We continue this week with Part Three in our fall series, “The Discipline of Work” taken from Elisabeth’s classic, Joyful Surrender.
Does God ask us to do what is beneath us? This question will never trouble us again if we consider the Lord of heaven taking a towel and washing feet.
In the time of the church’s beginnings when the Twelve needed someone to look after the daily distribution to widows, they said it would be a grave mistake for them to neglect the Word of God to “serve tables.” That they did not mean the job was beneath them is clear from the kind of men they sought to fill the position: “men of good reputation . . . full of the Spirit and of wisdom.” The apostles themselves, remember, were untrained laymen to begin with, but they had been clearly called to the ministry of the Word. Different men have different gifts, different responsibilities, and even serving tables requires the Spirit and wisdom. Both kinds of work needed to be done in the church, and they looked to the Lord for His appointments. It is especially interesting that one of the men appointed was Stephen, “full of grace and power,” whose acceptance of responsibility for the Greek widows soon led to his doing great miracles and signs (who knows whether he was the first to conciliate them, and this in itself was seen to be a miracle?) and to his speaking with such inspired wisdom that he excited the extreme jealousy and irrational hatred of the religious elite. He must have been a truly humble man to have accepted that first task and a very brilliant man to have made such an impression as a speaker. God prepared him for martyrdom by giving him a mundane job. . .
What constitutes a “great work for God”? Where does it begin? Always in humility. Not in being served, but in serving. Not in self-actualization but in self-surrender.
**Excerpt originally published in Joyful Surrender, pp.121-122