Servant of the Lord!

On the other hand, there are those in church leadership positions who would say, “I have been to seminary and have a Ph.D. in Theology and Biblical languages and have served 3 different churches for over 25 years as lead pastor. I have 15 ministers under me, and we have one of the most progressive churches in the area. 

  I preach a “soft message” to the people which will build up their self-image and improve their outlook on life. We are very sensitive to the needs of the people and try not to offend them with the hard things of the Bible.

 I generally tell them that they can be “Champions” in every way if they only focus on the positive things of life.  I have now written and published fifteen books, speak at many conferences throughout the year, and I am seen as a key leader in the church today. 

My goal is to build a church of happy and positive people without offending them with the hard things of the Scriptures as I mentioned above.  I think I have been very successful because I have grown a church now of over 10,000 people.

 I am paid very well, provided with a stipend for housing, and drive a car paid for by the church.  I also receive a bonus each year for accomplishing the goals of the church.

Our church is a $35-40 million dollar church campus with several buildings with all the latest technology and comforts of a modern church. 

We have a huge sanctuary, gym, coffee house, chapel, bookstore, dining hall, counseling center, and many Sunday school rooms.  We are very proud of our facilities and what we have accomplished.  We are on the cutting of organizational development for a church for all people.

Quite a difference between these two men.

The first man comes from position of humility and brokenness by the hand of the Lord while the second one bloats, brags, and boast of his achievements and accomplishments. 

The first one tells us that he is really a nothing and adapts to what Apostle Paul says of himself that he is the “scum and dregs” of the world. 

The second man would never say of himself that he is the “scum and dregs” of the world or that he is really a “nothing.”  He is too proud to admit such things for this does not fit into his view of himself.

 How could he lower himself to be a “zero” and to tell the people that he is really a “nothing” and does not have anything to give the people for he is a studied, learned, and a Ph.D. man.

 He relies more on what he has achieved rather than giving it all up and saying, “Jesus, I give everything to you, strip me, crush me, and empty me so I can be a true servant of yours.  I have nothing to offer you except what you impart to me by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

The first man we could say is a true servant of the Lord who focuses on Christ, equips the saints for the ministry, and does not care or have a concern for the physical facilities and all the trimmings. He says he is a servant of the Lord and assumes no other titles.

 He truly knows his calling and stays within that calling.  He is true biblical servant – a person who cares for the sheep, feeds them the sweet honey of God’s Word, and guides them to Jesus. 

In essence, he is heaven’s mailman delivering the fresh mail and prophetic revelations of heaven to the disciples of Christ as well as to the poor, homeless, and destitute.

He brings a balanced Book of Acts approach to the people he shepherds.  He moves in the Word and the Wonders of the Lord.

 He accommodates the supernatural meaning, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit as well as the signs, wonders, and miracles of the Lord.

At the same time, he preaches Christ crucified as Apostle Paul would declare in 1^st Corinthians 1:23 and 2:2).

The second man, a pseudo-leader and a man of the flesh serves in the role of the pastorate but is not a true biblical pastor. He preaches a doctrine that “tickles the ears” of the hearers and what they want to hear instead of preaching the pure Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

        People come to his church (not God’s church) for he makes them feel good for his preaching has no call to conviction, no call to accountability for sin, no call to prefer others over oneself, no call to deny self and sacrifice ones resources for the poor and the destitute, and no call to cling to the Cross of Christ and allow it to reduce one to being a “nothing.”

    He preaches a “humanistic gospel” – which is a “contrary gospel” to the true Gospel of Christ.

It is a highly attractive gospel for it brings forth the “power of positive thinking” which is self-centered rather than Christ-centered. 

He would not preach the things of the true servant of God we have described above for if he did his church would shrink in numbers resulting in laying people off, reducing the salaries and perks, and selling off some of the properties of the church.

The first man is willing to pay the very high cost of laboring for Christ in this wicked and corrupt world while the second man is unwilling to travel down the path of sacrificing everything for Christ and the Cross and serving Christ out of being broken and crushed by the Lord.

God help us to find the first kind of man for this is where we will find the fullness of Christ and the moving of the Holy Spirit in anointing and power to testify of Christ and His Kingdom. 

He is a man who establishes himself in the mission of the Master and allows it to press him forward no matter what the costs.  He dwells in and becomes consumed with what Christ stated about Himself:

The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me,

(My comment: Not by might but by My Spirit – the Holy Spirit – leading and guiding).

 because

He has anointed Me

(My comment: without the anointing only wood, hay, and straw comes forth).

 [the Anointed One, the Messiah]

to preach the good news

(the Gospel)

(My comment: To preach Christ crucified and resurrected power of the Christ)

to the poor

(My comment comment: The poor meaning in  physical and spiritual terms)

He has sent Me to announce

release to the captives

 and

recovery of sight to the blind,

(My comment: Blind meaning physically and spiritually)

to send forth as delivered

those who are oppressed

 [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed,

 and

broken down by calamity],

(My comment: All of the above referring to those who have lost hope

and living life in the poverty of the soul llife no matter if rich or poor.  Note: Christ sends forth the ones He sets free to proclaim the His Gospel of freedom and liberty of spirit, soul, and body. 

They become His anointed messengers to set others free of the world and its many attractions of the world, the devil, and sin. They are the ones who truly walk in His anointing and power.  They are the ones who are not confined to the four walls of the church but are moved by the Holy Spirit to break out of the religious bubble of pseudo-Christianity and proclaim the liberty and freedom of the Savior of the Cross to all they encounter).

to proclaim

 the accepted

 and

acceptable year of the Lord

[the day when salvation

and

the free favors of God profusely abound.

(My comment: Every year is an acceptable year when the message of the Gospel is reaching the ears of the oppressed, downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity). 

Thus, this is the first man’s mission, the true servant of Christ – to bring the lost into the Kingdom of God – to nurture them, comfort them, teach them, exhort them, and challenge them to “GO” and set the captives free – to set nations free – and to live and breathe Christ everywhere He goes.

He knows that only those of brokenness are the one’s who can minister out of their brokenness to those who are broken by the “calamities of the world.”  He is truly the true servant of the Lord.

Rich Arnold

Servant of the Lord

311 Adelaide Ave SW

Hartville, Ohio 44632

330-704-9306

richarnold3@gmail.com